Robin Monks 🏳️‍🌈

Technology

A Cluster of My Own

How I've started hosting my sites and tools in 2026.

The Money and Industry Turning Local Cops into Peeping Toms

Between vehicle tracking, camera networks, drone use, and AI, local cops have become the ever-watching hall monitors of modern life. Private industry is reaping the profits.

"AI" is everywhere, expensive, and worthless

What was supposed to be the future of tech and work turned out to be a boring technological improvement, and that's bad news for AI investments.

Browser-compatible HDR backgrounds

How I've made high DPI and device-aware HDR backgrounds a part of my workflow

Tutorial

Self-hosted Ghost ActivityPub

Debugging 401, SITE_MISSING, and JWKS_MISSING errors.

Lies, Damn Lies, and "AI"

And why we need to separate the unproven economic philosophy of Theoretical Artificial Intelligence Marketing from the technology.

Healthcare

The Information Blocking Busting Era

HHS ASTP/ONC and CMS are changing enforcement priorities, and providers and Health IT vendors will feel the heat.

Update

It's September, let's go!

Heck yes, fall!

My Healthtech Wish

What would it take to build a truly useful, patient-centered digital health ecosystem?

Technology

It's Time For An Open Source Grammarly Replacement

WriteWithHarper Can Save The Day

Healthcare

Healthcare is Having a Digital Identity Crisis

Why modern healthcare needs consumer identity and access management.

Healthcare

Fighting and Winning Insurance Denials

Insurance companies benefit whenever you don't fight, so here's how to fight smart.

Travel

Hello from Sitka

A travel log from my first trip to Alaska

software

How I'm Reading News in 2025

After clogging my inbox to unusable levels, I've totally changed how I consume my newsletters and articles.

Technology

The AAC Podcast Misinformation Brigade

Long-lived misinformation is holding back podcasts

video

Thoughts on Jasper

A personal retrospective on Jasper National Park and Banff National Park

Business

Examining Price Discrimination With Burger King

Reverse-engineering BK's pricing

Autumn Catch Up

What I'm reading, EV ownership 1 year in, and new discoveries.

AI Bulls Would Like Apple to Pretty-Please Keep AI Premium

Apple is poised to make AI tools on the level of Copilot and Gemini free next month, and AI bulls would really like them not to.

Kroger & Albertsons: A Story We've Seen Before

The proposed acquisition of Albertsons by Kroger raises questions about the future that we can answer with how these companies behaved in the past.

AI

WWDC Made AI Winners and Losers

Apple didn't launch new ways of using Generative AI, but changed the terms of engagement in a way that will shake tech.

Startups

Racing to the Obvious

Recently, I've been noticing a pattern as startups struggle to jump on the AI train. I've started to internally refer to that pattern of companies as "racing to the obvious."

Work-Life Balance

A Software Engineering Managers Guide to Doing More in Less Time

So you’re there.  You’ve convinced your team, your higher-ups, your fellow managers to try a shorter work week. Now what?

Work-Life Balance

An Engineering Manager's Guide to a Better Work Week

If you’ve been reading my previous articles, you probably already suspect that something isn’t right with the way the average work week is run. (In fairness, it’s entirely likely you already noticed that before encountering this blog at all!) So, for the next few posts, we’re

Startups

Unlocking Success: Why Small Adjustments Make a Big Difference

Today's post is a shorter one. Partly because I deeply believe in the idea that small and consumable ideas are powerful and shouldn't be overly drawn out for the sake of word count; and also partly because the upcoming week is my birthday and so I&