The Desk — Edition 86

Welcome to the 86th 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.

📝 New Blog Posts

In case you missed last week's The Desk edition:

The Desk — Edition 85

Welcome to the 85th issue of the Desk. The Desk is my weekly newsletter covering newly published content and project updates.

Brandon HimpfenBrandon Himpfen

Here is last week's posts from my blog:

How Open Data Changes the Way We Evaluate Information

Open data changes how we evaluate information by shifting trust from authority to verifiability, exposing tradeoffs, and improving long-term credibility through transparency and shared scrutiny.

Brandon HimpfenBrandon Himpfen

100+ Reasons Solo Travelers Choose SoloTraveler.org

SoloTraveler.org is built for independent solo travelers who value openness, practical resources, and confidence over paywalls and fear-based travel advice. Explore 100+ reasons travelers choose a modern, accessible, traveler-first solo travel resource.

Brandon HimpfenBrandon Himpfen

Travel Intelligence

New work from Brandon Travel, focused on how travel systems, constraints, and incentives actually function:

The “Trip Planning Stack”: A Simple Workflow That Prevents Bad Decisions

An analytical look at the trip planning stack, a layered workflow that explains how structural constraints, access, pricing, and risk shape travel decisions and why most planning failures are predictable.

Brandon TravelBrandon Himpfen

The “Decision Pages” I Think Every Travel Site Should Have

A travel intelligence guide to the “decision pages” every travel site should include, from flight pricing and seasonality to borders, safety risk, and infrastructure, so travelers can make realistic, high-quality decisions under real constraints.

Brandon TravelBrandon Himpfen

Travel Blogging

Recent articles from Travel Bloggers Network, exploring sustainable growth, structure, and long-term publishing strategy:

When a Travel Blog Becomes a Business (and When It Shouldn’t)

When should a travel blog become a business, and when should it stay purely a publishing project? This guide explores sustainable monetization, credibility, burnout risk, platform volatility, and long-term decision-making for serious travel bloggers.

Travel Bloggers NetworkBrandon Himpfen

Solo Travel

New posts from Solo Traveler, centered on solo-first travel realities, safety, and independent decision-making:

Why Single Supplements Exist (And When They’re Reasonable)

Single supplements are common in solo travel, but not always unavoidable. This article explains why single supplements exist, when they reflect real costs, and when they signal outdated pricing models that disadvantage independent travelers.

Solo TravelerBrandon Himpfen

How to Handle Loneliness on the Road

Loneliness is a normal part of solo travel. Learn how to manage it safely and realistically through routine, low-pressure connection, accommodation choices, and emotional awareness, without forcing friendships or making risky decisions.

Solo TravelerBrandon Himpfen

The Hidden Cost of “Too Many Options” in Travel Planning

Too many travel options can create stress, overspending, and decision fatigue, especially for solo travelers. Learn how to plan with clarity, protect your energy, and choose practical, safety-minded plans without chasing perfection.

Solo TravelerBrandon Himpfen

Solo Travel Society

Community-driven reflections and analysis from Solo Travel Society, grounded in lived experience and shared insight:

The Emotional Learning Curve of Traveling Alone - Solo Travel Society

A reflective look at the emotional learning curve of solo travel, from early loneliness and freedom to deeper self-trust, inner stability, and the quiet confidence that comes from being your own companion.

Solo Travel SocietyBrandon Himpfen

Miscellaneous

I've launched a new series on LinkedIn called The Office AI Playbook:

The Office AI Playbook # 1: The 5-Minute Daily Setup (What to Ask AI Every Morning) Most office workers don't need "AI skills." They need a repeatable workflow that reduces mental load. Here's a… | Brandon H.

The Office AI Playbook # 1: The 5-Minute Daily Setup (What to Ask AI Every Morning) Most office workers don’t need “AI skills.” They need a repeatable workflow that reduces mental load. Here’s a simple daily setup you can use that takes 5 minutes and makes the rest of the day smoother. The goal: start the day with clarity, priorities and ready-to-use templates. Important note: never paste confidential or private information into AI tools. Use high-level summaries only. The 5-Minute Daily AI Setup Step 1 (60 seconds): Dump your context. Paste in: - today’s meetings (from calendar). - sanitized urgent e-mails/threads (high-level summaries, no names or identifiers) - tasks you already know you need to do. Step 2 (60 seconds): Define the outcome. Tell AI what a “successful day” looks like for your role. Step 3 (60 seconds): Ask for priorities. Have AI rank what matters most, not what feels loudest. Step 4 (60 seconds): Identify risks. Ask: what could derail today? Step 5 (60 seconds): Generate quick drafts. Have it draft: - 2 key e-mails (generic placeholders). - 1 update message (Teams/Slack style). - 1 short agenda for your first meeting. That’s it. Now your day isn’t starting from scratch. Example If your day looks busy, you’ll write: “Help me plan today. Prioritize what I should do first, what I should defer and what I should delegate. Include draft replies for the two most important messages using placeholders only.” Copy/Paste Prompt (Reusable Daily Prompt) ``` You are my AI work assistant helping me plan my day. I’m going to paste my schedule and key messages below. NOTE: This content is sanitized. No confidential or identifying information is included. Your job: 1) Identify my top 3 priorities for today (urgency + impact). 2) Identify what I should NOT do today (low value or deferrable tasks). 3) Flag any risks or bottlenecks that could derail my day. 4) Build a realistic time-block plan for the day. 5) Draft templates for 2 messages I need today: - one e-mail reply template (with placeholders). - one internal update (Teams/Slack style). Constraints: - Keep it practical. - Assume I have limited time. - Use placeholders like [Client], [File], [Deadline], [Team], [Decision]. Here is my schedule + context: [PASTE HERE] ``` If you’re using AI at work, this is the habit that gives you the biggest return. Next up in The Office AI Playbook: How to Use AI to Write Emails Faster (Without Sounding Like a Bot).

