When I was first introduced to generative adversarial networks (GANs), I was impressed, but yet not impressed. The concept, performance, and outcomes of these advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms were truly jaw-dropping, but easily abused. And so, when everyone was excitedly chatting about ChatGPT, I was cynical and tried to tune out until I came across a comment by an old acquaintance, following a news article on concerns about ChatGPT and potential plagiarism in school.

It's like someone using a calculator in an arithmetic exam, ChatGPT is just another tool.

-- Sau Sheong Chang

That statement got me rethinking my stance on the technology, and curious about its utility in my day-to-day job.

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to accompany a group of twenty-four exchange students from a local university. Some of them came from countries as far as Singapore. While up in the North, the Aurora Borealis might be a common sight, for tourists, it is still pretty much a calculated risk that it might be a fruitless journey. The night skies were overcast on the first night that they arrived, and it was bitterly cold for folks used to tropical weather, but they persisted. On their second night, there was a minor emergency that delayed a few of them from heading out to the remote site for viewing the Northern Lights, but again, they were determined. Within minutes of their arrival at the viewing site, there was a sudden break in the cloudy skies that coincided with a display of greens and purples that illuminated in the heavens. What a treat!

As we near the end of 2022, I'd like to reflect on the year's challenges and milestones.

It's been too long since I last posted anything on my blog. Thanks to Tim Hall, I am writing again, after a long pause, to celebrate Joel Kallman Day 2022. My contribution today is about my deep appreciation for the team behind the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) AI Services. Below is a quick scoop on how I have used these services to improve on my OCI-powered e-flashcard for learning new words in a different language. I will be doing a quick demonstration (session LRN3673) of this work at the upcoming Oracle CloudWorld 2022.

Is this a lasting treasure, or just a moment's pleasure?

~ Will You Love Me Tomorrow. The Shirelles.

As a technologist, we are constantly bombarded with buzzwords and terms like blockchain, IoT, AI, machine learning, quantum computing, and so much more! I love buzzwords, and wholeheartedly enjoy deciphering the future of technology and work. Hence, for the last few years, I have been a proud member of the committee that peruses and selects abstracts for the Kscope Emerging Technology (ET) track. For next year's Kscope22, I am honoured to be leading the team that will help select a series of sessions that are visionary, and hopefully, give us guidance on what to expect in the years ahead.

For a long time now, I have been eagerly awaiting for out-of-the-box RSA encryption support with pure PL/SQL. Not so much for to sharing secrets, but rather, the ability to sign messages and verify signatures. I might have missed the announcements, but it looks like my wait is over support with asymmetric key operations added in 21c, and (perhaps backported) in 19c as-of release 19.9.

During a recent Kscope21 session, "Predict Customer Churn Using Oracle Autonomous Database, Machine Learning, and APEX", I had shared that it has always been my personal desire to create web applications that are not only purposeful, but also have an element of "intelligence". With new features recently introduced in the Oracle Machine Learning product offering, it is now relatively easy to introduce ML as a component of your Oracle Application Express (APEX) applications. This is the first of several posts that I am writing as a follow up to the presentations I did at this year's (virtual) conference.

In September 2020, Oracle first announced that it was working with Ampere Computing to provide ARM-based chips for its Compute instance offering on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. They have delivered!

ARM chips are found in many low-powered devices like smartphones, single-board computers, and IoT devices. So, if you are an Oracle Application Express (APEX) developer, you might be wondering, "What's in it for me?" Well, remember we talked about running a customer-managed Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) instance for an Oracle Autonomous Database?

The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is a great platform in many ways. However, as much as I love it, I have long griped about the lack of out-of-the-box support for AI services that many of Oracle's competitors have. Well, as of May 6, 2021, I am glad to see that things are starting to turn around with the launch of the OCI Language service.

It was only days ago that I had finalised my slides for my upcoming Oracle Groundbreakers APAC Virtual Tour talk on using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Object Storage for storing large files in Oracle Application Express (APEX). Today, I found out with a lot of excitement, that one of my slides was now factually wrong!

I won't deny that it has been a challenging and tough journey, but today, I'm glad to be able to declare that the book "Getting Started with Oracle Cloud Free Tier" has been published and available to purchase!

In my previous blog post on Running ORDS Against the Autonomous Database - Part 2, we had looked at how to add an existing Let's Encrypt (LE) SSL certificate to an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Load Balancer. You'd typically wwant to host your websites or Oracle Application Express applications over a secure transport layer, especially when sensitive data is communicated between the browser and server.

As Uncle Ben would say, "Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility." With the release of Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) version 19.4.6, many of us were eager to deploy a customer-managed ORDS solution in order to support vanity URLs with Oracle Application Express (APEX), myself included. It has worked well for me until a few days ago, I noticed that my Oracle JET charts weren't loading any more.

In my previous post, we looked at installing and configuring Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) and have it work with Oracle Application Express (APEX) that comes preinstalled with every Oracle Autonomous Database (ADB). Like APEX, ORDS is also included as a feature of the ADB. However, there are certain situations where you might like to manage your own instance of ORDS.

The Oracle Autonomous Database (ADB) is Oracle's current flagship database product and rightly so! Each instance comes with self-tuning, self-patching and several Oracle Database Options that customer would otherwise have to purchase separate licenses for. Database developers will also be pleased to know that there are a suite of tools at your disposal including Oracle Application Express (APEX), Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) and Oracle Machine Learning Notebooks.

The minimum instance you can create will have 1 CPU and 1 TB of storage and with so much features, doesn't come cheap. Here's the good news though, Oracle provides everyone two Always Free ADBs through the Oracle Cloud Free Tier offering. Yes, that's a great deal for anyone wanting to host a simple web application on the Internet. It is however, not without limits.

My personal journey with programming started more than two decades ago. Back then, the one language that I was very passionate and determined to master was Java. Early in my career, I would find any opportunity to attend a Sun Microsystems event like the Sun Tech Days, where I had the opportunity to learn about the constantly evolving platform that went from desktop, to enterprise and then on mobile devices. I can still remember watching the cool things you could do with Lego Mindstorms and an embedded Java runtime, and the vision that JXTA was going to revolutionise the Internet of Things with its state-of-the-art, peer-to-peer technology.