From Pixels to Particles

Hey there! In my latest blog post, I explore two fascinating reads: the inspiring success story of a company saving over ten million dollars by leaving the cloud, and a cautionary tale about how WebSockets unexpectedly led to a million-dollar AWS bill. Dive in to learn some valuable lessons from their experiences!

• Our cloud-exit savings will now top ten million over five years:
• How WebSockets cost us $1M on our AWS bill:

In my latest blog roundup, I explore some intriguing reads, like the tactile shift from touchscreens back to knobs and buttons, Albertsons using land restrictions to squelch competition, and Alonzo Church’s pivotal role in computer intelligence. I delve into why unplugging isn’t the only online peace strategy, examine the existential threat AI poses to publishers, discuss parody’s power in activism, and highlight a Bluetooth and WiFi jammer project. Happy reading!

• IEEE Spectrum: In an interview with Rachel Plotnick, delve into the past and present of tactile controls. As touchscreens dominate, we examine the current trend shifting back to physical buttons, and why users crave the familiar feel of buttons, knobs, and switches in their devices and interfaces.
• How Albertsons Kills Rural Grocers with Land Use Restrictions: Albertsons uses land use restrictions in Mammoth, CA to stop competition so it can be the only store in town.
• Alonzo Church: The Forgotten Architect of Computer Intelligence: The man who gave us the solution to the Entscheidungsproblem
• Unplugging Is Not The Solution You Want: 🎧 Listen or Read | Why acceptance is another worthy approach to finding peace online
• Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense by Saul Perlmutter PhD:
• Zuckerburg Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: By: Frank Bilotto For the past year, I have been unabashedly critical of publishers that are licensing their content to companies with AI technologies. With each new licensing agreement, AI companies are taking giant leaps forward to ultimately replacing publishers. Many of you are old enough to remember when Google first publicly released their mission […]
• Sorry, Gas Companies – Parody Isn’t Infringement (Even If It Creeps You Out): Activism comes in many forms. You might hold a rally, write to Congress, or fly a blimp over the NSA. Or you might use a darkly hilarious parody to make your point, like our client Modest Proposals recently did. Modest Proposals is an activist collective that uses parody and culture jamming to…
• The key decisions that saved the Boston Globe: Boston Globe paywall strategy: Chief commercial officer Kayman Salmanpour explains how a famous local news title escaped possible closure.
• ESP32-BlueJammer: The ESP32-BlueJammer (Bluetooth jammer, BLE jammer, WiFi jammer, RC jammer) disrupts various devices using an ESP32 and nRF24 modules, causing plenty of noise and sending unnecessary packets (DoS). It interrupts: Bluetooth, BLE, WiFi, and RC (Drones, etc.) connections, IoT devices, and much more communicating on 2.4GHz! – EmenstaNougat/ESP32-BlueJammer

In my latest blog post, I dive into several intriguing topics. I explore regenerative farming with Josh Payne in Missouri, try to wrap my head around Round Robin DNS, and delve into the Entropix technique for detecting uncertainties in large language models. I also share a fun activity to accompany your podcast listening, tips to master Google NotebookLM at work, and my two-week learning roadmap for understanding LLMs!

• Regenerative farming practices require unlearning past advice: Early on a cool September morning, farmer Josh Payne tends to his flock in Concordia, just east of Kansas City, Missouri. As Payne opens the gate, about a thousand sheep round the corner and bound into fresh grass. The pasture the flock grazes was once corn and soybeans, along with the rest of the Payne […]
• Understanding Round Robin DNS: In which I try to understand how browsers and Cloudflare choose which server to use
• Detecting when LLMs are Uncertain: A deep dive into a new reasoning technique called Entropix.
• Mindless Podcast Companion: Something mindless and fun to do while you listen to podcasts.
• 🧠 How to use Google NotebookLM like a Pro at Work: Knowledge Series #49: Unlock your NotebookLM superpowers. Use cases for tech debt, ideation, market analysis and more.
• How I Studied LLMs in Two Weeks: A Comprehensive Roadmap: In this article, I am going to share my learning experience, and the resources I found most helpful in learning about the fundamentals of LLMs in about 14 days.

This week, I explored a fascinating mix of tech projects! I dove into building an affordable HVAC sensor that monitors everything—from temperature to air quality. I also checked out the impressive PabloNet and shared my experience with Claude’s Artifacts feature for creating interactive web apps. Plus, I discussed the exciting potential of AI-powered paywalls in revolutionizing digital content strategies. It’s been tech overload, but I love it!

