Alara

Snow Leopard was peak computer

I remember back when I was in school, just getting into computers. I didn't have a decent one at home yet, and I gazed upon these machines with awe and wonder as aspirational devices. The one device I wanted more than any other was the White MacBook. Oh

My AI Knows Me Better Than Anyone

I work on AI memory tools. I use AI all day every day, for everything from software development, to something akin to a therapist or friend. I've been using ChatGPT for 3+ years, since nearly the day it came out. I've hopped platforms, seen the products

thoughts

AI and the economy

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how AI will impact the lives, and livelihood, of our global human population, and how it's already doing so. I think it's worth taking some time to explore this in more detail. How AI models are trained

The app I never launched

Back in mid 2014, I was fresh out of high school (I dropped out). I would spend a lot of time on the internet learning about programming and technical topics, researching my interests, and I'd run into this issue repeatedly where I'd remember I'd

AI agents: experiences with Manus, Operator and more

AI agents / agentic AIs have been rapidly evolving, and I think they're going to play a pivotal role in our path towards AGI. I think before we move further, it's helpful to talk about what we mean by AI agents in the first place. What are

My AI coding workflow

Introduction "Vibe coding" is not "it" I've been AI coding since sometime in early 2022, starting with Copilot. Since then, AI models have evolved and improved dramatically, and my workflow has gone through many, many iterations. A lot of the lessons are learned through

LLM subscriptions vs. APIs value for money

This is my second post on this topic. The first post is here ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, vs API usage Per my calculations, the $20 subscriptions of ChatGPT and Claude provide incredible value for money. Let's quantify it. Claude Pro ($20 per month) The Claude Usage Extension, that

AI-Optimised codebases

Of late, I've been going full throttle on AI coding, and you could say I've been pushing the limits of what's possible with the current models, and running into their limitations. These are things you can only figure out through intuition and experience, benchmarks

What's in my AI toolkit

I'm hyper bullish on AI. I'm that crazy AI guy who's made it his life mission to infuse AI into every facet of life. When I find an interesting AI tool, I buy first and figure out use cases later. I spend hours daily

My vision for a better future

Imagine a world where technology has transformed every aspect of our lives for the better. A world where we have conquered disease, unlocked the secrets of the mind, and expanded the reach of human knowledge to the stars. This is the future I envision, and I believe it's

ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, vs API usage

ChatGPT Plus and Claude Professional both cost $20 per month. These are the consumer interfaces for these AI tools, but you can also access these AI models via their APIs. You have many frontend options, like TypingMind, LibreChat, and OpenWebUI, among others. So what does $20 of API credits get

marketing

"What is marketing all about?" - Thoughts on marketing from a developer and rookie marketer

Recently I've been spending a lot of time learning about marketing, and a few things have started to click. I'm an engineer, and have a highly logical way of looking at the world. Marketing works on very different principles. There are no "right answers"

Retrieval Augmented Generation: Insights from Building AI-Powered Apps

I've been working on AI-powered applications for a while now, and I want to share some thoughts on AI apps, particularly focusing on retrieval augmented generation (RAG). This technology has been central to my recent projects, and I've learned a lot about its potential and

The Open Source AI Revolution

Democratizing Technology for a Better Future Hey there, fellow tech enthusiasts! Today, I want to dive into a topic that's been on my mind lately: the incredible potential of open source AI and how it's reshaping the landscape of technology. Buckle up, because we're

How to set up personal OKRs

I've spoken about how it can be helpful to use the OKR framework for goal setting to drive growth and improvement in your personal and professional life, but it can be hard to come up with the right OKRs. So this is a guide to help you avoid

penpersona

Why I'm building PenPersona

Writing has always been a struggle for me. I have countless ideas, but bridging the gap between those thoughts in my head and actually sharing them with others is a daunting task. It takes a significant amount of effort to transform these ideas into written work, and most people are

What I'm reading this week (Sept. 1, 2023)

These are the articles and books I'm reading this week; and here are my thoughts about them. If they seem interesting, check out the original resources. How to Build Side Projects 🕹️How to stick with them, and why you should start them in the first place. A chat

Tech Stacks for Indie Hacker

As an independent innovator, or 'indie hacker', time is your most precious and scarce asset. You're wearing multiple hats - from product management and design to development, marketing, finance, and customer support, you're juggling a cornucopia of critical roles. Large organizations have dedicated individuals or

penpersona

Simplifying Productivity and Building Sustainable Habits

Today, I wanted to share a few thoughts on productivity and habit-building that I've picked up along my journey. Life can sometimes throw us a curveball, and it's during those times that our routines and habits tend to take a hit. I recently experienced a

The Ultimate Guide to building an in-house chat platform from scratch

This is a topic I've wanted to write about from a long time. I've built quite a few chat platforms over the years, and I've faced the build vs. buy debate many times. The problem is, most SaaS chat platforms cost exorbitant fees. Back

I'm building a feature.

A couple months ago, I started getting into the habit of writing regularly. I've always desired to be more regular with my blog, share my thoughts with the world, and put myself out there, but to go from idea to a finished piece of writing presents a lot

penpersona

How to Make Your Resume Tech-Industry Ready: A Practical Guide

Ever-so-often, I've seen youngsters reaching out to me for advice on how to sail this vast ocean that the tech industry is. And more often than not, I find them grappling with the same fundamental challenge - how to craft that perfect resume. So, I thought it&

penpersona

Redefining Goal Setting: A Dive into Personal OKRs

A little while ago, my workplace adopted OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) as a method for goal setting. My initial reaction? A healthy amount of skepticism. It felt like just another procedural practice. However, with time and research, I discovered an interesting trend - individuals were applying OKRs to their personal

Charging ahead vs moving on from a project

I launched Solvemigo on May 13th. It’s been 42 days. Let’s just look at some numbers first. In this time period, we have driven a traffic of 549 users to the site. Out of these, 104 users have come from ads (Display) that we ran on Google AdWords.

How to learn programming

I've been programming professionally for more than 7 years now, and recently I was thinking back to when I first got into programming. I know a ton of people who are learning to program, for fun, to improve their career prospects, to grow their businesses, etc. I am