DataTopics Podcast

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don’t), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

In this episode:
Special guest Bram Decoster shares his journey and practical wisdom on developing charisma and confidence. We explore:

• The foundations of charisma: How presence, power, and warmth shape effective communication.
• Overcoming discomfort: Actionable strategies to tackle mental and physical barriers to confidence.
• Public speaking tips: Practical advice for managing nerves and connecting with your audience.
• Practical takeaways: Insights from "The Charisma Myth" by Olivia Fox Cabane, including visualization exercises and mindset shifts.
• Why charisma matters in data work: The intersection of technical expertise and interpersonal influence in the workplace.

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

This week, we’re bringing you a special episode straight from RootsConf, our annual internal knowledge-sharing extravaganza! Hosts Morello and Bart sit down with Tim and Ben, data strategy experts, for a lively chat about the state of generative AI as it transitions from a buzzword to a business tool.

Highlights from this episode:

• Generative AI adoption: Are companies finally moving beyond pilot purgatory?
• The environmental cost of AI: Can emerging techniques reduce its heavy energy footprint?
• Bridging the knowledge gap: What’s missing for widespread AI adoption in organizations?
• Future trends: How generative AI might reshape personalization and business processes in 2025.

Plus, we dive into the Gartner Hype Cycle and its relevance in understanding AI’s journey from innovation to disillusionment and beyond.

Get ready to dive deep into AI’s evolving role and its impact on industries, sustainability, and society. Hit play and join the discussion!

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

This week, Yannick joins the conversation for a lively year-end retrospective on the state of AI, data, and technology in 2024. Whether you're knee-deep in neural networks or just data-curious, this episode offers plenty to ponder.

Grab your coffee, sit back, and explore:

• AI’s meteoric rise in 2024: How GenAI went from hype to tangible business tools and what’s ahead for 2025.
• Strategic AI adoption: Challenges and best practices for embedding AI into workflows and decision-making processes.
• Real-time data: From dynamic pricing to e-commerce triggers, we explore gaps and future trends in event-driven infrastructure.
• The ethics and compliance puzzle: A dive into the EU AI Act, data privacy, and the evolving landscape of ethical AI usage.
• Developer tools and trends: Productivity boosters like Copilot and the rise of tools like PDM and Ubi in the Python ecosystem.

With reflections on everything from Lakehouse data platforms to open-source debates, this episode is the perfect blend of geeky insights and forward-looking predictions.

Pull up a chair, relax, and let’s dive into the world of data, unplugged style!

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

In this episode, we’re joined by a special guest: Alex Gallego, founder and CEO of Red Panda. Together, we dive deep into building data-intensive applications, the evolution of streaming technologies, and balancing high throughput and low latency demands. 

Key topics covered:

• What is Red Panda and why it matters: Red Panda’s mission to redefine data streaming while being the fastest Kafka-compatible option on the market.
• Batch vs. streaming data: An accessible guide to understanding the classic debate and how the tech landscape is shifting towards unified data frameworks.
• Scaling at speed: The challenges and innovations driving Red Panda’s performance optimizations, from zero-copy architecture to storage engines.
• AI, ML, and streaming data integration: How Red Panda empowers real-time machine learning and AI-powered workloads with ease.
• Open source vs. enterprise models: Navigating licensing challenges and balancing business goals in the hybrid cloud era.
• Leadership and career shifts: Alex’s reflections on moving from technical lead to CEO, blending engineering know-how with company vision.

Send us a text

Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don’t), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you’re a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let’s get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

In this episode, we are joined by special guest Nico for a lively and wide-ranging tech chat. Grab your headphones and prepare for:

• Strava’s ‘Athlete Intelligence’ feature: A humorous dive into how workout apps are getting smarter—and a little sassier.
• Frontend frameworks: HTMX is a tough choice: A candid discussion on using React versus emerging alternatives like HTMX and when to keep things lightweight.
• Octoverse 2024 trends and language wars: Python takes the lead over JavaScript as the top GitHub language, and we dissect why Go, TypeScript, and Rust are getting love too.
• GenAI meets Minecraft: Imagine procedurally generated worlds and dreamlike coherence breaks—Minecraft-style. How GenAI could redefine gameplay narratives and NPC behavior.
• OpenAI’s O1 model leak: Insights on the recent leak, what’s new, and its implications for the future of AI.
• Tiger Beetle’s transactional databases and testing tales: Nico walks us through Tiger Style, deterministic simulation testing, and why it’s a game changer for distributed databases.
• Automated testing for LLMOps: A quick overview of automated testing for large language models and its role in modern AI workflows.
• DeepLearning.ai’s short courses: Quick, impactful learning to level up your AI skills.

