Modern Web Dev Meets 2000s Flip Phone: What Could Go Wrong?

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) - PlugsLinksJohnnie Walker Black: https://www.johnniewalker.com/en-us/our-whisky/core-range/johnnie-walker-black-labelCloudMosa: https://www.cloudmosa.com/Cloud Phone: https://www.cloudphone.tech/Opera Mini: https://www.opera.com/miniAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Xiamoi: https://www.mi.com/Jack Daniel's: https://www.jackdaniels.com/Tennessee Honey: https://www.jackdaniels.com/whiskey/tennessee-honeyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst: https://www.umass.edu/Macallan: https://www.themacallan.com/Tailwind: https://tailwindcss.com/Git: https://github.com/GITGitHub: https://github.com/C++: https://www.w3schools.com/cpp/VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.comReddit: 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/razrMicrosoft: 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/GeophoneVercel: https://vercel.com/Joe Rogan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_RoganBoostrap: 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/JavaScriptKindle: https://amazon.com/kindleES3: https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_versions.aspEmber: 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._CheeseChatGPT: 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_MuppetsFacebook: 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/0143110373Sam Altman: https://x.com/samaWired: https://www.wired.com/Connect with TomWebsite: https://barrasso.me/GitHub: https://github.com/TombarrConnect with Chuck and RobbieRobbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagnerChuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rdSubscribe and stay in touchWebsite: https://whiskey.fmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDfOvercast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnotWhiskey Web and Whatnot MerchEnjoying the podcast and want us to make more? Help support us by picking up some of our fresh merch at https://whiskey.fund.