Hacker NewsWednesday, June 18

Honda successfully conducted a test launch and landing of their experimental reusable rocket in Taiki Town, Japan, reaching 271.4 meters altitude. This achievement marks a significant step in Honda's space technology research, with aims to achieve suborbital launch capabilities by 2029 as part of their commitment to sustainable transportation.

WhatsApp announced it will introduce advertising for the first time, but only in its Updates section used by 1.5 billion daily users. The app will collect basic data for ad targeting while maintaining message privacy and end-to-end encryption, marking a shift from its original ad-free philosophy.

A humorous guide written in caveman-style language that offers pragmatic software development advice, focusing on avoiding complexity, saying no to unnecessary features, testing strategies, and dealing with project management challenges through the perspective of a self-aware "grug brain" developer.

Fossify is a collection of privacy-focused, open-source, and ad-free mobile apps that continues the legacy of SimpleMobileTools. The project includes various applications like Gallery, Calendar, File Manager, Phone, Music Player, and Messages, all designed to provide simple and private technology solutions without advertisements.

Chawan is a terminal-based web browser built in Nim that supports CSS rendering, JavaScript, and inline images. Originally inspired by w3m, it features a multi-process architecture and handles various protocols like HTTPS, FTP, and Gopher with custom decoder capabilities.

The author argues against using AI coding tools, stating they don't increase productivity since code review takes as much time as writing it. They emphasize that being responsible for code requires thorough understanding, and AI's inability to learn from feedback makes it less valuable than human contributors.

A study involving 33 religious leaders who took psilocybin (magic mushrooms) found that 90% considered it one of their most meaningful spiritual experiences. While the study had limitations and faced ethical concerns, it sparked discussions about the relationship between psychedelics and religious experiences, with some clergy later incorporating psychedelics into their teachings.

The author experimented with hosting a BitTorrent tracker by acquiring a previously dead domain (open.demonii.si) and setting up tracking software. Within an hour, the tracker attracted 1.7 million torrents and 3.1 million peers, but concerns about legal implications led to quickly shutting down the operation.

The article explores innovative ways to use Claude Code, an AI coding tool, including generating automated slide deck presentations of codebases, creating weekly code change summaries with text-to-speech capabilities, and experimenting with different output modalities. The author shares practical examples while acknowledging both potential limitations and creative possibilities.

Developer created Canine, a Heroku-like platform for Hetzner servers, after finding cloud hosting too expensive. While Hetzner offers significant cost savings ($4 vs $65-$260 for 4GB), it lacked easy DNS, SSL, and team management. Canine simplifies hosting and supports various helm charts for databases and services.