November 2024

Conducting annual reviews (TLP 2024w47)

2024-11-26

It's that time of year again, when I need to conduct many annual performance reviews over the coming weeks.

The three main modes of management

2024-11-18

A leader starts their management journey in reactive mode, and graduates to the strategic mode over time.

Online refugees are fleeing to Bluesky (TLP 2024w46)

2024-11-18

The center ground of moderates is becoming a no man's zone, with the Left moving to Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, while the Right have taken over X.

DEI training is a waste of time (TLP 2024w45)

2024-11-12

This week, I want to explain to you why I believe DEI training is a waste of time, as bias is an innate part of being a human being.

October 2024

Always front load your project risk (TLP 2024w43)

2024-10-29

On why it is so important to tackle the riskiest topics at the beginning of your projects.

The three types of communication (TLP 2024w42)

2024-10-21

There are three main methods of communication commonly used in a business context.

Align on goals not culture (TLP 2024w40)

2024-10-08

Cultural conflict is fine (how we do things), but conflict on strategic goals is not (what we are building).

Being overwhelmed (TLP 2024w39)

2024-10-06

Last week I was totally overwhelmed, which resulted in me recording this episode one week late. Why does this happen?

September 2024

Leave your meetings (TLP 2024w38)

2024-09-23

I think we need to normalise leaving meetings that are wasting your time.

Compliment your enemies (TLP 2024w37)

2024-09-15

For every promoter you will have several detractors so you must be ready to deal with them. Compliment your enemies to disarm or confuse them.

There are only two ways to sell a message (TLP 2024w36)

2024-09-08

Politicians want you to vote for them, sales and marketing folks want you to buy their products, while you manager wants you to deliver results. There are two main ways they achieve this.

There is no Moore's Law for AI (TLP 2024w35)

2024-09-02

I feel like we're in the vertical scaling phase of language model design, I look forward to federated model architectures running on cheap commodity hardware.

August 2024

Silicon Valley envy amongst executives (TLP 2024w34)

2024-08-26

In many traditional industries, you will find executives who really wish their companies were Silicon Valley companies. Why is this?

Generating logo images with Grok (TLP 2024w33)

2024-08-19

This week I used Grok to render a new logo for my web search engine greppr, and got great results!

It really is that simple (TLP 2024w31)

2024-08-05

A great leader can make anything seem simple and clear, because they are great communicators.

July 2024

The CrowdStrike outage (TLP 2024w29)

2024-07-22

This week I will provide a summary of the CrowdStrike global outage, and why we are so vulnerable to such issues.

Promising up and blaming down (TLP 2024w28)

2024-07-18

The worst management anti-pattern is promising up, and blaming down.

Stand back and let them fail (TLP 2024w27)

2024-07-08

As leaders our instinct is to help others we see failing, however you cannot help someone who refuses your help.

We cannot all be right (TLP 2024w26)

2024-07-01

We are all convinced that we are right, but when we disagree then someone must be wrong.

June 2024

Stop seeking the approval of others

2024-06-25

Most of us just want social approval for our views and actions.

Stoic resilience (TLP 2024w25)

2024-06-24

Increasingly I believe that the most important trait for a leader is mental resilience.

Captured by ideology

2024-06-12

We all must strive to think for ourselves, and remain prepared to have our beliefs challenged.

Success is not shameful

2024-06-11

Success being considered shameful is a sign of toxic culture.

Easing back on X (TLP 2024w23)

2024-06-10

Ten years ago I wrote about my desire to ease back from Twitter, now I feel the same way about X. What has really changed?

May 2024

The Internet has failed (TLP 2024w21)

2024-05-27

In the early days of the Internet, we thought it would bring enlightenment via free knowledge, instead we have hate, division, toxicity.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 19, Engineers are not your customers

2024-05-13

As an engineering leader, I'd like to share some harsh truths about managing engineers.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 18, The new knowledge acquisition bottleneck

2024-05-05

The new knowledge acquisition bottleneck is accessing silos of private content that can be used to train modern AI models.

April 2024

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 16, getting to the truth

2024-04-22

By asking why, repeating back, and sticking to first principles: you can drive your team towards a truthful outcome.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 15, new leader anti patterns

2024-04-15

After twenty plus years in the tech industry, you start to spot patterns.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 14, be careful where you place your deference

2024-04-07

The amount of authority figures you defer to in your life should be a very short list indeed.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 13, we are all avatars now

2024-04-01

After the pandemic, it feels like we are all online avatars now. Do you truly know anyone anymore?

March 2024

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 12, the AI training data market place

2024-03-23

A marketplace for high-quality training data models for AI is about to emerge, and it will be extremely lucrative.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 11, the Google Gemini fiasco

2024-03-19

Today I want to talk to you about the Google Gemini fiasco, the latest bad product launch by Google.

Politics is not leadership

2024-03-12

I often I see young leaders spending too much time on politics.

February 2024

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 8, sentient AI is just another mimic we are blind to

2024-02-23

Humans being fooled into thinking AI is sentient is the same as birds thinking a bug is a leaf.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 7, You are probably in a cult

2024-02-16

If your ideology prohibits you from accepting objective reality, you are probably in a cult.

Everybody is saying

2024-02-14

Beware of anyone who claims to speak for everyone.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 6, Blame is a circular game

2024-02-09

Leaders, if you help create a blame culture via your own example, do not act surprised when you get blamed.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 5, AI is great but start with a cron

2024-02-02

Today I want to convince you that you should start using scripted automation before complicated AI.

January 2024

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 4, sales is story telling

2024-01-26

Today I want to talk about getting better at sales, which is fundamentally about story telling.

Worry is irreverent to outcome

2024-01-13

Worrying about outcomes does not influence those outcomes.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2024 week 1, making computers work for you

2024-01-09

Today I want to talk about automation, specifically how you use technology to automate your life.

Leaders need to practice incisiveness

2024-01-02

To be a leader you need to be incisive.

December 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 52, 2023 wrap and 2024 predictions

2023-12-31

Wrapping up 2023 trends in technology, business, and the economy, and making 2024 predictions.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 50, at the mercy of algorithms

2023-12-21

So many careers, especially in content creation, are already at the mercy of algorithms.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 49, my feature requests for Grok AI

2023-12-13

Grok AI from X is a chat bot with a cool personality that is fun, but I want more utility. Here is my list of requested features.

Climbing down a ladder

2023-12-09

When the costs of admitting wrong doing are too high, people will double-down on their current choices.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 48, firefighting requires new fires

2023-12-04

The problem with firefighting in an organization is that it requires a steady stream of new fires, and fires are bad.

November 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 47, Neo Web 1.0

2023-11-27

We lost the spirit of Web 1.0, can we ever revive that via a Neo Web 1.0 renaissance?

October 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 42, delete your code

2023-10-21

The more legacy code your team maintains, the greater the impact on their productivity. Legacy code is a tax, and should be deleted when possible.

Decline is a step down process

2023-10-16

Managing decline is one of the hardest tasks that a leader needs to undertake.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 41, staying calm under pressure

2023-10-15

As a leader, you need to think about how you react when things go wrong. Your example matters.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 40, social media is a brutal mirror

2023-10-09

At times like this, I hate social media: the ugly side of many people starts to show via this brutally honest mirror.

September 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 39, the curse of knowledge

2023-09-30

People can assume that because they know something, others know it too. In a team setting, this can cause chaos.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 38, analysis of a bot attack on greppr

2023-09-25

This week my web search engine greppr came under a bot attack, in this episode I will discuss what happened and how I fixed it.

Choose your mentors wisely

2023-09-18

Some thoughts on how to choose a good mentor to help you to succeed in life.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 37, engineers doing sales

2023-09-15

Sometimes software engineers need to do sales, so we might as well get good at it.

Leaders lose the right to avoid conflict

2023-09-12

For a leader, conflict should be met head-on and not avoided.

Subscriber reply spamming on X is the new SEO

2023-09-11

SEO-style posts are appearing online that advise X users on how to game the algorithm there.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 36, content promotion on X versus Hacker News

2023-09-08

I done a cross-post of one of my blog entries on X and Hacker News this week, and got significantly better results from Hacker News.

Business leadership requires unpopular decisions

2023-09-04

In business, to be a successful leader often requires unpopular decisions.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 35, gaming group dynamics

2023-09-01

Once one understands the dynamics of a group, they can influence it from inside or outside of that group. This podcast explores those approaches.

