MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
Show HN: Generate lesson slides, homework and revision notes for UK teachers
by sarjann | 2026-02-17 13:23:04+00:00
I'm a developer and I kept hearing from teachers how much time they spend making learning materials. So I built a tool where you pick a subject, topic, and education level, and it generates structured slides, homework, or revision notes that you can edit and export.

It's not perfect and the output needs user validation before using it in class, but it cuts the starting from scratch problem. Built with React, Convex, and OpenRouter w/ AI. Happy to answer questions, this is my first user facing product so don't be too mean :D.

Added support for SVG's as well although models don't seem great at that (e.g. angle arcs being wrongly placed) and there are some clipping issues I need to resolve.
by StilesCrisis | 2026-02-17 13:24:23+00:00
I can't take this seriously when their mission statement is to "break free from Google and Apple" and their entire output is a fork of a Google repo.

If you're based on AOSP, the project is still 100% reliant on Google!

It seems extremely cynical to me to depend on the work of a thousand-man team to build your OS, then patch out a couple of lines and claim you've broken free from them. Without Google, none of this project could exist.
Show HN: Angora – Front-End Design System as Code Using Claude Code
by junaidbhura | 2026-02-17 13:24:36+00:00
I built a thing.

For the past few weeks I've been working on Angora — an open-source design system that runs inside Claude Code.

You design a button in Figma. An engineer rebuilds it in React. Someone sets up Storybook to document it. Then you spend the rest of the project keeping three versions of the same button in sync. Tokens drift. The component explorer rots. The "single source of truth" is actually four sources of partial truth.

The problem isn't handoff. It's the entire layer of work that comes after — the frontend engineering step where intent gets manually translated into implementation. Angora removes it.

Design engineers have always lived at the intersection of visual systems and code. They think in hierarchy and semantics, spacing and accessibility. But even they've spent most of their time translating. AI just made that translation unnecessary.

You describe your brand in conversation — your audience, the feel, the constraints. Angora reads your tokens, your existing components, your anti-patterns, and builds things that belong in your system. The output is static HTML and CSS via Astro. What you see in the browser is what ships.

And it keeps going. Tell it you've got 50 blog posts in a CSV and a folder of images — Angora models the schema, imports every row, generates alt text for the images, and wires your components to real database queries. The design system becomes a prototype. The prototype becomes the website. Same tokens, same components, no migration. You didn't assemble it — Angora did.

It's in early alpha and I'm building in the open. I'd love your feedback.
by vintagedave | 2026-02-17 13:25:23+00:00
"ZeroClaw implements defense-in-depth security" -- I see some things listed here, enough to make me feel this is a more solid app than OpenClaw / Moltbot, but not enough to let me feel okay installing it :)

Does anyone with more expertise than me have an opinion on this one? I'm especially worried about exfiltration or other negative behaviours, where, assuming the server itself is secure from traffic from remote attacks (quite an assumption) AIs themselves may be externally prompted or led towards poor behaviour that hurts the person running ZeroClaw.
by PlatoIsADisease | 2026-02-17 13:25:41+00:00
Wild to see how far they've fallen. Although I think this was basically the turning point for Nintendo. The GC intentionally avoided competing(at least on graphics) and was still a financial success.

From there, Nintendo relied on gimmicks and corporate mascots/IP.

I guess sega was a few years ahead of them on their own timeline.
by citrin_ru | 2026-02-17 13:25:47+00:00
A few random thoughts:

There are many new data-centers they are being filled with servers. Most servers have at least 2 HDD (mirror) for the OS. I would not be surprised if on a huge scale even 2 HDD per server could cause HDD shortage.

There are likely models which are trained on 4k video and it should be stored somewhere too.

Even things like logs and metrics can consume petabytes for a large (and complex) cluster. And the less mature the software the more logs you need to debug it in production.

In the AI race investments if not unlimited at least abundant. In such conditions optimization of hardware usage is the waste of time and velocity is the only things which matters.
by bluedino | 2026-02-17 13:25:57+00:00
We had a contractor write a replacement for some green-screen software that we ran for years. The replacement was of course a web interface, written in PHP, and nicely themed and all that was great in 2005.