• I built the perfect HVAC sensor, for CHEAP! Temps, Static Pressure, Air Quality, everything.: Sensor: https://amzn.to/46V9cMdESP32: https://amzn.to/3Qrm8T0Dashboard Code: https://pastebin.com/Qr0TVbE3ESPHome Code: https://pastebin.com/V1SQWcYm🔥These …
• PabloNet: Matthieu Le Cauchois’s website
• Everything I built with Claude Artifacts this week: I’m a huge fan of Claude’s Artifacts feature, which lets you prompt Claude to create an interactive Single Page App (using HTML, CSS and JavaScript) and then view the result …
• Consider goals, tech readiness to unlock opportunities for AI-powered paywalls: AI-powered paywalls offer transformative possibilities, enabling data-driven decisions that optimise total revenue, enhance the reader experience, and drive greater efficiency.

In this post, I share some intriguing deep dives into distributed locking and an exciting story about a lost Kurt Vonnegut board game that recently got published. Ever wondered what it’s like to resurrect a game from the past? Or how to handle distributed systems effectively? I’ve got you covered with some insightful links!

• How to do distributed locking:
• Kurt Vonnegut’s lost board game finally published: It could have been a contemporary of Risk, Diplomacy, and other legendary wargames

In my latest blog post, I dive into some intriguing reads like the future of publishing, the significance of journalism across the globe, and exciting tech innovations. Discover how Google is revolutionizing team collaborations with NotebookLM and pushing boundaries in AI with searchless chess at a grandmaster level. It’s a fascinating exploration of news, tech, and the evolving media landscape!

• Time to talk: The latest publishing news, jobs, analysis, comment, interviews and in-depth features about UK newspaper, magazine and online publishers.
• Journalism matters, everywhere: The latest publishing news, jobs, analysis, comment, interviews and in-depth features about UK newspaper, magazine and online publishers.
• New in NotebookLM: Customizing your Audio Overviews and introducing NotebookLM Business: NotebookLM is piloting a way for teams to collaborate, and introducing a new way to customize Audio Overviews.
• searchless_chess: Grandmaster-Level Chess Without Search. Contribute to google-deepmind/searchless_chess development by creating an account on GitHub.

Hey there! In my latest post, I’m diving deep into tech with a range of fascinating topics. You’ll find insights on stealthy Linux malware and how it’s been flying under the radar, strategies for balancing contribution in open source projects like Drupal, and a behind-the-scenes look at how I revamped my blog. Plus, I explore site accessibility, awkward work moments, and much more. Check it out!

• Thousands of Linux systems infected by stealthy malware since 2021: The ability to remain installed and undetected makes Perfctl hard to fight.
• Solving the Maker-Taker problem: How open source projects can balance Makers and Takers: lessons from Drupal’s contribution credit system and recommendations for WordPress and other open source communities.
• How I Built My Blog • Josh W. Comeau: I recently launched a brand new version of this blog, and in this post, I share how it’s built! We’ll examine the tech stack and see how all of the pieces fit together, as well as dig into some of the details to see how they work.
• How A Bottom-Up Design Approach Enhances Site Accessibility: You can’t overstate the importance of accessible website design. By the same token, bottom-up philosophies are crucial in modern site-building. A detail-oriented approach makes it easier to serve a more diverse audience along several fronts. Making the most of this opportunity will both extend your reach to new niches and make the web a more equitable place.
• How to Make People Feel Awkward at Work:
• Poets and Police: I was doing this talk, which I’d done dozens of times before. Good, well-practiced deck. I was speaking to CTO-types (current and aspirational) as a favor to a friend. This was a monthly morning coffee chat for this crew, and they invited folks like me to speak. It was on a weekday morning near Slac
• ChatGPT: OpenAI introduced a new way to interact with ChatGPT on Thursday: an interface it calls “canvas.” The product opens a separate window, beside the normal
• AI in organizations: Some tactics: Meet the Lab and the Crowd

In my latest blog post, I’m tackling a few interesting topics! First, I explore the quickest ways to sort your bookshelf by author. Then, I share John’s handy modification for better access to the IKEA NÄMMARÖ storage box. Lastly, I delve into a poignant story about WART, a quirky community radio station in a caboose, which was tragically lost in a flood. Dive in for more details!

• What’s the Fastest Way to Alphabetize Your Bookshelf?: Let’s say you’ve got a bunch of books that need to be sorted alphabetically by author. What’s the fastest way
• A Quick Fix Makes This IKEA Outdoor Storage Box So Much More Accessible: John’s quick fix to the NÄMMARÖ IKEA outdoor storage box allows for a more convenient and efficient way to access his tools.
• 2024_10_01 Postings: A radio item Over on my blog about infrastructure, I put up a brief post about WART, volunteer-powered community radio station with studios in a railroad caboose, that was lost in the flood that ju…