Side Project Spotlight

Steve finally fixed phillycocoa.org, and the journey from broken CircleCI pipelines and hijacked S3 buckets to a blazing-fast Cloudflare Pages site took one Side Project Saturday and an embarrassing number of Codex tokens. Then The Trio turns to the AI hype machine, and they're tired: tired of opaque token costs, tired of reviewing generated code that complicates everything it touches, and tired of an industry that mistakes syntax speed for software engineering. Fred Brooks called it in 1986, and The Trio is calling it now.

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:47 The Journey of Updating the Website

06:38 Challenges with CircleCI and S3 Buckets

09:23 Exploring Cloudflare Pages

11:14 Navigating Cloudflare's User Interface

14:22 Setting Up Automatic Deployments

17:35 Managing DNS and SSL with Cloudflare

23:07 LLM Development Fatigue

26:15 Navigating Concerns and Costs in AI Usage

29:11 LLMs are No Silver Bullet

31:57 The Exhaustion of Code Review and Architectural Decisions

36:25 Token Management and Cost Awareness in AI Tools

40:07 The Economics of AI and Software Development

42:45 The Hype vs. Reality of AI Tools

46:34 Future Prospects of LLMs and Universal UI

50:16 The Future of Edge Computing with LLMs

53:08 The Evolution of Software Development and AI Integration

54:17 AI in Sci-Fi: Myths vs. Reality

57:54 The Challenges of Local Models and Hardware Limitations

01:03:21 Outro & Upcoming Event

01:09:21 Tag

## Show Notes

- Steve spent Side Project Saturday migrating phillycocoa.org from a broken CircleCI/S3 setup to Cloudflare Pages, burning his entire weekly Codex token budget in about three hours.

- Cloudflare Pages handles Hugo builds automatically and manages SSL and CDN without manual config, all on a free tier that's plenty for the site.

- Cloudflare's UI hides the Pages "Get Started" link below giant worker buttons, which Kotaro calls "the weirdest dark pattern."

- Steve argues that syntax generation was never the real bottleneck in software engineering, citing Fred Brooks' 1986 essay "No Silver Bullet."

- Aaron is worn out from reviewing AI-generated code and still having to make every architectural decision himself.

- LLM costs are nearly impossible to forecast: a single prompt can burn a significant chunk of your plan, depending on model, tool calls, and context.

- The Trio sees firms rushing to adopt LLM tooling before the ROI math makes sense, driven by hype rather than evidence.

- ThePrimeagen's recent take on the shifting AI economy lines up with what Steve sees at work: token-based billing is starting to expose the real cost.

- The Trio agrees local models running on personal hardware are the interesting long-term play, but RAM shortages make even basic setups expensive.

- Kotaro closes with a dad joke: he thought his LLM skills landed him his current job, but it turns out...

## Links

**PhillyCocoa.org Update**

Website: https://phillycocoa.org

**Articles & Essays**

"Let's talk about LLMs" by James Bennett: https://www.b-list.org/weblog/2026/apr/09/llms/

"No Silver Bullet" by Fred Brooks: https://www.cs.unc.edu/techreports/86-020.pdf

**Videos**

"The AI economy is about to change" by ThePrimeagen: https://youtu.be/_Q-e_nczWqM

**One More Thing**

"Beyond the Simulator: Perspectives on Modern App Development": https://luma.com/i00ll61z

**PhillyCocoa:** https://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

Tim Cook is stepping down in September, and The Trio has plenty of thoughts on what the Ternus era means for Apple. Kotaro dives into his embedded systems rabbit hole (Raspberry Pis, ESP32s, and a Godot refresher), while Steve sounds the AI hype alarm, comparing the current frenzy to NFTs and the Metaverse, complete with a shoe company that somehow pivoted to GPU data centers on a $50M budget. Steve's monitor saga drags on, the SpaceX/Cursor "announcement of an announcement" gets the skepticism it deserves, and The Trio wraps up with details on the May 14 IRL meetup in Philly.