We kept running into all kinds of weird issues when importing data back into the legacy system. Of course, after we started looking into it, I narrowed all the issues down to the same two users.

I don't remember exactly what it was, but users would hit a certain key on the keyboard at the end of every field, before they used the mouse to click on the next field and enter more data. This resulted in an undesired character at the end of every field!

I realized exactly what was going on as I watched a person fill out the form and submit it.

"Why are you doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"Hitting the space bar (or whatever key it was) every time you fill out a field!"

Of course, in the old system you had to hit that key to save each field as you entered it.

shrug
by astrashe2 | 2026-02-17 13:26:01+00:00
It wasn't quite as old, but there was an old MS DOS database system called Cosmos Revelation that was sort of a proto-nosql/graph database used keys and values for records, with the values being stored in long strings that contained field separators, and support for multiple values of the same time in a single field of a record. It used a language called R/BASIC that had library routines to help you work with the data structure.

This software is my retro computing white whale, I've never been able to find it. But I think it's evolved into a product called OpenInsight, by Revelation Software, which still exists.
Ask HN: I'm investing $100k in cool people with boring skills. Any leads?
by surprisetalk | 2026-02-17 13:26:05+00:00
Howdy. I want to invest $100k in cool people who do skilled labor with their hands.

Examples: mending, sharpening, fabrication, transportation, restoration, carpentry, whatever.

If you have any talented friends who want more autonomy in their work, please intro us! My email is hello@taylor.town

I'd also love to hear HN's experience with small-business investing. Is this a good idea? Bad idea? What else should I consider?
by raw_anon_1111 | 2026-02-17 13:26:29+00:00
This is so much bubble thinking. The average senior developer in America barely make $150K. Most will never see $200K inflation adjusted in their entire career. Hell the way comp has stagnated for software engineers in tier 2 cities - where most work at banks, insurance companies, “the enterprise” - may never see $200K nominally. You can even look and see what most YC companies pay their “founding engineers”.

Yes I know what BigTech an adjacent makes. Been there done that.
by vladms | 2026-02-17 13:27:46+00:00
As far as I remember, last time I needed to use Google play on a shared phone I could just create a random Google address (I mean, completely invented name, etc.) and it allowed me to do anything, just as my normal Android.

I am too lazy to test, but did this change? Can't you just make a "fake" account and continue with your life? The phone company knows where you are, the bank knows what you purchase. Compared to that Google will know far less (ofc, if you don't activate everything)

I find it much more insane that it was possible for so long to do banking WITHOUT strong authentication (however implemented) by just providing those 3 numbers on the back of the card (strong security!)
by ruhith | 2026-02-17 13:27:58+00:00
Good point on CSS springs. There's actually been spec discussion around spring() as a timing function but the fundamental problem is springs are durationless, they settle when physics says so, not when a timer expires, and that breaks how CSS animations work under the hood. On Android, yes, since Android 12 the overscroll glow became a stretch-and-bounce and Material You uses spring/fling physics system-wide, less opinionated than iOS but it's there. And fair enough on the AI callout, I did use AI to clean up the writing, the ideas and code are mine though. I'll keep it more raw next time.
by xattt | 2026-02-17 13:28:04+00:00
The article reads like a naïve person coming to terms with the idea of consciousness… like “whoa maaan, my fingers… they’re finging!”

“Extra-cerebral” neurons are optimized for different functions than neurons proper in the brain.

It’s unlikely that the gut has thoughts and feelings, given neuronal tissue is distributed throughout viscera (versus concentrated in one spot like the brain). They are distributed so that smooth muscle tissue can contract appropriately and push food and wastes down the line.

The author compares the number of GI neurons to the number of neurons in a dog’s brain, but gleans over the fact over the number of neurons in a dog’s GI tract.

The neurons the author highlights in the heart are concentrated at the base, because the shape of the heart is optimized for coordinated contraction via electrical impulse propagation.
by gigatexal | 2026-02-17 13:28:48+00:00
> That's why PTSD is such a bitch to be treated: even with the stimulus gone, the physiological reaction remains.

