Contributor

Latest Episodes:

Suborbital with Connor Hicks Aug 03, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) and Connor Hicks (@cohix) launch into detail on Suborbital, an open-source project that allows developers to create WebAssembly projects embedded in other applications. Connor conceived of Suborbital while frustrated with the cold start problem that can impact Function-as-a-Service platforms. Today, Suborbital collaborates with companies like Microsoft on a community called Wasm Builders, dedicated to sharing and developing innovations in WebAssembly applications.

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In this episode we discuss:

The three tentpoles of WebAssembly that make it a useful foundation for Suborbital
Surprising niche use cases for WebAssembly like IoT and data modeling
Open-source tools in the Suborbital ecosystem
Putting focus on building a larger Wasm Builders community
Connor’s thoughts on how WebAssembly can improve edge computing

Links:

Milvus with Frank Liu Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) and Frank Liu (@frankzliu) talk about Milvus, the open-source vector database built for scalable similarity search. Vector databases are built to search, index and store embeddings, a requirement for powerful AI applications. Frank is Director of Operations at Zilliz, the company that stewards the project. Tune in to find out how Milvus is the database for the AI era.

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In this episode we discuss:

A crash course on embeddings and vector databases
Using Milvus for logo search, crypto predictions, drug discovery, and more
Other open-source projects at Zilliz that complement Milvus
“Embedding Everything”
How Milvus incorporates tunable consistency to its search process

Links:

Other episodes:

Clickhouse with Alexey Milovidov and Ivan Blinkov

Correction:

Milvus is based on a “shared storage” architecture, not “shared nothing.”

Apache Beam with Kenn Knowles and Pablo Estrada Jul 06, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) reunites with old colleagues Kenn Knowles (@KennKnowles) and Pablo Estrada (@polecitoem) for a conversation on Apache Beam, the open-source programming model for data processing. The trio once worked together at Google, and Beam was a turning point in the history of open-source there. Today, both Kenn and Pablo are members of the Beam PMC, and join the show with the inside scoop on Beam’s past, present and future.

In this episode we discuss:

Transitioning Beam to the Apache Way
How “inner source” works at Google
Thoughts on the relationship between batch processing and streaming
Some ways that community “power users” have contributed to Beam
Information on Beam Summit 2022, the first onsite summit since COVID began
- The first few people to register can use code BEAM_POD_INV for a discount on tickets!

Links:

Other episodes:

TensorFlow with Rajat Monga

Temporal (Part 2) with Maxim Fateev and Dominik Tornow Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) returns to Temporal with co-founder Maxim Fateev (@mfateev) and principal engineer Dominik Tornow (@DominikTornow). When Maxim joined us in September of 2020, the company called their project a “workflow orchestrator.” Today, Temporal has grown in popularity and usability, but the terminology around that abstraction has changed. Tune in to track the evolution of what Maxim calls a genuinely “new category of software.”

In this episode we discuss:

New features and developments in the last 2 years
The proper way to pronounce “Temporal”
How Temporal guarantees that workflow execution actually runs to execution
Describing Temporal as a new pair of glasses
Replay, Temporal’s first developer conference on August 25-26, in Seattle

Links:

People mentioned:

Samar Abbas (@samarabbas77)

Other episodes:

Scarf with Avi Press Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) interviews Avi Press (@avi_press) about Scarf, the distribution platform for open-source software that facilitates analytics and commercialization. Scarf offers a set of tools that allows founders and maintainers to understand adoption of their products, including Scarf Gateway, which provides a central access point to containers and packages. From there, open-source developers can connect with the people that rely on their work.

In this episode we discuss:

Why you can’t rely on Github as a source of comprehensive data about open-source software
Tracing a user’s journey interacting with a project across multiple platforms
How better observability allows maintainers to make better software
Inspiring indie maintainers to commercialize their projects
The privilege of being able to work in open-source, and how Scarf can enable a more inclusive developer community

Links:

Rasgo with Patrick Dougherty May 25, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) and Patrick Dougherty (@cpdough) talk about Rasgo, the data transformation platform for MLOps that makes generating SQL easy. The team at Rasgo recently open-sourced a package called RasgoQL, that allows users to execute SQL queries against a data warehouse using Python syntax. Tune in to find out how Rasgo aims to bridge an important gap in the Modern Data Stack.

In this episode we discuss:

The advantages of offering both a low-code/no-code UI and a Python interface
"How can a data scientist, without needing full-time resources from data engineering, be somewhat self-sufficient in data prep and able to deliver those insights without a massive human capital investment needed?"
Where Rasgo fits into the world of feature stores
Why one Rasgo user took a trip to a wind farm in Texas
Eric’s predictions for the future of data prep and transformation

Links:

People mentioned:

Jared Parker (@jaredtparker_)

Feast with Willem Pienaar May 11, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) and Willem Pienaar (@willpienaar) talk about Feast, the open-source feature store for machine learning. Feature stores act as a bridge between models and data, and allow data scientists to ship features into production without the need for engineers. Willem co-created Feast at Gojek, and later teamed up with the folks at Tecton to back the project.

In this episode we discuss:

The value of feature stores in MLOps
What happens when you open-source too early
Why most open-source code has nothing to hide
Bringing an open-source project to an existing company
Good and bad use cases for a feature store

Links:

People mentioned:

Mike Del Balso
Kevin Stumpf (@kevinmstumpf)
Ajey Gore (@AjeyGore)
Demetrios Brinkmann (@Dpbrinkm)
Wes McKinney (@wesmckinn)

Other episodes:

Flyte with Ketan Umare Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) and Ketan Umare (@ketanumare) discuss Flyte, the open-source workflow automation platform for large-scale machine learning and data use cases. Ketan is a former engineer at Lyft, where he created Flyte to help models in Pricing, Locations, ETA, and more. Today, the project allows machine learning developers everywhere to bring their ideas from conception to production.

In this episode we discuss:

How Flyte combines compute with parts of a workflow engine in a way that is best for the user
The importance of reliable fares and ETA predictions at a ride-sharing app
A progenitor to Flyte called “Better Airflow”
Ketan’s innovative approach to bringing typing to machine learning workloads
Why Flyte landed at the Linux Foundation

Links:

Other episodes:

Activeloop with Davit Buniatyan Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander) meets with Davit Buniatyan (@DBuniatyan) of Activeloop, the database for AI. Davit was inspired to found Activeloop while working on large datasets in a neuroscience research lab at Princeton. Powering the technology at Activeloop is Hub, the open-source dataset format for AI applications. Join us to learn how Hub promises to enhance and expand various verticals in deep learning.

In this episode we discuss:

Reconfiguring traditional ML tooling for the cloud
Connectomics - working with thin slices of a mouse brain with neuroscientist Sebastian Seung
Choosing between university, a start-up, and open-source
Davit’s original product, that ran computation on crypto mining GPUs on a distributed scale
Focusing on different data modalities for computer vision

Links:

People mentioned:

Sebastian Seung (@SebastianSeung)

Other episodes:

TensorFlow with Rajat Monga

Unikraft with Alexander Jung and Simon Kuenzer Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Eric Anderson (@ericmander), Alexander Jung (@nderjung) and Simon Kuenzer (Github: @skuenzer) get technical on Unikraft, the open-source unikernel development kit. Unikernels are specialized, high performing OS images that have the potential to revolutionize virtualization. Unikraft makes unikernels easy to use by prioritizing modularity, security, and POSIX-compatibility.

In this episode we discuss: