Brian Rinaldi

I lead Developer Relations at LocalStack. Run cfe.dev community for virtual developer events. AWS Community Builder.

Blog: https://remotesynthesis.com
Community: https://cfe.dev
Newsletter: https://jamstack.email

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remotesynth_at_mastodon.xyz@momostr.pink

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Last Notes

2025-09-25 12:29:35 UTC

Today I am hosting CodeWord Conf, a free virtual conference where code meets content for developing on the web. It starts in less than 3 hours. There's no need to register as we'll be streaming live on YouTube starting at 11am ET (UTC -4) until 4pm. I hope you'll join me there! https://youtube.com/live/C9IkpI47UVs?feature=share
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2025-09-08 14:42:15 UTC

It's been 9 years of CFE.dev including
- 118 virtual meetups
- 14 virtual conferences
- 44 talk shows
- 53 live coding shows
- 6 virtual workshops
- 1 in-person event
- 13 Jamstacked newsletters
I share my thoughts on 9 years here: https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/9-years-of-cfe/

2025-07-14 14:54:26 UTC

ICYMI we have brand new docs! We've rebuilt or docs from the ground up including:
* A single landing place for both the AWS and Snowflake emulators
* An improved information architecture making the information you need easier to find.
* If you're curious, it's built with Astro's Starlight (highly recommended)
For more details on what's new in the docs and what's coming next, see this post 👉 https://blog.localstack.cloud/announcing-localstack-docs-v2/

2025-06-23 14:47:30 UTC

The Browser Company, creators of the Arc browser, have shifted their focus to an AI-centric app called Dia, halting new features for Arc except security updates. I find this disappointing, as I loved Arc's features, especially Spaces tied to different profiles. Fortunately, the Zen Browser offers similar features, including this one. Here's my migration guide: https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/migrating-from-arc-to-zen/

2025-05-13 20:27:01 UTC

I've been super quiet on social, with work, my move, etc, but I'm SUPER EXCITED about Moar Serverless next week! We've got an amazing schedule with so many speakers that I'm excited to hear. If you're doing serverless/cloud development, you'll wanna be there – it's free & virtual! https://moarserverless.com
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2025-04-25 11:54:13 UTC

For 5 yrs, the Virtual Coffee community has helped developers of all skill levels to connect, learn, improve skills, up-level their careers & make friends. Today, they're running their first conference. It's completely on-brand, featuring first-time to seasoned speakers covering topics like RoR, CSS, JavaScript, AI, career development, self-improvement & more!
I'm proud to have helped bring this to life. Join us live today on YouTube from 11am-5pm ET (UTC -4) https://youtube.com/live/EvDJpN-jJgo

2025-04-13 19:35:52 UTC

This was an incredibly difficult post to write, as evidenced by the length. Questions around the usefulness and morality of generative artificial intelligence are difficult ones to answer but I think it's critical to do so, as it is having an enormous impact on the direction of the tech industry and of society as a whole.
I tried to collect my own thoughts on these questions backed by months worth of reading on the topic and was a bit surprised by where I ended up. https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/is-artificial-intelligence-useful-and-moral/

2025-04-03 16:38:18 UTC

A mythology was built around the US tech industry throughout the 80s and 90s that persisted, frequently despite plentiful contrary evidence, until today. In 2025, a significant number of prominent tech leaders decided to align themselves with the dumbest, most ignorant and evil people in the world to finally bust that myth.

2025-03-13 20:28:50 UTC

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Huh, because I recall writing the following:
"We’re in a world where global political stability is regularly threatened by the temper tantrums of billionaires who feel unloved. Where the leaders of industry, my industry in particular, openly fantasize about replacing their entire human workforce with an artificial one (apparently the only role AI can’t replace is that of the billionaire CEO)."
So, your response only illustrates the point that I made.
ref: https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/bizarro-world/

2025-03-13 20:00:19 UTC

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my issue is that you have not, in my experience, ever asked politely and you don't accept any response other than complete adherence to your view, which makes it tough on some of us who might otherwise align with your perspective in many aspects.

