### _"The intersection of technology and humanity is where magic happens. It’s not just about the code; it’s about how it touches lives."_ - Steve Jobs

If Steve Jobs believed in the harmonious blend of technology and humanity, 
then our story is no different. Our journey began with a simple idea: if we 
can make it, why not? Today, I want to share the story of four internal 
projects that began as ideas and transformed into tools that are not just 
efficient, but genuinely fun.



## MGMT2: Tracking, Efficiency, and a Bit of Bitcoin Magic
<div style="max-width: 450px;" class="img-bordered">
    <img src="/assets/images/articles/mgmt2.jpg">
</div>

Our passion lies in collecting achievements and milestones. MGMT2 is our 
tool designed to help our teammates track their achievements and, here's 
the cool part, their share of our Bitcoin treasure. Remember when we 
snagged some Bitcoin for our balance sheet? In about two years, that's 
going to be a delightful bonus for our team. Imagine making something as 
intangible as Bitcoin tangible for our employees. That's MGMT2 for you.

## GitHub Streak Tracker: Code, Commit, Repeat

<div class="img-bordered">
    <img src="/assets/images/articles/git-streak-tracker.jpg">
</div>

Seeing a growing GitHub streak is satisfying. With our 
[GitHub Streak Tracker](https://git-streak-tracker.herokuapp.com/), designed 
exclusively for iOS, you're not just encouraged to commit daily, but it 
becomes a part of your daily ritual. It's like having a personal 
cheerleader, reminding you of your coding journey and pushing you to 
achieve more.

## PropConnect.io: Simplifying Property Management

<div class="img-bordered">
    <img src="/assets/images/articles/propconnect.jpg">
</div>


Managing properties can be challenging. We created 
[PropConnect.io](https://propconnect.io/) to make property management 
a breeze. With direct text-based communication between tenants and vendors 
and comprehensive oversight, property managers can step back from the 
tedious tasks and focus on what truly matters: growing their portfolio 
or even just taking a well-deserved break.



## Brexyl: Monster Mayhem and Mischief in the Arena

<iframe 
  width="560" 
  height="315" 
  src="https://streamable.com/e/pp7rnm"
  frameborder="0"
  allowfullscreen></iframe>

Dive into an adrenaline-pumping arena where strategy meets action. Brexyl 
is our take on the game dynamics similar to Minion Masters. Spawn monsters 
from the cards you draw and watch them battle in an arena. Protect your main 
building, or it's game over. And if you're in the mood for some playful 
teasing, drop a giant "7" on your opponent. It might do nothing, but the 
laughs you get are priceless!

For this project we're using [Godot 4.1](https://godotengine.org/), a free and
open source game engine. It's a great tool for creating 2D and 3D games
and has a very active community. We've also chosen to leverage .NET
with Godot's C# support.

### Wrapping Up

Innovation doesn't always begin in a boardroom. Sometimes, it starts with a 
simple idea or a desire to make things better. If you're looking to create 
something groundbreaking or something that resonates with people - reach 
out to us. We're always ready for the next big challenge.

Having fun: Our internal projects

<br></br>
<div style="width: 100%; text-align: center;">
  <a href="https://reactnative.dev/">
      <img 
        src="/assets/blog/futuristic_ckc_building.png" 
        alt="CKC Building" 
        style="border: 0; border-radius: 0; margin: 0 auto;"
      >
  </a>
</div>

Nestled in the scenic beauty of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, our app development company 
has been thriving since 2012. We are a team of passionate developers, designers, 
and innovators who love what we do and where we do it from.




<div style="width: 100%; text-align: center;">
  <a href="https://reactnative.dev/">
      <img src="/assets/blog/react_native_header_logo.svg" alt="React Native" style="max-width: 320px; border: 0; margin: 0 auto;">
  </a>
</div>


## Our Love for React Native

Our love for [React Native](https://reactnative.dev/) is no secret. This open-source 
mobile application framework has been our go-to tool for creating most of our 
applications. We've even developed our own base project, lovingly named 
[Skeletor](https://github.com/ckc-org/skeletor), which serves as the backbone for 
many of our projects. Skeletor allows us to streamline our process and deliver 
high-quality applications to our clients.

