HTML All The Things - Web Development, AI, and Developer Careers

Every major technological revolution seems to come with the same question: is this a bubble? AI is no exception. In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike explore why so many people are comparing today's AI boom to the dot-com bubble, and what history can teach us by looking back at events like Railway Mania, the dot-com crash, and the 2008 housing crisis. Along the way, they discuss the difference between revolutionary technology and speculative investment, and whether those two things can exist at the same time.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/is-ai-in-a-bubble-history-says-its-complicated

Choosing the right CMS isn't about picking the most popular platform - it's about asking the right questions.

In this episode, Matt and Mike break down the framework they use before recommending a content management system for a new website. From understanding who will manage the site to evaluating budget, customization, maintenance, and long-term goals, they explain how different project requirements naturally lead to different solutions.

Along the way, they discuss where platforms like WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, and headless CMSs tend to shine, common mistakes developers make when choosing a CMS, and why there isn't a single "best" option for every website.

Whether you're building a client website, launching your own business, or simply trying to decide which CMS to learn next, this episode will help you make more informed decisions.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/how-to-choose-the-right-cms-for-your-website

Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Do you actually own the digital games you buy?

An Xbox player in Brazil successfully sued Microsoft after a hacked account left him locked out of his entire digital game library - and his other Microsoft services. The court ordered Microsoft to restore his account and compensate him, raising some interesting questions about the rights consumers have over their digital purchases.

In this Web News, Matt and Mike discuss digital ownership, game preservation, account bans, DRM-free alternatives like GOG, and whether buying a digital game is really ownership - or just an indefinite rental.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/do-you-actually-own-your-digital-games

AI coding tools can make developers faster, remove tedious work, and help us build things that once felt out of reach. So why can using them still leave us feeling drained? In this episode, Matt and Mike explore the complicated relationship between AI coding and developer burnout. They discuss losing the satisfaction of solving difficult problems, the mental cost of managing multiple AI workflows, whether AI-generated work still feels like your own, and why reviewing code can be more exhausting than writing it. They also share ways developers can build a healthier relationship with AI - from finding meaningful personal projects to testing strategically and creating a workflow that doesn’t require reviewing every generated line.

‍Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-coding-makes-development-easier-so-why-are-we-burning-out

Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Kimi K3 is a massive new open AI model with 2.8 trillion parameters, native vision and a one-million-token context window. Its creator claims it can compete near the frontier of coding, reasoning and knowledge work - but its potential goes far beyond benchmark scores. In this Web News, Matt and Mike discuss what happens when companies can operate powerful AI without depending entirely on OpenAI, Anthropic or another hosted provider. Could open models lower costs and unlock better AI products, or will their customizable guardrails create new safety and regulatory concerns?

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/kimi-k3-brings-frontier-ai-into-the-open

Modern browsers have evolved dramatically over the past two decades, quietly absorbing many features that once required custom JavaScript or third-party libraries. In this episode, Matt and Mike explore native browser capabilities including form validation, accordions, dialogs, popovers, lazy loading, and responsive images. Along the way, they discuss why letting the browser handle more of the work can improve accessibility, performance, maintainability, and the overall developer experience - without becoming dogmatic about JavaScript.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/javascript-isnt-always-the-answer-native-browser-features-every-developer-should-know

Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Should you ship your app as soon as it's functional, or keep building until users love it?

In this episode, Matt and Mike explore the difference between a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP), and why that distinction matters more than ever in the age of AI-assisted development. We discuss feature creep, validating ideas with real users, trusting your instincts as a founder, and how to balance shipping quickly with building something people genuinely want to use.

Whether you're creating an app, SaaS, game, or startup, this conversation is packed with practical lessons on building products that solve real problems and keep users coming back.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/growing-your-app-from-mvp-to-mlp

Remote work isn't simply about working from home - it’s about building systems that let people do their best work without constant meetings or interruptions.

In this episode, Mike shares nearly a decade of experience leading asynchronous engineering teams, discussing what separates successful async companies from those that struggle. We explore why trust, written communication, documentation, and intentional collaboration matter far more than online status indicators.

We also discuss hiring for self-direction, onboarding remote employees, balancing autonomy with accountability, and why async work isn't the right fit for everyone.

Whether you're leading a startup, managing a remote engineering team, or hoping to land your next remote job, this episode explores what successful async work actually looks like.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/how-to-build-an-async-remote-team-that-actually-works

Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

We hope you enjoy!

Sony has announced that beginning in 2028, new PlayStation games will no longer be released on physical discs. While much of the discussion has focused on digital ownership and game preservation, we explore a different question: what does the loss of physical media mean for gaming culture? From collectors and preservationists to streamer backgrounds, game stores, and shelves filled with iconic box art, physical games have become symbols of gaming itself. As the industry moves toward an all-digital future, are we losing more than just discs?

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/what-happens-when-physical-games-disappear

Artificial Intelligence is advancing faster than ever, but can it actually be made safe? In this episode, we explore the evolution of AI from today's Narrow AI systems to the theoretical future of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Superintelligence. Along the way, we discuss AI alignment, control, bias, security, transparency, and the growing challenges researchers face as AI capabilities continue to accelerate. We also examine concerns raised by AI safety researcher Dr. Roman Yampolskiy and compare them with current safety approaches from organizations like Google DeepMind and NIST.

Whether you're a developer, tech enthusiast, or simply curious about the future of AI, this episode provides a practical introduction to one of the most important conversations in technology.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-safety-from-narrow-ai-to-superintelligence

Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.