Reading list
Feeds
The blogs and podcasts I follow, newest first. Episodes play right here.
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Jan 232026
Embedded 1:06:51
519: The Password Is All ZerosMark Omo and James Rowley spoke with us about safecracking, security, and the ethics of doing a bad job. Mark and James gave an excellent talk on the development of their safecracking tools at DEF CON 33: Cash, Drugs, and Guns: Why Your Safes Aren't Safe. It included a section of interaction involving the lock maker's...
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Jan 152026
Oxide and Friends 1:32:36
Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeWhat do LLMs mean for the future of software engineering? Will vibe-coded AI slop be the norm? Will software engineers simply be less in-demand? Rain and David join Bryan and Adam to discuss how rigorous use of LLMs can make for much more robust systems.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined b...
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Jan 92026
Embedded 1:08:29
518: Nothing We Can Do About FrogsJames Cameron spoke with us about programming for and operating a large telescope. The show is a blend of astronomy, engineering on the fly, and weird lady bug habitats. The Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) is part of the Australian National University's Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Aust...
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Jan 82026
Oxide and Friends 1:39:06
Predictions 2026!!Time for the annual predictions episode! Bryan and Adam were joined by frequent future-ologists Simon Willison, Steve Klabnik, and Ian Grunert to review past predictions and peer into the future. If any of these predictions come to fruition, it's going to be an interest 1, 3, or 6 years!In addition to Bryan Cantrill an...
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Jan 22026
Embedded 1:01:12
517: A Direct, Sensible PodcastNathan Jones and Chris Svec give Chris and Elecia their 2025 performance review. Donations went to Elevate Tutoring, an organization that provides funding and support to low-income and first-generation college students as well as free STEM tutoring for underserved schools. Embedded has already sent in the match to the...
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Dec 212025
Oxide and Friends 1:27:51
OxF 2025 Wrap-UpBryan and Adam reflect on Oxide and Friends in 2025--favorite moments, episodes, and images. Happy new year and see you in 2026!Your hosts are Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:RFD 576: Using LLMs at Oxide (hacker news comments)OxF: Oxide and Friends 6/2/2025...
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Dec 152025
Fork Around and Find Out 32:49
Objecting to storageThank you NoPorts for sponsoringhttps://fafo.fm/noportsIf the Internet is a big computer, Amazon s3 is the hard drive. So what happens when a single typo breaks the Internet's hard drive? On this episode of Fork Around and Find Out we review the s3 outage from 2017. It wasn't that long ago and yet it seems everyone has...
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Dec 122025
Embedded 58:26
516: Voices From the Cataclysms of the UniverseSophi Kravitz joined us to talk about art, science, and engineering. You can see Messages from Space on Sophi's website /sophikravitz.com). A subset of the artwork had a short stay for a demo at Chabot Space & Science Center. The completed work will be shown in 2026. Sophi mentioned collaborating with two sonic environ...
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Dec 82025
Oxide and Friends 1:00:37
Death by UptimeWe hit a new (and disturbing!) failure mode recently when a production rack that had been up for several months saw every (!) compute sled's service processor become simultaneously unresponsive. Bryan and Adam were joined by the members of the Oxide team who debugged the vexing issue -- and reached its surprising root...
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Nov 272025
Embedded 1:10:23
515: Script BoomersNick Kartsioukas joined us to talk about security in embedded systems. Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) is the primary database to check your software libraries, tools, and OSs: cve.org. Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP, owasp.org) has information on how to improve security in all kinds of a...
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Nov 262025
Oxide and Friends 1:21:04
Grown-up ZFS Data Corruption BugHey hey! We recently tripped over a ZFS data corruption bug–introduced over 18 years ago! Bryan and Adam discuss with members of the Oxide team as well as Matt Ahrens, the co-inventor of ZFS.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Alan Hanson, Matt Keeter, Andy Fiddaman, James MacMahon, and...
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Nov 222025
Oxide and Friends 1:28:37
Founder vs. Investor with Liz Zalman and Jerry NeumannOxide founders, Bryan and Steve, as well as Oxide investor, Seth Winterroth, were joined by Liz Zalman and Jerry Neumann, authors of the book Founder vs. Investor, discussing the collaboration and conflict in company formation. Adam was also present.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our guests included...
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Nov 142025
Embedded 1:10:04
514: Just Turn Off All the ComputersPhilip Koopman joined us to talk about embedded systems becoming embodied and intelligent. We focus on the safety considerations of making an intelligent and embodied device. Phil's new book is Embodied AI Safety: Reimagining safety engineering for artificial intelligence in physical systems. It uses robotaxis as an ex...
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Nov 72025
Oxide and Friends 1:37:52
FuturelockWe're big users of async Rust at Oxide, and recently we found (another) very odd and hard to debug pathology related to async Rust that we dubbed "Futurelock". Oxide engineers who diagnosed the problem join Bryan and Adam to describe Futurelock and discuss methods to identify and avoid it.In addition to Bryan Cantrill...
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Nov 52025
Fork Around and Find Out 1:13:37
Looking Forward with Tim BanksSidero and Oxide Kubecon NA event registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oxidesidero-at-kubecon-north-america-2025-tickets-1538869282449Tim Banks will optimize your modem baud rate and kick your ass—respectfully. Then they'll teach you how to be a better person. Their career includes systems, sales, and many other...
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Oct 312025
Oxide and Friends 1:20:51
Books in the Box VRevisiting an annual tradition--Books in the Box! Bryan, Adam, and the Oxide Friends share book recommendations (and--sometimes--anti-recommendations). Take a listen if you're looking for your next read.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by some guests noted below:Previously, on Oxide and...