2025-03-06 17:45:01 UTC

React is a very different and more complex framework today than it was years ago. So what's it like to learn it from scratch in 2025? Ray is going to finally learn React. Join his learning journey or come share your thoughts experiences with React in 15 minutes at 1pm ET (UTC -5). https://buff.ly/SQ5bIxz

2025-03-06 12:02:52 UTC

This is one of the best things I've read about the situation in the US. Yes, tech is political, now more than ever. It's also a reminder of how thoroughly the traditional media has failed us so far. http://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/04/why-techdirt-is-now-a-democracy-blog-whether-we-like-it-or-not/

2025-02-25 17:58:52 UTC

I thought I knew Chrome DevTools, but apparently I was wrong – especially when it came to the kind of powerful debugging features you can now find in the performance tab. Thankfully @npub1z87…gl2a showed everything you need to know in this session recording. https://youtu.be/yz4p58yPaMY
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2025-02-24 18:31:05 UTC

I had a really great conversation last week with Rachel Andrews of Google about browser interoperability issues, the past and future of standards around CSS and so much more. You can watch the session recording here: https://buff.ly/3QuanMa
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2025-02-17 17:07:03 UTC

Super excited to talk to Rachel Andrew of Google this Wednesday at TheJam[dot]dev! We're going to talk about web standards, browser interoperability, Interop 2025 and the Baseline initiative. Join us! https://cfe.dev/events/the-jam-2025/
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2025-02-12 21:39:40 UTC

One of the lessons I've learned through trial and error over the course of my career in tech is what criteria is most important when looking for a new job. Normally, we focus on pay, title and whether we are working on something "cool." However, in my experience, the people are so critical to your happiness in the new role that it outweighs all the others. Here's why: https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/people-over-pay/

2025-02-03 21:21:57 UTC

It's February, which means we are literally just weeks away from the 2025 edition of TheJam[dot]dev. We've got an amazing list of speakers including Rachel Andrew, Cassidy Williams, Henri Helvetica, Lizzie Siegle, Jo Franchetti, Raymond Camden, Rizel Scarlett, Bryan Robinson and more. Best of all: it's completely FREE! Get details and register here: https://buff.ly/42sAk5U
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2025-01-30 13:02:47 UTC

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I hope so. I definitely have lost faith in most of our institutions in government, media and industry. At this point, I've come to believe many of them are broken beyond repair most of the folks in leadership have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo no matter how broken.
I'd love to see some grassroots initiatives, and perhaps I'm not looking hard enough, but I am not seeing them where I am.

2025-01-30 12:49:26 UTC

This is not the type of thing I usually write, but I needed to write some of my thoughts down about living in a world that seems to be burning but our need to go on as if everything is normal. My current tactic is to shut out as much of the noise as possible, which isn't productive. https://buff.ly/4hC3m7z

2025-01-10 23:30:38 UTC

If you are sitting around thinking, "You know what I need to start my weekend is a deeply bleak set of predictions for tech in 2025," then, boy, do I have the perfect post for you! Here's my predictions for 2025. I hope that I am wrong, but I am predicting a tough year for those of us working in the tech industry. https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/2025-predictions-for-tech/

2025-01-06 12:42:57 UTC

- reply

Netlify's survey asked an entirely different question, which was "how many developers are using AI/ML in their current web projects?" This isn't about using AI tools like Copilot or ChatGPT but about integration. And yet, even in this question, they only had 32% saying none.
I'm an AI skeptic too but I'd argue you've got a bit of motivated reasoning going on here. There's very little noticeable pushback among developers and I do not see a backlash coming to AI tooling for developers

2025-01-05 15:46:56 UTC

Last year I made some not-so-bold predictions about what 2024 would look like for developers. Despite my lack of boldness, I still managed a mediocre grade. I look back at my predictions to see what I got wrong (and what I got right). https://buff.ly/4gGfynO

