Yes, it has been nine years since I embarked on the improbable journey that was this tech blog. At times, it has felt less like a tech blog and more like a philosophy or even political blog. But I suppose multiple things can be true at the same time. As long as this blog stays true to its mission of documenting my own little tech journey, I think all is well.
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| Happy ninth birthday! |
That aside, the fact that this blog has gone on for nine years, staying on course with the same format as all the preceding years since 2014, is a testament to my consistency. Hey, it's one hell of a moment; I think I'm allowed a little self-congratulations. Still, change is inevitable, and in some cases, I think change can be beneficial. For example, I've been attempting to
A.I Image Generation
2023 is probably the year that A.I became mainstream, with text and image generators making their runds on the market. I've actually used both. Text generators such as ChatGPT to generate filler text for code, and image generators (sch as Imagine) to produce nice pictures for the blog. |
| Imagine |
In recent years, I've been mostly using stock photos, but sometimes the search is long and the results are underwhelming. Being able to generate pretty much what I need with a reasonable degree of accuracy has proven to be an attraction too great to ignore. The problem with such images, however, it that people often look unrealistic and deformed. Thus, I've tried to limit such image generation to animals, plants and inanimate objects. Anything that absolutely requires human parts in the image, I continue relying on stock photos. I think it's an acceptable compromise.
Tech Content
As is par for the course with other years, much of my repertoire has revolved around HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and occasionally PHP. But true to form, I have been experimenting with other technologies. Not new programming languages, but new software. |
| Oracle APEX |
Low-Code solutions was something I embarked upon after attending Oracle's CloudWorld Tour back in April. Oracle APEX sounded promising at the time, and after some tinkering, I have not found myself overly impressed. However, I have not been thoroughly underwhelmed either. And thus I have actually, as is my wont, used a technology I am learning, to create something I want. The result is last month's web tutorial.
This year, QBasic made the rare appearance in one of my web tutorials. There's quite the story behind that one, but go read the web tutorial if you want to know.
Other Content
There's been a fair bit brewing around the world. The rise of A.I, global unrest, and much moving and shaking in big tech. Stuff has happened in Singapore as well, but unless I can somehow tie it to a tech angle, I tend not to feature it on the blog. |
| Gobal news! |
One point of evolution of this blog is that gradually, I have been screening out things that are big enough for me to talk about. If it's about tech, that's an obvious inclusion. If it's not so much about tech but more about Singapore or workplace issues, then it's still relevant as long as I can make it relevant. The rule is that I should not have to try too hard to make it relevant.
I've also gone into the process of tag removal. Over the years, the number of tags that simply were not important enough to warrant being repeated, has grown. In my defense, they seemed important at the time, and it's only with the benefit of hindsight that I realized a substantial amount of cleanup was needed. This is an ongoing process though, so bear with me!
My Equipment
As I write this passage, I am doing it on a creaky and flickering laptop that is undoubtedly on its last legs. This machine has served me since 2015, a few months after I embarked on TeochewThunder. It has been 8 years. Ah, the memories. The support on the Windows version has run out, and I'm dragging my feet on moving on to a new machine.Thankfully, in 2020, I bought a MacBook Air and the little beauty's got some life in her yet. I expect that soon I will be moving on from presenting screenshots from my Windows machine, to taking screenshots from my MacBook Air.
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| Failing equipment. |
My mobile phone is not what one would call state of the art and is in dire need of an upgrade. Still, thankfully, it seems to have weathered much abuse and should hold out for a while yet. Hopefully, the upcoming blogging break will give me ample time to transition to machines that aren't decrepit to the point of embarrassment.
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