Podcasts about React Native

Mazen and Robin welcome Gant Laborde of Infinite Red to discuss AI Triforce, a practical framework for AI-powered software teams. They explore agentic coding, governance, testing, code quality, and emerging engineering roles that help teams move faster with AI while maintaining scalability, reliability, and long-term maintainability.   Show Notes AI Triforce announcement   Connect With Us! Gant Laborde: @gantlaborde Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is a premier mobile app consultancy, especially focused on Expo and React Native, located fully remote in the US. We're a team of 30 with highly experienced mobile app developers and have been doing this for over a decade. We are also one of the first development teams to adopt agentic coding in a way that keeps high quality standards and aren't afraid to do things the old school way if we need to. If you're looking for mobile app or React Native or Expo expertise for your next project, hit us up at infinite.red/radio.

BONUS: How AI Is Reshaping Software Teams From the Inside — Lessons From Google, Meta, and Snowflake In this episode, Dwarak Rajagopal — VP of AI Engineering and Research at Snowflake — shares what he's seeing firsthand as AI agents become part of the software development process. From compressed sprint cycles to automated standups across time zones, Dwarak draws on two decades of building AI infrastructure at Google, Meta, Uber, and Apple to show what's actually changing inside engineering organizations today. From Compiler Engineer to AI Leader — The Thread That Connects Two Decades "In AI, the hardest part isn't just the models itself, it's making them work in real environments where data is messy, fragmented, and governed."   Dwarak started his career as an open-source GCC compiler engineer over two decades ago, optimizing hardware performance. He moved into graphics at Apple, then pivoted to AI when AlexNet started running on GPUs around 2011-2012. From there, he built autonomous driving software at Uber, led Meta's PyTorch core framework team bridging research and production, and at Google led AI Frameworks including getting Gemini training on TPUs. The common thread: always working at the intersection of research and production, making powerful technology work in the real world. That focus on real-world application is what drew him to Snowflake — where enterprise data meets AI at scale. AI Is Changing What Engineers Actually Do All Day "Engineers are spending more time on system design, validation, production reliability — and less time doing the implementation itself, because AI is helping that."   The shift Dwarak sees is concrete: AI is accelerating development, but the real value comes when it's grounded in enterprise data and context. At Snowflake, teams use tools like Cortex Code, Snowflake Intelligence, and other LLMs to generate code and tests faster — because the friction cost of development has dropped dramatically. Customer example: Whoop, the fitness band company, used Cortex Code with conversational data assistance and agents to reduce development cycles from weeks to hours, freeing teams to focus on high-value work. The End of "This or That" — Try Both, Kill Fast "There's a lot more choices now. You don't have to think about this versus that. Do both and then figure out what is the best."   One of the most practical shifts Dwarak describes: teams no longer need to commit to one architectural approach upfront. Because AI reduces the cost of building, teams can pursue two designs in parallel and evaluate both. A concrete example: instead of choosing a cross-platform framework like Flutter or React Native for a mobile app, Snowflake's teams now build native iOS and Android apps simultaneously — one human-led, the other agent-built — at roughly the same speed. But this creates a new challenge: teams have to learn to kill projects faster. When you can build more, you also discard more — and engineers need to detach from "their baby." Smaller Teams, Bigger Output — The Cross-Functional Shift "You could build multiple products now faster with different smaller teams. One back-end person, one front-end person — build vertically end-to-end."   Dwarak's teams moved from functional structures (separate backend, frontend, and feature teams) to project-based teams that own the full vertical stack. This isn't theoretical — Snowflake Intelligence was built this way. The result: fewer dependencies, faster delivery, more products in parallel. The tradeoff is coordination cost — more things running in parallel means more decisions to synchronize. Recruiting Has Fundamentally Changed — Systems Thinking Over Syntax "We used to ask an engineer to code a specific search algorithm. Now we ask them to build a whole search system within an hour."   Dwarak is clear: fundamentals matter more than ever. Systems thinking, judgment, the ability to work with complex data and production systems — these are what hiring evaluates now. AI handles execution; humans need to define problems clearly and ensure systems behave at scale. For junior engineers, the news is encouraging: onboarding is faster because team-specific skills are codified and shared, and the barrier to building end-to-end systems has dropped. "Learning by building is more true than ever now." Monday Planning, Friday Demos — The Compressed Sprint "You basically decide what to do on Monday, and you're testing together as a team on Friday and getting the feedback for the next week."   Daily work has transformed at Snowflake. The traditional multi-week sprint has compressed to a single week: Monday planning, Friday team demos and testing. Standups still happen — but faster, sometimes multiple times per day. For distributed teams across Bay Area, Seattle, and Poland, an automated skill scans each day's code changes and posts a summary in a shared Slack channel — so the next timezone knows exactly what happened without waiting for a meeting. This solves one of the oldest problems in distributed development. The Road to Lights-Out Codebases — Governance, Observability, Reversibility "Can agents take actions? Which of these actions cannot be taken back? You need the concept of committing actions or rolling back."   Building on the "lights-out codebases" concept from Philip Su's episode, Dwarak agrees the direction is clear — agents are already writing more code than humans in some contexts. But enterprise adoption requires governance, observability, traceability, and reversibility of agent actions. The shift from "AI as a tool" to "AI as part of the system" is happening now, with the focus moving from getting answers to enabling actions at scale. What Most People Get Wrong About AI in Software "It's very easy to build prototypes, even end-to-end systems. But it's very hard to get it working in enterprises where the data is so messy."   The gap between demo and production is where most organizations hit the wall. Enterprise data is scattered across invoices, factory outputs, and dozens of systems — combining it meaningfully for AI to generate insights and actions is the real challenge. This is different from the "AI will replace developers" narrative. The bottleneck isn't code generation; it's data integration, governance, and controlled execution at scale. About Dwarak Rajagopal Dwarak Rajagopal is VP of AI Engineering at Snowflake, where he leads the Cortex AI and AI Research teams. Before Snowflake, he led Google's AI Frameworks and On-Device ML teams (including Gemini), ran Meta's PyTorch Core Frameworks team, and built autonomous driving software at Uber. Two decades of shipping AI at the companies that define the field.   You can link with Dwarak Rajagopal on LinkedIn.  

