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Lumisift – improves data retention in RAG from ~40% to 87%

https://github.com/Saeedmora/Lumisift
1•benmora•19s ago•0 comments

Waymo's Robot Car Testing Ends in NYC After Permits Expire

https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/06/waymo-driverless-cars-testing-roads-autonomous-vehicle/
1•theahura•1m ago•0 comments

Hackers claim control over Venice San Marco anti-flood pumps

https://securityaffairs.com/190679/hacktivism/hackers-claim-control-over-venice-san-marco-anti-fl...
1•lschueller•2m ago•0 comments

Information Management: A Proposal (1989)

https://repository.cern/records/6kxvc-v6203
1•jruohonen•2m ago•0 comments

Acting Opportunities

1•mtrojlm•2m ago•0 comments

Writing Design Docs

https://blog.ceejbot.com/posts/design-docs/
1•ProfDreamer•4m ago•0 comments

OpenAI says to update Mac apps ChatGPT and Codex as security precaution

https://9to5mac.com/2026/04/10/openai-says-to-update-mac-apps-including-chatgpt-and-codex-as-secu...
1•lashull•4m ago•0 comments

Reconstruction of human metabolic models with large language models

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2516511123
1•XzetaU8•5m ago•0 comments

Elixir Client SDK 1.0 for EventSourcingDB Now Available

https://docs.eventsourcingdb.io/blog/2026/04/13/elixir-client-sdk-10-now-available/
1•goloroden•5m ago•0 comments

I got tired of rearranging my monitors every time I plug them in

https://github.com/akshin18/monitor_man
1•akshin18•9m ago•0 comments

The Closing of the Frontier

https://tanyaverma.sh/2026/04/10/closing-of-the-frontier.html
1•MindGods•11m ago•0 comments

Apple removes Lebanese village names from Apple Maps as Israel attacks

https://twitter.com/EthanLevins2/status/2043366941922926940
23•newspaper1•13m ago•4 comments

Generate tool-specific AI config files from shared templates

https://github.com/fabis94/universal-ai-config
1•idid•14m ago•0 comments

LLM-Wiki

https://keepnotes.ai/blog/2026-04-12-llmwiki/
1•xngbuilds•17m ago•0 comments

Apple has removed most of the towns and villages in Lebanon from Apple maps

https://maps.apple.com/frame?center=33.723388%2C35.614698&span=1.983925%2C4.004193
98•thepasswordis•22m ago•35 comments

Why "200 OK" does not mean your system worked

https://blog.bridgexapi.io/why-200-ok-does-not-mean-your-system-worked
1•Bridgexapi•22m ago•0 comments

Y Combinator lets you cross the line [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptT_LGfT69k
2•ethanwillis•23m ago•0 comments

High schooler's 3D design saves Seminole County thousands on election equipment

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2026/04/10/high-schoolers-3d-design-saves-seminole-county...
1•gnabgib•23m ago•0 comments

Agentjail: Minimal Linux sandbox for running untrusted code/apps/agents

https://github.com/bugthesystem/agentjail
1•ziyasal•23m ago•1 comments

Canal of the Pharaohs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_of_the_Pharaohs
1•softwaredoug•24m ago•0 comments

Nailing Jell-O to the Wall, Again. Can China Contain LLMs?

https://senteguard.com/blog/nailing-jell-o-to-the-wall-again-can-china-contain-llms-1767694568878
1•paulpauper•24m ago•0 comments

Artificial Intelligence and Human Legal Reasoning

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6525800
1•paulpauper•24m ago•0 comments

Apps and programming: two accidental tyrannies

https://andymatuschak.org/tat/
1•nathcd•28m ago•0 comments

I build a modern APIs listing engine

https://api-engine.vercel.app/
2•heyFFFF•28m ago•1 comments

Show HN: I built a project board where AI agents join as real teammates

https://is.team
2•spotlayn•29m ago•0 comments

Every feature should earn its place

https://twitter.com/karrisaarinen/status/2043378194938777813
1•tosh•30m ago•0 comments

Drift. Native Mac ambient sound mixer with spatial audio (no subscription)

https://driftsound.app
2•beeruot•40m ago•0 comments

Can you self-host AI on Intel NPU or ARC (iGFX and proper card?

https://github.com/aweussom/NoLlama
1•aweussom•40m ago•1 comments

Apple Accused of Removing Village Names of Disputed Territory in South

https://twitter.com/Villgecrazylady/status/2043380336545968466
8•pain_perdu•42m ago•0 comments

Show HN: A proactive AI agent on iMessage that texts you before you even ask

https://hemesh.tech/builds/summer-ai.html
1•HemeshCh•43m ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)

https://www.srimech.com/MHZ5.html
95•gene-h•11mo ago

Comments

thechao•11mo ago
I've always wanted to build (distinct) mechanical computers out of the following kinds of elements:

1. Spur-gear differential; and,

2. Shishi-odoshi.

Both of these are saturating mechanical devices that can be used to build NAND gates; the latter, I think, would be very pleasing, if exceedingly slow.

