
***Note: I briefly talked about this idea [in my last post](https://mikecann.blog/posts/always-listening-a-month-with-the-bee-computer-ai-assistant#the-futures-coming-ready-or-not) but I thought it was worth expanding out to a full article as I feel quite strongly about it.***

The way we currently give kids homework is dumb, it should be a lot smarter and it can be. With low-cost hardware and powerful AI systems I think its time to do something about it.

# Problem

If you've ever been a student (and I'm guessing you have), you know exactly what I'm talking about when it comes to homework. It's usually this mind-numbing collection of worksheets that feel like they were designed to test your patience more than your knowledge. Every kid gets the exact same stuff, regardless of how they learn best or what actually interests them.

![alt text](./finlandvsshanghi.webp)

So here's the thing, it turns out we might not even need all this homework. There are some pretty interesting examples out there. Take Finland, for instance - they're absolutely crushing it in education, and guess what? [Their kids only spend about 2.8 hours a week on homework](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2016/11/finland-has-one-of-the-worlds-best-education-systems-four-ways-it-beats-the-us) (that's the lowest among 38 countries!). And they're not alone - [South Korea's doing the same thing, with just 2.9 hours of homework](https://www.marshridge.com/successful-countries-that-allocate-less-homework-to-students), and their students are still acing math and science.

Sure, you've got places like Shanghai where kids are drowning in homework ([we're talking 14 hours a week!](https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2014/12/does-homework-perpetuate-inequities-in-education_g17a258a/5jxrhqhtx2xt-en.pdf)), and yeah, they do well on tests too. But here's the thing - Finland's getting the same results with way less homework and are no doubt having a substantially higher quality of life at the same time.

Now, throw AI into the mix, and things get even more interesting. These days, students can just chuck their math problems into ChatGPT or use AI to write their essays. It's not just making it easier to cheat - it's making us question the whole point of traditional homework.

![cheating](./cheating.webp)

Think about it - when kids can get instant answers from AI, what are we really testing? Their ability to learn, or their ability to copy-pasta?

The usual response to this has been to crack down harder on cheating. But honestly? That's missing the point entirely. If AI can so easily bypass what homework is supposed to achieve, maybe we need to completely rethink how we're doing this.

This is where I think AI could actually be the solution rather than the problem. Instead of fighting against it, we could use AI for personalized tutoring - having actual conversations about the material, where students have to demonstrate real understanding. It's a lot harder (and pretty pointless) to try to "cheat" when you're having a back-and-forth with an AI tutor that knows your learning history and can adapt on the fly.

I've seen glimpses of what's possible through my time with the [Bee.ai](http://Bee.ai) wearable, and let me tell you - the future of education could be way more exciting than endless worksheets!

# Personal Tutor

Okay so what's the solution then?

What I am imagining is every kid gets their own AI companion on their wrist that listens and learns throughout the school day. 

![student with hand up](./handup.webp)

It would be an intelligent assistant that's actually paying attention to how they learn through their conversations and interactions. 

This AI friend would be like that super-observant teacher who notices every verbal cue. When little Timmy sounds confused during algebra but gets excited talking about science experiments? The AI's taking notes. 

The really cool part? By being there in class, listening to everything that happens, this AI tutor builds up this amazing understanding of both what's being taught AND how your kid learns best. 

It's like having a personal teacher who's completely tuned in to your child's learning style through their questions, answers, and discussions. 

# Homework as a Conversation

Instead of traditional worksheets, homework could become interactive conversations with an AI companion that attended class alongside the student. This AI would act as a personal study partner, understanding exactly what concepts resonated with the student and which ones needed more attention.

![pizza](./pizza.webp)

For example, if a student struggles with fractions during math class, their AI companion could initiate a personalized learning session: "Hey, I noticed you had a bit of trouble with fractions in class today. No worries! Why don't we make it more fun? We could work through some real-world examples together - like figuring out how to split a pizza fairly, or keeping track of points in your favorite game." This approach makes learning more engaging than traditional problem sets.

The AI would also recognize when the student needs to take breaks or is experiencing frustration. This prevents the common problem of students forcing themselves through hours of ineffective studying when they're not mentally prepared. The AI adapts to each student's unique learning patterns and energy levels.

# Great for Teachers Too

Here's another benefit, not just for students but for educators too: The AI could share insights with teachers after each homework session, giving them valuable visibility into how their students are actually performing.

![teacher dashboard](./teacher-dashboard.webp)

This real-time feedback means teachers wouldn't have to wait for test results to spot problems - they could jump in and help straight away when a student's struggling with something.

By looking at how the whole class is doing, the AI could highlight tricky spots that lots of kids are getting stuck on. This helps teachers fine-tune their lessons to make sure everyone's keeping up and staying interested.

One of the best bits? The AI buddy would show exactly who's putting in the work and who's just going through the motions. No more guessing whether kids actually did their homework or just copied answers - the AI can tell who's really engaging with the material.

Now, this isn't about catching kids out - it's about spotting who needs help before they fall behind. If someone's engagement starts dropping off, the AI gives teachers a heads-up so they can step in early.

![teacher aid](./teacher-aid.webp)

Since the AI gets to know each student's usual style of learning, it can tell the difference between someone who's genuinely finding things tough and someone who's just not trying - which means teachers can give the right kind of support to the right kids.

After all this is what teachers want to be doing, they don't want to be spending ages grading reports or trying to spot where a student has or has not been cheating.

# Privacy and Security

![privacy](./privacy.webp)

Let's talk about privacy for a sec - because yeah, having AI assistants monitoring students does raise some eyebrows. Fair enough, I don't have all the answers here and we'd need to get this bit absolutely right.

I think the device could be programmed so that it only turns on during lessons, then automatically stops listening. That way you can be assured that it is never snooping on students outside of class.

Obviously everything should be encrypted and locked down to prevent security issues with leaking potentially private conversations. 

# Conclusion

Whenever I chat about AI tutors, people usually start off pretty skeptical. But I've got a simple question that usually changes their mind: "Would you have done better in school with your own personal tutor?" Almost everyone immediately says "Of course!"

It's pretty obvious why - having a dedicated tutor who knows exactly how you learn best is incredibly powerful. And that's exactly what we could give every student with AI tutors - not just the lucky few who can afford private tutoring.

![conclusion](./conclusion.webp)

In my option it's actually very doable from a cost perspective. The hardware we need (microphones, processors, etc.) is getting cheaper by the day. We are talking like $50 max per AI wearable and likely less. This is far cheaper than the iPads and laptops that students are often currently issued with.