React Native is an open source framework developed by Meta that allows engineers to build mobile applications for both iOS and Android using a single JavaScript codebase. The framework bridges the gap between web development and native mobile, which lets teams ship to both platforms simultaneously without sacrificing the look and feel of a truly The post React Native at Scale appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

React Native is an open source framework developed by Meta that allows engineers to build mobile applications for both iOS and Android using a single JavaScript codebase. The framework bridges the gap between web development and native mobile, which lets teams ship to both platforms simultaneously without sacrificing the look and feel of a truly The post React Native at Scale appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

Feeling overwhelmed by all the new AI coding tools for React Native development? In this episode, Robin and Mazen talk through how they're actually using tools like Claude, Cursor, and Expo Agent to build React Native apps faster. They share real-world AI coding workflows, lessons learned from building AI-assisted mobile apps, and why React Native still matters in an AI-driven development world.   Show Notes Robin's meme about Redux on X (featuring Mazen) Mobile PR Reviewer on GitHub Matt Pocock's AI Skills for Real Engineers   Ask us anything!  We'll be recording a very special AMA episode of RNR in the future! Ask us anything by replying on our X, Bluesky, or LinkedIn posts.   Connect With Us! Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is a premier mobile app consultancy, especially focused on Expo and React Native, located fully remote in the US. We're a team of 30 with highly experienced mobile app developers and have been doing this for over a decade. We are also one of the first development teams to adopt agentic coding in a way that keeps high quality standards and aren't afraid to do things the old school way if we need to. If you're looking for mobile app or React Native or Expo expertise for your next project, hit us up at infinite.red/radio.

Zack Ebenfeld joins Michał Pierzchała to talk about AI-assisted coding, testing, QA, code review, and why verification matters more than ever in mobile workflows. It is a practical conversation about trust, feedback loops, and how engineering work is shifting from pure implementation toward judgment, architecture, and product thinking.

Daniel Williams stops by to chat with Mazen and Robin! We dig into Storybook 10's leaner bundle, the 10.3 MCP server unlocking AI agent workflows, what Chromatic is cooking up for visual regression testing in React Native, and his work on Repack.   Show Notes Storybook announcement on X How to Cleanly Swap Between React Native Storybook 10 and Your App Storybook website Agent Device: iOS & Android Automation for AI Agents React Native Porto Meetup X   Connect With Us! Daniel Williams: @Danny_H_W Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Jamon is back! Jamon joins Robin to discuss his game Gunship Origins, built in Godot and being distributed with MicroProse. Jamon also shares his popular "Night Shift" workflow, running AI agents overnight while he thinks through the system by day.   Show Notes The "Night Shift" Agentic Workflow Jamon's post about the "Night Shift" Agentic Workflow on X   Connect With Us! Jamon Holmgren: @jamonholmgren Robin Heinze: @robinheinze React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Robin and Mazen welcome Tanner Linsley to dive into TanStack Native Router, his ambitious new take on React Native navigation that promises a simpler mental model, powerful type safety, and a fresh cross-platform future for routing.   Show Notes TanStack Native Router (React Native branch) React Native Router Package (TanStack Router) React Native Basic Example (TanStack Native Router)   Connect With Us! Tanner Linsley: @tannerlinsley Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Nesse episódio trouxemos as notícias e novidades do mundo da programação que nos chamaram atenção dos dias 04/04 a 10/04.☕ Café Código FontePrograme sua xícara para o sabor certo!https://cafe.codigofonte.com.br

Nesse episódio trouxemos as notícias e novidades do mundo da programação que nos chamaram atenção dos dias 04/04 a 10/04.☕ Café Código FontePrograme sua xícara para o sabor certo!https://cafe.codigofonte.com.br

Todd Werth, Infinite Red's co-founder and 30-year software veteran, joins Robin to talk AI and where it's taking our industry. Also, Claude built a Flappy Bird clone with Todd's face on it, and we're not sorry.   Connect With Us! Todd Werth: @twerth Robin Heinze: @robinheinze React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Evan Albert from Meta joins Mazen and Robin on the episode! Evan reveals how React Native developers can now build apps for Meta Quest using the tools they already know and love. From infinite screen space to multi-panel experiences, this episode explores the exciting frontier where React Native meets VR.   Show Notes RNR 337 - Meta Quest for React Native with Marcus Leyendecker Blog Posts & Guides Getting Started with Expo on Meta Quest (Callstack) What You Can Build with React Native on Meta Quest (Callstack) Using Expo Libraries on Horizon OS: A Guide to Compatibility (Callstack) Learn Once, Write for VR: A React Native Showcase for Meta's Horizon OS (Callstack) How to Release a React Native App on the Meta Horizon Store (Callstack) How to Add Meta Quest Support to Your Expo App (Software Mansion) React Native Meta Horizon OS Documentation (Callstack) Meta Spatial Simulator Blog Post Videos React Native on Quest Walkthrough — Coding with Beto React Conf Announcement — Live Stream Callstack Interview Tools & Packages Expo Horizon Core Plugin (npm) Expo Expo Go on Meta Quest   Connect With Us! Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Mazen and Robin catch up on five months of React Native and Expo releases, covering the biggest updates in 0.82–0.84 and Expo SDK 55. They talk through the move to the new architecture, Hermes V1 becoming the default, faster builds, better developer tools, and AI updates that make upgrading a little less of a headache.   Show Notes React Native 0.82 – A New Era for the New Architecture React Native 0.83 – Stable New Architecture and React 19.2 Updates React Native 0.84 – Hermes V1 by Default and Legacy Architecture Cleanup Expo SDK 55 – React Native 0.83, React 19.2, and New Project Template “Pay It Forward” – You Never Know How Much It Helps (YouTube Short) Expo Skills – Official AI Agent Skills for Expo and React Native   Connect With Us! Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Fernando Rojo, Head of Mobile at Vercel, joins Mazen and Robin to discuss building the V0 mobile app with React Native and Expo, including tech stack decisions, performance optimization, and how the project pushed Vercel to improve its native tooling.   Show Notes How Vercel Built the v0 iOS App with React Native Leveling Up React Native with Vercel Agent Skills AIX: AI Chat Primitives for Native Apps from Vercel   Connect With Us! Fernando Rojo: @fernandorojo Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

In this episode, I share an honest update about the future of the Rocket Ship Podcast.After running the show for quite a while and experimenting with different formats, I've decided to pause the podcast for now. In this episode I explain why, what changed, and what I want to explore next.