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

05:54 Kotaro's Side Project Adventures

08:29 Diving into Hardware and Embedded Systems

11:17 Raspberry Pi Adventures and Microcontrollers

14:02 Creating AI Projects with Raspberry Pi

18:19 Exploring DIY Devices and Learning in Tech

23:21 Game Development and Learning Curves

24:16 AI Tools and Programming Challenges

26:55 The AI Hype Update and Economic Realities

36:57 Balancing AI Use in Software Development

39:53 The Hype Cycle of AI and Media

44:32 So Long, Time Apple, and Thanks for All the Fish!

53:07 The Future of Apple in the Ternus Era

56:43 Steve's Monitor Watch Update

58:57 Wrap Up

01:00:37 Tag

## Show Notes

- Tim Cook announced his retirement as Apple CEO, effective September, with hardware chief John Ternus set to take the helm.

- The Trio agrees Cook grew Apple into the world's most valuable company, and the MacBook Neo might just be his most quintessential product.

- Ternus is seen as more of an engineer/visionary, and Steve is cautiously hoping he'll bring more Jobs-era decisiveness to Apple's product direction.

- Kotaro is deep in embedded systems this year, learning Raspberry Pi 5s and ESP32 microcontrollers the hard way (wrong cables, wrong GPIO boards, all of it).

- He's built a basic AI chatbot device (think DIY Rabbit R1, hooked to Google Gemini) and is eyeing a 5-inch touchscreen home automation kiosk.

- TRMNL, the E Ink dashboard device, comes up as a goal Kotaro is working toward, though the large version is sold out.

- GitHub Copilot paused new signups, dropped Opus from Pro plans, and started rationing usage, which Steve reads as AI's economic reality finally catching up.

- Steve puts AI hype at NFT/Metaverse levels: a shoe company pivoted to GPU data centers, and SpaceX "announced" it has the option to buy Cursor for $60B without actually buying anything.

- Steve's XDR monitor watch continues: he watched a glowing review, still can't justify the price, but is eyeing the nano-texture option for his glare-heavy room.

- The Trio closes with news of a PhillyCocoa IRL meetup on May 14 at the Vanguard building, featuring Kotaro on Metal shaders.

## Links

**Hardware & Devices**

TRMNL: https://trmnl.com/ | Rabbit R1: https://www.rabbit.tech/rabbit-r1

**Snazzy Labs TRMNL Review**

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWw5NKUx40o

**AI Hype Update**

We are near peak hype (Primeagen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAREqdtUN48

SpaceX/Cursor ($60B): https://www.reuters.com/technology/spacex-says-it-has-option-acquire-startup-cursor-60-billion-2026-04-21/

**One More Thing**

IRL Meetup RSVP (May 14): https://luma.com/i00ll61z

**PhillyCocoa:** http://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

The Trio tests Google's new Gemma 4 model running locally on an iPhone and gets an instant wrong answer, which sets the tone for a sprawling conversation about AI hype, Anthropic's Mythos release, and the social media panic Steve dubs "mythos psychosis." Along the way, token maxing emerges as the new worst productivity metric, Kotaro reminds developers they could just do things themselves, and Steve makes a compelling case for building your own push notification system on Apple platforms. Plus, the never-ending monitor saga inches closer to a verdict.

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

00:37 "AI" Hype Bubble Updates

02:39 Mythos and Myth Making

05:24 Local AI Models and Their Performance

12:57 Mission Impossible: Mythos Psychosis

17:09 Responsible Token Maxing

23:42 Local Models and Personal Assistants

26:56 You Could Just Do It Yourself

30:02 Modern Push Notifications

37:25 Building Your Own Push Notification System

43:14 The Value of Push Notifications in Apps

47:03 Steve's Monitor Upgrade Update

50:34 Wrap Up

51:30 Tag

## Show Notes

- Anthropic's Mythos, Google's Gemma 4, and Meta's Muse Spark all dropped within days, kicking off The Trio's AI hype bubble update segment.

- Mythos is reportedly 5x more expensive than Opus, and Anthropic says it's too dangerous to release publicly, so only a handful of partners have access.

- Steve demos Gemma 4's 2B parameter model on his iPhone via Google's AI Edge Gallery app: it's blazing fast, but instantly wrong about how many Rs are in "raspberry."

