Dispatches

writing

Thoughts on engineering leadership, distributed systems, architecture, and the craft of building software.

192 essays and counting

7 min read

Introducing Loki's Log: A Newsletter for AI Builders

Launching a newsletter focused on AI agents, open source tooling, and the craft of building autonomous systems

newsletterpersonal
8 min read

The asklokesh Ecosystem: How All My Projects Connect

A walkthrough of every public project I maintain and how they form a connected system for AI-powered software engineering

careerpersonal
8 min read

2025: The Year I Went Full Loki Mode

A year-end reflection on leaving the corporate world, building open source full-time, and what it means to bet your career on autonomous AI systems

personalaiagents
8 min read

From No Phone to Flagships to Not Caring: My Full Mobile Journey

Two decades of phones, from borrowing my mom's Nokia to obsessing over specs to realizing none of it matters the way I thought it would

nostalgiapersonal
7 min read

2024: The Year AI Agents Became Real

Looking back on 2024, the year AI agents went from predictions to production and everything I shipped along the way

aiagentspersonal
6 min read

The 2024 Election and the AI Misinformation Challenge

The 2024 US presidential election tested our ability to handle AI-generated misinformation, and the results are sobering

aipersonal
8 min read

2023: The Year LLMs Ate the World

Looking back on a year that transformed AI from a research curiosity into a force reshaping every industry

aipersonal
6 min read

2022: The Year AI Broke Through

Looking back at a year that saw AI go from research curiosity to mainstream phenomenon, while I published two books and watched the world change

aipersonal
6 min read

Losing Interest in Phones Too

After losing my passion for cars earlier this year, I am realizing the same thing has happened with smartphones

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

Losing Interest in Cars

With a full Tesla fleet in the household, the novelty of cars has faded in a way I did not expect

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

James Webb's First Images Put Things in Perspective

NASA just released the first full-color images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and they are redefining our view of the universe

personal
6 min read

From Strangers to Founders: Published

My second book this year tells the immigration story that shaped everything, from arriving in America as a stranger to building a career in tech

bookspersonal
5 min read

Elon Buys Twitter: The Most Chaotic Tech Deal in Memory

Elon Musk just agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion, and the way it happened is as remarkable as the deal itself

personal
5 min read

Russia Invades Ukraine: Technology in Modern War

The invasion of Ukraine is showing us in real time how technology has fundamentally changed the nature of warfare

personal
5 min read

Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

The biggest gaming acquisition in history just happened, and it says more about the future of tech than about gaming

personal
7 min read

The Flip Phone Revival: Galaxy Z Flip and Nostalgia Engineering

Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip3 brought the flip phone back from the dead, and using it feels like a conversation between past and future

nostalgiapersonal
7 min read

Writing From Strangers to Founders

I am writing a book about the immigrant journey from arriving in America to building a life, and the story is more personal than anything I have published

bookspersonal
6 min read

Facebook Becomes Meta: Visionary or Desperate?

Mark Zuckerberg just renamed his company and bet everything on the metaverse, and I have questions

personal
6 min read

The Flagship Phone Rotation: Samsung, Apple, and Pixel

I rotate between Samsung, Apple, and Google flagships every year, and the camera comparisons alone justify the habit

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

Billionaires in Space

Bezos and Branson went to space within days of each other, and the discourse tells us more about Earth than about orbit

personal
6 min read

The Tesla Fleet Is Complete

With the Model X, every current Tesla model is in the driveway, and the journey to get here taught me more about obsession than cars

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

The NFT Craze: Digital Ownership or Tulips?

Beeple just sold a digital artwork for 69 million dollars, and I genuinely cannot tell if this is revolutionary or insane

personal
8 min read

2020: The Year Everything Changed

A year that began with a mysterious virus in Wuhan ended with the world permanently altered, and the acceleration of trends that will define the next decade

personalcareer
7 min read

Apple M1: ARM Beats x86

Apple is about to ship ARM-based Macs, and if the rumors are right, this will be the most significant architectural shift in personal computing since the move from PowerPC

personal
7 min read

The US Election and Social Media's Reckoning

The 2020 US election exposed the fundamental tension between platform scale and platform responsibility, and there are no easy answers

personal
6 min read

Tesla Model Y: My Third Tesla

Taking delivery of a Model Y and reflecting on how Tesla went from a curiosity to the default choice for anyone paying attention to the automotive industry

