Bryce Merkl Sasaki Picture

Bryce Merkl Sasaki

Editor-in-Chief, Neo4j

Bryce Merkl Sasaki is the Editor-in-Chief at Neo4j. He studied professional and creative writing for undergrad and has been freelancing for 7 years. Recently, he worked at an inbound marketing agency in Philadelphia as a copywriter before moving to California. When not working, he likes to spend his time working on his novel, looking for pickup soccer games and reading voraciously.


Latest Posts by Bryce Merkl Sasaki

Catch up on all of the best podcast episodes from the Neo4j community in the course of 2020.

The Top 5 Neo4j Podcasts of 2020

This past year has been a strong one for the Neo4j community on the (digital) airwaves – especially for podcast listeners. Members of the Neo4j community and wider graph ecosystem have been hard at work this year on some of the world's most pressing challenges, and a few graphistas also... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast on how graph databases help with drug discovery for COVID-19 research

#GraphCast: Graphs Connecting COVID-19 Research

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, our Staff Writer, Zaw Win Htet, highlighted the Graphs4Good GraphHack that worked on graph-powered solutions to the COVID-19 epidemic.. This week,... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast: A brief explainer of the unlimited scalability features in Neo4j 4.0

#GraphCast: Unlimited Scalability with Neo4j 4.0

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, our Editorial Assistant, Zaw Win Htet, shared Amy Hodler's talk about the ethics and social values that should inform responsible AI. It's a great talk with... read more


Discover the top 10 moments and big announcements from the Neo4j graph community in the last decade

A *Decade* of Graphs: Neo4j’s Top 10 Biggest Moments of the 2010s

It's a story too good not to tell: When you take a look back at everything that's happened in the Neo4j community over the past 10 years, it's amazing to see how far we've come. What the decade began, Neo4j was a small, shy, open source community clustered around a bunch of alpha geeks... read more


Catch up on all of the best episodes and interviews from the Neo4j Graphistania podcast during 2019

The Top 5 Neo4j Podcasts of 2019

If you've never heard of the Graphistania podcast – hosted by Neo4j's very own Rik Van Bruggen – you've been missing out. In the course of the Graphistania podcast, Rik has interviewed some of the most interesting and innovative graph thinkers and practitioners across the globe. 2019 was... read more



Catch this week's GraphCast: all of the developer presentations from NODES 2019 in a single playlist

#GraphCast: Everything You Missed at NODES 2019 (All in 1 Playlist)

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, our Editorial Assistant, Allison Wu, featured a great video series on Neo4j Bloom – the graph visualization tool that makes your data look straight-up... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast: The Laundromat movie about the Panama Papers starring Meryl Streep

#GraphCast: The Laundromat [Panama Papers Movie]

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, our Editorial Assistant, Allison Wu, spotlighted our classic video on better data and better decisions using graph technology. This week, I've... read more


Check out this 5-minute interview with Tim Hanssen of Mediaconnect.

Blazing Fast Recommendations: 5-Minute Interview with Tim Hanssen

"We tried recommendations at first with classic relational databases. It worked, but it was really slow," said Tim Hanssen, CTO and Founder of Mediaconnect. It’s 11 a.m. The festival tickets are on sale now. About 500,000 people rush the site. There are 200,000 tickets. How do you decide who... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast: David Allen explains how to deploy your graph database on GKE

#GraphCast: How to Deploy Your Graph Database on GKE

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, our Content & Media Associate, Allison Wu, unearthed our Intro to Graph Databases video series produced by Ryan Boyd. If you're new to graphs, it's the best... read more


Check out this 5-minute interview with Lloyd Byrd of Convergys.

Compliance at Scale: 5-Minute Interview with Lloyd Byrd

"It was eye-popping to see the amount of good work people were doing with Neo4j," said Lloyd Byrd, Vice President of Application Development and Technology Solutions at Convergys (recently acquired by Concentrix). Complying with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is... read more


Check out this 5-minute interview with Michael Wytock, CEO of Conshx.

Avoiding Database JOINs: 5-Minute Interview with Michael Wytock

"There are huge performance concerns running certain queries on data that is more connected," said Michael Wytock, CEO of Coshx. Technology consulting firm Coshx uses Neo4j whenever it sees a lot of database JOINs in a client’s current architecture, knowing performance will be greatly... read more



Check out this 5-minute interview with Stephen O'Grade, Co-found of Redmonk.

