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PODCAST · technology

In The Grand Schema of Things

Welcome to "In The Grand Schema of Things," the podcast where your host, Alex Merced, takes you on an exhilarating journey through the captivating world of Data Tech History and Concepts. Join us as we unravel the mysteries of data technology, explore its fascinating past, and delve into the cutting-edge concepts shaping our data-driven future.In each episode, Alex Merced, a seasoned data enthusiast and technology historian, brings his passion and expertise to the forefront. He shares captivating stories from the annals of data tech history, highlighting pivotal moments, trailblazing innovations, and the brilliant minds behind them. From the invention of the first data storage devices to the rise of modern data analytics, Alex leaves no byte unturned.But "In The Grand Schema of Things" isn't just a stroll down memory lane. It's also a beacon guiding you through the complex concepts and trends defining today's data landscape. Whether you're an aspiring data scientist, a curious tech

  1. 31

    Understanding AI Agent Skills, MCP and Custom GPTs/Gems

    Alex Merced discusses the differences between different ways of customizing agent behavior and when to use which. – Agent Skills– Model Context Protocol (MCP)– Claude Projects/Custom GPTs/Gemini Gems Follow Alex at AlexMerced.com

  2. 30

    Embracing AI Disruption and AI Tooling

    Alex Merced talks about how his optimism about the Agentic AI tool and poses the question, if people can run as fast as they could before AI, instead of resenting them for it, ask yourself how much further you can now run with AI. Follow Alex on Social: AlexMerced.com The Data Lakehouse Community: https://www.datalakehousehub.com

  3. 29

    More Thoughts on the State of AI Software Development

    Alex Merced discusses more about his experience with the Google Anitgravity IDE Follow Alex Merced at AlexMerced.com

  4. 28

    2025 Reflections, Google Antigravity, NotebookLM, Dremio AI Agent, Pangolin Catalog, Dremioframe & Iceframe Python Libraries for Apache Iceberg

    Alex Merced (AlexMerced.com) discusses:– his thoughts on thriving in 2026– His use of Google’s Antigravity– His use of NotebookLM– Dremio’s AI tools (dremio.com)– More Check out Pangolin Catalog at PangolinCatalog.org

  5. 27

    Why do Semantic Layers matter so much?

    Try the Dremio Free trial at Dremio.com/get-started Follow Alex at AlexMerced.com

  6. 26

    Gaming Handheld Buying Guide and New Lakehouse Free Trial

    Guide to the Dremio Free Trial: https://amdatalakehouse.substack.com/p/comprehensive-hands-on-walk-through?r=h4f8p In this episode I make som suggestions on great handhelds you can buy for christmas, here is some websites of the main handheld manufacturers. Retroid: https://www.goretroid.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqmsw4dUCa7w0oODoE05TqOlQzhw8vfewFMVqVKnmF-1iL9pIt3 Anbernic: https://anbernic.com/ Konkr: https://www.ayaneo.com/product/KONKR-Pocket-FIT Mangmi: https://mangmi.com/products/mangmi-air-x XU Retro: https://www.xuretro.com/collections/frontpage Powkiddy: https://powkiddy.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorEoT89yJBBHoB2Ec0cGbfbhTZJUeOr98CnO8djuNacvOrurkR5 Trimui: https://trimui.net/?srsltid=AfmBOooJEXt2RFMBlAVNOgOC2yd9kbECIUBofoZYG4AG4o0xBgCVoip7 Miyoo: https://lomiyoo.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopurOeS9_f9m0tQPvtoYdRjov85qPbJA9dfyG_nulDI2fJzOy3T

  7. 25

    Lakehouse Catalogs Beyond Apache Iceberg, What could they Look Like?

    Alex Merced discusses different paths to a Universal Lakehouse Catalog standard and their pros and cons. Find links to books, social and more at AlexMerced.com

  8. 24

    Understanding the role of MCP, Langchain and Agent2Agent

    Alex Merced discusses the rising standards within the Agentic AI Space. Buy Alex Merced’s latest book “Architecting an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse” use discount code mercedconf25 for a 40% discount. https://www.manning.com/books/architecting-an-apache-iceberg-lakehouse Follow Alex on Social at AlexMerced.com

  9. 23

    Enabling and Optimizing Agentic AI: Access, Performance and the Semantic Layer

    Alex Merced discusses three bottlenecks in building Agentic AI Applications and how platforms like Dremio can address them. Get hands-on with Dremio at Dremio.com Find all of Alex Merced’s blogs and resources at AlexMerced.com

  10. 22

    Why Apache Polaris will Become the Industry Standard Data Lakehouse Catalog

    Past is Prologue. Alex Merced discusses lessons from the table format wars that can help predict the outcome of the catalog wars. Follow Alex at AlexMerced.com Join the #amtech channel on the Data Lakehouse Hub to discuss the podcast: https://join.slack.com/t/thedatalakehousehub/shared_invite/zt-274yc8sza-mI2zhCW8LGkOh1uxuf8T5Q

  11. 21

    Data News: Snowflake/Databricks Announcements, Iceberg V3

    Alex Merced talks about the annoucement at Snowflake and Databricks respective conferences in particular when it comes to the lakehouse. Follow Alex: https://www.alexmerced.com/data

  12. 20

    Data News: DuckLake, Confluent’s TableFlow, New Book!

    Go to the DataLakehouseHub.com and join my Slack Community Download Free Iceberg Book: https://drmevn.fyi/podcast52725iceberg Download Free Polaris Book: https://drmevn.fyi/podcast52725Polaris

  13. 19

    Bonus – What is MCP? (Model Context Protocol – Modern AI 101)

    Alex Merced discusses modern AI and the new MCP standard and what it means. Follow Alex’s Blogs on and on Social at AlexMerced.com

  14. 18

    Will Apache Iceberg and Delta Lake Merge?

