The Ascent of Open Source AI Language Models

One Phrase..... "Dalai, LLama, Alpaca". The era of open source AI Language Models started and it will not end there. ChatGPT(OpenAI) is simply the innovator, just as Apple brough the Iphone innovation which altered the smart phone market with it's onscreen perfected keyboard & AppStore developer driven incentives. As much as I'm exited for Artificial Intelligence and it's sudden explosion into the technology ecosystem, I believe we are still in the very early stages of knowing the outcome and impact it will have.

(source: https://thegradient.pub/understanding-evaluation-metrics-for-language-models/)

As Sam Altman(https://twitter.com/sama) said himself, CEO of OpenAI on an interview with Lex Friedman(a well know computer scientist, podcaster, and artificial intelligence researcher) "Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #367", ChatGPT itself could end up being remembered as a leap into the future in the ever growing story about artificial intelligence. In other words, the technology at hand, it's usage and impact is currently at a very early stages.

Open Source AI Language Models in my humble opinion, their adoption, evolution, their ease of use on implementations on the next two years could change the current landscape forever eliminating bias that currently exists on available public models like GPT-4, Bard and others. 

Just like every new impactful innovative technology that has come to us in the past, eg iPhone, Printing Press, Telephone, Camera, etc.

Give the people the power to be part of molding and affecting the system, great things will come.

Upgrade PHP 5.3 to 5.4 on CentOS 6

I had to recently update PHP 5.3 on my CodeAnywhere DevBox to PHP 5.4.32. The operating system running on CodeAnywhere DevBox instances is Centos 6.5. and it uses yum package manager. These are the exact commands I ran on the DevBox
sudo rpm -Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/i386/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

sudo rpm -Uvh http://rpms.famillecollet.com/enterprise/remi-release-6.rpm

sudo yum --enablerepo=remi,remi-test install httpd php php-common

sudo yum --enablerepo=remi,remi-test install php-pecl-apc php-cli php-pear php-pdo php-mysql php-pgsql php-pecl-mongo php-sqlite php-pecl-memcache php-pecl-memcached php-gd php-mbstring php-mcrypt php-xml

After this, it's done! You could simply create a php file and run phpinfo() to check the version.

Freelancers beware, you're worth a lot more

So occasionally I take jobs on the Elance network. Elance is one if not the largest staffing platform for freelancer pros (like me, yep). I've signed up to receive email notifications everyday of available jobs that matches some key settings. In my case I have one search query that has: All Jobs / WordPress / IT & Programming / Fixed Price / Posted: Within 24 hours The above will usually render quick jobs withing $100 - $1000, sometimes i'l go through an email and see something like this below:


Yes, I'm not kidding, freelancing it's not piece of cake and it's weird the things people ask sometimes. Ok, so let's go through the problems on this listing:
  • $25 dollars to make a one page website. No matter if it's one page, it will at least take 1hr (speedy Gonzalez mode).
  • You are expected to send samples of work. This will take you at least 20 minutes. Your time is worth more.
  • You'll have only one day to deliver the goods. This is not counting revisions and change requests. "MUST BE DONE IN ONE DAY!" -> what happens if this doesn't happen?
  • The employer believes it's a SIMPLE JOB, not a good sign.
  • The employer don't know English well, check out the grammar errors on the listing highlights.
I want to encourage freelancing professionals to look for signs of problems before even considering doing a job. Believe me, checking out these and other signs of trouble when freelancing, setting expectations, charging the correct amount for your freelancing efforts it's essential to make it as a freelancer. Don't forget to be super nice, but look out for yourself first. Did I said first?

Drop me a line, let me know how can I help.

Why do we abandon our ideas?

Generating ideas and their execution is not as hard as it seem, I think we all can do this. Sometimes we can come up with ideas just by looking around us, taking a shower or using a product. I ask myself sometimes why I think so much how to improve, change, expand or even create stuff. The answer I find more appropriate is that I like creating them, bringing these to life, from a thought, to the drawing board (or digital) to the physical world. Some of you might have a similar "Good to Have Problem" as I do. You might think of lots of ideas, concepts, ways to change an existing product, websites, designs, businesses and so on. We all love for things to be adjusted to fit our own mold, our way of thinking and certainly our taste. I believe this is how we might tend to come up with ideas. 


