Modern Web

AI models are becoming more capable, but reliability remains one of the biggest challenges. In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Brandon Mathis are joined by Andrew Baker, Founder & CEO of Balon.ai, and Arif Hosein, COO of Balon.ai, to discuss why AI hallucinations persist and what it will take to reduce them.

The conversation explores Balon.ai's Deep Fusion architecture, which combines multiple AI models thro...

Rob Ocel sits down with Minko Gechev to unpack one of the fastest-evolving areas in AI-assisted development: skills, agent workflows, and the growing complexity of AI harnesses.Explore AI skills, how they differ from rules and MCPs, and why developers are increasingly treating skills as structured, executable instructions rather than traditional documentation. Minko explains how modern agents operate under the hood, how skills are ...

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel talks with PlanetScale CEO Sam Lambert about what “database scale” actually looks like in 2026. Sam shares migration stories from companies that moved at the perfect time and others that waited until they were already in trouble, plus why sharding and reliability are never just “magic” if your queries and data model are a mess.

They also cover PlanetScale&rs...

Environment variables and secrets are usually a mess: out of sync .env files, scattered API keys, painful onboarding, and brittle CI configs. In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel talks with Varlock co-creators Phil Miller and Theo Ephraim about how Varlock turns .env files into a real schema with types, validation, and documentation, pulls secrets from tools like 1Password and other backends, and centralizes configur...

Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson go deep on intentionality, the developer “superpower” that can speed up your growth, sharpen your judgment, and keep you from getting automated away in the AI era. Rob unpacks a simple loop (state intent → act → measure → review) with real stories, including the ticket he challenged on day one that saved a team six figures, and the “it seems to work” anti-pattern that shipped a my...

On this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson welcome Miles Ward, CTO of SADA, for an in-depth conversation about the intersection of cloud computing and AI. Miles shares his career journey from early days at AWS and Google Cloud to leading SADA through its acquisition by Insight, offering a rare perspective on the evolution of solutions architecture and cloud adoption at scale.The discussion covers t...

In this Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson break down the recent string of NPM supply chain attacks that have shaken the JavaScript ecosystem. They cover the NX compromise, the phishing campaign that hit libraries like Chalk, and the Shy Halood exploit, showing how small changes in dependencies can have massive effects. Along the way, they share practical defenses like using package lock and npm ci, avoiding phishing l...

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Wes Eklund from AWS ProServe about interviews, practical AI, and the future of developer workflows. Wes shares what trips candidates up in coding and behavioral rounds, how to ask better questions, and why prepping multiple honest STAR narratives matters. Danny introduces the Thrive Framework for behavioral interviews and Rob underscores the discipline...

Danny Thompson sits down with Marino Wijay, Staff Solutions Architect at Kong and CNCF Ambassador, for a wide-ranging conversation on modern cloud-native development. They start with Kubernetes as the entry point into the ecosystem and explore what it really means to be a CNCF ambassador. Marino explains the difference between an API gateway and a service mesh, when small teams should adopt each, and why managed services often make...

Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson sit down with Andy Bell to treat CSS as a craft, not a chore. Andy explains why he mentors the browser instead of micromanaging it, how progressive enhancement keeps products resilient, and which modern features deserve attention right now, including has, anchor positioning, and clamp. The conversation gets practical on grid versus flexbox, why grid is often simpler than people think, and how ecosystems ...

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson are joined by Rishab Kumar, Staff Developer Evangelist at Twilio, to explore the evolving landscape of voice and AI interactions. They discuss the rise of conversational AI, how voice interfaces are becoming the natural medium for human-computer interaction, and the tools and best practices for integrating AI into real-world applications. Rishab shares insights ...

In this episode, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson enjoy a conversation with Kilian Valkhof, founder of Polypane, a browser built for developers who care deeply about their craft. The discussion explores the shifting landscape of online developer communities as conversations migrate from Twitter to Blue Sky, Mastodon, Discord, and local meetups. Kilian shares how this decentralization has shaped advocacy around accessibility, performance...

This episode of the Modern Web Podcast features Cody De Arkland, Head of Developer Experience at Sentry, in conversation with hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson. They explore how Sentry has embraced a culture of experimentation with AI, from grassroots innovation in Slack channels to leadership setting the tone for rapid adoption. Cody shares insights into Sentry’s new AI monitoring tools, including MCP support and agent traci...

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Philipp Krenn, Head of Developer Advocacy at Elastic, about how Elasticsearch has evolved from a search engine into a foundation for observability, security, and AI-powered systems. Philipp explains how Elastic approaches information retrieval beyond just vector search, using tools like LLMs for smarter querying, log parsing, and context-aware data acc...

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Sean Roberts, Head of AX Architecture and Distinguished Engineer at Netlify, about the emerging discipline of Agentic Experience (AX). They explore how AX is reshaping how we design services for AI agents, what makes an agent experience successful, and why traditional user flows often break down in agent-driven systems. Sean discusses the role of...

In this episode of Modern Web, Danny Thompson chats with MelkeyDev, a Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer at Twitch, about AI’s real-world applications, developer productivity, and the future of careers in Go.

They cover everything from the rise of tiny AI-driven teams competing with large enterprises to how system prompts may matter more than model choice. Melkey shares his thoughts on cost-effective LLMs, production pi...

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson sit down with Andre Landgraf, Senior Developer Advocate at Neon (now part of Databricks), to explore the evolving role of AI agents in developer workflows. They discuss how more Neon databases are being spun up by agents than humans, what that means for developer and agent experience (DX vs AX), and how tools like MCP and step functions are enabling scalab...

On this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson talk with Brian Morrison, Senior Developer Educator at Clerk. They cover the state of authentication today, what makes Clerk stand out for small teams and indie builders, and how thoughtful developer experience design can make or break adoption.Brian shares why bundling tools like auth, billing, and user management is becoming more common, how Clerk handles real...

On this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, hosts Rob Ocel, Danny Thompson, and Adam Rackis are joined by Tejas Kumar, host of The Contagious Code podcast, author of Fluent React, and Developer Relations Engineer for Generative AI at DataStax. They unpack the current wave of AI announcements from Google I/O and Microsoft Build, and zoom in on the significance of MCP (Model Context Protocol) as a foundational shift in how AI-powered ...