## Evolution into Game Development

While we started as an app development company, our passion for creating engaging 
experiences has led us to venture into the realm of game development. We've had 
the opportunity to work on a variety of exciting projects, each one pushing our 
creative and technical boundaries.

## VR Skydiving Simulator

One of our notable projects is a VR Skydiving simulator, available on 
[Oculus](https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/2552134034912884/). This game 
was developed by one of our engineers, an ex-NASA intern, who built a whole 
physics engine for the simulator. The result is an incredibly immersive experience 
that gives users the adrenaline rush of skydiving without leaving the ground. 
This project showcases our commitment to creating user-centric experiences that 
push the boundaries of technology.

## MacroAir Project

<div style="width: 100%; text-align: center;">
  <a href="https://reactnative.dev/">
      <img 
        src="/assets/blog/macroair_airviz_modeler.png" 
        alt="MacroAir Airviz Modeler" 
        style="border: 0; border-radius: 0; margin: 0 auto;"
      >
  </a>
</div>

Another project we're proud of is MacroAir, a tool for visualizing fan air movement. 
We're using [Babylon.JS](https://www.babylonjs.com/), a powerful, beautiful, 
simple, and open 3D engine, to create an awesome 3D modeler in JavaScript. 
This project is a testament to our ability to leverage cutting-edge technology 
to solve real-world problems and deliver value to our clients.

## Twitch-Integrated Godot Game

One of our ongoing projects is a Twitch-integrated game developed in 
[Godot](https://godotengine.org/). This project is a testament to our commitment 
to innovation and our desire to create games that not only entertain but also 
engage the community in new and exciting ways.

## Our Latest Project: A Cat Roleplaying Game

Our latest venture is a cat roleplaying game that we're incredibly excited about. 
This project, [Paw Borough](https://www.pawborough.net/), allows us to combine 
our love for gaming with our love for our feline friends. 

We've made significant optimizations in our cat generation process, improving from 
generating one cat per second to a hundred cats per second. This means we're able 
to generate around 10 million cats per day on a single processor! 

This wasn't an easy task, but we believe in doing things that are important, 
even if the odds are not in our favor. We're working hard to create a game 
that is not only fun to play but also captures the quirky and lovable nature of cats. 

We're proud to share that Paw Borough was funded for approximately $90k on 
[Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tbpt/paw-borough-the-feline-virtual-browser-rpg)! 
This is a testament to the support and love we've received from our community.

## Conclusion

From our humble beginnings in Coeur d'Alene to our expansion into San Diego and 
Spokane, our journey has been nothing short of exciting. We've evolved from an 
app development company into a game development company, and we can't wait to 
see what the future holds. 

We're grateful for the opportunities we've had to work on such diverse projects 
and are excited to continue creating unique and engaging experiences for our users. 
Our approach has always been to deliver first and then iterate, because we believe 
that done is better than perfect. 

We're a team of badass developers growing year-over-year, and we're just getting started.

From the Heart of Coeur d'Alene: The Journey of an App Development Company

The future of many jobs may seem uncertain, even in the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane area. 

Upon encountering ChatGPT, it's natural to feel apprehensive, but let's not forget the rooms full of human "computers" in the 1950s. Rather than succumbing to fear, let's predict where this technology is heading and develop skills and tools to harness the power of AI.



<div style="max-width: 420px; margin: 0 auto;">
     <img src="/assets/images/articles/midjourney_1.jpg" class="img-bordered">
     <br>
     <small><i>Some fun attempts to generate an avatar, using [Midjourney](https://midjourney.com/)</i></small>
</div>

The release of ChatGPT revolutionizes AI's role in business, offering our boutique 
software studio the opportunity to provide clients with innovative solutions. By 
harnessing ChatGPT, we can develop intelligent chatbots, enhance content generation, 
and create tailored AI agents to streamline clients' operations and elevate their 
digital presence.

# How we're using AI

### Chrome Upwork extension
Respond to job offers quickly by having an AI agent knowledgeable about your business generate proposals for you. Can answer questions like "what frameworks do you know?" or "talk about a recent project like this." Uses [OpenAI](https://openai.com/)

### Game development
We're leveraging AI to create artwork and large playable maps for our game. We doodle what the map should loosely look like and let AI fill in the rest.

### Website redesign
Building a fresh new design around [Midjourney](https://midjourney.com/).. the one you're browsing right now!