William Candillon sits down with Mazen and Robin to show how React Native Skia enables smooth, high‑end animations, shaders, and UI effects in React Native. The episode also dives into WebGPU and the future of 3D and advanced graphics on mobile.   Show Notes William Candillon's YouTube Channel React Native Skia Tutorials ShaderToy TypeGPU Documentation WebGPU and Skia for Web Graphics (Shopify Engineering) William Candillon on X WebGL Samples Shader's Gambit Introducing Skia Graphite (Chromium Blog)   Connect With Us! William Candillon: @wcandillon Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio   This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

This week we're joined by Jamon Holmgren, the founder and CEO of Infinite Red. Infinite Red is a software consultancy that specializes in building React Native apps. We talk about his early days of coding, starting a consultancy, remote culture at Infinite Red, React Native, community and Chain React, and building his new game Into the Dawn.Personal WebsiteTwitter/XGitHubLinkedInInfinite RedInto the Dawn on Steam

Mazen and Robin chat with Krzysztof Magiera about React Native Screens, the "most important library you'll never use directly," from its origin as a fix for memory-hogging stacked screens to the exciting V5 rewrite built exclusively for the new architecture.   Show Notes RNR 309 - React Native IDE with Krzysztof Magiera RNS Website RNS GitHub Blog: Introducing Fabric to react-native-screens Connect With Us! Krzysztof Magiera: @kzzzf Robin Heinze: @robinheinze Mazen Chami: @mazenchami React Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red! Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

React Native 0.84 is here (with Hermes V1 by default), WebAssembly is landing inside Hermes, Expo is experimenting with AI “Agent Skills,” and there might be a new React Native framework coming from TanStack

This week's episode is packed with deep React Native ecosystem updates, a clear shift toward AI-first tooling, and some really positive momentum on Tiny Harvest. We talk new APIs, better performance, smarter automation - and why it feels like AI has officially crossed a tipping point for most developers.⚛️ React Native Radar⏳ Expo SDK 55 – still not released, likely 1–2 weeks out

In this episode of The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast, we discuss some intel being shared in the LimaCharlie community.OpenClaw, an open source AI agent formerly known as MoltBot and ClawdBot, has rapidly become the fastest-growing project on GitHub, amassing over 113,000 stars in under a week.A critical vulnerability in the React Native Community CLI NPM package, tracked as CVE-2025-11953 with a CVSS score of 9.8, has been actively exploited in the wild since late December 2025, according to new findings by VulnCheck. JFrog article.Following the disclosure in the Notepad++ v8.8.9 release announcement, further investigation confirmed a sophisticated supply chain attack that targeted the application's update mechanism.Google, in coordination with multiple partners, has undertaken a large-scale disruption effort targeting the IPIDEA proxy network, which it identifies as one of the largest residential proxy networks globally.Support our show by sharing your favorite episodes with a friend, subscribe, give us a rating or leave a comment on your podcast platform.This podcast is brought to you by LimaCharlie, maker of the SecOps Cloud Platform, infrastructure for SecOps where everything is built API first. Scale with confidence as your business grows. Start today for free at limacharlie.io.

Mazen and Robin sit down with Kræn Hansen from ElevenLabs to break down what Node API actually is and why it could be a game-changer for React Native library authors who want to write native modules once and use them everywhere, plus what still needs to happen before it's ready for prime time. Show NotesAnnouncing Node-API Support for React Native (Callstack)Kræn Hansen's React Universe TalkKræn Hansen on Callstack's livestreamHost package: React-native-node-apiHermes implementation discussionConnect With Us!Kræn Hansen: @KrænHansenRobin Heinze: @robinheinzeMazen Chami: @mazenchamiReact Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdioThis episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

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*Threat Hunting Workshop: Hunting for Privilege Escalation - Level 2February 11, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM ETSign Up: https://www.intel471.com/resources/webinars/threat-hunting-workshop-hunting-for-privilege-escalation-level-2Top Headlines: VulnCheck | Metro4Shell: Exploitation of React Native's Metro Server in the Wild: https://www.vulncheck.com/blog/metro4shell_eitw Notepad | Notepad++ Hijacked by State-Sponsored Hackers: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/hijacked-incident-info-update/ ThreatLabz | Operation Neusploit: APT28 Uses CVE-2026-21509: https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/security-research/apt28-leverages-cve-2026-21509-operation-neusploit CERT-UA | "Danger Bulletin": UAC-0001 (APT28) carries out cyberattacks against Ukraine and EU countries using the CVE-2026-21509 exploit (CERT-UA#19542): https://cert.gov.ua/article/6287250 ----------Stay in Touch!Twitter: https://twitter.com/Intel471IncLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intel-471/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIL4ElcM6oLd3n36hM4_wkgDiscord: https://discord.gg/DR4mcW4zBrFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Intel471Inc/

Mazen and Robin welcome back Cedric van Putten to discuss Expo Launch, a new tool that automates deploying React Native apps to the App Store. Learn how Expo is streamlining certificates, screenshots, and submission workflows.Show NotesExpo LaunchCedric van Putten's blog post: Introducing Expo LaunchMatt Palmer's blog post: From idea to app with Replit and ExpoExpo's AI StrategyConnect With Us!Cedric van Putten: @cedric_devRobin Heinze: @robinheinzeMazen Chami: @mazenchamiReact Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdioThis episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

This week's episode is packed with Expo-heavy updates, early looks at AI agent tooling, and some honest numbers and lessons from Tiny Harvest. We also zoom out and talk about the idea that we might be living through an Industrial Revolution of Software.⚛️ React Native Radar

In this episode of React Native Radio, Robin and Mazen are joined by Marc Rousavy to break down transforming packages to Nitro and why it's a big deal for high-performance native modules. They dig into Nitro's origins, how it stacks up against TurboModules and Expo, and what's coming next for VisionCamera. Show NotesNitroModulesChatGPT Nitro Module BuilderMarc's screencast: How to build a Nitro ModuleFrank Calise's Awesome Nitro ModulesRNR 310 - Nitro with Marc RousavyMargelo's Discord Connect With Us!Marc Rousavy: @mrousavyRobin Heinze: @robinheinzeMazen Chami: @mazenchamiReact Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Vercel's v0 iOS app is built with React Native, but it looks and feels like a fully native iOS product. In this episode of React Universe On Air, we go deep into how the v0 mobile app was built: from choosing Expo and going iOS-first, to writing native modules, fixing low-level React Native issues, and upstreaming improvements back to the ecosystem. This is a hands-on engineering conversation with Fernando Rojo, Szymon Rybczak, and Oskar kwaśniewski about real trade-offs, real constraints, and what it takes to ship a polished app under real deadlines. Chapters 00:00 Welcome to the React Universe 00:50 Meet our guests 02:42 v0 app overview 03:45 Iterating to greatness 05:07 Choosing Expo and initial tech decisions 07:55 Code sharing with v0 website 11:03 Open Source contributions 13:20 React Native Core fixes 15:40 Android version? 18:42 Modal issues we fixed 23:20 Working with React Native Core 26:16 Balancing deadlines and root cause analysis 27:23 Native Modules and custom solutions 29:16 Minimalistic UI challenges 30:44 Floating Composer concept 33:41 Feature flags and testing 36:48 WebView swiping and custom forks 45:16 Launch experience and security concerns 50:17 Final thoughts

