Fallthrough

This week it's Kris and Matt diving into the state of hardware, security, and what local AI actually needs to work. The conversation starts with AI agent social networks and why prompt injection is the unsolved SQL injection of our era, then shifts into why memory bandwidth is the real bottleneck for running models locally. Matt compiles Rust on a Mac Studio at the Apple Store, and the two debate whether the traditional PC build is even worth it anymore.As always, we've got supporter content! This week that includes the security primitives nobody uses, Kris's local AI research pipeline, the myth that you'll actually upgrade your components, Matt's DaVinci Resolve nightmare on Arch Linux, and why the Mac Pro doesn't know what it is anymore. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube.This week's episode of Break continues the conversation. Kris and Matt dig into why the chat interface is just the piano keyboard moment for AI, the pair programming gap where agents can't notice your manual edits, and the Codex personality controversy. They close with a teaser for next week's Go generic methods discussion. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/28.Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Welcome and Catching Up (00:00:45)Chapter 2: OpenClaw and AI Social Networks (00:12:18)Chapter 3: Prompt Injection Is the New SQL Injection (00:17:01)Chapter 4: Sandboxing and Defense in Depth (00:19:56)Chapter 6: Lava Layers of Abstraction (00:21:53)Chapter 8: Memory Bandwidth Is the Real Bottleneck (00:24:32)Chapter 9: Consumer Hardware is at an Inflection Point (00:27:34)Chapter 10: The RAM Shortage and Supply Chain Crisis (00:32:03)Chapter 12: Nobody Actually Upgrades (00:34:36)Chapter 13: Compiling Rust at the Apple Store (00:36:28)Chapter 14: Do You Still Need a Big Desktop? [Extended] (00:41:24)Chapter 16: The Future of Local AI (00:41:25)Chapter 18: Two Terabytes of RAM and What We'd Do With It (00:50:17)Chapter 19: Reimagining the PC for Massive Parallelism (00:52:56)Epilogue (00:55:08)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (00:45) - Chapter 1: Welcome and Catching Up (12:18) - Chapter 2: OpenClaw and AI Social Networks (17:01) - Chapter 3: Prompt Injection Is the New SQL Injection (19:56) - Chapter 4: Sandboxing and Defense in Depth (21:53) - Chapter 6: Lava Layers of Abstraction (24:32) - Chapter 8: Memory Bandwidth Is the Real Bottleneck (27:34) - Chapter 9: Consumer Hardware is at an Inflection Point (32:03) - Chapter 10: The RAM Shortage and Supply Chain Crisis (34:36) - Chapter 12: Nobody Actually Upgrades (36:28) - Chapter 13: Compiling Rust at the Apple Store (41:24) - Chapter 14: Do You Still Need a Big Desktop? [Extended] (41:25) - Chapter 16: The Future of Local AI (50:17) - Chapter 18: Two Terabytes of RAM and What We'd Do With It (52:56) - Chapter 19: Reimagining the PC for Massive Parallelism (55:08) - Epilogue

This week we're talking about Gastown! Dylan and Steve join Kris to break down the viral project that spins up hundreds of Claude Code instances to build a software factory. Steve makes the case for why this is an inevitable evolution and the conversation digs into what it actually means to treat software development as a factory floor. The panel traces the cycle from mainframes to PCs to cloud to AI, debates whether data centers are really the environmental villain, and gets into the real economics of AI pricing.As always, we've got supporter content! This week that includes the crypto rug pull scheme targeting open source maintainers, why conEdison is actually good at their job, whether AI subscriptions are just Uber-style subsidization all over again, the gambling psychology of usage-based costs, and Steve's secret project Docket. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube.This week's episode of Break continues the conversation. Kris and Steve dive deep into semantic versioning, the real cost of "breaking changes" in Go, and a whirlwind history of package managers from CPAN to NPM to Go modules. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/26.Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Welcome Back, Dylan (00:00:46)Chapter 2: What is Gastown? (00:06:02)Chapter 3: Where Are the AI Factory Floor Managers? (00:07:53)Chapter 4: The Industry is Cyclical (00:19:43)Chapter 5: Rug Pull as a Service [Preview] (00:23:36)Chapter 7: Energy, Grids & Con Edison [Preview] (00:24:12)Chapter 9: Mainframes Are Still Holding It Together [Preview] (00:25:00)Chapter 11: API Pricing & the Race to the Bottom [Preview] (00:25:35)Chapter 12: Is AI Pricing Just Uber All Over Again? [Preview] (00:26:12)Chapter 13: The Gambling Psychology of API Costs [Preview] (00:26:47)Chapter 15: Beads & AI Dev Tools [Preview] (00:27:23)Chapter 16: Steve's Secret Project [Preview] (00:27:52)Chapter 6: Data Centers Aren't the Villain (00:28:45)Chapter 8: The Case for Local AI (00:35:01)Chapter 10: Claude Code Usage & Hitting the Limits (00:39:55)Chapter 14: The Upgrade Treadmill (00:47:15)Chapter 17: Claude Debugging War Stories (00:56:31)Epilogue (01:01:28)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Steve Klabnik - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (00:46) - Chapter 1: Welcome Back, Dylan (06:02) - Chapter 2: What is Gastown? (07:53) - Chapter 3: Where Are the AI Factory Floor Managers? (19:43) - Chapter 4: The Industry is Cyclical (23:36) - Chapter 5: Rug Pull as a Service [Preview] (24:12) - Chapter 7: Energy, Grids & Con Edison [Preview] (25:00) - Chapter 9: Mainframes Are Still Holding It Together [Preview] (25:35) - Chapter 11: API Pricing & the Race to the Bottom [Preview] (26:12) - Chapter 12: Is AI Pricing Just Uber All Over Again? [Preview] (26:47) - Chapter 13: The Gambling Psychology of API Costs [Preview] (27:23) - Chapter 15: Beads & AI Dev Tools [Preview] (27:52) - Chapter 16: Steve's Secret Project [Preview] (28:45) - Chapter 6: Data Centers Aren't the Villain (35:01) - Chapter 8: The Case for Local AI (39:55) - Chapter 10: Claude Code Usage & Hitting the Limits (47:15) - Chapter 14: The Upgrade Treadmill (56:31) - Chapter 17: Claude Debugging War Stories (01:01:28) - Epilogue