2024-12-05 16:42:10 UTC

If you're an AI skeptic, as I am, this article will reinforce all your doubts, backed up by actual facts and data. Don't get me wrong, I think generative AI can be useful in a number of situations but the hype hugely outweighs the usefulness. https://www.wheresyoured.at/godot-isnt-making-it/

2024-11-26 13:30:26 UTC

Nue is a new static site generator (SSG) that openly aims to be "better than Next.js" (yep, Next.js isn't just an SSG but I'm using their words). David Eastman gives it an initial walkthrough and is impressed by it's "design-first" approach. https://buff.ly/3V7R7qB

2024-11-18 19:57:46 UTC

These weeks are a roller coaster of emotion. The world is a mess. The country is full of anger and hate. My industry is at the center of the mess. The last 9 years I've given more politically and professionally than ever in my life and I'm not sure I helped. I know many of you may feel the same.
I have no good advice. Just a insanely beautiful song that reflects my mood. It won't make you feel better and yet somehow it helps. https://youtu.be/ZPxQYhGpdvg?si=X884rQ7ZzQyYz4qB

2024-11-18 17:43:03 UTC

Later this week I'm hosting my final virtual conference of the year. If you're a web developer, you won't want to miss it. It's called PixelPalooza and it's all about using things like images, video, audio and other types of web media. Come learn tools and best practices from 5 experts this Thursday, November 21, from 12-4pm ET (UTC -5). https://cfe.dev/events/pixelpalooza-2024/
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2024-11-06 13:51:22 UTC

It strikes me, as someone who has worked in tech for over 25 years and who once believed technology could help improve the world, that tech is at the center of creating or worsening many of the world's problems. From helping create and spread misinformation to literally creating the very billionaires that funded Trump's hateful campaign, this, to me, is an indictment of the entire industry.

2024-11-01 20:56:30 UTC

Fascinated to follow the progress of OpenNext. On the one hand, I totally get how Vercel's competitors like Netlify and Cloudflare for instance, want to contribute and support the project. Even more interesting to hear that Vercel is friendly with it as well. https://thenewstack.io/opennext-gets-closer-to-making-next-js-truly-portable/

2024-10-31 21:23:01 UTC

I have not used Ghost, but this makes me want to give it a look. https://john.onolan.org/democratising-publishing/

2024-10-24 19:33:49 UTC

I'm by no means a GraphQL expert (though I worked in DevRel at a GraphQL-focused company for a bit), but all the parts of this post that don't go over my head seem valid. Federation seems to be the only thing going for GraphQL right now (and even then issues still arise). https://buff.ly/4elkFsX

2024-10-23 17:56:31 UTC

I'd taken a while to get around to reading this article because it's pretty darn long, but it also totally worth reading if you are building for the web. If you want to understand how React became so dominant, why framework authors can be skeptical of web components or how we are moving forward as a web platform. Read it!. https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/liskovs-gun/

2024-10-18 13:49:24 UTC

- reply

Yup. I do the same whenever I can. It's like, hey, I'd love to keep up with all the things you're doing, please give me a way to do that.

2024-10-18 12:41:22 UTC

Love reading love for RSS! I have never stopped using it (though many sites now don't have an RSS feed, which makes me sad):
"RSS basically works like social media should work. Using RSS is a chance to visit a utopian future in which the platforms have no power, and all power is vested in publishers" https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/16/keep-it-really-simple-stupid/#read-receipts-are-you-kidding-me-seriously-fuck-that-noise

2024-09-26 18:41:09 UTC

In my own experience, AWS can be intimidating. There are so many different services and it's not always obvious how they all fit together. That's why I put a ton of time and effort into this lengthy guide on AWS for frontend devs. I felt like it was one of those topics that can be super intimidating but we just don't have enough entry level content around. https://blog.localstack.cloud/aws-for-frontend-devs/

2024-09-04 18:00:45 UTC

We're just a few weeks away from CodeWord Conf, a free virtual conference about code and content on September 26. The speakers and the schedule are set. Get more details and sign up (did I mention it's free?!?) here: https://cfe.dev/events/codeword-conf-2024/