I think we might all share similar patterns when we decide to Kill Ideas. We say to ourself things like: that might not work, it might not be liked, it's worthless, somebody else have already done it, nobody will care, too hard to make and the list goes on...... almost endless self inflicted wounds. Today, I can tell you that I'm in the process of bringing my first product to market, a train ride that I never thought possible to even come close to doing. 

Trust in yourself, gather feedback and follow your gut. (important: have fun while doing this <- secret ingredient)

Books I Enjoyed

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Dale Carnegie


How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff--and it's all small stuff Richard Carlson
Don't Worry, Make Money Richard Carlson
Ignore Everybody Hugh MacLeod
One Simple Idea Stephen Key
Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality Scott Belsky
Rework Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson 

The lean startup Eric Ries

It's your idea, so push harder

It's getting close for an appointment with a small team I've reached out for help with a product I've been working with. I get ready, head out and arrive at the meeting 5 minutes late(got lost), somewhat exited, a little nervous and specially anxious to meet the group. Shortly after been greeted and after having apologized for been slightly late, I was told that It will be a while before they will be able to meet with me. Of course I said, "No Problem!", "It's Ok", "Sure!". What else could I have said? It's my idea and I definitely need help from them, I love my idea so much that "Yes!", of course I'll wait.

 

What happened during the next 2 hours:

  • I was listened to for 5 minutes only.
  • The complete idea was put into question.
  • Some expressed -> "I did the wrong sequence of steps".
  • Some said -> product  "might not work".
  • You should do this, that or wait.
  • What is your budget?
  • What you really need is this.
  • You won't be able to function without this.
The moral of this event is simple, sometimes tend to forget:
 

It's your idea, push harder!

I remind myself of this every day. Nobody believes, feels or cares as much as you do about your idea. After all, it's yours, not theirs. You though about it, conceptualized it, trusted your gut and push it. Don't forget this. It's fine to ask for help. In fact, I will strongly suggest you seek for help, any help, it will help you think and move faster also.
 

Take the punch, learn, go faster and sharper.

Yes, you can learn something from any situation, no matter how bad it was. Don't get discouraged with situations which might go against your belief or mostly your inner passion. If your idea is good enough for yourself, take that as at least a good indicator that others might think similarly. Do it, don't stop.

Can Decision Making Make You Happier?

I have found than when I immerse myself in decision making, I experience an emotional boost the next day.  So, why is this happening? I believe that making a decision  can be described in a couple words. One of them is progress. Every time we make some kind of choice, we progress for the good or the bad. There's movement! Action! Things get unstuck and start rolling... you know the drill. This might sound all too redundant -- and it might be, but I had to put it down in writing because for me, the benefits of decision making are simply noticeable. When I have too many things on my mind, it is usually related to those things I have not acted on. Yeah, we all use to-do lists, agendas, project management, notes, reminders..., you name it, but I am certain that if you pressured yourself to act on your "to-dos" with real decision, you will eventually feel much better. It works for me! Just try it.

Strengthen Your Decision Making Skills Every day

  • Start Something
  • Stop Something
  • Say Yes
  • Say No
  • Remove Something
  • Change Path on Something...
Make a decision on something every single day.  Moving forward CAN make you happier.

Start With Yourself

If you want to be successful, you have to start with yourself. The best way to improve your life is to improve on you.

I'm not sure you haven't heard this story before, but it really illustrates something important:

It just happened that I had the need to do some work on my car. I looked for a fair market price for the job by making some calls. After simple research I found that the job could be done for 75 percent less if I exercised some patience. I could order some parts and hire the labor directly. Sure, there would be trade-offs, such as warranty and other bells and whistles, but I did not mind it.

I bought the parts, hired somebody to do labor and paid this person for 3 hours of work at two times 1/2 the normal rate for this type of labor, well done job. I later called this same person to do further work, he agreed to come. Unfortunately I ended up waiting two days in a row for him to show. He never showed up. There was no call to cancel. So, what does this have to do with starting with yourself? 

 If you do not start with yourself by learning to communicate effectively and follow through with self-responsibility, you will delay your success. Don't be a one timer! Always create long term relationships, and leave doors open. Be the best and nourish what you have.

If you’re going to pursue a start-up, business venture, or anything else that has meaning for you, start with yourself by digging deep and asking "Will people like this package?" If the answer is anything other than a definite "yes", make self-improvement your top priority.