Nick Gerace, Engineering Manager at System Initiative, joins Kris and Matt to explore what infrastructure management looks like beyond Terraform. Nick walks us through how System Initiative differs from traditional IaC, why git isn't really your source of truth, and how the company pivoted to AI-first tooling. The conversation turns to Claude Code and MCP tools before landing on a nuanced discussion about distributed systems, and how the messy, eventual consistency of real life mirrors the systems we build.As always, we've got supporter content! This week that includes deep dives into System Initiative's architecture evolution from Postgres to a custom graph database, Nick's passionate defense of domain-driven design in Rust monorepos ("if I see a util directory, I go a little nuts"), why AI won't replace musicians (or you), and a spicy take on AI, capitalism, and power structures. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube.This week's episode of Break continues the conversation. Nick sticks around as the hosts compare audio engineering backgrounds, discuss the IC to manager journey, and take a hard turn into hardware—dual 3090 TIs with NVLink, the case for water cooling, Kris's absurd home lab, and everyone's temptation toward Framework Desktops and Mac Studios. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/24.Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Meet Nick Gerace (00:01:21)Chapter 2: The Power of Networking (00:05:38)Chapter 3: What is System Initiative? (00:14:54)Chapter 4: Terraform vs System Initiative (00:19:58)Chapter 5: Git Isn't Your Source of Truth (00:25:47)Chapter 6: SI Architecture: From Postgres to Graph [Extended] (00:34:47)Chapter 7: Rust Monorepos & Domain-Driven Design [Extended] (00:35:10)Chapter 10: AI Won't Replace Musicians (or You) [Extended] (00:35:34)Chapter 12: AI, Capitalism & Power Structures [Extended] (00:36:03)Chapter 8: The AI Pivot at System Initiative (00:37:14)Chapter 9: Claude Code & MCP Tools (00:47:30)Chapter 11: Distributed Systems Are Just Real Life (00:54:13)Chapter 13: Data Centers, Water & Nuance (01:00:20)Epilogue (01:08:11)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Nick Gerace - Guest Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (01:21) - Chapter 1: Meet Nick Gerace (05:38) - Chapter 2: The Power of Networking (14:54) - Chapter 3: What is System Initiative? (19:58) - Chapter 4: Terraform vs System Initiative (25:47) - Chapter 5: Git Isn't Your Source of Truth (34:47) - Chapter 6: SI Architecture: From Postgres to Graph [Extended] (35:10) - Chapter 7: Rust Monorepos & Domain-Driven Design [Extended] (35:34) - Chapter 10: AI Won't Replace Musicians (or You) [Extended] (36:03) - Chapter 12: AI, Capitalism & Power Structures [Extended] (37:14) - Chapter 8: The AI Pivot at System Initiative (47:30) - Chapter 9: Claude Code & MCP Tools (54:13) - Chapter 11: Distributed Systems Are Just Real Life (01:00:20) - Chapter 13: Data Centers, Water & Nuance (01:08:11) - Epilogue

