This episode was recorded on April 14th, 2024

So... it's been awhile...

So, it's been a little while since we last posted an episode... it feels like it's been about a hundred years or so! How is it possible we're already so far through the year?

We have a lot of topics in this episode given that it was a long time since our first episode of the year, so buckle up, get settled, and enjoy as we cover topics ranging from developing an cool email app, talk about interfacing with FPGAs, and cover a series of quick picks.

Ash's updates:

• DevRel and AI: a department lead’s self-evaluation one year in
• Using AI in Developer Relations
• AI for the mere mortal web developer (YouTube)

Vibebox

Ash's team at Nylas built such a cool web app that mixes AI and email to let you view emails in a new way—now your inbox is full of good vibes!

We discuss the development of this app, including Ash's attempts to use v0 by Vercel and Render for hosting.

Go check it out at https://vibebox.app.

FPGA Updates

As Kerri's mentioned in the past, she's busy learning FPGA development. In this section, she talks about some of the tools that she's been using to help connect with and debug her FPGA project.

• Retroputer FPGA (in case you want to follow along—reminder that Kerri is not an expert with FPGAs, so take this code with a very large grain of salt)
• Retroputer Emulator (also in progress)
• Serial Port library for Node.js—Kerri uses this to create custom debugging tools written in JavaScript to explore the state of the CPU on the FPGA including a monitor and terminal. If you want to do something like this in the browser, it turns out that's an option too!
• Ever want to build a dynamic text UI in Node.js using React? Turns out you can with ink! Kerri uses this to build out a live updating monitor that reflects the state of the CPU she's building in the FPGA.
• Want to incorporate a cute TFT LCD into your hardware projects? Kerri's using this LCD from Adafruit and is slowly learning how to drive it.
• Also mentioned: the Pinecil soldering iron

Our (semi-) quick picks

We end the episode with some quick picks of sites, tools, and apps we'd been playing around with recently.

• From Ash: task management by Godspeed
• From Kerri: AI Music by Suno
• From Kerri: Calca app
• From Ash: Tydlig app

Some of the songs that Kerri and her sister created with Suno AI:

• Wrapped in plastic (prompt: "Country song about that plastic thingy on the bread bag")
• Forever in motion (prompt: "A peppy song about the meaningless of time")
• The Jumpin' Kitty Kat (prompt: "A peppy kids song about a happy kitty") (second variation is also cute)