    Alex Merced discusses the idea of whether Apache Iceberg and Delta Lake could merge. Follow my blog: https://medium.alexmerced.blog

  15. 17

    2025, Data Lakehouse Looking Forward

    Alex Merced discusses what he looks forward to in 2025 in the Data Lakehouse Space. Alex Merced Event Listings: https://lu.ma/LakehouselinkupsAlex on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alextalksdatalakehouses.fyi Alex on Twitter: https://x.com/AMdatalakehouse Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmerced/

  16. 16

    BONUS: Data Lakehouse Crash Course (Polaris, Nessie, Unity, Gravitino, Lakekeeper and more!)

    Register for the catalog Course: https://drmevn.fyi/catalogcourse1024 Watch the Iceberg Crash Course: https://drmevn.fyi/icebergcourse1024 London Meetup: https://lu.ma/Lakehouselinkups Paris Meetup: https://drmevn.fyi/1120-france-meetup My Calendar of Events: https://lu.ma/Lakehouselinkups

  17. 15

    FREE Apache Iceberg Crash Course

    Register for the Course: https://bit.ly/am-2024-iceberg-live-crash-course-1 Free Copy of Apache Iceberg Book: https://bit.ly/am-iceberg-book My social and blog links: https://bio.alexmerced.com/data

  18. 14

    9 – Data Protection by Design and by Default

    The “Data Protection by Design and Default ” principle is a critical concept in data compliance, especially under regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe. This principle ensures that data protection safeguards are embedded into the design of data systems and business practices from the outset. In this episode,, Alex discusses the […]

  19. 13

    8 – Thinking Through Data Models for Incremental Ingestion

    Alex Merced talks about how different modeling approaches can have different implications for doing incremental ingestion into analytics systems. Hands-On Lakehouse Laptop Exercises:– MongoDB with Dremio: https://bit.ly/am-mongodb-dashboard– SQLServer with Dremio: https://bit.ly/am-sqlserver-dashboard– Postgres with Dremio: https://bit.ly/am-postgres-to-dashboard https://bio.alexmerced.com/data

  20. 12

    7 – How do you model graph data?

    Alex Merced discusses Graph Data and How you model it. Build a Data Lakehouse on Your Laptop Deploy Deploy into Production

  21. 11

    #1 – intro to catalogs, manifests and metadata. Oh my!

    In this episode, Alex Merced introduces his new podcast “Catalogs, Manifests, and Metadata. Oh my!” covering open-source data projects like Apache Iceberg and others. Make sure to subscribe, this podcast will be showing up in podcast directories over the next week or so of the publishing of this episode. Follow Alex Merced, find all links […]

  22. 10

    6 – An Overview of what is Data Vault Modeling

    Alex Merced discusses what is Data Vault Modeling.

  23. 9

    5 – Understanding Data Mesh

    Alex Merced discusses what is data mesh Follow Alex Merced, Links are all here:https://bio.alexmerced.com/data Read Alex’s recent blogs at dremio.com/blog

  24. 8

    4 – Inmon & Kimball Warehouse Modeling

    Alex Merced talks about the high-level differences between mainline approaches to modeling a data warehouse. Social Links: bio.alexmerced.com/data Youtube: youtube.com/@alexmerceddata

  25. 7

    2024 Preview – Data/Web Content

    youtube.com/@alexmercedcoder youtube.com/@alexmerceddata twitter.com/alexmercedcoder twitter.com/amdatalakehouse

  26. 6

    3 – Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD)

    Alex Merced discusses the data modeling concept of Slowly Changing Dimension and goes over SCD types 1-6

  27. 5

    2 – Data Modeling vs Data Management

    Alex Merced discusses what is the difference between Data Management and Data Modeling and why they both matter.

  28. 4

    Call for Speakers – Subsurface 2024 (Live in NYC May 2024)

    Submit your talks here: https://www.dremio.com/subsurface/

  29. 3

    1 – Data Look Back: From On-Prem Data Warehouses to Zero-ETL Data Lakehouses

    Alex Merced goes through the history of data talking about how tools and platforms have evolved up today’s cutting edge architectural patterns.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Welcome to "In The Grand Schema of Things," the podcast where your host, Alex Merced, takes you on an exhilarating journey through the captivating world of Data Tech History and Concepts. Join us as we unravel the mysteries of data technology, explore its fascinating past, and delve into the cutting-edge concepts shaping our data-driven future.In each episode, Alex Merced, a seasoned data enthusiast and technology historian, brings his passion and expertise to the forefront. He shares captivating stories from the annals of data tech history, highlighting pivotal moments, trailblazing innovations, and the brilliant minds behind them. From the invention of the first data storage devices to the rise of modern data analytics, Alex leaves no byte unturned.But "In The Grand Schema of Things" isn't just a stroll down memory lane. It's also a beacon guiding you through the complex concepts and trends defining today's data landscape. Whether you're an aspiring data scientist, a curious tech

HOSTED BY

Alex Merced Podcasts

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does In The Grand Schema of Things have?

In The Grand Schema of Things currently has 29 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is In The Grand Schema of Things about?

Welcome to "In The Grand Schema of Things," the podcast where your host, Alex Merced, takes you on an exhilarating journey through the captivating world of Data Tech History and Concepts. Join us as we unravel the mysteries of data technology, explore its fascinating past, and delve into the...

How often does In The Grand Schema of Things release new episodes?

In The Grand Schema of Things has 29 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to In The Grand Schema of Things?

You can listen to In The Grand Schema of Things on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts In The Grand Schema of Things?

In The Grand Schema of Things is created and hosted by Alex Merced Podcasts.
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