Torqd

Torq’d Podcast: Browser History, AI Agents, and the Modern Web

Dan Soppelsa hosts the Torq’d podcast with Vehikl coworkers Joe, Ian, and Caleb. In a “learned/liked/lacked” segment, Caleb describes giving AI agents SSH access to an Unraid server to follow guides, spin up Docker Compose services, and manage configs; Ian and Dan discuss using AI to triage duplicate Jira tickets and to generate new tickets and acceptance criteria; Caleb mentions agents connected to Slack and Shortcut for status tracking and end-of-day updates; Joe describes unreliable client sandbox/dev environments and considers MirageJS or snapshots/mocking to reduce broken dependencies. Dan shares using Claude Design to create branding, a logo, and a homepage for a conference talk. They announce community events (GPUG Sept 30 in Waterloo; KWJS upcoming; Laravel Worldwide Meetup; Laravel London Oct 1; Longhorn PHP Oct 15–16, 2026 in Austin). The main topic covers web browser evolution from Tim Berners-Lee’s early web and NeXT machines through Mosaic, Netscape’s JavaScript and cookies, Microsoft’s IE bundling and browser wars, Firefox features like tabs/containers, Safari/WebKit, Chrome/Chromium consolidation, privacy/ad-blocking concerns (Manifest V3), and speculation about AI agents and cloud-based futures.

00:00 Podcast Introductions
01:23 Learned Liked Lacked
02:20 Agents on Servers
04:09 AI for Ticket Work
07:10 Dev Environments Pain
12:18 Claude Design Workflow
14:03 Community Events Roundup
16:41 Why Browsers Matter
18:15 Browser Defaults and Search
22:39 Early Web History
27:32 Mosaic and Mozilla Origins
28:35 Mosaic Origins
29:55 Why Netscape Won
30:34 JavaScript And Cookies
35:20 Dial Up Memories
36:06 Mozilla Name Lore
37:17 Microsoft Enters
40:45 Browser Wars Pain
43:55 Firefox Features
48:30 Safari And WebKit
49:25 Chrome And Chromium
51:01 Privacy And Manifest V3
54:41 Browsers As OS
55:48 AI Future Wrap Up

Torq’d Podcast: Laracon US 2026 Boston Recap, AI Workflows, and Community Events

Dan Soppelsa hosts the Torq’d podcast with coworkers Chris Lemon and Joe Racz, introducing a “liked, learned, lacked” reflection segment focused largely on AI’s impact: Chris likes building mobile apps with NativePHP, learned to build a Kotlin/Swift plugin with Claude, and notes AI increases workload and organization needs; Dan likes Claude Code Artifacts for turning plans and explanations into shareable interactive HTML, but worries AI-generated code can weaken developers’ mental models; Joe uses AI to reduce decision paralysis and for design/feedback, but found it easy to overinvest in optional work. They share upcoming community events (GPUG monthly, KWJS monthly, Laravel Worldwide Meetup, Laravel Toronto, London ON Laravel, and Longhorn PHP where Dan and Chris will speak). The main topic is Laracon US 2026 in Boston, including Laraprom, the industrial venue, the after-party, and “Ship or Die” pitches where Chris presented his Collect Shine smart record-shelf concept and received Laravel Cloud credits.

00:00 Podcast Kickoff
00:40 Liked Learned Lacked
02:09 Chris on NativePHP
03:22 AI Speed and Focus
06:48 Dan on Mental Models
08:44 Claude Artifacts and Sharing
12:14 Joe Uses AI for Design
15:42 Community Events Roundup
16:07 GPUG Meetup Updates
18:00 More Meetups and Laracon Lead In
21:52 Laracon US 2026 Begins
22:54 Arrivals and Boston First Impressions
24:53 Houseboat Airbnb Adventure
27:02 Fenway and City Exploring
28:38 Boston Waterfront Walks
29:20 Laraprom Party Highlights
31:06 Dodgeball and Night Zero
31:42 Sowa Power Station Venue
34:52 Day One Talk Takeaways
37:10 After Party Food and Vibes
38:38 Day Two Standouts
40:40 Ship or Die Pitch Show
43:31 Collect Shine Smart Shelf
50:35 Conference Wrap and Swag

On July 22-26, 2019, the Vehikl team will be attending the largest LaraconUS to date! With over 900 attendees showing up to the Playstation Theatre in Times Square, NYC, it will surely be an incredible experience!

