ITDogtics - Blog

Tired of "What Should We Do?" Introducing the Hangout App! Ever find yourself staring blankly when someone asks "Where should we go?" or getting caught off guard by a sudden downpour? The Hangout App is your new best friend for spontaneous plans! It uses your real-time "vibe" and the current weather to instantly generate personalized hangout ideas, making planning a breeze. Key Features: Location-Based Suggestions: Get ideas tailored to your current location. Customized for You: We consider the weather, your energy levels, and your preferences to suggest the perfect hangout. Map & Transit Help: See your suggested spots on a map and get public transit tutorials to help you get there. AI-Powered Plans: Our suggestions are generated by Gemini for smart, unique ideas. Get Started Today! Ready to simplify your spontaneous adventures? You can access the app at: https://hangout.itdogtics.com/ For the best experience, we recommend adding the app to y...

Migrating Flutter Web Google AI to Firebase: Beyond the Docs Google AI is evolving at an incredible pace. In less than a year, I've seen Gemini progress from version 1.0 to 2.5. As you might know, ITDOGTICS has developed several applications using Gemini, and this rapid evolution brings maintenance challenges, particularly with model deprecation. The recent announcement of Gemini 1.5's discontinuation, for instance, has led to the deprecation of some Flutter packages, including the google_generative_ai package I've been using. The next version will leverage Firebase AI . While the syntax transition is relatively straightforward, a significant shift is the move away from user-based API keys to a centralized Firebase approach. This change introduces new security considerations. In this blog post, I'll guide you through the migration process, helping you securely transition your project from the original google_generative_ai package to Firebase AI . This guide is for: F...

OpenAI just launched Codex, a smart tool for writing code. Lately, people are talking a lot about "vibe coding" and "agentic coding." This blog will explain what those things mean by looking at Codex. This is for you if: You're curious about Vibe Coding or Agentic Coding You know a little bit about Codex Easy Explanations: Vibe Coding and Agentic Coding Vibe Coding: Letting the Computer Mostly Write the Code Imagine telling a computer what kind of code you need, and it writes it for you. That's basically vibe coding. You don't worry too much about if the code is perfect or has mistakes. You just trust that the computer will give you something that works okay. Agentic Coding: The Computer Helps You Code Smarter Agentic coding is like letting the computer read your existing code files. It understands what's already there and then writes new code or changes old code based on that understanding. This makes some parts of coding automatic, like the comp...

Mastering the Art of Prompting: Why One Size Doesn't Fit All in the World of AI Agents It's a common mistake to use the exact same instructions (called "prompts") for different big language models (LLMs). Just like different people learn in different ways, different AI models are trained in their own special ways. This means the best way to talk to one might not be the best way to talk to another. This blog post will help you understand the different ways to give instructions to AI, whether you're just starting out or you already have some experience. Who This Blog Post Is For: People who are new to giving instructions to AI and want to learn the basics. People who want to share ideas and learn more about how to give the best instructions. Understanding the Basics of Giving Instructions (Prompting) Basically, prompting is how you tell an AI model what you want it to do. There are generally two main ways to do this: Zero-Shot Prompting: This is like asking a ...

Building AI Code Generation Tools from Scratch in Python 3: A Journey from Zero to Everything (Stage Report) After diving deep in our first three parts, this post is a bit different. It's not a typical progress update, but a moment to pause, reflect on the journey so far, and tackle some big questions that have come up – especially about the limits of AI in software development. Where We Left Off: The Roadblocks In our last discussion, we identified some key challenges our AI tool faced: Missing Design Assets: It couldn't create necessary visual elements (like image folders). Backend Blindspots: Setting up databases or connecting to external services was beyond its scope. The User Acceptance Puzzle: What the AI generated often didn't quite match what a user really wanted or expected. Ignoring Runtime Reality: The process couldn't detect if the generated code would actually run without errors. Honestly, finding straightforward ways to solve these purely with ou...

Can Self-Driving Cars Be Tricked? Let's Talk About Mark Rober's Video! Have you seen Mark Rober's YouTube video, 'Can You Fool A Self Driving Car? ' It's got people talking! In his video, Mark tests a Tesla (which uses cameras) against a car with lidar. If you haven't seen it, basically, he tries to trick both cars to see how well they handle different situations. In this post, we'll cover: What cameras and lidar are. What Mark's test showed. Why not all self-driving cars use lidar. This is for anyone curious about self-driving cars, Tesla owners, or anyone who doesn't have a lot of technical know-how! Cameras: Like Our Eyes! We all know cameras! We use them to take photos and videos. In self-driving cars, computers look at the camera's pictures and videos to figure out what's around the car. Just like when we take photos in bright or dark places, cameras on cars can have trouble too. Sometimes, they need to adjust for light. And just...