Compute Is the New Applause
The last internet was built on attention. The next one gets built on contribution.
Chris Mendez
Chris Mendez
Latest posts
Ship Both
build more, but learn clean. ship faster, but keep your center stable. start aggressively, but delete even more aggressively.
"Talk to My Agent" (Agent-Ready Infrastructure)
“Talk to my agent” is becoming a real product requirement. Developers now design intent, while agents execute it. This shift demands agent-ready infrastructure—systems with clear guardrails and minimal setup that let agents act fast. Platforms built only for humans will fall behind.
What I Learned About Robotics in 72 Hours Trying to Build a Prompt-to-Simulation Product
What I learned building a prompt-to-simulation product in 72 hours: why Gaussian splats fail for robotics, why game engines can't collect sensor data at scale, and why the gap between World Labs, Isaac Sim, and MuJoCo is still wide open.
Breathing Others
We learned to fear shared air during the pandemic. But humans didn’t evolve sealed off. When it’s safe, breathing together is how society holds.
everything we write lasts
everything we write lasts. It ripples forward and backward. upstream, downstream. The internet remembers even when we don’t.  That’s the tradeoff.  Maybe the only real one. When nothing fades, youth does.  Ephemera was where we learned in private, failed safely, and grew up
The Fork Moment We Forgot
I like to remember the 2005 moment Facebook hit in its first existential crisis; build an ad machine like Google, or chase the wild unknown of social games? Back then the only social games model was Newgrounds .com, a chaotic pit of flash games and teen humor. Their whole “
Gatekeeping is the Mother of Invention
Thought of the day: Gatekeeping is the Mother of Invention. AI now helps manufacture content at scale — text, sound, visuals, even strategy. P2P has replaced traditional website distribution. Direct-to-Consumer (Social). Direct-to-Business (SaaS). Direct-to-Anyone (Permissonless).   Crypto is quietly tearing down the world&
How to VNC inside a Headless Raspberry Pi 5 using Mac (Headless Like a Boss)
Set up your Raspberry Pi 5 headless and connect via VNC from your Mac. Learn how to enable SSH, install VNC, create a virtual monitor, auto-start X on reboot, and troubleshoot display issues—no extra monitor required.
Three Faces of AI Coding: Cursor, IntelliJ, and ChatGPT
Two weeks, three AI dev tools: Cursor the reckless junior, IntelliJ the cautious senior, and ChatGPT the strategist. Together they reveal not just code—but how I code.
AWS EBS Snapshot Lifecycle Policy: Every 7 Days, Keep 4
Automate EBS volume backups with AWS EC2 Lifecycle Manager. Create a snapshot every 7 days, keep the last 4, and manage retention without scripts. Simple, robust, AWS-native.
Ghost Theme Development using Docker
How to spin up Ghost Blog in Docker then start editing a theme.
Monitor failed incoming SSH requests on an EC2 instance using Cloudwatch Agent
Install and manage AWS CloudWatch Agent on Linux servers with this step-by-step guide. Learn IAM users, configure AWS CLI, run the setup wizard, save money by tuning logs and alarms, and troubleshoot issues.
Getting Started with Playdate Development for macOS
Get started developing apps for Playdate in five easy steps.
Extracting Data from Matomo API using Google Apps Script
How to extract analytics data from Matomo into a Google Sheet using Google Apps Script.