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Front-End Fire

TJ VanToll, Paige Niedringhaus, Jack Herrington
Front-End Fire
Latest episode

164 episodes

  • Front-End Fire

    163: Do Frameworks Still Matter Anymore?

    28/09/2026 | 50 mins.
    DHH took the Rails World stage to announce that he and Basecamp are no longer writing code by hand, wouldn't necessarily recommend Rails for a new app, and are going all in on native. That kicks off this week's big question: in an era of agentic coding, do frameworks still matter? We also dig into Safari 27's WebKit release, which is packed with a Safari MCP for agents, customizable selects, the HTML model element, and a pile of CSS improvements. In Lightning News, GitHub Copilot's runtime moved to Rust, and OpenAI's agents hacked an Australian government Medicare portal.
    Timestamps
    0:00 - Intro
    2:36 - DHH's Rails World Keynote
    12:28 - Do frameworks matter anymore?
    19:50 - Safari 27 WebKit updates
    37:32 - GitHub Copilot's runtime migrated to Rust
    39:23 - OpenAI agents hacked an Australian government website
    44:30 - What's making us happy
    News
    Paige: Safari 27 WebKit updates
    Jack: Do frameworks matter anymore?
    TJ: DHH's Rails World Keynote
    Lightning News
    GitHub Copilot's runtime migrated to Rust
    OpenAI agents hacked an Australian government website
    What's Making Us Happy
    Paige: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds TV series
    Jack: Learning Blackbird on guitar
    TJ: Ted Lasso TV series
    Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. Join us in our Discord, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
    Front-End Fire website
    Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
    Blue Collar Coder on Discord
    Reach out via email
    Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
    Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
    Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast
  • Front-End Fire

    162: Shopify Breaks Up with React Native

    21/09/2026 | 55 mins.
    The React core team just shipped 19.3 with view transitions, fragment refs, and Context support in server components. A startup called TypeSafe AI is making waves with Jev, a fast, cheap "System One" model built for structured decisions instead of full LLM reasoning. And Shopify is walking away from React Native after six years, heading back to native Swift and Kotlin. We also cover Matt Mullenweg's whirlwind week at Automattic and how white hat hackers used Claude to ethically hack OpenAI.
    Timestamps
    0:00 - Intro
    1:11 - React 19.3
    7:22 - Shopify moves from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin
    21:12 - Jev AI model
    30:07 - Matt Mullenweg is back at Automattic
    33:45 - Claude ethically hacked OpenAI
    41:32 - What's making us happy
    News
    Paige: React 19.3
    Jack: Jev AI model
    TJ: Shopify moves from React Native back to Swift and Kotlin
    Lightning News
    Matt Mullenweg was ousted from Automattic, but days later he was back
    Claude ethically hacked OpenAI
    What's Making Us Happy
    Paige: Great British Bake Off starts next week
    Jack: Sumo is back in September Basho!
    TJ: Yesteryear novel
    Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. Join us in our Discord, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
    Front-End Fire website
    Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
    Blue Collar Coder on Discord
    Reach out via email
    Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
    Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
    Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast
  • Front-End Fire