August 2023

Beware of group dynamics

2023-08-29

Once you understand the dynamics of any group, you can game it.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 34, online confirmation bias

2023-08-25

The internet is now the industrial group-think complex. No matter how outlandish someone's beliefs are, group support is available online.

Pay compliments

2023-08-24

Paying compliments is low effort/high return.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 33, The subtle art of power plays

2023-08-18

You will often have to operate in a hostile environment, and employ a reasonable degree of hostility to survive. In this podcast, I will discuss the darker power plays that you may employ sparingly.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 32, my thoughts on the Tesla battery range lawsuit

2023-08-11

Tesla are being hit with another lawsuit, this time about their claimed battery range of their cars. The reality is these are range estimates not guarantees, and are based on optimal conditions.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 23, Turning up at meetings

2023-08-01

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 23: Today I am going discuss why a leader needs to be a great at meetings, and to leverage these opportunities to communicate to the fullest.

July 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 30, drink from a glass not a fire hose

2023-07-28

In an information-rich environment, with a lot of loud background noise, each of us needs to have our own built-in triage mechanism. Without it, we can become overwhelmed with noise.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 29, never accept statistics on face value

2023-07-21

I have seen many instances both in my career, and in life in general, of garbage statistics presented in reports being accepted on face value. Why is this, and what can we do to challenge it?

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 28, the fediverse should be built on a blockchain

2023-07-15

In my opinion, I believe web3 technologies like blockchains have a role to play in building a true fediverse, let me explain.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 27, the Twitter rate limit fiasco

2023-07-07

Last week Twitter gave their millions of users a lesson on the impacts of rate limiting a service. In this episode, I will discuss why that was an incredibly ham-fisted way of tackling web scraping.

June 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 26, why the US beats the EU on tech innovation

2023-06-30

This week I read a headline about why its a bad idea for young people to start a company in Ireland.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 25, leadership and reputational harm

2023-06-23

Whether we acknowledge it or not, our reputation proceeds us into a room like a forward-facing shadow.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 24, active versus passive online discovery

2023-06-16

There are two main ways to discover new knowledge online: active via research, and passive via social network feeds.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 23, when did the smart phone become our master key?

2023-06-09

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how much time I spend on my smart phone, and how over time, those phones have become the de facto master keys for our lives. Is that even desirable?

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 22, greppr has launched

2023-06-02

I have just launched greppr, a new web search engine that has no filters, no tracking, no ads.

May 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 21, removing the Twitter app from my phone

2023-05-26

As an experiment this week, I decided to uninstall the Twitter app from my phone, to force myself to reduce my time on the platform.

Momentum

2023-05-25

Leaders need to generate momentum and fight inertia.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 20, the Irish Times AI hoax

2023-05-19

Today I am going to discuss the recent AI hoax that impacted upon the Irish Times, resulting in them mistakenly publishing an opinion piece by a contributor that did not exist.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 22, On dealing with recruiters

2023-05-17

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 22: today I am going share my experiences of working with recruiters for many years in the tech industry, from the perspective of a hiring manager.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 19, web search as ten blue links

2023-05-12

Google are moving to AI driven search, and they are clearly moving away from the ten blue links model that gave them web search dominance.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 18, a better Twitter

2023-05-05

Lots of folks are scrambling to build Twitter clones, but who is building a better Twitter?

April 2023

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 17, the doom is getting doomier

2023-04-28

With the amount of FUD being spread about web3, crypto, and AI, are we sliding towards Neo-Luddism?

Twitter gamification is broken

2023-04-25

Gamification drives user-generated content and engagement on social media websites like Twitter

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2023 week 16, new weekly format

2023-04-21

Weekly podcast notes for 2023 week 16

Saying no to bad feature requests

2023-04-18

On why a product owner should reject feature requests that are misaligned with the product vision.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 21, How our relationship with the office has changed

2023-04-11

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 21 : on how our relationship with the office has changed, from private offices to remote work, perhaps forever.

March 2023

Everyone wins in successful negotiations

2023-03-30

On why negotiations are much easier when both parties win something.

Habits are greater than rules

2023-03-22

A leader should aim to set good habits, not harsh rules.

Never speculate in public

2023-03-21

A leader cannot afford to speculate in public.

Hire problem solvers not students

2023-03-20

Business is not university. Your objective as an engineering manager is not to develop rounded individuals, but to ship product.

January 2023

ChatGTP search will devastate content creators

2023-01-31

The economy for online content will be drastically impacted by new AI-based search engines like ChatGPT

Tech Leader Pro podcast 20, Project estimates are unreliable

2023-01-27

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 20 : on why project estimates are unreliable, and why it is better to estimate complexity and risk, rather than effort.

December 2022

Situational Observation and Leadership

2022-12-30

A good leader needs good situational observation skills.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 19, Consolidating a dot zero release

2022-12-14

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 19 : on why you should do a number of quality patch releases after each major release to consolidate software application quality.

November 2022

Circular waits in organisations

2022-11-23

Topics can become deadlocked in an organisation simply because everyone is waiting.

Iteration is a poor model for feedback

2022-11-08

Giving people feedback via iteration is tremendously inefficient and frustrating.

October 2022

Tech Leader Pro podcast 18, Acknowledgement versus agreement

2022-10-21

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 18 : today I am going to discuss the differences between acknowledge and agreement, and how your active listening style might be hurting your communications.

Processes are not always applicable

2022-10-04

On the limitations of applying processes to every situation

Escalation of commitment

2022-10-03

On why leaders should cancel bad ideas rather than doubling their commitment to them.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 17, Hero driven development

2022-10-01

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 17 : today I am going to discuss hero driven development, which is an anti-pattern that is endemic in the software development industry.

August 2022

Tech Leader Pro podcast 16, Deciding who you work for

2022-08-18

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 16 : understanding who you work for will help you understand what motivates you

July 2022

Tech Leader Pro podcast 15, The benefits of Scrum

2022-07-20

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 15 : on the benefits of the scrum agile process

Challenging complacency

2022-07-18

On why we must not take the results of our processes for granted

May 2022

Tech Leader Pro podcast 14, Letting go of bad ideas

2022-05-10

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 14 : on why a leader a leader should let go of bad ideas before they become bad implementations.

April 2022

Pushing together

2022-04-21

A functional team pushes together in the same direction

The benefits of travelling

2022-04-21

On why this World is amazing and you should go see it.

Tech Leader Pro podcast 13, Leaders should create gaps

2022-04-07

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 13 : on why a leader a leader should deliberately create gaps in their team, to allow others to grow into them.

February 2022

Leadership considerations for scaling up a startup

2022-02-14

Growing a company from the startup stage to a larger organization presents some unique leadership challenges.

January 2022

Tech Leader Pro podcast 12, On determining fact from fiction

2022-01-15

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 12 : on why a leader should be very wary of something that looks too good to be true, as it rarely is.

November 2021

Tech Leader Pro podcast 11, How to pitch

2021-11-18

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 11 : on how to get better and pitching and closing deals

October 2021

Review of Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

2021-10-11

A review of the post-apocalyptic book Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

July 2021

The GTM equation for startups

2021-07-15

The Go-To Market (GTM) equation determines if a startup will succeed or fail

June 2021

Tech Leader Pro podcast 10, Handling someone quitting your team

2021-06-19

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 10 : on how to react when someone quits your team

May 2021

On companies that defeat themselves

2021-05-08

On why some companies defeat themselves due to negative attitudes

Review of The Firm by Duff McDonald

2021-05-03

A review of review of The Firm by Duff McDonald, a detailed historical account of McKinsey and Company.

