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Notes from the field on Splunk, web development, and AI — practical tips you can put to work today.

•7 min read

The Frontier Model War Is Here: How Developers Should Pick Sides

Kimi K3, Claude Fable 5, and GPT-5.6 Sol are all competing for your API calls. Here's a practical framework for choosing the right model when you're building AI-powered products.

AILLMsDeveloper ToolsStrategyClaudeGPT
•7 min read

AI Coding Tools Go Metered: What It Means for Developers Who Actually Ship

Flat-rate AI coding subscriptions are dead. GitHub, Cursor, and Anthropic all moved to usage-based billing in 2026. Here's what changed, who wins, and how to stay productive without blowing your budget.

AIDeveloper ToolsPricingCursorGitHub CopilotKiro
•8 min read

Kiro Web: Cloud Automations, Autonomous Agents, and What We Actually Built With It

Kiro Web brings autonomous agents and scheduled cloud automations to your browser. Here's what the features are, how they work, and the real system I built with them — a Notion-powered job search pipeline that runs itself.

AIKiroAWSAutomationDeveloper Tools
•7 min read

Chatbot vs. Agentic Bot: What's the Difference (and Why It Matters in 2026)

The term "chatbot" has been stretched to cover everything from a scripted FAQ widget to an autonomous agent that plans, reasons, and acts. Here's the practical breakdown of what separates a chatbot from an agentic bot — and when to use which.

AIChatbotsAgentic AIAutomationDeveloper Tools
•4 min read

Thank You, AWS & Kiro: We've Been Granted Kiro for Startups Credits

Grateful to be accepted into the Kiro for Startups program. Here's what the credits unlock, why it's great news for builders, and how your startup can apply too.

KiroAWSStartupsAnnouncement
•8 min read

Why I Reach for AWS Kiro CLI (and How I Get the Most Out of It)

Kiro brings spec-driven rigor to agentic coding — right in your terminal. Here's what Kiro CLI is, why it's a strong alternative to other AI coding agents, and my workflow, memory, and steering tips.

AIKiroAWSAgentic CodingDeveloper Tools
•5 min read

Tuqlas: An AI Assistant for Your Website in Minutes

How Tuqlas gives individuals and businesses a 24/7 AI chatbot that answers visitor questions, captures leads, and lightens the support load — with a single line of code.

AITuqlasCustomer SupportAutomation
•6 min read

5 SPL Habits That Make Splunk Searches Dramatically Faster

Small changes to how you write Search Processing Language can turn a multi-minute search into a few seconds. Here are five habits I rely on every day.

SplunkSPLPerformance
•5 min read

Building a Fast Next.js Portfolio That Actually Converts

A practical checklist for a portfolio that loads fast, ranks well, and turns visitors into booked calls — drawn from building darl.dev.

Next.jsWeb PerformanceSEO
•7 min read

What Makes Kiro Different: A Deep Dive into Spec-Driven AI Coding

Most AI coding tools stop at generating code. Kiro starts with specs — requirements, design, and tasks before a single line is written. Here's why that changes everything.

AIKiroAWSSpec-Driven DevelopmentDeveloper Tools
•8 min read

Hermes vs OpenClaw: Two Open-Source Agents, Two Different Philosophies

Both are open-source, self-hosted, and run across multiple platforms. But Hermes and OpenClaw are built on fundamentally different philosophies. Here's the practical breakdown.

AIHermes AgentOpenClawOpen SourceDeveloper Tools

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