Shows
Oxide and FriendsAI, Materials, and Fraud with Ben ShindelLate in 2024, an economics paper captured the attention of the world. AI, it claimed, had a tremendous impact on materials research, disproportionally benefitted the most productive, and--sadly--reduced job statisfaction. It now appears that the results are entirely fabricated! Ben Shindel joins Bryan and Adam to discuss.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest Ben Shindel.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Ben's blog: AI, Materials, and Fraud, Oh My!OxF: Theranos, Silicon Valley, and the March Madness of...2025-05-241h 10
Oxide and FriendsRIP USENIX ATCBryan and Adam discuss the recent announcement of the discontinuation of the USENIX Annual Technical Conference (ATC), reminiscing about their own visits to the ATC and the impact of the conference. Long-time Oxide Friend, Tom Lyon, joined to dial the reminiscence back a couple more decades!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Tom Lyon.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Bryan's blog 2025: RIP USENIX ATCOxF s1e13: Put the OS back in OSDIBryan's Lisa 2011 talk: Fork Yeah! The Rise and...2025-05-151h 24
Oxide and FriendsShootout at the CNCF CorralLast week the kerfuffle between Synadia and CNCF, tussling over the ownership and futures of NATS, bled into the public. The outcome may cast a long shadow for open source and for the CNCF. Bryan and Adam were joined by Rachel Stephens and Adam Jacob to discuss how we got here and possible outcomes.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Rachel Stephens Adam Jacob, and Eliza Weisman.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Goats in sweatersCNCF Slide: Why You Should...2025-05-011h 23
Don't Forget Your TicketsPhil Carling (interviewed by Adam Leventhal) on the Commercial Landscape of Football - A Live Special from Emirates Stadium in LondonThe Commercial Evolution of Football – Where Is It Heading Next?From local sponsors to billion-euro global partnerships, football’s commercial landscape has transformed beyond recognition. But what’s driven this evolution—and where is it heading next?At Don’t Forget Your Tickets at Emirates Stadium, Phil Carling, Managing Director of Football Consulting at Octagon Worldwide, sat down with Adam Leventhal of The Athletic to reflect on the journey from the turnstiles of Highbury to football’s billion-euro broadcasting era.With over 40 years of experience, including senior commercial roles at Arsenal and The FA...2025-02-2424 min
Oxide and FriendsAI Disruption: DeepSeek and CerebrasDeepSeek was a disruptive surprise at the start of 2025--an open weights model trained at a fraction of the cost of previous models. Bryan and Adam were joined by Andy Hock and James Wang from Cerebras, whose wafer-scale silicon executes these models faster than is possible with any number of GPUs.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Andy Hock, and James Wang, both of Cerebras.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:interactive inference with Cerebras100x Defect Tolerance: How Cerebras...2025-02-061h 31
Oxide and FriendsCrates We LoveLove Rust? Us too. One of its great strengths is its ecosystem of crates. Rain, Eliza, and Steve from the Oxide team join Bryan and Adam to talk about the crates we love.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Rain Paharia, Eliza Weisman, and Steve Klabnik.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:prettypleasewinnowBlessed.rs crate listAdam's codegen templatemietteeliza_errorserde_path_to_errorratatuiRatatui episode on January 27th!modular-bitfieldlexoptloomOxF: Software VerificationpaloozaCDSCHECKER: Checking Concurrent Data Structures Written with C/C++ AtomicsThe Postcard Wire...2025-01-161h 33
Oxide and FriendsOxF 2024 Wrap-UpBryan and Adam look back on the year of Oxide and Friends episodes, reflecting on favorite shows, moments, and (at length) cover images.Your hosts were Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Oxide and Friends 2024 in ImagesOxF: Musing With Changelog's Adam StacoviakOxF: I know this!OxF: What's taking so long?XKCD: DependencyOxF: Discovering the XZ Backdoor with Andres FreundMaking the background imageOxF: Open Source LLMs with Simon WillisonOxF bonus blather 9/16/2024OxF: Cultural IdiosyncrasiesOxF: Technical BloggingOxF: RFDs: the Backbone of OxideOxF...2024-12-301h 33
Oxide and FriendsScaling Bluesky with Paul FrazeePaul Frazee joins Bryan, Adam, and the Oxide Friends to talk about the inner workings of Bluesky and the AT Protocol. Paul and the Bluesky team have been working on decentralized systems for years and years--very cool to see both the next evolutionary step in those ideas and their successful application in Bluesky!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included our special guest, Paul Frazee, and slightly-less-special guest, Steve Klabnik.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:ScuttlebuttBluesky FirehoseBluesky JetstreamBluesky and the AT ProtocolBluesky...2024-12-191h 40
