This week, Robbie and Chuck talk with Tom Barrasso about building modern web apps for $15 flip phones, and the challenges of building for ultra-low-end devices. Tom shares his journey from building a podcast app during the pandemic to working in developer relations at CloudMosa. They dive into digital minimalism, the surprisingly advanced features of today’s flip phones, and what it’s like to work remotely while traveling the globe.

In this episode:

(00:00) - Intro
(01:07) - Meet Tom Barrasso
(02:54) - Whiskey rating & review: Johnny Walker Black
(12:07) - Hot Take: Tailwind or vanilla CSS
(12:26) - Hot Take: Fit rebase or merge?
(13:13) - Hot Take: VS Code sidebar left or right?
(13:33) - Hot Take: Were smartphones a mistake?
(16:04) - Is switching to a flip phone easier today?
(21:17) - Increasingly expensive fast food
(22:58) - A brief history of flip phones
(29:13) - Building for devices the modern web forgot
(34:17) - How AI fits into developing for feature phones
(39:28) - Language quirks, accents, and phonetic texting
(42:34) - Tips for digital nomads and Tom’s global travels
(50:15) - Workplace politics
(55:21) - What would Tom do if not in tech?
(59:04) - Plugs

Links

Johnnie Walker Black: https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-us/our-whisky/core-range/johnnie-walker-black-label
CloudMosa: https://www.cloudmosa.com/
Cloud Phone: https://www.cloudphone.tech/
Opera Mini: https://www.opera.com/mini
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
Xiamoi: https://www.mi.com/
Jack Daniel's: https://www.jackdaniels.com/
Tennessee Honey: https://www.jackdaniels.com/whiskey/tennessee-honey
University of Massachusetts Amherst: https://www.umass.edu/
Macallan: https://www.themacallan.com/
Tailwind: https://tailwindcss.com/
Git: https://github.com/GIT
GitHub: https://github.com/
C++: https://www.w3schools.com/cpp/
VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/
Nokia: https://www.nokia.com/
AirPods: https://www.apple.com/airpods/
Uber: https://www.uber.com/
Chipotle: https://www.chipotle.com/
Taco Bell: https://www.tacobell.com/
McDonald's: https://www.mcdonalds.com/
Motorola Razr: https://www.motorola.com/us/en/family/razr
Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/
Java: https://www.java.com/
Verizon: https://www.verizon.com/
T-Mobile: https://www.t-mobile.com/
Blackberry: https://www.blackberry.com/
Google: https://www.google.com/
Firefox: https://www.firefox.com/
KaiOS: https://www.kaiostech.com/
Geophone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophone
Vercel: https://vercel.com/
Joe Rogan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rogan
Boostrap: https://getbootstrap.com/
Smashing Magazine: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/
Apple Watch: https://www.apple.com/watch/
JavaScript: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript
Kindle: https://amazon.com/kindle
ES3: https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_versions.asp
Ember: https://emberjs.com/
KaiOS.dev: https://kaios.dev/
TypeScript: https://www.typescriptlang.org/
Claude: https://claude.ai/
Docker: https://www.docker.com/
Angular: https://angular.dev/
React: https://react.dev/
Chuck E. Cheese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_E._Cheese
ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/
Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/
Whisper: https://openai.com/index/whisper/
Google Translate: https://translate.google.com/
The Muppets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muppets
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
PillPack: https://www.pillpack.com/
IKEA: https://www.ikea.com/
PHP: https://www.php.net/
Samsung: https://www.samsung.com/
Bitcoin: https://bitcoin.org/
The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly: https://www.amazon.com/Inevitable-Understanding-Technological-Forces-Future/dp/0143110373
Sam Altman: https://x.com/sama
Wired: https://www.wired.com/

Connect with Tom

Website: https://barrasso.me/
GitHub: https://github.com/Tombarr

Connect with Chuck and Robbie

Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner
Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd

Subscribe and stay in touch

Website: https://whiskey.fm
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf
Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot

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