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Vibe Coding is the Guitar Hero of Technology
Over the weekend, I listened to this episode of Better Offline about AI and doom trolling. The episode itself is well worth a listen. And the essay that prompted it was an interesting read. But what I want to talk about today is a small portion of what they discussed… the AI “fun” factor.…
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When the Tech Debt is You
I’ve been doing some freelance work for a former employer of mine. It’s been an interesting experience to crack open files that I wrote years ago. I’ve always been a firm believer that, if your code doesn’t improve with time, you’re doing something wrong. But, it’s still a disconcerting experience to ask yourself “what…
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Symetrix Composer and the Future of AV Controls
Full disclosure: I haven’t had a chance to play with Composer yet. This article is based on a demonstration at ISE. I’ll also add that they aren’t the manufacturer that I wrote about on rAVe [PUBS] last week. This article is cross-posted from LinkedIn The most disruptive feature of Symetrix, Inc. ‘s new Composer…
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A Haters Guide to Useful AI
There’s a reason that Merriam-Webster selected “slop” as its word of 2025. From the mundane (75% of my LinkedIn feed), to the nightmare fuel (Grok creating non-consensual porn), generative AI is unavoidable. I’m at the point where I see more than one em-dash and/or oddly used emoji and my brain shuts down. Don’t put…
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What’s Wrong With Door Handles?
I worked in commercial lighting for seven years, and if it’s one thing it taught me it’s this: it takes a lot of work to supersede the humble lightswitch. The lightswitch has two jobs In theory, a relay panel handles this task, while a connected smart system does the smart stuff. But, when it…
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Do What You Love, or Maybe Just What You Don’t Hate
A friend posted a meme on Facebook right around New Years. The basic gist of it was “If you’re complaining about going back to work on Monday, maybe you need to find a new job.” I usually scroll past memes, but this one stuck with me (it must have, or I wouldn’t be writing…
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Where Have All the AV Programmers Gone?
Anyone who has spent more than a little bit of time on an AV-related job board can tell you that the positions that always seem to stay open are the ones looking for AV programmers. It’s something I get asked about all the time, “How in the hell do I find a decent Crestron programmer?”…
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“Don’t Praise the Machine” (the Future of Integration)
One of my favorite episodes of the Simpsons involves Bart Simpson and an elephant named Stampy (who turns out to be a bit of a jerk). It also involves a couple of radio DJs are who are in danger of being replaced by a computer, the DJ 3000. DJ 3000: Looks like those clowns in Congress did…
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How Bill Belichick Taught Me to be a Better Programmer
A couple of months ago, I read The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam (affiliate link). It’s a pretty fun read if you’re a football fan. (Well… it’s a pretty fun read if you’re a football fan who loves the New England Patriots. I can’t say much for all of the New England haters…
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Gadget Review: The Garmin vívofit
I’m a pretty active person, but I like having a little nudge to be more active. Especially now that I’m more of a programmer and less of a tech. You tend to sit still a lot when you’re typing lines of code instead of climbing ladders. (Funny how that happens!) I wanted to get an…
Hope Roth
Curiously Creative