We decided to do our own wrap up for the year. We've called it Stack Trace, and we pulled a bunch of stats from the first year of Fallthrough. In this episode, Kris, Matt, and Dylan talk through these stats and how they feel about Fallthrough's first year.If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube.This week's episode of break continues the conversation. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/22.In this week's bonus content, we've got some extra stats! Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: A Year of Fallthrough In Stats (00:03:37)Chapter 2: Better and Smaller Platforms (00:36:28)Chapter 3: Who Had The Longest Monologues? (00:41:33)Chapter 4: It's Different In The Moment (00:49:13)Chapter 5: The Spicy Content That Wasn't (00:54:16)Chapter 6: More Stats! [Extended] (01:00:48)Chapter 7: Thinking About The Future (01:01:05)Epilogue (01:12:35)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (03:37) - Chapter 1: A Year of Fallthrough In Stats (36:28) - Chapter 2: Better and Smaller Platforms (41:33) - Chapter 3: Who Had The Longest Monologues? (49:13) - Chapter 4: It's Different In The Moment (54:16) - Chapter 5: The Spicy Content That Wasn't (01:00:48) - Chapter 6: More Stats! [Extended] (01:01:05) - Chapter 7: Thinking About The Future (01:12:35) - Epilogue

In the tech industry, we talk about how exceptional and innovative we are. But are we really? In this episode, Kris and Matt explore why they see the industry as pretty mid and how things should be better.If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube.This week's episode of break continues the conversation. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/20. In this week's bonus content, the duo discusses the problems with hype and how it's not just about the tech industry. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: Why Is Tech So Mid? (00:02:27)Chapter 2: The Innovation Hype [Extended] (00:35:42)Chapter 3: Everyone Is Always Wrong (00:36:14)Epilogue (00:53:51)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (02:27) - Chapter 1: Why Is Tech So Mid? (35:42) - Chapter 2: The Innovation Hype [Extended] (36:14) - Chapter 3: Everyone Is Always Wrong (53:51) - Epilogue

We've had Mitchell Hashimoto on a couple episodes, and each time we've discussed his vision for libghostty. In this episode, Kris and Matt talk about what the vision for libghostty actually means for the industry as a whole and the power of platforms. The duo also covers the new models that have dropped and how they see using the various models that have become available.If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XbjmqlSWlKI.This week's episode of break continues the conversation, where they continue this conversation and talk about how we're all becoming writers. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/18.We've got a new format for the bonus content snippets in this episode. All of them are together in the middle of the episode, with a small intro and outro around them. In this week's bonus content the duo discusses how AI might help save Stack Overflow, how it's making us write more specifications for software, and how it might lead to a much more viable funding model for the web. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: New Models & How We Use Them (00:02:28)Chapter 2: AI Will Help StackOverflow [Extended] (00:35:27)Chapter 3: Software Engineering Is About Writing Specifications [Extended] (00:35:59)Chapter 4: A Better Funding Model For The Web [Extended] (00:36:38)Chapter 5: SSH Out, libghostty In (00:37:37)Chapter 6: New Segment Type? (01:01:04)Epilogue (01:04:56)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (02:28) - Chapter 1: New Models & How We Use Them (35:27) - Chapter 2: AI Will Help StackOverflow [Extended] (35:59) - Chapter 3: Software Engineering Is About Writing Specifications [Extended] (36:38) - Chapter 4: A Better Funding Model For The Web [Extended] (37:37) - Chapter 5: SSH Out, libghostty In (01:01:04) - Chapter 6: New Segment Type? (01:04:56) - Epilogue

The tech industry is terrible at marketing things. From AI to Blockchain to Git, we constantly miss the actual innovation by looking too closely at the surface level. In this episode, Kris is joined by the full panel of Ian, Matthew, and Dylan to discuss the marketing problem AI seems to have and its wider implications.If you prefer to watch this episode, you can view it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4nGG8Mv4L88This week's episode of break continues the conversation, with a deeper discussion around the marketing point and a whole bunch more. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/16.And we've got bonus content for our supporters, where you'll hear how the panel is currently using AI and the importance of embracing being human. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!Table of Contents:Prologue (00:00:00)Chapter 1: The AI Marketing Problem (00:06:14)Chapter 2: What Does It Mean To Adopt AI? [Extended] (00:09:53)Chapter 3: SciFi Computer or Reference System? (00:10:16)Chapter 4: Embrace Being Human [Extended] (00:36:17)Chapter 3: SciFi Computer or Reference System? (00:00:-17)Chapter 5: Context Is Important (00:36:54)Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions and Panic & Recover (00:49:41)Hosts Kris Brandow - Host Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host Dylan Bourque - Host Matthew Sanabria - Host Socials:WebsiteBlueskyThreadsX/TwitterLinkedInInstagram (00:00) - Prologue (06:14) - Chapter 1: The AI Marketing Problem (09:53) - Chapter 2: What Does It Mean To Adopt AI? [Extended] (10:16) - Chapter 3: SciFi Computer or Reference System? (36:17) - Chapter 4: Embrace Being Human [Extended] (36:54) - Chapter 5: Context Is Important (49:41) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions and Panic & Recover