Building GREMLIN's Lair
How I went from OpenClaw to NanoClaw to building my own agent platform - and why building your own infrastructure beats fighting someone else's.
peebs.org
The personal blog of John Peebles
Latest posts
GREMLIN Improvements: The First Five Days
Five days in with GREMLIN - calendar improvements, a trip planning portal, booking mistakes, WhatsApp integration, and the endless scheduled jobs.
Building an AI Scheduling Assistant That Can't Go Rogue...I Hope.
How I built a secure meeting scheduling system for my AI assistant GREMLIN using Cloudflare Workers, with Slack approvals to prevent prompt injection.
Introducing GREMLIN, My AI-Powered Assistant
Meet GREMLIN, my always-on AI assistant built with OpenClaw that books flights, makes reservations, handles scheduling, and sends morning briefings.
Grunge Rock and a Neighborhood Network in 90s China
The true story of building a covert neighborhood gaming network in 1990s China, and trading a deafening grunge rock concert for the final cable run.
I Actually Love Targeted Ads
Why targeted ads done right are actually great, why major ad networks are getting worse at them, and what that means for online advertising.
Hello Turing Fest!
Reflections on years of attending and speaking at Edinburgh's Turing Fest, and why joining its board felt like a natural next step.
Moving On
Stepping down from the Current Health board after three years, from early skepticism to FDA certification and saving a patient's life.
The Magic of Vinyl
How getting a record player rekindled the lost ceremony of listening to music, after years of anonymous playlists and streaming.
Resignation
Why I resign from every board position annually, and why more startup board members should adopt this approach to keep governance healthy.
How to Ask for Advice / Feedback About Your Startup
A practical framework for startup founders looking to get the most out of advice sessions, from what context to prepare to what to expect.
Startups, Take the Pledge for Your Community
I've found that the single best avenue for support as a founder, CEO, or senior team member is to talk with a peer, usually someone who is ahead of you on the journey.
Go Watch Pixar's "Inside Out"
This was such a thoughtful, emotional, beautiful film. Go see it! You won't regret it.
Visiting the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT
A visit to MIT's legendary Tech Model Railroad Club, birthplace of hacker culture, featuring custom software, hand-built throttles, and a Tetris building.
2013: Year in Review
A look back at 2013: doubling revenue at Administrate, 1,800 miles of cycling, speaking across Europe, and travels from Paris to Dubai.
We Need Viable Search Engine Competition, Now
Why Google's monopoly on search is a growing problem, from conflicts of interest to SEO manipulation, and why we desperately need a real competitor.
I've Never Wished I Was Less Technical
Why choosing a computer science degree over business was the best decision I ever made, and why getting technical first opens doors that never close.
Focus on Systems, Not Goals
Inspired by Scott Adams, why focusing on repeatable systems and processes beats chasing arbitrary KPI targets when building a successful team.
Missing the Point on Electric Cars
The real advantage of electric cars isn't fuel efficiency or being green -- it's that electricity can be generated from any energy source you prefer.
The Caledonian Etape 2013 Recap
A full recap of cycling 81 miles through the Scottish Highlands in the Caledonian Etape, from carb-loading disasters to racing the sweeper car.
A Preview of the 2013 Caledonian Etape
Pre-race preview of the Caledonian Etape: weather forecasts, route details including the climb over fairy-inhabited Schiehallion, and charity fundraising.
Tour of the Borders 2013 Race Recap
Finishing last in apocalyptic weather at the Tour of the Borders, a 70-mile sportive through flooded Scottish roads with 40mph winds.
Life in the Edinburgh Tech Cube
A tour of Edinburgh's TechCube startup hub -- the city, the building, the team, the resources, and why it's a great place to build a tech company.
An Evening with the United Kingdom's CTO
A surprisingly impressive evening with UK Government CTO Liam Maxwell, who spoke about cutting IT waste and opening procurement to small businesses.
2012, the Year in Review
Here's a review of what for me was one of the best years I've had since college. Travel in 2012 Paris, France Aberdeen, Scotland Copenhagen, Denmark Mallaig (Harry Potter Train) London (Olympics), UK Dubai, UAE Boston, USA Beirut, Lebanon Campbelt...
Book Review: And the Land Lay Still by James Robertson
Since moving to Scotland I haven't done quite as much reading (we've had a busy first ten months here). However, I was recommended "And the Land Lay Still" by James Robertson, a Scottish author, in order to better understand Scottish culture, the ...
Thoughts on Samsung, Apple, and Patents
I've been struggling about what to make of the recent patent spat between Samsung and Apple. I do think that the level of discorse provided by most techies on this issue is somewhat lacking. Hacker News seems to have come down firmly on the "paten...
We Consistently Underestimate Kids
I've long believed that we seriously underestimate kids. Hanging around with my friend's daughters who were 2, 3, and 5 when I was in college was really illuminating as I found myself interacting and conversing with his (admittedly smart) 2 year o...
