<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>niksmac — writing</title><description>Coding tomorrow&apos;s innovations &amp; capturing today&apos;s magic.</description><link>https://niksmac.me</link><language>en</language><atom:link href="https://niksmac.me/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>Why Private LLM Apps Matter: The Case Behind Merrin</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/private-llm-apps</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/private-llm-apps</guid><description>Cloud AI assistants keep a server-side copy of everything you tell them. Here is what the policies actually say, and why open-weight models running on your own device change the equation.</description><pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Digital Privacy</category><category>AI</category><category>Products</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item><item><title>The Reason FoundersAreHiring Was Created</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/foundersarehiring-startup-hiring</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/foundersarehiring-startup-hiring</guid><description>Why I built FoundersAreHiring to fix a hiring process that had stopped telling me anything useful about candidates.</description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><atom:updated>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</atom:updated><category>Startups</category><category>Hiring</category><category>Product</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item><item><title>Enforcing Git Commit Message Standards: A Simple Approach for Teams</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/enforcing-git-commit-message-standards</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/enforcing-git-commit-message-standards</guid><description>A commit-msg hook and an imperative verb list that keep our Git history readable without slowing anyone down.</description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><atom:updated>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</atom:updated><category>Git</category><category>Engineering</category><category>Workflow</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item><item><title>Ditching Music Subscriptions for Something Better</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/ditching-music-subscriptions</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/ditching-music-subscriptions</guid><description>Cancelling streaming and buying albums gave my listening back, along with an old iPod and the click of the scroll wheel.</description><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><atom:updated>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</atom:updated><category>Digital Minimalism</category><category>Music</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item><item><title>Digital Minimalism for Founders: Cut the Noise, Regain Your Focus</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/reclaiming-focus</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/reclaiming-focus</guid><description>What changed when I deleted most of my apps, cut notifications, and stopped letting Slack reach me after hours.</description><pubDate>Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><atom:updated>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</atom:updated><category>Digital Minimalism</category><category>Productivity</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item><item><title>Photography Devices: A Personal Review</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/photography-devices-a-personal-review</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/photography-devices-a-personal-review</guid><description>Every piece of kit I actually shoot with, what works, what annoys me, and what I&apos;d buy again.</description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><atom:updated>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</atom:updated><category>Photography</category><category>Gear</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item><item><title>Software to Blockchain to the Metaverse</title><link>https://niksmac.me/blog/software-blockchain-metaverse</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://niksmac.me/blog/software-blockchain-metaverse</guid><description>How I got from writing software to blockchain to spatial computing, and what each shift actually taught me about starting companies.</description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><atom:updated>Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</atom:updated><category>Entrepreneurship</category><category>Journey</category><author>nik@niksmac.me</author></item></channel></rss>