April 2021

Tech Leader Pro podcast 9, You need to believe in what you are selling

2021-04-04

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 9 : on how you must believe in what you are selling in order to be effective

March 2021

Review of The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

2021-03-21

In the end it was all to do with a bicycle

Letting stubborn people fail

2021-03-13

On why you sometimes have to let stubborn people fail

Stop worrying about the competition

2021-03-09

On why you should stop worrying about your competition

February 2021

Bitcoin is an asset not a currency

2021-02-25

On why Bitcoin is an asset and not a currency

Engineers learning to say yes

2021-02-21

On engineers learning to say yes when asked if something is possible

Tech Leader Pro podcast 8, Present solutions not problems

2021-02-16

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 8 : on why you need to set the expectation to present solutions and not problems

Review of Genesis by Bernard Beckett

2021-02-06

A review of the science fiction novel Genesis by Bernard Beckett

January 2021

Review of The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

2021-01-17

A review of the science fiction book The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Tech Leader Pro podcast 7, Resilience

2021-01-05

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 7 : on building and maintaining mental resilience

December 2020

5 podcasts to make you smarter in 2021

2020-12-22

5 podcast recommendations for you to add to your playlist in 2021 to make you smarter

Podcast

2020-12-01

Tech Leader Pro is a podcast for sharing ideas, principals, and approaches that you can use to lead a large team, with a focus on the technology industry.

November 2020

Tech Leader Pro podcast 6, Your default mode is confidence

2020-11-27

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 6 : on why a leader must be self confident by default

Weeding your bugs

2020-11-08

Discovering and closing software bugs should be as rewarding as removing weeds from a garden

October 2020

Tech Leader Pro podcast 5, Building trust

2020-10-19

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 5 : on the importance of building and maintaining trust

September 2020

Marketing versus Sales

2020-09-30

On the main differences between Marketing and Sales, and why both matter as much as Engineering

Tech Leader Pro podcast 4, Reverse delegation

2020-09-22

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 4 : exploring the dangers of reverse delegation and servant leadership

Verbose versus concise communications

2020-09-11

On why concise communications are better than verbosity

Tech Leader Pro podcast 3, Leading by example

2020-09-07

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 3 : exploring what it actually means to lead by example

Tech Leader Pro podcast 2, Handling escalations

2020-09-01

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 2 : advice on how a leader can handle escalations

August 2020

You are not indispensable

2020-08-28

On why the vast majority of employees in a company are not indispensable

Tech Leader Pro podcast 1, What is leadership

2020-08-25

Tech Leader Pro podcast episode 1, exploring for the first episode the question: What is leadership?

Prendergast

2020-08-16

On the daily grind of stoic application of your leadership duties

July 2020

Review of Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

2020-07-20

A review of Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk based on a second reading after twenty years

June 2020

Born loser

2020-06-13

On why winning is hard, and losing is easy when you have an excuse

April 2020

The problem is

2020-04-04

On why problem staters need to be converted into solution finders

January 2020

Review of the Plantronics Voyager Legend Wireless Bluetooth Headset

2020-01-25

A review of this excellent Bluetooth headset for conference calls

December 2019

Thoughts on Price's Law

2019-12-31

On how Price's Law defines how many people in a given organization will be greatly more productive than the average

November 2019

Hang on tightly, let go lightly

2019-11-12

On why you should not hang onto bad ideas for too long

Scrum requires aggression

2019-11-04

On the need to have an aggressive approach within your scrum team

October 2019

On dealing with recruiters

2019-10-14

Some personal thoughts based on my experiences with recruiters over the years

April 2019

How to respond to someone quitting

2019-04-05

On how to remain calm and professional when someone quits your team

January 2019

Review of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

2019-01-12

A review of Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Leaders should create gaps

2019-01-05

On why leaders need to create gaps for others to grow into

Review of Rendezvous with Rama

2019-01-03

A review of Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke

More Content Coming in 2019

2019-01-01

Update on my improved writing schedule for 2019

August 2018

Alpha 3.0 released

2018-08-28

Announcing the 3.0 release of the Alpha Framework

April 2018

Review of High Output Management

2018-04-01

A reviews of the book High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

February 2018

Acknowledgement versus agreement

2018-02-28

On why active listening via positive feedback can be misinterpreted as agreement

December 2017

Hell is a stylish shared office space

2017-12-20

On why I was wrong to think that an open plan office was the worse kind of office, because a shared office space beats it.

September 2017

First look at The Last Night

2017-09-10

A first look at an exciting new cyberpunk game

August 2017

Replacing a Broadcom wireless adapter in a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with an Intel one

2017-08-22

Instructions on how to replace a Broadcom wireless adapter in a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with an Intel one for better Linux support

Beware of wet paint smells

2017-08-01

On why leaders need to be aware that their presence can influence their reportees to cover the facts on the ground

July 2017

Tech leaders need to be technologists

2017-07-25

On why you cannot lead a group of technologists unless you understand technology

April 2017

Hire a software guy

2017-04-04

On why selected a software development candidate based on business domain knowledge is misguided

March 2017

Introducing Shatner.pics

2017-03-22

All of your emotions are belong to Shatner

February 2017

Turning up

2017-02-21

Some thoughts on why you should be attentive in meetings that you are present at

Progress update on adding PHP7 support in Alpha 3.0.0

2017-02-06

The latest status on the effort to migrate the Alpha Framework to PHP7

January 2017

On Celebrating Mediocrity

2017-01-29

On why high-fives all round is not the appropriate response to a failure

Some initial thoughts on Fedora 25

2017-01-02

First impressions of the latest Fedora Linux release

Alpha Framework 2.0.4 Released

2017-01-02

Version 2.0.4 of the Alpha Framework has just been released

August 2016

Installing an Nvidia GTX 1060 in an Alienware X51 R3

2016-08-22

In this tutorial I will show you how to install an Nvidia GTX 1060 in an Alienware X51 R3 as well as presenting some benchmarks

Alpha Framework 2.0.2 Released

2016-08-09

Version 2.0.2 of the Alpha Framework has just been released

On managing up and down

2016-08-04

As a middle manager it is important to effectively manage up and down, and not pour all of your energy into one at the cost of the other.

July 2016

On handling escalations

2016-07-26

Why handling escalations decisively is a vital skill for a manager to possess

Be effective

2016-07-05

On why the most important measure of your professional influence is your effectiveness

Alpha Framework 2.0.1 Released

2016-07-05

Version 2.0.1 of the Alpha Framework has just been released

June 2016

Performance engineering interview questions

2016-06-09

A list of technical questions to use when interviewing a performance engineer.

May 2016

Web application security interview questions

2016-05-15

A list of technical questions to use when interviewing a security engineer.

Java interview questions

2016-05-10

A list of technical questions to use when interviewing a Java engineer.

April 2016

Running two MongoDB instances on one server

2016-04-28

A guide on how to set up two separate instances of MongoDB running on the same server.

F 19 Stealth Fighter is available on Steam

2016-04-23

The excellent retro F-19 Stealth Fighter flight simulator from Microprose is now available on Steam

Backing up a single MongoDB server with mongodump

2016-04-18

A detailed tutorial on how to backup a single MongoDB server with mongodump and restore it with mongorestore

Preparing the Alpha Git repo for Gitflow

2016-04-09

A description of the sequence of Git commands I needed to run to prepare the Alpha Git repo for the Gitflow branching model.

Installing MongoDB on Redhat Linux

2016-04-05

A detailed tutorial on how to install MongoDB version 3.2 on Redhat Linux

February 2016

Alpha Framework 2.0 Released

2016-02-11

A major new upgrade has been released for the Alpha Framework for PHP.

January 2016

Project estimates are useless

2016-01-28

On why I believe producing project estimates is a waste of your time.

Ansible 2.0 has been released

2016-01-12

The 2.0 release of Ansible is now available

Anton Kreil on the 10 Secrets to Achieve Financial Success

2016-01-09

Anton Kreil on living a sucessfull financial life.

December 2015

Google search history privacy failure

2015-12-21

Discussion of the inherent privacy concerns and poor usability of the history.google.com website.

October 2015

Alpha Framework 2.0 Beta

2015-10-19

The 2.0 beta release of the Alpha Framework for PHP is now available.

June 2015

Review of the BlackBerry Classic

2015-06-27

A review of the BlackBerry Classic smartphone.

Review of the Fisher Bullet Space Pen

2015-06-13

A review of the Bullet Space Pen from Fisher, which was famously developed for NASA to work in space.

May 2015

Routes and permissions in Alpha 2.0

2015-05-23

An overview of the new routes and permissions API in the forthcoming Alpha 2.0.

On starting a new role

2015-05-03

Some notes and advice on what to do in the first few weeks of a new role.

Adding an ActiveRecordController to Alpha

2015-05-02

A new core controller should be added to Alpha to handle CRUD requests.

April 2015

IBM going agile

2015-04-28

Some thoughts on a WSJ article on IBM adopting agile methods.