    161: Tailwind Has a New Home

    14/09/2026 | 44 mins.
    There are finally some real-world consequences for the Shai-Hulud npm attacks: Australian Federal Police and the FBI arrested two men behind TeamPCP, a group that's been running supply chain attacks using npm since last year. Meanwhile, the open source acquihire train rolls on as Shopify buys Tailwind CSS. In Lightning News the WordPress/WP Engine saga returns as Matt Mullenweg is ousted as Automattic CEO, an Anthropic researcher quits with a warning that AI could kill us all inside a decade, and OpenAI claims it cracked a millennium math problem with 10,000 agents and 88 hours of compute.
    Timestamps
    0:00 - Intro
    1:08 - Shopify buys Tailwind
    7:24 - Two men arrested for Shai-Hulud hacks
    15:35 - Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg placed on leave of absence
    23:37 - AI researchers think AI will kill us all
    32:04 - OpenAI cracks a math millennium problem
    39:44 - What's making us happy
    News
    Paige: Shopify buys Tailwind
    TJ: Two men arrested for the TeamPCP Shai-Hulud supply chain attacks on npm
    Lightning News
    Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg placed on leave of absence
    AI researchers think AI will kill us all
    OpenAI cracks math millennium problem
    What's Making Us Happy
    Paige: Reacher TV series
    TJ: Wake Up Dead Man movie
    Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. Join us in our Discord, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
    Front-End Fire website
    Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
    Blue Collar Coder on Discord
    Reach out via email
    Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
    Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
    Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast
  • Front-End Fire

    160: GPT-6 vs. Claude 5.1

    07/09/2026 | 1h 2 mins.
    Both big AI labs shipped their best models yet this week: OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra finally takes computer use seriously, and Anthropic's Fable & Mythos 5.1 land with gains in coding, knowledge work, and long-running tasks. Jack also went down a rabbit hole on how LLM watermarking actually works. Plus a Roomba with two floor-cleaning brains, a website tallying up AI agent felonies, and OpenAI cutting Cursor off from its models.
    Timestamps
    0:00 - Intro
    1:16 - GPT-6 Astra
    11:58 - How LLM watermarking works
    29:47 - Fable & Mythos 5.1
    41:48 - Felony Bench
    43:21 - iRobot unveils the Roomba Duo
    45:51 - OpenAI blocks Cursor
    48:27 - What's making us happy
    News
    Paige: Anthropic debuts Fable & Mythos 5.1
    Jack: How LLM watermarking works
    TJ: GPT-6 Astra
    Lightning News
    OpenAI blocks Cursor after its acquisition by SpaceX
    iRobot unveils the Roomba Duo
    Felony Bench
    What's Making Us Happy
    Paige: Silo TV series, season 3
    Jack: Kenwood CarPlay Unit
    TJ: Pablo Torre Finds Out
    Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. You can join us in our Discord channel, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
    Front-end Fire website
    Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
    Blue Collar Coder on Discord
    Reach out via email
    Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
    Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
    Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast
  • Front-End Fire

    159: Is AI Making Us Worse Devs?

    31/08/2026 | 53 mins.
    This week we're asking the uncomfortable question: is AI coding making us worse developers, or just changing which skills matter? We dig into OpenAI's new WebMCP Challenge and what it means for the agentic web, plus Bun's massive 1.4 release packed with performance wins and new features. Then we wrap up with TanStack AI hitting release candidate and the internet's new favorite gimmick, Hugging Face's rollerblading Microduck.
    Timestamps
    0:00 - Intro
    1:03 - Will AI coding prevent expertise?
    21:40 - WebMCP challenge
    29:49 - Bun 1.4 release
    42:17 - TanStack AI RC
    43:14 - Microduck
    47:21 - What's making us happy
    News
    Paige: AI Coding will Prevent Expertise
    Jack: WebMCP challenge
    TJ: Bun 1.4
    Lightning News
    Microduck
    TanStack AI enters RC
    What's Making Us Happy
    Paige: The Paradise Problem book
    Jack: Altoids guitar pick insert website
    TJ: Still Counting Podcast
    Thanks as always to our sponsor, the Blue Collar Coder channel on YouTube. Join us in our Discord, explore our website and reach us via email, or talk to us on X, Bluesky, or YouTube.
    Front-End Fire website
    Blue Collar Coder on YouTube
    Blue Collar Coder on Discord
    Reach out via email
    Tweet at us on X @front_end_fire
    Follow us on Bluesky @front-end-fire.com
    Subscribe to our YouTube channel @Front-EndFirePodcast
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About Front-End Fire
A weekly show that helps you stay up to date on the latest and greatest in the front-end world.
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