Michael and Jake catch up on what’s been occupying their time lately, from AI tooling experiments to new developer workflows, before closing with a broader reflection on how new technologies are often misunderstood at first.

Show links

• OpenClaw / Clawd Bot / Moltbot
• Arbor
• AI horseless carriages

Jake and Michael return for 2026 and talk about their evolving experiences with AI; what it’s good at, what it’s not, and how it’s changing the way they work.

Show links

• OpenAI / ChatGPT
• Anthropic / Claude (Sonnet & Opus)
• OpenCode (multi-provider AI coding interface)
• Home Assistant
• Zigbee temperature sensors
• GitHub Copilot
• Ollama (local LLM runner)
• NVIDIA DGX Spark
• Amp Code
• MiniMax M2.1 model
• Software for an audience of one
• Arbor
• OpenCode Desktop has workspaces support
• Opus 4.5 is going to change everything

Michael and Jake open with retro arcade serendipity (a Mortal Kombat cabinet sighting!) and tumble into family bowling, kid-approved card games, and why tactile gadgets are back in style.

Then they pivot hard into dev-mode: shadcn/ui (and shadcn-vue), Inertia, React-ish forms, and the age-old tradeoff between “batteries-included” simplicity and modern real-time UX.

Highlights:

• Mortal Kombat cabinet & mini arcades, gift ideas for Laracon AU
• Duckpin bowling explainer and family bowling stories (plus UNO, Yahtzee, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza)
• The “analog is cool again” thread: mechanical keyboards, a Keychron board, and a retro 3D-printed mouse shell for a Logitech M185
• Dev deep-dive: shadcn docs, Inertia forms, partial reloads vs full refresh, Livewire/Alpine, and real-time updates with Pusher/Reverb

Show links

• RetroPie / Arcade1Up
• Laracon AU
• Duckpin bowling
• Keychron keyboard
• 3D-printed retro mouse shell for Logitech M185
• Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
• Inertia.js
• shadcn/ui
• shadcn-vue
• Livewire
• Alpine.js
• Pusher
• Laravel Reverb
• Axios
• fetch