The Desk

The Desk — Edition 81

Welcome to the 81st issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

Brandon Himpfen

Brandon Himpfen

— 9 min read
The Desk — Edition 81
Photo by Linus Mimietz / Unsplash

Welcome to the 81st issue of The Desk — my weekly roundup of newly published content, project updates, and recommendations. Whether you’re following along for tutorials, blog posts, GitHub projects, or curated reads, there’s something for everyone building or exploring in tech, content, and open-source spaces.

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📝 New Blog Posts

This week’s posts content focused on travel intelligence and solo travel:

Solo Traveler–Approved: The Best Travel & Travel Tech Essentials for 2026
Discover the best travel gear and travel tech essentials for solo travelers in 2026. Thoughtful, experience-tested picks for safety, comfort, and independence—perfect for Boxing Day deals and year-ahead travel planning.
Solo TravelerBrandon Himpfen
Brandon’s Curated Shortlist of Trips for Solo Travelers - Issue 9
Discover curated trips for solo travelers with Brandon’s Shortlist! Explore unique adventures, no/low single supplements, and destinations tailored for independent explorers. Your gateway to affordable, exciting solo travel experiences starts here.
Solo TravelerBrandon Himpfen
Trusted Travel Resources in the Age of AI: What the Conversation Gets Wrong—and What Actually Matters
A clear, balanced analysis of AI in travel research. This article explains how AI really affects trust, scams, and credibility, and offers practical standards travelers can use to evaluate information from blogs, search engines, and AI tools.
Brandon HimpfenBrandon Himpfen
Why I Build Public Travel Resources (And Keep Them Free)
Why I build public travel resources and keep them free. A reflection on accessibility, preparedness, and designing practical travel tools that remove friction, support solo travelers, and remain useful when people need information most.
Brandon HimpfenBrandon Himpfen

Stay tuned as I continue publishing more posts each week across Bold Outlook, Solo Traveler, Brandon Travel and Travel Bloggers Network.

📝 New Pages

I launched a new web page for my personal site and blog called Trusted Travel. Trusted Travel is a framework for evaluating travel information based on transparency, verification, recency and accountability.

Trusted Travel: Standards for Reliable Travel Information
Trusted Travel is a framework for evaluating travel information based on transparency, verification, recency, and accountability. It helps travelers understand how trust is earned, maintained, and lost across blogs, platforms, and tools.
Brandon HimpfenBrandon Himpfen

I have streamlined Solo Traveler's primary navigation and added a new page called Projects: open travel datasets and experimental tools, such as the Solo Traveler CLI.

Projects
Explore SoloTraveler.org projects including open travel datasets and experimental tools like the Solo Traveler CLI. Built to support solo travel planning, research, and data-driven insights through open, reusable infrastructure.
Solo TravelerBrandon Himpfen

🏢 New GitHub Orgs

I launched two new GitHub organizations to focus on a This Week In newsletter and a website focusing on crypto intelligence:

brandoncrypto
GitHub is where brandoncrypto builds software.
GitHub
solotravelweekly
GitHub is where solotravelweekly builds software.
GitHub

These are all part of my broader GitHub ecosystem (e.g., BrandonTravel, Bold Outlook, AwesomeListsIO). Contributions welcome!

📦 New GitHub Repos

Here are a collection of brand new GitHub repos that are primarily apart of my Awesome Lists project. This brings the total amount of Awesome Lists to 250 🥳:

GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-govtech: A curated list of platforms, tools, frameworks, datasets, and learning resources for GovTech.
A curated list of platforms, tools, frameworks, datasets, and learning resources for GovTech. - awesomelistsio/awesome-govtech
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-public-policy: A curated list of institutions, datasets, tools, frameworks, and learning resources for public policy.
A curated list of institutions, datasets, tools, frameworks, and learning resources for public policy. - awesomelistsio/awesome-public-policy
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-business-intelligence: A curated list of tools, platforms, frameworks, and learning resources for Business Intelligence (BI).
A curated list of tools, platforms, frameworks, and learning resources for Business Intelligence (BI). - awesomelistsio/awesome-business-intelligence
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-data-engineering: A curated list of tools, frameworks, platforms, architectures, and learning resources for data engineering.
A curated list of tools, frameworks, platforms, architectures, and learning resources for data engineering. - awesomelistsio/awesome-data-engineering
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-big-data: A curated list of frameworks, platforms, tools, architectures, and learning resources for Big Data.
A curated list of frameworks, platforms, tools, architectures, and learning resources for Big Data. - awesomelistsio/awesome-big-data
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-web3: A curated list of platforms, protocols, tools, frameworks, and learning resources for Web3.
A curated list of platforms, protocols, tools, frameworks, and learning resources for Web3. - awesomelistsio/awesome-web3
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-blockchain: A curated list of platforms, protocols, tools, frameworks, standards, and learning resources for blockchain technology.
A curated list of platforms, protocols, tools, frameworks, standards, and learning resources for blockchain technology. - awesomelistsio/awesome-blockchain
GitHubawesomelistsio
GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-payments: A curated list of platforms, APIs, tools, standards, and learning resources for payments.
A curated list of platforms, APIs, tools, standards, and learning resources for payments. - awesomelistsio/awesome-payments
GitHubawesomelistsio

I regularly publish new GitHub repos, so please ensure to follow my GitHub and or my GitHub orgs for the latest.

🛠️ Updated GitHub Repos

Here are notable updates to existing GitHub repositories:

GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-ghost: A curated list of awesome resources, themes, plugins, and tools for the Ghost blogging platform.
A curated list of awesome resources, themes, plugins, and tools for the Ghost blogging platform. - awesomelistsio/awesome-ghost
GitHubawesomelistsio

I’m constantly improving my GitHub repositories to make them more useful for both contributors and end users.

Here are a few standout articles and blog posts I recommend checking out this week:

Google says it is ‘gradually rolling out’ option to change your @gmail.com address
Google says on a support page that it is “gradually rolling out” a new change allowing users to change their Gmail address.
9to5GoogleBen Schoon
French postal service brought down by cyber attack
Le Monde Informatique reports that it is a DDoS attack.
CSO OnlineViktor Eriksson
Bitcoin will be ‘top performer’ in 2026 after getting crushed this year, says VanEck
VanEck’s David Schassler expects gold and bitcoin to rebound sharply as investor demand for hard assets is expected to rise.
CoinDeskKrisztian Sandor
Microsoft wants to replace its entire C and C++ codebase
: Plans move to Rust, with help from AI
The RegisterSimon Sharwood
Crypto Exchange Binance Let $1.7B Flow Through Terror-Linked Accounts, Even After Paying Billions
Binance allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to move through suspicious accounts even after promising to strengthen compliance as part of a $4.
Financial and Business News | Finance MagnatesDamian Chmiel
1,000 computers taken offline in Romanian water management authority hack
No group has claimed the attack yet, and thankfully, water is still flowing in Romania.
Tom's HardwareBruno Ferreira
NPM Package With 56K Downloads Caught Stealing WhatsApp Messages
Koi logoTuval Admoni,,
Fintech Firm Mercury Applies for National Bank Charter
Digital banking firm Mercury Technologies Inc. has applied for a national bank charter, joining a wave of companies seeking to secure a coveted license under the Trump administration’s relatively permissive approach to fintech regulation.
BloombergEmily Mason
Cracked Software and YouTube Videos Spread CountLoader and GachiLoader Malware
Researchers uncover malware campaigns using cracked software and compromised YouTube videos to deliver CountLoader, GachiLoader, and info stealers.
The Hacker NewsThe Hacker News
Coinbase Sues Three States Over Prediction Market Regulation - Decrypt
Illinois had issued cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com in April over sports event contract offerings.
DecryptVismaya V
Sam Altman on OpenAI’s Plan to Win, AI Personalization, Infrastructure Math, and The Inevitable IPO
OpenAI’s CEO joins Big Technology for a candid discussion covering OpenAI’s strategy, its product ambitions, its ability to pay for $1 trillion+ in infrastructure, going public, and much more.
Big TechnologyAlex Kantrowitz

These are curated for developers, creators, travelers, and digital professionals — with an eye on quality and depth.

Thanks for reading The Desk — Edition 81! If you found something valuable, feel free to share it or subscribe to keep up with future updates.

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