The Triumph of Open Source: Mixxx
I first tried the open source DJ software Mixxx in the early 2000s. At a time when most DJs were still spinning vinyl and the CDJ-1000 was the new hotness, I was an accidental PC pioneer.
The Need for Threat Modeling
Threat modeling, a proven process for identifying potential system vulnerabilities, often needs to receive more attention in strategic cybersecurity conversations. Given the rising cyber threats such as ransomware, the need for threat modeling is more pronounced than ever. By anticipating such threats, threat modeling paves the way to enhanced resilience.
The Art of Camera Use in Remote Meetings
In the era of remote work, the camera has become our best friend and worst enemy. At Opreto, we’ve discovered how to tap into its power without succumbing to energy drain. It’s not about being “on” all the time, but rather being “on” when it truly matters.
The Coming Age of AI: Eight Billion Idiosophies
What the Internet has begun, Generative AI will complete.
There are some people these days that beat the drum of fear about Artificial General Intelligence, and the chaos that it will supposedly wreak - perhaps (some say) to the extent of wiping our species from the face of the earth.
But we do not have AGI, and the type of AI we have now is nothing like it. Even so, Generative AI poses its own existential threat to the human species - above and beyond the jobs it might take.
We might not last until the advent of Artificial General Intelligence, which can think and act like a human being - if such a thing is actually even possible. We may be wiped out by the kind of Artificial Intelligence we already have, and our own hands will be the ones wielding the knives.
And it will all be because we have blinded ourselves with the output we asked it to craft on our behalf.
Bricks and the Unix Philosophy
My first experience with Unix was my father’s Silicon Graphics Indy workstation, whose sleek new Indigo Magic Desktop hid all the complexity behind what was arguably, at the time, the world’s most beautiful desktop GUI. Much like the first time I found myself firing up the C shell command line for the first time on that system, I had my first go at masonry work out of necessity.
Harnessing ChatGPT for Career Growth
Career development is a topic that frequently comes up during 1-1 meetings. It’s essential to consider our future, the opportunities we can unlock, and the skills we need to learn. Yet, many organizations and managers make career transitions difficult, either by design or by lack of process. Recently, I’ve started using ChatGPT to help create curricula, and this has been valuable.
Metrics & How To Measure Success in Agile Software Team Delivery
At Opreto, client success is our absolute priority. We optimize our teams by focusing on five critical goals, with client-selected Key Performance Indicators topping the list. In addition to the client’s chosen metrics we also measure Cycle Time, Planned-to-Done Ratio, Escaped Defect Rate, and the Happiness Metric.
Why are modern software applications so terrible?
A lot of modern software is really quite bad.
You know what I’m talking about. It’s most true of the software you interface with directly as a human—applications. Modern applications are buggy, and lock up or crash all the time; the time since your last incident can probably be measured in hours. They are also enormous and slow. The hardware they run on is dramatically more powerful than it was a quarter century ago, yet for the most part, we see apps consuming similar percentages of CPU cycles and RAM, and feeling more or less as sluggish as ever.
How did we get here?
Pair Programming forced me out of my comfort zone
As a software architect and developer, I’ve always enjoyed working independently. There’s something satisfying about diving deep into lines of code, tackling complex problems on my own, and working uninterrupted for hours on end. So when my boss suggested trying pair programming, I was immediately skeptical.
AI-assisted web design is good for everyone
I have some good news for artists. There are some interesting and genuinely useful things that Generative AI art can do for a website developer today, and they will prove to be deeply empowering for artists. This may seem countintertuitive, but I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Many of us have lately been too focused on the immediate threat posed by generative AIs to their livelihood, but this time of rapid change may be one of the best things - economically - that has ever happened to the artist caste (and perhaps for everyone else as well). Let me explain how.