AWS
AWS at NAB 2025
Explore a curated look at AWS's groundbreaking demos at NAB 2025, including a GenAI-powered virtual person, live sports cloud production, video...
Blog
AWS
Automating Developer tasks
Automate developer tasks with Git hooks for documentation, security, and Jira comments, enhancing workflow efficiency and code quality with minimal...
How much would it cost to replace a human with genAI?
Discover the true cost of replacing humans with GenAI and explore the limitations and potential impacts on various job roles in our evolving...
How do I pick the right GenAI Model?
Discover how to choose the right GenAI model for your business, including insights on AWS Bedrock and key industry players. Find out more in our...
generative AI
ChatGPT is getting replaced by AI
The rapid advancements in generative AI models are shaking up the industry, with new contenders like DeepSeek and Alibaba surpassing ChatGPT,...
Why You Should Get a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Evaluation Before Building Your AI Business Solution
"Discover why a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) evaluation is essential before building an AI business solution. Learn how it helps avoid hidden costs,...
Artificial Intelligence
Why your company needs a GenAI-powered intranet
Discover how Amazon Q's generative AI transforms intranets, enhancing productivity, collaboration, and decision-making with seamless data integration...
generative AI
What are GenAI Tokens and how many does each model have?
Explore the significance of tokens in generative AI and access a comprehensive spreadsheet detailing GenAI models and their token capacities.
AWS
Dealing with AWS Secrets Manager managed credential rotation
How to run arbitrary code the Secrets Manager rotates.
Media & Entertainment
Metal Toad and Laurel Canyon Live featured at AWS Re:Invent 2024
Metal Toad and AWS are revolutionizing live entertainment with Laurel Canyon Live, bringing real-time streaming concerts to your home, to theaters...
Why Large Studios Should Migrate to AWS Elemental for Live Streaming
Discover why large studios should migrate to AWS Elemental for live streaming to reduce costs, scale effortlessly, and enhance viewer experiences.
Navigating Amazon's AI Strategy: Key takeaways and ROI lessons for your 2025 digital transformation
Discover how Amazon's AI strategy, from AI cloud computing to robotics and Alexa, can guide your 2025 digital transformation for enhanced efficiency...
The Future of Document Management in Movie Studios: How Intelligent Document Processing is Shaping the Industry
Discover how intelligent document processing (IDP) is revolutionizing movie studios, enhancing contract management, compliance, speed to market,...
Metal Toad Recognized by AWS as GenAI Competency Partner
Metal Toad earns AWS GenAI Competency, enhancing our ability to deliver innovative AI solutions and drive digital transformation for clients across...
Security
Exploring Passwordless Authentication at Metal Toad Hackathon
Exploring the integration of passwordless authentication using AWS Cognito at Metal Toad Hackathon, enhancing security and user experience while...
AWS
2024 Hackathon: ASW Step Function Feedback
From the AWS Samples on Github, we take a look at how to get real-time feedback from Step Functions
Hackathon
AWS Sample+ Hackathon: CDK to Terraform
Convert AWS CDK to Terraform with Amazon Q Developer in a hackathon project for faster deployments.
AWS
Unlocking Success: The Importance of AWS Competencies
Discover how AWS Competencies empower Metal Toad to stand out in the cloud market by proving their technical expertise and delivering innovative AWS...
VMware
VMware Accelerates AWS Cloud Adoption (but not the way you think)
The schism between VMware and AWS has only served to accelerate AWS cloud adoption
generative AI
Stop GenAI-ing your customers
Discover why businesses should prioritize deploying Generative AI internally to enhance efficiency and safeguard customer trust, rather than risking...
The Cloud
Thinking About Moving Your Application to a SaaS Model? Let’s Get You Cloud-Ready!
Thinking about transitioning to a SaaS model? Discover why it matters and how to make your cloud journey smooth and successful with expert guidance...
What can save you from an AI Disaster?
For companies looking to understand if they are ready for AI, this article will assist them in understanding evaluation criteria.