This week's episode is a quieter one on the news front - but a big one for reflections.We look at the latest signals from the React Native ecosystem, then zoom out into what I've been building lately, why I can't stop thinking about my game project, and how AI has quietly become one of the most useful tools in my daily workflow.⚛️ React Native RadarState of React Native 2025 survey: early impressions & what stands outJavaScript Rising Stars 2025: what's gaining traction (and what isn't)

2025 is coming to an end - and instead of another release recap, this episode takes a step back.In this year-in-review, I reflect on what actually mattered in React Native in 2025:the shifts that changed how we build apps, what was overhyped, what quietly became important, and the lessons I'm taking into 2026.This is a calm, opinionated look at the year - from the perspective of someone building apps, teaching developers, and navigating a fast-moving ecosystem.

Wes and Scott revisit their 2025 web development predictions, grading hits and misses across AI, browsers, frameworks, CSS, and tooling. From Temporal and AI coding agents to React, Vite, and vanilla CSS, they reflect on what actually changed, what stalled, and what it all means heading into 2026. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 866: 2025 Web Development Predictions 01:26 Temporal API will ship in the browser 03:33 On-device AI becomes common 06:14 WebGPU unlocks fast local machine learning TypeGPU 07:10 Models will plateau 10:32 Is there an actual use case for video and photo gen AI? 13:27 Text to UI tools get really good 16:25 Framework choice will matter less 18:53 Web components in Standard Stack, Web Awesome takes off 21:37 AI browsers and Copilot Workspace-style tools will become normal 22:56 AI browsera will become inevitable, OpenAI will launch a browser 27:51 Relative color will feel fully “safe to use” 29:02 Vanilla CSS will make a comeback 30:33 Brought to you by Sentry.io 30:58 CSS mixins and functions spec solidifies CSS Custom Functions and Mixins Module Level 1 33:25 Container style queries will ship everywhere CSS if statements 35:40 Vertical centering jokes will stubbornly persist 36:20 VS Code will reach feature parity with Cursor 38:47 More VS Code forks will appear 39:46 React Compiler drops Babel 40:34 React server components will pop 42:17 Remix re-emerges as something new 43:17 React Native will have its time 44:21 TanStack Start and Tanstack will pop 45:46 SvelteKit gets more granular data loading 46:06 Local first apps will take off 46:43 Bun keeps doing “wild but loved” non-standard features, Bun will launch a platform-as-a-service 48:22 Vite stays king 51:07 Laravel will release a CMS 52:44 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs Sick Picks Scott: DARKBEAM Flashlight UV Black Light Wes: WOOZOO Fan Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

In our popular year-end recap, our hosts are all back tother and joined by guest Josh Yoes to review the biggest React Native developments of 2025! They cover major releases, the shift to the new architecture, React 19 support, and how tooling and performance evolved across the ecosystem. Connect With Us!Blog Post | React Native Wrapped 2025 by Joshua Yoes Connect With Us!Josh Yoes: @JoshuaYoesJamon Holmgren: @jamonholmgrenRobin Heinze: @robinheinzeMazen Chami: @mazenchamiReact Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdio This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

This week's episode covers a big React Native release, a critical React security vulnerability, and a wave of performance and DX improvements across the ecosystem. I also share updates from Tiny Harvest and talk about the realities of AI-assisted coding as projects grow.⚛️ React Native Radar

Mazen and Robin are joined by fan-favorite Taylor Desseyn to discuss how the React Native job market has shifted in 2025 and why community matters more than ever. They break down what skills companies want now and how developers can stand out in a tighter market. Show NotesRNR 302 - Landing a Job with Taylor DesseynThelma & James (The band Taylor worked with that went viral on TikTok)TorcTorc's Community (Discord)Infinite Red Community (Slack)Taylor's Keynote  Connect With Us!Taylor Desseyn: @tdesseynMazen Chami: @mazenchamiRobin Heinze: @robinheinzeReact Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdioThis episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Mazen and Jamon chat with Simon Grimm about his move from Ionic pioneer to React Native creator. Simon highlights key cross-platform trends, why React Native's future looks exciting, and how he supports developers through Galaxies.dev. Show NotesSimon Grimm's podcast, Rocket Ship: https://podcast.galaxies.devZero to Hero, Launch Your First Real Mobile App in 30 Days: https://galaxies.dev/missions/zero-to-hero  Connect With Us!Simon Grimm: @schlimmsonMazen Chami: @mazenchamiJamon Holmgren: @jamonholmgrenReact Native Radio: @ReactNativeRdioThis episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With over a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Episode Highlights[00:00:48] What Makes Software MaintainableDon explains why unnecessary complexity is the biggest barrier to maintainability, drawing on themes from A Philosophy of Software Design.[00:03:14] The Cost of Clever AbstractionsA real story from a Node.js API shows how an unused abstraction layer around MongoDB made everything harder without delivering value.[00:04:00] Shaping Teams and Developer ToolsDon describes the structure of the Search Craft engineering team and how the product grew out of recurring pain points in client projects.[00:06:36] Reducing Complexity Through SDK and Infra DesignWhy Search Craft intentionally limits configuration to keep setup fast and predictable.[00:08:33] Lessons From ConsultingRobby and Don compare consulting and product work, including how each environment shapes developers differently.[00:15:34] Inherited Software and Abandoned DependenciesDon shares the problems that crop up when community packages fall behind—especially in ecosystems like React Native.[00:18:00] Evaluating Third-Party LibrariesSignals Don looks for before adopting a dependency: adoption, update cadence, issue activity, and whether the library is “done.”[00:19:40] Designing Code That Remains UnderstandableWhy clear project structure and idiomatic naming matter more than cleverness.[00:20:29] RFCs as a Cultural AnchorHow Don's team uses RFCs to align on significant changes and avoid decision churn.[00:23:00] Documentation That Adds ContextDocumentation should explain why, not echo code. Don walks through how his team approaches this.[00:24:11] Type Systems and MaintainabilityHow Don's journey from PHP and JavaScript to TypeScript and Rust changed his approach to structure and communication.[00:27:05] Testing With TypesStable type contracts make tests cleaner and less ambiguous.[00:27:45] Building Trust in AI SystemsDon discusses repeatability, hallucinations, and why tools like MCP matter for grounding LLM behavior.[00:29:28] AI in Developer ToolsSearch Craft's MCP server lets developers talk to the platform conversationally instead of hunting through docs.[00:33:21] Improving Legacy Systems SlowlyThe Strangler pattern as a practical way to replace old systems one endpoint at a time.[00:34:11] Deep Work and Reducing Reactive NoiseDon encourages developers to carve out time for uninterrupted thinking rather than bouncing between notifications.[00:36:09] Measuring ProgressBuild times, test speeds, and coverage provide signals teams can use to track actual improvement.[00:38:24] Changing Opinions Over a CareerWhy Don eventually embraced TypeScript after originally writing it off.[00:39:15] Industry Trends and Repeating CyclesSPAs, server rendering, and the familiar pendulum swing in web architecture.[00:41:26] Experimentation and Team AutonomyHow POCs and side projects surface organically within Don's team.[00:44:42] Growing Skills Through Intentional GoalsSetting learning targets in 1:1s to support long-term developer growth.[00:47:19] Where to Find DonLinkedIn, Blue Sky, and his site: donmckinnon.dev.Resources MentionedA Philosophy of Software Design by John OusterhoutJohn Ousterhout's Maintainable.fm Interview (Episode 131)Search CraftElasticAlgoliaWordPress Plugin DirectoryRequest for Comments (RFC)Strangler Fig PatternC2 WikiModel Context Protocol (MCP)Glam AIAubrey/Maturin Series by Patrick O'BrianMaster and Commanderdonmckinnon.devThanks to Our Sponsor!Turn hours of debugging into just minutes! AppSignal is a performance monitoring and error-tracking tool designed for Ruby, Elixir, Python, Node.js, Javascript, and other frameworks.It offers six powerful features with one simple interface, providing developers with real-time insights into the performance and health of web applications.Keep your coding cool and error-free, one line at a time! Use the code maintainable to get a 10% discount for your first year. Check them out! Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

