Data, Lakehouse and AI with Alex Merced

Data, Lakehouse and AI with Alex Merced is a deep dive into the architecture shaping modern analytics. Each edition explores data lakehouse design, open table formats like Apache Iceberg, catalog strategy, semantic layers, query acceleration, and the rise.

Launched 4 years ago

Data, Lakehouse and AI with Alex Merced

Headless BI: How a Universal Semantic Layer Replaces Tool-Specific Models

Your organization uses Tableau for executive dashboards, Power BI for operational reports, and Python notebooks for data science.

Jun 22•Alex Merced

A Frontier Model Goes Dark: AI Week of June 16, 2026

The biggest AI story this week did not start with a launch.

Jun 17•Alex Merced

Writing to an Apache Iceberg Table: How Commits and ACID Actually Work

This is Part 6 of a 15-part Apache Iceberg Masterclass. Part 5 covered hidden partitioning.

Jun 16•Alex Merced

Data Virtualization and the Semantic Layer: Query Without Copying

Every data pipeline you build to move data from one system to another costs you three things: time to build it, money to run it, and freshness you lose…

Jun 15•Alex Merced

The Direction of AI in 2026: Performance, Cost, and the End of One Model for Everything

Six months ago, I could tell you which model to use for almost any job, and I would have said it with confidence.

Jun 14•Alex Merced

The Remote Already Exists: What "Click" Got Right About Agentic AI

I rewatched “Click” recently, the 2006 Adam Sandler movie that everyone remembers as a dumb comedy and almost nobody remembers as the quiet tragedy it…

Jun 13•Alex Merced

Apache Data Lakehouse Weekly: June 4 to June 11, 2026

The lakehouse community spent this week arguing about versions, and the arguments mattered.

Jun 13•Alex Merced