Daily issue / 2026-08-13
Useful things that surfaced in Hacker News discussions on 2026-08-13. Open the context to see why each one caught our attention—or jump straight to the original thread.
What we found
An open-source Rust reimplementation of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language.
Source discussion: Show HN: Woxi - Open-source Mathematica / Wolfram Language reimplementation
“I've tried a few algebra problems with Sympy, Sage, Xcas, Maxima and Woxi. Of these only Sage, Maxima and Woxi were capable of giving the expected answers.”
bobajeff · recommendation · evaluated
Direct HN comment
An interactive map for visualizing terrain, building, and tree shadows by time and date.
Source discussion: Shade Map
“My friends and I used this for a camping party's solar panel's placement (for charging a battery).”
km3r · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A browser extension that filters Facebook content and interface clutter.
Source discussion: uBlock Origin Is Giving Up the Fight to Keep Ads Off Facebook
“I use a browser extension called F.B. Purity. It's worked across multiple browsers for years.”
The-Old-Hacker · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A predictive text-entry interface driven by next-character probabilities.
Source discussion: Compression is prediction
“Ah Sir David MacKay. I so respect him. Great explainer and speaker. He had built this text entry tool called Dasher [0]”
smath · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A 3Blue1Brown video exploring the relationship between compression and intelligence.
Source discussion: Compression is prediction
“Grant Sanderson has an excellent video on the same topic [0]. It's part of a series that is ongoing.”
sheeeeesh · recommendation
Direct HN comment
An open-source map collecting webcams along the 2026 total solar-eclipse path.
Source discussion: 2026 Eclipse Webcams
“A simple and elegant project”
culi · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A free community edition of the native Object Pascal development environment.
Source discussion: Delphi 13 Community Edition Is Now Available
“there is (was?) something promoted by a Delphi environment that is rare to find elsewhere, that lets people (a) quickly prototype cool stuff, and then (b) sustainably grow it into a mature product as it gains users.”
kqr · recommendation
Direct HN comment