This week's episode covers a mix of major React Native updates, powerful new tools, and insights from publishing my AI-engineered farming game, Tiny Harvest. We also talk about early experiments like React Native Rails and what CSS Grid means for the future of layout on mobile.⚛️ React Native Radar:✨ Gifted Chat v3 rewrite – modernized API, performance fixes

This week's episode is packed with performance breakthroughs, new UI tooling, graphics innovation, and my own deep dive into AI-assisted game development. We compare Valdi vs React Native, explore what Uniwind v1 means for the styling ecosystem, and look at how WebGPU is reshaping the future of graphics on mobile.⚛️ React Native Radar:

Mazen talks with Alex Lanclos from Skylight about how they power their wildly popular smart displays with React Native! Mazen and Alex dig into architecture upgrades, performance wins, and why Skylight is so excited about the framework's future. Show NotesSkylightRNR 328 - Flashlight with Alexandre MoureauxRNR 325 - Legend List with Jay Meistrich Connect With Us!Mazen Chami: @mazenchamiReact Native Radio: @reactnativerdio This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With nearly a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

In this episode of The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast, we discuss some intel being shared in the LimaCharlie community.A newly observed threat campaign is exploiting Amazon Web Services' Simple Email Service using stolen credentials and open source tools to perform cloud reconnaissance and eventually launch Business Email Compromise scams. A critical vulnerability has been disclosed in the React Native Community CLI NPM package, a toolset widely used for building React Native applications.Microsoft's Detection and Response Team (DART) has discovered a novel backdoor, SesameOp, that uses the OpenAI Assistants API as a command-and-control (C2) channel, highlighting a new way attackers are misusing generative AI platforms.Researchers from Cyble and Seqrite Labs have disclosed a sophisticated malware campaign, dubbed Operation SkyCloak, targeting defense-related organizations in Russia and Belarus through weaponized attachments delivered via phishing emails.Support our show by sharing your favorite episodes with a friend, subscribe, give us a rating or leave a comment on your podcast platform.This podcast is brought to you by LimaCharlie, maker of the SecOps Cloud Platform, infrastructure for SecOps where everything is built API first. Scale with confidence as your business grows. Start today for free at limacharlie.io.

Scattered Spider, LAPSUS$, and ShinyHunters join forces Nikkei reports data breach impacting 17,000 people React Native NPM flaw leads to attacks Huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker Imagine having the power to decide exactly what runs in your IT environment — and blocking everything else by default. That's what ThreatLocker delivers. As a zero-trust endpoint protection platform, ThreatLocker fills the gaps traditional solutions leave behind, giving your business stronger security and control. Don't just react to threats — stop them with ThreatLocker.

