Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

This Week I Learned -  * AI coding assistants Cursor, Windsurf, Github Copilot offer features like code generation, context awareness, tab completion, multi-file support, Chat, code review, customization and choice of models. Cursor & Windsurf are AI-powered IDEs built on top of Visual Studio while Github Copilot integrates with various IDEs — VS Code, IntelliJ, Neovim. Code.  *  The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book  by Andriy Burkov is provided on a read first, buy later basis * Certain pathogens, like viruses and bacteria, can cause long-term inflammation or directly damage DNA in ways that eventually lead to cancer. For example, hepatitis B and C viruses are key drivers of liver cancer. Some types of the human papillomavirus are responsible for cervical cancer. The bacterium H. pylori can cause stomach ulcers and cancers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that around 13% of cancers overall are directly caused by infections . * Leadin...

In 2023, countries used weasel wording to "contribute" to "transitioning away from fossil fuels" at the COP28 climate change summit in Dubai, a statement that sounded like a goal but acted like a mirage in a desert of inaction. Carbon emission increased between COP28 and COP29!  2024 became the first calendar year to pass the 1.5C threshold, as well as being the world's hottest year on record. The 1.5C threshold refers to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This target was established in the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change that was signed by 196 countries at COP 21 in 2015.  To understand Climate Change better I tracked major  Weather events that made headlines in 2024 . I'll keep updating this page as such events unfold this year. -0- January   * IMD’s Annual Climate Summary-2024 shows that extreme weather events caused over 3,200 deaths in India in 2024. Lightning...

Topics covered in the talk : AI's Impact on Software Engineering Understanding Agents and Their Role Collaborative AI and Automating Code with Agents v0: Building Components and Interactive Prototypes v0 and Bolt: Beyond Component Building Bolt's Troubleshooting and Authentication Features Bolt's Targeted Edits and Tips Code Generation with Copilot and Cursor Optimizing Cursor Setup and Introducing Cline Website Inspection and Testing with Cline What is an AI Agent and why do they matter? An agent is a program that autonomously completes tasks or makes decisions based on data.  What is meant by autonomous?  The agent understands task intent, can plan steps to solve the problem, decide and execute actions and adapt to the environment Consider how many of us use AI chat interfaces today. You might ask ChatGPT to write an article from start to finish and get a one-shot response. You probably need to do some work to iterate on it yourself. An agentic version is more nuanced - i...