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Hacker News. Daily summary. Top 20 stories.

2026-06-21

CSSQuake (cssQuake)

CSSQuake renders the game Quake using CSS 3D transforms, with game logic in TypeScript.

Impressed by the CSS rendering, but many reported clipping and jank; the dev fixed a menu bug.

511 pts · 109 comments

Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can't Show You (Ryan Moulton's Articles)

Screens cannot display many naturally occurring cyans due to color gamut limits, but they can be found in forests and underwater.

Commenters agreed screens miss vivid cyans and greens, with paint and lasers showing them better.

462 pts · 119 comments

The Wholesale Plagiarism of Obscure Sorrows (Waxy.org)

A marketing agency plagiarized an author's book, added AI content, and outranked the official site.

Split between demanding DMCA enforcement against Qontour and criticizing the DMCA itself as flawed.

380 pts · 147 comments

Loupe – A iOS app that raises awareness about what native apps can see (GitHub)

Loupe shows what iOS device fingerprinting data is accessible to any app via public APIs.

Volume creation date and pasteboard changeCount were called out as particularly egregious fingerprinting signals.

372 pts · 154 comments

I Stored a Website in a Favicon (timwehrle.de)

A developer stored a small website's HTML inside a 9x9 favicon pixel grid.

Mixed reactions: praise for creativity versus concerns about favicon caching for fingerprinting.

304 pts · 107 comments

VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate' (birminghammail.co.uk)

UK government may age-gate VPNs as part of under-16 social media ban.

Skepticism dominates: commenters see a UK firewall that will be circumvented, while a minority notes mainstream VPN usage will drop.

299 pts · 345 comments

Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs (extremetech.com)

Windows 11's new Media Player uses 3.5x more RAM and charges for HEVC codecs.

Users resent the bloat and paywalled codecs; recommend VLC, MPC-HC, or mpv instead.

292 pts · 168 comments

Renting a sewing machine from the library (BBC)

Finnish libraries lend sewing machines and tools to promote democracy and social inclusion.

Support for library lending programs, with debate on sewing machine durability and user skill requirements.

272 pts · 152 comments

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible (SMPTE)

SMPTE makes its motion imaging standards freely accessible to all.

Most commenters approve, arguing paywalled standards hinder adoption and should be the exception, not the rule.

271 pts · 92 comments

Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior (cell.com)

Prolonged exhalation increases risky decisions by boosting reward sensitivity.

Surprise that slow breathing boosts risk-taking, with split camps on whether that aligns with real-world experience.

266 pts · 77 comments

DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots (neuviemeporte’s journal)

The F-15 Strike Eagle II reverse-engineering project seeks testers for its nearly complete C reconstruction.

Nostalgia and enthusiasm dominate, with technical notes on AI-assisted reverse-engineering and copyright concerns.

265 pts · 68 comments

Developers don't understand CORS (2019) (fosterelli.co)

Too many web developers do not understand CORS, leading to security vulnerabilities.

Agreement that CORS is widely misunderstood, with blame split between opaque error messages and lack of security mindset.

255 pts · 190 comments

Your brain was never designed for this much bad news (ScienceDaily)

News fatigue is a predictable response of brains not evolved for global threat scanning.

Split between local-action advocates and those defending broader civic engagement despite limits.

253 pts · 229 comments

Linux eliminates the strncpy API after six years of work, 360 patches (phoronix.com)

Linux kernel removes strncpy API after six-year migration effort.

Thread debates whether null-terminated strings or null pointers are computing's bigger mistake.

252 pts · 242 comments

Google Hits 50% IPv6 (APNIC Blog)

Google reports that IPv6 usage among its users has reached 50% globally for the first time.

Mixed experiences: some find IPv6 faster, others cite frequent endpoint failures and routing bugs.

233 pts · 237 comments

Temporary Cloudflare accounts for AI agents (The Cloudflare Blog)

Cloudflare introduces temporary accounts for AI agents to deploy code without signup.

Skepticism about cloudflare easing bot access while blocking humans with Turnstile

227 pts · 123 comments

UHF X11: X11 Built for VisionOS and Apple Vision Pro (lispm.net)

UHF X11 turns Apple Vision Pro into a spatial X11 display server.

Interest and skepticism about AVP value, with nods to Linux alternatives.

212 pts · 48 comments

Show HN: TownSquare, a tiny presence layer for websites (townsquare.cauenapier.com)

TownSquare adds a tiny real-time presence layer to websites via one script tag.

Enthusiasm for the concept, but moderation is flagged as a critical unresolved issue.

210 pts · 117 comments

Show HN: StartupWiki – A Free Alternative to Crunchbase (startupwiki.tech)

StartupWiki is an AI-powered, free alternative to Crunchbase for researching startups.

Dominant concern: data reliability, with concrete errors cited and founder acknowledging accuracy is the top challenge.

208 pts · 64 comments

When I reject AI code even if it works (Vinicius Brasil)

AI-generated code that works can still be a bad solution if the engineer cannot understand or explain it.

Dominant sentiment: accepting AI code you cannot explain is irresponsible, especially in systems where maintainability and support matter.

205 pts · 137 comments