Hanselminutes - Fresh Talk and Tech for Developers

Scott talks to enterprise developer, now tech CEO, Tiffany Mikell about the challenges and rewards of software development in a startup. What's it like to transition from large teams to smaller agile teams? How do you manage security and ops without dedicated teams? What are architectural discussions like with non-technical cofounders?

Scott talks to Ben Adams, the CTO of Illyriad Games, about their new massively multiplayer space game "Age of Ascent." Why is it interesting? It's massively bigger than any other game and it's written with web technologies like JavaScript and WebGL. Can they pull this off and scale?

Stacy Kirk is the CEO of QualityWorks, a node.js-focused QA company, a 20 year software development veteran, and the creator of nodeqa.io. Stacy is a graduate of Stanford and also coaches two Lego League Robotics teams! Scott and Stacy talk about the lack of respect that Quality Assurance has been getting over the last several years.

Scott talks to Data Visualization expert Irene Ros. When she isn't contributing to the Miso Project, teaching her d3.js class, or working on making OpenVis Conf the best data visualization conference it can be, she's working on projects that focus on creating engaging interactive visual displays of information.

John Henry is with Cofound Harlem, a startup accelerator dedicated to building 100 new companies in Harlem by 2020. What does an accelerator look like today? Do companies just need startup cash, or is there a more innovative and effective way to bootstrap tomorrow's companies today?

Kyle Wiens is the CEO and Co-founder of IFixit. IFixit is kind of the Wikipedia of Repair Guides and Teardowns. Scott and Kyle talk about why it's important to be able to fix your own hardware. Do we have the right of repair? Why are so many consumer electronics designed without repairability in mind?

Scott talks with Richard Campbell in this episode of Hanselminutiae LIVE. We did this show on Google Hangouts and you can watch the video at Scott's youtube at http://youtube.com/shanselman if you'd like. We talk about technology, gadgets, new directions, and industry trends.

Greg Borenstein is a computer vision expert, game designer, and author. He's currently a researcher in the Playful Systems Group at the MIT Media Lab. He also works as the futurist for the TV Series "Minority Report." The show tries to stay true to the universe of the movie while imagining a realistic (and socially conscious) future in 2065.

Scott talks to Julius Sweetland, developer of OptiKey. OptiKey is an assistive on-screen keyboard which runs on Windows. It is designed to be used with a low cost eye-tracking device to bring keyboard control, mouse control and speech to people with motor and speech limitations, such as people living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) / Motor Neuron Disease (MND).

Poornima Vijayashanker was a founding engineer at Mint.com and now is building an education company called Femgineer. Her new book "Present! The Techie's Guide to Engaging an Audience" speaks to the importance of speaking up. Poornima talks to Scott about why speaking up and improving your communication skills can revitalize your career in tech.

Kyle Simpson, aka @getify, is the Curriculum Manager for MakerSquare and has created a series of books called You Don't Know JS. You can read the You Don't Know JS book series for free on GitHub, but we know you'll want to buy them after you hear this interview. Kyle sets Scott straight and explains why Scott doesn't know JavaScript. It's true, he really doesn't...at least not as well as he thought!

Monica Dinculescu works on Polymer and Chrome for Google. In this episode she teaches Scott all about Web Components and the Polymer Project. Are Web Components the future of the web, and why? Where does Polymer fit in, and what should YOU use if you are starting a project today?

Scott talks to Matthew Cannon about the musical revolution that happened the eighties and early 90s in video game soundtracks. Matthew worked at Ocean Software and composed music for games like Navy Seals, Batman: The Movie, Elf, and many more. Matthew worked on C64, Amiga, SNES, Megadrive, and other systems. How did these systems work and what can they teach us about computing today?

Scott talks with former Googler Kenton Varda about his startup Sandstorm.io. Sandstorm makes it easy to run and manage your own server by simplifying application deployment and security. How does it work and how does it relate to Docker? How is a "personal cloud" different from "a server under the stairs?"

There's lots of discussion around assistive technology on the web, but what about technologies that aren't all about the browser? There are a number of conditions that have made it easier to develop assistive technology (social media, crowdfunding, rapid prototyping tools,etc.) Scott talks to Sylvia Richardson, an accessibility coordinator for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina about some of the many innovations in this space.