This week, we discuss OpenAI's new browser, AI trying to build spreadsheets, and when to use Claude skills. Plus, Coté explores the art of the perfect staycation. Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode (https://www.youtube.com/live/PnwoFl5JjNo?si=DS2CoIgHVlVU9Y3m) 543 (https://www.youtube.com/live/PnwoFl5JjNo?si=DS2CoIgHVlVU9Y3m) Runner-up Titles Firewire is dead USB, what are you going to do? It's like I tell my son: you know what to do, you chose not to do it. I am just a guest. I don't need helpful An amazing hole. Slides for nobody You closed the loop It's pretty amazing, but does it need to exist? Slackhole Rundown OpenAI Introducing ChatGPT Atlas (https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-atlas/) OpenAI Is Building a Banker (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/newsletters/2025-10-21/openai-is-building-a-banker?srnd=undefined&embedded-checkout=true) OpenAI has five years to turn $13 billion into $1 trillion (https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/14/openai-has-five-years-to-turn-13-billion-into-1-trillion/) AI agents are not amazing, they are slop: says OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy as he strongly disagrees with CEO Sam Altman on AGI timeline - The Times of India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/ai-agents-are-not-amazing-they-are-slop-says-openai-cofounder-andrej-karpathy-as-he-strongly-disagrees-with-ceo-sam-altman-on-agi-timeline/articleshow/124720565.cms) OpenAI's ChatGPT will soon allow ‘erotica' for adults in major policy shift (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/15/erotica-coming-to-chatgpt-this-year-says-openai-ceo-sam-altman.html) OpenAI Inks Deal With Broadcom to Design Its Own Chips for A.I. (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/technology/openai-broadcom-chips-deal.html) Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP (https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/16/claude-skills/#atom-everything) OpenStack Flamingo pays down technical debt as adoption continues to climb (https://www.networkworld.com/article/4066532/openstack-flamingo-pays-down-technical-debt-as-adoption-continues-to-climb.html) Relevant to your Interests Elon Musk will settle $128 million Twitter execs lawsuit (https://www.theverge.com/news/796239/elon-musk-x-128-million-twitter-exec-lawsuit-settlement) GitHub Will Prioritize Migrating to Azure Over Feature Development (https://thenewstack.io/github-will-prioritize-migrating-to-azure-over-feature-development/) The Discord Hack is Every User's Worst Nightmare (https://www.404media.co/the-discord-hack-is-every-users-worst-nightmare/) Cursor-Maker Anysphere Considers Investment Offers at $30 Billion Valuation (https://www.theinformation.com/articles/cursor-maker-anysphere-considers-investment-offers-30-billion-valuation) Rubygems.org AWS Root Access Event – September 2025 (https://rubycentral.org/news/rubygems-org-aws-root-access-event-september-2025/) This Discord Zendesk compromise has gotten more silly (https://x.com/vxunderground/status/1976417029289607223) WP Engine Vs Automattic & Mullenweg Is Back In Play (https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wp-engine-vs-automattic-mullenweg-is-back-in-play/557905/) Windows 11 removes all bypass methods for Microsoft account setup, removing local accounts (https://alternativeto.net/news/2025/10/windows-11-now-blocks-all-microsoft-account-bypasses-during-setup/) Introducing the React Foundation: The New Home for React & React Native (https://engineering.fb.com/2025/10/07/open-source/introducing-the-react-foundation-the-new-home-for-react-react-native/?utm_source=changelog-news) Wiz Finds Critical Redis RCE Vulnerability: CVE‑2025‑49844 | Wiz Blog (https://www.wiz.io/blog/wiz-research-redis-rce-cve-2025-49844) DevRel is -Unbelievably- Back (https://dx.tips/devrel-is-back) The Ruby community has a DHH problem (https://tekin.co.uk/2025/09/the-ruby-community-has-a-dhh-problem) YouTube rolls out its redesigned video player globally (https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-rolls-out-its-redesigned-video-player-globally-174609883.html) Oracle stock rises as company confirms Meta cloud deal (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/16/oracle-confirms-meta-cloud-deal-.html) Adiós, AirPods (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/10/apple-airpods-live-translation/684582/?gift=iWa_iB9lkw4UuiWbIbrWGV8Zzu9GF6V5YZpJtnAzcvU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share) NVIDIA shows off its first Blackwell wafer manufactured in the US (https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/nvidia-shows-off-its-first-blackwell-wafer-manufactured-in-the-us-192836249.html) This Is How Much Anthropic and Cursor Spend On Amazon Web Services (https://www.wheresyoured.at/costs/) Automattic CEO calls Tumblr his 'biggest failure' so far (https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/20/automattic-ceo-calls-tumblr-his-biggest-failure-so-far/) Marc Benioff says Salesforce is saving about $100M a year by using AI tools in its customer service operations (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-14/salesforce-says-ai-customer-service-saves-100-million-annually | http://www.techmeme.com/251014/p32#a251014p32) Amazon cloud computing outage disrupts Snapchat, Ring and many other online services (https://apnews.com/article/amazon-east-internet-services-outage-654a12ac9aff0bf4b9dc0e22499d92d7) Amazon Outage Forces Hundreds of Websites Offline for Hours (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/business/aws-down-internet-outage.html) Today is when Amazon brain drain finally caught up with AWS (https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/20/aws_outage_amazon_brain_drain_corey_quinn/) AWS crash causes $2,000 Smart Beds to overheat and get stuck upright - Dexerto (https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/aws-crash-causes-2000-smart-beds-to-overheat-and-get-stuck-upright-3272251/) Nonsense Streetlights Are Mysteriously Turning Purple. Here's Why (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/streetlights-are-mysteriously-turning-purple-heres-why/) Buc-ee's is not America's top convenience store; Midwest chain takes No. 1 spot (https://local12.com/news/nation-world/bucees-not-america-top-convenience-store-satisfaction-ratings-rankings-midwest-chain-kwik-trip-takes-number-one-spot-wawa-sheetz-quicktrip-cincinnati-ohio) French post office rolls out croissant-scented stamp (https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/french-post-office-rolls-out-croissant-scented-stamp/) Listener Feedback Jeffrey is looking for college interns. (https://careers.blizzard.com/global/en/job/R025908/2026-US-Summer-Internships-Game-Engineering) Conferences Wiz Wizdom Conferences (https://www.wiz.io/wizdom), NYC November 3-5, London November 17-19 SREDay Amsterdam (https://sreday.com/2025-amsterdam-q4/), Coté speaking, November 7th. SDT News & Community Join our Slack community (https://softwaredefinedtalk.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-1hn55iv5d-UTfN7mVX1D9D5ExRt3ZJYQ#/shared-invite/email) Email the show: questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Free stickers: Email your address to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Follow us on social media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/softwaredeftalk), Threads (https://www.threads.net/@softwaredefinedtalk), Mastodon (https://hachyderm.io/@softwaredefinedtalk), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-defined-talk/), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/softwaredefinedtalk.com) Watch us on: Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/sdtpodcast), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi3OJPV6h9tp-hbsGBLGsDQ/featured), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/softwaredefinedtalk/), TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@softwaredefinedtalk) Book offer: Use code SDT for $20 off "Digital WTF" by Coté (https://leanpub.com/digitalwtf/c/sdt) Sponsor the show (https://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/ads): ads@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:ads@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Recommendations Brandon: The PR Guy Who Says the AI Boom Is a Bust (https://overcast.fm/+AAQL2e2DHQo) Matt: Comfort Ear Grip Hooks (https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07YVDT3KT) Coté: MSG on popcorn, Claude Skills, Masman Curry, Sora? Photo Credits Header (https://unsplash.com/photos/person-holding-white-and-gray-stone-OV44gxH71DU)

In this episode, Mazen Chami sits down with Mustafa Ali (Director of Engineering and Head of Mobile at Shopify) and Thiago Magalhães (Staff Software Developer at Shopify) to dive deep into Shopify's transition to the new React Native architecture. Show NotesShopify Blog: Migrating to React Native's New Architecture by Thiago MagalhaesRNR 319: Shopify goes full throttle throttle on React Native with Mustafa Ali Connect With Us!Mazen Chami: @mazenchamiMustafa Ali: @mustafa01aliThiago Magalhães: LinkedInReact Native Radio: @reactnativerdio This episode is brought to you by Infinite Red!Infinite Red is an expert React Native consultancy located in the USA. With nearly a decade of React Native experience and deep roots in the React Native community (hosts of Chain React and the React Native Newsletter, core React Native contributors, creators of Ignite and Reactotron, and much, much more), Infinite Red is the best choice for helping you build and deploy your next React Native app.