When’s the last time you applied for a loan? With all the technology available, should it really be this cumbersome?
Benefits of using Artificial Intelligence in the Financial Industry
The Value of Conducting a Data Assessment: Beyond Artificial Intelligence
Learn why conducting a data assessment is crucial for AI implementation, strategic decision-making, risk management, and fostering interdepartmental...
Why Companies Are Struggling to Meet Their AI Rollout Goals: Insights and Challenges
In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) promises transformative benefits for businesses. Despite the...
JavaScript
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) with Progressive Hydration
Explore the advantages of Server-Side Rendering (SSR) with Progressive Hydration for enhanced performance in React/Next.js applications.
machine learning
Commitment to Responsible AI
Metal Toad commits to responsible AI with fairness, explainability, privacy, and transparency. Explore their journey in using machine learning for...
Fine-tuning
Exploring Fine-Tuning Meta LLaMA 2 for Malicious Traffic Detection: A Proof of Concept
Fine-tuning Meta LLaMA 2 for malicious traffic detection showcased promising results, highlighting the importance of resource selection in model...
generative AI
Metal Toad's AWS Journey to launch Securitoad
As the CEO of Metal Toad, I had the distinct honor of being interviewed by AWS SaaS Factory, a recognition that...
AWS
Building an Intent-based Chatbot: Webinar on Demand
In this webinar, learn how to build chatbots with generative AI to interact based on user intent rather than word-for-word matching.
Amazon Quicksight
Metal Toad Recognized as an Amazon QuickSight Service Delivery Partner
Metal Toad is now an Amazon QuickSight Service Delivery Partner, showcasing expertise in data visualization and business intelligence solutions.
generative AI
GenAi making sweet music
Generative AI is now creating high quality text, imagery, video, and even music. Finding the right use case for your business is the hard part.
Amazon Bedrock
Knowledge Bases in AWS Bedrock
Push your context windows further with relevant data from a knowledge base.
generative AI
GenAi: Infinite Paradox of Choice
Just because the hallmark of generative AI is natural language, that doesn't mean free form inputs are the best way for enterprises to integrate...
AWS
Why the Economics of GenAI Skews for the Tech Giants (And Why That’s Good for You)
Economies of scale around compute and data favors tech giants in the Generative Ai space. But firms of all sizes benefit from the giants'...
generative AI
How to Design a Proper GenAI Proof of Concept (PoC)
Our VP of Engineering outlines the questions a properly designed proof of concept (PoC) needs to answer, particularly for complex technologies like...
generative AI
Is it worth it to deploy Generative AI? An SMB perspective
Why do so few Small & Midsize Businesses (SMBs) use AI? How can they address the capabilities gap in order to stand up their own AI initiatives?
AWS Lambda
TUTORIAL: How to integrate the Amazon Lex with a slack channel
A tutorial on how to integrate the amazon lex with your slack channel
TUTORIAL: How to use AWS Rekognition to identify people's age and emotions from photos
3-day Hackathon project: AgeVisionAI
Enhancing Customer Engagement with Amazon Lex Chatbots
Empowering Customer Interaction: Leveraging AWS Amazon Lex as a Chatbot Solution
generative AI
How to use AI to get insights from LinkedIn ADS
Discover how to extract, upload, and analyze LinkedIn Ads data using Amazon Quicksight, enhanced by the capabilities of Generative AI with Amazon Q.
machine learning
Toadbook Hackathon Project
Discover how Metal Toad's team utilized AWS services and ML to create a simple social network platform at their latest hackathon. Explore the...
AWS
IAM Roles: A Survival Guide for Navigating AWS Identity and Access Management
Unlock the secrets of AWS Identity and Access Management with this comprehensive guide, covering key concepts, best practices, and tips for...
Agile
Why you shouldn't say refactor
Discover why saying refactor isn't enough in agile coding. Enhance project success by focusing on customer value.
The Future of Machine Learning: Will it Become Obsolete?