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

2015-04-28

A new graphic novel about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage.

Leadership requires decisions

2015-04-23

On the importance of decision making to leadership.

Postmortem of Sonar

2015-04-23

A postmortem of a failed start-up Sonar Media from the founder Brett Martin.

Too much code

2015-04-14

Why writing too much code is a bad code smell.

March 2015

Building a seesaw bridge

2015-03-16

An analogy on why it is important to say no to customers to avoid technical debt

February 2015

Technical screening questions for a MySQL DBA

2015-02-06

A list of technical questions for use during interviewing a MySQL DBA candidate.

A PHP array of HTTP codes

2015-02-03

An associative array of HTTP status codes for reference.

January 2015

Alpha 2.0 Delayed

2015-01-27

Progress update on the Alpha Framework 2.0 release.

Trust your senior people

2015-01-16

An article discussing why it is important to trust your senior people enough to delegate to them.

The post SEO Internet

2015-01-15

In this opinion piece, I argue that SEO on the modern Internet is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

December 2014

Alpha Framework is now on Github

2014-12-04

An explanation of why I have moved this open source project from Assembla to Github.

November 2014

Sara Golemon on The Changelog

2014-11-13

A podcast interview with Sara Golemon of Facebook on their efforts to design a specification for PHP.

Dropping off Twitter

2014-11-05

Reasons for closing my Twitter account.

October 2014

Alpha Framework 1.2.4 released

2014-10-29

Announcing the release of version 1.2.4 of the Alpha Framework for PHP.

September 2014

Josiah Carlson on Redis

2014-09-18

Josiah Carlson gives a detailed overview of Redis on Software Engineering Radio.

August 2014

Hardware No More

2014-08-25

On why you should not be worrying about hardware for your next web project.

Review of Flash Boys

2014-08-25

A review of Flash Boys by Michael Lewis.

Using Monit to monitor Supervisor

2014-08-11

Instructions on how to install Monit on CentOS and configure it to monitor Supervisor.

Installing Supervisor and Superlance on CentOS

2014-08-05

Detailed tutorial on how to install Supervisor and Superlance on CentOS.

July 2014

Google Chrome and localhost cookies

2014-07-27

Why Google Chrome sucks at handling localhost cookies.

Review of The Martian

2014-07-11

A book review of The Martian by Andy Weir.

June 2014

Killing all running queries on MySQL

2014-06-30

A tutorial on how to kill all of the currently running queries on a MySQL server.

Switching off referential integrity in MySQL

2014-06-20

A tutorial on how to disable foreign key referential integrity in MySQL.

Riak Search 2.0

2014-06-17

A video presentation by Bash of the forthcoming Solr-based search solution that will be included with Riak 2.0.

Some thoughts on implementing AlphaDAOProviderInterface for Redis

2014-06-16

Determining if it is possible to use Redis as a store for relational data.

Android Gobble Gobble

2014-06-16

Android continues to gobble gobble market share in the US.

May 2014

Wolfenstein, The New Order

2014-05-18

Video for the forthcoming games

Google Nest

2014-05-08

May not be the actual Google Nest...

Alpha Framework 1.2.3 released

2014-05-01

Announcing the release of version 1.2.3 of the Alpha Framework for PHP.

April 2014

Memcache support in MySQL 5.6

2014-04-30

A quick introduction to using the Memcache protocol with MySQL 5.6

Huginn looks awesome

2014-04-15

The Huginn framework for intelligent agents looks fantastic.

Drop Dropbox

2014-04-10

On the news of Condoleezza Rice joining the board of Dropbox

IE6 is dead

2014-04-08

Internet Explorer 6 is finally dead.

Five Reasons Not To Raise Venture Capital

2014-04-08

A great post on why you should avid taking money from a VC fund.

Delete your code

2014-04-02

Great post about deleting code from legacy systems

Hacker News needs better submission URL deduplication

2014-04-01

On why Hacker News submission URL deduplication is non-existent.

March 2014

MariaDB 10 released

2014-03-31

MariaDB version 10 has been released.

Taming the badger

2014-03-30

Some advice on how to deal with a person using badgering techniques.

What the fuck is my social media strategy

2014-03-21

The ghat the fuck is my social media strategy generator.

Hack from Facebook

2014-03-21

A first glance at the Hack language from Facebook for their HHVM.

Using sed to extract line ranges from a text file

2014-03-13

Using the Linux sed command to extract line ranges from very large text files.

AddThis Hydra

2014-03-03

Hydra is a new open source solution from AddThis for processing large volumes of data.

February 2014

Flappy Bird for Commodore 64

2014-02-25

Flappy Bird has been ported to Commodore 64 (C64).

On selling ideas to fellow engineers

2014-02-18

Some thoughts on how to sell ideas to a technical audience.

January 2014

Using colordiff and the Subversion CLI

2014-01-05

A guide on how to use colordiff to achieve coloured diffs on the Subversion CLI

bootstrap dialog

2014-01-05

A quick introduction to the bootstrap-dialog library that aims to plug the gaps in the default Bootstrap modal API

Alpha Framework and Bootstrap

2014-01-04

On migrating Alpha to Twitter Bootstrap

December 2013

Onion Talks

2013-12-17

Onion Talks FTW

Suspense Accents

2013-12-17

Sound files to invoke suspense.

No Man's Sky

2013-12-09

No Man's Sky is an amazing looking new space simulator under development.

Hero driven development

2013-12-06

Some thoughts on hero-driven development, and why we should consider it to be an anti-pattern.

November 2013

Source code archaeology

2013-11-14

Some ideas on how to manage legacy software systems and source code.

placekitten dot com

2013-11-14

For all of your kitty needs

Converting a MySQL database from latin1 to utf8

2013-11-13

A detailed tutorial on how to migrate an existing latin1 encoded MySQL database to utf8 (UTF-8) encoding.

UTF 8 in PHP is rather unpleasant

2013-11-11

The current state of UTF-8 support in PHP5 makes it difficult to work with

The Simpsons in CSS

2013-11-11

Characters from the Simpsons rendered using only CSS.

Over engineered UX in consumer devices

2013-11-03

Some thoughts on over-engineered user experience in consumer devices, and why they might frustrate users expectations.

October 2013

The most important element of Scrum is the daily scrum

2013-10-31

The daily scrum meeting gets people talking!

Alpha Framework 1.2.2 Released

2013-10-30

An overview of the features of the new 1.2.2 release of Alpha Framework.

Some initial thoughts on Redis

2013-10-25

Some high-level notes from an evaluation of Redis.

PhpStorm 7 on the Open JDK, no dice

2013-10-23

Testing out the latest PhpStorm release on the Open JDK on Linux provided poor results (as expected).

Social networks continue to erode privacy

2013-10-12

Recent devlopements in social neworks show have increasing invasive they have become.

Backing up your Linux home directory using Back In Time

2013-10-10

Instructions on how to install and configured Back In Time under Gnome.

VistaSwitcher

2013-10-08

Using VistaSwitcher on Windows with multiple screens to get a better alt-tab experience.

The Internship

2013-10-07

Some thoughts on the movie The Internship.

September 2013

Tessel, the end of web development as we know it

2013-09-30

The end of web development as we know it? Probably not.

ASCII Face Palm

2013-09-27

The Picard face palm as ASCII art.

When to teach kids to code

2013-09-27

There are other things a kid could be learning...

Cloning all remote branches with Git

2013-09-27

Looking at the various options for cloning all remote branches to your local Git repository.

Europa Report

2013-09-26

Trailer for Europa Report

Git concepts simplified

2013-09-26

On the many varied mysteries of Git.

Finding the table containing a column name in MySQL

2013-09-25

Inspected the MySQL meta data to find the table in a database that contains a given column name.

We are all engineers

2013-09-24

On the overuse of the term engineer in the computing industry.

Controlling the PHP HTTP server via a PHP API

2013-09-22

Overview of a class I wrote for starting and stopping the built-in PHP HTTP server in PHP 5.4 via an object-oriented API.

Starlight Inception

2013-09-21

First look at this beta stage space combat simulator.

Replacing the MSATA SSD in a Lenovo U410

2013-09-21

Detailed instructions on how to replace the MSATA SSD in Lenovo U410 laptop.

It happens to the best of us

2013-09-11

SDDs do indeed fail. Just ask Linus.

