Hi, I'm Allen Pike. I run Steamclock, where we design and develop nice apps in beautiful Vancouver. At least monthly, I write an article and publish it here.
32K of Context in Your Pocket
A wild large-context LLM appears.
One month ago, I wrote about on the limits of 4K-token AI models, and the wild capabilities and costs that large-context language models may one day have. Today, OpenAI not only debuted GPT-4 with a doubly large 8K token limit, but demoed and began trials of a version that supports...
A 175-Billion-Parameter Goldfish
The problem and opportunity of language model context.
It has been a wild week in AI. By now, we’re getting used to the plot twist that rather than the cold Spock-like AIs of science fiction, large language models tend to be charismatic fabulists with a tenuous understanding of facts. Into that environment, last week Microsoft launched a Bing...
Humans Need Play
On a vicious pattern that breeds burnout.
People are, by our nature, resilient. We adapt to the pressures placed on us. It’s pretty incredible. However. When we’re under pressure – mental pressure, time pressure, or otherwise – we tend to be less thoughtful. Less intentional. Under stress, we focus on what we need to do: submit the...
The Care and Feeding of Feeds
Three new apps make for healthier scrolling.
If you could manifest your ideal social and media consumption diet, what would it look like? Maybe it would be deep, meaningful, and personally impactful. Maybe it would be a healthy mix of informative, educational, and fun content. Maybe it would just be cute dogs. A veritable herd of pups....
Dungeons & Developers
How to simulate tricky conversations.
You open the door and see three orcs. They’re seated at a fine oaken table watching a glowing rectangle on the west wall, which displays the ominous text “2023 Strategic Planning”. The orcs look up at you, and one says “You’re late.” What do you do? Depending on your perspective...
It Shipped That Way →
Four years ago, I started the Fun Fact podcast with Arik Devens, and we’re still having a lot of fun every month sharing facts about schemes, history, science, and so on. I’ve increasingly felt the itch, though, for a second show. I learn so much talking through product and engineering...
You Should Propose More Things
A habit for getting decisions made.
One of startups’ superpowers is quick decision-making. Early on, this might just mean decisions are made rapidly by one person. Of course, this doesn’t scale. If you don’t find ways to scale up good decision-making, your company will slow down and – eventually – die. There are a lot of...
2022 Vancouver Election Guide
9 parties. 59 candidates. One ballot.
Updated through Oct 12. Sat Oct 15 is the last day to vote! If you’re short on time, I’ve added some sample ballots for housing-focused progressives. Vancouver is cursed with an interesting political scene. We have a relatively engaged electorate compared to other cities, and a disproportionate supply of cranks....
A Password Autofill Surprise
On psychological safety.
A lot of things turn out the way they do because of how we safe we feel. Let me give one example. Some time ago my wife Karen asked me for help with her computer. Ever since she’d migrated to a new Mac, Chrome’s password autofill feature would no longer...
How to Go Over Budget
On working within an estimate.
Assembling a good project estimate can be hard. Unless you’ve shipped something similar before, you’ll probably need to consult experts, investigate risks, do product definition work, and gauge a thoughtful “iteration and surprises” buffer that considers the chance of external surprises, scope grenades, and shark attacks. There’s a reason many...
Setting Two Spies Free →
An update on a beloved side project: In 2019, we launched Two Spies as a little side project with cosmetic-only monetization. It exceeded our wildest dreams, with 800,000 folks trying the game, and rating it more than 4.7 stars on average. Still kind of hard to believe this little game...
Giving a Shit as a Service
A mental model for service businesses.
A few years back, my team decided to get a custom meeting room table. In our search for something great, we were referred to a small studio that does great work: East Vancouver’s Union Wood Co. The team there met with us, showed us various samples, and asked thoughtful questions...