Helping a friend with cPTSD and this is so true! It’s such a hard thing to overcome. By helping I mean I’m helping pay for counseling and therapy not that I’m doing it cuz I’m hella unqualified.
by cartoonworld | 2026-02-17 13:29:55+00:00
well, a concerted attack could easily subvert the baseband if you have a few million dollars and the correct letterhead or private contacts.

GrapheneOS really wants the software in the phone to not pwn the phone. This is good. Its a different, and much more difficult problem to secure the connection to the telco, and the larger internet, because the transport is attacker controlled.

Think of it this way: Say you use Qubes because security is valued very highly for you. Even if you run Qubes, if your router is controlled by your attacker, what kind of a security guarantee could you really get for yourself?
by haskman | 2026-02-17 13:29:59+00:00
Been running GrapheneOS for a while on a Pixel 9, and extremely happy with it! Apart from the usual perks of the FOSS ecosystem, there are a few things specific to GrapheneOS that are not immediately apparent but have turned out to work very well -

1. The Pixel camera app works, including all modes and settings. A camera that takes good photos was absolutely a requirement for me, and the FOSS camera apps are not quite as good yet.

2. I don't have Google Photos and the pixel camera app tries to launch google photos when you want to review the picture you just took. But there is a FOSS app called GPhotosShim that uses the same namespace as google photos and thus fools the camera into launching that app instead. Once launched, it just launches whatever media management app you actually have configured, so it's seamless.

3. Android Auto works!

4. Android QuickShare works!

5. NFC tags / Yubikey integration works!

6. Screencasting works!

7. Sensor access and internet access can be disabled for apps by default (and I do).
by tsimionescu | 2026-02-17 13:30:38+00:00
> Sure it's easier to fast but you're missing out on the other benefits associated with exercise.

This is very true, exercise is very important for health regardless of its effect on weight.

> For cardio sure but for weight training you're burning calories and tearing muscle fibres to increase size/strength.

True, but you need to spend even more time to rack up 800 Cal worth of exercise by weight training compared to doing cardio, as a beginner or even an intermediate level gym goer.

It is also true though that weight training, if you actually successfully build muscle mass, can significantly increase your BMR and thus help with losing weight in that way, even if you're not spending hours or lifting hundreds of kilos at every session.
What happens when open-source AI agents become "wrapperized"?
by bfzli | 2026-02-17 13:30:42+00:00
After the release of OpenClaw, an AI agent framework for running background jobs at scale, adoption grew quickly.

But setup was difficult:

- Non-technical users struggled with installation
- Hosting decisions were confusing
- Infrastructure blocked experimentation

That gap led to a wave of hosting and wrapper platforms.

For example, ClawHost focuses on one-click deployment to a server provider of your choice with full access and multi-agent support. Other platforms like SimpleClaw take a more managed/chat-only approach.

In the past week, I’ve seen 10+ variations appear.

It feels like we’re watching the “WordPress hosting moment” for AI agents.

Now that OpenClaw is getting closer to OpenAI’s ecosystem, I’m curious:

- Do infrastructure-first platforms win?
- Do simpler wrappers dominate through distribution?

Or does the core project absorb these layers?

Genuinely curious how people here see this playing out.
I've spent weeks trying to find free participants for user interviews
by dmitryivanovdev | 2026-02-17 13:30:46+00:00
Been banging my head against the wall here and could really use your collective wisdom.

I'm running research for a B2B SaaS product and need to interview ~15 product managers (our target audience). The problem? I have zero budget for panels like UserTesting ($50-200/participant is just not possible right now).

Here's what I've tried so far:

LinkedIn outreach — spent hours crafting personalized messages. Response rate: maybe 5%. Most people just ignore.

My personal network — exhausted after 3 interviews. Plus it's biased (all people I already know).

Twitter/LinkedIn posts — got a few likes, zero sign-ups.

Slack communities — some communities ban "recruitment posts", others just get ignored.

