Daily issue / 2026-08-26
Useful things that surfaced in Hacker News discussions on 2026-08-26. Open the context to see why each one caught our attention—or jump straight to the original thread.
What we found
A mesh VPN that makes remote Mac screen sharing simple.
Source discussion: New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra
“I've been using the free version of TailScale to use macOS's built-in screen sharing app to use my home Mac mini from my work MacBook Pro. Works great!”
lo_fye · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A self-hosted server for audiobooks, podcasts, and ebooks.
Source discussion: Bookshelf – Self-hosted eBook library that runs on object storage
“I'm a fan of audiobookshelf. Don't let the name fool you, it does a lot! I use it for podcasts, audio books, & ebooks. It's great!”
BloodyIron · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A keyboard layout that reduces finger travel while retaining QWERTY familiarity.
Source discussion: What's new in Emacs 31.1
“I tried a couple different layouts and landed on something called "middlemak"[1]. Of all the ones I tried, it really felt like the one with the least overall finger travel and awkward things to type in my day to day software development work”
tpmoney · comparison · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A dependency-free boot manager and bootable disk-image creator.
Source discussion: Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines
“Try https://gitlab.com/bztsrc/easyboot”
skrellm · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A graphical hex editor for inspecting, decoding, and visualizing binary data.
Source discussion: Visualizing Binary Files
“I've been using ImHex[0] for this purpose, to pretty good effect.”
pdpi · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A UI essay on where motion helps and where restraint works better.
Source discussion: Tooltips need a delay, and then they need to skip it
“that whole post is worth a read, I think, if you found this interesting”
brixie · recommendation · evaluated
Direct HN comment
A podcast series exploring Dolly Parton’s life, work, and cultural reach.
Source discussion: Dolly Parton has died
“I highly recommend it. Does a great job interviewing Dolly”
mattsolle · recommendation · evaluated
Direct HN comment
Peter Godfrey-Smith’s book on cephalopod minds and the evolution of consciousness.
Source discussion: Octopus intelligence may be related to never-before-seen mutation
“Godfrey-Smith is the author of "Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness," which is a great read to delve further.”
adolph · recommendation · evaluated
Direct HN comment
“Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness [excellent]”
bookofjoe · recommendation · evaluated
Direct HN comment
An independent art game inspired by Wordle and designed for daily play.
Source discussion: Don't Wordle
“I made an art game inspired by wordle some years ago. My dad and I still play it daily.”
steinvakt2 · recommendation · author or maintainer
Direct HN comment
A fast web client for trying the decentralized Nostr social network.
Source discussion: Nostr is an inclusive communication commons
“for those simply looking to try nostr for the first time, https://iris.to is a great way to get started.”
donpdonp · recommendation
Direct HN comment
A low-cost VPS provider offering KVM servers suitable for BSD.
Source discussion: Run OpenBSD on DigitalOcean for $4/month
“I used buyvm.net for BSD a while back. Didn't have any issues, and the few times I contacted their support they were quick to respond and helpful.”
SoftTalker · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment
A compact collection of practical OpenBSD setup and operations notes.
Source discussion: Run OpenBSD on DigitalOcean for $4/month
“https://romanzolotarev.com/bsd/ has been my go-to.”
tolerance · recommendation · first hand use
Direct HN comment