Tracy Lee and A.D. Slaton sit down on The Context Window to unpack a wild week in AI, starting with the eye popping 500 billion dollars spent on AI infrastructure in 2025 and why the Cognizant CEO still says enterprise value is missing. They dig into reports of ChatGPT going “code red” in response to Gemini 3, what that means for OpenAI, and what it means for everyday builders trying to ship real products. Along the way they touch on ByteDance, call out LiveKit as a key piece of infrastructure for voice, video, and physical AI agents, and flag IBM’s move to acquire Confluent as another signal of where data and AI are heading.

What you will learn

- Why 500B spent on AI infrastructure has not translated into clear enterprise value yet

- What the Cognizant CEO’s comments really signal for teams building AI products

- How Gemini 3’s launch is shaking up the landscape for ChatGPT and OpenAI

- What a “Code Red” moment actually means for developers and companies relying on these platforms

- How LiveKit powers voice, video, and physical AI agents and where it fits in the stack

- Why IBM acquiring Confluent matters for data, streaming, and real time AI systems

- How to stay grounded and make practical decisions when AI news makes reality feel unstable

0:00 Intro

0:53 Are we overspending on AI infrastructure and where’s the enterprise value

2:54 Adoption gap, enablement work and why 100% AI generated code is still rare

6:11 High touch AI training, workshops and scaling AI practices across teams

8:58 Grok 4.22, AI trading experiments and quant style tools for everyone

13:51 OpenAI “Code Red,” rising competition and what changes for Agile with agents

20:37 ByteDance agentic phone, AR glasses and AI moving into the physical world

23:20 LiveKit, voice cloning, AI podcasts and the problem of AI slop

27:00 Thinking machines, social media’s role in AI and closing reflections

Tracy Lee on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyslee/

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Environment variables and secrets are usually a mess: out of sync .env files, scattered API keys, painful onboarding, and brittle CI configs. In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel talks with Varlock co-creators Phil Miller and Theo Ephraim about how Varlock turns .env files into a real schema with types, validation, and documentation, pulls secrets from tools like 1Password and other backends, and centralizes configuration across environments and services. They also dig into protecting secrets in an AI-heavy world by redacting them from logs and responses, preventing accidental leaks from agents, and pushing toward an open env-spec standard so configuration becomes predictable, portable, and actually pleasant to work with.

What you will learn:

- Why traditional .env files and copy paste workflows break down as teams, services, and environments grow.

- How Varlock turns environment variables into a schema with types, validation, documentation, and generated TypeScript.- How to pull secrets from tools like 1Password and other backends without leaving them in plain text or scattering them across dashboards.

- How to manage multiple environments such as development, staging, and production from a single, declarative configuration source.

- How Varlock helps protect secrets in AI and MCP workflows by redacting them from logs and responses and blocking accidental leaks.

- What the env spec standard is and how a common schema format can make configuration more portable across tools, templates, and platforms.

Theo Ephraim on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theo-ephraim/

Phil Miller on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themillman/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

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Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson go deep on intentionality, the developer “superpower” that can speed up your growth, sharpen your judgment, and keep you from getting automated away in the AI era. Rob unpacks a simple loop (state intent → act → measure → review) with real stories, including the ticket he challenged on day one that saved a team six figures, and the “it seems to work” anti-pattern that shipped a mystery bug. Together they show how being deliberate before you write a line of code changes everything: scoping tickets, estimating work, documenting decisions, reviewing PRs, and speaking up, even as a junior.What you’ll learn: • The intentionality loop: how to set a hypothesis, capture outcomes, and improve fast • The exact moment to ask “Should we even do this ticket?” and how to push back safely • Why code is the last step: design notes, edge cases, and review context first • Estimation that actually works: start naive, compare to actuals, iterate to ±10% • How to avoid DRY misuse, “tragedy of the commons” code reviews, and stealth tech debt • Where to keep your working notes (GitHub, Notion, SharePoint) so reviewers can follow your logic • How juniors can question assumptions without blocking the room or their careerRob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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On this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson welcome Miles Ward, CTO of SADA, for an in-depth conversation about the intersection of cloud computing and AI. Miles shares his career journey from early days at AWS and Google Cloud to leading SADA through its acquisition by Insight, offering a rare perspective on the evolution of solutions architecture and cloud adoption at scale.The discussion covers the realities of cloud “repatriation,” why GPUs have shifted some workloads back on-prem or to niche “neo-cloud” providers, and how cloud infrastructure remains the backbone of most AI initiatives. Miles breaks down practical concerns for organizations, from token pricing and GPU costs to scaling AI features without blowing budgets. He also highlights how AI adoption exposes weak organizational habits, why good data and strong processes matter more than hype, and how developers should view AI as intelligence augmentation rather than replacement.Key Takeaways:- Miles Ward, former early AWS Solutions Architect, founder of the SA practice at Google Cloud, and now CTO at SADA (acquired by Insight), brings a deep history in scaling infrastructure and AI workloads.- Cloud repatriation is rare. The main exception is GPUs, where companies may rent from “neo-clouds” like CoreWeave, Crusoe, or Lambda, or occasionally use on-prem for cost and latency reasons, though data-center power constraints make this difficult.- Cloud remains essential for AI. Successful initiatives depend on cloud primitives like data, orchestration, security, and DevOps. Google’s integrated stack (custom hardware, platforms, and models) streamlines development. The best practice is to build in cloud first, then optimize or shift GPU inference later if needed.- Costs and readiness are critical. Organizations should measure AI by business outcomes rather than lines of code. Token spending needs calculators, guardrails, and model routing strategies. On-prem comes with hidden costs such as power, networking, and staffing. The real bottleneck for most companies is poor data and weak processes, not model quality.Miles Ward on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishabkumar7/Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/This Dot Labs Twitter: https://x.com/ThisDotLabsThis Dot Media Twitter: https://x.com/ThisDotMediaThis Dot Labs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisdotlabs/This Dot Labs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisdot/This Dot Labs Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thisdotlabs.bsky.socialSponsored by This Dot Labs: https://ai.thisdot.co/

