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WordPress Backdoors, Copilot Rebrand, and Home Distilling Ban Overturned

13 Apr 2026
Someone bought 30 WordPress plugins and planted a backdoor in all of them
Someone bought 30 WordPress plugins and planted a backdoor in all of them

A malicious actor recently purchased 30 WordPress plugins and embedded backdoors into all of them, escalating a growing trend of supply chain attacks. This follows a similar incident involving the Widget Logic plugin, where a new owner compromised a trusted name to distribute malicious code. The coordinated compromise highlights the ongoing security risks associated with third-party plugin acquisitions in the WordPress ecosystem.

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DIY Soft Drinks
DIY Soft Drinks

Makers are increasingly turning to DIY projects to craft their own homemade soft drinks from scratch. Recent online guides detail the precise techniques for carbonating and flavoring classic cola, zesty orange soda, and unique almond soda at home.

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GitHub Stacked PRs
GitHub Stacked PRs

GitHub Stacked PRs is a new workflow feature that allows developers to break down large code changes into smaller, more manageable pull requests. By stacking these incremental updates, teams can significantly streamline their code review process and handle complex changes more efficiently.

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Nothing Ever Happens: Polymarket bot that always buys No on non-sports markets
Nothing Ever Happens: Polymarket bot that always buys No on non-sports markets

A new Polymarket bot named Nothing Ever Happens automatically purchases No shares on all non-sports prediction markets. Created by developer Sterling Crispin, the automated tool is designed purely for entertainment and functions primarily as a meme.

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All elementary functions from a single binary operator
All elementary functions from a single binary operator

A newly published arXiv paper demonstrates that all elementary mathematical functions can be derived using only a single binary operator. This theoretical work simplifies the foundational basis for mathematical computation by reducing complex operations to a minimal logical primitive. While highly theoretical, the findings could eventually influence algorithmic design, computational logic, and the optimization of digital circuits.

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US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional
US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declared a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling unconstitutional. This ruling removes longstanding restrictions on individuals producing their own spirits at home and could spur new innovations in small-scale distillation equipment.

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Make tmux pretty and usable (2024)
Make tmux pretty and usable (2024)

A recent guide provides developers with practical strategies for customizing the look and feel of the terminal multiplexer tmux. The article explores modern themes, plugins, and configuration tweaks to significantly improve the default interface. These enhancements ultimately transform the tool into a highly usable and visually appealing workspace for daily workflows.

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Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (April 2026)

A developer has created "Still Kicking," a camera-free smart picture frame that uses mmWave sensors to monitor an elderly person's motion, detect falls, and track sleep quality. Following the project's announcement on Hacker News, elder care professionals and physicians strongly encouraged the creator to commercialize the device, noting that such privacy-focused technology could help seniors age in place safely without the intrusion of cameras or wearable pendants.

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Android now stops you sharing your location in photos
Android now stops you sharing your location in photos

Google's latest Android update strips location metadata from photos when users upload them through web browsers, breaking functionality for mapping sites like OpenBenches. This change prevents developers from using embedded geolocation data to accurately place user-submitted images on a map.

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Taking on CUDA with ROCm: 'One Step After Another'
Taking on CUDA with ROCm: 'One Step After Another'

AMD is challenging Nvidia's dominant CUDA ecosystem by leveraging its fully open-source ROCm stack and integrating the Triton compiler. By embracing a software-first culture, the company aims to steadily erode Nvidia's competitive moat in the accelerated computing market.

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Building a CLI for all of Cloudflare
Building a CLI for all of Cloudflare

Cloudflare has introduced a new unified command-line interface called cf to streamline interactions with its nearly 3,000 API operations for both developers and AI agents. The release also includes Local Explorer, a new utility designed to help users debug local data.

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Servo is now available on crates.io
Servo is now available on crates.io

The Servo web engine is now available on crates.io, marking its first official release on the Rust package registry. This milestone introduces a Long-Term Support version, providing developers with a stable and reliable foundation for future integration.

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A perfectable programming language

A recent discussion surrounding the perfectable programming language Lean explores the balance of language power, contrasting math-focused tools like Lean and Agda with general-purpose dependently typed languages like Idris. Participants also debate the true semantic value of homoiconicity in enabling advanced meta-programming, highlighting the ongoing challenge of designing dependently typed languages that are powerful enough for formal proofs without falling victim to unproductive complexity.

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How to make Firefox builds 17% faster

Firefox builds can now be completed 17% faster by utilizing the buildcache tool to cache WebIDL binding code generation. This optimization leverages buildcache's unique Lua plugin system, which allows for custom wrappers that traditional caching tools cannot support.

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How long-distance couples use digital games to facilitate intimacy (2025)
How long-distance couples use digital games to facilitate intimacy (2025)

A new research paper explores how long-distance couples leverage digital games to maintain intimacy despite physical separation. The study reveals that shared gaming experiences serve as crucial virtual spaces for communication, highlighting the evolving role of interactive technology in sustaining modern relationships.

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The economics of software teams: Why most engineering orgs are flying blind
The economics of software teams: Why most engineering orgs are flying blind

A recent analysis highlights that most organizations lack clear visibility into the actual costs and required revenue generation of their software engineering teams. This widespread financial blind spot prevents companies from accurately measuring the true economic viability of their technical departments.