Oxide and FriendsConferences in TechBryan and Adam were joined by Theo Schlossnagle, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, and Steve O'Grady to talk about conferences in tech. A lot has changed in the past couple of decades about the impetus for conferences and what makes it worthwhile to attend.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Theo Schlossnagle, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, and Steve O'Grady.The lightly edited live chat from the show:ellie.idb: 2005, huh? y’all met when i was 2goodjanet: yea i was younger than 10 loljgrillo_: I was just thinking I feel very young because I was a ju...2024-12-141h 30
Oxide and FriendsIntel after GelsingerHoly Sh**! Pat Gelsinger announced his "retirement" leaving a rudderless Intel without a captain. How did Intel get here? Some of the cultural problems may be deep in the DNA. Bryan and Adam have some ideas for what happens next, and who might be the next CEO.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Ian Grunert.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Intel announces the retirement of Pat GelsingerAndy Jassy/Pat Gelsinger re:Invent 2018 premises/premise supercutAcquired: Adapting Episode 3: IntelCHM: Pat Gelsinger Oral...2024-12-051h 50
Oxide and FriendsTechnical BloggingBryan and Adam were joined by authors of the forthcoming book "Writing for Developers", Piotr Sarna and Cynthia Dunlop, to talk about blogging--for Bryan and Adam, it's been 20 years since they started blogging at Sun. The Oxide Friends were also joined by Tim Bray and Will Snow who kicked off blogging at Sun.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Tim Bray (BlueSky), Will Snow, Cynthia Dunlop and Piotr Sarna.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Writing for Developers50% off (!) with code OXIDE50...2024-11-211h 40
Oxide and FriendsBooks in the Box IVThe 4th installment of the Oxide and Friends book recommendation series. After a brief(ish) diversion into Crimson Twins, Tomax and Xamot, Bryan and Adam are joined by several Oxide Friends to discuss their favorite recent reads.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Nick Gideo, Josh, Ian Grunert, Tom Lyon, Zander, and Oliver Herman.Tomax and XamotRecommendations:Into the Raging Sea - SladeThe Making of Prince of Persia - Jordan MechnerThe Big Score - MaloneCHM: Oral History of Hector RuizAMD Founder Jerry Sanders Rare Interview (video)Chip...2024-11-011h 34
Oxide and FriendsUnshrouding Turin (or Benvenuto a Torino)George Cozma of Chips and Cheese joined Bryan, Adam, and the Oxide Friends to talk about AMD's new 5th generation EPYC processor, codename: Turin. What's new in Turin and how is Oxide's Turin-based platform coming along?In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest George Cozma, as well as Oxide colleagues Robert Mustacchi, Eric Aasen, Nathanael Huffman, and the quietly observant Aaron Hartwig.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Chips and Cheese: AMD's Turin: 5th Gen EPYC LaunchedEnd of the...2024-10-161h 53
Oxide and FriendsQuerying Metrics with OxQLBryan and Adam were joined by Oxide colleague, Ben Naecker, to talk about OxQL--the Oxide Query Language we've developed for interacting with our metrics system. Yes, another query language, and, yes, we're DSL maximalists, but listen in before you accuse us of simple NIH!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Oxide colleague, Ben Naecker.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:RFD 463: The Oxide Query LanguageGenAI podcast on the OxQL RFDRFD 125: Telemetry requirements and building blocksInfluxDBClickHouseSimon Willison: SQL Has Problems. We...2024-10-021h 35
Oxide and FriendsRTO or GTFOWith Amazon's return to office (RTO) mandate in the news, Bryan and Adam revisit the topic (it's been 2.5 years since last time!). Are in-office epiphanies real or is RTO fueled by nostalgia, fear... and finance? Stay tuned / we apologize for the exposition on in-office games.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included friend of the pod, Matt Amdur, and Chris.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Message from CEO Andy Jassy: Strengthening our culture and teamsOxF: The Future of WorkAmazon leadership principlesNathanael's blog...2024-09-261h 39
Oxide and FriendsReflecting on Founder ModeWith some time passed, Bryan and Adam offer a non-hot take on Paul Graham's "Founder Mode" post. While there is plenty to quibble over, there's also the kernel of an important idea: how to balance experience, novel thinking, and limited time? Also stay tuned as they share a years old "ego con".Your hosts were Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Paul Graham Founder ModeBryan Reflecting on Founder ModeTim O'Reilly How I FailedCamille Fournier Founder Create ManagersBryan Chesky interview we mentionOxF...2024-09-201h 22
Oxide and FriendsRFDs: The Backbone of OxideRFDs--Requests for Discussion--are how we at Oxide discuss... just about everything! Technical design, hardware component selection, changes in process, culture, interview systems, (even) chat--we have RFDs for all of these, over 500 in a bit under 5 years. Bryan and Adam were joined by Oxide colleagues instrumental to RFDs, from their most prolific author to those making them more consumable.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Oxide colleagues, Robert Mustacchi, David Crespo, Ben Leonard, and Augustus Mayo.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit...2024-08-301h 42
