Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

This Week I Learned -  *  Potato Prompt  used in Custom Instructions can make AI stop being a collaborator and start being a "Devil’s Advocate" -  " Whenever I type the word 'Potato' followed by an idea or argument, I want you to ignore your 'helpful' persona. Instead, act as a Hostile Critic . Your only job is to find the 'holes' in my logic. Point out three specific ways my argument could fail, two assumptions I’m making without proof, and one counter-argument I haven't addressed. Do not be polite; be precise. " * Yann LeCun and his team have developed LeWorldModel, the first stable model built with his Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture (JEPA). Their aim is to create models that go beyond just predicting words, focusing instead on truly understanding the world and how it functions. * Distillation is a technique where an older “teacher” AI model is used to train a newer, “student,” model that replicates the capabilities of the earl...

Of all the computing devices I use, my custom-built desktop PC is the most comfortable to work on, and it offers great flexibility for upgrades . I collaborated with a hardware expert to have it configured some seven years ago. After all these years, the time on that Windows PC kept going out of sync and behaved erratically. My AI assistant informed me that it was because of the CR2032 CMOS battery dying. A few years ago, I wouldn't have dared to meddle with the hardware but AI assistants & DIY YouTube videos gave me the courage to experiment. I learnt about how to replace a CR 2032 battery, bought it at a neighborhood hardware store for Rs 40 and replaced it in 5 minutes giving my PC a new lease of life.   YouTube video on how to change CR2032 batteries on the most common styles of battery sockets. The socket of my PC's motherboards is described at the 2:43 mark .   I now open up the PC cabinet from time to time to clean the insides, admire the components that kee...

In response to a question about the feasibility of effective code reviews for large (e.g., 500-line) AI-generated PRs like those from Claude, especially when reviewers lack deep codebase familiarity in new projects or fast-paced environments, Uncle Bob Martin and Grady Booch have contrasting views Uncle Bob Martin advocates metrics-based oversight (test coverage, complexity, dependencies) and higher-level management over line-by-line AI code review, while Grady Booch stresses manual verification for vulnerabilities, dead code, and performance factors. Uncle Bob Martin : " I don’t review code written by agents . I measure things like test coverage, dependency structure, cyclomatic complexity, module sizes, mutation testing, etc.  Much can be inferred about the quality of the code from those metrics. The code itself I leave to the AI.  Humans are slow at code. To get productivity we humans need to disengage from code and manage from a higher level." Grady Booch : "Unlike B...