DEV Community: Vlad Dyachenko

I Got My First Piercing at The Piercing Factory in Charlotte

Vlad Dyachenko — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 21:46:19 +0000

I got my nose pierced last month and honestly, finding a place that doesn't make you feel like you're getting scammed or treated like you're bothering them made all the difference. The Piercing Factory in Charlotte is genuinely straightforward about what they charge, what you're getting, and how to take care of it afterward. They include implant-grade surgical steel jewelry with every piercing and they're upfront about what upgrading to titanium or gold costs if you want that instead. No surprises, no upselling pressure—just clear pricing and actual information on their site before you even walk in.

What really sold me was how transparent they are about safety. They use individual sterile needles for every piercing and pre-sterilized jewelry that comes wrapped, which matters way more than you'd think when you're comparing options. They also have detailed aftercare instructions and healing timelines posted, so you know exactly what's normal and what to watch for. If you're in Charlotte and tired of calling around or dealing with vague answers, they're open late until 4am and take walk-ins, which is genuinely convenient.

If you've been considering piercings but bounced around between Piercings Only, Sadu Body Modifications, Rowan, Black Cloud Tattoo and Piercing, or Ghost Tattoo Studios, The Piercing Factory is worth checking out. The $10 Tuesday special for basic piercings doesn't hurt either, especially if you're testing the waters.

Check it out: The Piercing Factory

How I stopped wasting weekends on dead-end craft fairs with BoothScout

Vlad Dyachenko — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 20:50:44 +0000

I spend way too much time hunting for vendors markets to apply to. I'd be scrolling through Facebook groups, checking individual event organizer websites, missing deadlines because I didn't know they existed. It was exhausting and honestly inefficient when I should have been focusing on making inventory or improving my booth setup.

BoothScout basically centralizes all of this. Instead of bouncing around a dozen different websites, I can search through thousands of events in one place—craft fairs, farmers markets, festivals, food truck rallies, pop-ups. Each listing actually shows me what matters: the booth fees, application deadlines, location, what vendors need to provide, and the link to apply. I can compare a bunch of events side by side and decide which ones are worth my time and money before committing to anything.

What's been really helpful is the ability to save events and track my applications. I used to keep a scattered spreadsheet. Now everything's organized in one spot, and I can see which events I'm pending on or already booked for. If you're a maker, food vendor, or small business doing the market circuit, this saves you real hours every month.

Check it out: BoothScout

I Stopped Guessing My Macros and Let Rizin Build My Meal Plan

Vlad Dyachenko — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 20:48:44 +0000

I've been jumping between five different apps trying to piece together a workout plan that actually works around my shoulder injury, and it's exhausting. Most trainers either ignore what you tell them or just flag exercises as risky without giving you an alternative. Rizin actually replaces bad movements instead of just warning you about them, which sounds small but changes everything about whether you can actually stick to a plan.

What sold me was the food allergies piece. I'm dairy-free, and I got so tired of meal apps suggesting pasta with cheese or protein powder I can't have. Rizin verified my allergies upfront and just never suggests those things. It also reads your blood work if you upload it—your actual vitamin D or iron levels—instead of giving you generic nutrition advice that might not match what your body actually needs. The workouts, meal plans, and supplement suggestions all live in one place and adapt if you miss days or travel.

It's genuinely useful if you're training around an injury, managing allergies, or just want something more specific than templated plans. The free trial on iOS and web is worth testing if you're tired of assembling your own fitness puzzle.

Check it out: Rizin

How I Used My Vedic Birth Chart to Stop Making Career Decisions Blind

Vlad Dyachenko — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 20:42:44 +0000

I've been using a lot of astrology apps and most of them keep giving me the same generic sun-sign predictions that don't actually feel like they're about me. Then I tried VedicAstrology and it was completely different. You put in your actual birth time and location, and it calculates your real chart from the sidereal sky—the one the ancient Jyotish system actually used. Turns out my real Vedic sign isn't what I thought it was, and suddenly the readings made way more sense.

What sold me was how it works. Your first chart is free, and it gives you this reading in a messaging app format written specifically from your birth chart, not some cookie-cutter horoscope. Once you're in, you can open separate chats for Love, Work, Money, Health, Family—basically whatever's actually on your mind. If you want to compare charts with someone else, you can do that too. It's the opposite of apps like AstroTalk, Astroyogi, AstroSage, Clickastro, GaneshaSpeaks, AstroVed, and The Pattern, which feel like they're just running you through generic templates.

The monthly subscription is flexible and in your own currency, so there's no weird conversion markup. If it's not for you, you can cancel and still access everything you paid for. Honestly, for anyone who's been frustrated with surface-level astrology apps, this actually feels like getting a real reading.