In this Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson break down the recent string of NPM supply chain attacks that have shaken the JavaScript ecosystem. They cover the NX compromise, the phishing campaign that hit libraries like Chalk, and the Shy Halood exploit, showing how small changes in dependencies can have massive effects. Along the way, they share practical defenses like using package lock and npm ci, avoiding phishing links, reviewing third party code, applying least privilege, staging deployments, and maintaining incident response plans. They also highlight vendor interventions such as Vercel blocking malicious deployments and stress why companies must support open source maintainers if the ecosystem is to remain secure.

Key Points from this Episode:

- Lock down installs. Pin versions, commit package-lock.json, use npm ci in CI, and disable scripts in CI (npm config set ignore-scripts true) to neutralize post-install attacks.

- Harden people & permissions. Phishing hygiene (never click-through emails), 2FA/hardware keys, least-privilege by default, and separate/purpose-scoped publishing accounts.

- Stage & detect early. Canary/staged deploys, feature flags, and tight observability to catch dependency drift, suspicious network egress, or monkey-patched APIs fast.

- Practice incident response. Two-hour containment target: revoke/rotate tokens, reimage affected machines, roll back artifacts, notify vendors, and run a post-mortem playbook.

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Wes Eklund from AWS ProServe about interviews, practical AI, and the future of developer workflows. Wes shares what trips candidates up in coding and behavioral rounds, how to ask better questions, and why prepping multiple honest STAR narratives matters. Danny introduces the Thrive Framework for behavioral interviews and Rob underscores the discipline required to stand out in a crowded market. The trio then digs into 100 Days of Code in the AI era, smart ways juniors can learn with AI, and how Wes’s team uses MCP servers and Amazon Q to speed design, onboarding, and day-to-day delivery. They cover the lull in MCP hype, real security concerns, the “80 percent is a win” mindset when AI accelerates work, and when it actually makes sense to build agents. They close on thin, purpose-built agents, enterprise adoption patterns, and why frameworks like DSPy could reshape moats and costs.

Key Takeaways from this episode:

- Wes explains how candidates often fail because they neglect behavioral prep, and Danny introduces the Thrive Framework as a system to stand out.

- The group debates whether juniors should use AI. Wes frames it as a tool for strategy and reflection, not a shortcut, while Danny emphasizes using it to deepen knowledge and accountability.

- Wes shares how his AWS team leverages MCP servers and Amazon Q to speed design, boost onboarding, and solve problems faster, while Danny highlights enterprise-level use cases like multilingual documentation.

- They discuss whether developers should build agents, the risks of security gaps, and how frameworks like DSPy could make optimized, lightweight agents a new competitive edge.

Chapters

0:00 MCP servers: security reality check

0:33 Modern Web Podcast intro

0:55 Guest: Wes Ecklan (AWS ProServe)

2:02 Job hunt & interview mistakes

5:05 Danny’s THRIVE framework

7:39 Researching values & STAR stories

11:12 Sponsor + quality & discipline in applications

13:04 100 Days of Code in the AI era

18:03 Using AI at work (MCP + Amazon Q)

