Blog

Technical articles, case studies, and insights from the Block B Technologies team.

Programming

Coding Standards That Actually Stick: Our React Setup, End to End

ESLint 10, strict TypeScript, Husky pre-commit, and CI as the real enforcement gate — the exact React coding standards setup we use, proven against a working demo app instead of left as documentation nobody follows.

Infrastructure

Production-Grade Monitoring on a $5/Month Server with Loki, Grafana, and Prometheus

Bash scripts → Prometheus + Loki + Grafana + Alertmanager + Microsoft Teams alerts on a K3s mini PC. 35 alert rules, 30-day log retention, zero per-app configuration, $0 monitoring cost.

Infrastructure

How We Replaced a $200/mo GCP Cluster with a $5/mo Mini PC

Three SaaS products, 17 container images, 5 namespaces. Migrated from Google Kubernetes Engine to K3s on a mini PC in one day. $2,340/year saved. Same GitOps workflow. Zero open inbound ports.

Tools

Building Framely: A Free App Store Screenshot Generator

How we built a free, browser-based mockup tool with 40+ device frames, drag-and-drop editing, 3x export resolution, and zero backend — just React, html2canvas, and Firebase Hosting.

Security

Building Psst: Zero-Knowledge Encrypted Document Sharing

How we built a zero-knowledge encrypted editor with self-destructing links — AES-256-GCM client-side encryption, burn-after-reading, and Cloudflare Tunnel deployment.

Architecture

How GPU Shaders Correct Color Blindness in Real Time

A deep-dive into the GLSL daltonization pipeline behind Color Vision Aid — from color space math to real-time camera processing.

AI

Measuring Your Business's AI Visibility: Why It Matters

AI engines are becoming the new front page. Here's why your business needs to measure how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini see you.

Architecture

Building 6 Flutter Apps: Architecture Patterns That Scale

Clean architecture with Provider, GetIt, and GoRouter. The patterns we use across every Flutter app at Block B Technologies.

Case Study

From Idea to App Store: Shipping Color Vision Aid

The journey of building and shipping an accessibility app — from GPU shader experiments to live on the App Store.

Case Study

How to Choose a Software Development Company in Winnipeg

What to check, what to ask, and how cost is really structured when choosing a software development company in Winnipeg — a decision checklist for buyers.

AI

What Is GEO? A Winnipeg Guide to Generative Engine Optimization

Generative engine optimization (GEO) made practical for Winnipeg businesses: what it is, why it matters, how it differs from SEO, and the three content levers that win AI citations.