Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra for a big leap in performance and AI compute

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/08/apple-introduces-m6-and-m5-ultra-for-a-big-leap-in-performance-and-ai-compute/article/Apple-M6-and-M5-Ultra-hero-260825_big.jpg.large.jpg
Apple has introduced M6 and M5 Ultra chips in the new Mac mini and Mac Studio, offering significant performance gains and AI capabilities. The chips provide industry-leading power efficiency, enabling users to run demanding workloads with ease.

New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/08/apple-introduces-new-mac-studio-with-m5-max-and-m5-ultra/article/Apple-Mac-Studio-hero-260825_big.jpg.large.jpg
Apple has announced the new Mac Studio, featuring M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips for AI performance and graphics. The Mac Studio offers up to 4.3x faster AI performance, 2x faster storage, and 1.8x faster graphics compared to previous models.

New Mac mini, featuring M6 and M5 Pro

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/images/2026/08/apple-unveils-a-more-powerful-mac-mini-featuring-the-all-new-m6-and-m5-pro/article/Apple-Mac-mini-hero-260825_big.jpg.large.jpg
Apple has released the new Mac mini with M6 and M5 Pro, offering improved performance and versatility in its compact design. The new models feature up to 4x faster AI performance, 2x faster storage, and graphics capabilities.

Qwen 3.8-Flash-Next releasing tomorrow (125B a6B)

https://cdn.modelscope.cn/social-thumbnails/models/Qwen/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next.png
ModelScope——汇聚各领域先进的机器学习模型,提供模型探索体验、推理、训练、部署和应用的一站式服务。在这里,共建模型开源社区,发现、学习、定制和分享心仪的模型。

France's tax agency got hacked (in French)

https://storage.ghost.io/c/2d/67/2d677b10-0d46-459d-a11e-e4aed81cb7c8/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-16-at-22.05.09.png
Voici une résumé de l'article en deux phrases :

Bomb Fishing Is Wreaking Havoc on Indonesia's Coral Reefs

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Researchers estimate that over 8,000 underwater explosives are detonated annually off Indonesia's coast, destroying coral reefs. The practice of blast fishing is a major threat to the world's most biologically diverse marine ecosystem, known as the Coral Triangle.

Don't Wordle

Don't Wordle is a free daily word game where you try to avoid guessing the hidden word. You get six tries, using green (correct letter), yellow (correct letter wrong place), and gray (incorrect letters) clues to eliminate possibilities.

How much of HN is AI?

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The author analyzed Hacker News for AI-related topics, finding that they dominated the site's lineup in February and June 2026. The analysis used a tool called Pangram to detect LLM-generated text, suggesting that around 60% of stories were either AI-related or written by AI in June.

HelloAssembly The smallest possible complete Windows application

https://camo.githubusercontent.com/cfc67952bebce10549c5ce868e36dfff99cbde6a4c60b08805b14baff692c757/687474703a2f2f69332e7974696d672e636f6d2f76692f62307a7849664a4a4c41592f687164656661756c742e6a7067
The goal is to create a tiny executable with specific features, and users should be aware that the process may trigger virus scanners. The code can be built using either MASM32 or Yasm assembler.

MySQL CDC to BigQuery: what periodic syncs miss, and how binlog avoids it

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MySQL Change Data Capture (CDC) captures all changes, including deletes and intermediate updates, by reading from the binary log. To land CDC reliably in BigQuery, ensure MySQL settings like binlog_row_image and replication are correct.

iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses will remain on icloud.com

https://developer.apple.com/news/images/og/icloud-og.jpg
Sign in with Apple addresses will shift from privaterelay.appleid.com to private.icloud.com later this year. Existing privaterelay.appleid.com addresses will continue to work without interruption, but developers must update their systems for the new domain.

MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID

https://xusheng.dev/posts/reversing/mspaint_invisible_watermark/social-preview.jpg
Researchers reverse-engineered Paint and Photos to discover that they embed a server-issued GUID into the pixels of locally generated AI images. The GUID is obtained from Microsoft's prompt moderation endpoint, indicating that "generated locally" does not mean the entire operation is local.

Beyond Good and Evil: Nietzsche and the Great War

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Xiaomi: New CPU matches Apple cores single threaded, much faster multithreaded

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQfmx0UWoAAvbt6?format=webp&name=medium
Xiaomi's new CPU, Xring O3, matches Apple cores in single-threaded tasks and outperforms them in multithreaded execution. The chip boasts a large cache and many powerful cores with advanced SIMD capabilities.

AI is hitting entry-level jobs hardest, Stanford study finds

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2211086231-640x448.jpg
AI is causing significant entry-level job losses for younger workers in some fields, with employment levels 19% below those of their peers in less exposed occupations. The impact is mainly through lower hiring rates and not increased firings or employees quitting.

Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5ecc3aa9b8d8da6245a6cb5e/65677bd2d5c1eaaf0b6e69e6_Office.webp
The author built a backyard office in Portland, Oregon, to improve their remote work experience and stay productive with their toddler at home. They chose a 8x10 foot shed conversion using Tuff Shed's Premier Pro Tall Ranch model and added features like windows, electricity, flooring, and AC for an overall cost of under $20k.

How Universities Should Prepare Founders

Universities should prepare students to start startups by teaching powerful ideas, such as computer science and engineering, and encouraging them to work on their own projects.

SiFive's First Server Platform

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hVUh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2046840a-bfac-4469-86df-3b75d2689714_1557x820.png
SiFive has released the BigSky SF-2U870, a new RISC-V platform with improved capabilities and support for the RVA23 standard. The platform is designed to be a development system, offering ease of use and compatibility with Ubuntu 26.04 out of the box.

Windows 95 released August 24, 1995

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Windows 95 was released on August 24, 1995, and it marked a significant improvement over its predecessors with better multitasking capabilities. However, it required higher-end hardware to run smoothly, leading to widespread upgrades and sales of new computers.

How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

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The EU's new packaging rules threaten makers and micro-entrepreneurs, putting jobs and innovation at risk. The regulations require producers to take responsibility for packaging waste, but the fragmented national model creates a disproportionate barrier to entry for small businesses.

What's new in Emacs 31.1

https://www.masteringemacs.org/static/img/bookcover35.png
Emacs 31.1 has been released with various quality of life fixes and improvements, including a new portable dumper for garbage collection, customizable window layouts, and enhanced completion systems. The release also includes several new features such as project management support, improved documentation tools like Eldoc and SMerge, and better integration with external tools like Docker containers.

The entire city of San Francisco as a video game

https://sf.thijs.gg/assets/arcade/hidden-minimap-frame-v2.png
FILL = CURRENT OWNER Z20 Z17 Z16 Z15GROUND FILE FULL COLUMN READY VISIBLE CORNERS LOADING WASD move · mouse look · Space jump · Shift run · C camera · H glider

Moon (2024)

https://ciechanow.ski/images/moon/footprint.jpg
The Moon orbits the Earth, changing its position in the sky over time. The Moon's path is not a perfect circle and its distance from Earth varies, causing changes in its apparent size and shape.

Bookshelf – Self-hosted eBook library that runs on object storage

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/murerkinn/bookshelf/main/docs/shelf.webp
This project creates a self-hosted library for ebooks, allowing users to filter and download EPUB and PDF books. It can be deployed on Cloudflare or as a Node server over R2.

Where did all the public bathrooms go?

https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/early_doctors_diagnosed_disease_by_looking_at_urine_1050x700.jpg
Public urinals, known as pissoirs, were built in Paris during the mid-1800s to address public health concerns and provide a private space for men to relieve themselves. However, they became popular meeting spots for anonymous encounters and eventually led to their banishment due to moral objections, ultimately contributing to the decline of public restrooms throughout Europe and America.

Training AI to Paint with Code

https://framerusercontent.com/images/FlKMe2C84oIukHZ4vGWy3Htrs.png?width=2880&height=2050
Researchers trained a language model to generate images using reinforcement learning, but the initial reward function led to plateauing and limited improvement. A revised rubric with pairwise judgment and human preference models improved performance.

Peppermint oil reduces blood pressure by 8.48 mmHg in small study

https://storage.googleapis.com/plos-corpus-prod/10.1371/journal.pone.0344538/1/pone.0344538.g001.PNG_I?X-Goog-Algorithm=GOOG4-RSA-SHA256&X-Goog-Credential=wombat-sa%40plos-prod.iam.gserviceaccount.com%2F20260824%2Fauto%2Fstorage%2Fgoog4_request&X-Goog-Date=20260824T144308Z&X-Goog-Expires=86400&X-Goog-SignedHeaders=host&X-Goog-Signature=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
A randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of twice-daily peppermint oil supplementation on systolic blood pressure and related health indicators in individuals with pre- and stage 1 hypertension, finding significant reductions in systolic blood pressure compared to placebo. The study suggests that peppermint oil may be a simple, low-cost, and well-tolerated strategy for ...

Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)

https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/jstor_collaborators_ad_mobile.jpg
The US government supported modern art as a tool for Cold War diplomacy, with institutions like MoMA and the CIA backing exhibitions to promote American cultural freedom. This effort was part of a broader strategy to counter Soviet propaganda and showcase Western democratic culture.

Crafting QR Codes: A deep dive into QR code art (2024)

https://kylezhe.ng/_astro/escape.BTIyVXFR_4qfcs.webp
A QR code can be made artistic by altering its structure and design, but it must still follow certain rules to scan properly. The key is to balance dark and light pixels in the right places while maintaining a good contrast.

Autostep (YC P26) Is Hiring AI/Fullstack Engineers and a Chief of Staff