Artificial Intelligence
Episodes whose main subject is AI itself: building with, training, evaluating, or debating AI systems. AI used only as a tool for another topic goes to that topic.
#3271: LLMs as Parsers, Not Calculators
Stop letting LLMs do math. Use them to parse messy text, then let deterministic code handle the numbers.
#3245: Why Integrated LED Fixtures Are Beating Smart Bulbs
Smart bulbs cram radios into metal cages. Integrated fixtures solve that—and Matter makes it seamless.
#3241: How to Write a Product Spec That Makes AI Find You the One
Stop typing three words into Google. The SPEC framework helps AI find exactly what you need.
#3234: Who Should Sponsor This Podcast? Open-Book Economics
We open the books on our AI-generated podcast: $200/month costs, 180K plays, zero sponsors. Who should we pitch?
#3219: What It Actually Takes to Get an ICAO Code for Your Airstrip
Only 5,000 of 45,000 ICAO-coded airfields are certified for safety. The rest? "Land at own risk.
#3218: Building Your Own Cloud in 2026
The software and hardware for a DIY private cloud have never been more feasible. Here's how to pick the right pieces.
#3189: Drawing the Melody: SSML's Hidden Power
How SSML gives developers narrative control over AI voices — and why ElevenLabs became its center of gravity.
#3184: The Prank That Fooled Us All
How a sophisticated hoax exploited emotional vulnerability and what it reveals about deception in the AI age.
#3183: Why Film Photography Is Surging in a Digital World
Film is growing 50% in 5 years. Here's the physics behind why analog looks different from digital.
#3171: How to Break an LLM's Bad Verbal Habits
Blacklists fail and regex inverts meaning. Here's what actually works to clean up AI writing tics.
#3170: Pharmacokinetics vs Neural Nets: Two Meanings of "Model
Two things called "models" that work completely differently — and why the confusion matters for patient safety.
#3167: DeFi vs Microlending: What Actually Works?
DeFi's $180B locked vs 1.7B unbanked. Where does credit actually help?
#3157: Opus 4.8: What Actually Changed Under the Hood
Anthropic dropped Opus 4.8 with no fanfare. New training data, faster inference, and smarter refusals — here's what changed.
#3153: Law as Fallback vs Minimalist Codes
How Japan and the US take opposite approaches to legal codes — and what AI regulation reveals about the tradeoffs.
#3129: Holden Caulfield vs. the War Briefing
What Salinger’s phoniness detector reveals about how the war with Iran is being reported.
#3127: Crafting AI Characters That Feel Alive
Move beyond system prompts with structured character bibles that give AI personalities real inner lives.
#3120: What Makes Agentic Search Tools Like Exa Actually Work?
Why swapping Google for Exa transformed our show's accuracy — and what agentic search does differently.
#3103: Refillable Markers: Industrial Ink Chemistry & Nib Selection
How Molotow's modular marker system saves thousands on factory floors with lacquer and oil-based inks.
#3101: The Hidden Craft of Custom Picture Framing
What actually happens inside a $400 frame — and why cheap frames can destroy your art in years.
#3098: The Pilot with the Flashlight: Inside Aviation's Pre-Flight Walkaround
Why pilots still physically inspect planes before every flight — and what a 1979 crash taught us about trusting machines.