Rakhim's homepage. I build open source projects and write about technology, programming, and life.

A new sign for my studio

Here's @moritzkremb's system to create short videos that saves him 10 hours a week: 1. Cron jobs scrape ideas from X and YouTube 2. AI generates rough notes for the script 3. Moritz then iterates with AI on the notes

“I wound up writing after a certain point, simply because it’s the cheapest art form. People will give you a paper and pen. You don’t need to be in a specific place, and you don’t need a lot of roo…

If you ever needed an example of the increasing importance of personal brands in the AI era, I’ve got a whopper.  Over the past few months, I’ve noticed something that construction professionals and jewelry makers on Etsy have in common: they’re always looking out for better ways

Yancey Strickler, founder of Metalabel and Kickstarter, wrote an interesting piece titled What’s the difference between an artist and a creator? An artist is a self-directed artistic expresso…

In my professional life, I’ve had several bestselling books published by New York publishers, as well as many other titles that sold modestly. I have also self-published a bunch of books, including one bestseller on Amazon and two massive hit … Continue reading →

I get questions from marketers all the time about what to do as more and more of their work is eaten by AI. They see their clients happy with AI content, even if conversion rates and sales go way down. Why? The amount of cost-cutting involved is so massive, the

Notes on the creative process for the legendary Japanese filmmaker and founder of Studio Ghibli.

From zero to published website using Bolt (no coding experience required)

I built a custom energy dashboard for my house using this beautiful, 2-bit colour, e-paper display. Hardware, software, data and design.

The Mundanity of Excellence In the early 1980’s, the sociologist Daniel Chambliss spent five years studying swimmers at every level of ability. He visited learn-to-swim programs, coached a regional swim team, and traveled with the U.S. Olympic Team. Then in 1989, he published his research in a paper titled, “The Mundanity of Excellence.” Essentially, Chambliss […]

When I was in the eleventh grade, I went on a field trip to the University of Miami to hear a very aged Robert Frost read his poetry. After listening to his melodic recitation, I went up to meet hi…

A lot of my advice, especially to small businesses, involves getting more personal in their email newsletters. It remains a struggle to convince some businesses to include real names (not just the brand name), be a little less perfectionist in their designs, and write like a real human. The more

Dear God, the film base is gray, and I will never reach the end of scanning 120-format negatives. The spools are scattered, the tape is stuck to my fingers, the backing paper chokes the trash can i…

Network topology and the ghost of the digg homepage

Nowadays, it's the unforced errors in response to criticism that kill you

Manifesto is a series on WePresent which invites activists and creatives with something to say to write 10 rules to live by, in order to help spread their message.

I went viral in Paris and got called cringe

What I've learned about how to build and balance a newsletter or blog brand with a personal brand and whether it makes sense to have multiple brands.

Gentle wisdom for sensitive souls

29,588 Words Later

This is a chapter from the book A Lesser Photographer [https://cj-chilvers.ghost.io/a-lesser-photographer]. Every successful photographer I’ve known schedules their projects. Countless studies and interviews with my photo heroes confirm: Inspiration doesn’t “strike.” Inspiration is scheduled. It happens when you allow it the time and attention

Mailbag is a blog where real people ask me real questions, and I share my replies each Friday. This week Shaan answers 1 questions - Check em out!

This tweet from Alex Hormozi I think will resonate with many of us.