23:13 Hackathons & making time to innovate

25:06 MCPs in practice: adoption & security

36:00 Agents: when they help vs. hype — close & links

Wes Eklund on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weseklund/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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Danny Thompson sits down with Marino Wijay, Staff Solutions Architect at Kong and CNCF Ambassador, for a wide-ranging conversation on modern cloud-native development. They start with Kubernetes as the entry point into the ecosystem and explore what it really means to be a CNCF ambassador. Marino explains the difference between an API gateway and a service mesh, when small teams should adopt each, and why managed services often make more sense than running infrastructure yourself.The discussion then shifts to reliability and observability, with a focus on automation, pipelines, and creating a seamless developer experience. Finally, Marino shares lessons from working with enterprises rolling out AI, covering vector caching, cost optimization, latency concerns, and the importance of data governance when dealing with LLM traffic. It’s an episode full of practical advice for builders navigating the realities of APIs, microservices, and AI in production today.Key points from this episode:- Kubernetes remains the entry point into the cloud-native ecosystem, giving teams the foundation to operationalize applications and join the CNCF community.- Marino breaks down the distinction between an API gateway and a service mesh, showing how a gateway like Kong secures APIs at the edge while a mesh like Kuma manages traffic, authentication, and encryption between services.- For smaller teams, the smartest path is to rely on managed services and an API gateway, introducing a service mesh only when scale and complexity demand it.- As organizations adopt AI, Marino highlights how vector caching, governance policies, and PII sanitization help control costs, cut latency, and protect sensitive data when working with LLMs.Marino Wijay on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwijay/Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/This Dot Labs Twitter: https://x.com/ThisDotLabsThis Dot Media Twitter: https://x.com/ThisDotMediaThis Dot Labs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisdotlabs/This Dot Labs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisdot/This Dot Labs Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thisdotlabs.bsky.socialSponsored by This Dot Labs: https://ai.thisdot.co/

Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson sit down with Andy Bell to treat CSS as a craft, not a chore. Andy explains why he mentors the browser instead of micromanaging it, how progressive enhancement keeps products resilient, and which modern features deserve attention right now, including has, anchor positioning, and clamp. The conversation gets practical on grid versus flexbox, why grid is often simpler than people think, and how ecosystems and tooling skew usage. They unpack the real reasons Tailwind spread across teams, where it helps with speed and onboarding, and why core CSS skills plus a clear methodology prevent long-term debt. Expect candid consultancy stories, smarter debugging with today’s devtools, and a reminder that play, standards knowledge, and strong communication habits lead to cleaner, more maintainable front ends.Key Takeaways:- Andy Bell stresses mentoring the browser instead of micromanaging it, leaning on progressive enhancement and letting it adapt to context.- Features like :has(), anchor positioning, and clamp are changing how developers approach layouts, interactions, and responsive design.- Despite its power, Grid hasn’t caught on like flexbox, partly due to ecosystem and tooling choices. Andy suggests learning grid first for a clearer foundation.- Tailwind solves organizational and onboarding challenges, but without solid CSS fundamentals and consistent methodologies, teams risk piling up technical debt.

Andy Bell on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-bell-347971255/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson are joined by Rishab Kumar, Staff Developer Evangelist at Twilio, to explore the evolving landscape of voice and AI interactions. They discuss the rise of conversational AI, how voice interfaces are becoming the natural medium for human-computer interaction, and the tools and best practices for integrating AI into real-world applications. Rishab shares insights from Twilio on building voice-enabled AI experiences, tackling challenges like latency and prompt design, and how AI is shaping the future of productivity and problem-solving. The conversation also highlights community-focused events, like the upcoming Commit Your Code Conference in Dallas, where networking, learning, and giving back to charity take center stage.

Key Takeaways:

- Voice interfaces are becoming more natural and conversational, moving beyond simple commands to context-aware, agentic interactions that can assist with tasks in real time.

- AI is being integrated into real-world use cases, from coding assistants and productivity tools to hands-on guidance for tasks like furniture assembly, car troubleshooting, and lab work.

- Platforms like Twilio provide APIs, Conversation Relay, and integrations with voice models to streamline AI voice interactions, handling challenges like latency, speech-to-text, and interruption management.

- There’s a growing need for specialized, reliable AI tools tailored to specific industries and tasks, as well as careful consideration of ethical implications, user trust, and contextual accuracy.

Rishab Kumar on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishabkumar7/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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In this episode, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson enjoy a conversation with Kilian Valkhof, founder of Polypane, a browser built for developers who care deeply about their craft. The discussion explores the shifting landscape of online developer communities as conversations migrate from Twitter to Blue Sky, Mastodon, Discord, and local meetups. Kilian shares how this decentralization has shaped advocacy around accessibility, performance, and front-end principles, while Rob and Danny reflect on what developers lose and gain when there’s no longer a single central hub. They also dig into guiding principles for building quality front-end experiences, from usability and accessibility to balancing trade-offs between performance, readability, and SEO.

Key points from this episode

- Developers are finding their communities scattered across Blue Sky, Mastodon, Discord, and meetups, changing how ideas about accessibility and performance spread.

- Practical frameworks like “rule of three” and “make it run, make it right, make it fast” give developers clearer guidance than vague advice such as “don’t repeat yourself.”

- Building with craft means going beyond visual accuracy to include accessibility, usability, and small details that improve the overall user experience.

- Teams need to agree on priorities so they can navigate trade-offs between things like accessibility, performance, SEO, and readability.

Kilian Valkhof on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kilianvalkhof/

Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/

Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/

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