- Aaron points out small local models like Gemma are meant to be fine-tuned for specific tasks, not used as general chatbots.

- Steve coins "mythos psychosis" for the social media meltdown over AI capabilities, with influencers posting videos titled things like "the end of software."

- Token maxing is apparently real at some companies, where managers measure dev productivity by token usage; The Trio helpfully workshops a strategy of generating and deleting code to keep your codebase in perfect equilibrium.

- Kotaro's advice for devs reaching for AI on simple tasks: you're a good developer, just do it yourself.

- Steve dives into modern Apple push notifications, highlighting the Push Notifications Console, broadcast push for live activities, and how much easier setup is with SwiftUI.

- Building your own push server is just HTTP/2 calls to Apple's API, and Apple doesn't charge for sending notifications at indie scale.

- The monitor saga continues: Aaron and the LLMs keep pushing Steve toward the Pro Display XDR, which now has a VESA mount discount making the price slightly less painful.

## Links

**Modern Push Notifications**

Apple Push Notifications: https://developer.apple.com/notifications/

**One More Thing**

Slopes: https://getslopes.com

**PhillyCocoa:** http://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

iOS 26.4 just dropped and Steve is thrilled that the keyboard finally works again. The Trio digs into the new Music app concerts feature (powered by Bands in Town, probably), which leads Steve into a passionate case for the local music scene, Guinness floats, and why authenticity matters more than ever in the age of AI-generated slop. From there, Kotaro floats a wild idea: what if Apple built their own version of OpenClaw using iMessage and their own hardware? Steve points out Apple already has the pieces in place with App Intents and Shortcuts, and the WWDC speculation spirals into distilled Gemini models, local inference on M5 hardware, and Marco Arment's absurd 48 Mac mini data center rack. Steve also reports back from his Apple Store recon mission on the Studio Display vs. the XDR, and Aaron keeps egging him toward the expensive one.

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions & OS Updates

05:48 The Local Music Scene and Its Importance

08:35 Authenticity in Music and Art

11:40 AI and Its Impact on Creativity

14:33 WWDC26 and "AppleClaw?"

27:04 Exploring AI Model Parameters and Storage Needs

28:31 The Future of Apple "AI" Services

30:28 Local vs Cloud Inference: The Power Struggle

32:50 Steve's Monitor Update

43:13 Wrap-Up

43:32 One More Thing...

44:48 Tag

## Show Notes

- iOS 26.4 is out and Steve says the iPhone keyboard actually works now, which is apparently the highlight of the whole release.

- The Music app's new concerts feature surfaces local shows based on your listening history, with ticket links through Bands in Town.

- Steve makes the case for local music: cheaper shows, interesting venues, accessible artists, and the guarantee that you're not listening to AI-generated slop.

- The Trio agrees AI art works as a stock photo replacement but loses something the moment you know it's generated.

- Kotaro pitches "AppleClaw," the idea that Apple could build an OpenClaw-style agent using iMessage and their own hardware.

- Steve thinks Apple is well positioned since they already have App Intents, Shortcuts, and a Gemini backend they can distill into local models.

- Marco Arment apparently has 45+ Mac minis in a data center rack for transcoding podcasts, and yes, he rents actual data center space for them.

- The M5 chips can handle useful local inference on 30B parameter models, and Apple's power efficiency gives them an edge over GPU rigs that melt cables (looking at you, PewDiePie).

- Steve visited the Apple Store and confirms the XDR display has the best HDR he's ever seen, but he can't unsee the fuzziness of nanotexture.

- The monitor decision is down to a glossy Studio Display or the BenQ MA Series, with Aaron lobbying hard for the XDR.