Oxide and FriendsWhither CockroachDB?Lots of engineering decisions get made on vibes. Popularity, anecdotes—they can lead to expedient decisions rather than rigorous ones. At Oxide, our choice to go with CockroachDB was hardly hasty! Dave Pacheco joins Bryan and Adam to talk about why we choose CRDB… and how Cockroach Lab’s recent switch to a proprietary license impacts that.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Dave Pacheco.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:TechCrunch: Cockroach Labs shakes up its licensing to force bigger...2024-08-211h 34
Oxide and FriendsThe Saga of SagasThe Oxide control plane coordinates multiple services to do complex, compound operations. Early on, we knew we wanted to provide a robust structure for these multi-part workflows. We stumbled onto Distributed Sagas and built our own implementation in Steno. Bryan and Adam are joined by several members of the Oxide team who built and use Steno to drive the complex operation of the control plane.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Dave Pacheco. Eliza Weisman, Andrew Stone, Greg Colombo, and James MacMahon.Some of the topics we hit on, in the...2024-08-141h 57
Oxide and FriendsPragmatic LLM usage with Nicholas CarliniNicholas Carlini joined Bryan and Adam to talk about his terrific blog post on his many pragmatic uses of LLMs to solve real problems. He has great advice about when to use them (often!) and what kinds of problems they handle well. LLMs aren't great at many things, but used well they can be an amazing tool.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest, Nicholas Carlini as well as by listeners Mike Cafarella, p5commit, and chrisbur.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that...2024-08-091h 33
Oxide and FriendsCrowdStrike BSOD Fiasco with Katie MoussourisBryan and Adam were joined by security expert, Katie Moussouris, to discuss the largest global IT outage in history. It was an event as broadly impactful as it will be instructive; as Bryan noted, you can see all of computing from here, from crash dumps to antitrust.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest Katie Moussouris.PRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned...2024-07-251h 41
Oxide and FriendsHeterogeneous Computing with Raja KoduriRaja Koduri joined Bryan and Adam to answer a question sent in from a listener: what's are the differences between a CPU, GPU, FPGA, and ASIC? And after a walk through history of hardware, software, their intersection and relevant companies, we ... almost answered it!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Raja Koduri.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:3dfx Oral History Panel with Ross Smith, Scott Sellers, Gary Tarolli, and Gordon Campbell3dfxOpenGLGlideDirect3DCUDADennard scalingVLIWGPGPUAMD APUEnergy Efficiency and AI HardwarePRs...2024-07-181h 54
Oxide and FriendsInnovation Tokens with Charity MajorsCharity Majors joined Bryan, Adam, and the Oxide Friends to talk about the idea of "innovation tokens"--a fixed budget for, so called, "innovative" projects. When is boring better and when is innovation the safer approach? Is Oxide issuing innovation tokens in some sort of hyper-inflationary cycle!?In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest Charity Majors.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Glyph: Against Innovation TokensCharity's Twitter ThreadOxF: Let That Sink In! (Whither Twitter?) with CharityDruidScuba whitepaperOxide RFD 68: Partnership...2024-07-111h 26
Oxide and FriendsIs NVIDIA like Sun from the Dot Com Bubble?Every so often we like to give our Oxide and Friends hot takes (or as Adam puts it "Bryan getting trolled on Twitter"). This time, a viral tweet suggests that NVIDIA is on the same trajectory as Sun Microsystems on its ascent during the Dot Com Bubble. From two alumni of Sun's rise and fall: maaaaybe not.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Todd Gamblin.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:The Tweet!OxF: Innovation Stagnation? -- wherein we forgot to read...2024-06-271h 28
SuperPsyched with Dr. Adam Dorsay#218 Vaping: The Bottom Line | Adam Leventhal, PhDVaping. It seems to be everywhere these days. Sure, adults engage in vaping but, sadly, so do adolescents and even children at very high numbers.
There have been all kinds of myths as they relate to vaping and, as always, it is crucial to listen to the experts who know the science. One such person is Dr. Adam Leventhal (https://keck.usc.edu/faculty-search/adam-matthew-leventhal/). Adam is a professor at Keck School of Medicine at USC where he serves as Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences as well as the Director of the Institute for Addiction...2024-06-2525 min
Oxide and FriendsMusing with Changelog's Adam StacoviakBryan and Adam were joined by The Changelog’s Adam Stacoviak for a … wide ranging conversation! Something for everyone—especially fans of HBO’s Silicon Valley!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest Adam Stacoviak.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Bryan on ChangelogChangelog: 23 years of Ruby with MatzSWOTBachmanity InsanityStraight outta KubeconBreakmaster CylinderAdam Stac on githubChangelog Dance Party by BMCComputer History Museum: Oral HistoriesBryan's talk on social audioIf we got something wrong or missed something, please f...2024-06-171h 46