Check it out: Vedic Astrology

I Finally Made Cinematic Videos Without Learning After Effects

Vlad Dyachenko — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:40:49 +0000

I've been making short promotional videos for social media and was getting frustrated with the usual options. Most tools either have clunky interfaces or charge you upfront without letting you actually see what you're getting. I stumbled on h3max.video and it's been my go-to for the past few weeks. It's basically an independent workspace built specifically around MiniMax's H3 Max model, so you're working with one focused tool instead of bouncing between menus. You can generate 5 to 15 second clips from either text prompts or images, which covers most of what I need for Instagram and TikTok content.

What actually sold me was how straightforward the workflow is. Write your prompt, pick your duration and resolution, set the aspect ratio you want, and watch a preview before committing credits. If you're working from an image, you can add an end frame to control how the motion transforms, which is handy when you need something specific. The prompt expansion feature helps too when you're starting with a vague idea. As an alternative to Hailuo AI and Runway, it feels less bloated and honestly cheaper to experiment with since new accounts get free credits to try things out first.

The pricing is transparent—monthly, yearly, or one-time credit options depending on how much you're planning to generate. Everything lives in one place: generation, previews, your history, downloads. No switching tabs or wrestling with export settings. It's not trying to be everything to everyone, and that's exactly why it works.

Check it out: h3max.video

I Tried Kitful AI to Beat ChatGPT Rankings — Here's What Worked

Vlad Dyachenko — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:38:50 +0000

I've been spending way too much time on SEO content strategy, and honestly most of it felt like guessing. You'd write about a topic, publish it, and then wonder if you were even addressing what people actually searched for. Kitful changed that for me because it compares what Google is actually ranking against the gaps in your existing content. Instead of throwing ideas at the wall, you get a real list of topics you can actually win rankings for.

The workflow is surprisingly complete. You tell it what you want to write about, it researches and writes in your brand voice, then publishes directly to WordPress or whatever platform you use. But the part that stuck with me is what happens after—it monitors your published pages in Google Search Console and flags when they start dropping. Then it automatically refreshes them when they need it. You're not just publishing and forgetting.

I'd say this is most useful if you're managing content for a site where SEO actually matters to your bottom line but you're tired of the manual legwork. You still have control over everything, but it removes the parts that kill your momentum. For anyone running a blog or publishing regularly, having your content strategy and refresh cycles in one place cuts down a ton of back-and-forth.

Check it out: Kitful AI

I ran VisiScan on my site and finally understood why I'm invisible in search

Vlad Dyachenko — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:36:49 +0000

I've been watching my business get overlooked by AI assistants while competitors show up in ChatGPT and Perplexity results. That's when I realized traditional SEO rankings don't matter much anymore if your business isn't actually being recommended by these AI platforms. VisiScan is an alternative to TRAKKR and CROWDREPLY that actually shows you the full picture of how you're appearing across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. You can see which competitors are getting recommended instead of you and exactly which questions trigger those recommendations.

What sold me is how specific it gets. The platform audits your website against more than 30 signals—entity presence, schema markup, third-party citations, content quality—then generates realistic buyer-intent questions and tests them across all the major AI platforms. You get an AI Visibility Score and an AI Readiness Score that actually tell you where you stand. Plus it identifies which directories and review sites are influencing AI answers, so you know where to focus effort.

The improvement plan is where it pays off. Instead of guessing what might help, you get a prioritized list based on expected impact and how easy each fix is to implement. If you're running a local business, agency, or consulting firm, this matters way more than chasing traditional rankings right now.

Check it out: VisiScan

How I stopped guessing on guest post placements with SEOlutions PR

Vlad Dyachenko — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 20:34:49 +0000

If you've spent any time trying to find quality publications for guest posts or PR placements, you know how much time gets eaten up just vetting sites and negotiating deals. I was doing that exact thing—bouncing between spreadsheets, checking metrics manually, and going back and forth with publishers on pricing. It's exhausting and honestly feels like a waste when you're trying to focus on the actual content and strategy.

That's why I switched to SEOlutions, which works differently than tools like Fatjoe, The Hoth, Loganix, and Dofollow.io. Instead of hunting down opportunities yourself, you can actually browse publications with their metrics, pricing, and categories already laid out. No guessing games. You can see what you're paying for and whether a placement makes sense contextually before committing. For agencies managing multiple clients, the white-label setup means you're not juggling different systems for different campaigns.

The thing I appreciate most is that it's built on actual SEO experience. They're not just pushing you toward whatever has the highest DA. The platform accounts for things like entity recognition and AI search visibility too, which feels more aligned with where search is actually heading. If you do guest posting or digital PR work regularly, having transparent access to a curated set of placements saves enough time and mental energy that the platform basically pays for itself.