Explore the potential future of machine learning and whether it will eventually become obsolete in the ever-evolving landscape of AI advancements.
machine learning
Is Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence?
Gain clarity on the relationship between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Discover the role of AWS in accelerating AI and ML...
generative AI
The future of Generative Ai is in automation
Broad proclamations about Ai changing the world are doing nothing to help people understand how they should be using it. In the absence of specific...
AWS
Recent Cloudwatch Application Signals Announcement
Explore Amazon CloudWatch Application Signals: Revolutionize cloud monitoring with SLO tracking, rapid troubleshooting, and holistic application...
The Cloud
Why Some Businesses Prefer AWS Over Azure
Dive deep into the top reasons organizations choose AWS
AWS
Generative AI powered Intelligent Document Processing
Steps to use Amazon Bedrock to get process Documents.
AWS recognized Metal Toad as SaaS Competency Partner
Metal Toad is recognized as one of only two SaaS Competency partners in North America.
Who Uses Amazon Web Services and Why?
Discover the diverse range of businesses and organizations that rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and explore the reasons behind their choice.
Exploring the AWS Services List
Discover the extensive range of AWS services and explore how they can benefit your business.
generative AI
How to use AI to automatically add relevant meta descriptions to all your CMS pages
Learn how to use AI to automatically add relevant meta descriptions to all your CMS pages. Increase your website's visibility and attract more users...
Amazon Quicksight
Choosing the Right BI Tool: A Comparison of Power BI and Amazon QuickSight
Discover the perfect Business Intelligence (BI) tool for your business with Metal Toad's expert comparison of Power BI and Amazon QuickSight.
Culture
Metal Toad's Exceptional Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of 86
Here at Metal Toad, we are thrilled to share that our forward-thinking tech company has achieved an extraordinary Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)...
Artificial Intelligence
Capturing Moments: A Tale of Personalization in Adobe Firefly
In the realm of digital artistry, Adobe Firefly stands as a beacon of creativity, offering a canvas where imagination dances with pixels.
Interviews
Revolutionizing Recruitment and Selection: Advances in the Use of Artificial Intelligence
Discover how Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing the recruitment and selection process. AI is transforming hiring practices from automation to...
Artificial Intelligence
The robots are painting
A lot has been said in the media about AI generated art, but how does it actually work (from a human perspective)?
Artificial Intelligence
Crafting Avatars with AI: The Future of Personalized Digital Identities
In an era where digital interactions play an ever-increasing role in our lives, our online identities have become more important than ever.
AWS
Cognito and SES setup
Setting up Cognito with SES is required if you are going to send more than 50 emails a day. here are the steps to have SES and Cognito avoid spam.
Artificial Intelligence
Metal Toad Prompt Engineering Hackathon
In this latest event, in the last week of September we embarked on a journey to learn how to work with prompt engineering, unleashing the power of...
machine learning
Hackathon Autumn 2023: Machine Learning Assisted Development (or Prompt Engineering)
'Freedom to Fail' is occasionally touted as a key way to learn, but actual freedom to fail in the workplace is rare, so it's a treat to be able to...
Artificial Intelligence
Biggest Pitfalls When Building a SaaS Application
Building a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application can be a rewarding endeavor, but it's important to be aware of potential pitfalls that can hinder...
Hackathon
Prompt Engineering Hackathon Learnings
As Large Language Models have risen to the everyday usage, Metal Toad took a few days to have a hackathon and see how much they could accomplish in 2...
Artificial Intelligence
Implementing RedShift
Implementing Amazon Redshift, a popular data warehousing solution provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS), requires careful planning to ensure optimal...
Artificial Intelligence
Metal Toad’s Approach to Implementing Quicksight
Amazon QuickSight is a business intelligence (BI) tool provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables you to create interactive and visually...
Artificial Intelligence
Metal Toad’s Step by Step Approach in Implementing RedShift: One Sheet
Amazon Redshift is a powerful data warehousing solution provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows you to analyze large datasets with high...
Education
My Summer Journey at Metal Toad: An Internship Reflection
My Summer Journey at Metal Toad: An Internship Reflection
Artificial Intelligence
Use AWS to secure tenant data at every level
Use AWS to secure tenant data at every level
The Cloud
Safeguarding SaaS Products: A Comprehensive Guide to Securing Your Offering with AWS
Safeguarding SaaS Products: A Comprehensive Guide to Securing Your Offering with AWS
Artificial Intelligence
Building Scalable and Cost-Efficient SaaS Products with AWS: A Deep Dive into Metal Toad's Approach
Building Scalable and Cost-Efficient SaaS Products with AWS: A Deep Dive into Metal Toad's Approach
machine learning
How does facial recognition work?
Last week, Forbes quoted me in their article 12 Things You Need To Know About Facial Recognition Technology. I am a member of the Forbes Technology...
machine learning
My experience at WebSummit Rio 2023
The Cloud
Top 10 things IT departments miss when setting up AWS
Getting started in AWS is easy. Anyone can do it! That said, when IT departments set up their own AWS cloud environments, they almost always miss...
Artificial Intelligence
RPGMatch User Avatars
For modern user applications having an avatar to represent you is important.
Business
Starting my journey with a technology company
Onboarding During my few weeks, I went through an onboarding process wher
The Cloud
How is authentication and identity managed in AWS applications?
Authentication and authorization is a critical aspect of building modern applications.
Interviews
What does a QA engineer at Metal Toad do?
Working in HR, it is possible to do recruitment, retention, or both activities.
The Cloud
AWS Partner Proof of Concept Funding
Discover how to test workloads and reduce IT costs with AWS Partner Proof of Concept funding. Explore the possibilities of AWS Cloud today!
Artificial Intelligence
What is AWS Control Tower?
You are up and running in the AWS cloud. You've done multiple PoCs, and you have a number of workloads using S3, EC2 and multiple RDS databases. So...
The Cloud
What is AWS Migration Evaluator?
Migrating to the cloud can be a complex and challenging process for businesses.
Interviews
How to earn an AWS Machine Learning Competency
Since it's inception, AWS (Amazon Web Services) has been a leading provider of cloud computing services and in recent years has established itself as...
machine learning
How can Machine Learning improve sales teams?
There are many ways that machine learning can help people in all different kinds of roles.
Artificial Intelligence
What is AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail provides a record of all API calls made within an AWS account.
machine learning
AWS CodeWhisperer - ML Augmented Development (3 of 3)
In the previous blog we talked about ChatGPT and went through some examples on how to use it to help develop solutions.
The Cloud
ReactJS Amplify App Part I - Overview and Auth
This is a three part post about our experience using AWS Amplify to develop a food logging app for the Metal Toad hackathon. Here in part one we...
The Cloud
5 Signs You Need AWS Cloud Migration Consulting
At some point in the last decade, you’ve probably bought a new computer. And at first, it’s great: performance is zippy, but after a few years,...
Artificial Intelligence
Why Caution is Key When Using Chatbots for Writing Tasks
As technology continues to evolve, the use of AI-powered chatbots for writing tasks has become more prevalent.
The Cloud
Simplifying Your Cloud Migration Journey using AWS Migration Hub
Migrating to the cloud has become a common practice for businesses looking to achieve scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency in their IT...
machine learning
Leveraging AWS Machine Learning to Transform HR
AWS Machine Learning can revolutionize the efficiency of Human Resource departments.
machine learning
ChatGPT - ML Augmented Development (2 of 3)
In the previous blog we talked about how ML Augmented Development
Education
What is Amazon Quicksight?
If you're looking for a powerful, cloud-based business intelligence service, Amazon QuickSight deserves serious consideration.
Artificial Intelligence
Tell a Story
User story mapping is an effective technique for product development that helps teams understand the context of the full application and how...
machine learning
ML Augmented Development (1 of 3)
In the last few months, the world has come to know ChatGPT as a source for ML generated writing.
machine learning
Performance enhancements with Amazon Neptune
Querying performance enhancements with Neptune versus DynamoDB with OpenSearch.
Education
How to use ChatGPT
You may have already heard about this artificial intelligence writing readable text. This will have a profound effect on the need for knowledge...
machine learning
Use AI for marketing content instead of using Lorem Ipsum
Writing compelling content for marketing purposes can be a daunting task.
The Cloud
Over the Air (OTA) Updates for IoT Devices using AWS
Over-the-air (OTA) updates are a critical feature for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The Cloud
What does Metal Toad do?
Welcome to Metal Toad! So you’ve been hired at this cool tech company cal
Artificial Intelligence
Serverless Best Practice Resources
My last Session for re:Invent was on optimizing Lambda.
machine learning
Image & Natural Language Processing (NLP) using AWS Machine Learning
Machine learning has revolutionized the way we think about technology and its capabilities.
The Cloud
Lambda SnapStart
AWS re:Invent is in full swing and with it come new services that people have been asking for.
The Cloud
Cloud Readiness Assessment
If you are being asked to assess whether you company is ready to migrate to the Cloud, you're not alone. As of 2022, 94% of companies use cloud...
The Cloud
What is Amazon S3?
Amazon S3 is short for Amazon Simple Storage Service, and it is the storage in the cloud.
The Cloud
Managed Services for AWS
Explore the different meanings of managed services in the context of AWS. From AWS Managed Services to consulting partners and product offerings,...
The Cloud
What is Deep Learning?
Deep learning is a category of artificial intelligence (AI) used to find patterns within various types of complex datasets which can include textual,...
Artificial Intelligence
The importance of teamwork in the workplace
We live in a world full of technology, new applications, new functions, different types of entertainment...
The Cloud
How to choose the right cloud provider
The promise of cloud technology has spawned tremendous innovation by some of the biggest, most powerful companies in the world.
machine learning
Top 5 things to know about machine learning content moderation
If you are in charge of moderating user generated content, whether video, image or text based, you may be wondering how you can take advantage of...
Business
My Promotion to UX Designer
As a new UX Designer, Laura Chaves shares the story of her new role, how she got started, and what she's excited about. Click to read the full story.
machine learning
Automated Content Moderation with AWS Machine Learning
The AWS Rekognition POC enables companies the ability to moderate user-generated videos using machine learning. Designed by Metal Toad and Mux. Learn...
Artificial Intelligence
The Cybersecurity threat from Russia
On Thursday, February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Immediately after, in a speech, President Biden said the following:
Education
NAB Show 2022: A Quick Guide
NAB Show is back in-person and better than ever! View our quick guide to learn about the event and the answers to some of the most common questions.
machine learning
The top 5 things to know about facial recognition
When Forbes quoted me in their article 12 Things You Need To Know About Facial Recognition Technology, I made the following contribution...
Artificial Intelligence
What is AWS EC2?
AWS EC2 is short for Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud.
Agile
SAFe POPM vs. CSPO - Which Product Owner Certification is The Best?
Comparing SAFe POPM and CSPO certifications for Product Owners. Discover which certification is best for your career and the benefits they offer.
machine learning
3 Ways To Use Machine Learning: December 2021 Hackathon Overview
With a new emphasis on machine learning, our December 2021 Hackathon focused on building your own machine learning model. Learn about what our Toads...
machine learning
Amazon SageMaker
What is Amazon SageMaker? If you are new to the machine learning development world you not know what you need to know about Amazon SageMaker
Education
Is the AWS Machine Learning Certification worth it?
How does AWS Machine Learning Certification Compare to the Competition? Machine Learning is hot, and AWS machine learning is at the very top of the...
The Cloud
Big Takeaways from AWS re:Invent 2021
While normally I consider myself a consistent writer, since this summer it's been difficult for me to muster to will to research and share the...