August 2013

Throwing out old computers

2013-08-23

Throwing out old computers makes me sad. Here is why.

Easing back from Twitter

2013-08-12

Exploring my love/hate relationship with social media, and my mixed feeling about Twitter.

Think twice before giving away your UGC

2013-08-01

An arguement against willingly giving away your personal content to other websites that profit from it.

July 2013

Upgrading from Fedora 18 to Fedora 19 using FedUp

2013-07-10

A detailed tutorial on how to upgrade from Fedora 18 to Fedora 19 using the FedUp utility.

Monitoring Memcache with Monit

2013-07-09

Overview of how to monitor Memcace with Monit.

June 2013

Forcing non WWW traffic to WWW on Apache without mod_rewrite

2013-06-05

A tutorial on forcing non-WWW traffic to be redirected to WWW on Apache without the use of mod_rewrite.

May 2013

Installing Ansible on Linux

2013-05-29

A detailed tutorial on how to set up Ansible on client and server Linux based systems.

Installing the Opera web browser on Fedora

2013-05-20

A quick guide on how to install the Opera web browser on Fedora using yum.

March 2013

Adding a read only MySQL user

2013-03-06

Instructions on how to set up and test a read-only account in MySQL.

February 2013

Changing the maximum item size allowed by Memcache

2013-02-21

Details on how to change the maximum item size allowed by Memcache, which only allows 1MB items by default.

Setting up a secure SSL subdomain on Apache2

2013-02-19

A detailed tutorial on how to set up a sub-domain on Apache2 that is served up on a secure SSL connection on port 443 using a self-signed certificate.

Rotating Nginx log files via Cron

2013-02-15

A tutorial on how you can set up a simple Cron job to run a bash script that will rotate and compress Nginx log files for you automatically each day.

Suppressing Cron Job Email Notifications

2013-02-14

Detailed instructions on how to suppress email notifications from Linux Cron jobs.

Disabling the TRACE method in Apache2

2013-02-13

In this tutorial, I will show you how to check for TRACE support on your Apache2 server using curl, and then switch it off if it is enabled.

January 2013

Adding a composite unique key to an existing MySQL table

2013-01-16

Tutorial explaining how to add a composite unique key to an existing MySQL table, after firstly checking for existing violations.

Conducting a security audit with Nikto

2013-01-05

A detailed tutorial on how to install Nikto and use it to conduct a security audit of a web server.

December 2012

Conducting a passive security audit with Ratproxy

2012-12-27

A tutorial on how to install the Ratproxy server and configure it as a proxy for Firefox to conduct passive security audits.

Review of the Seiz Urbanpack U01

2012-12-21

A detailed review of the Urbanpack U01 backpack from Seiz.

Alpha Framework 1.2.1 Released

2012-12-21

An overview of the features of the new 1.2.1 release of Alpha Framework.

November 2012

Alpha Framework 1.2.0 Released

2012-11-15

An overview of the features of the new 1.2.0 release of Alpha Framework.

October 2012

Most meetings are actually briefings

2012-10-13

This article explores the difference between a meeting and a briefing, and why most meetings in organiztions are in fact a briefing.

September 2012

Working with ticketing systems

2012-09-26

A detailed overview of ticketing systems, along with some suggested best practises on how we might make best use of them on our projects.

Running Solr queries and updates via curl

2012-09-21

In this tutorial, we will look at examples of running Solr REST API calls via curl from the command line.

Developing off the Alpha trunk

2012-09-15

In this tutorial, I will show you how to set up a local Subversion repository with an external link to the central Alpha Framework trunk.

Fixing slow performance of sending mail from PHP via Sendmail

2012-09-13

On some servers the Sendmail program can be quite slow at sending emails due to hostname resolution. In this article, we will explore one possible solution.

Sending attachments from the Linux command line using mail

2012-09-12

An example of how to use the mail command in Linux to send file attachments.

Running a network trace on the command line using tcpflow

2012-09-04

Detailed intructions on how to run a network trace on the Linux command line using the tcpflow tool.

August 2012

Consolidating a dot zero release

2012-08-18

Recommended release cycle that advocates focused consolidation releases after every major feature release.

Update on the site migration

2012-08-15

When you need to migrate a ten year old website with 350+ pages of detailed content from one domain to another, you expect to run into difficulties.

The Khan Academy on Computer Science

2012-08-14

The Khan Academy is now offering a free on-line course on Computer Science.

April 2012

Clearing a Solr search index

2012-04-26

Clearing a Solr search index

February 2012

Apache 2.4 Released

2012-02-21

Apache 2.4 Released

The beauty of flight

2012-02-18

The beauty of flight

European Founders at Work

2012-02-16

European Founders at Work

Kyle Bragger interview on Founders Talk

2012-02-16

Kyle Bragger interview on Founders Talk

January 2012

Micro frameworks in PHP

2012-01-15

Micro frameworks in PHP

December 2011

Alpha Framework 1.1 Released

2011-12-21

Alpha Framework 1.1 Released

Some new features coming with PHP 5.4

2011-12-21

Some new features coming with PHP 5.4

Bucket Explorer for S3

2011-12-20

Bucket Explorer for S3

November 2011

Fedora 16 released

2011-11-08

Fedora 16 released

October 2011

Ten years old today

2011-10-15

Ten years old today

September 2011

Restler

2011-09-20

Restler

Packing for Mars

2011-09-19

Packing for Mars

Promoting a one page website via social media

2011-09-01

An experiment in promoting a one page website via social media.

July 2011

An MVC web framework for Bash

2011-07-19

An MVC web framework for Bash

A first look at Metasploit

2011-07-14

A first look at Metasploit

June 2011

Google Plus

2011-06-29

Google Plus

Adding a REST API to the Alpha Framework

2011-06-24

The design goals and approaches for adding a REST API layer to the Alpha Framework.

Vaadin

2011-06-14

Vaadin

Key Performance Indicators in the Alpha Framework

2011-06-13

An introduction to the new KPI (Key Performance Indicators) in the Alpha Framework.

HP TouchPad arriving in Ireland in July

2011-06-09

HP TouchPad arriving in Ireland in July

RSA Security Tokens Cracked

2011-06-07

RSA Security Tokens Cracked

May 2011

Never Eat Alone

2011-05-07

Never Eat Alone

April 2011

Photo tour of the new data centre belonging to Facebook

2011-04-17

Photo tour of the new data centre belonging to Facebook

PHP, Yesterdays Scala and the Cobol of tomorrow

2011-04-17

PHP - Yesterdays Scala and the Cobol of tomorrow

March 2011

Alpha Framework 1.0 Released

2011-03-19

Alpha Framework 1.0 Released

Switching to DuckDuckGo for search

2011-03-05

Switching to DuckDuckGo for search

New Facebook commenting system may be compelling for publishers

2011-03-05

New Facebook commenting system may be compelling for publishers

February 2011

The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla

2011-02-23

The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla

Ars Technica on Anonymous vs HBGary

2011-02-16

Ars Technica on Anonymous vs HBGary

The Decline of Bookshops

2011-02-12

The Decline of Bookshops

Accessing Memcached from the command line

2011-02-03

A detailed tutorial explaining how to connect to Memcached using Telnet, in order to query the server for statistics and to access cached data.

January 2011

Installing Memcached on Fedora 8

2011-01-27

A tutorial containing detailed instructions on setting up the Memcached server on Fedora 8. The steps included are also applicable for other Linux systems.

Jeff Atwood interviewed by 5BY5

2011-01-12

Jeff Atwood interviewed by 5BY5

December 2010

Dealers of Lightning

2010-12-27

Dealers of Lightning

Writing a REST Client in Ruby

2010-12-17

Tutorial describing how to write a REST client in Ruby using the rest-client gem, that talks to the public Twitter Trends API.

Upgrading to Thunderbird 3.1 on Fedora

2010-12-08

Step by step instructions on upgrading from Thunderbird 3.0.1 to 3.1.5 on Fedora Linux.