## Links

**Apple**

iOS 26.4: Available now on all Apple platforms

**AI & Agents**

Welcome to Gas Town: https://steve-yegge.medium.com/welcome-to-gas-town-4f25ee16dd04

#55: The "Universal" UI: https://podcast.phillycocoa.org/episodes/55-the-universal-ui

**Apps**

AppJawn LLC Apps: https://appjawn.com/#apps

**One More Thing**

SwiftUI Architecture Book by Mohammad Azam: https://azamsharp.school/swiftui-architecture-book.html

**PhillyCocoa:** http://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

The Trio declares this an AI-free episode and dives into Apple's latest hardware announcements. Kotaro, Steve, and Aaron break down the new MacBook Neo, its surprisingly capable A18 chip, aluminum build, colorful design, and its potential to expand the Mac market at just $600. Then Steve takes The Trio on a deep dive into his increasingly desperate search for the perfect external monitor, weighing the refreshed Studio Display, the new Studio Display XDR, BenQ's upcoming 5K Mac monitor, Dell's 4K Thunderbolt hub display, and BenQ's programmer-focused 3:2 aspect ratio monitors. What follows is a lively debate over 120Hz refresh rates, macOS 4K scaling quirks, nano-texture vs. glossy glass, multi-monitor setups, MacBook Pro pricing strategies, and whether Kotaro and Aaron can convince Steve to just pick one already.

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:48 MacBook Neo

18:31 The Studio Display (2026)

22:17 The Studio Display XDR

25:26 Understanding 120 Hertz Displays

27:49 Evaluating Cost vs. Performance in Monitors

29:24 Comparing Alternatives to the Studio Display

31:27 The BenQ Monitor: A Viable Contender

33:06 Dell 4K and macOS Scaling

36:43 BenQ Programmer Series Monitors

42:28 Multiple Monitors vs. One High-End Display

43:55 Navigating MacBook Pro Configurations

45:34 Understanding RAM and Pricing Strategies

48:11 Choosing the Right Display for Your Needs

53:33 A Digression About Apple Care Prices

55:53 A Monitor Intervention

01:00:30 Wrap-Up

01:00:58 One More Thing...

01:02:24 Tag

## Show Notes

- Apple announces new hardware including the MacBook Neo, refreshed Studio Display, and the new Studio Display XDR

- The MacBook Neo starts at $600 ($500 education), features an A18 chip, aluminum unibody, colorful options, and is capable enough for 4K video editing in Final Cut

- Touch ID is a $100 add-on: The Trio agree it's worth the upgrade

- The refreshed Studio Display gains Thunderbolt 5 and daisy-chaining support but remains 60Hz

- The Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299 with mini-LED backlighting, 120Hz ProMotion, and the stand included

- Steve's monitor search considers: Studio Display ($1,500 edu), Studio Display XDR ($3,200 edu), BenQ 5K Mac monitor (~$1,000), Dell 4K Thunderbolt hub (~$800), and BenQ RD280UG programmer monitor (~$700)

- Discussion of macOS 4K scaling issues: macOS renders at 5K and downsamples to 4K, which can cause artifacts

- The BenQ programmer monitor features a 3:2 aspect ratio (28"), 120Hz, dark/light mode presets, and a halo backlight, but weaker color reproduction

- Nano-texture vs. glossy glass: nano-texture reduces glare but can appear slightly fuzzy; standard glass is easier to clean

- Apple's MacBook Pro pricing now ties higher RAM options to higher chip tiers, effectively bundling price increases

- AppleCare One costs more per additional device ($6/mo) than standalone AppleCare Plus ($5/mo): a pricing quirk Steve finds baffling

- BentoFit, The Trio's health kit dashboard app, gets a plug: download it at bentofit.app

- Kotaro asks if this is the "Steve intervention podcast" as the monitor debate spirals. Aaron's rational choice? Buy the XDR and keep it for 10 years. Steve remains unconvinced. Stay tuned.

## Links

**MacBook Neo Reviews**

John Gruber (Daring Fireball): https://daringfireball.net/2026/03/the_macbook_neo

Tyler Stalman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-VOt9559Gk

Marques Brownlee (MKBHD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGeXGdYE7UE

Linus Tech Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSheV0FEYYU

**Displays**

ArtIsRight on nano-texture displays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzEmuA53LLE

**One More Thing**

AppJawn LLC: https://appjawn.com

Apps: Clipdish, Mio Vino, Minimalist Meditation Timer

**PhillyCocoa:** http://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

The Trio kick off with the rumors about Apple's March 4th event and the possible return of a budget 12-inch MacBook on an A18 chip, which leads to a very poorly researched price analysis and a pitch for a MacBook sock accessory. Steve and Aaron talk about how agentic-assisted coding at work has been mentally exhausting and how they miss actually writing code. The conversation covers why LLMs are rough for greenfield projects, what "vibe coding" actually means (and why they're not doing it), the Alex Hillman episode follow-up, and Steve's experiment running different models against Bento Fit to produce slop PRs that Kotaro then spent an hour reviewing for some reason. Steve also crashes out about the state of the industry and public perception of AI. It's a lot.

