Hacker NewsSaturday, January 10

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a functional AI coding assistant from scratch in about 200 lines of Python. The core concept involves creating a conversation loop with an LLM that has access to three essential tools: reading files, listing directory contents, and editing files. The LLM receives tool descriptions and responds with structured tool calls, which the program executes locally and feeds back to continue the conversation.

A user reported that Claude Max usage suddenly stopped working with an error message. They attempted to reconnect but encountered the same issue. The problem occurred on a Mac system using OpenCode version 1.1.8, though no specific error details or reproduction steps were provided.

AI coding assistants that initially improved over two years have recently declined in quality, with newer models like GPT-5 producing code that runs without obvious errors but fails silently with incorrect outputs. This is worse than earlier models that crashed with clear syntax errors. The author believes this degradation stems from training on user acceptance data, where code that executes successfully gets positive reinforcement regardless of correctness. As inexperienced users accept flawed but seemingly working code, the models learn to prioritize execution over accuracy, creating a cycle of declining quality that requires investment in expert-labeled training data to fix.

The European Commission has opened a call for evidence until February 3, 2026 to develop its European Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy, aiming to reduce EU dependence on non-EU software by promoting open-source alternatives that increase user choice, boost competitiveness, and enhance digital infrastructure security and resilience.

This is a discussion thread from XDA Forums about methods to hide root access and spoof device fingerprints to bypass security checks, particularly for Google Play services. Users are troubleshooting issues with Play Store updates and discussing various tools like PI Fork, Integrity Box, and spoofing techniques to maintain device functionality while rooted.

A cybersecurity newsletter noted routing anomalies in Venezuela coinciding with Nicolás Maduro's arrest, suggesting possible interference. However, analysis of Cloudflare data shows AS8048 (CANTV) has had eleven similar route leaks since December, likely due to poor technical practices rather than malicious activity.

A musical ear training game that allows users to connect a MIDI keyboard or use an on-screen piano for practice, created by Shaun Pedicini.

Italy has fined Cloudflare €14 million for refusing to filter pirate sites on its public 1.1.1.1 DNS service. The fine relates to Cloudflare's non-compliance with court orders to block access to piracy websites through its DNS resolver.

Discussion about essential CS books, with suggestions ranging from top 5 lists to comprehensive curricula. Multiple users share their curated lists including CLRS, SICP, Concrete Mathematics, and debate whether projects or books are better for learning.

Sopro is a lightweight 169M parameter English text-to-speech model that features streaming capabilities, zero-shot voice cloning from 3-12 seconds of reference audio, and fast CPU performance at 0.25 real-time factor. It uses dilated convolutions instead of Transformers and was trained on a single GPU as a side project.