Notes on building technology properly.
Engineering deep-dives, architecture decisions and the thinking behind our products — how we make software useful, accessible and dependable, in plain language.
Designing honest software: what a 'last verified' date teaches us about trust
A calculator that gives you a number without showing its assumptions is a black box. Our PayPal Fee Calculator shows its source and a 'last verified' date — a small design choice that says a lot about what software owes its users.
Adaptive concurrency: tuning a download engine that behaves itself
Starting every download with the maximum number of parallel workers is a reliable way to get throttled. Our engine starts at four and climbs a 2 to 12 ladder based on real throughput — here is the reasoning, including the hysteresis that stops it oscillating.
Why we compress images entirely in your browser
Most 'free' image compressors quietly upload your photos to a server. We built OptiSqueeze so not a single byte leaves your device — here is how WebAssembly makes that possible, and why it matters.
How resumable downloads actually work
A download that dies at 90% and starts from zero wastes your time and bandwidth. Here is the HTTP Range machinery, session persistence and disk-safety logic that let a downloader resume exactly where it stopped.
Clipboard detection without the creepiness
An app that watches your clipboard can be genuinely helpful or quietly invasive. The difference is consent, transparency and an easy off switch. Here is how we add 'copy a link and go' without becoming spyware.
What 'works offline' actually requires
'Works offline' sounds like a checkbox but it is an architecture decision. Here is what has to be true for a web tool to keep working when the network does not — moving the compute to the client, caching what you need before you need it, and a service worker as the switchboard.
Stream copy, not re-encode: why we never touch your video's pixels
Every time a tool re-encodes a video it throws away detail forever. When we merge a separate video and audio stream we use stream copy instead — here is what that means for quality, speed and your CPU.
Ideas worth building on.
If a piece here resonates — or you think we got it wrong — we'd genuinely like to hear from you.