Alexander Carr · Twin Cities, Minnesota

I like making complicated things feel useful.

I'm Alexander — a hands-on technologist working across practical AI, software, day-to-day IT, and aerial imaging. This is where I keep the things I'm building, learning, and thinking about. The client-facing version lives at Carr Ventures.

basedTwin Cities, Minnesota
usuallyBuilding, fixing, or flying
companyCarr Ventures Inc · since 2017
this siteWork, notes, and experiments
02

A little about me

I've spent more than a decade close to the parts of technology people actually have to live with: small-business systems, networks, documents, workflows, and the occasional job site seen from the air.

These days most of my work is in AI and software through Carr Ventures, but the thread is older than AI. I like taking something complicated, finding the useful part, and making it easier to understand and trust.

This is my personal corner of the web — a running snapshot of what I'm working on, what I'm learning, and the ideas I keep coming back to.

03

What has my attention

building

FileNameChange — a small native Mac app that gives badly named PDFs a useful name, then lets you undo everything.

reading

Apple's PDFKit, Vision, and on-device model docs. A surprisingly deep rabbit hole for a filename utility.

flying

Aerial work around the Twin Cities whenever weather, airspace, and a useful reason to fly all line up.

learning

SwiftUI, on-device analysis, and how far a useful tool can go before it needs another API call.

04

The threads I keep pulling

The work moves between three lanes. They look different from a distance, but all three are about making complicated systems easier to use and trust.

Right now

Practical AI & software

Most of my time, and most of my open tabs.

  • Small tools that work with real documents, real workflows, and real constraints.
  • Native apps, internal systems, and careful automations that remove friction.
  • The unglamorous layer too: evals, observability, fallbacks, and human judgment.
SwiftPythonTypeScriptClaudeOpenAIMCPPostgres
The foundation

IT & infrastructure

The decade underneath everything else.

  • Networks, identity, cloud suites, and the systems that still need to work on Monday.
  • Knowing how technology breaks in real environments keeps the newer work honest.
M365Google WorkspaceOktaMerakiIntune
A change of altitude

Aerial imaging

A different kind of systems work.

  • FAA Part 107 commercial drone work around the Twin Cities.
  • Equal parts planning, weather, cameras, and seeing a site from a better angle.
DJILiDARPix4DLightroom
05

Projects & experiments

The client case studies live at Carr Ventures. These are the smaller, public things that say more about how I think when nobody has handed me a brief.

public project2026

FileNameChange

A native Mac app for PDFs with names like scan_0042.pdf. It reads what a document is actually about, suggests a useful filename, and keeps every rename reversible.

SwiftPDFKitVision OCROn-device first
View on GitHub (opens in new tab)
this websitealways tinkering

A deliberately small web stack

Hand-set type, an interactive session, light and dark themes, and no framework or build step. A personal site should be allowed to feel a little handmade.

HTMLCSSVanilla JS
View the source (opens in new tab)
client worksince 2017

The business side

AI systems, IT consulting, and aerial work happen through Carr Ventures. The service details and client case studies belong there, not duplicated all over this page.

AIITAerial
See Carr Ventures work (opens in new tab)
06

Notes to myself

Not a methodology. Just a few reminders that have survived changing jobs, tools, and technology cycles.

01

Useful beats impressive.

I like new tools as much as anyone. The test is whether somebody is happier to use the result on a Tuesday afternoon.

02

Stay close to the real thing.

The document, the person doing the work, the machine in the field — abstraction is useful until it hides the problem.

03

Clear beats clever.

Plain language, boring tools when they fit, and fewer moving parts. Cleverness has to earn the maintenance bill.

04

A wider view helps.

Sometimes literally. Flying is a good reminder that the shape of a problem changes when you step far enough back.

07

The business side

Carr Ventures Inc

Est. 2017 · Twin Cities, MN

Carr Ventures is how I do client work. That's where the service details, case studies, and the practical AI, IT, and aerial side of the story live. This site stays closer to the person behind it.

Visit Carr Ventures (opens in new tab)
AI engineering IT consulting Aerial imaging

An open invitation

Want to compare notes?

If you're building something interesting, untangling a technology problem, exploring an idea, or simply want to say hello, my inbox is open.

An interesting problem, a half-built idea, or a simple hello is plenty.

BasedTwin Cities, MN
UsuallyBuilding, learning, or flying
Client workCarr Ventures ↗