Breaking Change

Justin Searls
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Oct 26, 2025 • 2h 59min

v45 - Developer Strap-on

This may be the version 45 release of Breaking Change, but when you factor in its Hotfixes and Feature Release entries, this is somehow the 50th episode of the show! Why? Why are we still doing this to ourselves? Write in your answer and how you feel about yourself as a result to podcast@searls.co. Seriously, I need some new material. The web runs on links, so have some: KnightCite's Wikipedia page Whisprflow wasn't for me The POSSE Party is still on and will come to you, eventually Aaron's puns, ranked This Cheap, Tiny Device May Reverse Memory Loss—And Even Prevent Alzheimer's (News+) Why Western executives who visit China are coming back terrified (News+) Plug-in hybrids pollute almost as much as petrol cars, report finds Tele-conbini workers in Manilla South Korea lost 858TB of government data without a backup The AWS/Smart bed outage (News+) Calendearing by Zach Holman Detection firm finds 82% of herbal remedy books on Amazon 'likely written' by AI Sora update #1 ChatGPT Is Blowing Up Marriages as Spouses Use AI to Attack Their Partners Perverts on Sora Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults Don't let AI invent your next holiday destination Apple notification forwarding API is a potential game changer for Meta glasses John Ternus as Next CEO? Apple released the M5 Vision Pro And a new Vision Pro Developer Strap Apple Readies High-End MacBook Pro With Touch, Hole-Punch Screen You Only Need $750 to Pilfer Unencrypted Data From Satellites They're making a new Star Trek Voyager game That Wolverine game sure looks M-rated Halo on PlayStation? In this economy? The next Xbox console is a 'premium' system Adam Driver says Disney nixed a Kylo Ren film he pitched with Steven Soderbergh Microsoft Teams can now track attendance Foundation Alien: Earth The Last of Us Invasion The Bear PSVR2 Tears of the Kingdom John writes: Why programming languages aren't going anywhere
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18 snips
Oct 17, 2025 • 1h 39min

v44.0.2 - Mike McQuaid: If you don't like it, Quit

In this conversation, Mike McQuaid, a long-time open source maintainer and Homebrew leader, dives into the recent RubyGems controversy. He discusses the importance of clear governance and funding in open source, emphasizing that treating it as a career comes with risks. The group also weighs the complex dynamics around monetization, the impact of AI on coding, and the necessity for personal joy in maintaining projects. Ultimately, Mike advocates for pursuing open source work on your own terms to avoid burnout and sustain enthusiasm.
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5 snips
Sep 29, 2025 • 1h 31min

v44.0.1 - José Valim: It's a time for builders

José Valim, the creator of the Elixir programming language and founder of Dashbit, dives into the evolving landscape of AI coding agents. He raises concerns about their uncertain future and the challenges of integrating AI into coding workflows. Topics include the burden of code review, the effectiveness of small deliverables, and the risks of technical debt from unreviewed AI-generated code. Valim emphasizes the need for developers to adapt practices and engage with new tools like Tidewave, a full-stack coding agent designed to streamline feature development.
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Sep 22, 2025 • 2h 34min

v44 - Can't get it up

Hey, look! Breaking Change now has chapter support for each segment! More on how I did that while still upholding my commitment to laziness later. I didn't get a good job connecting this version's release to what I was referencing, so to be clear I was referring to my heart rate as opposed to any other bodily functions. The other ones are getting up just fine, thank you. Get your head out of the gutter. Thanks for all the great e-mails the last couple weeks! Throw yours on the pile at podcast@searls.co. Hopefully Fastmail won't lose it. For the folks who pronounce URLs like Earls: Fallout comes to HHN Apple's bullshit Watch Series 11 battery claims Echofeed is like POSSE Party, kind of Only POSSE Party is POSSE Party. Working on it. Aaron's puns, ranked Scuba-wearing restaurant robber swims away with cash at Disney Springs India is fucked H1-B's cost $100k now making India super fucked Why tradwives aren't trad Why Marriage Is Increasingly for the Affluent (News+) Virtual Boy is coming to the Switch Samsung brings ads to US fridges Meta's bad demos and explanations Steve Jobs smoking the good shit Expedition 33 Super Mario Odyssey Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Paradise Season 1 The Last of Us Season 2 The Invincible
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Sep 9, 2025 • 60min

v43.1 - iPhone 17 Event Review

It's an emergency bonus edition of Breaking Change as I take the covers off yet another show-within-a-show. I call it Feature Release, and its job is to fill in that middle number in our semantically versioned series of conversations together. No pun, no news, just some timely content wrapped up in a name, logo, and jingle package that still has that new podcast smell. It's a 1-hour review of the Airpods, Apple Watch, and iPhone updates Apple announced today. You can see the full event video on YouTube. The Verge has a 17 minute abridged version if you just want the synopsis. Please enjoy this episode of Feature Release! It may be the only one. Write into podcast@searls.co with your feedback!
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Sep 2, 2025 • 2h 35min

v43 - The Slop Economy

Remember it is your civic duty to e-mail me at podcast@searls.co. As of this episode, that address is monitored by Fastmail, so there's a higher probability I'll actually get your e-mail! Some links you won't click: Why I-4 is the most dangerous highway in America The Beak and the Barrel Sign up for Fastmail. It is good. The Gilroy Order Making ChatGPT doubt itself Why I wasn't cut out for management How to comment on my blog Aaron's puns, ranked New Xcode beta adds GPT-5, Claude account support Apple Responds to Accusations of Jay Blahnik Creating 'Toxic Workplace' 4chan Refuses To Pay UK Online Safety Act Fines Americans' junk-filled garages are hurting EV adoption, study says New Book Argues Hybrid Schedules 'Don't Work', Return-to-Office Brings Motivation and Learning Shenmue 3 is getting an Enhanced edition Raguelike game may portend AI disruption in the gaming industry Making cash off 'AI slop': The surreal video business taking over the web (News+) Stellantis shelves Level 3 driver-assistance program that totally works and has no problems Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says AI enabled him to cut 4,000 jobs Timeline Japan: 1980 Perfect Days Rental Family Black Mirror Season 7 Yumtein Gummy Bears Listener Björn made this Equaliteam app
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Aug 27, 2025 • 1h 47min

