may 2, 2026
9 links from the engineering internet.
nethack 5.0.0 ships, modernizes to c99 and lua scripting
the venerable roguelike releases version 5.0.0 with c99-compliant source, easier cross-compilation across platforms, and build-time compilers replaced by lua text alternatives loaded during play.
videolan publishes dav2d, an open-source av2 decoder
videolan released dav2d, the av2 successor to dav1d, after months of internal development. the cross-platform decoder is correctness-first with x86, arm, risc-v, and ppc optimizations planned.
open-design v0.2.0 ships as oss alternative to anthropic claude design
local-first design system landing 31 skills, 72+ design system presets, dark mode, xai grok imagine integration, and 13 ui languages. positions itself against claude design's closed cloud-only model.
macos vm hits 98% native single-core perf on apple silicon
howard oakley benchmarks macos virtualization on apple silicon: a 5-core vm reaches 98% of host single-core cpu and 95% of gpu, and a minimal 2-core 4gb config remains usable for everyday tasks.
wahoo elemnt bolt v3 hides developer mode behind a 3-byte ble packet
engineer reverse-engineers their cycling computer after rides stopped syncing, finds a debug menu unlockable via a 3-byte bluetooth packet with no app-layer auth, and discovers the actual sync bug was on the phone.
kubernetes node throughput tanked by realtek out-of-tree driver
operator documents debugging jumbo-frame regressions on k8s nodes with realtek nics, traced to the out-of-tree r8168 driver. swapping back to in-kernel r8169 restored throughput, undoing a fix for an earlier soft-hang.
ncsc warns of incoming patch tsunami as ai unearths buried code debt
britain's national cyber security center says ai-powered vulnerability discovery is exposing decades of latent flaws faster than orgs can patch them, and urges companies to shrink their attack surface ahead of a critical-update wave.
uk dvsa denies week-long driving test booking outages
the uk's driver and vehicle standards agency says its 18-year-old booking platform is fine, blaming individual chrome and safari configs for the week of failed booking attempts users have reported.
julia evans on testing vue components in the browser without node
writeup on running vue component tests directly in the browser using qunit, a custom mountcomponent helper, async handling, and chrome devtools coverage. no node toolchain required.