DataTopics Podcast

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 explore:

• LLMs Gaming the System: Uncover how LLMs are using political sycophancy and tool-using flattery to game the system. Dive deeper: paper, chain of thought prompting & post on x.
• Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Sue AI Music Generators: They are taking on Suno and Udio for using copyrighted music to train their models. Some ai generated music that is very similar to existing songs: song 1, song 2, song 3. More on GenAI: midjourney creating copyrighted images, and chatGPT reciting email-adresses.
• AI-Powered Olympic Recaps: NBC’s personalized daily recaps with Al Michaels' voice offer a new way to catch up on the Olympics.
• Figma’s AI Redesign: Discover Figma’s new AI tools that speed up design and creativity. We debate the tool's value and its application in the design process. 
• Rabbit R1 Security Flaws: Hackers exposed hardcoded API keys in Rabbit R1’s source code, leading to major security issues. Find out more.
• Pyinstrument for Python: Meet Pyinstrument, the easy-to-use Python profiler that optimizes code performance. Explore it on GitHub.
• The Ultimate Font - Bart’s dreams come true: Explore the groundbreaking integration of True Type Fonts with AI for dynamic text rendering. Discover more here.
• Hot Takes on AI Competition: Google claims no one has a moat in AI, sparking debate on open-source models' future. We also explore Ladybird Browser Project, an independently funded browser project aiming to build a cutting-edge browser engine.

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're joined by the insightful Paolo Léonard to explore the latest advancements and trends in AI and machine learning:

Anthropic has a fast new AI model — and a clever new way to interact with chatbots: Discover Claude 3.5, a game-changing AI model that integrates FAQ documents directly into the chat interface for an unbeatable user experience. We dive into its standout features and why it's a strong competitor to ChatGPT.

Meet Safe Superintelligence Inc: the new company founded by ex-OpenAI chief scientist Ilia Sukmanov. Learn about their mission to safely advance superintelligent AI and the impressive team behind this exciting new venture.

Hugging Face's New Computer Vision Course: Get the scoop on Hugging Face's latest offering, a community-driven computer vision course with hands-on assignments and certifications. Plus, explore their other exciting courses and resources on Scrimba.

What is an AI Engineer? We unpack the term "AI engineer" and discusseswhy titles like "data engineer" or "ML engineer" might be more accurate for these tech wizards.

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, join us along with guests Vitale and David as we explore:

• Euro 2024 Predictions with AI: Using Snowflake's machine learning models for data-driven predictions and sharing our own predictions. Can animals predict wins better than ML models?
• Tech in football: From VAR to connected ball technology, is it all a good idea?
• Nvidia overtaking Apple and Microsoft as the biggest tech corporation? Discussing Nvidia's leap to surpass Apple and Microsoft, and the implications for the GPU market and AI development.
• Unity Catalog vs. Polaris: Comparing Unity+Delta with Polaris+Iceberg and their roles in data cataloging and management. Explore the details on GitHub Unity Catalog, YouTube, and insights on LinkedIn. 
• Databricks Data and AI Summit recap: Discussing the biggest announcements from the summit, including Mosaic AI integration, serverless options, and the open-source unity catalog.
• Exploring BM25: Discussing the BM25 algorithm and its advancements over traditional TF-IDF for document classification.

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 this episode:

Apple Intelligence is finally here: Apple's latest AI advancements, featuring  GenAI images, privacy-first approach, math notes, and a mention of ChatGPT. Dive into this YouTube clip and ponder, will it work as intended?

ChatGPT in a Spreadsheet: Explore the innovative recreation of an entire GPT architecture in a spreadsheet, a nanoGPT designed by @karpathy with about 85,000 parameters.

“How a single ChatGPT mistake cost $10,000” - A clickbait title that stirred controversy on Hacker News, with many arguing the error was their fault entirely, not ChatGPT. Read more community reactions on Bear Blog and LinkedIn.

The ideal PR is 50 lines long: Discuss the perfect pull request length and its impact on code quality, as detailed by Graphite.

Any contribution too small? Delve into the debate on the value of small contributions in the open-source community with Slidev.

Adobe overhauls terms of service: Adobe's new terms ensure AI won't be trained on customers’ work, raising important questions about data usage and privacy.

Artists fleeing Instagram to protect their work: Artists are moving away from Instagram to prevent their creations from being used to train Meta's AI. Explore more: Reddit, SWGFL, and Cara.

