I turned to AI to fix my glasses prescription, Claude gets more honest, and a new video
Plus, stopping bugs before they ship, why car windows have dots on them, inside the old Longaberger building, DNS sinkholes, and a right-angle chisel.
I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.
Advanced Geekery is published weekly on Substack and LinkedIn. Same content. Choose your favorite delivery method. Back Issues.
My latest video
Bambu Lab has an interesting new 3D printer, the X2D. This is set to take over from their 2-year-old flagship, the X1C. The X2D offers two extruders instead of one, but the second extruder is not direct drive. Instead, it’s fed by an external Bowden-style extruder. In this video, I look at how the setup and external design of the new X2D differs from the X1C, plus give it a quick test. So far, so good.
My articles
Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
When my eye doctor got my glasses prescription wrong, AI helped me fix it: An eye exam produced a good distance prescription and a terrible computer prescription. Here’s how AI helped decode the numbers and expose the mismatch.
Anthropic launches Opus 4.8, with honesty as its killer feature: Anthropic’s latest Claude model isn’t just faster or smarter. Opus 4.8 is being pitched as more honest, more careful, and better suited to complex coding projects.
Stopping bugs before they ship: The shift to preventative security: Secure software starts before coding begins. Threat modeling, safer defaults, dependency hygiene, and developer workflow guardrails can help prevent vulnerabilities.
Beyond the cleanup job: Redefining application security for the modern enterprise: Secure-by-design is no longer just a developer concern. Enterprise leaders must treat application security as a board-level responsibility, with accountability, incentives, and customer risk reduction built in.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
I have always been fascinated by the Longaberger building in Newark, Ohio. This iconic structure is shaped like a basket, reminiscent of the former company’s products. Now, it’s up for sale. You can see it from the inside and out. Cool building, even if the company became a basket case. What?
Vox does a strong analysis of the Taiwan/People’s Republic of China issue. Good explainer.
Ever wonder why car windows have dots on them? This guy has the answer.
Tool of the week
Why would you use a corner chisel instead of just a chisel on each of two right angles? Mainly, for speed and consistency. I like it because I’m just not that good at getting the angles perfect. If I’m using a chisel, it’s because I need to get something trimmed out that’s pretty darned perfect.
Plus, this thing is under $20 and you can set it to a maximum depth. Pretty cool.
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases (but not this week).
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth checking out.
Mike Elgan says Google betrayed the web.
Using a DNS sinkhole instead of an ad blocker.
ZDNET’s Ritoban Mukherjee digs into a challenging problem nobody wants to face: how to migrate to a new CRM.
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!
I was having the same problem, I want one for looking at laptop and the other for zooming in on SMD chips when I solder — they never get the distances right. I can then send the scrip to zenni optical or walmart and make a quick test