Vibe coding with engineering discipline, cleaning the shop, and some scam warnings
Plus, reading ancient writings by Archimedes, the first few months of Nvidia, Robert Picardo's fun ballad, and a hidden compartment made from old books
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 articles
Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
7 AI coding techniques I use to ship real, reliable products - fast: What separates casual vibe coders from the elite builders? It’s not prompts. It’s systems. Here’s the exact framework I use.
Coming soon: I’ve been working on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. Stay tuned for these two articles coming in the next week or so on ZDNET.com.
Why encrypted backups may fail in an AI-driven ransomware era
Why enterprise AI agents could become the ultimate insider threat
Project of the week
I am so seriously pumped about being able to show you this picture. This is the back corner of my workshop. Many of you have seen these workbenches on my videos. But have you ever, ever seen that back workbench so clear? I sure haven’t.
I think this is the first time that bench has been clear of junk since I set up this shop. It’s always disturbed me. That long stretch tends to become a hot zone for everything I do on the two Harbor Freight benches in the middle of the room (on the left, in the image above).
Clearing the long bench was so intimidating. I finally took everything that didn’t belong there, and moved it to the middle benches. That cleared the long bench. Then, over about a week, I went into the workshop for ten minutes at a time. I actually set a timer. Each time, I made myself spend ten minutes putting things away.
Now the question is, how long will this stay clean? I have two big box openings to film. I’m telling myself I’ll move the parts of the projects I’m opening just as soon as I finish filming. We’ll see. Do you have similar hot zones? Let me know in the comments.
Also, see the Reader Projects section below. You don’t just have to build something. If you’re proud of your clean workbench, feel free to send me a picture and a paragraph. See the section below for how to do that. I want to be sure I notice it in and among all my other email.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
Jensen Huang tells about the first few months of Nvidia. Here, he’s telling the story in 2009. Keep in mind this is 15 or 16 years before his company becomes the world’s most valuable company. So while it was a formidable company at that point, in this video he has no idea what his company is about to become.
For equal time, we’re also looking at the new chip fab that Intel is building in Arizona.
In honor of Robert Picardo’s role in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, we present his noir-ish musical musings, “Spent my life as an actor.”
Product of the week
This is a little “hidden storage secret book box electronics hider,” sold on Amazon. What intrigues and disturbs me about this, in equal measure, is how the maker is using actual old hardcover books to form the compartment around three pieces of wood.
I’m intrigued, because it is an interesting and fairly simple project. I’m disturbed, because the maker is destroying books. I still, even though I read almost entirely on screen, think of books in their original form as something sacred.
In any case, I thought you’d find it interesting, although I’m definitely not advocating you go out and run your books through your bandsaw. If you do, I definitely want to know about it. We can feature your project. Once again, see the Reader Projects section below for instructions on how to send it in.
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.
ZDNET’s Jack Wallen talks about how he almost fell for (but didn’t) a LinkedIn job scam. It’s all about being diligent.
Here’s another scam warning, this time from ZDNET’s Lance Whitney. He explains why you get calls from spammers who say nothing once you answer.
Scientists used X-rays from a particle accelerator at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to reveal the iron-based ink of lost scientific treatises by Archimedes that had been erased and overwritten by a monk in the 12th century. Oddly, there was no mention of Indiana Jones (Google it).
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!