AI coding tools are getting more capable, but learning to use them well is about more than chasing the newest model. In this episode, Matt and Mike break down the fundamentals developers need to work effectively with AI, from models, agents, and harnesses to tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex. We also walk through a practical six-stage progression for building trust in AI-assisted development - starting with small tasks you verify yourself and gradually moving toward agents that can plan, build, review, and test work inside a reliable verification loop.
Is the AI bubble finally starting to pop? Matt and Mike discuss OpenAI reducing usage on its $200 Pro plan, the enormous cost of AI infrastructure, and growing questions around whether businesses are actually seeing enough financial return from their AI investments. They also look at the other side of the argument: AI usage and revenue are still growing rapidly, companies continue pouring money into the technology, and the industry may simply be moving out of an era of heavily subsidized compute. Is this the beginning of an AI correction, or just the next stage of the AI boom?
AI can save small businesses time, reduce repetitive work, and unlock capabilities that previously required more people, but where should you actually start? In this episode, Matt and Mike break down how small businesses can introduce AI without getting overwhelmed, from identifying high-frequency, low-risk tasks and protecting sensitive business data to turning successful experiments into repeatable AI workflows. We also discuss why you shouldn't automate everything at once, how your existing expertise makes AI more useful, when AI can hurt your brand, and why even a small business should consider having a basic AI policy.
Our world already has an instant gratification problem and AI has somehow made it worse. It's making skilled work faster and cheaper than ever, which in turn makes us more impatient than ever. Why should we spend a week learning a new SEO tool or a new coding method when we can just ask our AI to do it in a snap? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss AI-powered instant gratification, the pressure to constantly build and experiment, and the strange feeling that when almost anything can be made quickly, maybe we should be doing everything.
Tech layoffs can happen with little warning, even when your company is doing well. In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss the warning signs that layoffs may be coming, how to prepare while you're still employed, and what to do when a layoff starts looking imminent. From building an emergency fund and keeping your resume current to documenting your accomplishments and strengthening your professional network, we cover practical ways to make an unexpected layoff much easier to navigate.
AI models are already remarkably capable, but their intelligence doesn’t matter much if they’re too expensive, limited, or confusing to use. In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss why cheaper and faster models, higher usage limits, and a better user experience could be more important than winning the next benchmark - and why the future of AI may be about making today’s technology genuinely usable.
AI is easy to start using, but getting good at it takes practice. In this episode, Matt and Mike break down the AI basics everyone should learn first, from improving your prompts and knowing when AI needs to search the web to verifying important answers and avoiding AI overload. Whether you're using ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or another AI tool, these tips will help you build better habits and get more useful results.
Is AI coding making technical debt worse, or could it help us finally clean it up? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike debate how tighter deadlines, unchecked code, and AI’s context limits affect maintainability - and whether clean code still matters when AI can navigate the mess.
Inspired by this r/webdev discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1wi3mi5/is_vibe_coding_creating_a_hidden_technical_debt/
Every once in a while, a new app actually sticks and changes how you work. In this episode, Mike shares the developer and productivity apps that have earned a permanent spot in his workflow, including the Aside AI Browser, Orca Agent IDE, OrbStack, Aerospace, Raycast, and Niagara Launcher. We dig into AI-powered browser automation, managing multiple coding agents, remote development from your phone, lightweight Docker alternatives, keyboard-first macOS workflows, and minimalist Android setups.
Can AI actually plan a good vacation? Matt recently used ChatGPT and Gemini to help plan a trip to the UK, from sightseeing and transportation to fitting everything into a packed itinerary. We break down what AI got right, where it completely missed the mark, and why the best travel planning still combines AI with Google Maps, social media, and advice from real people.
AI coding tools can generate huge amounts of functional code in seconds, but does that mean developers no longer need to learn how to code? In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss how aspiring and junior developers can use AI coding agents as both builders and tutors - following their curiosity, learning the concepts behind generated code, and deciding how much manual coding knowledge they actually need to retain. They also explore the growing challenge of balancing traditional programming skills with agentic coding skills, especially when preparing for developer jobs and technical interviews.
GPT-6 Astra is here, bringing another huge jump in AI capabilities - and once again raising the question: are we approaching AGI?
But defining artificial general intelligence gets messy fast. If AGI means matching or exceeding humans across virtually any cognitive task, how do you actually test that? And as new benchmarks appear, are we discovering better ways to measure intelligence or simply moving the goalposts? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss what AGI means from a regular user's perspective, why benchmark scores don't necessarily tell the whole story, and whether the label even matters if AI can already handle increasingly complex real-world work. For most of us, the question may be much simpler: does the AI actually do what we need it to do?