Simplify Everything
There's a lot of abstract advice about employing simplicity when building great products or writing great code. However, life and products (particularly in the Enterprise software market, where I've spent most of my career) are complicated. It's o...
Safety First: A New Mantra for America
I don't ever watch the news on TV. Maybe once a month, generally while sitting in a waiting room of some sort where you can't help but listen to the TV blaring away in the corner. A few months ago I was in that situation, and listened to Mayor Blo...
The Efforts of a Generation - Some Thoughts on PPC Advertising
I've been spending the last month or so setting up, honing, and dialing in our Google Pay Per Click (PPC) strategy. I have a few thoughts on this experience that I'd like to share and see what the current conventional wisdom might be on these topi...
Martin Jacques TED Talk on China's Economic Rise
This is a great talk and synopsis of Martin's fabulously well researched book "When China Rules the World" which I reviewed a couple years ago on this blog. If you're not up for reading the 500+ page book, this is a good way to get the gist, and i...
Book Review: Twilight in the Forbidden City
It's hard to find good books on China. Most writings on China suffer from the author just not having lived there long enough. The Chinese culture really can't be skimmed - you have to marinate in it. For a long time. The language barrier can be ve...
Random Point of Ignorance: Keyboards
I keep finding these little areas of ignorance that surprise me. Today's episode: British (UK) Keyboards are different from American (US) keyboards. I never in my wildest dreams thought this would be so, but it's true. Instead of the @ sign being ...
Goodbye Current Events
I'm trying something out and it only tangentially happens to correspond with the New Year. It looks like a resolution, but it's not. Essentially, I'm going to unplug from most current events when at all possible. This flies in the face of my norma...
Bucket List Item Completed: Skydiving
A tandem jump from 13,500 feet over South Florida, complete with Luigi costumes, terrifying legal waivers, and a friend whose chute started spinning.
I'll Probably Never Hire Another Pure SysAdmin
NOTE: Updated Oct 17, See Below This is a thought that's been percolating around in my head for the last year or so, but has recently become even more crystalized: I'll probably never hire another Systems Administrator. A corollary to this thought...
Book Review: The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming
Note: I've previously read and reviewed two other books by Charles Cumming here. Charles Cumming is an interesting author, someone I happened to find recommended to me via Amazon.com's engine, probably because I've bought books about Spain and Chi...
Steve Jobs
There's been so much written about Steve Jobs that there's not much to add. Like millions of others, I remember the first time I ever used an Apple product. It was to play Number Munchers and Oregon Trail. My first Macintosh experience was on an L...
PHP Sucks!
Software development is a remarkably fashion driven industry. I'm definitely guilty of the default "newer is better" mindset that many technologists have, but one of the more bizarre fashion statements I hear constantly nowadays is "Oh, I mean, yo...
A Guide to Walt Disney World - Tickets and the Magic Kingdom
I wasn't a big Disney buff until I lived in Florida. She loves Disney, because, as she likes to remind me in that tone that only self-evident-truths-that-I-have somehow missed deserve, "It's the happiest celebration on earth!" At first, I got a kick ou...
High Speed Passenger Rail for America: Thanks But No Thanks
Most of you know that I really like trains. Model railroading is a hobby of mine, and I grew up consistently riding trains in China as alternative transport options either didn't exist or were really unsafe (read: 80's era Chinese airlines). We ge...
The Impending Ad War
A few weeks ago I attended Github's CodeConf in San Francisco. While there, I got to meet quite a few really accomplished technologists (hackers) and discuss a variety of projects, processes, programming methods and more. One of the most interesti...
Open the Gate!
The last three places we've lived in South Florida were "gated communities" which is supposed to make you feel exclusive and special. They provide zero additional security (had a car stolen from one of them in the middle of the night) are often br...
Does China's Autocratic Government Provide an Economic Advantage?
It's a question you often see timidly asked, in an almost guilty fashion. Don't you think, just maybe, setting aside all of its problems and just focusing on the economic question, that China's government gives it an advantage over our messy democ...
Jeopardy and Watson
We had a great time last night watching Watson take on two humans in a round of Jeopardy. Or at least, I had a great time. Here's a recap: The show did a...
Jeopardy, Artificial Intelligence, and a Chess Playing Robot
Tomorrow Jeopardy will feature a computer facing off against former champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. I have been looking forward to this for a couple of months since I first heard about it, and it is an amazing feat of computer science that...
Guster at the House of Blues
I love hard rock music. The angrier the better. Bands like Godsmack, Chevelle, Systematic, Alice in Chains, Rise Against, etc.
Google is Getting Copied! So What?
There's been an uproar (at least in tech circles) over the past week about allegations from Google that Microsoft's Bing search engine was copying results from Google's offering. There goes Microsoft again, being evil! There goes Google again, bei...
Book Review: The Confession by John Grisham
Grisham's books have this familiar quality to them and even though I think The Firm and A Time to Kill stand head and shoulders above his other more recent books, I generally pick up his latest and find it enjoyable. One of his most unusual works ...