HTML All The Things - Web Development, AI, and Developer Careers

GPT-6 Astra is here, bringing another huge jump in AI capabilities - and once again raising the question: are we approaching AGI?

But defining artificial general intelligence gets messy fast. If AGI means matching or exceeding humans across virtually any cognitive task, how do you actually test that? And as new benchmarks appear, are we discovering better ways to measure intelligence or simply moving the goalposts? In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss what AGI means from a regular user's perspective, why benchmark scores don't necessarily tell the whole story, and whether the label even matters if AI can already handle increasingly complex real-world work. For most of us, the question may be much simpler: does the AI actually do what we need it to do?

‍Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/does-agi-actually-matter-to-you

Most of us repeatedly teach our AI coding agents the same lessons: ask questions before coding, write a specification, break the work into tickets, test everything, and review the result. Agent skills let us package those instructions into reusable workflows that an agent can load whenever they become relevant. In this episode, Matt and Mike explain what agent skills are, how they differ from prompts, project rules, tools, MCP servers, and custom GPTs, and why they can make AI-assisted development more consistent. They also explore Matt Pocock’s engineering skills - including grill-with-docs, wayfinder, to-spec, to-tickets, implement, code-review, and handoff - and discuss why installing too many overlapping skills can make an agent worse instead of better.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-agent-skills-explained-what-they-are-and-which-ones-to-use

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AI agents can handle tasks independently for minutes at a time - but what should you do while you wait? Start more work, run additional agents, or finally take a break?

In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss how AI has unexpectedly created more opportunities for short retro-gaming sessions during the workday. They explore why playing a low-stakes Game Boy game can be more restorative than doomscrolling, how stepping away can improve your review of AI-generated work, and why running too many agents eventually turns your own brain into the bottleneck.

AI may help us accomplish more, but does every minute it saves need to be filled with additional work?

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/ai-lets-me-game-more-and-work-better

A small business website doesn’t always need a fully custom design. In fact, spending too much time on bespoke visuals can waste the client’s budget without helping the business achieve its goals.

In this episode, Matt and Mike explain how freelancers and agencies can choose the web design services they want to offer, determine how much design a client actually needs, and translate business requirements into an effective website. They compare fully custom designs, versatile themes, pre-made websites, and rebuilds on modern platforms. They also discuss managing client wishlists, gathering brand assets, working outside your comfort zone, and using AI to create more customized designs without reinventing everything from scratch.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/how-to-design-websites-for-small-businesses

Use our Scrimba affiliate link (https://scrimba.com/?via=htmlallthethings) for a 20% discount!! Full details in show notes.

Leaks have become an unavoidable part of following technology and entertainment. Unreleased phones appear online months before their announcements, unfinished games are shown without context, and spoilers can surface in your feed whether you searched for them or not. In this edition of the Web News, Matt and Mike discuss the recent leak of alleged GTA VI gameplay footage and whether leaking a game is ever a reasonable form of protest. They also explore why unfinished footage can create a misleading impression, how leaks take control away from the people presenting a product, and whether some suspiciously polished tech leaks might actually be intentional marketing. Have leaks made product launches less exciting - or do you enjoy seeing everything as early as possible?

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcast/are-tech-leaks-real-or-just-marketing