Denis Stetskov describes how we've "normalized catastrophe" in the software industry, Meta is officially handing React and React Native over to a foundation, The New Stack reports on GitHub's Azure migration priority, Miguel Grinberg benchmarks Python 3.14, and The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman published his take on AI art.

Denis Stetskov describes how we've "normalized catastrophe" in the software industry, Meta is officially handing React and React Native over to a foundation, The New Stack reports on GitHub's Azure migration priority, Miguel Grinberg benchmarks Python 3.14, and The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman published his take on AI art.

AI Assisted Coding: Pachinko Coding—What They Don't Tell You About Building Apps with Large Language Models, With Alan Cyment In this BONUS episode, we dive deep into the real-world experience of coding with AI. Our guest, Alan Cyment, brings honest perspectives from the trenches—sharing both the frustrations and breakthroughs of using AI tools for software development. From "Pachinko coding" addiction loops to "Mecha coding" breakthroughs, Alan explores what actually works when building software with large language models. From Thermomix Dreams to Pachinko Reality "I bought into the Thermomix coding promise—describe the whole website and it would spit out the finished product. It was a complete disaster." Alan started his AI coding journey with high expectations, believing he could simply describe a complete application and receive production-ready code. The reality was far different. What he discovered instead was an addictive cycle he calls "Pachinko coding" (Pachinko, aka Slot Machines in Japan)—repeatedly feeding error messages back to the AI, hoping each iteration would finally work, while burning through tokens and time. The AI's constant reassurances that "this time I fixed it" created a gambling-like feedback loop that left him frustrated and out of pocket, sometimes spending over $20 in API credits in a single day. The Drunken PhD with Amnesia "It felt like working with a drunken PhD with amnesia—so wise and so stupid at the same time." Alan describes the maddening experience of anthropomorphizing AI tools that seem brilliant one moment and completely lost the next. The key breakthrough came when he stopped treating the AI as a person and started seeing it as a function that performs extrapolations—sometimes accurate, sometimes wildly wrong. This mental shift helped him manage expectations and avoid the "rage coding" that came from believing the AI should understand context and maintain consistency like a human collaborator. Making AI Coding Actually Work "I learned to ask for options explicitly before any coding happens. Give me at least three options and tell me the pros and cons." Through trial and error, Alan developed practical strategies that transformed AI from a frustrating Pachinko machine into a useful tool: Ask for options first: Always request multiple approaches with pros and cons before any code is generated Use clover emoji convention: Implement a consistent marker at the start of all AI responses to track context Small steps and YAGNI principles: Request tiny, incremental changes rather than large refactoring Continuous integration: Demand the AI run tests and checks after every single change Explicit refactoring requests: Regularly ask for simplification and readability improvements Take two steps back: When stuck in a loop, explicitly tell the AI to simplify and start fresh Choose the right tech stack: Use technologies with abundant training data (like Svelte over React Native in Alan's experience) The Mecha Coding Breakthrough "When it worked, I felt like I was inside a Lego Mecha robot—the machine gave me superpowers, but I was still the one in control." Alan successfully developed a birthday reminder app in Swift in just one day, despite never having learned Swift. He made architectural decisions and guided the development without understanding the syntax details. This experience convinced him that AI represents a genuine new level of abstraction in programming—similar to the jump from assembly language to high-level languages, or from procedural to object-oriented programming. You can now think in English about what you want, while the AI handles the accidental complexity of syntax and boilerplate. The Cost Reality Check "People writing about vibe coding act like it's free. But many people are going to pay way more than they would have paid a developer and end up with empty hands." Alan provides a sobering cost analysis based on his experience. Using DeepSeek through Aider, he typically spends under $1 per day. But when experimenting with premium models like Claude Sonnet 3.5, he burned through $5 in just minutes. The benchmark comparisons are revealing: DeepSeek costs $4 for a test suite, DeepSeek R1 plus Sonnet costs $16, while Open AI's O1 costs $190. For non-developers trying to build complete applications through pure "vibe coding," the costs can quickly exceed what hiring a developer would cost—with far worse results. When Thermomix Actually Works "For small, single-purpose scripts that I'm not interested in learning about and won't expand later, the Thermomix experience was real." Despite the challenges, Alan found specific use cases where AI truly delivers on the "just describe it and it works" promise. Processing Zoom attendance logs, creating lookup tables for video effects, and other single-file scripts worked remarkably well. The pattern: clearly defined context, no need for ongoing maintenance, and simple enough to verify the output without deep code inspection. For these thermomix moments, AI proved genuinely transformative. The Pachinko Trap and Tech Stack Matters "It became way more stable when I switched to Svelte from React Native and Flutter, even following the same prompting practices. The AI is just more proficient in certain tech stacks." Alan discovered that some frameworks and languages work dramatically better with AI than others, likely due to the amount of training data available. His e-learning platform attempts with React Native and Flutter kept breaking, but switching to Svelte with web-based deployment became far more stable. This suggests a crucial strategy: choose mainstream, well-documented technologies when planning AI-assisted projects. From Coding to Living with AI Alan has completely stopped using traditional search engines, relying instead on LLMs for everything from finding technical documentation to getting recommendations for books based on his interests. While he acknowledges the risk of hallucinations, he finds the semantic understanding capabilities too valuable to ignore. He's even used image analysis to troubleshoot his father's cable TV problems and figure out hotel air conditioning controls. The Agile Validation "My only fear is confirmation bias—but the conclusion I see other experienced developers reaching is that the only way to make LLMs work is by making them use agility. So look at who's dead now." Alan notes the irony that the AI coding tools that actually work all require traditional software engineering best practices: small iterations, test-driven development, continuous integration, and explicit refactoring. The promise of "just describe what you want" falls apart without these disciplines. Rather than replacing software engineering principles, AI tools seem to validate their importance. About Alan Cyment Alan Cyment is a consultant, trainer, and facilitator based in Buenos Aires, specializing in organizational fluency, agile leadership, and software development culture change. A Certified Scrum Trainer with deep experience across Latin America and Europe, he blends agile coaching with theatre-based learning to help leaders and teams transform. You can link with Alan Cyment on LinkedIn.

