frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

A Tale of Two Standards, POSIX and Win32 (2005)

https://www.samba.org/samba/news/articles/low_point/tale_two_stds_os2.html
1•goranmoomin•45s ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Is the Downfall of SaaS Started?

1•throwaw12•1m ago•0 comments

Flirt: The Native Backend

https://blog.buenzli.dev/flirt-native-backend/
2•senekor•3m ago•0 comments

OpenAI's Latest Platform Targets Enterprise Customers

https://aibusiness.com/agentic-ai/openai-s-latest-platform-targets-enterprise-customers
1•myk-e•6m ago•0 comments

Goldman Sachs taps Anthropic's Claude to automate accounting, compliance roles

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/anthropic-goldman-sachs-ai-model-accounting.html
2•myk-e•8m ago•3 comments

Ai.com bought by Crypto.com founder for $70M in biggest-ever website name deal

https://www.ft.com/content/83488628-8dfd-4060-a7b0-71b1bb012785
1•1vuio0pswjnm7•9m ago•1 comments

Big Tech's AI Push Is Costing More Than the Moon Landing

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-spending-tech-companies-compared-02b90046
1•1vuio0pswjnm7•11m ago•0 comments

The AI boom is causing shortages everywhere else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/07/ai-spending-economy-shortages/
1•1vuio0pswjnm7•13m ago•0 comments

Suno, AI Music, and the Bad Future [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8dcFhF0Dlk
1•askl•15m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: How are researchers using AlphaFold in 2026?

1•jocho12•18m ago•0 comments

Running the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" Compiler

https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3786614
1•devooops•22m ago•0 comments

Watermark API – $0.01/image, 10x cheaper than Cloudinary

https://api-production-caa8.up.railway.app/docs
1•lembergs•24m ago•1 comments

Now send your marketing campaigns directly from ChatGPT

https://www.mail-o-mail.com/
1•avallark•27m ago•1 comments

Queueing Theory v2: DORA metrics, queue-of-queues, chi-alpha-beta-sigma notation

https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/queueing-theory
1•jph•39m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Hibana – choreography-first protocol safety for Rust

https://hibanaworks.dev/
5•o8vm•41m ago•0 comments

Haniri: A live autonomous world where AI agents survive or collapse

https://www.haniri.com
1•donangrey•42m ago•1 comments

GPT-5.3-Codex System Card [pdf]

https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/23eca107-a9b1-4d2c-b156-7deb4fbc697c/GPT-5-3-Codex-System-Card-02.pdf
1•tosh•55m ago•0 comments

Atlas: Manage your database schema as code

https://github.com/ariga/atlas
1•quectophoton•58m ago•0 comments

Geist Pixel

https://vercel.com/blog/introducing-geist-pixel
2•helloplanets•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: MCP to get latest dependency package and tool versions

https://github.com/MShekow/package-version-check-mcp
1•mshekow•1h ago•0 comments

The better you get at something, the harder it becomes to do

https://seekingtrust.substack.com/p/improving-at-writing-made-me-almost
2•FinnLobsien•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: WP Float – Archive WordPress blogs to free static hosting

https://wpfloat.netlify.app/
1•zizoulegrande•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: I Hacked My Family's Meal Planning with an App

https://mealjar.app
1•melvinzammit•1h ago•0 comments

Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal
2•basilikum•1h ago•0 comments

The Future of Systems

https://novlabs.ai/mission/
2•tekbog•1h ago•1 comments

NASA now allowing astronauts to bring their smartphones on space missions

https://twitter.com/NASAAdmin/status/2019259382962307393
2•gbugniot•1h ago•0 comments

Claude Code Is the Inflection Point

https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/claude-code-is-the-inflection-point
4•throwaw12•1h ago•2 comments

Show HN: MicroClaw – Agentic AI Assistant for Telegram, Built in Rust

https://github.com/microclaw/microclaw
1•everettjf•1h ago•2 comments

Show HN: Omni-BLAS – 4x faster matrix multiplication via Monte Carlo sampling

https://github.com/AleatorAI/OMNI-BLAS
1•LowSpecEng•1h ago•1 comments

The AI-Ready Software Developer: Conclusion – Same Game, Different Dice

https://codemanship.wordpress.com/2026/01/05/the-ai-ready-software-developer-conclusion-same-game...
1•lifeisstillgood•1h ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

N-Back – A Minimal, Adaptive Dual N-Back Game for Brain Training

https://n-back.net
91•gregzeng95•7mo ago

Comments

gregzeng95•7mo ago
Hi HN,

I built N-Back.net, a lightweight and responsive Dual N-Back task for working memory training.

I was frustrated by the clunky UI and heavy design of most existing n-back tools, so I made something clean, fast, and distraction-free. No login, no ads, no tracking – just cognitive training in your browser.

Key features: • Dual mode: visual + auditory • Adaptive difficulty: level up as you improve, drop down if needed • Dark mode and keyboard-only mode • Clearly differentiated letter sounds, carefully selected to avoid confusion • Performance tracker (WIP: I’m working on streaks and detailed history) • Mobile-friendly (works well on phones & tablets)

I’m planning to add: • Custom training modes (single-modality, color, etc.) • User-defined N range • Optional accounts for progress saving (but always optional)

Would love your feedback on: • UX flow and performance • Cognitive challenge balance • What would make you come back and use it regularly?

Site: https://n-back.net

Thanks for checking it out!

fouc•7mo ago
"do nothing" is too slow, need another key to hit to skip.

I would expect a final reaction time of under 100-200ms ideally?

cellularmitosis•7mo ago
Yes, I would also remove the automatic progression entirely. This should be driven by user input only.
kqr•7mo ago
I think it's part of the test to have to do it quickly.
cellularmitosis•7mo ago
Sorry, I meant I want to be able to do it faster. I don't want to be held up by an automatic progression.
louky•7mo ago
the buttons jumping up and down when correct or incorrect is jarring on my smaller screen, forcing a constant space there or moving the message would be a smoother UX, in my opinion.
euph0ria•7mo ago
Agreed, came here to say the same
gregzeng95•7mo ago
Thanks for your suggestion! I am fixing it soon
BiraIgnacio•7mo ago
This is pretty great, thank you!

I didn't know about these types of tasks (N-Back) and this was a nice introduction to it.

indolering•7mo ago
Ahh, "brain training" - games you play instead of getting better at value added tasks. This shit doesn't generalize and the opportunity cost results in making you dumber, not smarter.
kqr•7mo ago
From https://gwern.net/dnb-faq:

> Performance on dual n-back has complicated correlations with performance on other tests of working memory or IQ, so it’s not clear what it is tapping into. (And the link between WM and performance on IQ tests has been disputed; high WM as measured by OSPAN does not correlate well with performance on hard Raven’s questions and the validity of single tests of WM training has been questioned .)

> Unfortunately, in general, IQ/g and memory don’t seem to be trainable. Many apparent effects are swamped by exercise or nutrition or by simple practice. And when practice does result in gains on tasks or expensive games, said benefits often do not transfer .

> Have I seen any benefits yet? Not really. Thus far it’s like meditation: I haven’t seen any specific improvements, but it’s been interesting just to explore concentration - I’ve learned that my ability to focus is much less than I thought it was!

It does however seem like maybe dual n-back trains concentration and focus and willpower?

> WM training helps alcoholics reduce their consumption and increases patience in recovering stimulant addicts (cocaine & methamphetamine). WM training has been shown to help children with ADHD and also preschoolers without ADHD; Lucas found behavior improvements at a summer camp.

gwd•7mo ago
But to GP's point:

> To those whose time is limited: you may wish to stop reading here. If you seek to improve your life, and want the greatest ‘bang for the buck’, you are well-advised to look elsewhere.

> Meditation, for example, is easier, faster, and ultra-portable. Typing training will directly improve your facility with a computer, a valuable skill for this modern world. Spaced repetition memorization techniques offer unparalleled advantages to students. [Lots more.] And all of these can start paying off immediately.