Most of us repeatedly teach our AI coding agents the same lessons: ask questions before coding, write a specification, break the work into tickets, test everything, and review the result. Agent skills let us package those instructions into reusable workflows that an agent can load whenever they become relevant. In this episode, Matt and Mike explain what agent skills are, how they differ from prompts, project rules, tools, MCP servers, and custom GPTs, and why they can make AI-assisted development more consistent. They also explore Matt Pocock’s engineering skills - including grill-with-docs, wayfinder, to-spec, to-tickets, implement, code-review, and handoff - and discuss why installing too many overlapping skills can make an agent worse instead of better.
AI agents can handle tasks independently for minutes at a time - but what should you do while you wait? Start more work, run additional agents, or finally take a break?
In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss how AI has unexpectedly created more opportunities for short retro-gaming sessions during the workday. They explore why playing a low-stakes Game Boy game can be more restorative than doomscrolling, how stepping away can improve your review of AI-generated work, and why running too many agents eventually turns your own brain into the bottleneck.
AI may help us accomplish more, but does every minute it saves need to be filled with additional work?
A small business website doesn’t always need a fully custom design. In fact, spending too much time on bespoke visuals can waste the client’s budget without helping the business achieve its goals.
In this episode, Matt and Mike explain how freelancers and agencies can choose the web design services they want to offer, determine how much design a client actually needs, and translate business requirements into an effective website. They compare fully custom designs, versatile themes, pre-made websites, and rebuilds on modern platforms. They also discuss managing client wishlists, gathering brand assets, working outside your comfort zone, and using AI to create more customized designs without reinventing everything from scratch.
Leaks have become an unavoidable part of following technology and entertainment. Unreleased phones appear online months before their announcements, unfinished games are shown without context, and spoilers can surface in your feed whether you searched for them or not. In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss the recent leak of alleged GTA VI gameplay footage and whether leaking a game is ever a reasonable form of protest. They also explore why unfinished footage can create a misleading impression, how leaks take control away from the people presenting a product, and whether some suspiciously polished tech leaks might actually be intentional marketing. Have leaks made product launches less exciting - or do you enjoy seeing everything as early as possible?
Developer job titles are changing, and GTM Engineer is one of the fastest-growing roles at the intersection of software, data, automation, AI, and revenue. Instead of building only for product or internal engineering teams, GTM Engineers help companies find, convert, retain, and expand customers through better systems and smarter workflows.
In this episode, Matt and Mike explain what GTM Engineers actually do, why being closer to revenue can make an engineer's value easier to demonstrate, and how developers can move toward this work without starting their careers over. They discuss lead scoring, CRM integrations, customer-usage alerts, sales automation, portfolio projects, resume positioning, customer calls, and the importance of documenting measurable business impact.
After using AI coding tools professionally and personally, Brett Codes says he is done. His viral video and blog post describe feeling detached from his work, less engaged with programming, and increasingly anxious about the future of his career. This anxious feeling is common in tech and software engineering spaces today as LLMs invade what was once a complex and manual job that required dedication and practice to learn. Matt and Mike discuss why that story resonates with exhausted developers, the pressure companies place on teams to adopt AI, whether opting out is realistic, and what happens if hand-written code becomes a niche craft.
Small-business websites used to have a straightforward job: explain who you are, what you offer, and how customers can contact you. Then search became a major source of discovery, and businesses added keyword-focused pages, blogs, technical SEO, and local listings. Now AI Overviews and zero-click search are changing the equation again. Does that mean blogs and traditional websites are dead? Matt and Mike argue that they are still essential - but they are no longer the whole strategy. In this episode, they break the modern small-business website into three layers: a trustworthy digital brochure, a discovery engine, and a useful tool. They explore how calculators, product selectors, rankings, schedules, availability checkers, and other “micro-app” pages can give real customers a reason to visit, return, and take action. They also explain why businesses should preserve existing content and link equity, measure what works, and build the new layer gradually instead of throwing everything out.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei reportedly worries that some new hires are joining the company for the paycheck rather than its AI safety mission. But with competitors offering top researchers compensation packages reportedly reaching nine figures, is choosing the money really surprising? In this edition of theWeb News, Matt and Mike discuss the escalating AI talent war, whether company culture can compete with life-changing compensation, and why years of layoffs have made workers less willing to put an employer’s mission ahead of their own financial security.
The episode is based on reporting summarized by AI Weekly, which notes that researchers are also weighing compute access, technical freedom, and influence - not compensation alone.
Before becoming an engineering manager, Mike spent nearly two years washing dishes and another five working as a line cook. The jobs may seem completely unrelated to software development, but the lessons he learned in the kitchen continue to shape how he handles pressure, leads developers, and solves problems today. In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss how early jobs outside of tech can prepare you for a career in development. They explore thriving in chaotic situations, matching people with the right responsibilities, cross-training team members, paying attention to details, and finding the motivation to keep learning. They also share how factory and kitchen work taught them what they wanted from their careers - and what they never wanted to return to.
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.
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.
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.
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.