Plus, AI costs keep dropping as the tech gets better and competition heats up. When you look at the potential impact on education, it's not just technically possible - it makes total financial sense too.

It's time to reimagine homework for the AI age!



So I've been thinking about something super exciting lately - I reckon we're not far off from everyone walking around with their own AI buddies that are always listening. 

I'm not just talking about helping with memory (though that's definitely a big deal), but proper digital pals that are just part of how we live our lives. Just imagine - every kid with their own AI tutor, learning exactly how they need to, getting feedback right away, and having someone to answer all their random questions. Sounds like sci-fi? Maybe, but we're already seeing the first baby steps towards making this real!

Now, as someone who's absolutely hopeless with memory (more on that in a sec), I'm super excited about where this tech could go.

# The Problem

Right, confession time - my memory is about as reliable as an Aussie  gardener. It's something I've always struggled with, and over the years I've cobbled together various [life hacks and tricks](https://mikecann.blog/posts/mikes-lifehacks-keys-reminder) to deal with it. Tech has been an absolute lifesaver here - todo lists, calendar stuff, you know the drill.

I even went full self-help and created my own little Apple shortcut to quickly jot down thoughts when people are chatting.

![showing my inbox tool](./showing-my-inbox-tool.jpg)

These little brain dumps go straight into what I call my "Inbox" in Notion. Every day, I do a quick sweep through these "memories" to figure out what needs doing. I've even got this cheeky little Convex-powered app that checks this daily and bugs me via email if there's stuff to look at.

![](./showing-notion.png)

Now, this lifehack is super awesome when it works, but there are tons of times when I can't faff about with my phone. Like when I'm driving (obviously), or when I'm juggling shopping bags.

What I really want (and I know this sounds lazy) is a personal assistant that could just... listen. Something that could catch all those random thoughts and to-dos and turn them into a nice, actionable list for later.

If something could help me keep track of all the stuff that usually leaks out of my brain like a sieve, and actually make sense of my daily experiences - well, that'd be absolutely incredible.

# The Bee 🐝

So when I stumbled across the [Bee Pioneer](https://www.bee.computer/bee-pioneer) - this little gadget promising exactly what I wanted for just $49 USD with no subscription - I couldn't throw my money at them fast enough. Probably should've done a bit more research first, but hey, YOLO right? :D

![](./shutup-and-take-my-money.jpg)

This little thing is pill shaped, about 3 cm by 1.5 cm. You can wear it as a watch or rock it as a necklace. I went for the wrist option, and they give you two strap choices - bright orange (if you're feeling brave) or black.

 ![](./showing-the-bands.jpg)

I picked black (playing it safe), figuring this might be a bit of a controversial gadget, so better not draw too much attention to it. More on the privacy stuff later.

The way it works is pretty simple - it listens to nearby chatter, zaps it to your phone via Bluetooth, where it's transcribed locally before being binned (at least that's what they promise).

![](./privacy-promise.png)

The app serves up these things called "Daily Memories" - tap one and boom, you get a nice summary of your day, with all the key stuff that happened and what you talked about.

You can dig deeper into each conversation if you want, checking out the vibe, main takeaways, and who was talking. And if you really need to, you can get right down to the actual transcript.

<iframe width="458" height="815" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nMlebwSlM_I" title="showing some bee features" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Every now and then it'll pop up with suggested to-dos based on your nattering. You can either chuck these on your todo list or bin them if they're not relevant.

Along with the todos, it creates these "facts" about you - little snippets of info it thinks it's learned. Not entirely sure what these are for if I'm honest. Maybe just helping the AI understand me better?

![apparently I want a puppy?](./showing-the-cards-thing.jpg)

To be honest I dont know how accurate this really is, it often comes up with a bunch of nonsense.

The last big feature is "Buzz" - your personal AI buddy. You can have a proper chat with it about any of your conversations or history.

# 1 Month of using Bee

Alright, after playing with this bad boy for a month, I've got some thoughts to share (and boy oh boy, there are a lot of them! :D)

## The Good Stuff

Let me tell you what's got me super excited about this thing, because despite its quirks, there's actually some pretty cool stuff happening here!

### Automatic To-dos That Actually Work!

No joke, the always-listening feature is absolutely crushing it when it comes to catching todos. I've been trying to break it (because that's what I do), and I'm properly impressed.

Whether I'm chatting with the missus in the car or just muttering to myself like a crazy person (we all do it, right?), I just say "Oh, need to remember to do X" and BAM - it's in my todo list. Dreams do come true! :D

### Buzz: My New AI Bestie (Sort Of)

Haven't quite made it part of my daily routine yet, but the potential here is super exciting.

I've been playing around asking it some pretty deep questions like "how do others see me" and "what's my relationship with my wife like?" (Don't worry, I'm keeping those spicy answers to myself!), but I gotta say - the insights were surprisingly spot-on.

This could be an absolute game-changer for anyone looking to level up their self-awareness game.

### Privacy & Security (On Paper)

Right, so Bee's making some pretty bold promises in their FAQ:

1. They process and delete recordings straight away - no hanging around
2. You're the boss of your data - delete what you want, when you want
3. No sneaky AI training with your data, no selling it, no sharing it
4. All the security boxes are ticked - third-party audits, proper encryption, the whole shebang

Sounds amazing, right? But here's the thing - they're the new kids on the block, and I'm not sure I'm ready to just hand over the keys to my life based on some promises. Plus, strapping an always-listening device to your wrist? That's a pretty big ask in terms of trust!

## The Not-So-Good Stuff

Look, I wanted to love this thing (I really did!), but I've run into some proper annoying issues. Let me break it down for you:

### Water and Electronics Don't Mix (Who Knew? 🙄)

Here's a fun story - turns out the Bee isn't waterproof AT ALL. You're supposed to wear this thing 24/7, but one quick dip in the pool and... well, let's just say mine is now sleeping with the fishes. Not ideal for something that's meant to be your constant companion!

### The World's Most Annoying Strap

Oh. My. Days. This strap is driving me absolutely bonkers! It's got this flimsy dimple-and-groove system that just loves to pop open at the worst possible moments. Put on a jacket? Pop! Reach in your bag? Pop! I've lost count of how many times this thing has ninja'd its way off my wrist without me noticing.

![](./showing-it-on-the-carport.jpg)

Try finding something that tiny once it's made its great escape! I'm constantly doing the paranoid wrist-check, which kind of defeats the whole "forget it's there" vibe they're going for.

### Battery Life (or Lack Thereof)

They claim "7-day battery life"

![](./7-day-battery-claim.png)

But I'm lucky if I get 2 days out of this thing! That means nightly charging, which is exactly why I rock a Garmin instead of an Apple Watch - I can't be dealing with yet another device screaming for juice every day.

### RIP Phone Battery

Speaking of battery drain, my phone's battery life has taken an absolute nosedive since I started using this thing. Pretty sure it's because the Bee's constantly chatting with my phone via Bluetooth and doing all that transcription work.

![](./high-battery-usage.png)

I get why they're doing the transcription on-device (privacy and bandwidth and all that jazz), but surely there's a better way?

Maybe they could batch up all the transcriptions and only process them when my phone's charging? Just thinking out loud here...

### Settings? What Settings?

I need more control over this thing! The lack of customization is doing my head in - there's so much potential here if they'd just let us tweak how it works.

Right now, I had to completely kill notifications because it was absolutely spamming me every time it processed a conversation. Problem is, now I miss the actually important stuff like todo reminders. Come on, guys, give us some proper notification controls!

I would love more control of...

### Always Listening (Even When It Shouldn't)

Don't get me wrong, I love that it's always listening, but it needs to be way smarter about when to shut up. Sure, there's a mute button, but who actually remembers to hit that before Netflix time or podcast sessions?

The AI keeps thinking my media consumption is real conversation (which is hilarious but super annoying). Like, no, I'm not actually involved in a murder investigation - I'm just watching true crime!

![](./murder.png)

This would be so much better if it could figure out when I'm actually chatting vs just consuming content.

### Mic Issues

The microphone situation is... interesting. Sure, it picks up my voice perfectly (I mean, it's strapped to my wrist), but trying to record anyone more than a few meters away? Good luck with that! Despite what their marketing says, the range is pretty disappointing.

This becomes a proper pain in group settings. Anyone not practically hugging my wrist might as well be speaking in space. The 2-3 meter range just doesn't cut it in the real world.

Makes it pretty useless for bigger meetings or group hangouts where people aren't all crowded around my arm like it's storytime.

### Trust Issues

First time I fired up the app, it wanted access to EVERYTHING - my calendar, contacts, emails, personal notes, probably my first born son. Look, I get that an AI assistant needs data to be helpful, but slow down there mate - we just met!

It's like giving someone the keys to your digital life before they've even bought you dinner. Sure, their privacy policy looks good on paper, but they're the new kid on the block - I need time to build trust!

### My AI Assistant Needs an Assistant

Using this thing has become a proper job! Every day it spits out about 15 todos I need to review and 25+ "facts" I have to verify. Instead of making my life easier, I'm now spending more time managing its output than I would just handling things myself!

The irony is absolutely killing me - it's like hiring a personal assistant who creates more work than they save. (Anyone else had that coworker? 😅)

I really wish it was smarter about importance. Rather than drowning me in low-priority noise, focus on the stuff that actually matters! Right now it's just information overload pretending to be assistance.

# Final Thoughts

## The Privacy Elephant in the Room

So here's the thing - when I show people the Bee, reactions are... interesting. Some folks get super excited about the whole memory-enhancement thing, while others (quite reasonably) look at me like I've lost the plot when I tell them I'm wearing an always-on recording device.

Let's be real for a sec - we're in proper murky waters here. Sure, technically it might be legal to record conversations in many places with single-party consent, but ethically? That's a whole other can of worms! Most people chatting with me have absolutely no idea they're being recorded by my fancy wrist gadget.

I've been wrestling with some pretty thorny questions: Do I need to start every conversation with "Hey, my AI buddy might be recording this"? What about those sensitive chats that probably shouldn't be recorded? And what happens when my device picks up random conversations from people nearby who haven't signed up for this weird future we're living in?

The professional setting adds another layer of "yikes" to the whole thing. While it'd be amazing for catching those meeting details I usually forget, most workplaces (quite understandably) aren't too keen on recording devices. Schools, hospitals, government buildings - they're generally a firm "nope" on this sort of thing.

We're basically making up the rules as we go along here. It's a bit like the early days of mobile phones in restaurants - remember how weird that was? We're still figuring out the social etiquette of these devices.

## The Future's Coming (Ready or Not!)

Right, so the first-gen Bee Computer has its issues (quite a few of them, as you might have noticed from my epic rant above), but I can't help being super excited about where this tech is heading. It's rough around the edges now, but it's pointing to something potentially game-changing.

Here's a use case that's been bouncing around my head: imagine this tech in education. Picture every student with their own AI tutor, listening along during lessons. Not just recording the boring bits, but actually understanding each student's unique learning quirks and challenges.

When kids get home, homework becomes more like having a chat with a really knowledgeable friend who was right there in class with them. The AI would know exactly what was covered and where each student might need a bit of extra help.

These AI assistants could provide instant feedback and adjust difficulty on the fly. They could send teachers detailed reports showing where students are crushing it and where they're struggling, making classroom teaching more targeted and effective.

It's a potential solution to that age-old problem of one-size-fits-all education. Instead of students getting frustrated with standardized assignments, they'd get personalized support that adapts to their pace while ensuring they're actually learning what they need to.

The current Bee might not quite get us there, but it's a glimpse of what's possible.

# Wrapping Up

Look, the Bee Computer is clearly a first attempt - and boy does it show. The hardware issues (water vulnerability, dodgy strap, battery life) are pretty significant pain points. But you know what? That's actually fine for a market-testing product. By getting something affordable out there, Bee can learn how people actually use these AI assistants in the real world.

Their approach of shipping early and iterating based on user feedback is pretty solid from a product development perspective. I'll be sending them this review - hopefully it helps shape future versions.

As for me, while I won't be replacing my water-damaged Bee (RIP mate 😢), I'm not giving up on this space. I've actually gone ahead and ordered the Limitless pendant - curious to see how their approach differs.

I'll report back once I've had a proper play with it. If you're interested in following along on this AI assistant journey, chuck your email in the subscribe form below and I'll let you know when my next post drops.



This is going to be a bit of an unusual post as it details a failed tinkering project.

I still want to write it however as I think its an interesting project that has promise and also has some relevance to my [recent](https://mikecann.blog/posts/chatter-craft-collaborative-art-with-just-your-voice) wo[rk wi](https://mikecann.blog/posts/tinkering-with-convex)th [Convex](https://mikecann.blog/posts/im-now-a-convex-developer-advocate).

# SpacetimeDB

What is [SpacetimeDB](https://spacetimedb.com/)? Well it touts itself as a "next generation serverless database."

It grabbed my attention earlier this year as it was focused on game development which is squarely in my wheelhouse.

The basic concept is illustrated in this rather rambling (and a little confusing) blog post: https://spacetimedb.com/blog/databases-and-data-oriented-design

![](./spacetime-blog-post.png)

In summary they are aiming to create a realtime database that is a bit like ECS, but as (they argue) ECS can be thought of as a subset of a more traditional relational model, SpacetimeDB can be thought more of as a relational database.

So effectively think of it like Postgres but with some fancy sugar that makes it easier to work with.

In some respects this sounds a bit like convex except for that "realtime" part.

Convex is both an "application" layer and a "database" layer merged together combined with a bunch of developer-facing sugar that makes it great to work with.

The key difference between Spacetime and Convex is that spacetime is designed for stateful "realtime" applications (like games) whereas Convex is primarily a stateless serverless platform. It is possible to do things realtime-ish but as Convex [charges per function invocation](https://www.convex.dev/plans) it would get expensive really fast if you attempted this at scale.

# Pricing

This brings up the topic of SpacetimeDB pricing. Well its currently not mentioned. They have an open-source version of the platform that you can run locally (and presumably self-host) which is nice but if you dont want to mess with servers then they are going to offer a hosted version as is the database business model in vouge at the moment.

If I had to guess it probably wont be cheap to run, they might not even offer a free tier. Running multiplayer game servers has never been particularly cheap due to the high framerates combined with complex processing (such as physics) required.

# Tinkering

So onto the tinkering!

I had the idea I would build a realtime shared-cursor app where you can see everyone else's cursors move around perhaps click the screen and see pretty fireworks or particles or something. Very simple but should hopefully test some of Spacetime's features.

Before I get there however I felt it probably best to start with the quick-start tutorials and unfortunately this is where the troubles began.

You can develop the server-side component of your application in one of two languages, either Rust or C#. [Given my background](https://mikecann.blog/tags/c%20sharp) C# was the natural choice for me.

After copy-pasting the code (no ready-to-go example project unfortunately) from the [C# Quickstart](https://spacetimedb.com/docs/modules/c-sharp/quickstart) and running the `publish` command that pushes the built code to the locally running Spacetime platform I was greeted with the following error:

![](./publish-error.png)

Unfortunately I couldnt work out what this meant so I headed over to [their discord](https://discord.gg/SpacetimeDB) and posted about my issue. After a bit of back and forth of not fixing it it was suggested that I wait a few days for someone to look at it.

Sure enough a few days later they had [issued a patch](https://discord.com/channels/1037340874172014652/1134597033613869207/1183780061686546493) and the publish command now worked.

![](./patched.png)

Okay so now with the C# project in theory published I attempted to test it using their CLI:

```
spacetime call spacetime-sandbox send_message '["Hello, World!"]'
```

Unfortunately I now got a different error.

![](./http-error.png)

I decided to move on, hopefully this was just a CLI issue I thought.

So I started a new [Vite project](https://vitejs.dev/) to get the client-side of the project working.

Spacetime provide client-side SDKs for a number of platforms: Typescript, Python, C# (Unity) and Rust. Although I suspect the most common usecase would be Unity or Rust I thought I would give Typescript a go as I have been using it most lately and I felt I would be able to debug any issues pretty quick.

So I started with the [Typescript Quickstart](https://spacetimedb.com/docs/sdks/typescript/quickstart) and unfortunately again they dont provide a ready-made example project so I went through and manually copied and pasted all the code as they described.

Unfortunately there were many issues in the provided code from non-idiomatic Typescript (use of `let` instead of `const` for example) and poor React structure (they suggest putting everything in a single component without any usage of Context or hooks) to simply not working example CLI commands (`--project_path` instead of `--project-path`).

The code required a lot of massaging but I think I had it all right, compiler issues fixed etc and attempted to run it.

I was now greeted with a new set of runtime errors in the console:

![](./ts-errors.png)

Sigh. I suspect this might be something to do with the HTTP issue that I saw above.

I posted the problem to the discord once again but have yet to have a solution.

Just incase it was something to do with my local setup I decided to have a go and see if I could publish to their testnet which is their hosted version of the platform.

Unfortunately the [docs on the testnet page](https://spacetimedb.com/docs/deploying/testnet) were also not working as they say you should use the `spacetime server set "https://testnet.spacetimedb.com"` command but the CLI errors when you attempt this.

In fairness when I reported this to discord user "⚙ 3Blave" very quickly updated the docs so that it now reads `spacetime server add --default "https://testnet.spacetimedb.com" testnet`

So now you have to login to the spacetime testnet by calling `spacetime identity set-email <your-identity> <your-email>` but this command needs your `identity` which you get from `spacetime identity list` which again errors with:

![](./identity.png)

When I try to manually get my identity from the spacetime website (https://spacetimedb.com/login) I am greeted by a box that asks for my login email but nowhere to "signup" which is really strange. And when I attempt to put in my email I get another error.

![](./signup.png)

Quite frankly I was out of patience at this point and decided to end the tinkering here.

# SpacetimeDB Issues

I had planned to test out these things and make sure they were indeed issues before I wrote about them but as I was unable to get the code working correctly I only have reading the docs to go on. Apologies if I am off with any of these.

## Authorizations / Row Level Security

The first big issue I noticed with Spacetime is there is no concept of "Authorization" or "Row Level Security" that is there is no way that some information can be private from other users.

This is obviously critical for most (if not all) games. You need to hide some information from other players. For example in [BattleTabs](https://mikecann.blog/posts/battletabs-in-7-minutes) each player hides their ship positions from each other until the end of the battle, without this players could cheat by looking at the data that the server sends down or could directly issue queries to the database and retrieve that information.

When queried about this on discord I was informed that [that is indeed coming](https://discord.com/channels/1037340874172014652/1134597033613869207/1183210861700055150) and that there is a concept of "Private Tables" that you designate by prefixing your table with an underscore.

Without any docs on this im not sure exactly how this would work in a real game and how much work this might be for the user to implement.

# Migrations

I could find no mention of how DB migrations are supposed to work in their docs (despite their AI docs search assuring me there are 12 references)

![](./search.png)

This to me is one of the MAJOR benefits of the way convex works you can very easily migrate your database by [changing the schema definition](https://docs.convex.dev/database/schemas) which then validates every single document in the the DB. This is a far more flexible way of structuring your tables than traditional relational databases but still ensuring the strong relational structure and type-safety enforced by your schema.

Im not exactly sure how SpacetimeDB works under the hood but they talk about replaying a Write Ahead Log, so im interested to know how you would go about evolving your schema over time

# Physics

I have big questions around how you would integrate this in a Unity project that requires server-authoritative physics or other game-engine features. Perhaps you are expected to implement those yourself? Perhaps you are supposed to run Unity headless server instances in parallel and query those from Spacetime?

Open questions for next time.

# Conclusion

This post is getting quite long and is getting quite negative. I dont want it to come across that way, I think SpacetimeDB is an interesting technology and is in a niche (realtime relational database targeted at game developers) that is very interesting to me.

I just feel like perhaps its a bit too early for the project and it needs to bake for a good while longer before its ready for further tinkering.

Keen to hear what you think if you have experimented with Spacetime, leave me a comment below :)



Its been a while since I have given a personal update so I thought I would take this month to talk about my recent move and some adventures with satellite internet.

# The Move

![](./map.png)

So I have lived in Australia for 9 years now (cant actually believe that) and I have moved a total of 8 times. When I was living the UK I moved a similar number of times in my entire life. So its safe to say that im pretty comfortable with moving home.

One week ago however we moved house from Perth to Busselton (Western Australia) and this time was different. This time for the first time in my life we had furniture and a 3 year old to contend with.

We knew we weren't likely to fit everything in our revivalists van so we decided to hire a transit van for a day 2 days before the big move day. Fortunately my parents were on hand from the UK to help with the tetris-like packing.

![](./tetris.jpg)

So then the big day came and most of the items fit in the van but unfortunately not everything.

![](./van.jpg)

![](./left-over.jpg)

So this meant that the following day I had to hire a trailer and drive back to Perth to collect the remaining items.

![](./trailer.jpg)

With everything now moved we could finally start to settle in and enjoy the environment.

![](./garden.jpg)

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T4kaZX1ZzzM" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

# Starlink

So as I work from home on [BattleTabs](https://mikecann.blog/posts/battletabs-in-7-minutes) its essential that I have internet and preferably good internet.

Although Busselton is 3 hours south of the capital of WA Perth, it isnt a total backwater. It does have broadband connection in the form of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

The only issue is that when I called up to move my connection the customer support staff informed me that it was likely I was going to get poorer speeds that I was currently getting. I was paying $79 per month for a 50Mbs down 20Mbs up connection (50/20) this is unfortunately the limit of copper cable broadband and although Fibre NBN is rolling out across WA, neither my Perth home had it nor the new place in Busselton.

![](./aussiebb.png)

Worse than that I was informed that I was likely not going to even get the 50/20, likely the maximum would be 50/13.

This wasnt great for me who lives on the internet most of the day, so I decided to look into alternatives. The only real contender was [Starlink](https://www.starlink.com/), Elon Musk's internet from space company.

I had reservations about going Starlink as [I had read](https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/Guides/Starlink-Australia-Everything-you-need-to-know) that the upload speeds wouldnt be much faster than I was due to get.

It was a combination of speaking to a friend who assured me that was likely old information (Starlink speeds improve as more satellites are launched) and seeing the 30-day-money-back-trial paired with the 50% discount on the dish for rural customers (me), I decided to take the plunge and order one.

![](./30day.png)

So after we moved down here I got the NBN internet setup and it was worse that I had feared. The following was just about the maximum speed I could achieve over a couple of days of testing:

![](./nbn-speed.png)

Less than 5Mbs upload! This was definitely not going to cut it.

Time to crack out the Starlink.

![](./starlink-box.jpg)

After a bit of faffing around with trying to find a temporary location for the dish that wasnt in the way but also still allowed us to lock the house at night I was ready to run some tests.

![](./dish.jpg)

So even though the dish is only in a temporary spot and is partially blocked by some stuff down the side of my house the speeds are far faster than I was expecting!

![](./starlink-speed1.png)

![](./starlink-speed2.png)

The speeds are definitely more variable than NBN, im assuming this is just the way it works as it swaps between satellites. Im hoping it will also stabilize a bit over time and once I have it mounted on the roof.

But my calculations it is on average 6-10 times faster than the fastest NBN I could get here and incredibly it even has lower latency!

So all in all I have been mightily impressed with the service so far. For $139 per month (plus the $300 for the dish) its more than I was paying before but not much more than the comparable NBN speed (250/25) thats assuming I would have ever been able to get those speeds.

I have received quotes from two TV / Satellite dish installers that it will cost me between $300-$600 to get it properly installed. I however noticed that we have an old satellite dish on the roof already so I might have a crack at just repurposing that mount myself and thus hopefully save some money.

# Conclusion

Im really happy to finally have moved into my new home and super excited that I have internet blessed by his holyness, Elon Musk :)


Wow how fast did 2021 go? Crazy! And we are already almost at the end of January.



I try to write at least one blog post a month but I have to admit, lately I have been struggling to find the time. A combination of more [family](https://mikecann.blog/posts/joshua-christopher-cann) and more [business](https://gangbusters.io) are the likely culprits. Whatever the reasons, it means my personal projects have taken a back seat lately.

Thats not to say that there hasn't been a heap of cool stuff that has caught my eye over the past few months and am itchy to tinker with. So I thought for this month's post I would list a few of the projects that I want to take a closer look at this year :)

# Cloudflare's DOG

[BattleTabs](https://battletabs.com/) is currently [Gangbuster's](https://www.gangbusters.io/) only title and has been in development for [a couple of years](https://mikecann.blog/posts/introducing-battletabs) now. Initially it was released as a concept. We didnt know if it would work or not so I chose the technology I knew I could get going with the fastest, which was Heroku and Postgres at the time.

Since then the game has grown and the requirements have changed as we added new features. We have faced a number of challenges on Heroku and it is a continual worry of mine that the servers will fall over one day or run out of capacity when im on holiday or something. There is also the significant cost associated with Heroku compared to the alternatives.

Ideally we would move to a tech stack that supported infinite scale and not have the same operational concerns. An obvious choice would be a serverless tech stack.

The issue with a serverless stack for us would be the lack of a websocket connection to the client for realtime game updates. We need these capability to provide a great game experience for our players without resorting to less-than-optimal (and expensive) rapid polling.

[AWS does have the ability to use websockets with API Gateway](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/announcing-websocket-apis-in-amazon-api-gateway/) but when I last ran the numbers it was going to be fairly expensive and there were some significant limitations.

So when I heard about [Cloudflare's Durable Objects](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/learning/using-durable-objects) and their [ability to handle websockets](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/learning/using-websockets#:~:text=%E2%80%8BDurable%20Objects%20and%20WebSocket%20state&text=Durable%20Objects%20are%20a%20coordinated,learning%20page%20to%20get%20started.) and could do it in a [cost effective manner](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/platform/pricing#durable-objects) (you only pay for the message handling time) I became excited.

[In October](https://mikecann.blog/posts/serverless-databaseless-event-sourcing) I tinkered with Durable Objects to build a serverless Event-Sourcing application. This worked well but I ran out of time to try the websockets potential of the technology.

Because a single server / Durable Object can only support a limited number of connections was I needed was a way to automatically "fan-out" incoming connections to "children" automatically so that each server managed only a few thousand connections while still able to communicate with the others in the Group.

![](./fan-out.png)

Fortunately thats when I stumbled across [Cloudflare's Durable Object Groups](https://github.com/cloudflare/dog) (DOG). This is an experimental project that does just that. It takes incoming connections and fans them out to multiple "Replicas", scaling up or down the number of replicas as a needed.

I was thinking it would be cool do make a really cheap version of [Pusher](https://pusher.com/channels/pricing) using this :)

# FaunaDB

I have had my eye on serverless databases for some time now. When working in a serverless context you generally cant use databases that have heavy permanent connections such as Postges or MySQL. [Cloudflare Workers use V8 Isolates](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/learning/how-workers-works) which basically means that if it cant run in a web page then it cant work on Cloudflare.

So there are a number of alternatives out there such as DynamoDB, CosmosDB, Firebase, CockroachDB, MongoDB etc. They are all however either too simple (DynamoDB) or too expensive (Cosmos, Firebase) or I simply dont like using them (Mongo). [FaunaDB](https://fauna.com/) however caught my eye with its Document-but-still-Relational nature and its interesting querying options.

Thus far I have listened to a few podcasts on the technology and read a few articles and the following are some of the more interesting points for me:

## Scale & Cost

Even though DynamoDB is famous for its scaling potential there [is still a lot of operational complexity](https://docs.fauna.com/fauna/current/comparisons/compare-faunadb-vs-dynamodb#scalability) one has to worry about with scaling its usage. I like Firebase's fire-and-forget approach to scale but even it does have its limitations at upper bound of number of connections and key contention.

I havent dug very deep into this part of Fauna yet but im excited to see that [it scales](https://docs.fauna.com/fauna/current/comparisons/compare-faunadb-vs-dynamodb#scalability) with ease much like Firebase.

## GraphQL

Fauna has a number of interesting ways it can be queried including its own functional query language [FQL](https://docs.fauna.com/fauna/current/api/fql/). One option that has me curious is its [GraphQL querying option](https://docs.fauna.com/fauna/current/learn/quick_start/gql_quick_start).

If this works as advertised then it could indeed make some DB access operations much simpler. They have even solved [the n+1 problem](https://fauna.com/blog/no-more-n-1-problems-with-faunadbs-graphql-api) for access which is super cool tho I wonder what access patters it prohibits (joins?).

# SolidJS

I first heard about [SolidJS](https://www.solidjs.com/) a number of years ago and remember being impressed at its tiny file size and its [supposedly awesome performance](https://levelup.gitconnected.com/a-solid-realworld-demo-comparison-8c3363448fd8).

![](./solidjs.png)

At the time however I as perfectly comfortable with React and felt like its performance was just fine on my machine. Having worked on [BattleTabs](https://battletabs.com/), a large React app, for some time now I am feeling the pain of slow updates and large initial page load. Many of our users run on low-performance devices and thus experience this pain even more.

So the promise that SolidJS can both be a tiny download AND have incredible performance while staying familiar to the React-JSX-like way of developing has me very much intrigued.

I have worked my way [through their excellent tutorial](https://www.solidjs.com/tutorial/introduction_basics) and read a number of posts on the library and am ready to give it a shot.

The only thing I think it is missing is some NextJS / SveleteKit / RemixRun like server-side-all-batteries-included framework. [I hear that this is in the works however](https://github.com/solidjs/solid-start).

# Roc

[Roc](https://www.roc-lang.org/) is a programming language that captured my interest last year when I [watch](https://youtu.be/vzfy4EKwG_Y)e[d](https://youtu.be/6qzWm_eoUXM) a [num](https://youtu.be/cpQwtwVKAfU?t=75)b[er](https://youtu.be/ZnYa99QoznE?t=4790) of talks on the language.

Its a purely functional language heavily inspired by [Elm](https://elm-lang.org/) but unlike Elm intended to be multi-platform and thus run on the server not just the web.

I have been interested in functional languages for some time now and have tried to get into Elm on a number of occasions but other things kept getting in the way. I however really like the look of Roc which is taking the best of Elm and building on it in some pretty innovative ways.

I also have my eye on [F#](https://fsharp.org/) having [read much](https://www.amazon.com.au/Domain-Modeling-Made-Functional-Domain-Driven/dp/1680502549) on the language. Also [Clojure](https://clojure.org/) and [Elixir](https://elixir-lang.org/) are very interesting to me.

I have a lot of thoughts about functional langues and functional style in non-functional languages like Typescript but perhaps I should leave that to another post. Let me know in the comments if you would like to read more on that.

# Orleans

I have been interested in the actor model for quite some time and find it a fascinating way of building distributed systems that scale. I have read a whole heap about [Akka](https://akka.io/) and Akka.net and am keen to try both of those out.

[Orleans](https://dotnet.github.io/orleans/) from Microsoft Research takes many of the great concepts from Akka but expands and simplifies them. It touts itself as a "Virtual Actors" system and basically doesnt require explicit messages as Actors can communicate using simple function calls as if they were running as standard objects in memory with each other.

It reminds a bit of "true OO" like that found in [Smalltalk / Phaero](https://pharo.org/) but for the the .net ecosystem and distributed server-side computing.

Its a very interesting technology and I want to give it a try soon!

# Joshie

![](./joshie.jpg)

Finally this one isnt a tech project at all but still something that I hold dear to my heart. This little man is growing up so fast and I am incredibly conscious about not letting these precious moments pass me by while I have my head stuck too deep into one of my projects.

Time is passing so fast it wont be long before he gets curious about what daddy does for his work and I hopefully will have a whole new set of projects to tinker with together :)

Its been a while since I have done a hackathon. I spent [half of the year](/posts/and-off-we-go/) camping my way around Australia so I guess thats to be expected. So when I saw that startup weekend was running again at the weekend I thought sure, why not.



# TLDR;

I had an idea, pitched it, gathered a team and validated an idea over the course of a weekend. I overcame some personal hurdles and came out the end with a potentially exciting business idea.

# What is Startup Weekend?

During Startup Weekend the objective is to go from idea to business over the course of just a couple of days. You form a team with total strangers and work together to validate your business and if possible build a prototype of your product.

The last time I did Startup Weekend was [back in 2015](/posts/startup-weekend-perth-2015-tuckr/) when I worked on a business called Tuckr that aimed to help people locate where those awesome food trucks are near you.

I remember ending the weekend that time happy but thinking that I probably wouldnt go again as it didn't really involve much technical work. It was more of an exercise in product validation than actually technical work and as I consider myself a highly technical person I didn't feel that useful.

# So why sign up again?

Often the only way to grow as a person is to get out of your comfort zone and do things that you arent good at or scare you.

I have always been scared of is standing up infront of people and presenting. Im much more comfortable sat infront of a computer in my own little word working on my own little problems.

So this time I decided I wanted to pitch an idea, form a team if people were interested and take it all the way through to the end and stand up infront of the judges and give a final pitch.

# The warm up

So friday rolls around, I rock up about 6pm, theres quite a few people there already. I have done this a few times before, I know what the deal is. I mingle around, grab a beer, chat to a few people.

Before I know it, its 7:30 and time for pitches. Theres about 90 people there and about 20 of those line up to take their turn to pitch their idea to those remaining in their chairs.

Im near the back of the queue because I want to see what other people are pitching just incase I want to chicken out and join one of them instead.

Theres some really interesting pitches from all kinds of different industries but none of them has grabbed my attention enough to stop me pitching, I guess the beer must have helped with the courage.

# The pitch

So I take the stage, I have 1 minute to explain my idea, I have practiced it a couple of times so I know that I should be able to do it in the time.

> Hi im Mike Cann, im a professional games developer but im also a blogger that has kept a blog going for over 10 years now.
>
> One of the constant problems with blogging is how do I get more people to read my posts?
>
> One solution to the problem can be seen on websites like Medium.com. At the bottom of each post is a "Reccomended for you" section that lists blog posts from other Medium.com authors.
>
> This circulates traffic between the authors on Medium.com and thus is good for everyone.
>
> But what if your blog isnt on Medium.com? Like mikecann.blog for example?
>
> I dont want to have to move all my posts over to Medium to take advantage of that post syndication feature.
>
> Fortunately there are alternatives. If you google this problem you will encounter Outbrain and Taboola.
>
> These multi-billion-dollar companies however are not targeted towards casual bloggers like me. You probably have seen them, they can be found at the bottom of websites like cnn.com and thewest.com.au. The recommended articles often have click-baity titles like "Details From The Set Of 'Bewitched' That'll Stun Fans" or "Mums, these workout hacks are just for you".
>
> This is not something I want next to my content.
>
> I want to build a click-sharing service for bloggers that shows relevant recommendations for my content without the clickbait.
>
> To validate this idea I need a designer and people with blogging or advertising experience.
>
> Thankyou.

![](./whatIwant.png)

# Team formation

With the pitch over I couldnt relax just yet. Now I had write a poster to attract others to join my team.

![](./theposter.jpg)

I tried to convey the basic business model in as simple a way as possible.

Well it seemed to work as I managed to gain 3 other members of the team. Ro, a fellow blogger and business woman, Alexis a writer with a bunch of blogger contacts and Andrew a designer.

So we had one developer (me), one designer to make pretty pictures and two business people with domain experience. IMO this is the perfect team!

![](./ro.jpg)
![](./andrew.jpg)
![](./alexis.jpg)

# Planning

The remainder of the evening was dedicated to introducing ourselfs and working out how we were going to work together, what our roles were and how we were going to communicate.

One thing that surprised me during this phase was that I had to re-pitch the idea to my team again before they fully understood what it was I wanted to build. Perhaps the idea was too complex? Perhaps I didnt explain it well enough first time? Either way I must have left some sort of impression as they joined me regardless.

# Trello

I like to use Trello for organizing a project during hackathons. Well I actually like using Trello for organizing just about any project but I particularly like it for hackathons because its really easy to get started, everyone can collaborate images, files, videos, whatever at the same time and most importantly its free!

![](./trelloscreeny.png)

# Saturday

The following day was all about validation. I had a few things I wanted to cover.

1. Has this been done before?
2. How do Outbrain and Taboola work, what are their positives and negatives?
3. Do bloggers even want this?
4. What are we going to call our business?

Note, none of those points actually involve any development work. From previous experience I knew how time constrained we were going to be over the weekend so I decided early on all we were going to do is validate the idea, not actually try to build anything.

With me acting as leader / coordinator my time was going to be very limited for development work.

So I spent the day giving Andrew our designer direction as he began the work of building the website we would send people to try to get feedback and thus judge whether it was something that bloggers wanted or not.

I also assisted Ro and Alexis with tasks that addressed the other points. One interesting thing that came out of Ro's research into Outbrain was the fact that you needed a credit card just to sign up and get started. This is definately something I want to avoid with our business.

# Naming

We spent a little bit of time on the Saturday morning coming up for a name with ourself. We had a little bit of back and forth, we wanted something that gave a hint that we were a blog syndication service but without too many syllable.

In the end settled on "Syndi.me", its not perfect as it could be spelt in a few different ways but it conveys the information we want without being too long, and critically the domain was available!

# Syndi.me website

![](./syndiwebsitescreeny.png)

By the end of Saturday evening we had finished the website: https://syndi.me and posted it to a number of blogger facebook groups and sub-reddits so hopefully over the course of the next day or so we will get a little bit of feedback to see if people are interested.

We used Squarespace to build the site as its quick and relatively low cost. Andrew was very familiar with Squarespace too so that cut down the learning time.