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

The World Went Remote Overnight

COVID-19 just forced the largest remote work experiment in human history, and cloud infrastructure is the only reason it is working at all

cloudpersonal
6 min read

A Virus in Wuhan: How Technology Responds

Reports of a novel coronavirus are emerging from China, and the tech response is already revealing how the world handles crises differently in 2020

personal
8 min read

The 2010s: A Decade of Cloud, Mobile, and Early AI

Reflecting on a decade that transformed technology and my career, from Linux administration to cloud infrastructure leadership

personalcareer
6 min read

Tesla Model S: The Second Tesla Joins the Fleet

Adding a Model S to the garage alongside the Model 3 and what it means to go fully electric

nostalgiapersonal
7 min read

The First Photo of a Black Hole

The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first image of a black hole in M87, and the technology behind it is as remarkable as the science

personal
6 min read

Three Flagship Phones: Samsung, Apple, Pixel

Living with all three flagship ecosystems simultaneously and what each one gets right

nostalgiapersonal
7 min read

GitHub Is Now Microsoft's

Microsoft closed its acquisition of GitHub on October 26 and the open source world is processing what this means

personal
7 min read

I Bought My First Tesla Model 3

Taking delivery of a Tesla Model 3 and experiencing what it means when your car is a software platform

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

SpaceX Falcon Heavy: The Most Inspiring Launch I Have Ever Watched

SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy two days ago and I cannot stop thinking about what it means for engineering

personal
5 min read

Day One at a Major Entertainment Company

Starting a new chapter as a cloud architect at one of the world's largest entertainment enterprises

careerpersonal
6 min read

Why I Bought a BMW 540i

On falling in love with a twenty-year-old German sedan and making my first big purchase in America

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

Pokemon Go and the Power of AR

Pokemon Go launched five days ago and the entire world seems to be outside catching virtual creatures

personal
6 min read

Leaving Texas A&M, Entering Industry

After years of research and coursework, I am closing the grad school chapter and stepping into the industry

careerpersonal
5 min read

Gravitational Waves Detected

LIGO just confirmed gravitational waves exist, and a hundred years of Einsteinian prediction suddenly became observable reality

personal
7 min read

Apple Watch Launches Wearables into the Mainstream

The Apple Watch arrived and with it a new computing form factor that raises fascinating questions about human-computer interaction

personal
7 min read

First Week at Texas A&M Research Lab

Starting my MS in Computer Science, navigating a new country, and stepping into research assistant life

careerpersonal
7 min read

Accepted to Texas A&M: America, Here I Come

I got my acceptance letter for MS in Computer Science and my life is about to change completely

careerpersonal
7 min read

Moto Razr: My Uncle Brought From America

The Motorola Razr and the tradition of uncles bringing impossible gadgets from America

nostalgiapersonal
8 min read

From No Phone to Nokia 6230

Growing up in an era without mobile phones and the day my uncle brought home a Nokia 6230 with a camera

nostalgiapersonal
6 min read

NSA PRISM: The Internet's Innocence Dies

Edward Snowden just revealed that the US government has been surveilling internet communications on a massive scale

personal
7 min read

2012: The Year the Cloud Became Real

A year-end reflection on how 2012 marked the turning point when cloud computing stopped being experimental and became the default

cloudpersonal
7 min read

Raspberry Pi and the Maker Movement

The Raspberry Pi Model B shipped earlier this year and it reignited something I forgot I had: the joy of tinkering

personal
6 min read

Remembering Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs passed away on October 5th and the world lost its greatest product mind

personal
6 min read

Steve Jobs Resigns: End of an Era

Steve Jobs just resigned as CEO of Apple, and it feels like the end of something important in technology

personal
6 min read

Instagram Launches and Mobile-First Becomes the Default

A photo sharing app called Instagram just proved that mobile-first is not a compromise, it is a strategy

personal
6 min read

Why I Want a Masters in Computer Science

An engineering student thinks through the case for grad school in America

careerpersonal
5 min read

iPad Changes the Game, Or Does It?

Apple just announced the iPad and the internet cannot decide if it is revolutionary or a giant iPod Touch

personal
7 min read

The Decade Ends: From Dial-Up to Cloud

Looking back at 2000-2009, a decade that took us from dial-up connections to cloud computing, and changed everything

personalcareer
7 min read

Windows 7 RC: Microsoft Gets It Right

After the Vista disaster, Microsoft releases the Windows 7 Release Candidate and it actually feels good

personal
6 min read

Android Dream: Google's Phone OS

Google made a phone operating system and it is open source and my brain will not stop thinking about the implications

personal
6 min read

Chrome Launches: Browsers Will Never Be the Same

Google released a web browser and it is shockingly fast and I have opinions about this

personal
5 min read

iPhone 3G and the Mobile Web

Apple just announced the iPhone 3G and I think the way we use the internet is about to fundamentally shift

personalcareer
4 min read

Why I'm Starting This Blog

A wide-eyed engineering student discovers the internet and decides to document the journey

personalcareer
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