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Study confirms experience beats youthful enthusiasm

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/07/boomers_vs_zoomers_workplace/
1•Willingham•5m ago•0 comments

The Big Hunger by Walter J Miller, Jr. (1952)

https://lauriepenny.substack.com/p/the-big-hunger
1•shervinafshar•7m ago•0 comments

The Genus Amanita

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita.html
1•rolph•11m ago•0 comments

We have broken SHA-1 in practice

https://shattered.io/
1•mooreds•12m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: Was my first management job bad, or is this what management is like?

1•Buttons840•13m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: How to Reduce Time Spent Crimping?

1•pinkmuffinere•14m ago•0 comments

KV Cache Transform Coding for Compact Storage in LLM Inference

https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.01815
1•walterbell•19m ago•0 comments

A quantitative, multimodal wearable bioelectronic device for stress assessment

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67747-9
1•PaulHoule•21m ago•0 comments

Why Big Tech Is Throwing Cash into India in Quest for AI Supremacy

https://www.wsj.com/world/india/why-big-tech-is-throwing-cash-into-india-in-quest-for-ai-supremac...
1•saikatsg•21m ago•0 comments

How to shoot yourself in the foot – 2026 edition

https://github.com/aweussom/HowToShootYourselfInTheFoot
1•aweussom•21m ago•0 comments

Eight More Months of Agents

https://crawshaw.io/blog/eight-more-months-of-agents
3•archb•23m ago•0 comments

From Human Thought to Machine Coordination

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/202602/from-human-thought-to-machine-coo...
1•walterbell•24m ago•0 comments

The new X API pricing must be a joke

https://developer.x.com/
1•danver0•25m ago•0 comments

Show HN: RMA Dashboard fast SAST results for monorepos (SARIF and triage)

https://rma-dashboard.bukhari-kibuka7.workers.dev/
1•bumahkib7•25m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Source code graphRAG for Java/Kotlin development based on jQAssistant

https://github.com/2015xli/jqassistant-graph-rag
1•artigent•30m ago•0 comments

Python Only Has One Real Competitor

https://mccue.dev/pages/2-6-26-python-competitor
3•dragandj•31m ago•0 comments

Tmux to Zellij (and Back)

https://www.mauriciopoppe.com/notes/tmux-to-zellij/
1•maurizzzio•32m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: How are you using specialized agents to accelerate your work?

1•otterley•34m ago•0 comments

Passing user_id through 6 services? OTel Baggage fixes this

https://signoz.io/blog/otel-baggage/
1•pranay01•34m ago•0 comments

DavMail Pop/IMAP/SMTP/Caldav/Carddav/LDAP Exchange Gateway

https://davmail.sourceforge.net/
1•todsacerdoti•35m ago•0 comments

Visual data modelling in the browser (open source)

https://github.com/sqlmodel/sqlmodel
1•Sean766•37m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Tharos – CLI to find and autofix security bugs using local LLMs

https://github.com/chinonsochikelue/tharos
1•fluantix•38m ago•0 comments

Oddly Simple GUI Programs

https://simonsafar.com/2024/win32_lights/
1•MaximilianEmel•38m ago•0 comments

The New Playbook for Leaders [pdf]

https://www.ibli.com/IBLI%20OnePagers%20The%20Plays%20Summarized.pdf
1•mooreds•38m ago•1 comments

Interactive Unboxing of J Dilla's Donuts

https://donuts20.vercel.app
1•sngahane•40m ago•0 comments

OneCourt helps blind and low-vision fans to track Super Bowl live

https://www.dezeen.com/2026/02/06/onecourt-tactile-device-super-bowl-blind-low-vision-fans/
1•gaws•41m ago•0 comments

Rudolf Vrba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Vrba
1•mooreds•42m ago•0 comments

Autism Incidence in Girls and Boys May Be Nearly Equal, Study Suggests

https://www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/autism/119747
1•paulpauper•43m ago•0 comments

Wellness Hotels Discovery Application

https://aurio.place/
1•cherrylinedev•44m ago•1 comments

NASA delays moon rocket launch by a month after fuel leaks during test

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/03/nasa-delays-moon-rocket-launch-month-fuel-leaks-a...
2•mooreds•44m ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

IBM Keyboard Patents

https://sharktastica.co.uk/topics/patents
84•tart-lemonade•6mo ago

Comments

pkdpic•6mo ago
I wish I had had this 5 years ago. The early laptops are worth scrolling down for. Really amazing resource.

Anybody aware of similar resources for other early computer patents for Apple, Commodore, Tandy etc? Or another IBM resource specifically covering more than just keyboards ie the 5150, PC Jr etc?

