Development
Building software: programming, developer tools, APIs, deployment and DevOps, and building with AI (agents, MCP servers, RAG, AI coding tools). An extra channel alongside an episode's main one, so AI engineering episodes sit in both.
#5078: When Shopping Lists Outgrow the Grocery Store
Why grocery list apps fail when you need drywall anchors, and what actually works for multi-store household shopping.
#5060: Engraving Bits Decoded: Geometry, Grade, and Material Match
Cone vs. ball-nose vs. pointed, C2 vs. C4, single vs. multi-flute — what actually matters when engraving with a handheld rotary tool.
#5055: The Invisible Machinery of Autonomous Agents
Heartbeats, state stores, and budget caps — the unglamorous infrastructure that actually makes always-on AI agents work.
#5025: What Does "Contract" Actually Mean in Code?
From TypeScript interfaces to database schemas — when is a software contract real, and when is it just a hope?
#5018: Where Should Coding Agents Actually Live?
Exploring whether coding agents should run locally or fully in the cloud — and what changes when they move.
#5017: Reverse-Engineering a Backend from the Frontend
Building a backend when only the frontend exists—database first, then ORM, API, and the hidden traps.
#5014: PWA vs Native: One Developer's Home Inventory Dilemma
PWAs cover 80% of use cases. What's the cost of the last 20%?
#5013: Android Camera Fragmentation: Why Apps See Different Lenses
OnePlus hides fisheye lenses from third-party apps. Here's how Android's camera API actually works and what you can do about it.
#5004: What Precision Is Your Model Actually Running At?
When you call an API, are you getting the model you think you are? Inference providers quantize more than they admit.
#5001: The 15% Bug Catch: What Type Systems Actually Deliver
Type checkers catch ~15% of bugs. Here's how to build a gradual typing ladder that actually works.
#5000: Can You Trust Google Photos With Your Life's Work?
Why your Google Photos library isn't really backed up — and what actually works instead.
#4997: 4,914 Episodes of AI Hosts: What We Learned
Two AI-generated hosts explain how their fully automated podcast works — and what 4,914 episodes reveal about AI.
#4996: Memory Leaks: The Full Taxonomy
From C to Rust to Kubernetes OOM kills — the real taxonomy of memory leaks and how to hunt them.
#4995: What a Bad Thermostat Teaches Us About Control
How phase lead, decay, and knowing when to do nothing fix the oscillation problem.
#4993: Cross-Cloud Failover: Can You Actually Survive an AWS Outage?
Real teams are running cross-cloud failover drills — and the first attempt usually fails. Here's what they learned.
#4991: Self-Healing Codebases: Can AI Fix Bugs Autonomously?
How far are we from AI systems that fix their own bugs without human intervention? The answer might surprise you.
#4980: Can You Learn to Code Backwards?
When AI writes your code, do you still learn? Aviation, atrophy, and building a mental model from scratch.
#4976: Building a Procurement Agent That Actually Works
How to encode the weird, undocumented skills technical buyers use every day into an AI agent that won't get you audited.
#4973: Building a Pure AI Inference Server
Why your "AI server" should look more like a database than a web app, and how to actually build one.
#4972: CPU vs GPU Inference: When to Skip the GPU
Why running AI on CPU isn't a toy — and when the GPU advantage vanishes.