Drew Walton, Author at Drew's Lair

An attendee at Comic-Con 2008 holds a sign announcing her loss of The Game.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Game

Ever wondered how to finally outsmart The Game—that relentless thought-virus that nobody wins? Spoiler alert: reading this guide means you've already lost.

Drew Walton March 17, 2025No Comments

A widescreen image illustrating AI-generated software development. The scene depicts lines of code floating in a digital, futuristic environment with abstract holographic visuals and AI elements. There's a sense of innovation, technology, and the powerful impact of artificial intelligence on coding and software creation. No visible robots or human figures; purely symbolic, high-tech visuals representing the concept.

AI Cybersecurity LLMs

When AI Outcodes Humans: The New Risks in Software Development

AI can't code yet—but what happens when it surpasses even PhD-level human developers? Explore the profound societal implications, from cybersecurity risks to ethical challenges, as AI begins to write software autonomously.

Drew Walton March 8, 2025No Comments

A visually appealing, high-tech illustration depicting a secure networking concept involving a server (Padserve) and multiple clients (Padclients) communicating securely. The scene should symbolize secure connections, encryption, and privacy, utilizing abstract shapes, futuristic network patterns, or circuit lines connecting multiple endpoints around a central hub. The color scheme should be dominated by shades of blue, teal, and white to reflect security and technology themes. Include subtle references to Tailscale or Tailnet, such as network nodes or interconnected mesh patterns.

Cybersecurity Go Linux

Setting Up Padserve and Padclient for Secure Tailnet Communication

Padserve and Padclient are a pair of Go-based applications that provide a secure messaging system over a Tailscale network (Tailnet). Padserve acts as the server, listening for client connections on…

Drew Walton March 7, 2025No Comments

The image showcases a gritty urban cityscape with a vibrant sunset casting intense orange and purple hues. In the foreground, glowing graffiti text spells 'Mind Over Madness' in electric blue and neon green across a wall. Surrounding the text are abstract visuals of brainwaves, neurons, and chains breaking apart, symbolizing mental health and resilience. A silhouetted figure stands confidently, arms outstretched, evoking a sense of empowerment and defiance.

Health Mental Health Music

Breaking the Chains: The Story Behind ‘Mind Over Madness’

'Mind Over Madness' is more than a rap track—it's a call to action. Tackling the stigma around mental health and exposing the systemic barriers to care, this high-energy anthem inspires resilience, defiance, and hope for change.

Drew Walton November 22, 2024No Comments

Go Open Source Programming

Secure Communication with Tailscale: A Comprehensive Guide to Padserve

This guide walks you through creating a secure chat service in Go, designed to operate over Tailscale for VPN-like security. From ECDH key exchange to AES encryption, learn how each component strengthens privacy and how the server handles client commands for a fully encrypted communication experience.

Drew Walton November 7, 2024No Comments

Open Source Programming Technology

WordPress: Why Mullenweg is Being a Child

The ongoing drama between Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine reveals deep tensions within the WordPress community, raising critical questions about leadership, open-source ethics, and the future of collaborative software development.

Drew Walton October 22, 2024No Comments

A 3D rendering of a colorful cube floating in a dark space. The cube is semi-transparent, showing its wireframe structure. Each face of the cube is a different vibrant color - red, green, blue, yellow, magenta, and cyan. The cube is slightly rotated to show multiple faces. A soft, directional light source illuminates the cube, creating subtle shadows and highlights. In the background, faint lines of code can be seen, suggesting the programming aspect of the project. The overall image has a sleek, modern, and technical feel, representing the intersection of 3D graphics and Rust programming.

Open Source Programming Rust

cube3d – A Comprehensive 3D Cube Renderer in Rust

iscover the intricacies of 3D rendering as we dissect cube3d, a Rust project that implements a software-based 3D graphics pipeline. From vertex transformations to per-pixel lighting, this analysis reveals the fundamental concepts behind real-time 3D graphics programming.

Drew Walton October 12, 2024No Comments

A vibrant, modern illustration representing the open-source AI revolution. The central focus is a large, stylized brain made of interconnected nodes and pathways, glowing with energy. Emanating from this brain are colorful streams of data and code, flowing outwards and transforming into various icons representing different fields: a book for education, a medical cross for healthcare, a microscope for science, and a paintbrush for creativity.

AI From an AI Perspective LLMs

The Open-Source AI Revolution: Shaping Our Collective Future

Open-source Large Language Models are revolutionizing the AI landscape, democratizing access to advanced capabilities and accelerating innovation across industries. From personalized education to breakthrough medical research, the implications are vast. But with great power comes great responsibility. Tune in to our latest episode of From an AI Perspective to unpack the potential and challenges of this AI revolution.

Drew Walton September 29, 2024No Comments

A widescreen digital artwork capturing the concept of a security vulnerability in UNIX systems.

Cybersecurity Linux Open Source

Attacking UNIX Systems via CUPS: A Technical Breakdown

The recent CUPS vulnerability highlights how buffer overflows continue to plague UNIX systems due to the reliance on memory-unsafe languages. This breakdown explains the exploit's mechanics and advocates for adopting Rust to prevent such vulnerabilities in the future.

Drew Walton September 26, 2024No Comments

A modern and visually striking featured image representing the concept of buffer overflows and memory safety in programming.

Opinions Programming Rust

The Buffer Overflow Epidemic: Why Are We Still Making the Same Mistakes?

In 2024, buffer overflows continue to be a pervasive security threat, despite decades of awareness. This post explores why we're still writing unsafe code and demonstrates how memory-safe languages like Rust offer a definitive solution to this lingering problem. It's time to leave outdated practices behind and build a safer future for software development.

Drew Walton September 25, 20241