Phusion Passenger

2010-12-03

Phusion Passenger

November 2010

Founders at Work

2010-11-27

Founders at Work

Pentax K5 Reviewed

2010-11-21

Pentax K-5 Reviewed

SheevaPlug

2010-11-12

SheevaPlug

Membase

2010-11-11

Membase

October 2010

Avoiding the Privacy Apocalypse

2010-10-31

Avoiding the Privacy Apocalypse

dlvr.it

2010-10-27

dlvr.it

Automatically Publishing to Social Networks

2010-10-20

An article looking at your options for automatically publishing your website content updates to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

State of the MySQL Community

2010-10-18

State of the MySQL Community

PHPMD

2010-10-10

PHPMD

Glitch

2010-10-02

Glitch

Changing your default editor on Linux

2010-10-01

Changing your default editor on Linux

September 2010

Vector Graphics Icons from Raphael JS

2010-09-27

Vector Graphics Icons from Raphael JS

Black Hat Spam SEO

2010-09-25

Black Hat Spam SEO

Top 6 Most Popular Social Websites And Their Office

2010-09-23

Top 6 Most Popular Social Websites And Their Office

PostgreSQL 9.0 Released

2010-09-22

PostgreSQL 9.0 Released

Logging Messages to Scribe from PHP

2010-09-20

Detailed tutorial showing you how to log messages to Facebook Scribe from a PHP application.

Installing Facebook Scribe on Fedora 8

2010-09-18

A tutorial containing detailed instructions on setting up the Facebook Scribe logging server on Fedora 8. The steps included are also applicable for other Linux systems.

jQuery creator John Resig is interviewed on IT Conversations

2010-09-08

jQuery creator John Resig is interviewed on IT Conversations

Some exciting new features coming in webOS 2.0

2010-09-08

Some exciting new features coming in webOS 2.0

MongoDB is Web Scale

2010-09-07

MongoDB is Web Scale

Installing Dropbox on Fedora 8

2010-09-04

Installation instructions for the Dropbox PC client on Fedora 8.

Experimenting with Rails 3.0 on JRuby

2010-09-02

Experimenting with Rails 3.0 on JRuby

August 2010

Facebook 1.3 for webOS

2010-08-31

Facebook 1.3 for webOS

jQuery Mobile

2010-08-28

jQuery Mobile

PHP on Java via Quercus

2010-08-28

PHP on Java via Quercus

Switching to Bing for my homepage

2010-08-28

Switching to Bing for my homepage

Google Wave closing down

2010-08-23

Google Wave closing down

Riak developers interviewed on FLOSS Weekly

2010-08-09

Riak developers interviewed on FLOSS Weekly

July 2010

Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day

2010-07-30

Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day

Damn Vulnerable Linux

2010-07-18

Damn Vulnerable Linux

June 2010

Download, The True Story of the Internet

2010-06-09

Download - The True Story of the Internet

May 2010

Using FFMPEG to generate video clips

2010-05-28

Using FFMPEG to generate video clips

Version 6.0 released

2010-05-10

Version 6.0 released

September 2009

I Am Not My Tshirt

2009-09-01

I Am Not My Tshirt

Bulk resizing multiple images with GraphicsMagick

2009-09-01

Tutorial on how to bulk resize multiple images in the same directory using the GraphicsMagick command line utility.

August 2009

Kenpo books by Ed Parker available again

2009-08-27

Kenpo books by Ed Parker available again

Slash John

2009-08-24

Slash John

July 2009

David Heinemeier Hansson interviewed on FLOSS Weekly

2009-07-30

David Heinemeier Hansson interviewed on FLOSS Weekly

PHP 5.3.0 Released

2009-07-01

PHP 5.3.0 Released

OWASP Ireland AppSec 2009 Conference

2009-07-01

OWASP Ireland AppSec 2009 Conference

June 2009

PENTAX K7 Introduction

2009-06-15

PENTAX K-7 Introduction

May 2009

Sundry MySQL Scripts and Docs

2009-05-07

Sundry MySQL Scripts and Docs

Yoxos OnDemand, EclipseSource

2009-05-06

Yoxos OnDemand - EclipseSource

April 2009

Learning from StackOverflow Dot Com

2009-04-29

Learning from StackOverflow Dot Com

Watching a project in Jira

2009-04-23

Watching a project in Jira

LAMP stack usage at Facebook

2009-04-12

LAMP stack usage at Facebook

Search as a service

2009-04-10

Search as a service

March 2009

and we just went bananas it was brilliant

2009-03-27

and we just went bananas it was brilliant

The Makers of Things

2009-03-26

The Makers of Things

Ed Parker doing Techniques

2009-03-01

Ed Parker doing Techniques

February 2009

Dream Office

2009-02-23

Dream Office

A case study in not dealing with legacy software

2009-02-18

A case study in not dealing effectively with legacy software, were staff have continued to use an application fit for purpose without the support of their organization.