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged  is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don't), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

In this episode, we cover:

• ChatGPT Search: Exploring OpenAI's new web-browsing capability, and how it transforms everything from everyday searches to complex problem-solving.
• ChatGPT is a Good Rubber Duck: Discover how ChatGPT makes for an excellent companion for debugging and brainstorming, offering more than a few laughs along the way.
• What’s New in Python 3.13: From the new free-threaded mode to the just-in-time (JIT) compiler, we break down the major (and some lesser-known) changes, with additional context from this breakdown and Reddit insights.
• UV is Fast on its Feet: How the development of new tools impacts the Python packaging ecosystem, with a side discussion on Poetry and the complexities of Python lockfiles.
• Meta’s Llama Training Takes Center Stage: Meta ramps up its AI game, pouring vast resources into training the Llama model. We ponder the long-term impact and their ambitions in the AI space.
• OpenAI’s Swarm: A new experimental framework for multi-agent orchestration, enabling AI agents to collaborate and complete tasks—what it means for the future of AI interactions.
• PGrag for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): We explore Neon's integration for building end-to-end RAG pipelines directly in Postgres, bridging vector databases, text embedding, and more.
• OSI’s Open Source AI License: The Open Source Initiative releases an AI-specific license to bring much-needed clarity and standards to open-source models.

We also venture into generative AI, the future of AR (including Apple Vision and potential contact lenses), and a brief look at V0 by Vercel, a tool that auto-generates web components with AI prompts.

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Welcome to Datatopics Unplugged, where the tech world’s buzz meets laid-back banter. In each episode, we dive into the latest in AI, data science, and technology—perfect for your inner geek or curious mind. Pull up a seat, tune in, and join us for insights, laughs, and the occasional hot take on the digital world.

In this episode, we are joined by Vitale to discuss:

Meta’s video generation breakthrough: Explore Meta’s new “MovieGen” model family that generates hyper-realistic, 16-second video clips with reflections, consistent spatial details, and multi-frame coherence. Also discussed: Sora, a sneak peek at Meta’s open-source possibilities.
For a look back, check out this classic AI-generated video of Will Smith eating spaghetti.

Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 updates: Meet Claude 3.5 and its “computer use” feature, letting it navigate your screen for you.

Easily fine-tune & train LLMs, faster with Unsloth: Discover tools that simplify model fine-tuning and deployment, making it easier for small-scale developers to harness AI’s power. Don’t miss Gerganov’s GitHub contributions in this space, too.

Deno 2.0 release hype: With a splashy promo video, Deno’s JavaScript runtime enters the scene as a streamlined, secure alternative to Node.js.

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

In this episode, we dive into the world of data storytelling with special guest Angelica Lo Duca, a professor, researcher, and author. Pull up a chair as we explore her journey from programming to teaching, and dive into the principles of turning raw data into compelling stories.

Key topics include:

Angelica’s background: From researcher to professor and published author

Why write a book?: The motivation, process, and why she chooses books over blogs

About the book: Data Storytelling with Altair and Generative AI

Overview of the book: Who it’s for and the key insights it offers

What is data storytelling and how it differs from traditional dashboards and reports

Why Altair? Exploring Altair and Vega-Lite for effective visualizations

Generative AI’s role: How tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E fit into the data storytelling process, and potential risks like bias in AI-generated images

DIKW Pyramid: Moving from raw data to actionable wisdom using the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom framework

Where to buy her books:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Angelica-Lo-Duca/author/B0B5BHD5VF
https://www.amazon.com/Become-Great-Data-Storyteller-Change/dp/1394283318
https://www.amazon.com/Data-Storytelling-Altair-Angelica-Duca/dp/1633437922/

Snippet: https://livebook.manning.com/book/data-storytelling-with-altair-and-ai/chapter-10/16