Insider
CES 2022: A Quick Guide
With CES 2022 just around the corner, we've compiled the most essential information, so you're up-to-date on all things CES.
machine learning
Q4 2021 Online Hackathon: Identifying Downed Power Lines
From our online hackathon, read Team Brazuca's journey on using machine learning to create a model that can identify downed power lines.
machine learning
Announcing The Metal Toad Q4 2021 Online Hackathon: Building Your Own Machine Learning Model
It's that magical time of the year - our hackathon is back! Twice a year, we set aside the day-to-day and dive into an exciting 48-hour innovation...
The Cloud
Where is AWS going? 3 Trends From AWS re:Invent 2021
Curious about what topics were talked about at AWS re:Invent 2021? Read about the three trends here.
Artificial Intelligence
AWS re:Invent 2021 Day 1 Recap
Wondering how the first day of AWS re:Invent 2021 went? Find out in this blog article from our Front-End Thermer Laura Boemo.
Artificial Intelligence
What is AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda, for those not familiar with it, is an event driven serverless (what is serverless?) platform for compute resources
machine learning
Brazil’s Best: Metal Toad Wins 2021 Clutch Award for Top IT Outsourcing Company
From Los Angeles to Brazil Headquartered in sunny Los Angeles, California, Metal Toad is an award-winning
Business
Planning for Uncertainty: 7 Key Principles for Creating an Excellent Roadmap
Roadmaps are important. My summer plans often involve traveling with my f
The Cloud
AWS reInvent: what to expect 2021
As an award-winning AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and AWS managed services provider, we are pumped about the
Media & Entertainment
Metal Toad Recognized as Key Partner For New AWS Media & Entertainment Initiative
Metal Toad is proud to be recognized as a key partner for the recently launched AWS for Media & Entertainment initiative. Metal Toad received special...
Workplace Dress Code
As I was deciding what to write about in a blog for a software company, I didn’t recall anyone writing one here about fashion or dress code at the...
Artificial Intelligence
THE NEW HOME OFFICE MODEL
Technology has brougth great benefits to society and organizations such as:
5 Time Management Tips That Work
Time management is a decision-making process with the intention of planning and organizing how you divide the time to be spent on specific activities...
5 Reasons Why You Should Write Every Day
When you hear the word “writing,” what image comes to mind?
Agile
The Power of a Personal Retrospective
Metal Toad first introduced the concept of a retrospective to me in 2014. As an agile software company, our teams undertake retrospectives (retros)...
machine learning
Thoughts on 2021 StackOverflow Developer Survey
The StackOverflow Annual Developer Survey measures the developer community
Design
Fostering Genuine Connections in a Virtual World
In a pandemic year, everyone is scrambling to keep afloat.
machine learning
Artificial Intelligence and the Cyberpunk dream
I was always amazed at the way the media convinced me that Artificial Intelligences would think, behave and act like human beings. That made me look...
The Cloud
Understanding the Cloud Media Workload: Content Distribution
The HPA Tech Retreat is the pre-eminent gathering of industry-leading thinkers and innovation-focused companies engaged in the creation, management,...
The Cloud
Understanding Cloud Media Workloads: Content Creation, Media Supply Chain & Content Distribution
The impact of the Cloud on Media & Entertainment is profound. Gain a holistic executive viewpoint of key insights into the M&E industry, end-to-end...
The Cloud
Understanding the Cloud Media Workload: Media Supply Chain
The HPA Tech Retreat is the pre-eminent gathering of industry-leading thinkers and innovation-focused companies engaged in the creation, management,...
The Cloud
Digital Rights Management and the Cloud
As the CEO of BuyDRM, Christopher provides key insight and management to staff based around the world, as part of BuyDRM’s mission to deliver the...
Artificial Intelligence
TestNG versus JUnit: Making the Right Choice
The Cloud
Kubeless: Role your own FaaS
All major cloud offerings have a Function as a Service (FaaS) tool. AWS offers Lambda, Azure offers Functions, GCP offers Cloud Functions.
