Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

Chad is joined on the thoughbot couch this week by Brandon Swalve, CEO of AppSignal (when Chad is a big fan, you know it’s an app you’ve got to check out). In this episode, they discuss what the application performance monitoring business market is like, more is always better vs simple is always better, joining AppSignal as the CEO and the surprises and shifts over the last year and a half that Brandon has experienced in the role. — As mentioned in the episode: Catch up with all the Railsworld 2026 conference talks Our guest for this episode has been Brandon Swalve. Connect with Brandon through LinkedIn, or get in touch through the AppSignal website. Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn. Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel! If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2026 Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast

Sami is joined on the thoughbot couch this week by Ed Woodcock, Director and Consultant Developer at Bannermedia Ltd. They discuss lowdown.today, an AI-Driven Open Intelligence platform that Ed originally developed to break down the day’s news, having now expanded to include topics from across the world. They also explore how Ed’s programmes are designed to empower people with the intelligence that AI brings, the Wigan House Fiasco, spending money to use Claude vs the ROI, and how AI programmes can be used to help with genealogy research. — As mentioned in this episode: AI’s effects on climate change - 616: What’s Really Going On with AI Data Centres with Dr.Victoria Plutshack Plotbeacon - https://plotbeacon.com/ Our guest for this episode has been Ed Woodcock. If you'd like to get in touch with Ed you can do so through his website, or connecting via LinkedIn. Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel! If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2026 Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast

Sami talks with Nate Berkopec, owner of Speedshop, about a recent post he made on X and how his business manages to stay ahead of AI and LLMs. Nate stresses the importance of prioritising quality in code in the age of AI, why your knowledge still matters if you want to get the best results from your LLM, how code review has drastically changed over the last three years, and the pair discuss why it’s so tough for junior developers to stand out in the industry at the moment and the lengths they have to go to to be noticed. — If you want more out of your project why not get in touch with Nate through his business Speedshop. You can also check out his X post that inspired this episode or connect with him via Linkedin. Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2026 Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast

Will is back in the host seat this week to chat to the one and only Kelli Lucas, Co-Founder & Chief Design Officer at LunarLab. In this episode, Will and Kelli discuss, amongst many things; the push and pull relationship between designers and developers, alignment in the workplace, the love/hate relationship with Figma, how AI has affected the process of design projects, and why you shouldn’t rely on AI to build your business plan. — Our guest for this episode has been Kelli Lucas. If you'd like to get in touch with Kelli, or chat about working together on your next UX/UI Design project, you can visit the Lunar Lab website. or connect with them via LinkedIn. Your host for this episode has been Will Larry, you can find and connect with Will over on LinkedIn. Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel! If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2026 Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast

Would you ever go into business with your family? As a follow up to last week’s episode, we’ve brought on the one and only Doron Birnbaum (twin brother of our dear Sami) to get both sides of the story about their latest business venture. Doron takes Will and Chad through how the idea to build a tech platform that helps charities understand their data better to improve fundraising campaigns came to be, where the Birnbaum’s are currently at in terms of getting it into the hands of their target audience, and the roadblocks they’ve hit along the way. Have our hosts now been hired as the software’s new advisory board? Which brother will Chad and Will side with? And who is technically the oldest twin?! — Our guest for this episode has been Doron Birnbaum. If you'd like to get in touch with Doron you can do so through his website, or by email. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel and Sami through his website. You can also connect with the trio via their LinkedIn pages - Chad - Will - Sami. Don't forget you can now also watch the show over on our YouTube channel! If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2026 Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast