Random Thoughts - Page 2 - Robert J Wallace

January 10, 2026

Elevator Pitch: What is AI

November 9, 2025November 30, 2025

Building Mobile Apps with AI: My Cordova Development Journey

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been using Claude (an AI assistant from Anthropic) to help me build several mobile applications using Apache Cordova. The experience has been eye-opening – both for what worked remarkably well and what proved frustratingly difficult. If you’re considering using AI to help with mobile development, here’s what I learned.

November 1, 2025November 30, 2025

I don’t need no stinking Google Play store

If you have been following my posts you know that I have been playing around with creating apps for use as a Magician. But I wondered what else I could do. I was out driving using a speedometer app that has advertisements and features that I don’t care about so…

October 26, 2025November 30, 2025

Cordova Android App Development: Complete Setup Guide

Overview

What is Cordova? Cordova wraps your HTML/CSS/JavaScript web app in a native Android container, allowing it to run as a standalone app on Android devices. Having suffered through getting this all setup via Claude.ai I thought I would ask Claude.ai to write this guide.

What you’ll need:

A computer running Linux (Ubuntu/similar)
An HTML/CSS/JavaScript web page
About 1-2 hours for initial setup
2-3 GB of disk space for all the tools

October 26, 2025November 30, 2025

How I Turned a Simple HTML File Into an Android App: A Love Letter to Complexity

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace 47 Dependencies

TL;DR: I had a perfectly functional HTML file. It worked in every browser. It was beautiful. Then I decided to turn it into an Android app.

October 19, 2025October 19, 2025

The Hidden Cost of Friendly AI: When Optimization Becomes Manipulation

Have you noticed how AI assistants always seem to think your questions are “brilliant” or “insightful”? How they’re unfailingly supportive, never tired, always available? It feels good—and that’s precisely the problem.

October 18, 2025October 19, 2025

Maybe We Should Just Accept We’re Compromised

We perform security theater daily. We update passwords, enable two-factor authentication, install VPNs, use encrypted messaging apps. We do these things because we’ve been told they make us “secure.” But what if I told you that despite all of this, you’re almost certainly compromised already—and that accepting this might actually be the most rational security posture?

October 10, 2025October 10, 2025

The Trust Problem: Why You Can’t Always Trust the Software You Run

We rely on software every day, and we usually assume that if a major company releases a program, it must be safe. But there’s a famous concept in computer science that shows exactly why that trust can be easily broken, even by the most well-meaning developers.

It all comes down to a fundamental question: How do you verify the tools that build the software?

July 15, 2025July 15, 2025

Unboxing and setting up a Framework 16 Laptop

I have to admit I was impressed with how easy it was to complete this. I wish everything I bought was this well thought out and well packaged. In a nutshell, I decided I wanted a new, larger laptop that ran Linux. Framework laptops are completely, which is something I really like. Virtually everything in the laptop is user replaceable. So I decided to go with that and bought a Framework 16 laptop.

June 7, 2025

Behold the emerald green hypercar: a luxurious approach to 2040s concept transportation.

Powered by a sustainable biofuel hybrid producing 992 HP, it accelerates from 0-60 mph in just 1.9 seconds with a top speed of 221 mph and a range of 795 miles.
Key features include: premium leather, handcrafted interior, bespoke trim options, brain-computer interface, morphing exterior panels, heads-up display.
Could you see yourself behind the wheel?
#AutomotiveDesign #AIGeneratedCar #UltimateCar #ExoticCar #2040sconcept #Luxurious #Emeraldgreen