TacticalCoder•6mo ago
There's a company who's remaking the IBM Model F (even better feeling than a Model M).

https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/

Not cheap but I think he got the patent, tooling, and all.

Duanemclemore•6mo ago
Eliot Noyes Sighting!

One of the GOATS. Thanks for posting - there's so much awesome stuff here beyond his designs, but as an architect I gotta rep my man.

fuzzfactor•6mo ago
Take a look at 194,856 by Noyes.

Expired in 1977 and instantly recognizable as the unique architectural profile almost exactly copied by Exxon Office Systems for the Exxon Intelligent Typewriter which was out by 1979. Later known as Qyx machines they had a magnetically levitated interchangeable daisy-wheel instead of an IBM typeball for the different fonts & symbols. Available with up to two 5 1/4" floppy drives, this was before IBM PC's arrived.

terrisdotcom•6mo ago
Praise Kier!
tiltowait•6mo ago
> German Utility Patent 1,279,693

This one's pretty amazing to see, given how close it is in appearance to the Ergodox and other "glove keyboards" (rather, the other way around—they all resemble IBM's patent!).

> British Utility Patent 1,363,777 (GB1363777A)

While the buckling spring switches used in the Model M (or, for those with more rarified tastes, Model F) are rightly lauded, the beamspring is less well-known. The individual modules are absolutely massive as far as keyswitches go, but they feel wonderful to type on. They were designed to evoke the Selectric so as to be familiar to new users, and some models, such as the 3278, even included a solenoid that would click with each keypress. They also featured doubleshot keycaps and were absolute bricks that make the Model M seem a featherweight by comparison.

Asooka•6mo ago
Well, there are only so many ways to design a split mirrored keyboard that fits the shape of the human hand. The other "natural" keyboards that are a standard PC keyboard cut down the middle seem entirely pointless to me - you are already making people adapt to the split form factor, why not give them something a tad more ergonomic? Or are there other patents at play that prevented it before ErgoDox etc.?
bjoli•6mo ago
The solenoids in IBMs keyboard did not click. It was more of a bang. I have had 2 (one F and one of those beamspring ones. Can't remember exactly which B it was).

The F was loud, the model B was just spectacular. Amazing to type one after I fixed it, but with the solenoid plugged in it was unbearable.

nikanj•6mo ago
I'm surprised buckling spring keyboards are not widely available, despite being years out of patent
Asooka•6mo ago
They require higher manufacturing costs and aren't compatible with the standard Cherry keyswitch that every Chinese mechanical keyboard manufacturer uses. I know a while ago someone tried to produce a buckling spring keyswitch in a Cherry form factor, but I don't think anything came out of it. There is also very low demand. In any case, you can always buy a new one from Unicomp for a reasonable price.
tracker1•6mo ago
Love my Unicomp keyboards... but have had some minor issues... I've been mostly using brown-switch daskeyboard backlit models lately. My current desktop can't get into the bios via my unicomp 104-key, which is pretty annoying to say the least. I miss the bigger space bar and ctrl/win/alt positioning on the left side. There's really something to years of muscle memory that even years later a different keyboard can throw you off.

I also liked the buckling spring feel a bit more than MX browns. And definitely prefer Cherry MX Brown to any other brown-like knockoff switch I've tried.

I can hardly handle typing on an actual laptop keyboard... half the time, depending on my needs I'll stuff a full size keyboard in my bag. I'll also opt for either a BT mouse, or a magic pad.

2earth•6mo ago
Exceptional archive, thanks for your work!
merelysounds•6mo ago
Note that these are not just concepts but shipped projects. E.g. the description often says “An ornamental design depicting (name of the actual device)”.
II2II•6mo ago
Mostly. It was noted that the split/ergonomic keyboard was never shipped by IBM. (Though it mentioned that the patent is cited by Kinesis, presumably because the 1968 patent had expired and was being used as prior art?)
barelysapient•6mo ago
Ive been collecting Model M and Model F keyboards from IBM off from Ebay over the last few years. I've got quite a collection now. Only the IBM manufactured keyboards, no Lexmark or third-party.

I remember typing on a Model M as a kid. My fingers pushing the empty spaces between CTRL and ALT, where on newer keyboards, an OS meta now lives.

I remember writing Basic. Then Turbo Pascal. Full of curiosity and wonder.

The IBM authentic keyboards have a badge on the back with the year and month of manufacture. Most of these keyboards are older than my co-workers. Many still function correctly.

They're a joy to use.