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Oct 302025
Embedded 1:17:20
513: I'm Sorry You Learned SomethingJason Turner of C++ Weekly and Empty Crate spoke with us about the joy of puzzles, the changing directions of an interesting career, and the C++ programming language. I mean, of course we talked about C++. But only a little. Jason recently published Programming Puzzles Big Book: 400 pages of fun for ages 7-99, a book o...
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Oct 162025
Embedded 1:05:30
512: What if I Didn't Stop?Katherine "Smalls" Connell spoke with us about making thin and flexible circuits, making stretchable electronics, and running a successful Kickstarter. Katherine's Kickstarter: Sprite Lights LED Body Art (light-up tattoo). Katherine shares her makes, describing her build process for companion robots and other projects....
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Oct 92025
Fork Around and Find Out 1:02:54
Staying Calm with Duffie CooleySidero and Oxide Kubecon NA event registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oxidesidero-at-kubecon-north-america-2025-tickets-1538869282449Duffie has lived through a lot. From multiple startup exits to big company changes. He stays grounded by remembering where he came from and what's important—people. This episode is...
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Oct 22025
Embedded 1:22:56
511: Forty Trillion DividesChris and Elecia talk about the show overflowing to another bit, fight over vim vs nano, consider awards, discuss writing (and self-motivation), consider linear algebra on AI cores, encourage remote device quality assurance, describe design documentation, review timer multipliers, and consider changing chip vendors. A...
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Sep 192025
Embedded 1:04:46
510: The Secret ChipChristina Cyr spoke with us about building cell phones, entrepreneurship, social purpose corporations, awards, lithium recycling, and her interesting career path. We talked about Christina's Cyrcle Phone, the related kit from dTOOR, and her CES Innovation Award. We also mentioned Fairphone in the section about social p...
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Sep 172025
Fork Around and Find Out 1:20:41
Colocating Data with David AronchickDavid has worked on a lot of cool tech you know like Kubernetes and Kubeflow, and he's usually a few years ahead of the game. So getting to catch up with him about what he's working on now is probably something you'll want to know about before you have these problems. He has great insights in how to get companies to su...
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Sep 52025
Embedded 1:13:46
509: Swarmed by EngineersSteve Hinch wrote a book about engineering, innovation, and business. He shares decades of wisdom gleaned from his career at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent as an engineer, manager, marketing director, and general manager. Steve's book is Winning through Innovation: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business. While mostly re...
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Aug 212025
Embedded 1:22:32
508: Descartes' DemonWilliam Griffin spoke to us about hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, terminology, learning complex topics, and books. We don't usually expand upon the show title but Wikipedia has a rabbit hole called Evil demon so there you go. Books mentioned: Make: Electronic Music from Scratch: A Beginner's Guide to Homegrow...
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Aug 162025
Fork Around and Find Out 1:04:17
Building Trust with Sean GoedeckeCome find Justin in-person and get FAFOFM stickers!Devopsdays - Portland, OR - September 8-10. Get 20% off tickets with FAFOFMEdgecase - Gooiland Hilversum, NL - September 24Taloscon - Amsterdam, NL - October 15-16KCD UK - Edinburgh - October 19Kubecon NA - Salt Lake City, UT - November 9-12Have an opening? HIRE AUTUMN...
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Aug 72025
Embedded 1:14:05
507: Turn Our Data Into PredatorsChris and Elecia chat about books, courses, alternate podcasts, electronics, statistics, kidnapping Roo, and journaling failures. The Embedded Patreon book club is reading Data-Driven Science and Engineering: Machine Learning, Dynamical Systems, and Control by Steven L. Brunton, J. Nathan Kutz. PDF book and links to le...
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Jul 162025
Fork Around and Find Out 1:07:15
Cooling Infrastructure with Ellie Fordhttps://fafo.fm/storeThis Episode has a full spread of FAFOFM topics. Ellie has a breadth of knowledge across cloud, on-prem, hardware, and—of course—Kubernetes. We dive into some of the new hardware available as well as the importance of hardware to train the next generation of engineers. A full cycle of interests we...
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Jun 182025
Fork Around and Find Out 1:04:48
Creating YAML with Ingy döt NetCome find Justin in-person and get FAFOFM stickers!Devopsdays - Portland, OR - September 8-10. Get 20% off tickets with FAFOFMEdgecase - Gooiland Hilversum, NL - September 24Taloscon - Amsterdam, NL - October 15-16KCD UK - Edinburgh - October 19Kubecon NA - Salt Lake City, UT - November 9-12Have an opening? HIRE AUTUMN...
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May 232025
Fork Around and Find Out 59:08
Writing bugs with K.S. BhaskarCome find Justin in-person and get FAFOFM stickers!Devopsdays - Portland, OR - September 8-10. Get 20% off tickets with FAFOFMEdgecase - Gooiland Hilversum, NL - September 24Taloscon - Amsterdam, NL - October 15-16KCD UK - Edinburgh - October 19Kubecon NA - Salt Lake City, UT - November 9-12Have an opening? HIRE AUTUMN...
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Apr 252025
Fork Around and Find Out 58:05
MCPing in the Open with Angie JonesCome find Justin in-person and get FAFOFM stickers!Devopsdays - Portland, OR - September 8-10. Get 20% off tickets with FAFOFMEdgecase - Gooiland Hilversum, NL - September 24Taloscon - Amsterdam, NL - October 15-16KCD UK - Edinburgh - October 19Kubecon NA - Salt Lake City, UT - November 9-12Have an opening? HIRE AUTUMN...