Vibe coding, fighting workshop clutter, skills you need for an engineering job
Plus, a former Harbor Freight tool on Amazon, my Baby Yoda 3D print, a very smart puppy, and how doctors may be misdiagnosing dementia (and its treatment)
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
Here’s a new workshop video. This time, I built a structure for organizing all those big flat items that have been sitting on top of my CNC.
My articles
Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
What is AI vibe coding? It's all the rage but it's not for everyone - here's why: Caution: Experience required. Vibe coding feels like magic, until your AI assistant starts overwriting your work.
Want a top engineering job in 2025? Here are the skills you need, according to LinkedIn: Engineering careers are evolving, and LinkedIn's latest Skills on the Rise report highlights the must-have skills for 2025. From AI development to people management, here's how to future-proof your career.
Oracle expands AI capabilities with powerful new Agent Studio tool: Oracle is betting big on AI with its latest innovation. AI Agent Studio empowers companies to build custom AI agents that integrate seamlessly with enterprise apps. Is this the future of enterprise automation?
Project of the week
I’ll be showing this off in an upcoming YouTube video. This 40-hour full-color 3D print of Baby Yoda (fine, Grogu) came out amazingly well. I did a ton of support parameter testing before printing, so although it was a challenge, the supports came off (even from the tiny fingers).
Stay tuned. When I get the video edited, it’ll be spotlighted in my newsletter.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
He might have been trained, but this little dare-devil pup is smarter than most people I know (Facebook video).
This guy tells the story of a router bit that went horribly wrong. Weirdly, it was from Woodpeckers, which is generally considered a premium brand.
I’m spotlighting this guy in my upcoming “developers speak out on vibe coding” article. In this video, Jamie Marsland shows off how he’s using an AI to help him build out a website front end.
Tool of the week
I have this exact cut-off saw, but I bought mine from Harbor Freight five or six years ago. I’ve always wondered whether Harbor Freight made its own tools or relabelled them from other manufacturers. This is an exact match to my old trusty and not even rusty Harbor Freight model, but now from a random vendor on Amazon.
So, here’s the story about this saw. The blades I got from Harbor Freight were just terrible, but if you put a good blade in this, it’s a bit of a workhorse. I’ve used it for all the metal cutting I’ve done here for years. It is marked as “frequently returned” on Amazon, but that’s because buyers set their expectations too high. It’s cheap, it does a workable job. It’s not a fine or precise tool. But it cuts.
You can see it in use in my video, above.
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth reading.
Scientists think that humans started sharing and building on each other’s ideas way earlier than we thought, about 600,000 years ago.
New research shows that up to 13% of dementia cases may actually be misdiagnoses for a treatable liver condition called hepatic encephalopathy.
ZDNET’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes found a mini-PC that looks (and is priced) like an entry-level Mac Studio. He likes it and says it’s good value for the money.
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!