I found it tricky to work out what copy to put on the website. How to convey the idea without being too complicated right away. Fortunately Alexis was there to help me. In the end what we went for was a simple summary, followed by more in-depth information in an FAQ page.

# Sunday

By the time sunday rolled around it was all about preparation for the pitch. Building slides and practice practice practice.

We had a number of helpful presentations from the organisers during the weekend which really honed our pitch by encouraging us to present the idea as a story.

After the 10th time practising the pitch I was feeling pretty confident that I could do it. I knew things were going to be different when I actually get up there though.

# The final pitch

So by late afternoon it was the big moment. We all took our seats as the pitches began.

I was up 5th of 11 so I had a few to watch first which was both a blessing and a curse as there were some really great pitches. Infact as a whole the pitches were much, much better than any other Startup Weekend I had been to.

So finally it was my turn. I took the microphone and got up and stood infront of the projector and 100 other people and began my rehearsed pitch..

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jPYgKR1hGlg" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Oh dear! Not good, I almost choked on the second slide. I dont know what happened exactly I think I was concentrating on the slide before which pushed out of my head what I was going to say next, then I started to panic and that then spiralled down into more panic.

I stopped, took a breath and decided to just move on and try not to think about it.

The rest of the pitch went well so fortunately it want a total disaster.

# Judging

Once I had finished my 4 minute pitch the whole team came up on stage while the judges asked us some questions and gave us feedback.

One of the first points mentioned by one of the judges, Charlie Gunningham, was that my back was to them the whole time, whoops!

The rest of the feedback was very positive, they all thought the idea was great and couldnt believe that it hasnt been done before and we should continue it on!

# The presentations

With that nerve racking experience out of the way we took our seats once more and watched the other pitches.

Once they were all over, the judges went into the back room and conferred for a few minutes before coming out and declaring the winner.

As I mentioned above I was really very impressed by the pitches this time. There was some really great ideas and some very well presented information. Some of the groups really did an excellent job portraying their information.

I wasnt expecting to win anything considering the mess I had almost made of the pitch but to my great surprise when Chloie stood up and announced that the runner up prize went to Syndi.me I was totally taken aback. Wow we had come second! (well technically third as there was a join first prize this year)

![](./tshirt.jpg)

We went up on stage to applause, was given a back of goodies, shook hands with the judges then took our seats with massive smiles on our faces.

# Conclusion

I am so glad at how the weekend turned out. I achieved what I aimed for. Pitch and idea, form a team and try to validate an idea.

I was super lucky with the team that joined me over the weekend, they were just the right mix of people with no egos. We worked together so well, and they were incredibly supportive of me even though I freely admitted I wasnt the best presenter but wanted to give it a go regardless.

So now I have to decide if I want to take the judges advice and continue our work on Syndi.me.

What do you think dear reader? Leave a comment below if you think I should continue on with Syndi.me and actually build a working solution..

[![argon](/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/argon.png)](/audio/artificial-argon-isotope/attachment/argon/)

I decided to take a little break from the coding and over the past few evenings I have put together a new mix.



Out of all of the mixes I have done [Argon](https://soundcloud.com/mikecann/artificial-argon) is probably my favorite and was pretty much the soundtrack to my  trip to Vietnam in 2011\. As that was two years ago now I thought it was time I refreshed and updated it with the my current personal favorites in the tech and progressive house / trance world.

Argon is a lighter element than [Iridium](https://soundcloud.com/mikecann/artificial-iridium) and hence the tracks have a smoother simpler progressive sound. Because this mix is in the same vein as Argon I have decided to call it Argon Isotope.

<iframe width="100%" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fmikeysee%2Fartificial-argon-isotope%2F&amp;embed_type=widget_standard&amp;embed_uuid=34002dae-cf25-44a9-b86f-7565999669dd&amp;hide_tracklist=1&amp;hide_cover=1" frameborder="0"></iframe><div style="clear: both; height: 3px; width: auto;"></div>

[Argon Isotope](https://www.mixcloud.com/mikeysee/artificial-argon-isotope/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link)<span> by </span>[Artificial](https://www.mixcloud.com/mikeysee/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link)<span> on </span>[ Mixcloud](https://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link)

<div style="clear: both; height: 3px; width: auto;"></div>

Tracklist:

1\. N'to - Trauma (worakis remix)
2\. Microtrauma - Circulate
3\. Dominik Eulberg - Sansula (Max Cooper's Lost in Sound Remix)
4\. Unknown
5\. Breakfast - Through the Night (Naden Remix)
6\. Worakis - Souvenir
7\. Eleven.five - I Sense Danger
8\. Boom Jinx &amp; Andrew Bayer - To The Six (Matt Lange Remix)
9\. Parker &amp; Hanson - Afterthought (Soundprank's Deep 04 Mix)
10\. Andain - Promises (Soundprank Remix)

[![](/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Argon-Cover.png "Argon-Cover")](/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Argon-Cover.png)

First part in a two part mix, see "[Iridium](/audio/artificial-iridium-trance-electro-house/)" for part 2.



What I have tried to do with these two mixes is present two sorts of music that are really floating my boat at the moment. This first part is a much lighter, techhyer, houseyer affair than its counterpart, hence the noble gas Argon.

<iframe width="100%" height="180" src="//www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mixcloud.com%2Fmikeysee%2Fartificial-argon%2F&amp;embed_type=widget_standard&amp;embed_uuid=fde1588d-ca70-4e3b-b353-344b10183e4d&amp;hide_tracklist=1&amp;hide_cover=1" frameborder="0"></iframe><div style="clear: both; height: 3px; width: auto;"></div>

[Argon](https://www.mixcloud.com/mikeysee/artificial-argon/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=resource_link)<span> by </span>[Artificial](https://www.mixcloud.com/mikeysee/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=profile_link)<span> on </span>[ Mixcloud](https://www.mixcloud.com/?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=base_links&utm_term=homepage_link)

<div style="clear: both; height: 3px; width: auto;"></div>

01\. Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink (James Holden Remix)
02\. Petter - Everyday Balloon
03\. Delavari &amp; Rouzbeh - LaLaLa (Ozgur Can Remix)
04\. Who's Who - Klack (Inpetto Remix)
05\. Matt Lange - Bad Year Blimp
06\. Gui Boratto - No Turning Back
07\. Second Left - Traffic Lights
08\. Butch - Amelie
09\. Deadmau5 &amp; Kaskade - I Remember