For the spur-gear differential, you'd need to up-scale the output by a factor of 2 (since the output is half-speed), and use a locking wedge to build a one-way gear out of one of the spur-gear differentials. However, it has the nice property that the logic is made entirely out of a single element: the spur-gear differential.

Similarly, for the shishi-odoshi: you're going to have to do a bit of analysis (drilling a hole in the bottom part of the bamboo ladle), to figure out the in-flow and out-flow to build the basic AND gate, and then balancing out the NOT gate, to build your basic NAND. This is, obviously, very finicky; but, I supposed, that'd be quite a bit of the charm of a Zen computer garden?

hnlmorg•11mo ago
A shishi-odoshi ALU would be amazing to see…and hear too.

I love that idea.

blackhaz•11mo ago
I wanna run my neural net on shishi-odoshi.
rightbyte•11mo ago
Has any computer been built out of spur-gear differentials? Like maybe some sort of adder circuit, not necessarily a full instruction executing computer. The only uses I could find was what seems to me like the differentials being part of some sort of analogue computer.
thechao•11mo ago
Spur gear differentials are naturally adders (with carry!); so, traditionally they've only ever been used for analogue logic. They're overly complicated for digital logic: you need two spur gears to build a single gate (NAND) to perform a single binary operation. If you want any sort of reasonable lash characteristics you're going to need ~60 teeth. At that point, two 60 teeth spur gears give you a 3600-valued adder. That'd take something like 300+ spur gears in binary: it just doesn't make any damn sense.

I think the last time I looked at this, if I used the cast spur gears available I needed a staged approach to "start" the computer and a 1100 hp motor to run it.

rightbyte•11mo ago
> a 1100 hp motor to run it

Oh, ye that sounds impractical. A really big truck engine more or less.

thechao•11mo ago
Convincing Mrs. thechao that we needed to drop 80000$ on a blown V8 to build a 4b 3 function calculator didn't workout, BTW.
rightbyte•11mo ago
Well I want to be on your side but I think one need to keep the dreams not within grasp but at least in sight.
jcgrillo•11mo ago
A huge steam engine might be the ticket, that'll solve your starting torque problem
byronknoll•11mo ago
I built some logic gates using water and a 3D printed "seesaw" that tilts to the left or right: https://byronknoll.blogspot.com/2022/06/water-computer.html
thechao•11mo ago
Beautiful! Thank you!
QuadmasterXLII•11mo ago
the shishi-odoshu seems like the more promising avenue. The key question in mechanical computing is never designing gates, its designing power amplifiers.
eccentricwind•11mo ago
What a gem of a site Thank you for sharing
mrandish•11mo ago
I just smile hearing the term "Millihertz Computer". I'd love it if building and designing mechanical and analog computers grew as a hobby/educational activity as I find them both fascinating and somehow satisfying.

Also, this 1950s Naval Training film explaining the fundamentals of how mechanical fire control computers work to solve complex problems is excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

256_•11mo ago
I was incredibly surprised to find that this actually is a computer. Normally when you hear about a "computer" constructed in an unusual medium, it turns out to just be a binary adder or an analogue computer. I've learned to expect disappointment.
ryukoposting•11mo ago
About 8 years ago I visited TU Chemnitz and they had a lab making similar things to this. It wasn't clear to me what the goal was, but it was very cool nonetheless.
ogogmad•11mo ago
Is anyone going to produce a proof-of-concept Analytical Engine?

Will robots (which will hopefully soon be available) be able to do it?

tenthirtyam•11mo ago
This brings to mind two stories: Exhalation by Ted Chiang (short story), and the Three Body Problem (specifically the human computer) by Cixin Liu (novel length).

Exhalation really gets me thinking about what it means to be sentient & self-aware. If the neurons in our brains could, even in theory, be simulated by logic gates then, equally in theory, a Turing machine could be sentient. I can even imagine a bunch of rocks being sentient: https://xkcd.com/505/