One of the things I’ve learned over the last year is that identifying AI opportunities is only the beginning. Recently, I secured a multi-month engagement with an enterprise client that is moving beyond the original AI Opportunity Mapping phase and into something equally important: AI Readiness Evaluation. In other words: “Are we actually ready to implement this opportunity successfully?” Because the reality is, a good AI idea does not automatically translate into a successful AI project. Before moving forward, we’re reviewing a set of high-level readiness criteria. If the conditions are there, we move. If not, we focus on preparing the environment first. Some of the key checkpoints include: - Clear and measurable ROI - Available and reliable data feeds, integrations, and system access - Existing process documentation and workflow maps - Existing training documents and operational knowledge capture - Real operational context: call recordings emails text conversations support interactions - Security, governance, and protocol requirements - Workforce readiness and adoption potential - Executive sponsor approval - Stakeholder alignment and buy-in - Willingness to redefine the role of humans in an AI-agent-supported workforce That last point is becoming increasingly important. AI readiness is not just technical readiness. It is also organizational readiness. Many organizations are still evaluating AI through the lens of traditional software implementation, when in reality AI often changes the structure of work itself. In many future-state environments, humans may spend less time manually executing repetitive tasks and more time: - supervising AI-supported workflows - managing exceptions - validating outputs - training systems - refining processes - handling edge cases and decision-making Most enterprise AI projects do not fail because the model is bad. They fail because the organization is not ready to support implementation at scale.

• A password is like a secret word you type that a website remembers; if someone tricks you into telling it to them, they can pretend to be you. • A passkey is more like a special key stored on your phone or computer that never leaves your device; the website only sees proof that your real key unlocked the door. • Bad guys can steal or guess passwords using fake emails, keyloggers, or leaked databases, but they cannot copy your passkey because it stays locked inside your device. • With passkeys, you usually just tap your fingerprint, look at your camera, or enter a short PIN, so it’s both easier and safer than remembering long, messy passwords. • Until every site uses passkeys, you still need strong, unique passwords in a manager plus MFA, but the goal is to move toward passkeys and stop using passwords over time.

TECH BRIEF: 2026-05-09 Athena generates a custom news brief designed for me specifically for my tool stack that I use and how it affects me. This is a great way to keep your tools up to date. ── RED: ACTION REQUIRED Cloudflare Workers AI -- 18 models deprecated May 30 Source: developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-05-08-planned-model-depr ecations/ Impact: Any workflow calling Workers AI endpoints directly breaks on May 30. Action: Audit all automation workflows for Workers AI calls before May 30. --- YELLOW: WATCH Anthropic: Higher usage limits + SpaceX compute deal (May 6) Source: anthropic.com/news/higher-limits-spacex Why it matters: More headroom for heavy API workloads -- better story for client pitches on scale. Timeframe: Now. Already live. Cloudflare laid off 1,100 (20% of workforce), going AI-first (May 7-8) Source: TechCrunch / Bloomberg Why it matters: Platform direction is accelerating, not collapsing. No service risk -- but worth watching the product roadmap. Timeframe: Ongoing. Colorado SB 24-205 takes effect June 30 Why it matters: First comprehensive state AI law in the US. Covers AI making consequential decisions (employment, credit, housing) for Colorado consumers. Most chatbot/marketing/scheduling builds don't trigger it -- but hiring or credit-adjacent workflows do. Timeframe: June 30 hard deadline. --- GREEN: OPPORTUNITY Claude Opus 4.7 -- 1M token context at standard pricing Source: anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-7 Potential play: Document-heavy SMB automations (invoice processing, contract review, long-form analysis) are now viable at Opus quality without long-context surcharges. New tokenizer may cost 35% more on text-heavy prompts -- re-test before upselling. Anthropic launches "Agents for Financial Services" (May 5) Source: anthropic.com/news/finance-agents

CLOUDFLARE FREE ACCOUNT + DOMAIN TRANSFER FROM NETWORK SOLUTIONS ================================================================ The non-obvious thing: this is a TWO-PHASE process. You can't transfer the registration until the domain is already using Cloudflare for DNS. Network Solutions ships the auth code by email up to 3 days later, so plan for ~5-7 day wall clock total. PRE-FLIGHT GOTCHAS (kills the transfer if missed) ------------------------------------------------- - Domain must be registered at NetSol for at least 60 days. - WHOIS registrant contact must NOT have been changed in the last 60 days (ICANN lock). - If the domain expires within ~15 days, renew at NetSol first. - Confirm your TLD is supported by Cloudflare Registrar (most gTLDs yes, some ccTLDs no). PHASE 0: CLOUDFLARE ACCOUNT (2 min) ----------------------------------- 1. Go to dash.cloudflare.com, sign up with email + password, verify email. Free plan, no card needed at this stage. PHASE 1: MOVE DNS TO CLOUDFLARE (required before transfer) ---------------------------------------------------------- This is the part people skip and then get stuck. Cloudflare Registrar refuses to accept the auth code until the zone is Active. 1. Cloudflare dash -> Add a site -> enter your domain -> Free plan. 2. Cloudflare auto-scans your existing DNS records. Eyeball the list against what NetSol shows you. Add anything missing (mail records, subdomains, TXT, etc.). Better to over-import than to break email at cutover. 3. Cloudflare assigns you TWO NAMESERVERS like xxx.ns.cloudflare.com. Copy them. 4. At Network Solutions: log in -> My Domain Names -> pick the domain -> DISABLE DNSSEC FIRST (if on). DS record stale = resolution failure after nameserver change. 5. Still at NetSol: change nameservers to the two Cloudflare gave you. Remove any others. Save. 6. Back to Cloudflare: wait for zone status to flip from Pending to Active. Usually minutes, sometimes up to 24 hours. You can hit

I had not used Elevenlabs text to speech in a long time. Honestly, last time I used it, it was kind of clunky. Hooo boy have they improved! Yesterday, I did something that was really just for myself. Kind of a passion project. Not looking to build a revenue stream at this point, just for fun. Using Claude to help with settings and inputs, I created a new voice - something else I had never done - and generated "The Raven" with the text to speech. You can hear the results here: https://www.youtube.com/@cozygothiclibrary That's the YouTube channel I started to have somewhere to put these. At some point I may bother to automate the whole process, but for now, I am enjoying the relatively manual creation. Entering the text to be converted to speech. Saving the files. Assembling them in Adobe Audition, adding sound effects. Creating the images. Assembling everything in Premiere Pro. Anywho... just thought I'd share something that's kind of related to things we do. It was fun, I learned stuff. Yay :)