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Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2026)

2 points

12 hours ago

| 5 comments

New projects, refactors, experiments, startups, or late-night hacks — tell us what you’re building or exploring this month and why.

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techtalksweekly

35 minutes ago

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https://techtalksweekly.io/

I'm building a newsletter called Tech Talks Weekly[1] where my readers get one email per week with all the latest Software Engineering conference talks and podcasts[1] published that week.

In January, I've released a paid tier[2] where my subscribers additionally get:

1. Access to my internal database of all the talks and podcasts since 2020 (+48,000 in total) where they can search, filter, sort, and group by title, conference/podcast, view count, date, and duration.

2. See the list of the most-watched talks over the last 7, 30, 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months based on number of views.

3. Get category-based view of new talks & podcasts by tech stack, language, and domain (Software Architecture, Backend, Frontend, Full Stack, Data, ML, DevOps, Security, Leadership and every major language & ecosystem)

[1] https://www.techtalksweekly.io/p/what-is-tech-talks-weekly

[2] https://plus.techtalksweekly.io/

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junaid_97

44 minutes ago

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II built a free USCIS form-filling tool (no Adobe required) USCIS forms still use XFA PDFs, which don’t let you edit in most browsers. Even with Adobe, fields break, and getting the signature is hard. So I converted the PDF form into modern, browser-friendly web forms - and kept every field 1:1 with the original. You fill the form, submit it, and get the official USCIS PDF filled.

https://fillvisa.com/demo/

What Fillvisa does:

- Fill USCIS forms directly in your browser - no Adobe needed

- 100% free

- No login/account required

- Autosave as you type

- Local-only storage (your data never leaves the browser)

- Clean, mobile-friendly UI

- Generates the official USCIS PDF, ready to submit

- Built-in signature pad

I just wanted a fast, modern, free way to complete the actual USCIS form itself without the PDF headaches. This is a beta version

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predkambrij

12 hours ago

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I'm playing with repeatable development environment with incus. So, it's like in Docker, but naturally more things should be possible (eg. snap package manager is the ultimate test), but still more disposable than VMs (eg. it won't finish your laptop battery and annoy your ears with fan).

https://github.com/predkambrij/incus-container-desktop https://github.com/predkambrij/devcontainer

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iryndin

12 hours ago

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What are advantages compared to Docker/Apple containers/VMs like Virtual Box?

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predkambrij

10 hours ago

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I'm a Linux user (I don't know Apple much). I use devcontainers (the repo I listed) for almost everything, because almost everything is possible to do with about zero overhead. Eg, it won't do memory fragmantation that VMs do, processes are just the same, as on host. GUI apps work just the same as the ones on host, which is really cool. Storage can be an issue if images multiply too much, but not a real issue. Incus is a bit different, I still evaluate it, so can't comment much. By description is just the very thing I was looking for (a VM, but without VM's overhead). It's amazing, that Debian12 desktop will start in about 2 seconds. Performance is again just the same as on host's machine. VMs are still cool, I still use them, where I want to be really sure that I won't have a bug that containers would cause them (weird networking and such).

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cjflog

10 hours ago

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I'm working on https://laboratory.love

Laboratory.love lets you fund independent plastic chemical lab testing of the specific foods you actually buy. Think Consumer Reports meets Kickstarter, but focused on detecting endocrine disruptors in your yogurt, your kid’s snacks, or whatever you’re curious about.

Find a product (or suggest one), contribute to its testing fund, and get full lab results when testing completes. If a product doesn’t reach its goal within 365 days, you’re automatically refunded. All results are published publicly.

This project was inspired by Nat Friedman's PlasticList.org and we use the same ISO 17025-accredited methodology they did, testing three separate production lots per product (when possible) and detecting down to parts-per-billion. The entire protocol is open.

I just published new results today! Turns out Muir Glen's caned Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes are incredibly low in plastic chemicals. Yay!

Browse funded tests, propose your own, or just follow along: https://laboratory.love

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iryndin

10 hours ago

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Wow, that is pretty cool! Do you run lab tests yourself, or have to engage a certified lab instead? How does that all work ?

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cjflog

10 hours ago

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The testing is surprisingly complex!

I partner with Light Labs to handle the testing → https://www.lightlabs.com/

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iryndin

12 hours ago

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I’m continuing to work on AllZonefiles.io — a domain-data hub that aggregates and serves large-scale zone files. Right now it covers ~354M domains across 1,575 zones, including ~114M domains from 317 ccTLDs, which turned out to be the hardest part operationally.

The next step is an extended dataset parsed from WHOIS: create/expire/update timestamps, NS records, and IANA registrar info. Stack is fairly boring on purpose: Go, bare-metal Linux, PostgreSQL, Bootstrap 5. The motivation is to make downloading and keeping the most complete domain lists possible automated and predictable, without manual registry workflows or fragmented sources.