Cosmic Rundown: Bento Slides, Passkey Frustrations, and Intel's High-NA EUV Milestone

Bento: Presentations as Single HTML Files

A new project called Bento takes a minimalist approach to slide decks. The entire presentation lives in one HTML file that handles editing, viewing, data storage, and real-time collaboration. No cloud dependency, no proprietary format lock-in.

For teams tired of wrestling with bloated presentation software or worrying about offline access, this is an interesting direction. The Hacker News discussion explores use cases ranging from internal documentation to conference talks.

The Passkey Debate Continues

A viral thread sparked by a tweet claiming passkeys were "invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain" has reignited the authentication wars.

The core tension: passkeys solve real security problems but introduce UX friction that confuses average users. Cross-device sync remains messy. Recovery flows are unclear. And the mental model of "something I have" doesn't translate well when that something lives invisibly in a password manager.

For developers building authentication systems, this is a reminder that technical superiority doesn't guarantee adoption. The best security is security people actually use.

Intel Ships High-NA EUV Silicon

In chip manufacturing news, Intel announced they're shipping silicon produced with High-NA EUV lithography. This is a significant milestone in semiconductor manufacturing, pushing the boundaries of what's physically possible in chip production.

For those outside the hardware world: EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography enables smaller, denser chip features. High-NA (numerical aperture) is the next evolution, allowing even finer patterns. This matters for everyone building software because it determines the performance ceiling of the hardware your code runs on.

Postgres Survival Guide for Startups

A practical guide from Hatchet covers the common Postgres pitfalls that catch startups off guard. Topics include connection pooling, index maintenance, query optimization, and knowing when to scale.

If you're running Postgres in production, the full discussion includes battle-tested advice from engineers who've learned these lessons the hard way.

Elixir in the Browser with Hologram

Hologram now runs Elixir directly in the browser. This compiles Elixir to WebAssembly, enabling full-stack Elixir applications without a JavaScript frontend.

For teams already invested in the Elixir ecosystem, this could simplify architecture significantly. The project page details the technical approach and current limitations.

Quick Hits

Formal verification with Lean: A beginner-friendly tutorial introduces mathematical proof verification. Useful for anyone curious about provably correct software.

Apollo 11 source code: The original guidance computer code for the lunar modules is on GitHub. A fascinating look at mission-critical software from 1969.

AI data center opposition: According to Redfin, most Americans don't want AI data centers in their neighborhoods. Infrastructure buildout meets NIMBY resistance.

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