v42.0.1 - Scott Werner: Ignore all previous instructions

🔥Hotfix🔥 is back with a new guest! Scott Werner is the CEO of Sublayer, helps organize the Artificial Ruby meetup in NYC, and is the author of the extremely well-named (and well-written) Substack, Works on my Machine. In this conversation, we jointly grapple with WTF is happening to programming as a career. Did the unprecedented peacetime the software industry experienced from 2005-2022 make us all soft? Is the era of code-writing agents fundamentally changing the nature of the job? Should we be less like DHH/Matz and more like why the lucky stiff? We'd love to get your feedback to podcast@searls.co — I'll read it all and flag relevant questions and comments for the next Breaking Change. You can follow Scott Werner online at: Works on my Machine on Substack @scottwernerd on Twitter/X A handful of things we mentioned: There's no AI in Team The Goal book Lean Thinking vs Fat Thinking (a newsletter that draws a different lesson from The Goal) why the lucky stiff (aka "_why") That fireside chat between Matz and DHH Sublayer's product, APM (Actions Per Minute)
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Aug 16, 2025 • 3h 14min

v42 - Free as in Remodel

Thanks for writing so many lovely emails to podcast@searls.co. Hell, thanks even for the unlovely ones. Be sure to look out for me showing up on Dead Code at some point after it records next Tuesday. I'm realizing not all podcasts have a 1-hour-or-less turnaround time like this one does. As promised, some URLs follow: Want a Japanese girlfriend? Better be the right Myers-Briggs type Aaron's puns, ranked Men sucking at chores is turning women gay! (News+) Nightmares kill you (Archive) This shiner from /r/overemployed Hour of Code is now Hour of AI Gary Marcus taking a few victory laps around GPT-5 OpenAI caves to 4o-pilled users Meta's AI rules have let bots hold 'sensual' chats with children Apple returns blood oxygen monitoring to the latest Apple Watches (sort of) The Trump Trophy My man Steve Wozniak has a 6-digit /. account Enough Andor Alien: Earth Sims 2 Legacy Collection Foundation Season 3 Mariusz schools us on running Claude Code in a Docker container (sources) Marick's ZIRP reply and my follow-up post
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Aug 3, 2025 • 2h 16min

v41 - Liquid Glasshole

I've made it! I'm over the hump! I'm actually writing* my language-learning app in Swift! Send an email expressing how proud you are of me to podcast@searls.co. Or if there's any news worth following that isn't about AI. Too much AI stuff lately. *And by "I'm writing", I admit Claude Code is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. Hyperlinks: Girlfriend Reviews of Mario Kart World Mario Paint 2 for Nintendo Switch 2 Ben publishes NSScreencast, not NSCoder 🤦‍♂️ claude-discord-bridge Speeding up your Xcode tests Upside-down development There is no AI in Team Aaron's puns, ranked 7/24 - WaPo: This app lets women review their dates. Men are worried. (Apple News+) 7/25 - 404 Media: Tea hack exposed. Women Dating Safety App 'Tea' Breached, Users' IDs Posted to 4chan Security Breach at Tea Worsens, Revealing Users' DMs About Abortions and Cheating Tokyo prostitution ring members who targeted foreigners arrested Somebody's remaking Rebel Assault in UE5 Battlestar Galactica writer Ronald D Moore is showrunning God of War AppleCare One is a good deal Apple CEO Tim Cook Tells Staff AI Is 'Ours to Grab' in Pep Talk Thanks for Your $1 Billion Job Offer, Mark Zuckerberg. I'm Gonna Pass (Apple News+) Steve Krouse with a great tech debt analogy Christina Wodtke on what it means that early-days web developers are pumped about AI Orta: Six weeks of claude code System prompt updates to Claude 4 Opus tries to ward off mania Foundation Season 3 Halt and Catch Fire Saw that Family Guy musical, Music Man opencode.ai
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Jul 19, 2025 • 2h 33min

v40 - Go home Claude, you're drunk

Finally, a recommendation-heavy, full-mailbag show. Been a while. New to the pod are achievements—watch your BreakingScore™ increase each time you write in to podcast@searls.co. The winner will receive nothing, probably. Lynx: Coke BlāK My Full-breadth developers post When I discovered Claude is working for the weekend My latest newsletter that admits why I haven't started yet Aaron's puns, ranked Note taking AI is outnumbering participants on meetings Arkane founder slams Xbox Game Pass An unsubsidized Xbox could just do the special offers like Kindle, IMO Eyeball Dynamic Range FaceTime in iOS 26 will freeze your call if someone starts undressing xOS 26 betas expected on July 23 'Vibe Coder' Who Doesn't Know How to Code Keeps Winning Hackathons in San Francisco 'Coding is dead': UW computer science program rethinks curriculum for the AI era OpenAI's Windsurf deal is off — and Windsurf's CEO is going to Google Anthropic tightens usage limits for Claude Code — without telling users Honey, AI Capex is Eating the Economy People with higher cognitive ability have weaker moral foundations The Remarkable life of Ibelin Halt and catch fire Doom: The Dark Ages As Dusk Falls To The Moon Superman (2025) Expedition 33: Clair Obscur The Yakult Swallow guy died

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