In July 2023, I knocked up a simple AI chatbot using the open source Llama model from Meta. I coded it up from scratch using LangChain. It had the ability to build a vector store from your own proprietary or sensitive documents, enabling you to chat “over them”, without risking un-intentional disclosure. It ran reasonably ok, using a quantized version of Llama, but the main selling point was the complete privacy and zero subscription costs.

Desktop computers typically have a power-save mode which puts them in a suspended state after a period of inactivity. This is a great feature as it helps to save power and prolongs the life of the hardware. In the case of a laptop, it helps to preserve battery life too. Waking the machine typically involves either pressing the keys on the keyboard or moving the mouse. This is fine, but what if you are not close by and you want to wake your machine?

After getting swept up in the great tech layoff of ‘23 and ‘24, I found myself with time on my hands. With no teams to lead, reports to write, plans to create, meetings to attend, and politics to navigate, I quickly snapped back to my default self. That is full on nerd, or as my mum used to say when I would spend hours hacking my little Sinclair ZX Spectrum, “He’s playing on the computer”.