The trials of supporting remote users

2009-02-11

The trials of supporting remote users

FLOSS on jQuery

2009-02-08

FLOSS on jQuery

January 2009

What real life bad habits has programming given you

2009-01-30

What real life bad habits has programming given you

Trouble in Reykjavik

2009-01-22

Trouble in Reykjavik

Eclipse PDT 2.0 is now available

2009-01-21

Eclipse PDT 2.0 is now available

Raphael JS

2009-01-19

Raphael JS

Not There Yet

2009-01-13

Not There Yet

December 2008

Burger King Flame

2008-12-19

Burger King Flame

How To Design A Good API and Why it Matters

2008-12-16

How To Design A Good API and Why it Matters

Validating Fedora downloads on Vista

2008-12-01

Validating Fedora downloads on Vista

October 2008

The Sun, The Big Picture

2008-10-14

The Sun - The Big Picture

Results of the Phoenix Mission to Mars and Analog sites on Earth

2008-10-07

Results of the Phoenix Mission to Mars and Analog sites on Earth

September 2008

Drupal Drupal Drupal Drupal Dru pal

2008-09-30

Drupal Drupal Drupal Drupal Dru-pal

Subversion 1.5.x and svn externals

2008-09-29

Subversion 1.5.x and svn externals

Working in Space

2008-09-21

Working in Space

Fallout 3

2008-09-08

Fallout 3

August 2008

HP iPAQ 214 Enterprise

2008-08-24

HP iPAQ 214 Enterprise

PHP 5.3 Alpha Released

2008-08-23

PHP 5.3 Alpha Released

June 2008

Rex Kwon Do

2008-06-01

Rex Kwon Do

April 2008

Tips for hiring new engineers

2008-04-28

Tips for hiring new engineers

The Jimmy Cake

2008-04-27

The Jimmy Cake

Red Snapper are back

2008-04-27

Red Snapper are back

NASA Spacecraft Images Mars Moon in Colour and in 3D

2008-04-10

NASA Spacecraft Images Mars Moon in Colour and in 3D

Super Mario in 14kB Javascript

2008-04-10

Super Mario in 14kB Javascript

March 2008

Bluebook ad for O2

2008-03-08

Bluebook ad for O2

February 2008

An Insurgency of Quality

2008-02-18

An Insurgency of Quality

January 2008

Mozilla Lightning

2008-01-29

Mozilla Lightning

Sun acquires MySQL

2008-01-16

Sun acquires MySQL

Computer History Museum

2008-01-10

Computer History Museum

December 2007

Experiments with the Wii Remote

2007-12-24

Experiments with the Wii Remote

Minn Heima I Gaer Sigur Ros

2007-12-07

Minn Heima - I Gaer - Sigur Ros

Nokia N95 Review

2007-12-06

Nokia N95 Review

November 2007

Duffy

2007-11-24

Duffy

Warzone 2100 Resurrection Project

2007-11-21

Warzone 2100 Resurrection Project

On the Mat Short Form 3

2007-11-16

On the Mat - Short Form 3

Fedora 8 Released

2007-11-09

Fedora 8 Released

Skype Mobile Phone on the way from 3 Ireland

2007-11-06

Skype Mobile Phone on the way from 3 Ireland

October 2007

Ultimate Bachelor Pad in Vancouver

2007-10-27

Ultimate Bachelor Pad in Vancouver

PHP2WSDL

2007-10-11

PHP2WSDL

The Other Side of Iapetus

2007-10-09

The Other Side of Iapetus

Argentina turf Ireland out of cup

2007-10-01

Argentina turf Ireland out of cup

September 2007

Fake Larry Ellison

2007-09-26

Fake Larry Ellison

Eclipse PDT 1.0

2007-09-23

Eclipse PDT 1.0

BBC Documentary Archive

2007-09-21

BBC Documentary Archive

August 2007

11 Simple Rules from Dave Packard

2007-08-31

11 Simple Rules from Dave Packard

Bizarre Star

2007-08-17

Bizarre Star

New elements in HTML 5

2007-08-09

New elements in HTML 5

Comments Reenabled

2007-08-07

Comments Re-enabled

July 2007

Tesla Roadster

2007-07-17

Tesla Roadster

PHP 4 end of life announcement

2007-07-13

PHP 4 end of life announcement

Guy catches .50 BMG ricochet to the head

2007-07-04

Guy catches .50 BMG ricochet to the head

June 2007

Life at Google

2007-06-28

Life at Google

Managing Humans

2007-06-27

Managing Humans

How to hire the best people you will ever work with

2007-06-26

How to hire the best people you will ever work with

Rashers and Eggs

2007-06-19

Rashers and Eggs

Japanese Human Tetris

2007-06-14

Japanese Human Tetris

I am not a resource

2007-06-12

I am not a resource

Tvashtar in Motion

2007-06-11

Tvashtar in Motion

Fedora 7 is live

2007-06-01

Fedora 7 is live

May 2007

The Truth About Wireless Devices

2007-05-31

The Truth About Wireless Devices

Microsoft Surface

2007-05-30

Microsoft Surface

LinkedIn Blog

2007-05-29

LinkedIn Blog

The String Theory of How to Retain Geeks

2007-05-25

The String Theory of How to Retain Geeks

The man who owns the Internet

2007-05-23

The man who owns the Internet

d e f i n i t e l y

2007-05-16

d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y

A Giant Takes On Physics Biggest Questions

2007-05-16

A Giant Takes On Physics Biggest Questions

Updates to AlphaFramework Dot Org

2007-05-10

Updates to AlphaFramework Dot Org

The Perfect Weapon

2007-05-03

The Perfect Weapon

Beverageholder and Cigerate Lighter

2007-05-02

Beverageholder and Cigerate Lighter

April 2007

Python on Planes

2007-04-27

Python on Planes

Changes to the sections

2007-04-26

Changes to the sections on this site

Test server upgrade causing delays

2007-04-23

Test server upgrade causing delays

Staying safe on eBay

2007-04-12

Staying safe on eBay

Saitek PZ08A Gamers Keyboard

2007-04-10

Saitek PZ08A Gamers Keyboard

April Fool from Google

2007-04-02

April Fool from Google

A life long career as a Software Developer

2007-04-02

A Life-long Career as a Software Developer

March 2007

Bug Blackout

2007-03-23

Bug Blackout

Next release imminent

2007-03-21

Next release imminent

Domain reselling still going strong

2007-03-16

Domain re-selling still going strong

A first look at OpenID

2007-03-14

A first look at OpenID

In flight servicing of orbital satelites

2007-03-09

In flight servicing of orbital satelites

A Second Look at GIMP

2007-03-08

A Second Look at GIMP

Spring theme reenabled

2007-03-07

Spring theme re-enabled

SugarCRM comes to Dublin

2007-03-05

SugarCRM comes to Dublin

Looking towards 5.2

2007-03-02

Looking towards 5.2

Do not adjust your monitors

2007-03-01

Do not adjust your monitors

February 2007

Dynamic Force frame Effect for Iframes republished

2007-02-26

Dynamic Force frame Effect for Iframes republished

Eric S Raymond and Fedora

2007-02-23

Eric S Raymond and Fedora

Ten Leading Open Source Innovators

2007-02-23

Ten Leading Open Source Innovators

On getting a bus in Iceland

2007-02-22

On getting a bus in Iceland

Learning from the mistakes of others

2007-02-21

Learning from the mistakes of others

Interesting marketing podcast

2007-02-19

Interesting marketing podcast

Fixed Registration Controller

2007-02-12

Fixed Registration Controller

Handling Content Migration with 301 Redirects from a 404 Error Page

2007-02-11

A tutorial describing how to use 301 re-directs from a 404 error page, to ease the transition of content migration from one location to another.

YUI

2007-02-09

YUI

Hell for laptops

2007-02-08

Hell for laptops

January 2007

Fedora Core 6 Special Effects

2007-01-30

Fedora Core 6 Special Effects

Developing on Fedora Core 6

2007-01-30

Developing on Fedora Core 6

ASCII art generating PHP class

2007-01-29

ASCII art generating PHP class

Upgrade to 5.1.2

2007-01-28

Upgrade to 5.1.2

For all your hosting needs

2007-01-26

For all your hosting needs

Upgrade to 5.1.1

2007-01-25

Upgrade to 5.1.1

The Story About Ping

2007-01-24

The Story About Ping

Get a First Life

2007-01-21

Get a First Life

Keep It Simple Stupid

2007-01-17

Keep It Simple Stupid

Advice on buying an ice axe

2007-01-15

Advice on buying an ice axe

PutPlace Dot Com

2007-01-10

PutPlace Dot Com

Succeeding in 2007

2007-01-10

Succeeding in 2007

Personal security via your mobile

2007-01-06

Personal security via your mobile

Interviewing at Google

2007-01-06

Interviewing at Google

Great tips on making the most of your LinkedIn profile

2007-01-04

Great tips on making the most of your LinkedIn profile

Some display issues with latest release

2007-01-04

Some display issues with latest release

Blue Origin

2007-01-04

Blue Origin

December 2006

Upgraded to version 5.1

2006-12-30

Upgraded to version 5.1

The Shuttle the ISS and the Sun

2006-12-30

The Shuttle the ISS and the Sun

CONMAN Dot Tv

2006-12-18

CONMAN Dot Tv

Unraveling the Second Life hype

2006-12-16

Unraveling the Second Life hype

A nice cheep LCD TV

2006-12-16

A nice cheep LCD TV

LinkedIn hits 8 million members

2006-12-08

LinkedIn hits 8 million members

Mobile Linux from GP2X

2006-12-08

Mobile Linux from GP2X

Optimus Keyboard

2006-12-08

Optimus Keyboard

Picco Z Mini Helicopter

2006-12-08

Picco Z Mini Helicopter

Sorry about the 404s

2006-12-05

Sorry about the 404s

Update in progress

2006-12-04

Update in progress

An introduction to object oriented programming with PHP

2006-12-04

A basic introduction to core object oriented concepts using PHP.

October 2006

AlphaFramework Dot Org

2006-10-12

AlphaFramework Dot Org

June 2006

New content and upgrade

2006-06-22

New content and upgrade

Why its good to write your own framework

2006-06-16

There are many top-quality web frameworks available for PHP, but sometimes you might consider writing your own framework. This article looks at the reasons why you might want to.

Statistics on web browser usage

2006-06-15

Statistics on web browser usage

Slippage

2006-06-09

Slippage

Book Reviews

2006-06-07

A page containing books reviews of some of my favourite reference books.

May 2006

Relaunch at the end of this month

2006-05-05

Re-launch at the end of this month

March 2006

Getting back on track

2006-03-27

Getting back on track

Delays delays

2006-03-07

Delays delays

January 2006

Progress to date on V.5

2006-01-31

Progress to date on updating this site to V.5

Emails

2006-01-16

E-mails

Another month and another missed deadline

2006-01-03

Another month and another missed deadline

Note on emails

2006-01-03

Note on e-mails

December 2005

Server migration issues

2005-12-20

Server migration issues

November 2005

On the verge of something

2005-11-29

On the verge of something

Google Ads

2005-11-11

Google Ads

Updates on hold

2005-11-01

Updates on hold

October 2005

MySQL 5 RC Candidate Released

2005-10-03

MySQL 5 RC Candidate Released

An introduction to version control using Subversion

2005-10-02

An introduction to the benefits of source control using the open source Subversion application.

September 2005

SVG update

2005-09-03

SVG update

August 2005

Update delayed

2005-08-29

Update delayed

SVG support in Firefox

2005-08-02

SVG support in Firefox

July 2005

New project in the pipeline

2005-07-31

New project in the pipeline

Understanding the need for new computer technologies

2005-07-31

In this opinion piece, an argument is presented in favour of embracing technology innovations in order to gain from any possible competitive advantages.

