Happy Thanksgiving — and to everyone who works in tech, here’s hoping that the historical trend doesn’t continue and that you won’t be called away from the holiday to deal with an emergency.
Mine’s going through its greatest era. (And no, there’s nothing secret or security-compromising on my laptop screen in these photos — in fact, it’s documentation that I wrote for Writer, and you’re supposed to see that.)
It’s that time of the week again — when I post the technology-related memes, pictures, and cartoons floating around the internet that I found interesting or relevant this week. Share and enjoy!
Here’s what’s happening in the thriving tech scene in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, November 25 through Sunday, December 1, 2024! This list includes both in-person and online events.
Note that each item in the list includes:
✅ When the event will take place
✅ What the event is
✅ Where the event will take place
✅ Who is holding the event
Keep in mind that many organizers schedule their events “on autopilot” and may not have accounted for Thanksgiving this week. Check with the event organizers to see if the event is actually happening this week, especially if it’s scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!
How do I put this list together? It’s largely automated. I have a collection of Python scripts in a Jupyter Notebook that scrapes Meetup and Eventbrite for events in categories that I consider to be “tech,” “entrepreneur,” and “nerd.” The result is a checklist that I review. I make judgment calls and uncheck any items that I don’t think fit on this list.
In addition to events that my scripts find, I also manually add events when their organizers contact me with their details.
What goes into this list? I prefer to cast a wide net, so the list includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under any of these categories:
This actually hasn’t happened…yet. But there are enough people who practice asshole-driven development for there to eventually be an AI code assistant that behaves like this.
As I write this, the top story on Techmeme is the Windows 365 link, Microsoft’s new desktop device, which The Verge describes as a “mini PC that streams Windows from the cloud.” It’s expected to be available in April 2025 at $349 for the device, and not including the monthly cloud computing subscription fee.
It “boasts” these specs:
In my opinion, calling this a “thin client” is being a little too generous. It’s more of a meager client, especially with that little RAM, which the browser will expand to consume entirely.
I assume that the target market for this sad, non-upgradeable unit is the enterprise, and particularly businesses where the tech purchasing decision-makers are either gullible or need to ensure that the initial cost of hardware is incredibly low and the ongoing costs are someone else’s problem.
It’s terribly underpowered. Even as a machine for filling out “TPS Reports,” it’s pretty limited, and I expect it will start grinding to a halt if you’re trying to do even a little work while simultaneously on a Teams video call. The only advantage it appears to offer is that it should be easy to administer.
The Windows 365 Link is the 2020 version of the “netbook,” and long-time readers will know why my opinion of them was.
If you need a laugh, you might want to read the comments for The Verge’s article on the unit.
The Tampa Bay AI Meetup is back (in cooperation with the Tampa Java User Group) with a presentation titled Welcome to the AI Jungle! Now What? on Tuesday, December 10 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hays office. Kevin Dubois, Principal Developer Advocate at Red Hat and Java Champion, will be presenting — he’ll guide us through the world of enterprise AI implementations.
The AI revolution is transforming business landscapes, but many developers find themselves overwhelmed by this paradigm shift. How do we navigate this “Wild West” of tools, models, and platforms?
Kevin will demonstrate how open source technologies can standardize AI development and deployment in enterprise environments. Learn how to leverage familiar tools like containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and GitOps to build AI-powered applications in a secure, repeatable manner.
Discover how open source solutions are democratizing AI development and deployment. Through live demonstrations, Kevin will showcase:
Kevin Dubois brings a wealth of experience to the table:
When not revolutionizing enterprise AI, Kevin can be found hiking, gravel biking, snowboarding, or packrafting in various corners of the world.
Once again, the event is Welcome to the AI Jungle! Now what?, and it’s happening on Wednesday, December 10 at 5:30 p.m. at Hays. We’ll see you there!
