Every few months, folks ask me what tools I still trust—tools that don’t track me, break randomly, or need a machine-learning overlay just to run a spreadsheet. So here’s my short stack, February 2025 edition: Debian & Arch Linux – battle-tested, lean, and honest. FreeBSD – still the king for firewalls and serious server work. Restic – dead-simple backups that don’t choke under pressure. Tailscale – for mesh VPNs that Just Work™. KeePassXC – because

Trade war chatter is back on the table. With new tariffs hitting China, Canada, and Mexico, the U.S. dollar just dropped to a three-month low, and the S&P gave back every gain it made since the election. Global markets? Not happy. If you’re running tech on imported hardware—or using vendors who are—you’re going to feel this. Costs are gonna creep. Expect longer lead times, higher shipping fees, and maybe some tough conversations about pricing. Now’s

nother day, another dozen layoff memos. Meta, Microsoft, Stripe, Wayfair, Starbucks, CNN… the list keeps growing. The reasons? “Restructuring,” “strategic alignment,” or the classic: “efficiency through AI.” Let’s cut the corporate-speak. What’s happening is consolidation. These companies are swapping people for platforms, and spinning it as innovation. But real innovation doesn’t leave thousands jobless without a plan. If you’re a small business owner or leader, here’s your edge: treat people like they matter. Offer stability.

Macron and Modi just wrapped the AI Action Summit in Paris. Compared to the UK’s safety-focused gathering last year, this one was all about cash: jobs, investments, GDP. Europe’s throwing €200B into InvestAI, and France is claiming €110B more. That’s a lot of Euros. But here’s the thing: none of this means anything without regulation and ethics to back it up. AI’s energy footprint is massive. Its potential to skew hiring, decision-making, and justice systems?

Blue Origin pulled off a sneaky-big win with the NS-29 mission. No crew, no flashy livestream—but inside that capsule? NASA was simulating lunar gravity by spinning it mid-flight. It’s not flashy, but it’s critical. Why? Because if we’re serious about putting people on the moon long-term, we need to know how water flows, bubbles form, and fire behaves when you don’t weigh as much. As someone who’s spent a career watching tech swing between hype