June 2005

Upgrades in progress

2005-06-29

Upgrades in progress

Back in business

2005-06-20

Back in business

May 2005

Unavailable

2005-05-20

Unavailable

April 2005

Limited availability

2005-04-29

Limited availability

MySQL 5 beta released

2005-04-01

MySQL 5 beta released

March 2005

Running late again

2005-03-26

Running late again

Feedback Form

2005-03-14

Feedback Form

February 2005

Note to Firefox users

2005-02-23

Note to Firefox users

January 2005

Updates are on hold

2005-01-31

Updates are on hold

PHP Security Consortium

2005-01-31

PHP Security Consortium

An introductory guide to Intelligent Agents

2005-01-28

In this article Intelligent Agents are introduced, as well as a discussion of the possible impacts on business organisations of their usage.

Referencing Articles

2005-01-25

Referencing Articles

December 2004

Implementing an image cache for PHP GD

2004-12-24

Tutorial describing how to implement an image cache on a web server for PHP GD applications.

Basic shapes in PHP GD

2004-12-23

A tutorial on drawing basic shapes in the GD graphics library of PHP.

PHP for Eclipse

2004-12-06

PHP for Eclipse

The top 20 IT mistakes

2004-12-01

The top 20 IT mistakes

November 2004

Running a little late

2004-11-27

Running a little late

Subqueries in MySQL 4.1

2004-11-24

Subqueries in MySQL 4.1

MP3s from Bloc Party

2004-11-23

MP3s from Bloc Party

Project deadlines looming

2004-11-23

Project deadlines looming

PHP and Oracle closer integration

2004-11-16

PHP and Oracle closer integration

MySQL 4.1 Released

2004-11-15

MySQL 4.1 Released

Firefox 1 is released

2004-11-10

Firefox 1 is released

PHPSiteStats

2004-11-10

PHPSiteStats

Updated to 4.2

2004-11-08

Updated to 4.2

A word about date formats

2004-11-08

A word about date formats

October 2004

Work on a new version begins

2004-10-29

Work on new version begins

Defining the Knowledge based Economy

2004-10-29

This article looks at knowledge in the wider economy, and how it is likely to affect firms and individuals alike.

Working with MySQL Connector ODBC and Office

2004-10-01

This tutorial provides a description of how to access MySQL databases from MS Office.

Rebuilt test LAMP server

2004-10-01

Rebuilt test LAMP server

September 2004

Building a PHP 5 Web Server on Windows IIS

2004-09-02

A detailed tutorial on how to build a PHP 5 web server on Windows.

New test server ordered

2004-09-02

New test server ordered

August 2004

A sad day

2004-08-27

A sad day

July 2004

Introduction to GD

2004-07-30

An introduction to the PHP GD graphics library.

Alas IE

2004-07-02

Alas IE

May 2004

Building composite shapes in SVG

2004-05-05

Guide to building custom shapes in SVG, composed of several primitive shapes.

Sun and Microsoft settle out of court

2004-05-05

Sun Microsystems received a $1.6 billion cash handout from Microsoft, on condition that it drop all long standing legal actions against the company.

Lots of new content

2004-05-05

Lots of new content

March 2004

Running scheduled backups with Xcopy

2004-03-26

A tutorial on how to set up scheduled backups with Xcopy on Windows.

New version in the planning stages

2004-03-26

New version in the planning stages

January 2004

Sun Microsystems set to diversify into the microprocessor market

2004-01-23

Sun Microsystems is set to enter the PC-based microprocessor market later this year, with the first of a series of offerings based on grid processing.

December 2003

Basic animation in SVG

2003-12-19

A basic introduction to animation techniques in the SVG format.

November 2003

Multi Dimensional Databases: References

2003-11-27

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Comparison of Relational and Multi Dimensional Database structures

2003-11-27

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Multi Dimensional Databases: Conclusion

2003-11-27

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Introduction to Multi Dimensional Databases

2003-11-27

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Where not to use a Multi Dimensional Database

2003-11-27

An overview of multi-dimensional databases and their usage.

Features of Multi Dimensional Database Systems

2003-11-27

multi-dimensional, multi, dimensional, dimension, array, database, databases, relation, relational, features

An assessment of Multi Dimensional Databases and their usage

2003-11-27

multi-dimensional, multi, dimensional, dimension, array, database, databases, relation, relational, features

The benefits of click wrap contracts over shrink wrap contracts

2003-11-27

A discussion of the benefits of click-wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts.

August 2003

Setting up a local test server

2003-08-31

A practical tutorial on how to set up a local test server.

July 2003

Detecting the SVG Viewer

2003-07-27

Using client-side scripting to detect the Adobe SVG Viewer plug-in.

June 2003

An Introduction to Linux with Knoppix

2003-06-28

An introduction to Linux with Knoppix, a version of Linux that boots from a CD-ROM.

April 2003

Overture is coming to Ireland

2003-04-27

A discussion on Overture locating its European hub in Ireland.

March 2003

Google is coming to Ireland

2003-03-30

A discussion on Google locating its European Operations Centre in Ireland.

Basic shapes in SVG

2003-03-01

A basic introduction to using the SVG format to draw shapes.

December 2002

The Palladium Project

2002-12-28

Introduction to the Palladium Project, a new initiative from Microsoft on personal computer security.

October 2002

Relationship Marketing for ecommerce success

2002-10-22

How building a relationship with existing customers can help strenghen your e-commerce presence.

September 2002

Scalable Web Design Part 2 Liquid Design

2002-09-20

Liquid Design: matching your website to the inner resolution of the browser.

August 2002

Working With PNG

2002-08-24

Making use of the PNG graphic format, in the latest browsers.

July 2002

Understanding Web Services

2002-07-27

Introduction to web services, with an overview of the technologies involved.

June 2002

Introducing Mozilla 1.0

2002-06-26

Introduction to Mozilla 1.0, the new open-source web browser.

Dynamic Force frame Effect for Iframes

2002-06-26

Forcing your iframe-based pages to stay framed using Javascript.

May 2002

Domain Name Universal Database

2002-05-25

Explanation of the domain name universal database.

Layers Part 5 Animated Clipping Layers

2002-05-04

Animated clipping layers using JavaScript and the DOM.

April 2002

Fluorescent Multi layer Disc (FMD)

2002-04-26

FMD - the future of data storage?

March 2002

Illegal Internet

2002-03-02

Overview of hacking culture and techniques.

December 2001

Scalable Web Design Part 1 Introductory Concepts

2001-12-21

Introduction to scalable web design techniques.

November 2001

Launching a Web Site

2001-11-24

Guide to launching your own web site.

October 2001

Layers Part 4 Clipping Layers

2001-10-21

Introduction to clipping layers with CSS.

About

2001-10-15

About the Tech Leader Pro web site.

September 2001

The Invisible Web

2001-09-21

Are the main search engines failing us?

Broadband

2001-09-20

Broadband rollout in Ireland, and the wider implications.

August 2001

Safe Browsing Part 3, Encrypting your email

2001-08-28

Guide to email encryption protocols.

Dynamic image resizing

2001-08-13

Using JavaScript to resize images on the fly.

Optimising JPEG Images

2001-08-11

Optimising JPEG images for the web.

Safe Browsing Part 2, Protecting Your Email

2001-08-08

Stopping e-mail address harvester bots from stealing your e-mail address.

Layers Part 3 Animated Layer Opacity

2001-08-08

Controlling a layers opacity using JavaScript.

Screen Resolution

2001-08-06

Help on which resolution to design for.

Which browser to design for

2001-08-05

Help on deciding what browser to design for.

Layers Part 2 Setting Layer Opacity

2001-08-04

Controlling the opacity of a layer using visual filters.

Layers Part 1 Basic Implementation

2001-08-03

Setting up a layer using CSS.

July 2001

Safe Browsing Part 1, Protection Against Viruses

2001-07-21

Anti-virus guidelines, with information on the main types.

Effective Communication With Your Clients

2001-07-19

Guidelines on practices regarding client feedback.

Web Site Promotion

2001-07-14

Introductory guide to methods used for promoting a web site.

The Basics of Web Technologies

2001-07-13

Basic introduction to the different web technologies.

Introducing web site statistics

2001-07-13

Explanation of the importance of good web site statistics.

Communicating With Your Web Designer

2001-07-12

Guidelines for anyone thinking of hiring a web designer.

January 2001

Graphic Formats for Web Publication

2001-01-21

Introduction to the main graphic formats used on the web.