### Prompt Wars
A fun website using [InvokeAI](https://github.com/invoke-ai/InvokeAI) where users generate images that compete with others based on challenge topics.


## AI Agents

### FishingTravelAgent-GPT
   * For fun I made a quick fishing trip travel agent that helps you find the most interesting fishing spots on your journey

### JuniorEngineer-GPT
   * We're working on training an agent that can do basic coding tasks for us, like a junior engineer that's maybe Sophomore level in college
   * We can provide example tasks, ask for changes, and the agent will do its best to complete the task
   * This can be automated so the agent could look at new tasks, figure out how to do them, and push the code up


# How we can help you

Let's say you have a business that needs to do a lot of repetitive tasks, like
replying to customer support tickets, or maybe you need to generate a lot of
content for your website. We can help you create an agent that can do these
tasks for you.

We can also help you create an agent that can be your AI assistant. For
example, maybe you are annoyed by scheduling your employees every 2 weeks.. "Sally
doesn't get along with Bob, so we need to make sure they don't work together". We
can teach an agent about this, provide scheduling needs and requisite information, and
the agent will behave like a human scheduler!

Another application is in advertising. Compose a long list of straightforward ads, and let ChatGPT transform them into engaging, high-impact copy, optimizing your marketing efforts with ease.

Fun aside: in the past we helped architect the [Codalab](https://competitions.codalab.org/)
platform, which is a platform for hosting AI competitions. Our special piece
for that project was the ability to use "docker in docker" for student submissions.
This allowed AI research in C#, Julia, R, Python, etc.!




# Computers can see!?

Facebook (Meta) created the Segment Anything Model (SAM) using a dataset of 1 billion 
masks on 11 million images. This is an insane tool that can be leveraged quickly
to facilitate a strong AI agent.

<div style="text-align: center;">
     <img src="/assets/images/articles/SAM-model-Metas-new-Segment-Anything-Model-explained-4.webp" class="img-bordered">
     <small><i>Example SAM mask</i></small>
</div>

Maybe you have an assembly line where items are packaged, shipment labels are applied,
and then the packages are sent out. What if you could add cameras along the way
that help catch any potential problems?

Say you sometimes mix up some shipments, like shipping 1 BOX of items instead of 1 UNIT.
An AI agent could be trained to see the difference between a box and a unit.

Maybe sometimes a wheel gets stuck in the assembly line and the boxes start piling up,
an AI agent could see this problem and notify the appropriate people.

These ideas are not revolutionary on their own! The novel piece is how simple and quickly this can be done. 
Instead of needing a research team that can make all of the complex math work, we just
teach the AI agents like we teach a new hire. It's flexible and generic.


# Autonomous agents

A new thing coming out are Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) agents, like:
 - [BabyAGI](https://github.com/yoheinakajima/babyagi) - A baby AI that has limited memory and functionality
 - [ToddlerAGI](https://twitter.com/gogoliansnake/status/1643225698801164288/) - Modified baby agi, slightly more advanced
 - [TeenageAGI](https://github.com/seanpixel/Teenage-AGI) - Has a deep memory, more advanced than toddler
 - [AutoGPT](https://github.com/Torantulino/Auto-GPT) - attempt to make GPT-4 fully autonomous

# Let's bring your business into the AI future!

We're using AI right now with multiple clients. One client is developing a new
way to manage his pecan farm, leveraging [Github Copilot](https://github.com/features/copilot) 
along the way to speed up development.

ChatGPT and OpenAI: Unlocking the Potential of AI for Your Business

I certainly love most of my work, but my favorite part is pair programming, 
which is when a couple developers share a screen and work together solving 
problems, which facilitates spreading knowledge in a big way. 

It is extremely important for scaling Ckc that we teach new folks how to 
think -- a bit strange, but I'll explain!




