How I Decide Whether a Project Becomes a Product, Tool or Article

A reflection on how I decide whether an idea should become an article, a tool, or a product, and why choosing the right form matters as much as the idea itself.

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Why Most Side Projects Stall (and What I Changed)

A reflection on why many side projects gradually lose momentum, and how thinking in systems rather than isolated efforts changed the way I build and maintain long-term work.

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Why the Future of the Web Is Less Centralized Than It Looks

The web appears increasingly centralized, but its underlying infrastructure, open standards, cloud architecture, AI ecosystems, and governance models reveal a more distributed digital landscape than m...

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The Desk — Edition 99

Welcome to the 99th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

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Canadian Digital Commons Institute

The Canadian Digital Commons Institute is a public-interest initiative developing open standards, research, open source software, education, datasets, and digital infrastructure to strengthen Canada's...

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GitHub - brandonhimpfen/awesome-mechanical-engineering: A curated list of tools, platforms, resources, and educational content for Mechanical Engineering.

A curated list of tools, platforms, resources, and educational content for Mechanical Engineering. - brandonhimpfen/awesome-mechanical-engineering

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How I Think About Naming Projects and Domains

A reflection on how naming projects and domains shapes structure, scope, and long-term coherence, and why naming has become a core part of building systems.

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The Desk — Edition 98

Welcome to the 98th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

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From Blogs to Systems: Why I Stopped Thinking in Websites

A reflection on moving beyond website-first thinking toward interconnected systems, and why infrastructure, continuity, and structural relationships now shape how I build and organize long-term work.

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Mobility Is Infrastructure

Remote work is often framed as freedom. The freedom to work from anywhere.

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The Stack Is the Ecosystem

When we talk about technology, the conversation often centers on products. A new app launches.

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Research

Independent research on artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, knowledge systems, and global mobility. Focused on understanding how modern systems function, evolve, and shape access to infor...

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Learn AI

Learn AI is a beginner-friendly guide to understanding artificial intelligence, how AI models work, prompting, practical tools, risks, and real-world applications — designed to help you build AI liter...

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The Desk — Edition 97

Welcome to the 97th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

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The Database Category Nobody Is Building

In 2005, one of the hardest problems in information systems was finding information.

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A Fresh Start for My LinkedIn Newsletters

Why I retired five newsletters and launched three new ones.

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Canada's AI Strategy Signals a Shift from Research Leadership to Adoption Leadership

Canada's AI strategy signals a shift from research excellence to adoption leadership. Success will depend not on new discoveries alone, but on whether Canada can turn AI innovation into productivity, ...

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How to Advocate for Sustainable Tourism in Your Travel Blog

An analysis of how travel blogs influence sustainable tourism through destination framing, platform incentives, infrastructure awareness, and digital travel discovery systems.

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Solo Washing in Travel: A Framework for Evaluating Solo-Friendly Claims

Solo travel has become an increasingly visible segment of global tourism, accompanied by a growing number of travel products marketed as “solo-friendly.” However, not all offerings meaningfully accomm...

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The Top Solo Travel Mistakes (and the Simple Fix for Each)

An analytical look at the most common solo travel mistakes, why they happen, and the simple system-level fixes that improve flexibility, safety, and travel resilience.

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Search Visibility vs. Search Dependence

An analysis of the difference between search visibility and search dependence, and how AI interfaces, platform incentives, and fragmented discovery systems are reshaping digital publishing and online ...

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The Role of APIs in Making Static Content Dynamic

An analysis of how APIs enable static websites to deliver dynamic functionality, and how modern web infrastructure increasingly combines static publishing with distributed services.

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The Desk — Edition 96

Welcome to the 96th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

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Maintaining Curated Lists Without Turning Them Into Noise

A reflection on maintaining curated lists over time, preserving signal quality, and preventing open knowledge projects from slowly becoming informational noise.

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Why Infrastructure Stories Matter More Than Product Launches

Why infrastructure stories often reveal more about technology, AI, markets, and digital power than product launches, including the systems, dependencies, and incentives shaping the modern digital econ...

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What I Learned Publishing My First Public Dataset

A reflective article on publishing a first public dataset, including lessons about structure, documentation, reusability, and the role of open knowledge infrastructure.

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API Docs | Brandon Himpfen API

Documentation for the Brandon Himpfen API.

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From Links to Answers: The Interface Shift in Information Access

An analysis of how AI and conversational interfaces are shifting information access from link-based search toward synthesized answers, and what that means for platforms, publishers, and users.

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The Desk — Edition 95

Welcome to the 95th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

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