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Show HN: Practicing foreign language generating conversation on topic [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oFjLfrbegg
1•julienreszka•4m ago•0 comments

We gave our agent the exact metric definition. It still wrote the wrong SQL

https://clarilayer.com/blog/what-anthropic-and-openai-didnt-say-about-context-for-data-agents
1•kylehui818•6m ago•1 comments

Vibe Coding is the new Internet Dating

https://joecmarshall.com/posts/vibecoding-is-the-new-internet-dating/
1•CoreSet•9m ago•0 comments

Twelve Factor App Method (2011)

https://12factor.net/
1•zuzuen_1•9m ago•0 comments

Recovoly – AI-powered ink bleed removal for scanned documents

https://recovoly.com
1•thisarajay•9m ago•0 comments

Overtone

https://github.com/overtone/overtone
1•tosh•13m ago•0 comments

How HN: Launchmap – from idea to first paying customer

https://launchmap.madethis.app
1•lucawalthert•16m ago•1 comments

I rebuilt the same SaaS plumbing four times. So I built the thing I wish existed

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/i-rebuilt-the-same-saas-plumbing-four-times-so-i-built-the-thin...
2•DharmendraJago•20m ago•0 comments

Finitemax

https://www.instagram.com/finitemax
1•Faizaan_vx•20m ago•0 comments

Fable 5 is available in Zed

https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/pull/58957
1•flaburgan•22m ago•2 comments

Claude Fable 5 Ultracode + AI medical diagnosis

https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/ai-medical-diagnosis-examples/blob/main/doctor-perspective...
1•jph•23m ago•0 comments

Moon Mnf: magic wands,idiots, first principal

https://www.lmcpress.com/
1•AITripleAce•23m ago•0 comments

Rejected Emoji Proposals

https://charlottebuff.com/unicode/misc/rejected-emoji-proposals/
1•cheeaun•29m ago•0 comments

Firefox for Android: Play Integrity Check Challenges Custom ROM Users

https://serverhost.com/blog/firefox-for-android-play-integrity-check-challenges-custom-rom-users/
3•shaunpud•30m ago•0 comments

Australian SaaS Platforms Can Verify Business Users with ABN Data

https://fastbusinessapi.com/article/how-australian-saas-platforms-can-verify-business-users-with-...
2•ApiFB-Dev•32m ago•0 comments

Principles for Agent-Native CLIs

https://trevinsays.com/p/10-principles-for-agent-native-clis
1•saikatsg•34m ago•0 comments

From the Transistor to the Web Browser

https://github.com/geohot/fromthetransistor
2•pythops•36m ago•0 comments

David Sinclair plans to test whole-body rejuvenation drugs in the xPrize compet

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/06/09/1138545/david-sinclair-plans-to-test-whole-body-rejuv...
1•joozio•40m ago•0 comments

Compute-to-Surplus: Why AI Progress Doesn't Matter Until It Changes Economics

https://signal-memo.com/memo-the-compute-to-surplus-pipeline-is-a-product-spec-heres-how-to-ship-...
1•alex-ivan•41m ago•0 comments

Show HN: What Sound Looks Like [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvkDwInPYJw
1•FionaZhu•42m ago•0 comments

Lawyers Barred for A.I.-Generated Citations to Fake Cases

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/us/ai-lawyers-sanctioned-mississippi.html
2•iancmceachern•45m ago•1 comments

Don't Be Stupid: Grasp Solid

https://www.npopov.com/2011/12/27/Dont-be-STUPID-GRASP-SOLID.html
1•prakashqwerty•45m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Leash, a low-dopamine mobile browser replacement

https://leash.ax
3•hemmert•45m ago•4 comments

CIA officer arrested with gold bars accused of making up top secret program

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/cia-officer-arrested-gold-bars-accused-making-...
4•u1hcw9nx•52m ago•0 comments

Self-Prompt

https://selfprompt.dev/posts/2026-06-08-self-prompt
1•pro_methe5•52m ago•0 comments

The Revenge of the Publicists: How Comms Execs Stormed the C-Suite

https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/the-revenge-of-the-publicists-how-comms-execs-stormed-the-c-suite-2...
1•doener•53m ago•0 comments

USB Devices – OrbStack Docs

https://docs.orbstack.dev/features/usb
2•watermelon0•54m ago•0 comments

CrossOver 26.2.0

https://www.codeweavers.com/support/forums/announce
2•doener•1h ago•0 comments

What I Got Right and Wrong Building a Solo Project Around Real Life

https://medium.com/@ivan_49508/what-i-got-right-and-wrong-building-a-solo-project-around-real-lif...
3•enjoyminded•1h ago•0 comments

Ask HN: What is the best way to learn game logic programming for beginners?

1•huzaifasinan•1h ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)

https://www.srimech.com/MHZ5.html
95•gene-h•1y ago

Comments

thechao•1y 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•1y ago
A shishi-odoshi ALU would be amazing to see…and hear too.

I love that idea.

blackhaz•1y ago
I wanna run my neural net on shishi-odoshi.
rightbyte•1y 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•1y 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•1y ago
> a 1100 hp motor to run it

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

thechao•1y 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•1y 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.
byronknoll•1y 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•1y ago
Beautiful! Thank you!
QuadmasterXLII•1y 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•1y ago
What a gem of a site Thank you for sharing
mrandish•1y 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_•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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/

jcgrillo•1y ago
A huge steam engine might be the ticket, that'll solve your starting torque problem