Connect with Angelica on Medium for more articles and insights: https://medium.com/@alod83/about

Send us a text

Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that flow as smoothly as your morning coffee, where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

In today's episode:

• Remote work and hybrid challenges: Insights from the IMF on remote productivity, plus the challenges of work-life balance and Amazon’s office return with other companies' strategies for bringing employees back to the office.
• The fall of Zapata AI: A look at the shutdown of Zapata AI and the struggles in building successful quantum computing ventures.
• WTF Python: Exploring Python’s type hints, overloads, and those confusing "WTF" moments. Check out WTFPython.
• Data profiling tools: A dive into YData Profiling and Sweetviz for detailed data analysis.
• GifCities and personal websites: Reflecting on the fall of GifCities, the retro GIF hub, and discussing Murilo’s blog journey.
• Rust’s complexity debate: Discussing the blog post My Negative Views on Rust and whether Rust is too complex or simply misunderstood.
• .io domain controversy: Examining the future of the .io domain as the British Indian Ocean Territory transfers sovereignty. Read more on Every.to and MIT Technology Review.
• Ducks or AI? A fun challenge to distinguish real ducks from AI-generated ones in the Duck Imposter Game.
• Adobe's AI video generator: A discussion on Adobe Firefly’s AI-powered video generator and its potential impact on content creation.

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. DataTopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

In this special one-year anniversary episode, we reminisce about our journey and dive into some intriguing tech stories:

• WordPress Governance Drama: We discuss recent issues with WordPress. Find out what’s behind the Automattic and WP Engine tension.
• Astral’s Business Model: Charlie Marsh shares insights into how Astral plans to balance open-source ideals with profitability.
• Deno 2.0 Release: Deno 2.0 claims to be a “Cargo for JavaScript.” Check out its new features and see how it compares to Node.js.
• OpenAI’s Soaring Valuation: OpenAI has hit a staggering $150 billion valuation after raising $6.5 billion in new funding.
• Adobe’s GenAI Policy: Adobe clarified their stance on GenAI, ensuring Firefly is only trained on stock images to support creators.
• Instructor Library for LLMs: Discover the Instructor library for turning unstructured data into structured outputs with ease.
• Repo2txt Tool: Convert your GitHub repo into a single text file using Repo2txt for easy analysis.
• Retro PC Fonts Galore: Explore a treasure trove of vintage fonts with the Ultimate Old-School PC Font Pack.
• Bop Spotter – Cultural Surveillance: Bop Spotter uses Shazam to capture the music trends and cultural vibes of San Francisco’s Mission District.

Send us a text

Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

We dive into conversations smoother than your morning coffee (but let’s be honest, just as caffeinated) where industry insights meet light-hearted banter. Whether you’re a data wizard or just curious about the digital chaos around us, kick back and get ready to talk shop—unplugged style!

In this episode:

• Farewell Pandas, Hello Future: Pandas is out, and Ibis is in. We're talking faster, smarter data processing—featuring the rise of DuckDB and the powerhouse that is Polars. Is this the end of an era for Pandas?
• UV vs. Rye: Forget pip—are these new Python package managers built in Rust the future? We break down UV, Rye, and what it all means for your next Python project.
• AI-Generated Podcasts: Is AI about to take over your favorite podcasts? We explore the potential of Google’s Notebook LM to transform content into audio gold.
• When AI Steals Your Voice: Jeff Geerling’s voice gets cloned by AI—without his consent. We dive into the wild world of voice cloning, the ethics, and the future of AI-generated media.
• Hacking AI with Prompt Injection: Could you outsmart AI? We share some wild strategies from the game Gandalf that challenge your prompt injection skills and teach you how to jailbreak even the toughest guardrails.
• Jony Ive’s New Gadget Rumor: Is Jony Ive plotting an Apple killer? Rumors are swirling about a new AI-powered handheld device that could shake up the smartphone market.
• Zero-Downtime Deployments with Kamal Proxy: No more downtime! We geek out over Kamal Proxy, the sleek HTTP tool designed for effortless Docker deployments.
• Function Calling and LLMs: Get ready for the next evolution in AI—function calling. We discuss its rise in LLMs and dive into the Gorilla project, the leaderboard testing the future of smart APIs.