> DNB, on the other hand, requires a minimum of 15 hours before one can expect genuine somatic improvements. The task itself is unproven - the Jaeggi studies are suggestive, not definitive.

agumonkey•7mo ago
For people with brain damage it might be very very useful. At least dual-n-back.io gave me a way to train spatial and temporal memory when I had no options.
visiondude•7mo ago
It’s hard to tell when a turn starts if the tile stays on the same square. Could you possibly add a quick fade animation to the tile?
gregzeng95•7mo ago
Thanks. I am adding this animation soon!
alfanick•7mo ago
" Works on All Devices" statement doesn't seem to be true - I cannot press "space key" on my iPad (Safari).
kqr•7mo ago
My personal experience with n-back mainly revolves around discovering the large variation in my ability to focus. Practisibg does get me better at the n-back task (not anything else as far as I can tell) but daily form determines results to a large degree. This effect seems to transfer somewhat: on weeks I'm overall worse at focusing on n-back I appear to also produce fewer commits.

But what determines this daily form I don't know. I suspect sleep, stress, and exercise has something to do with it.

doubledamio•7mo ago
This is very nice! But I don’t quite get how 70% is considered good performance — I managed to outperform that by literally doing nothing:

Game Complete!

Accuracy: 78.6% Correct Responses: 11 / 14 Average Reaction Time: 0 ms

torbid•7mo ago
Yes, though 70% is a normal cut-off, I think most versions more heavily bias the placement towards 1/2 in the past square instead of the 1/9th of real chance. Without the bias it is simpler to always guess no.
NooneAtAll3•7mo ago
"Working Memory Test" link returns 404
gregzeng95•7mo ago
Sry, i am fixing it. I vibe-coded this website so there might be some bugs :<
RBerenguel•7mo ago
I also wrote a minimal version for me, https://mostlymaths.net/nb/

Only works well on mobile portrait though, I designed it especifically for my phone. Don't use it much though.

creature_x•7mo ago
I've been using the n-back protocol for over a year and it's definitely improved my cognitive abilities. I don't know if my IQ has increased, but on days where I use this protocol(20-25 minutes) I see a marked improvement in the clarity and vibrancy of my thoughts- put another way this protocol's biggest benefit is it's effectiveness in clearing the mental fog in my head. I've tried experimenting with other protocols(solving crossword/chess puzzles, meditation,etc..)but they were not nearly as effective as n-back.

I've actually built my own variation of n-back(triple n-back), where you're tested on the colour of the stimulus in addition to the sound and position-so it's much more cognitively demanding. If you're interested, you can check it out here: https://mind-workout.pages.dev

Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe•7mo ago
How are you sure that the perceived improvement is due to the n-back and not that you only do n-back on days with abnormally good cognition? Like if you slept very little you obviously wouldn't not perform well nor do the n-back.
creature_x•7mo ago
Tbh I use the dual n-back protocol most vigorously on days where I feel cognitively sluggish as it's benefits are most apparent to me then.
SubiculumCode•7mo ago
Generalization beyond n-back tasks had not been established, at least at the last time I looked into the field, maybe 8 years ago. There was always the hope that tasks that focused on specific core cognitive processes would lead to broad cognitive improvements, but I am not too confident about it.

One problem in this field has been weak control conditions..e.g. no train conditions. I often thought that a cardio control conditions would be useful. I'd almost guarantee that for most people, 60 minutes a week jogging would lead to better cognitive improvements than 60 minutes of n-back.

saulSaul1998zx•7mo ago
6451937099
InkCanon•7mo ago
My own experience with Dual N-Back 1) I did it for a month. Probably some improvement, although I did not have any specific test done. Probably the most tangible use is really feeling how working memory (and losing it) is like and having better control. In the same way you might suddenly realize how breathing is and controlling it after learning meditation.

2) The study specified dual N back imposes a pretty demanding regiment. It's 12 sessions daily, consecutively for ~month. It takes about 20 minutes each day of intense focus.

3) There's naturally going to be a lot of survivorship bias in reviews. But you could argue it doesn't make your intelligence worse, so there's only net upside.