Artificial Intelligence
Running FaaS on Linux Mint 19.3 with Kubeless
FaaS, the acronym for Function as a Service, is a cloud computing service that allows developers to build, run, and manage applications as functions...
The Cloud
Ecommerce trends 2021
I recently bought a t-shirt online. Printed on the shirt is a hilarious mash-up of a cartoon from the 80s (He-Man) and a modern-day meme ("do you...
The Cloud
Media Orchestration + Cloud
With over 23 years in the industry, Art Raymond has been involved in media and advertising for the totality of his career. From the very beginning,...
The Cloud
The Future of Cloud Security
1) What is the state of cloud security today? Cloud security today is
Media & Entertainment
Back to work
For the first time in 12 months, I am exploring options for an actual office space outside of my home. As many of you know, Metal Toad went...
The Cloud
Understanding the Cloud Media Workload: Content Creation
The HPA Tech Retreat is the pre-eminent gathering of industry-leading thinkers and innovation-focused companies engaged in the creation, management,...
Tips to manage stress
In this pandemic`s time we are all living, stress can be really part of our lives. We all have stress sometimes in our life, at work, at home, and on...
Media & Entertainment
How to host a virtual conference
This article first appeared in the Metal Toad newsletter.
The Cloud
How to make a website
22 years ago, I worked at a company called LACityWeb.com. The company failed in the year 2000, but back in 1999 we were selling websites. The sales...
Media & Entertainment
How to work remotely
Get our top 5 tips to doing remote work right. We've been working remotely since 2019 and learned a number of things the hard way.
Media & Entertainment
What is wallstreetbets Reddit?
It's likely been impossible for you to miss all the talk about GameStop stock. This upside is due to a corner of the internet called Reddit. More...
Media & Entertainment
What is Clubhouse?
By now you've probably heard about Clubhouse, the hot new social app. While I'm sure many of you are already on the inside, perhaps even hosting your...
The Cloud
How to Host a Website on AWS in 5 Minutes
For most casual website owners, it’s often easy to simply use a hosting provider with built in support for their CMS and integrating analytics....
machine learning
What is Machine Learning?
Machine learning is a field of computer science where mathematical systems “learn” from massive data to adjust their internal models using linear...
Artificial Intelligence
Setup a NAS on AWS
As part of Metal Toad’s Managed Services Team, I have worked extensively in custom cloud based solutions.
Media & Entertainment
Work from home forever
In March of 2020, as a joke on my Instagram I posted a photo of my dog saying he hoped nobody ever went back to work. Now almost 11 months later, it...
Artificial Intelligence
Difference between Defect, Error and Bug
In the testing world it is very common that Quality Engineers talk about defects, bugs and errors, during the software development life cycle.
The Cloud
When should you use AWS Lambda?
Faster than the wing flap of a bee Bees flap their wings ridiculously fast, at around 230 beats per second (fruit flies are 80 times smaller than...
The Cloud
Adaptability, Reinvention, and Media Security
Our CTO, Tony Rost, sat down with Senior Product Manager, Julie Scott, to talk about her key takeaways from this year’s re:Invent: organizational...
Media & Entertainment
Consumer Electronics Show — CES 2021
We recently wrapped up the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021, and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. This was the first year we went all...
The Cloud
Chaos Engineering & AWS CloudShell
Our CTO, Tony Rost, sat down with engineering manager Nathan Wilkerson to talk about his key takeaways from this year’s re:Invent: Chaos Engineering...
Artificial Intelligence
What is Quality Assurance?
If you have ever had a bad experience with a product, such as a new cell phone application or a bad food delivery, would you use that product or...
AWS
How to get started with AWS Quicksight
Our CTO, Tony Rost, sat down with product leader Dave Bellous to talk about his key takeaways from this year’s re:Invent: AWS Quicksight
CES 2021: Razer launches the smart mask — Project Hazel
If you're like me, you may be tired of wearing a mask. It's essential, it's important, and it's becoming part of everyday life.