Join us as we speak with returning guest, Adam Frank! We’ll discuss upcoming talks, things to do in and around NYC, and what we’re looking forward to at this year’s conference.

We’ll be in the main lobby of the theatre at our booth! We’ll have t-shirts to give away as well as other swag items, so make sure to stop by before they’re gone!

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://vehikl.com.

On March 25-27, 2019, we will be travelling to Tampa, Florida for VueConf US! During today’s episode, we’re going to talk about this year’s schedule, last year’s conference in New Orleans, and all the fun things we’ll be doing on our trip!

Our guest speakers for this episode are Brian Hogg and first-time guest Natalie Mastracci! They’ll be talking about some of the things they’re looking forward to as first time VueConf attendees, and lots of other interesting things! Join us as we chat about fun facts and activities to do while we’re in the area.

Vehikl will have a booth at the conference, so if you plan to attend VueConf US this year stop by and see us in the Florida sunshine!

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://vehikl.com.

Today we're discussing what's going on at the London Vehikl office! The London team has recently moved into a new building. The building is a beautiful and modern location. Caryn and James work in the London office and join us to tell us what it is like to work there, and what it's like working for Vehikl for general.

The London location is hiring developers. It is a nine person team and looking to grow. Caryn and James walk us through their on-boarding process and tell us what they look for in a new team member.

We also discuss the flourishing Dev community in London. Caryn tells us about the local meetups, conferences, and potential partnerships the London office may consider further down the line.

Some of the meetups and conferences James and Caryn mentioned today are:

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://vehikl.com.

Welcome to our first episode of the new year. Today’s episode is the start of a new series we are calling Vehikl: Under the Hood. We sit down with Colin DeCarlo and Brian Hogg and discuss some exciting developments in the London, Hamilton, and Waterloo offices. Vehikl is hiring new talent and we have many growth opportunities.

We also talk about upcoming meetups and conferences that Vehikl is involved in and what we’re looking forward to in 2019. The meetups we feature today are:

We plan to attend two conferences this year, here’s where we’ll be:

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://vehikl.com.

What does "serverless" really mean, and how do you get started working with it? Why is serverless infrastructure becoming a popular option? Join us as we have first time guest, Jesse Carter, a talented developer here at Vehikl, talk about his vast experience working with serverless architecture.

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://goo.gl/DGS78p

We take a look at Uncle Bob’s (Bob Martin) book The Clean Coder and discuss the topic of software professionalism. We have varying degrees of experience that we share with each other and the audience. We walk chapter by chapter through the book and give some general impressions of what we took away from it. We discuss work/life balance, time management, client communication, and many other aspects of the coding lifestyle.

No matter if you are a beginner or a veteran of the software industry, The Clean Coder is key for personal professionalism.

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://goo.gl/8LGjAU

React Native is a framework that builds applications for both IOS and Android systems. We have some curiosity about React Native and Lucas and Alex join us to tell us about their experience with React and React Native.

Lucas and Alex answer all these questions and offer their opinions on the tool. We also discuss the alternative to React and how a newbie could get their feet wet.

Links and Resources:

Contributions:

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://goo.gl/MCYHbx

So how do you like to work? Are you a multi-monitor user? Do you prefer the lights on or off? Dan and Margaret sit down with Adam Frank and Brian Hogg and compare preferences, quirks, and techniques when they want to get down to work and have a productive time.

We discuss strategies and tips we’ve collected over time. We share tools we find work for us and what doesn’t work for us. Productivity is a personal experience and there is no right way to do it. Here at Vehikl we welcome all work styles and try to accommodate our team as much as possible.

Tune in to learn about some really helpful productivity tools!

Special thanks for the help and support from the entire Vehikl team. Check out Vehikl online: https://goo.gl/MCYHbx