Build your own Pocket server, the cybersecurity threat of AI coding agents, and some workshop hacks
Plus, a newly-found ancient Mayan city, how to strip CAT6 cable, the origin of corporate-speak, the shape of electrons, and time travel with Google
I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.
My latest video
One of the benefits of subscribing to this newsletter is that you get to see projects way before they become videos. So many of you saw the evolution of my clamp rack project. This video distills five hacks (there’s a secret bonus hack at the end) I used to make this project work.
My articles
Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
Pocket is shutting down - here's how to retrieve what little data you still can: After paying for Pocket's premium features, users are left with useless exports and missing content. Learn what's really in Pocket's downloadable ZIP file, and whether there's any hope of recovering what's lost.
How to set up your own article archiving service - and why I did (RIP, Pocket): Mozilla killed Pocket, but your bookmarks don't have to die. Here's how to self-host ArchiveBox, with a little help from ChatGPT, and take ownership of your reading archive.
How AI coding agents could destroy open source software: Imagine a single rogue line of code slipping past your tired eyes. Suddenly, your entire app is compromised. AI coding agents could be the silent saboteurs of the next big cybersecurity crisis.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
Let’s realign and revisit that enterprise lexicon in our next sync. Let’s table it for now and escalate it for broader visibility. But what’s the origin story behind this strategic vernacular? This video unpacks the granular insights about all the jargony jargon.
This guy explains a variety of programming languages in just about four minutes. It will definitely give you a chuckle.
Very interesting, but probably AI-assisted, video on how gas stations work and how they evolved.
Tool (and project) of the week
This week (and probably for much of the summer), we’ll be revamping our security system. The bane of my existence is attaching Ethernet connectors, and so I’ll be spotlighting a bunch of tools we’re using to make the task easier (at least a little).
The first is the cable stripper above, which rips off the outer wrapping of CAT6 cable. You need to run it again on the inner wrapping, but almost nothing else has made it reasonably easy to remove the very stubborn wrappings around our robust outdoor cabling.
Here’s a quick snapshot of one of the distribution boxes, and my array of cable-making tools. Stay tuned for a few others as weekly spotlights as we work our way around the yard. Also, kudos to my wife for stepping up and doing the cable-end attachment process. She can do it almost three times faster than I can, and with considerably less profanity.
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth checking out.
When I visited the Yucatan and climbed Templo de los Guerreros (the Temple of the Warriors) back in the day, archeologists down there were convinced there were more Mayan cities to be found. This is a new find.
Scientist have measured the shape of a moving electron. This is a door-opening discovery that will be a boon to quantum geometry and advanced materials research.
This ZDNET article shows how you can use Google Earth to go back in time and see historical imagery of any address. Unfortunately, satellite technology of 1985 wasn’t great (that’s as far back as it goes) and there’s not all that much clarity until you hit the early 2000s. Even so, it’s fun.
Send in your projects
I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.
If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.
Both my EPs are now streaming
Available on all your favorite streaming services.
More clicky
I’ve got a lot happening all over the web. Here are links to my various stuff:
House of the Head: home for my published music
ZATZ Labs: where I host my published software projects
Feel free to dig around, visit, and say hey!
Leave some comments
Substack supports comments, so feel free to leave some. I promise to read them. Just, please, let’s keep our personal politics out of any discussion.
That should do it for this week. This newsletter is really starting to pick up subscribers. Please help it out by sharing links on all your socials.
Have a great week!
It's a little fussy and it sometimes squishes the individual strands, but if you adjust it, it should work. I've got a ton of CAT6 to run over the next couple weeks.
Iv'e been looking for a good wire stripper, Lord knows I do strip a lot of outdoor CAT5/6