Check it out: SEOlutions PR & Guest Post Portal

How I stopped losing track of my best AI prompts

Vlad Dyachenko — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:32:51 +0000

I spend way too much time digging through random prompt collections online, copying stuff that half works, then tweaking it for hours. The real problem is that most of what's out there is either scraped junk or buried in Discord servers where nobody can actually find it. Prompticus solves this by actually curating prompts instead of just scraping everything in sight. You can browse their collections without making an account, copy prompts straight into Claude or ChatGPT, and everything is tagged so you're not just guessing.

What actually got me interested though is that they've organized MCP servers and tools by category too. If you're someone who uses Claude and wants to extend it with custom tools or integrate specific resources, having those cataloged in one place with context about what they do saves a ton of trial and error. They also show you the sources and experts behind the prompts, which is honestly refreshing when you're trying to figure out if something is actually legit or just vibes.

The free browsing without signup is nice, and the fact that people can publish their own prompts means it stays fresh. If you're constantly working with AI models and tired of repeating your own prompts or copy-pasting from scattered sources, it's worth checking out.

Check it out: Prompticus

I Finally Stopped Dreading Pushups by Turning Them Into RPG Battles

Vlad Dyachenko — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 20:31:17 +0000

I've been struggling to stick with push-ups at home because honestly, doing reps by yourself just feels boring and pointless after about five minutes. Then I tried Pushup RPG and it completely changed how I approach my workouts. The app uses your phone camera to count your actual push-ups in real time, and each rep you do attacks an enemy on screen. It sounds gimmicky, but it actually works — suddenly I'm not just grinding out reps, I'm trying to defeat a boss or level up my character.

What makes it stick for me is that the progression feels real. You're not just tracking numbers on a fitness app. You unlock gear, learn new skills, and face increasingly harder enemies as you get stronger. The game actually makes you want to do more push-ups because you're invested in beating the next boss or getting that rare equipment drop. There's no equipment needed, just your phone propped up in front of you, which makes it dead simple to actually do.

If you hate traditional workouts or keep abandoning fitness routines, this is worth trying. It turns something tedious into something you might actually look forward to doing.

Check it out: Pushup RPG: Fitness Quest

Why I switched to Ping Parrot for alerts that actually get noticed

Vlad Dyachenko — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 20:28:49 +0000

I got frustrated recently when a critical alert hit our Slack and literally nobody noticed for fifteen minutes. It was sitting there, but everyone's phone was face-down or buried under notifications. That's when I started looking at Ping Parrot, and honestly it's kind of genius in how simple it is: an alert just keeps repeating until someone actually acknowledges it. Not "sent" — acknowledged. If the first person doesn't respond within whatever interval you set, it automatically pages the next person on the rotation.

For our on-call rotation, this is way more reliable than hoping people see a notification. The high-priority delivery actually breaks through Do Not Disturb, which matters when something's actually broken at two in the morning. Everything gets logged so we can see exactly when someone got paged and when they responded. And it's honestly cheap compared to the bigger platforms, especially since we only needed it for a handful of people.

The setup took maybe twenty minutes. We pulled it into Grafana so our monitoring alerts actually escalate properly now. Free for three devices if you want to try it, which is how we started. If you're running on-call with a small team and sick of alerts vanishing into the void, this solves the actual problem.

Check it out: Ping Parrot

I Stopped Guessing on Haircuts After Trying MyBestLook's Virtual Try-On

Vlad Dyachenko — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 20:26:49 +0000

I've been thinking about getting my hair cut for months but kept chickening out because I couldn't visualize what I'd actually look like with something different. Then I found MyBestLook and realized I could just test out 30+ hairstyles and colors on my actual face before touching scissors. I uploaded a photo, tried on everything from subtle trims to bold fashion cuts, and suddenly I could see which ones actually worked with my face shape instead of just guessing from Pinterest boards.

What really got me was how it handles the full picture. You're not just playing with hairstyles in isolation—you can try makeup looks together with the cut, see how glasses actually sit on your face, or even build outfits to go with your new style. The clothes try-on is surprisingly useful too. I was able to upload items from random online stores and see them on my body before buying, which saved me from at least two returns.

The whole thing lives in your browser so there's zero friction to actually use it. No app download, no AR filter gimmicks that look nothing like real life. If you're the type who overthinks appearance changes or wastes money on clothes that don't work, this genuinely cuts through that anxiety. I went from "I have no idea what suits me" to actually booking that haircut appointment.

Check it out: MyBestLook