## Chapters

- 00:00 Introductions

- 01:51 Rumors and Speculations on New Macs

- 10:43 The Impact of Pricing on Apple's Product Strategy

- 11:53 The Developer Perspective on a New MacBook

- 17:36 Comparing MacBooks and iPads in Today's Market

- 18:36 The MacBook Sock

- 21:12 Mac App Renaissance

- 22:26 Follow-Up: Alex Hillman Episode

- 25:12 Agentic Coding Flow States

- 29:50 Balancing Traditional and AI-Assisted Development

- 33:26 Navigating the Challenges of Greenfield Projects

- 38:00 The Dilemma of AI in Coding

- 41:48 Navigating Agentic Coding and Professional Ethics

- 43:50 The Reality of Code Maintenance

- 44:36 Public Perception of AI and Software

- 47:41 Steve Crashes Out About the Industry

- 51:24 Bento Fit Slop PRs

- 58:37 Wrap-Up

- 59:37 One More Thing...

- 01:00:50 Tag

## Show Notes

- Apple "Experience" event March 4th, rumored budget MacBook with A18, ~12 inch, fun colors, maybe $699–$799

- Updated Studio Display and touchscreen MacBooks also rumored

- People buying $600 Mac Minis for OpenClaw setups

- Mac app renaissance? More Mac apps being submitted, possibly thanks to LLMs making AppKit less painful

- Alex Hillman episode follow-up: 219 views, 5 likes, watch hours up 46,639%

- Agentic coding fatigue: Steve and Aaron are tired. No flow state. Just planning, reviewing, iterating.

- Greenfield projects with LLMs produce average code. Better to write some bespoke code first and give the robot examples.

- "We're not vibe coding." Steve proposes "agentic-assisted" as the term. The acronym is AA, which... maybe not great.

- Code is a liability. 1,000 lines a day is not a good metric.

- People outside the bubble mostly know ChatGPT, don't pay for it, and hate it

- Steve ran three slop PRs on Bento Fit with different models as an experiment. Kotaro reviewed one for an hour anyway.

- Bento Fit's $4.34 in tip revenue resulted in a $10 tax bill

- OpenCode now has a $10/month plan for open source models

## Links

**Bento Fit**

Website: https://bentofit.app

**Tools & Services Mentioned**

OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai | OpenCode: https://opencode.ai | T3 Chat: https://t3.chat | Codex CLI: https://openai.com/codex | Claude Code: https://claude.com/product/claude-code

**One More Thing**

AppJawn LLC: https://appjawn.com

Apps: Clipdish, Mio Vino, Minimalist Meditation Timer

**PhillyCocoa:** http://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

In this episode, Alex Hillman, co-founder of Philadelphia's legendary coworking space Indy Hall, takes us through his journey building a sophisticated AI executive assistant using Claude Code. What started as a simple terminal experiment in October 2025 has evolved into a full production system that autonomously manages network diagnostics, email workflows, relationship tracking, and newsletter automation. Alex shares the technical architecture, real-world stories of AI-powered problem solving, cost insights, and his thoughtful approach to building trust with AI while maintaining strong ethical guardrails.

## Chapters

- 00:00 Coming Up...