LinkedInBrandon H.

📝 New Newsletter Posts

LinkedIn Newsletters

Last week’s issues from my LinkedIn-hosted newsletters, covering crypto, AI, and digital marketing:

Digital Marketing Weekly — Issue 6

January 26, 2026 👋 Welcome back. Digital Marketing Weekly is a curated overview of developments across SEO, content, social, analytics, and digital growth strategy.

LinkedInBrandon H.

Open Source Weekly — Issue 2

January 26, 2026 👋 Welcome back. Open Source Weekly is a curated overview of notable developments across open source software, communities, tooling, and infrastructure.

LinkedInBrandon H.

Crypto & FinTech Weekly — Issue 5

January 26, 2026 👋 Welcome back. Crypto & FinTech Weekly is a curated overview of developments at the intersection of digital assets, financial infrastructure, regulation, and financial technology.

LinkedInBrandon H.

AI Weekly — Issue 5

January 26, 2026 👋 Welcome back. AI Weekly is a curated overview of developments across artificial intelligence, machine learning, and applied AI systems.

LinkedInBrandon H.

Substack Newsletters

New Substack posts published across my personal, travel, and technology newsletters:

Golang Weekly Issue 167

Curated Go news, tools, and insights — weekly.

Golang WeeklyBrandon Himpfen

Your Best Content Might Be Buried — Here’s How to Surface It

How to revive evergreen blog posts, increase traffic, and get more value from your archive.

Travel Bloggers Network’s NewsletterTravel Bloggers Network

🚀 New Projects and Initiatives

This week I’ve also been pushing forward on a few new projects and ecosystem updates. These are early-stage launches, new reference hubs, and infrastructure work that support the broader content and open source systems I’m building across tech, travel and publishing.

New Projects

• prompts by Brandon is a clean library of templates you can copy, adapt, and reuse across AI chatbots.
• BuildApps.ca is a reference for iOS, Android, and cross-platform work.
• WebApplications.ca is a concise reference for frontend, UI engineering, API design, and the patterns that make web products reliable at scale.
• Office AI Playbook creates calm, reusable AI workflows for office work.
• AtlasInference publishes small, composable open source tools for inference pipelines, evaluation harnesses, and deployment patterns.

Ecosystem Updates

• LNKTR now has a directory of all profiles and projects.
• Awesome Lists has been converted into a Jekyll site and I've added a blog. You can read the first blog post here.

🤝Community Updates

A few updates from the communities I’m building and supporting, including new spaces to connect and collaborate.

New LinkedIn Groups

• Visa, Residency & Global Mobility: a professional community for people navigating international relocation, immigration pathways and cross-border life planning.

🛠️ New Code Snippets

As mentioned last week, I'm aiming to publish, on average, two code snippets per week. Here are this past weeks code snippets:

Go HTTP client example with context cancellation + sensible timeouts, returning response body safely (idiomatic net/http).

Go HTTP client example with context cancellation + sensible timeouts, returning response body safely (idiomatic net/http). - go-http-client-timeout-context.go

Gist262588213843476

Go POST JSON with context + timeouts, decode JSON response, and safe body limits (idiomatic net/http).

Go POST JSON with context + timeouts, decode JSON response, and safe body limits (idiomatic net/http). - go-http-post-json-context.go

Gist262588213843476

📦 GitHub Updates

New GitHub Orgs

I launched two new GitHub organizations this past week:

AtlasInference

Open source infrastructure for model inference, benchmarking, and scalable AI deployment. - AtlasInference

GitHub

Web Designers Depot

Web Designers Depot has one repository available. Follow their code on GitHub.

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:

GitHub - webdesignersdepot/webdesignersdepot.github.io

Contribute to webdesignersdepot/webdesignersdepot.github.io development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubwebdesignersdepot

GitHub - cipherdock/assets

Contribute to cipherdock/assets development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubcipherdock

GitHub - cipherdock/cipherdock.github.io

Contribute to cipherdock/cipherdock.github.io development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubcipherdock

GitHub - atlasinference/atlasinference.github.io

Contribute to atlasinference/atlasinference.github.io development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubatlasinference

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 - brandonhimpfen/lnktr.net

Contribute to brandonhimpfen/lnktr.net development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHubbrandonhimpfen

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

✅ Closing Note

Thanks for reading The Desk — Edition 86! If you found something valuable, feel free to share it or subscribe to keep up with future updates.