Our VP of Engineering outlines the questions a properly designed proof of concept (PoC) needs to answer, particularly for complex technologies like...
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?
A tutorial on how to integrate the amazon lex with your slack channel
3-day Hackathon project: AgeVisionAI
Empowering Customer Interaction: Leveraging AWS Amazon Lex as a Chatbot Solution
Discover how to extract, upload, and analyze LinkedIn Ads data using Amazon Quicksight, enhanced by the capabilities of Generative AI with Amazon Q.
Discover how Metal Toad's team utilized AWS services and ML to create a simple social network platform at their latest hackathon. Explore the...
Unlock the secrets of AWS Identity and Access Management with this comprehensive guide, covering key concepts, best practices, and tips for...
Discover why saying refactor isn't enough in agile coding. Enhance project success by focusing on customer value.
Explore the potential future of machine learning and whether it will eventually become obsolete in the ever-evolving landscape of AI advancements.
Gain clarity on the relationship between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Discover the role of AWS in accelerating AI and ML...
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...
Explore Amazon CloudWatch Application Signals: Revolutionize cloud monitoring with SLO tracking, rapid troubleshooting, and holistic application...
Dive deep into the top reasons organizations choose AWS
Steps to use Amazon Bedrock to get process Documents.
Metal Toad is recognized as one of only two SaaS Competency partners in North America.
Discover the diverse range of businesses and organizations that rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and explore the reasons behind their choice.
Discover the extensive range of AWS services and explore how they can benefit your business.
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...
Discover the perfect Business Intelligence (BI) tool for your business with Metal Toad's expert comparison of Power BI and Amazon QuickSight.
Here at Metal Toad, we are thrilled to share that our forward-thinking tech company has achieved an extraordinary Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)...
In the realm of digital artistry, Adobe Firefly stands as a beacon of creativity, offering a canvas where imagination dances with pixels.
Discover how Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing the recruitment and selection process. AI is transforming hiring practices from automation to...
A lot has been said in the media about AI generated art, but how does it actually work (from a human perspective)?
In an era where digital interactions play an ever-increasing role in our lives, our online identities have become more important than ever.
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.
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...
'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...
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...
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...
Implementing Amazon Redshift, a popular data warehousing solution provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS), requires careful planning to ensure optimal...
Amazon QuickSight is a business intelligence (BI) tool provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables you to create interactive and visually...
Amazon Redshift is a powerful data warehousing solution provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows you to analyze large datasets with high...
My Summer Journey at Metal Toad: An Internship Reflection
Use AWS to secure tenant data at every level
Safeguarding SaaS Products: A Comprehensive Guide to Securing Your Offering with AWS
Building Scalable and Cost-Efficient SaaS Products with AWS: A Deep Dive into Metal Toad's Approach
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...
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...
For modern user applications having an avatar to represent you is important.
Onboarding During my few weeks, I went through an onboarding process wher
Authentication and authorization is a critical aspect of building modern applications.
Working in HR, it is possible to do recruitment, retention, or both activities.
Discover how to test workloads and reduce IT costs with AWS Partner Proof of Concept funding. Explore the possibilities of AWS Cloud today!
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...
Migrating to the cloud can be a complex and challenging process for businesses.
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...
There are many ways that machine learning can help people in all different kinds of roles.
AWS CloudTrail provides a record of all API calls made within an AWS account.
In the previous blog we talked about ChatGPT and went through some examples on how to use it to help develop solutions.
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...
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,...
As technology continues to evolve, the use of AI-powered chatbots for writing tasks has become more prevalent.
Migrating to the cloud has become a common practice for businesses looking to achieve scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency in their IT...
AWS Machine Learning can revolutionize the efficiency of Human Resource departments.
In the previous blog we talked about how ML Augmented Development
If you're looking for a powerful, cloud-based business intelligence service, Amazon QuickSight deserves serious consideration.
User story mapping is an effective technique for product development that helps teams understand the context of the full application and how...
In the last few months, the world has come to know ChatGPT as a source for ML generated writing.
Querying performance enhancements with Neptune versus DynamoDB with OpenSearch.
You may have already heard about this artificial intelligence writing readable text. This will have a profound effect on the need for knowledge...
Writing compelling content for marketing purposes can be a daunting task.
Over-the-air (OTA) updates are a critical feature for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Welcome to Metal Toad! So you’ve been hired at this cool tech company cal
My last Session for re:Invent was on optimizing Lambda.
Machine learning has revolutionized the way we think about technology and its capabilities.
AWS re:Invent is in full swing and with it come new services that people have been asking for.
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...
Amazon S3 is short for Amazon Simple Storage Service, and it is the storage in the cloud.
Explore the different meanings of managed services in the context of AWS. From AWS Managed Services to consulting partners and product offerings,...
