The Era of (Good) Personal Software Has Arrived
Article URL: https://hec.works/blog/the-era-of-good-personal-software-has-arrived/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201857 Points: 3 # Comments: 0
Why do people actually prefer AI-generated stories to human writing? New study reveals surprising insights
In the literary industry, using artificial intelligence is still a taboo. Even accusations of AI use have dire consequences, from the infamously canceled release of the novel Shy Girl to the massive online backlash against a prestigious literary award going to an...
Quake celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new free episode
The Dawn of the Machine expansion was made by MachineGames in collaboration with id Software.
Google Is Discontinuing Google Assistant in September
Google Assistant will survive in some settings, but only in compatible vehicles and some bespoke devices.
The DISTINCT in Your COUNT
Article URL: https://boringsql.com/posts/distinct-in-your-count/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201369 Points: 3 # Comments: 0
Herdr is joining Y Combinator. The runtime stays open
Article URL: https://herdr.dev/blog/herdr-is-joining-y-combinator/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201003 Points: 6 # Comments: 0
xAI Ignores Laws and Profits: Rules for Thee, Not for Me
Article URL: https://illegal.solutions/posts/xai_pollution Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49201342 Points: 25 # Comments: 2
Phantomdrive Keeps Your Secrets Out of Sight
It’s a complex world out there, and more than ever folks may find themselves in a situation where they want to keep particular bits of information away from prying eyes. At the same time, overly complex methods of file security can make it difficult to share said...
AI is now making new viruses
What could possibly go wrong?
Google says hackers are calling financial firm employees to hack and extort victims
Groups of hackers are breaking into large U.S. financial firms to steal sensitive data and extort victims, Google’s security researchers report.
Unions Can Save Tech Workers and Tech Work
Article URL: https://jacobin.com/2026/08/uc-upte-tech-workers-union Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49200510 Points: 11 # Comments: 0
Qwen3.8 Max now ranked as the best overall model by agentic index
Article URL: https://artificialanalysis.ai/?intelligence=agentic-index Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49200652 Points: 57 # Comments: 20
China-linked LightSpy spyware caught targeting victims in 13 countries, including the US
Researchers linked the latest malicious activity to a Chinese company, after one of the spyware's operators placed an order with KFC using their real name and office address.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: ‘K-shaped economy is over’ and I’m ‘sick of hearing’ about it
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the K-shaped economy is over, but the data and many economists tell a different story. “I do believe the core inflation is slowing,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. “I got sick of hearing about this K-shaped...
Defense tech Hadrian raises $1.37B at $8B valuation
Hadrian is building automated factories to mass produce parts for defense vehicles like submarines. It's backed by a long list of well-known investors.
PSA: Apple has released security updates for Mac
Tahoe, Sequoia and Sonoma operating systems have been patched to address a Screen Sharing vulnerability.
Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership
Article URL: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/federal-communications-commission-scraps-limit-broadcast-tv-ownership-rcna587641 Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49200390 Points: 11 # Comments: 3
My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”
Article URL: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@rygorous/117047697255584965 Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49200439 Points: 7 # Comments: 2
This tiny new charging pad is perfect for my nightstand
Why our deputy editor Nate Ingraham loves the new Twelve South tiny charging pad in spite of its price.
Uncle Sam aims to help nuclear energy find its sea legs
Not content with nuclear reactors on land, the US is backing an international push to put atomic power plants aboard civilian ships and floating platforms. The US will host the launch of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Atomic Technologies Licensed for...
Latest GitHub outage squeezes Actions, Pages to death
GitHub’s automation platform Actions and its hosting service Pages are failing, according to an incident page on the service’s status site (archived version available here). Unfortunately, these are just the latest stability problems for a service that has had a lot...
The FCC just shredded local TV station ownership rules, despite questionable legality
This is great news for Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Think you can afford a home? Here’s the salary experts say you now need
There’s good news and not-so-good news for prospective homebuyers: The amount of income needed to afford a typical American home is down slightly from last year—but it’s still well above what many households earn. To purchase the median-priced U.S. home on the market...
Sailors on USS Lincoln outside Iran are exhausted and suffering from poor morale
Article URL: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-sailors-marines-iran-war-uss-lincoln-food-shortage-b3028371.html Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49200004 Points: 5 # Comments: 0
CNC’d, CNC-inspired Adjustable Wrench Won’t Round Your Bolts
We’ve probably all got one item in our toolboxes or chests that we really, really don’t like, but find too handy to toss. For [Someone Should Make That], that item was the bolt-rounding adjustable wrench. Rather than continuing to gripe about it, or alter his habits...
Cisco Patches 12 SD-WAN and IOS XE Flaws, Including Three 9.8 CVSS Score Bugs
Cisco has rolled out updates to address multiple critical security vulnerabilities impacting Catalyst SD-WAN and IOS XE Software as part of a comprehensive internal security review. The security issues affect Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Software, regardless of device...
What Happened to Talenti?
Article URL: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/talenti-investigation/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49199190 Points: 13 # Comments: 3
Zapscape (CVE-2026-64561)
Article URL: https://github.com/V4bel/Zapscape Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49198843 Points: 12 # Comments: 3
Dress made of living mycelium can renew and repair itself
Article URL: https://www.dezeen.com/2026/08/05/dress-living-mycelium-renew-repair/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49199051 Points: 11 # Comments: 0
New Zapscape KVM Flaw Could Let Privileged L1 Guest Code Escape to Linux Hosts
Zapscape, a new Linux kernel vulnerability, could allow an attacker with kernel privileges inside an L1 guest virtual machine (VM) to escape KVM isolation and execute code on the host. The risk applies when nested virtualization is exposed to untrusted guests. The...