Although I’m working with technology everyday I’m a big proponent of using the least amount of tech possible, especially when it comes to my personal life. It’s great when a piece of technology fits organically and disappears from sight, causing as little friction as possible. I don’t always succeed in my quest but sometimes I stumble upon pure gems! Just like with this Thundebolt 3 docking station from a lesser known company Mantiz. [Read More]

In the final article I finish the series about the IoT hackathon project by explaining the server side component of the system. Admittedly, it is the smallest part and I intentionally chose to make it trivially simple. 4 days of project of work is not infinite, after all. I think it took me roughly 4-6 hours to set everything up.

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In this second post I continue with the short hackathon project I worked on last week. The goal of the project was to hook into engine data of a KTM motorcycle and stream that data in real-time to the cloud. I explain how I reverse engineered the USB wire protocol of a proprietary device called Power Commander 5 from Dynojet and wrote a simple Java program that works on Linux. I also show the tools I used along the way and share my thinking process.

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Since autumn 2016 I’m working at an IoT company – we build Internet-connected home automation devices. Last week we had an internal hackathon to try something new. Essentially, it was a chance to work outside of the comfort zone and try out new APIs and hardware in the vast world of IoT. At first I was struggling to come up with an idea. Some ideas seemed trivial, others unrealistic. Finally, I brainstormed over available hardware and my surroundings and decided to make my KTM Duke 390 motorcycle join the IoT party!

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This is part 2 of a series of articles themed “Preparing for Software Engineer Interviews”. My goal with the series is to document the steps I took while preparing for interviews for a software engineering position after working six years in predominantly support-leaning roles. I won’t break new ground here but rather share personal experience – anything you see here is an echo of what you can find elsewhere on the Internet. [Read More]

This is part 1 of a series of articles themed “Preparing for Software Engineer Interviews”. My goal with the series is to document the steps I took while preparing for interviews for a software engineering position after working six years in predominantly support-leaning roles. I won’t break new ground here but rather share personal experience – anything you see here is an echo of what you can find elsewhere on the Internet. [Read More]

I decided to purchase a laptop as I find myself longing for a computer away from my beloved workstation more often. Last time I bought a laptop was 8 years ago. Dell built a laptop I feel genuinely excited about - the new XPS 13. It’s as small as 11” machine with really narrow bezel. It comes with specs that are just right for me. However, I’ve learned that buying from Dell is not that easy! [Read More]