Bas' Take on Tech: AI, (Mental) Health, Sandro's Thoughts
Hi there,
thanks for reading my tech newsletter about the recent buzz, Python, and DevOps.
In this issue, Sandro Volpicella gives an insight into recent learnings.
Have a great week ahead!
📉 Artificial Intelligence
AI takes up a huge space in this newsletter, again. People already joked that someone should offer a retraining course to all of the NFT guys on the internetz. And, indeed, things are getting serious: It seems we will reach the peak of inflated expectations earlier than expected: The leading international law firm A&O partnered with Harvey, an AI startup built on the shoulders of OpenAI’s latest models. Automated law – what could possibly go wrong?
Also, AI powered drug development gets more traction. The idea here is that the discovery and research of new substances can be done by AI – in order to bring down the average 10-year (and multi-billion dollar) development expenditure.
Google reacts to the pressure of the OpenAI/Microsoft Bing partnership by emphasizing the urgency of developing its own chatbot. Sundar Pichai demanded Google workers spend 2-4 hours helping improve the “Bard” chatbot, according to a leaked memo.
Further Readings:
These are Microsoft’s Bing AI secret rules and why it says it’s named Sydney
The Capacity for Moral Self-Correction in Large Language Models
🩺 (Mental) Health
I came across a new study about time-restricted eating, aka intermittent fasting. I practise IF for more than a year now, and I have written about my results in a previous issue. This new study, published in January, claims to have found reshaping of gene expression in the whole body leading to “potential benefits” for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer.
An alarming article by AP warns about “harsh toll” the pandemic took on teenagers. “We’ve never seen this kind of devastating, consistent findings,” the director of CDC’s adolescent health division is quoted. Depressingly enough, the “Washington Post” reports that mental health data collected by therapy apps are the next big thing among data brokers.
Meditation is known to improve mental health and lead to a state of mind where priorities become more clear. It can be hard, especially in the beginning, to practise meditation consistently. A few days ago, I stumbled upon an honest and unbiased field report by Krishna Bharadwaj, on meditation in the context of forming habits. This blog post is also one of the blog posts the book “Atomic Habits” could have been.
Another way to change your personality is, of course, using technology. Here is an interesting article on how brain-computer-interface (BCI) devices may enable personality changes.
🗞️ Buzz
Amazon introduces a new language for security policies in AWS. The language is called Cedar and is designed be a generalist language without implicit AWS construct in it.
EU approves final ban of combustion engine car sales by 2035. In other news, Ford will eliminate 3800 engineering jobs in Europe.
A new MacBook Air with 15” display might launch this year as Apple increases display production.
Lufthansa flights were cancelled in Germany due to damage to a fibre cable caused by railway construction. Lufthansa asked travellers on domestic flights to use the railway instead, which was not accessible due to these construction works.
Meta copies Twitter’s business model: The company wants to start charging for verified status on their accounts. Brilliant idea; it worked so well for Twitter. If they start to copy Elon’s decisions for Twitter, will Zuckerberg step back as Meta’s CEO this year, as Elon announced for himself?
🗣️ Interesting Discussions and Perspectives
🎥 Video Content
I started my Twitter account, where I share content about Python, DevOps, and Databases, almost exactly one year ago.
Now, it’s time to get to the next level: I want to share video content on these topics, too. I have a long list of topics I want to cover in some short 15-20 mins videos – now I just need to find the time to produce them.
If you want to be among the first to get notified when I release my first video, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel!
📝 Sandro’s Perspective
Sandro Volpicella is Hashnode’s Platform Engineer Lead and co-author of AWS Fundamentals. I asked him what he had changed his mind about in the last months. Here is his answer:
The work lies before the launch
Especially in regards of launching infoproducts I always thought that some of the main work lies in the creation of the product and in the actual launch. But Adam Wathan and Nathan Barry both taught me different. The actual launch is the easiest part. The main part of creating infoproducts is the preparation of the launch:
Creating valuable free content over a period of time
Finding a topic that people are actually interested in and are willing to pay for
Giving your audience the ability to sign up for an email list.
… and of course in creating the book 😉
Software is not the only way
Another huge change was that I thought building a SaaS is the only option. Developers (or almost any other role as well) have the amazing benefit of having a skill that many people want to acquire. Combining this with another perspective or skillset (like the ability to create nice graphics) can give you an amazing benefit. Teaching is an amazing way to monetize without selling any BS. And it is an easier start compare to actually building a full-fleshed SaaS.
Creating a SaaS can be pretty brutal. Creating an infoproduct about a topic where you are an expert in is much easier.
Focus on core competencies
A third perspective I’ve changed completely is that core competencies are important. You cannot outsource them.
For example, our book and our growth was really fuelled by visualisations and infographics we’ve created. We thought about outsourcing them to freelancers to buy back time.
This is not a good idea since this is your core competency. You shouldn’t outsource the main thing why people are following you. And the main thing you are known for.
🚀 What else?
I have changed this newsletter from “occasional” to at least once every two weeks. The new format not only contains curated news and insights from the tech world but also sets the stage for fellow developers.
I will ask people about their journeys in the tech world and also in life. I’m pretty sure there is much to learn from listening to other people’s experiences, and I am excited to share that with you!
Of course, I need your help with this.
Please tell me if you want to share your story with my 500+ readers!
What is something you learned?
What are some books that recently influenced you?
What do you want to share with others about your life, your productivity, your career, and your health?
Reach out to me on this form.
Let me know how I can make the newsletter better.
I set up a short feedback form here.
It would mean the world to me if you spent a minute or two filling it out!
Best,