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 Christophe Beke, where we discuss the following:

• Meta identifies networks pushing deceptive content likely generated by AI: Unpacking Meta’s discovery of AI-generated deep fakes used in political scams and phishing attacks.
• Klarna using GenAI to cut marketing costs by $10 million annually: Exploring how Klarna leverages generative AI to save on marketing costs and the broader impact of AI-generated content on branding and creativity.
• Apple and OpenAI partnership rumors: Speculating on Apple’s potential partnership with OpenAI and what this partnership mean for Siri and user privacy.
• Even the Raspberry Pi is getting in on AI: Exciting new AI capabilities for the Raspberry Pi and the privacy questions they raise. Plus discussion on windows screenshot tools & more privacy concerns.
• Nvidia teases next-gen “Rubin” AI chips: Nvidia’s surprising early reveal of their next-gen AI chips—what’s behind the move?
• Marker: A new tool for converting PDFs to Markdown: Discovering the Marker library and its perks for converting PDFs while keeping valuable metadata.
• Signal EU Market Exit: The privacy-focused app’s decision to leave the EU market over regulatory challenges and the broader debate on privacy vs. security.
• Reframing ‘tech debt’: Fresh perspectives on managing technical debt in the fast-paced world of software development.
• Our newsletter: Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our data and AI newsletter for the latest headlines and insights.

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 and complex world of AI with our special guest, Senne Batsleer:

De Mol + AI Voices: Exploring the use of AI-generated voices to disguise the mole in the Belgian TV show "The Mole". Our guest, Senne Batsleer, shares insights from their experience with AI voice technology.

Scarlett Johansson vs OpenAI: Delving into the controversy of OpenAI using a voice eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson's in their new AI model. Read more in The Guardian and The Washington Post.

Elon Musk’s xAI Raises $6B: A look into Elon Musk’s latest venture, xAI, and its ambitious funding round, aiming to challenge AI giants like OpenAI and Microsoft.

OpenAI and News Corp’s $250M Deal: The implications of OpenAI’s data deal with News Corp. 

Google AI Search Risks: Examining Google's AI search providing potentially dangerous answers based on outdated Reddit comments. Find out more on The Verge and BBC. 

Humane’s AI Pin Looking for a Buyer: Discussing the struggles of Humane’s wearable AI device and its search for a buyer following a rocky debut.

PostgREST Turns Databases into APIs: Exploring the concept of turning PostgreSQL databases directly into RESTful APIs, enhancing real-time applications.

Risks of Expired Domain Names: Highlighting the dangers of expired domains and how they can be exploited by hackers. 

The 'Dead Internet' Theory: Debating the rise of bots on the web and their potential to surpass human activity online. 

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:

• Slack's Data Practices: Discussing Slack's use of customer data to build models, the risks of global data leakage, and the impact of GDPR and AI regulations.
• ChatGPT's Data Analysis Improvements:  Discussing new features in ChatGPT that let you interrogate your data like a pro. 
• The Loneliness of Data Scientists: Why being a lone data wolf is tough, and how collaboration is the key to success. 
• Rustworkx for Graph Computation:  Evaluating Rustworkx as a robust tool for graphs compared to Networkx.
• Dolt - Git for Data: Comparing Dolt and DVC as tools for data version control. Check it out.
• Veo by Google DeepMind: An overview of Google's Veo technology and its potential applications.
• Ilya Sutskever’s Departure from OpenAI: What does Ilya Sutskever’s exit mean for OpenAI with Jakub Pachocki stepping in?
• Hot Takes - No Data Engineering Roadmap? Debating the necessity of a data engineering roadmap and the prominence of SQL skills.

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 like your morning coffee, where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just curious about the digital age, pull up a chair and let's explore the heart of data, unplugged style!

• Stack Overflow and OpenAI Deal Controversy: Discussing the partnership controversy, with users protesting the lack of an opt-out option and how this could reshape the platform. Look into Phind here.
• Apple and OpenAI Rumors - could ChatGPT be the new Siri? Examining rumors of ChatGPT potentially replacing Siri, and Apple's AI strategy compared to Microsoft’s MAI-1. Check out more community opinions here.
• Hello GPT-4o: Exploring the new era with OpenAI's GPT-4o that blends video, text, and audio for more dynamic human-AI interactions. Discussing AI's challenges under the European AI Act and chatgpt’s use in daily life and dating apps like Bumble.
• Claude Takes Europe: Claude 3 now available in the EU. How does it compare to ChatGPT in coding and conversation?
• ElevenLabs' Music Generation AI: A look at ElevenLabs' AI for generating music and the broader AI music landscape. How are these algorithms transforming music creation? Check out the AI Song Contest here.
• Google Cloud’s Big Oops with UniSuper: Unpack the shocking story of how Google Cloud accidentally wiped out UniSuper’s account. What does this mean for data security and redundancy strategies?
• The Great CLI Debate: Is Python really the right choice for CLI tools? We spark the debate over Python vs. Go and Rust in building efficient CLI tools.