I use the official Singapore weather website regularly but one thing has always annoyed me. When you land on the home page, you see a rain map, but you can’t see the current temperature and humidity. You have to search for a “Current Observations” link.
Today, I decided to use Google Gemini to build my own webpage to get those two stats on demand. I’ve always known that the Singapore government provides the latest weather data for coders. But even after learning basic Python, I did not have the knowledge (or motivation) to put the code together.
To cut the long story short, it took a few minutes for Google Gemini to spit out the app and another hour for me to edit the HTML code until I was satisfied with the layout. You can try the original Gemini version here, or the embedded version on my website (where the fonts change due to the blog settings).
Yes, it’s a hot Sunday in Singapore.
I’m not a coder, but it helped that I know the basic vocabulary of coding so I could tell Gemini “here’s the API and here’s the JSON schema” for the data. Otherwise, Gemini would not know where to pull the live data from, and I would not know how to lightly edit the code (eg. changing the font size, editing the headline text).
This is what I mean when I tell people that we all need to know some coding. However, most of them just give me a poker face, and very few people ever ask “How do I get started?” It depends on how much effort you are willing to expend:
- Lowest effort – watch YouTube videos.
- Medium effort – take an online course (usually free) and work on simple projects.
- High effort – sign up for a professional course and work on difficult projects.
I think “Medium effort” is what most people need in order to combine their knowledge of Gen AI with coding. They also need to be data-driven, and know where to find good data.
You read this and you think “Where do I find the time? Why should I bother?” But this is the future, and it’s here. Thanks to Gen AI, you can make your own apps now, and soon, employers will ask you that question. Don’t worry if you can’t make an app better than a professional coder, worry that you haven’t tried.
It’s time to leapfrog yourself!
(Yes, I know my cat banners never sync with the newsletter headlines.)
What I wrote this week
This is the free basic Python course you should take. It incorporates Gen AI immediately and hardly requires you to type any code.
My new workshop “The Agency of You” is happening on 9 July in Singapore!
Please don’t ask me what I think about Gen AI and sustainability.
Some people think it’s frivolous but the color schemes of our public housing subtly impacts us on a daily basis. Another gripe I have is the poor color options for new cars.
Disney and Universal are suing Midjourney for IP infringement. However, you have to pay to use Midjourney while millions use OpenAI for free to make copyrighted characters…
I don’t know why the LinkedIn algorithm liked this post. It was more a commentary on the FnB issues in Singapore.
My recommendations for Chinese-branded tech products.
Google Veo 3: Endless rabbits out of my magic hat.
Google Whisk: A free colouring book generator.
M3GAN is coming, thanks to Mattel x OpenAI.
RIP Bill Atkinson, who helped to make your digital life possible.