Think About What You’re Building: 5-Minute Interview with Stephen O’Grady

"Always ask why," said Stephen O'Grady, Co-Founder of Redmonk. When deciding what projects to take on, developers should consider the broader context and the implications of what they’re being asked to build. So says Stephen O’Grady from Redmonk, a developer-focused industry analyst firm... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast showing how Neo4j is used around the globe for a variety of use cases

#GraphCast: How Graphs Are Used around the Globe

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, our Managing Editor, Jocelyn Hoppa, showed off the beautiful data visualization capabilities of Neo4j Bloom, in particular its ability to illustrate fraudulent... read more


Check out this 5-minute interview with Sebastian Müller, CTO of yWorks.

More Data, More Visualizations: 5-Minute Interview with Sebastian Müller

"Graphs want to be visualized," said Sebastian Müller, CTO of yWorks. Developers are looking to understand the data in graph databases, explore it and create applications that offer interactive interfaces to that data. yWorks is a developer tool for creating visualizations of graph data. In... read more


Check out this 5-minute interview with Dan Woods on enterprise graphs.

Enterprise Graphs: 5-Minute Interview
with Dan Woods

"People are now moving from a project-based approach to adopting graphs to graphs as a platform for their technology," said Dan Woods, Principal Analyst at Early Adopter Research and Founder and CEO of Evolved Media. Enterprises face challenges in adopting graph technology, which represents a... read more


The Neo4j Online Meetup explores the Game of Thrones dataset using graph algorithms at this week's #GraphCast

#GraphCast: Graph Analytics For The Throne [GoT]

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last time, I pointed out that we have an incredible Neo4j Online Meetup and that you're a square if you're missing out on it (seriously, just sign up). The particular... read more


Catch this week's 5-minute interview with Dave Stevens from DXC Technology

Dimensions of Digital Transformation: 5-Minute Interview with Dave Stevens

"Graphs are transforming the way we approach our client conversations," said Dave Stevens, Distinguished Architect at DXC Technology. DXC Technology is a service provider, helping clients deal with massive shifts around digital disruption and digital transformation. Graph technology enables DXC... read more


Check out this 5-minute interview with James Gray, Direct of Product for Big Data at Phunware.

Mobile Experiences at Scale: 5-Minute Interview with James Gray

"Literally within minutes or seconds, customers generate mobile device audiences at scale," said James Gray, Director of Product for Big Data at Phunware. Phunware’s mobile applications platform allows some of the biggest brands in the world to deliver great mobile experiences and reach mobile... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast: The Neo4j Online Meetup presents the International Salmon Data Laboratory (ISDL)

#GraphCast: You Know We Have an Online Meetup, Right? [Also, Salmon]

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last week, our Managing Editor, Jocelyn Hoppa, highlighted a two-part series of how Neo4j and machine learning help human fact-checkers detect fake news. It's a great... read more


Check out this week's 5-minute interview with Dr. Steven Skiena.

DeepWalk: 5-Minute Interview with Dr. Steven Skiena

"Graphs have become very powerful, they're fundamental, and they're only becoming more and more important," said Dr. Steven Skiena, Director of the AI Institute at Stony Brook University. Graphs are a fundamental part of computer science, and they are only getting larger. Analyzing graphs using... read more


Learn about the exciting future of AI and machine learning with Hilary Mason.

Tackling Hard Problems Head-On: 5-Minute Interview with Hilary Mason, General Manager for Machine Learning at Cloudera

"Bad ideas are the gateway to the best ideas," said Hilary Mason, General Manager for Machine Learning at Cloudera. Problems that look impossible intrigue Mason, the founder of Fast Forward Labs (now Cloudera Fast Forward Labs). If clients only bring up obvious, good ideas, she worries that they... read more


Catch this week's GraphCast with Emil Eifrem on the Exponential View podcast with Azeem Azhar

#GraphCast: Emil Eifrem on the Exponential View podcast with Azeem Azhar

Welcome to this week's #GraphCast – our series featuring what you might have missed in Neo4j media from the past fortnight. Last week, our Managing Editor, Jocelyn Hoppa, highlighted the similarities between the choose-your-own-adventure movie, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and running decision... read more


Review Neo4j's biggest news and announcements from 2018, including our $80M series E funding round

A Year in Review: Neo4j’s Biggest News & Announcements of 2018

Whether you're a brand-new graphista or an old-time vet, 2018 was a year that broke all records and expectations in the Neo4j ecosystem. In fact, some of our biggest news and announcements ever – as both a company and as a wider community – happened within the past year. Here are the... read more