Welcome
We are Gregarious Mammal, a pair of tech writers, journalists and developer experience experts based in Berlin, Germany. Here you can listen to our podcast, read our writing(s) and much more.
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HashiCorp Tools Useful for Continuous Integration
HashiCorp is a company that feels like it’s always been around. Quietly plugging away just out of the limelight working on awesome products and every now and then releasing something groundbreaking that you wondered how you worked without it. I attended a couple of meetups recently that covered HashiCorp tools and felt the time was ripe I dug into all they have to offer a CI workflow.
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How do techies and creatives learn best with Jessica Lovegood
In this episode Cate and Chris talk with Jessica Lovegood, a UX designer with a passion for understanding how people in the tech industry learn.
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Chatting With Chip Childers, CTO of Cloud Foundry
This talk with Cloud Foundry's Chip Childers covers the company's history, its tools, and how organizations are using them in production environments.
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Screeps - The MMO Sandbox Game for Programmers
In this article, we explore a video game that requires players to code in JavaScript in order to make any progress in the game and interact with other players.
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IoT, Wearables, and Fashiontech at WearIt Berlin
The WearIt Festival put the incredible work going into wearables on display, with looks at the latest consumer and IIoT clothing as well as skin implants.
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The Huawei P10, a Powerfully Small Package
Like any modern citizen, I love my smartphone, but I wouldn't describe myself as a power user, my phone is supplemental to my computer, not a replacement for it.
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WTD Episode 6 - Metadata and UI copy
In this episode, we explore the role of metadata in documentation and how it can be used to classify topics and assist in the discoverability of information. We’re joined by special guest Eva Jackolis who explains a strategy for metadata used in German mechanical engineering documentation. We also discuss involving tech writers in UX copy and the challenges inherent in influencing UI copy, product naming, and working with UX designers and product teams.
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Founder of Opera and Vivaldi, Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner
The internet pioneer sits down with a DZone Zone Leader and MVB to discuss the process of creating a browser, and why he loves designing browsers.
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Pilosa - A New Kind of Database Index
The open-source Pilosa includes production-tested features, including single and multi-node index support, replication, algorithm plugins, a data importer, and more.
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Paddle Merges With DevMate to Offer macOS Developers a Consolidated Distribution Solution
DevMate has announced a merger with Paddle, bringing macOS developers a way to manage in-app payments and subscriptions, and more.
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Interview With Manish Gupta of Redis Labs
Check out an interview with Manish Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer of Redis Labs, about data stores, open source, and more.
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CI Workflows and Bots
Chat bots are everywhere. Suddenly our messaging services are inundated with small automated systems inhabiting spaces in the domain of human-to-human communication. We can now have conversations with bots that help us buy products, book travel, make meetings, solve customer service issues, and much more.
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Mobile and Web App Testing with Sauce Labs
Chris Ward's interview with Sauce Labs takes a look at the acquisition of TestObject automated app testing service, SauceCon, and how to test the Internet of Things.
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Feeling Fabulous With Queer Tech at #UNIT Berlin
#UNIT runs regular meetups in Berlin aimed at those working in tech who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LBGTI), but with an overarching message of providing a space for speakers who you might not always see at more mainstream events. I personally don’t identify as any of these, but I always enjoy the diverse messages and fun atmosphere I hear at the meetups, and this was my second time attending the yearly conference.
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iTake, Bucharest: A Crash Course in Software Craftsmanship
Read on to see what one DZone Zone Leader learned at the iTake conference, including new perspectives on testing, BDD, security, and mob programming.
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Europe unites, startup homogeneity and getting older in tech
In this episode Cate and Chris discuss European startups uniting, startup homogeneity and getting older in tech.
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Matthew Setter - ownCloud, PHP, Technical Writing and more
In this episode Cate and Chris speak with Matthew Setter about ownCloud, PHP, Technical Writing and more.
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So, I wrote my first book
I wrote my first book, and it's the 2nd edition of SitePoint's "Jump Start Responsive Web Design" covering all you need to get started with responsive web design, ideally you can read it in a weekend and start applying the knowledge on Monday.
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OverOps interview, The future of online learning, ex-military in tech and much more
In this episode Cate and Chris speak with Tal Weiss from OverOps, discuss the future of education, ex-military in tech, standing desks and more.
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Connected trees will be scrubbing the air in a city near you soon
Air pollution is a significant problem in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 6.5 million deaths per year can be attributed to air pollution, much greater than the number who die from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and road injuries combined.
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About Ship at Docker
I have been a Docker fan since almost day 1, working for a company that packaged its project to work in containers early-on, writing many blog posts on usage and related tooling, attending meetups here in Berlin and contributing to two code sprints as a mentor. Late last year I gave a talk at LinuxCon in Berlin to see Solomon Hykes (Founder) sat in the front row, a nerve-racking delight.
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WTD Episode 5: Where do we belong?
In this episode, we explore where technical writers belong in an organization. Is tech comm best placed within engineering, marketing, product management, or another group? We also talk about strategies for doc navigation, in particular, the merits of inline links and/or sidebar navigation, using a post from Every Page Is Page One as a starting point. Are hierarchical sidebar menus still useful, or are they a relic of the past? Finally, we provide details about the upcoming Write the Docs conference in Portland, and Chris mentions his new book on responsive design.
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Can IoT prevent gun violence across America's cities?
Local municipalities are increasingly turning to smart city technology to reduce public crime through efforts such as connected lighting, targeted surveillance and data assets. One of the more innovative smart solutions is ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection, acoustic surveillance technology that uses sensors to detect, locate and alert law enforcement agencies of illegal gunfire incidents in real time. I spoke to CEO, Ralph A. Clark to learn more.
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A Developers Guide to Better Presentations — Part 1, Stage Craft
I am not the best public speaker or presenter, but I give lots and enjoy giving them. I also attend many meetups and conferences and so have built a good repertoire of what works and what doesn’t. I have been planning this post for a while, but after a particularly poor presentation last week from a major technical project disappointed me, I felt motivated to get off my backside and write it. Part 1 (of an undecided number) covers stagecraft and vocal techniques.
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Smarter App Notifications With OpenBack
Notifications: you probably love them or hate them. I like them when they are useful to me, and this is something that the OpenBack SDK attempts to solve. It offers a framework for you to make your in-app notifications more than annoying notices, but tailoring them to users contexts and allowing them to do more with notifications.
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