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Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. DataTopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for laid-back banter about the latest in tech, AI, and coding.

In this episode, Jonas joins us with fresh takes on AI smarts, sneaky coding tips, and a spicy CI debate:

• OpenAI's GPT-01 ("Strawberry"): The team explores OpenAI’s newest model, its advanced reasoning capabilities, and potential biases in benchmarksbased on training methods. For a deeper dive, check out the Awesome-LLM-Strawberry project.
• AI hits 120 IQ: Yep, AI is now officially smarter than most of us. With an IQ of 120, AI is now officially smarter than most humans. We discuss the implications for AI's future role in decision-making and society.
• Greppability FTW: Ever struggled to find that one line of code? Greppability is the secret weapon you didn’t know you needed. Bart introduces greppability—a key metric for how easy it is to find code in large projects, and why it matters more than you think.
• Pre-commit hooks: Yay or nay? Is pre-commit the best tool for Continuous Integration, or are there better ways to streamline code quality checks? The team dives into the pros and cons and shares their own experiences.

Send us a text

Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don’t), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let’s get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

Olympic AI agenda: Discover the grand vision of the Olympic AI agenda and how it’s set to revolutionize the games.

AI and tech innovations at Paris 2024 promise to be game-changers in sports.

Obscure sports fascination: Ever wondered why you can’t stop watching niche sports? Blame it on AI, as we dive into how it’s making you hooked on obscure sports at the Paris Olympics.

Yusuf Dikec memes: Delving into the meme culture surrounding Yusuf Dikec—because who doesn't love a good sports meme?

AI in gymnastics judging: Will AI be the future judge of gymnastics? We delve into the controversial world of AI gymnastics judging and what it means for the sport.

Zoe Hobbs' AI boost: Discover how Olympic sprinter Zoe Hobbs is getting an AI-powered boost to sprint ahead of the competition.

Track and field insights: Using a bird's eye view and detailed statistics to create a great visualization of the 100m final.

Recoloring history: The fascinating process of recoloring the 1924 Paris Olympics—bringing the past to vibrant life.

Send us a text

Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don't), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

In this episode, we dive deep into the fascinating world of AI predictions in sports, with a special focus on the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England. Join us as we explore:

• AI Predictions Revisited: Reflecting on the previous episode (listen here) about AI predictions and their accuracy, particularly Snowflake's prediction for Euro 2024.
• Challenges of Predictions: The complexities of predicting outcomes in football due to the group stage setup and other factors.
• National vs. Club Football: Differences in managing national teams versus club teams and the pressures of player selection.
• Valuing Players: Methods to measure the value of players, from ELO ratings to valuing actions by estimating probabilities.
• Psychological Pressure: How high-pressure situations impact player performance, referencing the study "Choke or Shine" with examples like Cristiano Ronaldo's goal and the importance of players who perform under pressure.
• Technology in Sports: The increasing role of technology in soccer, including goal line tech, offside simulations, and connected ball technology.
• Subjectivity of Offside Rules: The challenges of interpreting offside rules and the potential benefits and pitfalls of semi-automated offside technology. More info here.
• Technological Impact on Predictions: The influence of technological advancements on predicting outcomes in sports like NBA and soccer, and the potential future of AI in sports officiating.

Send us a text

Welcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.

Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don't), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!

Bookmarklet Maker: Discover how to automate tasks with the Bookmarklet Maker, a tool for turning scripts into handy browser bookmarks.

RouteLLM Framework: Explore the RouteLLM framework by LMSys and Anyscale, designed to optimize the cost-performance ratio of LLM routers. Learn more about this collaboration at LMSys and Anyscale.

Q for SQL on CSV/TSV: Meet Q, a command-line tool that lets you run SQL queries directly on CSV or TSV files, simplifying data exploration from your terminal.

DuckDB Community Extensions: Check out the latest updates in DuckDB's community extensions and see how this database system is evolving.

Apple Intelligence and AI Maximalism: Explore Apple's AI strategy, their avoidance of chat UIs, risk management with OpenAI, and the shift of compute costs to users.

Being Glue: Delve into the challenges of being "Glue" at work. Explore why women are more likely to take on non-promotable work and how this affects career progression and workplace dynamics.