Emailing existing users — we don't have a big user base yet. Classic chicken-and-egg.

I'm spending more time hunting for participants than actually doing research. Something feels broken.

For those of you who've been there:

How do YOU find qualified participants without paying $50-200 per person?

What's your actual response rate from free channels?

Have you ever skipped research entirely because recruitment was too hard?

If you've got 3 minutes, I made a short survey about this problem. Would love to hear your experience — and I'll share the results with everyone who participates.

https://validatey.vercel.app/s/z34noiu

Thanks in advance. This community has saved me more times than I can count.
Show HN: PolyClaw – Autonomous Docker-First MCP Agent for PolyMCP
by justvugg | 2026-02-17 13:31:00+00:00
I built PolyClaw, an autonomous agent for the PolyMCP ecosystem inspired by OpenClaw.

PolyClaw doesn’t just call tools.
It plans, executes, adapts — and even creates MCP servers when needed.

It’s designed for real-world, multi-step production workflows where an agent must:
• Orchestrate multiple tools
• Spin up infrastructure dynamically
• Recover from failures
• Deliver complete, end-to-end results

⸻

What PolyClaw Does
• Decomposes complex tasks into executable steps
• Dynamically selects and orchestrates MCP tools
• Spins up or connects to MCP servers on demand
• Adapts if execution fails or context changes
• Validates outputs before proceeding
• Runs Docker-first for isolation and safety
• Built with Python + TypeScript

PolyClaw is not just a tool-caller — it’s an infrastructure-aware agent.

⸻

Run PolyClaw (via PolyMCP CLI)

polymcp agent run \
--type polyclaw \
--query "Build a sales reporting pipeline and test it end-to-end" \
--model minimax-m2.5:cloud \
--verbose

What happens behind the scenes:
1. The task is decomposed into structured steps
2. Required MCP tools are identified
3. MCP servers are started or connected
4. Steps execute (sequentially or in parallel)
5. Outputs are validated
6. Failures trigger adaptive replanning
7. A complete, end-to-end result is returned

All containerized. All isolated.

⸻

Why This Matters

Most AI agents today:
• Call tools statically
• Assume infrastructure already exists
• Break on multi-step failures

PolyClaw instead:
• Builds the infrastructure it needs
• Orchestrates across multiple MCP servers
• Handles retries and adaptive planning
• Is safe to run in Dockerized environments

This makes it viable for:
• Enterprise workflows
• DevOps automation
• Data pipelines
• Internal tooling orchestration
• Complex multi-tool reasoning tasks

PolyClaw turns PolyMCP from simple tool exposure into a fully autonomous orchestration layer.

Repo: https://github.com/poly-mcp/PolyMCP

Happy to answer questions.
by Nevermark | 2026-02-17 13:31:43+00:00
To the degree the body diverts any housekeeping or thermogenic calories to exercise calories, which from basic biological adaptivity and thermogenic control must be true at some level, that math will be misleading.

Not that doing x work doesn’t burn y energy, but that +x work in exercise does not burn +y energy at the end of the day.

Exercise is an alternate heat source, approximately 1-to-1 with thermogenic heat (albeit, not distributed as evenly). So much so that our body has to switch to cooling strategies.

And the body can respond to energy expenditures by reducing other expenditures and using calories more parsimoniously in other dimensions.

It is interesting that during periods in which I have a habit of daily low intensity exercise, I feel like I have more energy than periods I don’t do any exercise, even if my calorie intake is the same.

Another noticeable effect is any allergies from local plant life I get clear up quickly during and after exercise. My immune system runs a tighter, less reactive ship.

Those baseline calories are not just often underestimated in a static sense, but are also dynamically adaptable.
by shevy-java | 2026-02-17 13:31:52+00:00
This should be illegal that the government forces people into apps controlled by private, commercial entities. I call such a government corrupt.

Here in central Europe I can still access the bank website fine without smartphone. I need a physical device to yield a TAN though, but I can access and do online transactions fine. So I think something is wrong with the spanish government. People need to protest.
by lejalv | 2026-02-17 13:32:03+00:00
> Card is usually linked to the US. Some people would like to not depend on that.