- 02:01 Introductions

- 03:57 The Origins of PhillyCocoa and Indie Hall

- 06:12 The Evolution of AI and Personal Assistants

- 07:35 Building a Personal Assistant with Claude Code

- 10:26 The Architecture of the Personal Assistant

- 14:04 Creating a Web App Interface for the Assistant

- 16:10 Using Tailscale for Secure Access

- 19:01 Mitigating Risks with AI Autonomy

- 29:24 Backup Protocols and Data Management

- 31:23 Emergent Behavior in AI Systems

- 34:10 Flow State and Productivity in Programming

- 37:56 Understanding AI Behavior and User Education

- 39:45 Cost Management in AI Development

- 45:37 Building Trust with AI Systems

- 53:53 Navigating Trust in Skill Utilization

- 55:23 Technical Applications for Non-Developers

- 01:00:17 Innovative Personal and Business Management

- 01:09:03 Transforming Workflows with AI

- 01:12:56 Ethics and Responsibility in AI Usage

- 01:18:25 Community Building Through Meetups

- 01:21:55 Tag

## Highlights

**Architecture:** Claude Code headless via CLI with WebSocket communication, Docker on Hetzner VPS, Tailscale networking, hourly snapshots, git hooks for destructive commands, multi-layered security.

**Real Use Cases:**

- Network monitoring that diagnosed an overheating router fan from a screenshot

- Email sorted by "easiest to hardest" instead of chronological

- Date night tracking with restaurant and wine pairing suggestions

- Organized 51 wine bottles via photos into ASCII grid layout

- Newsletter reduced from 4 hours to 30 minutes while preserving human writing

**Costs:** $20/month plan lasted 20 minutes. Now at $200/month. One Thanksgiving week hit $1,500 in overages during heavy development.

**Philosophy:** "Modest YOLO" approach—autonomous but controlled. AI enhances human work, doesn't replace it. The system can modify itself: type "add a button," refresh, it works.

**Open Source:**

- **Kuato**: Session search for Claude Code

- **Smaug**: Twitter bookmark archiver with AI analysis

- **Andy Timeline**: Auto-generated weekly narrative of the AI's evolution

## Event

**Big Philly Meetup Mashup** - March 15, 2026

Hackathon for Philadelphia's tech and creative communities. Theme: "Good Neighbors." Sponsored by Supabase.

https://indyhall.org/goodneighbors/

## Links

**Alex Hillman**

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexHillman | Website: https://dangerouslyawesome.com | GitHub: https://github.com/alexknowshtml

**Open Source Projects**

Kuato: https://github.com/alexknowshtml/kuato | Smaug: https://github.com/alexknowshtml/smaug | Andy Timeline: https://github.com/alexknowshtml/andy-timeline

**Tools & Resources**

Indy Hall: https://indyhall.org | Claude Code: https://claude.com/product/claude-code | OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai | Brian Casel: https://www.youtube.com/@briancasel | Termius: https://termius.com | Point-Free: https://www.pointfree.co/the-way

**PhillyCocoa:** http://phillycocoa.org

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

The Trio meet to discuss two of the talks (ours!) from the recent in-person PhillyCocoa meetup called "Beyond the Simulator: Perspectives on Modern App Development" that took place on January 29 at the Vanguard offices in Philadelphia. This pod was recorded before the event due to scheduling, but we go into detail on what you missed now that it is the future (insert Spaceballs joke here)! Kotaro talks about Liquid Glass and what it means for modern UI/UX while Steve goes into some detail about how to effectively get started using tools like Codex CLI or Claud Code for app development. Be sure to check out PhillyCocoa.org for a link to join our Slack and follow us on Luma so you know when our next in-person and virtual events are scheduled: https://luma.com/phillycocoa.

## Show Notes

- Introductions

- IRL Meetup Follow-up (recorded before the meetup!)

- Kotaro’s Liquid Glass talk

- Steve’s Spec. Plan. Ship. “AI” assisted dev talk

- Wrap-Up

- One More Thing...

- Monthly Zoom Call Meeting in February

- Follow us on Luma: https://luma.com/phillycocoa

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

02:33 Beyond the Simulator IRL Event

03:49 Kotaro's Talk: Liquid Glass and Modern UI/UX Trends

11:25 Liquid Glass Encourages Gesture-Based Interactions

16:18 Branding Challenges in Liquid Glass UI

19:31 Steve's Talk: Spec. Plan. Ship

21:47 The Four I Workflow: Intent, Interact, Increment, Iterate

28:59 Continuously Iterate on Your System

33:17 Steve's Tips for Getting Started

41:51 Best Practices for Using AI in Development

46:20 Wrap-Up

46:38 One More Thing...

