Blog
-
Subtractive Solutions
Many solutions we implement are additive: We want more customers, more revenue, more good Press. Subtractive solutions are just as important, but work without offering anything more. But I think you’d agree, having no spam makes reading your email easier, keeping rabbits out of your garden gives you peace of mind, and having your headache…
-
Always use the good stuff
I recently had to do some work on my house that involved CAT6 Ethernet cables, so I looked for some modular plugs (AKA end caps), and found an old crimper to use. After over an hour of frustration in cutting, stripping, pairing, connecting, and crimping, my Ethernet tester told me the all the cables I…
-
Avoid overlapping AP channels
When building a Unifi network with APs, it’s tempting to find an open channel, free from neighboring networks, and put all your APs on that same channel, but that would be a mistake. Channel frequencies are, at their core, radio signals on a certain frequency. If you put to APs close enough that their radio…
-
Meshing with Unifi networks
When setting up a Unifi network, especially if it’s at home or somewhere that’s not commercially wired, it’s pretty common to run into a room where you just can’t get a good signal from the nearest wired Unifi AP. The logical next step it to put a new Unifi AP in between this room and…
-
Why use FindTheTime ?
I used to use Calendly, and as a paid user, I was pretty happy with it. It worked, but one evening I thought I could create a system that would be easier to use, cheaper, and I could add features as fast as I could think of them. And thus, findthetime.app was born. At its…
-
AI Can’t Design Code
AI is everywhere today, but for people who want to create an application, where is it really helping? As a person who codes, I can’t imagine any coder not using it, just as I can’t imagine typing a text without auto-complete. For a non-coder, AI can build a prototype for you if you carefully know…
-
Monitoring PlanetScale from Zabbix v7.x
PlanetScale is a hosted MySQL database SaaS, and while it’s got great uptime, you should be monitoring it for metrics if nothing else. While PlanetScale offers lots of features beyond your average MySQL install, monitoring it is surprisingly the same.
-
Laravel
I’ve been coding in PHP for a few decades, mostly using the CodeIgnitor, which I have grown to love. But today, I’m breaking from the old ways and adopting a framework that’s been on the rise for many years: Laravel. Ironically, I’ve layered on many of the basic features of Laravel over CodeIgnitor as I…
-
Running Engineering in a Vacuum
Wouldn’t it be great if you could be in a section of an office, surrounded by intelligent people, working on projects that really mattered to you personally, and never having to interact with the rest of the company? I know a lot of people who would consider that a dream job. I would hate it.…
-
Getting the Weather via an API the Easy Way
If you’re coding and need to find the local weather, there are a lot of places you can go to get it. Most are complex and require you to create an account, and generally don’t offer much. If you’re looking for one that’s simple and based on GPS, try https://api.pulsewise.com/environment/weather/42.3388/-71.0726 , which is free for…