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Apple's accidental moat: How the "AI Loser" may end up winning
Apple's accidental moat: How the "AI Loser" may end up winning

Despite current perceptions of Apple as an AI loser, the company's delayed entry into the generative AI race may actually provide a unique long-term strategic advantage. By leveraging its closed ecosystem and hardware integration to build an accidental competitive moat, Apple is positioned to ultimately win the consumer AI market.

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Microsoft isn't removing Copilot from Windows 11, it's just renaming it

Microsoft is not removing its Copilot AI assistant from Windows 11, but is instead simply renaming the feature. Reader discussions surrounding the update largely diverge into broader debates about the overall user experience of Windows versus Linux for gaming. Many users express frustration with forced Windows integrations and advocate for alternative setups, such as dual-booting with Linux or using cloud gaming services.

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I just want simple S3
I just want simple S3

A developer's search for a simple, reliable, and fast S3-compatible storage solution has been complicated by the reported death of Minio. With the popular project's repository now archived, users are left seeking basic object storage alternatives without complex enterprise features like scaling or replication.

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N-Day-Bench – Can LLMs find real vulnerabilities in real codebases?

A new benchmark called N-Day-Bench evaluates the ability of large language models to identify real-world vulnerabilities within actual codebases. The framework utilizes strict GitHub advisories and OpenRouter-backed models to rigorously test AI-driven security scanning capabilities.

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I ran Gemma 4 as a local model in Codex CLI

Readers testing Gemma 4 locally report that while the model delivers exceptional inference speed and impressive one-shot coding performance rivaling top-tier proprietary AI, it struggles significantly with agentic tasks, tool use, and large context windows. Although early benchmarks were skewed by tokenizer and tool invocation bugs, corrected tests show the dense 31B variant actually outperforms the faster MoE model in overall quality. Ultimately, users praise its capabilities for specific local coding tasks on Apple Silicon but note that its limitations in iterative reasoning and context scaling prevent it from being a flawless autonomous coding assistant.

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Tracking down a 25% Regression on LLVM RISC-V

A developer investigated a 25% performance regression in LLVM for RISC-V targets by analyzing a specific benchmark. They successfully identified the issue and landed a patch that eliminates the performance gap with GCC for this workload.

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This year’s insane timeline of hacks
This year’s insane timeline of hacks

A newly compiled archive details a staggering timeline of major cybersecurity breaches that have largely flown under the radar this year. By documenting these underreported hacks, the collection sheds light on the escalating and often overlooked digital threats facing modern organizations.

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Is math big or small?
Is math big or small?

A recent article exploring the concept of scale in mathematics has sparked a debate among readers about whether abstract concepts possess an inherent size. Commenters argue that mathematical shapes lack a defined scale without physical context, suggesting that magnitude is entirely dependent on the observer's perspective and frame of reference. Ultimately, the discussion highlights that the perceived scale of mathematics is dictated by its real-world applications and the underlying purpose behind its use.

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Michigan 'digital age' bills pulled after privacy concerns raised

Michigan lawmakers withdrew proposed digital age legislation following backlash over its handling of consumer data privacy. Critics argued the bills relied on flawed opt-out mechanisms rather than requiring strict opt-in permission for data sales. The controversy highlights broader frustrations with tech companies using delayed consent models to harvest user data for AI training without explicit approval.

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Optimization of 32-bit Unsigned Division by Constants on 64-bit Targets
Optimization of 32-bit Unsigned Division by Constants on 64-bit Targets

A newly published arXiv paper introduces advanced compiler optimization techniques for performing 32-bit unsigned division by constants on 64-bit processor architectures. The research focuses on improving computational efficiency and reducing execution overhead for these specific arithmetic operations. These optimizations are expected to benefit modern software development by streamlining low-level mathematical computations.

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Show HN: Ithihāsas – a character explorer for Hindu epics, built in a few hours
Show HN: Ithihāsas – a character explorer for Hindu epics, built in a few hours

A developer has released Ithihāsas, a new interactive web tool designed to explore the complex characters and relationships within the Hindu epics Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. Built in just a few hours, the project visualizes these ancient narratives using interactive force graphs, dynasty trees, and chord diagrams.

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The Future of Everything Is Lies, I Guess: Safety

The final installment of a tech series explores AI safety and alignment, arguing that trusting commercial or government entities to align AI systems with individual goals is inherently dangerous. Reader discussions highlight the adversarial nature of these power dynamics, emphasizing how concentrated institutional power actively undermines natural human cooperation to prioritize corporate and governmental interests.

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MEMS Array Chip Can Project Video the Size of a Grain of Sand
MEMS Array Chip Can Project Video the Size of a Grain of Sand

A new MEMS array chip can project video onto a surface the size of a grain of sand by emitting millions of precise light spots. This photonics breakthrough demonstrates the potential to dramatically accelerate advancements in quantum computing, imaging, and 3D printing technologies.

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If you started a company two years ago, many assumptions are no longer true
If you started a company two years ago, many assumptions are no longer true

Tech startups founded more than two years ago are likely operating on outdated assumptions in a rapidly shifting market. To avoid failure, founders must pause their daily coding and fundraising efforts to reassess their core business strategies.

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