Simon WillisonModify

2026-10-28 03:34:18

Game Boy Color on My Conference Badge

I've been hacking around with it again, and then I ran into with Steve Francia... who worked with Gemini to get a full NES emulator working on it, and then went a step further and deployed an emulator for both the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color.

Which means, if you can obtain the ROM, you can run The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on your conference badge!

A neat feature of the badge is that you can turn it upside down and then use game controller touch buttons that are built into the badge body.

Tags: games, github, hardware-hacking, ai, generative-ai, llms, gemini, steve-francia

2026-10-27 07:53:07

GPT-6.1 Terra

In the case of GPT-6.1 Terra, OpenAI went with visual reasoning and computer use:

We’re introducing GPT-6.1 Terra, a fast, efficient model that combines detailed visual reasoning and precise computer use alongside clearer, more natural writing. A significant step up from GPT‑5.6 Terra, it excels at the communication and computer-based tasks that fill the workday, from drafting proposals and interpreting technical drawings to filling out forms and editing videos.

Terra sits in the same position as Sonnet in the Anthropic model collection - not the cheapest or the most expensive, making it harder to decide when to use it.

Computer use is a good example of a task that benefits from a less expensive model, since you might put it to work on automated, repetitive tasks.

OpenAI's Ted Sanders provided some useful advice in a comment on Hacker News:

In the case of GPT-6.1 Terra, I'd say Terra is probably better than Astra and Sol at technical communication, similar on vision and computer use (but much faster!), and a bit worse on most other things. For API developers, it's a nice midrange option if you want something cheaper than Sol but a lot smarter than Luna (especially for vision / computer use / communication). For subscribers, it's not a bombshell release - if you're hitting usage limits, maybe it helps you go a bit further, and if you want clearer communication or faster computer use, it can be a nice option to select.

Here are the pelicans for the different reasoning levels. This pelican for "max" cost 11.3161 cents and took 4 minutes and 11 seconds:

Here's a new comparison grid showing pelicans for every reasoning level of OpenAI's current frontier lineup: GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra, and GPT-6 Luna.

GPT-6.1 Terra is priced at $1/million input tokens and $5/million output - almost half the price of GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Sol, and around 10x the price of GPT-6 Luna.

Via Hacker News

Tags: ai, openai, generative-ai, llms, llm-pricing, pelican-riding-a-bicycle, llm-release, gpt

2026-10-27 03:00:25

Because big tech platforms essentially do not have customer support and make it impossible for their users to contact a human, many people experiencing run-of-the-mill tech problems have turned to ChatGPT. And, increasingly, ChatGPT is telling people that have normal tech support problems that they have discovered something journalistically notable and that 404 Media, specifically, can help them.

— Jason Koebler, ChatGPT Keeps Telling People 404 Media Can Solve Their Tech Support Problems

Tags: jason-koebler, openai, journalism, ai, llms, ai-ethics, ai-misuse, generative-ai, chatgpt, 404-media

2026-10-27 00:15:00

Research: webframe: evaluated as a scraper and a sandbox

webframe is a neat little project from Jeff Lindsay which lets you "run a web page like a program" - you point it at a URL or file and it executes it in a hidden headless web view and outputs console.log() to standard output and any exceptions to standard error.

It's written in Go on top of the glaze library, which provides access to a system browser ("WKWebView on macOS, WebKitGTK on Linux, WebView2 on Windows") so it doesn't need to bundle its own browser engine.

It reminds me of my own shot-scraper javascript tool, albeit in a much smaller package that doesn't depend on Playwright.

I had Claude Opus 5.5 put it through its paces and prepare a research report for me. Here's the prompt I used:

Explore https://github.com/tractordev/webframe try running it and put it though its paces, build a few exploratory prototypes, then evaluate it as a potential sandboxing tool and as a tool for scraping web pages using the same patterns encouraged by the "shot-scraper JavaScript" command (see simonw/shot-scraper on GitHub, docs directory)

Tags: browsers, go, javascript, jeff-lindsay, shot-scraper

2026-10-25 23:10:19

Tool: Seam Cutter

I built this weird and very specific cropping tool - it lets you create a horizontal or vertical cut across an image, then slide the two sides relative to each other. Effectively it lets you crop out a section in the middle of an image.

I wanted this because I often use Tailor on my iPhone to stitch several screenshots together into lot long image, but sometimes I find myself wanting to crop out a section in the middle - to redact an irrelevant prompt from a transcript, for example.

Tags: tools

2026-10-24 11:59:57

Release: battledrones v14: Compass Rose, a four player map

I added four player online mode to Battledrones - previous maps were limited to two.

Here's the initial prompt I used:

Add a new map for a four player battle - four way rotational symmetry, up to four AI players, works with the WebSocket non-audio based multiplayer mode so up to four human players can join (any spare slots use AI)

Claude Opus 5.5 added a new map called "Compass Rose" and modified the WebSockets multiplayer network code to support up to four players for that map, joining via share links or QR codes.

The new teams use robots themed in purple and green, joining the existing blue and red designs. You can preview those colors in the updated model browser.

Here's a replay link to watch a four way AI battle with the "Goliath Armada" mutator turned on, where each side starts with four giant Goliath mech units.

Tags: game-design, projects, claude