A few weeks ago, a pain in my wrist intensified. I worked a lot, a lot of coding and editing, and my hand started to hurt more and more. at some point, I was afraid of touching the keyboard, and even thinking of typing caused pain. Not great! I took a break for a couple of days, and the pain started fading away. Then I decided to switch keyboard again… after talking to one of my mates who wrote code for the last 30 years. He said he uses an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, and I started googling for options. I decided to try Kinesis Advance 360. I couldn’t type more than 2-3 words per minute in the first two weeks. Very slow. I switched keyboards now and then and was not productive at all, but the pain started to fade. Then I went on to travel for three days and didn’t touch keyboards at all. When I returned and tried Kinesis, something clicked and I started working a bit faster than before and still improving. I spent some 20-30 minutes reading the manual and remapping some keys, and now things are even better. The pain keeps fading away; I am still very slow, but I can continue working which is way better than nothing. I am also discovering layers and different keyboard layouts: I can set up and switch between nine layouts; I am seriously considering setting up one for coding, one for Figma, and one for video editing; this might just eliminate an idea/craving for a programmable extra keyboard… Btw, I keep creating a course for design dojo / presentum and it will soon be available on YouTube. I hope to become more productive with this keyboard, eventually getting back to my typing speed or even improving it. I will post about it again in a couple of months with a progress update.

The healthcare industry in the UK reminds me of the banking industry in Russia in 2012: it is ripe for change, proper digital experiences, and, with improvements in ML (what they call AI nowadays), an even more radical overhaul. VisitHealth is a clinic in (almost-) Central London, with great diagnostics equipment and an ambition to deliver a 'Hospital-at-home' concept, utilizing the technology to bring medical assistance where needed. My role is officially called 'Marketing director'; however, it revolves around all digital channels and experiences and extends to developing medical services as well. I will publish a link once we update our website ;-)

P.S. I still develop Presentum as well. More updates on this matter are expected in late autumn, hopefully.

I decided to refresh Presentum's UI a bit before going public with the service. If you've been following our story, you'll likely find this update enjoyable. Please visit the updated presentum.io and share your thoughts!

OpenAI recently open-sourced their speech recognition model, which is fantastic news. This development allows me to integrate this tool into Presentum. I've built a prototype that processes a video from the platform and generates accurate text. Combined with OpenCV, an open-source computer vision library, interviewing practices are transformed into searchable documents. Based on the data, I can create comprehensive profiles for each candidate, enabling meaningful searches. You can describe what you're looking for, and the system will find candidates based on their stories. Plus, hiring managers can immediately watch the related video. Incredible!

I hadn't taken Vipassana seriously until summer 2023, when I applied and was accepted for a 10-day course. My experience in October was refreshingly awesome. It's not about religion or spirituality; it's about self-understanding. Ten days of noble silence and meditation, completely disconnected from all communication, were enlightening. I highly recommend it, though it's far from a vacation – meditating for about 10 hours daily is challenging. My only regret is not doing it 15 years earlier.

I recently realised I've tried around half a dozen mechanical keyboards and consistently used three over the last five years. However, since switching to the M1 MacBook Air with its excellent keyboard, I've been using it more frequently. Eventually, I needed a full keyboard with a numpad for Blender and similar apps, leading me to the Magic Keyboard, which I'm very satisfied with. My top three keyboards are: Das Keyboard 4, Logitech MX Mechanical (with fantastic backlighting), and now the full-sized Apple Magic Keyboard. I know some people aren't particular about keyboards, but for me, they've become an extension of my hands, especially since I began coding and writing extensively every day.