47:59 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

#103: 2026 Vibes

We're back! In this season 6 premiere, Steve struggles to speak after being sick, but still manages to talk a lot about the current hype around Claude Code and Opus 4.5 and the "agentic" coding craze sweeping developer circles online right now. The Trio discuss Alex Hillman's amazing Claude Code wrapper personal assistant called "Andy." Kotaro makes some Metal shaders with Claude and is building a TouchPie with his own hands while Steve is exploring some open source models to use in a Bento Fit update and Aaron is exploring a full and satisfying life away from the computer. There is a lot packed into this episode and it ends with a special announcement!

## Show Notes

- Introductions

- Anime and Isekai: Comfort Food for Developers

- Side Project Explorations (Mostly in "AI")

- Steve Yegge’s crazy “Gas Town” multi-agent automated code factory thing

- https://steve-yegge.medium.com/welcome-to-gas-town-4f25ee16dd04

- Alex Hillman’s “Andy” personal assistant built around headless Claude Code

- https://youtu.be/yjO9UHIunSE

- https://www.youtube.com/live/rk2nsE-MlPg

- Whoops! Data exfiltration in Claude Cowork!

- https://www.promptarmor.com/resources/claude-cowork-exfiltrates-files

- Robots!

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS_z60kjVEk

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJqMPFNP4to

- Shaders!

- https://www.shadertoy.com

- Bento Fit!

- https://bentofit.app

- Raspberry Pi “Ziggy”?

- One More Thing…IRL EVENT!!!!

- Jan 29 at the Vanguard Building, 2300 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA

- RSVP: https://luma.com/98u1j4t8

- http://phillycocoa.org

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions

01:50 Anime and Isekai: Comfort Food for Developers

04:59 Side Project Explorations (Mostly in "AI")

08:58 The Rise of AI in Coding: Tools and Experiences

14:49 Innovative Approaches to Coding with AI

19:09 Alex Hillman's Amazing "Andy" Claude Code App

21:18 Building Personal AI Tools

26:03 The Bleeding Edge that is Claude Cowork

29:33 Navigating Security Risks in AI Tools

34:00 The Evolution of AI and User Experience

37:51 "Do Better!"

41:33 Making Shaders Metal with Claude

45:46 Building TouchPie: A Raspberry Pi Project

49:19 Designing Custom Hardware for Enhanced User Experience

52:16 Bento Fit: Building with Open Source Models

55:17 Future Projects and Collaboration Ideas

58:17 Outro & One More Thing...

59:46 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.

In this Season 5 finale, the Trio discuss ideas for next year's side projects and have a ton of laughs along the way. Have a great holiday season and a Happy New Year! Side Project Spotlight will return in 2026!

## Show Notes

- Season 5 Finale!

- Side Project Ideas for 2026

- Bento Fit Updates

- https://bentofit.app

- Tangent: Chat Gippity Joined the Chat

- Server Side Swift Project

- https://www.swift.org/blog/swift-temporal-sdk/

- Vertical Endless Runner Godot Game

- https://godotengine.org

- Vibey Picks

- Photo Gig Journal App

- Photo Culling App

- Dad Joke App

- Raspberry Pi 5 Hardware Project

- One More Dad Joke…

## Chapters

00:00 Introductions — Season 5 Finale!

01:40 Side Project ideas for 2026

05:46 Idea #1 — Bento Fit Updates

07:16 Tangent: Chat Gippity Joined the Chat

16:03 Idea #2 — Server Side Swift Project

21:26 Idea #3 — Vertical Endless Runner Godot Game

29:37 Idea #4 — Photo Gig Journal App

32:02 Idea #5 — Photo Culling App

36:51 Idea #6 — Dad Joke App

42:28 Idea #7 — Raspberry Pi 5 Hardware Project

46:33 Wrap-Up

46:59 One More Dad Joke...

47:28 Tag

Intro music: "When I Hit the Floor", © 2021 Lorne Behrman. Used with permission of the artist.