I did an interview with Rebecker Specialties' founder Matt Hargett at Meta Connect 2025 about alternative open source and open standards, JavaScript-based pipelines for developing XR applications that he's been working on including React Native for VisionOS, as well as working with NativeScript for VisionOS, and also working to bringing Node API support for React Native. Also be sure to check out his git visualizer Factotum, which is an app that is using some of these alternative production pipelines. Hargett also mentions a couple of recent React Universe Conf talks covering this work including Hermes + Node API: A Match Made in Heaven and Bringing Node-API to React Native. You can also see more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I did an interview with Norm Chan at Meta Connect about the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Meta Neural Band. Be sure to watch Chan's full 58-minute Tested.com report including an interview with Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth as his hands-on impressions of the biggest announcement at Meta Connect 2025. You can also see more context in the rough transcript below. This kicks off my Meta Connect 2025 coverage, and I'll be including about a dozen interviews that I did on site that will also be unpacking different news and reactions to Meta's emphasis of AI-driven wearables, and what's happening within the broader XR industry and VR gaming ecosystem. Here's links to all of the interviews that are a part of my Meta Connect 2025 coverage: #1652: Kick-off of Meta Connect Coverage with Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Insights from Norm Chan #1653: XR Analyst Anshel Sag on Meta's AI Glasses Strategy #1654: CNET's Scott Stein's Reflections on Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Implications #1655: Meta Horizon Studio News and Virtual Fashion with Paige Dansinger #1656: Kiira Benz Part 1: "Runnin'" Large-Scale Volumetric Music Video (2019) #1657: Kiira Benz Part 2: "Finding Pandora X" Bringing Immersive Theatre to VRChat (2020) #1658: Kiira Benz Part 3: Immersive Storytelling Career Retrospective (2025) #1659: VR Gaming Career Retrospective of Chicken Waffle's Finn Staber #1660: Enabling JavaScript-Based Native App XR Pipelines with NativeScript, React Native, and Node API with Matt Hargett #1661: State of VR Gaming with Jasmine Uniza's Impact Realities and Flat2VR Studios #1662: Meta Connect Highlights & Meta Horizon News with JDun and JoyReign #1663: ShapesXR Updates & Neural Band Design Implications of Transforming Your Hand into a Mouse #1664: Resolution Games CEO on Apple Vision Pro Launch + Gaze & Pinch HCI Mechanic in Game Room (2024) #1665: Resolution Games' "Battlemarked" Blends Mixed Reality Social Features with Demeo and D&D Gameplay #1666: VRChat CEO Graham Gaylor on Exploring Various UGC Monetization Strategies This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I did an interview with VRChat co-founder and CEO Graham Gaylor at Meta Connect 2025 where we talk about the various different monetization strategies that VRChat has been exploring with their user-generated content platform. VRChat announced layoffs for 30% of their employees back on June 12, 2024, and so this is the first time I've had a chance to interview any of the VRChat executives since then. I used to have a pretty consistent streak of interviewing either VRChat leaders or employees at various VR conferences running from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, but after the pandemic they were not giving as many public interviews. I did however recently cover the VRChat Avatar Marketplace as well as a conversation with VRChat's new Trust and Safety lead Jun Young Ro about his plans to overhaul and modernize VRChat's Trust and Safety processes, especially as users like Harry X were pointing out some gaps in their moderation processes. I had a chance to chat with Gaylor about some of the early decisions in VRChat for making custom avatars easily uploadable since version 0.3.5 on March 16, 2014 when co-founder Jesse Joudrey made his first public contributions to the project. Joudrey elaborated on his vision of what he considered to be "one of the corner stones of virtual reality and any cyberpunk offshoot... Customization. I don't want any limit on who or what I can be in virtual reality." I had dug up these dates and posts in the write up for episode #1408 where I went down a deep rabbit hole of tracing down some of the origin story for VRChat. Gaylor had actually passed along some early emails and documentation of the early days of VRChat for that write-up. The decision to make avatars completely customizable has been part of the magic and success of VRChat. But centralized and controlled identity has traditionally been one of the core pathways for monetization. In a conversation with VRChat community members after the June 2024 layoffs, qDot told me, "You cannot put the asset genie back in the bottle for VRChat. They can't just come up with an asset system that works this sort of centrally-regulated way now. Everyone is used to throwing these assets around, selling them on Gumroad, selling them on Booth." So I had a chance to talk with Gaylor about his paradox of customizable identity being both the secret sauce of VRChat, but also the clearest traditional path for monetization. You can see more context in the rough transcript below. This also happens to wrap up my coverage of Meta Connect 2025, and here's a recap of the different stories and coverage if you'd like to dig into more details of other things that were announced this year. #1652: Kick-off of Meta Connect Coverage with Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Insights from Norm Chan #1653: XR Analyst Anshel Sag on Meta's AI Glasses Strategy #1654: CNET's Scott Stein's Reflections on Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Implications #1655: Meta Horizon Studio News and Virtual Fashion with Paige Dansinger #1656: Kiira Benz Part 1: "Runnin'" Large-Scale Volumetric Music Video (2019) #1657: Kiira Benz Part 2: "Finding Pandora X" Bringing Immersive Theatre to VRChat (2020) #1658: Kiira Benz Part 3: Immersive Storytelling Career Retrospective (2025) #1659: VR Gaming Career Retrospective of Chicken Waffle's Finn Staber #1660: Enabling JavaScript-Based Native App XR Pipelines with NativeScript, React Native, and Node API with Matt Hargett #1661: State of VR Gaming with Jasmine Uniza's Impact Realities and Flat2VR Studios #1662: Meta Connect Highlights & Meta Horizon News with JDun and JoyReign #1663: ShapesXR Updates & Neural Band Design Implications of Transforming Your Hand into a Mouse #1664: Resolution Games CEO on Apple Vision Pro Launch + Gaze & Pinch HCI Mechanic in Game Room (2024) #1665: Resolution Games' "Battlemarked" Blends Mixed Reality Social Features with Demeo and D&D Gameplay