Curated Non-AI Technical and Personal Blogs

The Hacker News community continues to value deep-dive technical writing and niche personal projects, despite the current dominance of AI-centric content. Users are actively seeking a return to the "2009 era" of blogging, where writers focused on specific technical challenges, personal experiments, and obscure factoids.

High-Impact Technical and Engineering Blogs

Several blogs are highly recommended for their deep technical rigor and specific engineering insights.

The Old New Thing (Raymond Chen): A long-standing resource for Windows internals and software engineering, frequently cited as a primary source for understanding how legacy systems work.
Inigo Quilez: A specialized blog focused on graphics engineering and the demoscene, described by users as a "time capsule" of high-level graphics programming.
Ciechanowski: Known for interactive and visually stunning explanations of how complex systems work, though users note it has seen less activity recently.
Dan Luu: A recognized source for systems engineering and performance analysis.
Iago Leal: Provides unique perspectives on the intersection of mathematics and computing.

Niche Interests and Specialized Knowledge

Beyond general software engineering, the community highlights blogs that focus on highly specific domains or historical archives.

Darktable Development: avidandrew.com focuses on the development and usage of the open-source photography software Darktable.
Nintendo Corporate History: blog.beforemario.com documents Nintendo's products and corporate history from the era before they entered the video game market.
Procedural Generation: The late Shamus Young's blog (twentysidedtale.com) is recommended for its insights into procedural generation and entertainment-focused technical writing.
Economics and History: Marginal Revolution is cited as a nominally economics-focused blog that maintains a broad scope of interest beyond AI.

The Modern State of Personal Blogging

While some users question if blogging is still a "thing" in 2026, others argue that the medium has shifted rather than disappeared.

The Shift to Newsletters

Many writers who would have been traditional bloggers in the past have migrated to platforms like Substack. This allows for continued long-form writing while integrating monetization and direct delivery to readers.

The Persistence of the "Personal Project" Blog

There remains a strong appetite for blogs that document personal projects. Users mentioned several individual sites including:

Making Software (makingsoftware.com)
wingolog.org
ncase.me
Maggie Appleton (maggieappleton.com)
Robins Sloan (robinsloan.com)
Worry Dream (worrydream.com)

Community Perspectives on Content Consumption

There is a tension between the desire for deep-dive content and the modern trend toward "spoon-fed" information. One user noted:

"People are so 'short-lived' that too much information at once seems not to be popular anymore. People want to get spoon fed all information they need, especially since AI."

Despite this, the use of RSS readers remains a primary method for those seeking to escape the algorithmic feed and return to a curated, chronological experience of the web.