Deep learning is a category of artificial intelligence (AI) used to find patterns within various types of complex datasets which can include textual,...
We live in a world full of technology, new applications, new functions, different types of entertainment...
The promise of cloud technology has spawned tremendous innovation by some of the biggest, most powerful companies in the world.
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...
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.
The AWS Rekognition POC enables companies the ability to moderate user-generated videos using machine learning. Designed by Metal Toad and Mux. Learn...
On Thursday, February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Immediately after, in a speech, President Biden said the following:
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.
When Forbes quoted me in their article 12 Things You Need To Know About Facial Recognition Technology, I made the following contribution...
AWS EC2 is short for Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud.
Comparing SAFe POPM and CSPO certifications for Product Owners. Discover which certification is best for your career and the benefits they offer.
With a new emphasis on machine learning, our December 2021 Hackathon focused on building your own machine learning model. Learn about what our Toads...
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
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...
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...
With CES 2022 just around the corner, we've compiled the most essential information, so you're up-to-date on all things CES.
From our online hackathon, read Team Brazuca's journey on using machine learning to create a model that can identify downed power lines.
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...
Curious about what topics were talked about at AWS re:Invent 2021? Read about the three trends here.
Wondering how the first day of AWS re:Invent 2021 went? Find out in this blog article from our Front-End Thermer Laura Boemo.
AWS Lambda, for those not familiar with it, is an event driven serverless (what is serverless?) platform for compute resources
From Los Angeles to Brazil Headquartered in sunny Los Angeles, California, Metal Toad is an award-winning
Roadmaps are important. My summer plans often involve traveling with my f
As an award-winning AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and AWS managed services provider, we are pumped about the
Metal Toad is proud to be recognized as a key partner for the recently launched AWS for Media & Entertainment initiative. Metal Toad received special...
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...
Technology has brougth great benefits to society and organizations such as:
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...
When you hear the word “writing,” what image comes to mind?
Metal Toad first introduced the concept of a retrospective to me in 2014. As an agile software company, our teams undertake retrospectives (retros)...
The StackOverflow Annual Developer Survey measures the developer community
In a pandemic year, everyone is scrambling to keep afloat.
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 HPA Tech Retreat is the pre-eminent gathering of industry-leading thinkers and innovation-focused companies engaged in the creation, management,...
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 HPA Tech Retreat is the pre-eminent gathering of industry-leading thinkers and innovation-focused companies engaged in the creation, management,...
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...
All major cloud offerings have a Function as a Service (FaaS) tool. AWS offers Lambda, Azure offers Functions, GCP offers Cloud Functions.
FaaS, the acronym for Function as a Service, is a cloud computing service that allows developers to build, run, and manage applications as functions...
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...
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,...
1) What is the state of cloud security today? Cloud security today is
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 HPA Tech Retreat is the pre-eminent gathering of industry-leading thinkers and innovation-focused companies engaged in the creation, management,...
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...
This article first appeared in the Metal Toad newsletter.
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...
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.
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...
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...
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 is a field of computer science where mathematical systems “learn” from massive data to adjust their internal models using linear...
As part of Metal Toad’s Managed Services Team, I have worked extensively in custom cloud based solutions.
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...
In the testing world it is very common that Quality Engineers talk about defects, bugs and errors, during the software development life cycle.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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
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.
In the past few years, Metal Toad has increasingly migrated clients to headless CMS providers to reduce costs, improve the conten
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,...
Technology consulting firms are everywhere. Many have familiar names like IBM, Accenture and McKinsey. Some may be vendors you're working with. But...
The SUNBURST malware, likely of Russian origin, was a remarkable and devastating breach of cybersecurity. The data gathered will likely advantage the...
As an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, we’re thrilled to kick off 2021 with several Toads attending the first all-digital CES 2021!
When it comes to summing up 2020 it’s the ubiquitous phrase “you’re on mute” that is both perfect and a little painful.
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...
On New Years Eve, from the comfort of my couch, I watched the “Good Riddance 2020” Pink Martini streaming event on OPB.
Things are a little different this year at AWS re:Invent, but one thing remained un
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...
For someone who does not consider himself much of a writer, “To Blog or Not to Blog?” is a ques
The dust has settled at the Toads’ biannual hackathon, and what a ride it was!
Saying this has been an incredibly difficult year is an understatement. Both personally and professionally, we were all stretched, challenged, and...
What was the challenge/problem your team wanted to solve? Santa Claus was
Last week AWS wrapped up their latest AWS re:Invent Conference.
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”.
Executive Interview with Joachim Bergman, CEO/COO at 24i. Joachim Bergman has been leading tech innovation for over two decades, with a focus on...
Executive Interview with Rob Tucker, Founder of META. With over 15 years innovating tech solutions in media and entertainment, Rob Tucker leverages...
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...
Executive Interview with Gary Ballabio, Head of Technology Partnerships at Cloudinary. Gary Ballabio has been innovating in the technology space for...
Executive Interview with Brenton Ough, CEO and Cofounder, Touchstream. Brenton Ough has been innovating in the technology field for over 20 years,...
Executive Interview with George Meek, CEO at InPlayer. George Meek has been in the technology field for decades and has focused on media and...
In a year of radical change, one of the biggest transformations has been the massive shift to online entertainment and engagement—powered by the...
Executive Interview with Srinivasan KA, Co-founder, Amagi. Srinivasan KA has been a leader in the tech industry for over two decades. He began his...
Executive Interview with Ken Gerstein, VP of Sales at NAGRA. Ken Gerstein has been a sales and business development leader in the media and...
I love going to conferences. I love the mix of travel and new ideas.
Los Angeles' Scope Los Angeles is a massive metropolis. While only #18 by population - with a mere 18.7 million people - Los Angeles is
How AWS Cloud works, how AWS got started and how much of the cloud market AWS controls in 2020.
We recently had some success I wanted to share. A product we built with WARN won a serious award at this year’s SEMA (Specialty Equipment...
Executive Interview with Philippe Brodeur, CEO and Founder of Overcast HQ. Philippe Brodeur got his start in the M&E space as a BBC producer and...
Executive Interview with Igor Krol, CEO of Veset. Igor Krol has well over a decade of experience as a high-level executive in the investment banking...
Executive Interview with Shaun McCarthy, General Manager of Meta. Shaun McCarthy has decades of experience as a senior executive in the tech field,...
Executive Interview with Stefan Lederer, CEO & Founder of Bitmovin. Stefan Lederer is an internationally recognized expert in video and streaming...
Executive Interview with Barry Russell, SVP of Business Development & GM of Cloud for Qumulo. Barry Russell has been at the forefront of the cloud...
Executive Interview with Jerónimo Macanás Candilejo, CEO & Co-Founder of Jump. Jerónimo is a digital entrepreneur with almost 20 years of experience...
Executive Interview with Per Lindgren, CTO and Co-Founder at Net Insight. Per has been a leader in the digital M&E world for over 20 years. He...
Executive Interview with Greg Loose, Head of Media & Entertainment at Veritone. Greg is a long-time leader in the technology space, including SaaS...
Executive Interview with Fereidoon Khosravi, SVP and Chief Business Development Officer at Venera Technologies. Fereidoon has been a leader in the US...
Nobody understands the ultimate impact that the Cloud will have on human beings. Not me, not anyone at AWS or Google, no one.
Executive Interview with Lincoln Spiteri, VP of Engineering at Dalet. Lincoln has been in the telecommunications, media, and software industry for...
Executive Interview with Ian McPherson, AWS, Head of North American Partnerships and Alliances Media and Entertainment. Ian is a longtime marketing...
For the Media & Entertainment industry, COVID-19 has had an unimaginable impact: Disney saw its profits fall 91% during the first three months of...
In the world of AWS acronyms abound. The term ISV gets thrown around a lot but it's relatively easy to unpack. First, ISV stands for Independent...
I've been spending more time talking to clients about data engineering.
Last month my family and I received an email we had been dreading.
Most people don't know that my experience in Hollywood goes back almost 20 years. My first real job was working at HOME BOX OFFICE (HBO) in the...
Executive Interview with Fredrik Andersson, Founder and SVP of Products of Accedo. In his role, Fredrik is helping the world’s leading video service...
As we round the bend into Fall (which officially starts September 22), we are reminded of the changing season by things that are familiar to us:...
The morning sun from my home in Los Angeles is blood red as it shines through the smoke.
We’re all familiar with the basic corporate American experience. You clock into work, perform your required tasks, and leave at the end of the day.
The short answer the the question: how often should I update my website? is every 3 to 5 years. The much longer answer starts with: it depends.
An Executive Interview with Chris Manriquez, Vice President for Information Technology/CIO at California State University, Dominguez Hills I’ve been...
Babu Frik, an Anzellan droidsmith with a talent for bypassing droid security systems, erased C3PO's memory. He felt very sad about it. He decided to...
Executive Interview with Olga Kornienko, COO and co-founder of EZDRM, a cloud DRM-as-a-Service company. EZDRM’s innovative services provide a full...
10 years ago, a younger me interviewed a brilliant young man named Tony for a position as a programmer at Metal Toad.
Drones are awesome, and a lot of fun. But what happens if your drone gets lost along with all its footage?
On March 1, 2020, I handed in the keys to the Metal Toad office in Portland, Oregon — our corporate headquarters for the past five years — back to...
In this interview, I chat with Erik Åhlin, CEO and co-founder of Vidispine about media supply chains, how M&E companies can leverage the power of the...