<div style="text-align: center;">
     <img src="/assets/images/articles/decision-tree.png" class="img-bordered">
     <small><i>Why go up the tree until you're sure about the bottom!?</i></small>
</div>


# An example

1. You are tasked with setting up a new staging server in the Paris Headquarters
1. You set up the server and everything works, but, wait.. for some reason, connections are being denied to [Minio](https://min.io/) on port `9000`?!
1. You're a junior, so you're not sure how this is even happening. Everything
    is working on your machine? Everything else seems fine, just this one service is borked
1. The week of debugging begins:
   * The connection error, maybe it has to do with SSL at some level?
   * Maybe there's something wrong with my Minio configuration?
   * Is Minio booting up OK?
   * Is the port open in Security Groups? Yes..
   * Why can I talk to minio from the local machine, but the outside Internet can't talk to it?
   * I've tried 1,000 times and everything seems fine!
   * This goes on for days
   * Finally, I try a random new port and.. wallah! It works!


It turns out the organization hosting our server disallows port 9000! I had no
idea. I never even thought to ask.

Basically changing one number, a port, from 9000 to _anything else_ fixed the problem. Why
didn't I just focus on the initial connection error? Why did I go down so many useless
paths? I knew what the problem was at the outset, but refused to focus on it. 

I never expected a port to be closed by an outside admin, this had never happened 
before. I could see the list of open ports in my configuration, but I refused to acknowledge it clearly
wasn't open.

I couldn't connect: that's it! Focus on that! It _has_ to be a network problem, nothing
to do with Minio configuration.


# Let your mind go, but with limits

Confronted with so many unknowns you may feel hopeless. You have no idea what 
to try next. You, maybe literally, start to panic. Do you even belong here? Do you
even understand this stuff? You think it should be working, but it's not, and 
reality is crumbling around you. Trouble focusing, wanting to pull your hair 
out... all of that fun stuff.

Let this wash over you, maybe take a second to enjoy this feeling of not knowing
how to do something -- eventually this challenge will devolve into another way to
do a CRUD form stored away in your brain.

You'll forget what a rush it was to finally figure out you needed `levioSah()` not
`levioSo()`. This _will_ be boring someday, I promise, and you'll miss these days.


# Start at the base of the decision tree

After the initial panic has washed over you, re-examine the problem in the simplest
way you can. In the above example it was clear from the very beginning it was a 
connection issue.

Why did I go any further up the decision tree? I had a bad connection, that's it, 
maybe try to change ports or something?

It took a week to diagnose this port problem, which should have been diagnosed
in 5 minutes given a stoic "senior engineer" behind the wheel.


# Furthest branch away

Very rarely you will encounter a problem where all initial assumptions/clues are actually
futile and there's something fundamental wrong with your computer architecture
or the library you're using. Usually you did something silly like a typo, forgot to
pull, forgot to rebuild docker, etc.

Be very cautious going so far up the tree, re-check your initial assumptions. Re-read the 
error. Restart your computer.

Very likely you just need to open a port or something simple!


# It's not always easy

And, actually, sometimes you do have to sit there and take it for 2 weeks. Fully
absorbing an idea and figuring out a problem may legitimately be very difficult
and all-consuming.

Even though this port 9000 problem was silly and took way too much time to understand,
I learned a boatload. This always happens. Every time I am super stuck and find
the solution: I come out stronger, more apt to take on bigger tasks.

Over time, you get better and better at knowing when to climb up the tree and try 
to explore deeply.


# As a process

Here's a repeatable way to try to avoid going too far up the decision tree:

1. _Calmly_ read all errors, code, commands, etc. in front of you.
1. If something is obviously broken, focus on that. Do not assume a third party
system/module is at fault. It's probably you, and it's probably a very small simple problem!
1. Build a small example replicating exactly your situation with as few moving parts as possible _(i.e., from our example, open any kind of server process and serve it on port `9000`)_
1. Rubber duck your situation to a peer.
1. Reach out to someone smarter than you. If you're the top dog: God help you.
1. Now start posting on forums, discord, IRC, etc. and try to find any more info




# Past related articles
   - [How to get a web dev gig?](https://ckcollab.com/2019/03/30/how-do-i-get-a-web-dev-gig.html)

Having fun: Our internal projects

"The intersection of technology and humanity is where magic happens. It’s not just about the code; it’s about how it touches lives." - Steve Jobs...

From the Heart of Coeur d'Alene: The Journey of an App Development Company

From the Heart of Coeur d'Alene: The Journey of an App Development Company

ChatGPT and OpenAI: Unlocking the Potential of AI for Your Business

ChatGPT and OpenAI: Unlocking the Potential of AI for Your Business

The Decision Tree

The Decision Tree