Apparently Ontario Travel Blog is ripping off Bredemarket’s posts, including my December 8 post “‘Tis the Season to Be Scammy.“
Ontario Travel Blog’s version tries to cover its tracks by changing key words in its verison of the post, leading to hilarious results.
“However earlier than you reply to that mysterious “secret Santa” and ship that reward (or these reward playing cards) TODAY to obtain a highly-valued reward in return…know your corporation.”
“Welcome to [Your Blog Name]! Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you visit our website.”
Brooke Staggs wrote a blog post detailing 13 highlights at Ontario International Airport. I’m not going to go through all 13, but I did want to highlight three of them.
Yes, Ontario Airport is international
Staggs highlighted the, um, arrival of a new airport at ONT: STARLUX Airlines, flying nonstop to and from Taipei, Taiwan.
STARLUX flies from Ontario to Taipei four days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). Because you cross the international date line, the flight takes two days (but really less than a day).
Existing international service expands
Of course, Volaris has been at ONT for some time, but this year they added flights to Los Cabos (SJD), León (BJX) and Morelia (MLM). This is in addition to its existing service to Guadalajara (GDL), and totals 28 weekly flights in all with at least three flights per week to each destination.
On the domestic front
United Airlines flies nonstop from Ontario to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. These are daily flights year-round. Somehow I got the idea that they are seasonal, but they are not.
If you want Portillo’s but don’t want to drive all the way to Moreno Valley or Buena Park, just drive to Ontario and fly to O’Hare.
“A school in Florida was forced into shutdown after an AI-based weapon detection system mistakenly triggered an entire campus lockdown by mistaking a clarinet for a firearm.”
The software was ZeroEyes, and it allows for human review for protection against a false positive. But in this case (like the Maryland chip case) the humans failed to discern that the “gun” wasn’t a gun.
While this may be a failure of AI weapons detection software, it is also a failure of the human reviewers.
I’ll have more to say about this Google Gemini picture in January, but it involves this Bredemarket blog post featuring three videos, and this YouTube playlist featuring the same three videos.
Well, probably not. But I enjoyed contributing to Stefan Gladbach’s Christmas video “A PMM Christmas” as the only biometric product marketing expert in the cast.
And if you heard me mutter in the last few weeks that attribution is a myth, now you know why.
As you can see, Gladbach assembled an all-star cast. Credits at the end of the video, and also in the text of Stefan’s LinkedIn post.
Well, one additional credit: Susan Bredehoft was the camerawoman for my contributions. For lighting and background removal purposes, my scenes were taped outside in our back yard. Since my glasses lenses automatically adjust to sunlight, I can, um, attribute my Roy Orbison look to that.
And I did not follow instructions to wear an ugly Christmas sweater for the end credits…because I haven’t got one. (Ugly sweater, yes. Ugly Christmas sweater, no.) I should have stolen one from Talya.
And for those keeping score (only me, to be honest), I appear at 2:15, 4:40, 5:40, and 8:05.
And now I’m wondering if Roy Orbison ever covered a Smiths song. But again, that’s just me.
My own “why” story for Bredemarket isn’t a powerful one about how I saved the world. In fact, I kind of fell into consulting. This post is adapted from a September 2020 personal post.
When I became a “free agent” in early July 2020, I was devoting my time to landing another full-time position. (After a one-year pause, I still am.) So, I was busily doing that when I received a message from someone in late July 2020. I’ll paraphrase the message:
Hey, John, I know you’re looking for full-time work, but in the meantime I have a small project that perhaps you could complete for me.
This sounded interesting, so I provided a quote for the project, completed it, got paid (which is always important), and learned a lot in the process.
Around the time that I completed that project, I received a message from someone else. Again I’m paraphrasing it.
Hey, John, I know you’re looking for full-time work, but in the meantime I have a small project that perhaps you could complete for me.
This one sounded interesting also, so I provided a quote for the project, completed it, got paid (again), and learned a lot in the process.
And then I got a message from a third person.
Hey, John…
So I established Bredemarket.
And over the years the messages, projects, and payments have continued.
You can send me a message if you like. Or better yet, we can talk.
In my vocabulary, “casetimonials” refers to case studies and testimonials, which have different lengths but serve the same purpose. However, I’ve concentrated so much on case studies that I sometimes neglect talking about testimonials.
Bredemarket testimonials
Take the recent one Bredemarket received.
(From David Deady, Director of Marketing at Bredemarket client Integrated Biometrics, October 2025)
John,
You got big props on the huddle tonight (our exec team meeting). We are very grateful for the quality of your work and your ability to know what needs to be done with a quick turnaround. The FBI RFI response was mentioned specifically, but all projects have been equally appreciated. Thank you.
And an earlier Bredemarket testimonial from an anonymous client.
“I just wanted to truly say thank you for putting these templates together. I worked on this…last week and it was extremely simple to use and I thought really provided a professional advantage and tool to give the customer….TRULY THANK YOU!”
Silicon Tech Solutions testimonials
But I’d also like to highlight the testimonials that Silicon Tech Solutions has accumulated over the years.
OrionQ:
“Silicon Tech Solutions has been a fantastic partner for OrionQ. Their expertise and reliability helped bring our AI RevOps platform to life at scale. We value their proactive approach and ability to turn complex ideas into seamless solutions.”
Coding Sphere:
“Silicon Tech Solutions stood out for their expertise, collaborative approach, and commitment to understanding our needs. They delivered high-quality, seamless solutions on time, making them a trusted and highly reliable partner.”
Wexpy Technologies:
“From February 2023 to October 2024, Silicon Tech Solutions developed a critical feature for us. Their expertise, commitment to excellence, and timely delivery exceeded our expectations, making them a reliable tech partner.”
Silicon Tech Solutions.
If you have product development needs, talk to Silicon Tech Solutions. Offering a complete suite of services (custom software development, digital transformation, product development, and IT outsourcing), Silicon Tech Solutions addresses multiple needs for small and mid-size businesses. With a team that has gained experience from employment at Amazon and Facebook and from multiple consulting projects, Silicon Tech Solutions is ready to help your firm.
Why? Because the facial recognition software the agency has is not accurate enough, particularly in regards to demographic bias.
Note “the facial recognition software the agency has.” There’s a story here.
“Cognitec released its FaceVACS-DBScan 5.5 software for biometrics matching at scale in 2020….The current version is 5.9, but Home Office’s Police National Database uses 5.5, which is why that version was tested.”
Important clarification.
Now perhaps the agency had its reasons for not upgrading the Cognitec software.
But governments and enterprises should not use old facial recognition software. Unless they have to run the software on computers running PC-DOS. Then they have other problems.
And if you detected that this post sounds really really similar to one I wrote back in April…you’re right. Back then an Australian agency continued to use an older version of the Cognitec algorithm, even though a newer one was available.
But I’m still using the pre-Nano Banana illustration for this new post.
A question for you: is YOUR company using outdated content? Are you ready to update it? Talk to Bredemarket.
I’m sure you’ve heard the empowerment gurus on LinkedIn who say that people working for companies are idiots. Admittedly it seems that too many companies don’t care about their employees and will jettison them at a moment’s notice.
So what do the empowerment gurus recommend? They tell people to take control of their own destiny and work for themselves. Don’t use your talents to fatten some executive’s stock options.
Google Gemini.
However, those of us in the United States face a huge barrier to that.
The average annual premium for employer-sponsored family coverage totaled about $27,000 in 2025, according to [the Kaiser Family Foundation]. This is coverage for a family of four.
But workers don’t pay the full sum. They contributed just $6,850 — about 25% — toward the total premium, according to KFF. Employers subsidized the rest, paying about $20,000, on average.
By comparison, if the enhanced ACA subsidies expire next year, the average family of four earning $130,000 would pay the full, unsubsidized premium for marketplace coverage.
Their annual insurance premiums would jump to about $23,900, more than double the subsidized cost of $11,050 — an increase of almost $12,900, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Google Gemini.
Do how do those who oppose Communist subsidies propose to solve ACA healthcare costs?
By providing people with an annual health savings account funding of…checks notes…$1,500.
Perhaps I’m deprived because of my 20th century math education, but last I checked $1,500 in funding is less than $12,900 in losses.
People who are on COBRA, or a similar program such as Cal COBRA, experience similar sticker shocks.
So my advice to people is to do one or both of the following:
Get employer-subsidized healthcare.
Marry someone with employer-subsidized healthcare.
Bredemarket 