You have a point, and even though it looks like it will be a very corporate-driven system, and possibly dependent on Google or Apple, there seems to be an EU payment system on the making (if it ends up depending on Google or Apple, that will be the irony of leaving VISA/Mastercard to fall in the fangs of Google / Apple, but... oh well, one step at a time).

I think the name is Wero, it was on HN a few days ago.
by easyThrowaway | 2026-02-17 13:32:04+00:00
In the music industry they have a saying about sampling and IP clearance which easily applies here too: "The lawfulness of your actions is directly related to your law firm fees compared to the other part".

Are Dolphin and emulation in general going to be legal in the future? Easy, if Nintendo chooses to go with Morrison & Foerster or Fish & Richardson for a lawsuit I'm going with "no".
by bluedino | 2026-02-17 13:32:18+00:00
It always seemed like there were three tiers of students/projects when the science fair came around each year.

1. Just generic stuff. Growing plants with something different in the soil/water, what shape of balsa wood makes the strongest structure, etc

2. You were taken under the wing of the science teacher, were given better ideas which were encouraged, got to use some equipment from the school, that sort of thing.

3. The highest tier, one of your parents was a biologist, engineer or chemist at one of the local big companies, you did some very specialized research, were able to use some very fancy equipment, etc. These kids almost always seemed to have the best chance of winning.
by cartoonworld | 2026-02-17 13:32:27+00:00
5G CSS is harder yes, but keep in mind that most 5G is the 5G_NSA variety, and is really just riding on the same cell bands, no mmwave here. You probably notice that your phone often slips out of 5g, or you inhabit different modes here.

Essentially, 5G is sort of a lie. Phones spend a lot of time exchanging information via 4g/lte, and just like 2g/3g and 3g/4g, there are simply downgrades that can be performed in the field, without getting too far into the weeds.

5G matters not for this.
by randusername | 2026-02-17 13:32:28+00:00
How are the cameras on the latest devices running GrapheneOS? My last Android experience was the Oneplus One and the experience left me with the feeling that cameras are just too proprietary to work well once you go tinkering with custom ROMs and camera apps.

I'm not a photographer or anything, I just want to quickly point and shoot and get on with whatever I'm doing without thinking too hard.
by Bender | 2026-02-17 13:32:59+00:00
I am surely no expert on this topic but in my opinion plenty on HN know how crypto works but have no use for it or do not trust the exchanges or ledger operators to be outside of government control. The original promise was to bank the un-banked, proven untrue as governments can easily shut it down. Some tech enthusiasts use it but the primary use appears to still be for crime. Bucket shops, wash trading, laundering, recreating the criminal platforms of the 1920's - 1930's in a digital medium and that's before getting into topics like drugs, firearms and other things that draw the ire of governments. I am aware it is just a tool but that tool is drawing the wrong attention.

Crypto is also heavily focused on by the IRS here in the USA and some do not want to deal with even more complexity in their taxes. Governments are playing catch-up with cryto and it is they who are a decade or more behind on it. There are too many unknowns regarding what retro-active laws are coming. I know for a fact I will never go anywhere near it.

Disclaimer: I did watch your video but I did not hear any reason why I would use that as none of the examples given really apply to me. All of the purchasing examples provided are covered by cash for me. I lost confidence in online purchasing ages ago and barely trust one vendor enough to utilize them for things not sold locally. Most of the online stores using crypto carry the risks of unknown-unknowns for me. If I can not get something locally, I go to Amazon and if they don't have it then neither will I.
by jgeada | 2026-02-17 13:33:25+00:00
| - Have leaders skilled in whatever their direct reports are doing. Use them as coaches normally and as spare workers in times of high demand.

I think this is the biggest hurdle for US style management produced from the MBA cookie factories. Their only skill sets are MBA speak, assigning blame, taking credit and granting themselves the largest bonuses possible while telling all the actual workers generating value that "due to current financial conditions, your raise is limited to 2%"