Welcome
We are Gregarious Mammal, a pair of tech writers, journalists and developer experience experts based in Berlin, Germany. Here you can listen to our podcast, read our writing(s) and much more.
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Feeling Fabulous With Queer Tech at #UNIT Berlin
#UNIT runs regular meetups in Berlin aimed at those working in tech who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LBGTI), but with an overarching message of providing a space for speakers who you might not always see at more mainstream events. I personally don’t identify as any of these, but I always enjoy the diverse messages and fun atmosphere I hear at the meetups, and this was my second time attending the yearly conference.
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iTake, Bucharest: A Crash Course in Software Craftsmanship
Read on to see what one DZone Zone Leader learned at the iTake conference, including new perspectives on testing, BDD, security, and mob programming.
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Matthew Setter - ownCloud, PHP, Technical Writing and more
In this episode Cate and Chris speak with Matthew Setter about ownCloud, PHP, Technical Writing and more.
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So, I wrote my first book
I wrote my first book, and it's the 2nd edition of SitePoint's "Jump Start Responsive Web Design" covering all you need to get started with responsive web design, ideally you can read it in a weekend and start applying the knowledge on Monday.
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OverOps interview, The future of online learning, ex-military in tech and much more
In this episode Cate and Chris speak with Tal Weiss from OverOps, discuss the future of education, ex-military in tech, standing desks and more.
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Connected trees will be scrubbing the air in a city near you soon
Air pollution is a significant problem in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 6.5 million deaths per year can be attributed to air pollution, much greater than the number who die from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and road injuries combined.
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About Ship at Docker
I have been a Docker fan since almost day 1, working for a company that packaged its project to work in containers early-on, writing many blog posts on usage and related tooling, attending meetups here in Berlin and contributing to two code sprints as a mentor. Late last year I gave a talk at LinuxCon in Berlin to see Solomon Hykes (Founder) sat in the front row, a nerve-racking delight.
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WTD Episode 5: Where do we belong?
In this episode, we explore where technical writers belong in an organization. Is tech comm best placed within engineering, marketing, product management, or another group? We also talk about strategies for doc navigation, in particular, the merits of inline links and/or sidebar navigation, using a post from Every Page Is Page One as a starting point. Are hierarchical sidebar menus still useful, or are they a relic of the past? Finally, we provide details about the upcoming Write the Docs conference in Portland, and Chris mentions his new book on responsive design.
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Can IoT prevent gun violence across America's cities?
Local municipalities are increasingly turning to smart city technology to reduce public crime through efforts such as connected lighting, targeted surveillance and data assets. One of the more innovative smart solutions is ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection, acoustic surveillance technology that uses sensors to detect, locate and alert law enforcement agencies of illegal gunfire incidents in real time. I spoke to CEO, Ralph A. Clark to learn more.
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A Developers Guide to Better Presentations — Part 1, Stage Craft
I am not the best public speaker or presenter, but I give lots and enjoy giving them. I also attend many meetups and conferences and so have built a good repertoire of what works and what doesn’t. I have been planning this post for a while, but after a particularly poor presentation last week from a major technical project disappointed me, I felt motivated to get off my backside and write it. Part 1 (of an undecided number) covers stagecraft and vocal techniques.
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Smarter App Notifications With OpenBack
Notifications: you probably love them or hate them. I like them when they are useful to me, and this is something that the OpenBack SDK attempts to solve. It offers a framework for you to make your in-app notifications more than annoying notices, but tailoring them to users contexts and allowing them to do more with notifications.
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The Future of Work, Interview with Postman, and Skilled Migrants
In this episode Cate and Chris speak with Abhinav Asthana from Postman, discuss the future of work, and skilled migrant visas.
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An Introduction to Speech Synthesis Markup Language
Speech synthesis is a not a new technology — computers have been attempting to speak to us for decades — but with the recent rise of voice-activated appliances, speech synthesis is undergoing a renaissance. At more than one meetup I heard Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) mentioned for modeling computerized speech and thought it warranted further investigation.
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What exactly is BioHacking?
In this episode Cate and Chris speak with Paul Lauener from BioMonkey about BioHacking to improve your physical and mental self and what (if anything) it has to do with embedding microchips in your body.
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Docker for Windows, Linux, and Mac
Released earlier in 2017, Docker’s new native applications for Windows and Mac replaced the older methods for running Docker on Windows and Mac and created a better experience for developers using those platforms.
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Real-Time OCR for Mobile Apps With RTR SDK
I remember the first time I tried the image recognition technology in the Google translate app, snapping a poster to instantly translate what it said into a language I understood. It was far from perfect, but it was cool, and it showed the potential of what more traditional optical character recognition could be used for.
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Preventing SQL injections in Ruby (and other vulnerabilities)
Ruby is a wonderful language for beginner coders to start with and scale to large, distributed Web and Desktop applications. It has an accepting and helpful community and strives to keep itself up to date to match the needs of developers.
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The realities and challenges of being a digital nomad
You jet around the world, a road and sky warrior armed with a laptop in search of a power socket and decent WiFi. No ties, no responsibilities; work when you need it and when you’re bored, you move on. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?
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Logz.io, Tech in Israel, Robots for Seniors and is the Laptop dead?
In this episode Chris and Cate interview Asaf from Logz.io, discuss the Israeli tech scene, robots for seniors and the death of the laptop.
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JVM-Free Kotlin With Kotlin/Native
I would never call myself a real programmer, but I have a healthy obsession with studying new languages that emerge, especially those that arrive with little baggage and attempt to solve current problems and new use cases. This brought about my explorations in recent years of Swift and Kotlin, both initially aimed to fix issues with the languages traditionally used in their worlds, but rapidly became used in more widespread contexts, and generally, have enthusiastic communities.
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Enterprising Israel
Much has been written already about Israel’s incredibly successful and mature tech startup scene, but I was lucky enough to be asked to speak at Codemotion in Israel, so thought I would line up interviews with local entrepreneurs, catch some sun, and enjoy the food that Tel Aviv is famous for (and I wasn’t disappointed on that front). I barely scratched the surface of what the city (and country) has to offer, but I hope you will find those I spoke to interesting and useful.
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Tech Salary Trends in 2017
Stack Overflow's 2017 developer survey crossed my desk at the same time as a report on tech wage trends from Dice.com, who I’d never heard of before, but the report echoed many of my own observations, so I read further. It’s only from US data, but again, I have seen similar trends in other countries, so thought I’d share insights with you, in case, you know, you’re looking for a change, or are inquisitive about your worth.
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CeBIT 2017 - Business as Usual
I’ve never been to CeBit before, but it’s reasonably well-known on the tech conference circuit for announcements, and as it’s only a two-hour train ride from home, I jumped on a Deutsche Bahn and headed to the Worlds largest fairground in Hannover.
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The Internet of Industrial Things
When most people think about the Internet of Things (IoT), it likely conjures ideas of activity-monitoring wearables like Fitbit or home devices for home security (iSmart), lighting (Hue), and coffee makers (Nespresso Prodigio). It’s a mixed opinion on the success of consumer IoT devices, but IoT is making its biggest impact in the industrial realm, where it’s used to reconcile problems that have plagued workplaces for centuries. Industry can use sensor technology to increase efficiency, improve supply chains, reduce waste and increase safety and speed. Last week, I attended the Connected World event from Bosch and bring a selection of companies and activities in what I will term, “The Internet of Industrial Things” (IoIT).
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Blockchain, music and tech cooperatives with Resonate
Chris talks with Peter Harris from Resonate about music streaming on the blockchain, tech cooperatives and much more.
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