frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Videographer tries AI editing with MCP DaVinci Resolve connector

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nQGiRCUlDg
1•fallinditch•1m ago•0 comments

Replacing Design.md with DESIGN.html

https://github.com/giminycricket0-blip/design-html
1•giminycricket0•4m ago•0 comments

Show HN: KIRA – Sovereign, local-first AI and media workstation for Windows

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n2dr3g0jw0z?hl=en-US&gl=US
1•MDRStudio•9m ago•0 comments

New web obfuscation technique: Divergence

https://trustsig.eu/blog/javascript-divergence/
1•handfuloflight•10m ago•0 comments

Past.dev: Long-term memory for AI agents

https://past.dev
2•handfuloflight•20m ago•0 comments

Dramatic Cuts in New NIH Research Funding Across the Board

https://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2026/06/12/dramatic-cuts-in-new-nih-research-funding-across-the...
2•smnthermes•20m ago•0 comments

Ianal?

1•tway235•22m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Thoreau's Walden as a 3D browser game with an AI guide

https://walden.learnmer.com/
2•michaellee8•24m ago•0 comments

California Student Data Leaked

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hacker-gets-data-millions-california-students-state-education-de...
4•agiacalone•25m ago•3 comments

Compulsion to Closure

https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2602
2•herbertl•29m ago•0 comments

How Do Fungi Keep the Planet Healthy?

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-do-fungi-keep-the-planet-healthy-20261015/
2•marojejian•30m ago•1 comments

LOL Fuck AI by xplsv – a vibecoded demo

https://xplsv.github.io/lolfuckai/
1•knoke•32m ago•1 comments

I built a free image-to-PDF converter that runs in the browser

https://startling-croissant-452d68.netlify.app/
1•quickconvert•36m ago•0 comments

Fable 5.5: SVG of bike riding a pelican

https://twitter.com/dummerspast39/status/2111519245733654775
3•lawrenceyan•37m ago•0 comments

Lego Mindset vs. Woodworking Mindset (2022)

https://blog.scottstevenson.net/p/lego-mindset-vs-woodworking-mindset
3•andsoitis•37m ago•0 comments

Embrace the Range

https://axseem.me/essays/embrace-the-range/
2•jruohonen•39m ago•0 comments

Real knowledge dont matter any more

3•aliabdm•43m ago•3 comments

Trycontinuum is launching its new module Forge for automation of after effects

https://app.trycontinuum.ai/login
1•continuum-agy•49m ago•1 comments

Tamarly Intelligence, a research platform built on public records

https://app.tamarly.ai/
2•RalphMcElwain•49m ago•0 comments

TikTok bans Musk film account

https://www.avclub.com/musk-documentary-account-tiktok-ban
8•ceejayoz•49m ago•1 comments

Chrome and Edge are removing XSLT: what breaks and what does not

https://doctor-seo.net/en/blog/news/chrome-edge-removing-xslt/
22•croes•49m ago•8 comments

TikTok bans Musk documentary account

https://www.theverge.com/tech/1013453/tiktok-bans-alex-gibneys-musk-documentary
17•mikelgan•50m ago•0 comments

AutoMEP – The AI drafter for MEP engineers and designers

https://automep.app/
1•vannventures•53m ago•0 comments

The right thing for the wrong reasons: FLOSS doesn't imply security

https://seirdy.one/posts/2022/02/02/floss-security/
2•mashally•53m ago•0 comments

Modular Products Suck (2025)

https://blog.scottstevenson.net/p/modular-products-suck
1•andsoitis•56m ago•1 comments

Neuro-Symbolic AI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-symbolic_AI
2•modinfo•1h ago•0 comments

It's still OK to enjoy programming

https://chriskiehl.com/article/it-is-still-ok-to-enjoy-programming
4•goostavos•1h ago•0 comments

History's long-secret codes are being cracked by amateurs using AI

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03338-y
1•bucket2015•1h ago•0 comments

Let's Write About Writing

https://dowdy.dev/posts/lets-write-about-writing/
1•Peacefulz•1h ago•1 comments

How to Make Something

https://blog.scottstevenson.net/p/how-to-finally-make-something-a16c8db7ba2a
1•andsoitis•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