Artificial Intelligence
How to pick the best Headless CMS
In the past few years, Metal Toad has increasingly migrated clients to headless CMS providers to reduce costs, improve the conten
The Cloud
What are the different types of cloud service providers?
Back in 2014 when we first launched the Emmys on AWS, the service had been publicly available since 2006. While eight years might not seem that long,...
Business
No one ever got fired for buying IBM
Technology consulting firms are everywhere. Many have familiar names like IBM, Accenture and McKinsey. Some may be vendors you're working with. But...
Artificial Intelligence
How to avoid malware
The SUNBURST malware, likely of Russian origin, was a remarkable and devastating breach of cybersecurity. The data gathered will likely advantage the...
Insider
A CES Quick Guide
As an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, we’re thrilled to kick off 2021 with several Toads attending the first all-digital CES 2021!
Education
You’re on mute…
When it comes to summing up 2020 it’s the ubiquitous phrase “you’re on mute” that is both perfect and a little painful.
machine learning
A UX perspective on AWS re:Invent 2020
In 2020, a majority of events moved online, making them more accessible than ever before, and an outcome of this change has created new opportunities...
Design
Farewell 2020
On New Years Eve, from the comfort of my couch, I watched the “Good Riddance 2020” Pink Martini streaming event on OPB.
The Cloud
AWS re:Invent announcements 2020
Things are a little different this year at AWS re:Invent, but one thing remained un
machine learning
Takeaways from 2020
This was a bizarre year that delivered a mix of stress and opportunities. I found new hobbies, new tricks for remote working, and new ways of...
To Blog or Not to Blog
For someone who does not consider himself much of a writer, “To Blog or Not to Blog?” is a ques
Artificial Intelligence
Metal Toad’s Remote Work 2020 AWS Hackathon: Outcomes & Innovations
The dust has settled at the Toads’ biannual hackathon, and what a ride it was!
Git
Top Five Lessons I Learned in 2020
Saying this has been an incredibly difficult year is an understatement. Both personally and professionally, we were all stretched, challenged, and...
Interviews
Remote Work 2020 Hackathon: Branded Video Chat Software
What was the challenge/problem your team wanted to solve? Santa Claus was
Artificial Intelligence
Top 3 AWS re:Invent 2020 announcements
Last week AWS wrapped up their latest AWS re:Invent Conference.
AWS
AWS Chime: Lessons learned
A lot has changed during 2020. One is the number of people working remotely. That’s the Q4 hackathon theme was “Remote Work in 2020”.
The Cloud
Video Streaming + Cloud
Executive Interview with Joachim Bergman, CEO/COO at 24i. Joachim Bergman has been leading tech innovation for over two decades, with a focus on...
The Cloud
Metadata in the Cloud
Executive Interview with Rob Tucker, Founder of META. With over 15 years innovating tech solutions in media and entertainment, Rob Tucker leverages...
Artificial Intelligence
Metal Toad’s 2020 Hackathon: AWS Remote Work Innovations
It’s hackathon time again at Metal Toad! Twice a year, we set aside the day-to-day and dive into an exciting 48-hour innovation whirlwind of rapid...
The Cloud
Digital Asset Management + Cloud
Executive Interview with Gary Ballabio, Head of Technology Partnerships at Cloudinary. Gary Ballabio has been innovating in the technology space for...
The Cloud
Performance Monitoring + Cloud
Executive Interview with Brenton Ough, CEO and Cofounder, Touchstream. Brenton Ough has been innovating in the technology field for over 20 years,...
The Cloud
Video Monetization + Cloud
Executive Interview with George Meek, CEO at InPlayer. George Meek has been in the technology field for decades and has focused on media and...
The Cloud
AWS re:Invent Quick Guide for Media & Entertainment
In a year of radical change, one of the biggest transformations has been the massive shift to online entertainment and engagement—powered by the...