PODCAST · technology
Two Voice Devs
by Mark and Allen
Mark and Allen talk about the latest news in the VoiceFirst world from a developer point of view.
Episodes
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From Google Glass to the Next Wearables Wave
In this episode, Allen Firstenberg is joined by guest host Cecilia Abadie, a computing pioneer who has been at the forefront of every major tech wave—from personal computers to mobile, wearables, and now AI. They look back on their shared roots at the 2012 Google Glass Foundry, trace Cecilia's...
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AI Agents: Six Lessons from Six Years of Two Voice Devs
Happy 6th Anniversary to Two Voice Devs! In this milestone episode, Mark Tucker and Allen Firstenberg look back at six years of podcasting and discuss how the industry is coming full circle. We started in the era of hardware assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant, shifted into text-based…
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The Intersection of AI, Fashion, Design, and Development
In this episode, Allen Firstenberg welcomes GDE Margaret Maynard-Reid as guest host to discuss the exciting intersection of AI, art, design, and fashion. Margaret shares her hands-on experiences testing Google's Gemini Omni Flash and Veo models, highlighting the game-changing capabilities of...
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What is an Agent Harness?
In this episode, Allen Firstenberg and Sam Witteveen dive into one of the newest and most discussed concepts in the developer community: the "Agent Harness." What exactly is a harness, and how does it transform a simple, one-shot AI model into a truly capable, autonomous agent? Sam and Allen...
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Set the scene with Gemini TTS
Roll tape and prompt! In this episode of Two Voice Devs, Allen and Mark explore how Google’s new advanced prompting guidelines turn developers into voice directors for Gemini Text-to-Speech. Instead of coding rigid SSML tags, you can now establish a scene, write stage directions, and give...
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Project Solara: Welcome to Agent-First Hardware
After months of conferences and busy schedules, Mark Tucker and Allen Firstenberg return to discuss Microsoft’s surprising Build conference announcement: Project Solara. Moving from the legacy voice-first consumer world of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, Microsoft is pioneering a secure,...
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New Horizons for Android: XR, MCP, and Agents
Allen and Mike record live from Google I/O in the Builders podcast space. They discuss their impressions of this year's conference, the evolution of I/O over the years, and the big announcements from the keynote. Key topics include Gemini's "any output from any input" vision, how the new…
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Google I/O 2026: GenUI, Glass, and Android XR
Allen and Noble are live from Google I/O! This episode breaks down the biggest keynote news: agentic coding in Search, the power of Generative UI, and the future of "intelligent eyewear." They share what these changes mean for the venerable Google Search, what works (and what doesn't) with the…
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Live from Next 2026: The Year of the Agent
Allen and Alice are on the ground at Google Cloud Next, breaking down the biggest shifts in the AI landscape. This episode explores the transition from focusing on models to building agents with the launch of the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. They discuss the new TPU v8 hardware, the power of...
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Episode 270 - Beyond the Big Three: Open Models, Agents, & the Future of Devs
In part two of this insightful conversation, Allen and Sam Witteveen dive deep into the rapidly expanding world of AI models beyond the "big three." They explore the impact of open-weight and Chinese models like DeepSeek, Mistral, and Qwen, discussing their impressive efficiency and coding...
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Episode 269 - The "Big Three" AI Models and Training Evolution
In Part 1 of a two-part series, guest host Sam Witteveen joins Allen to catch up and dive deep into the rapidly evolving world of AI models. Sam shares his fascinating journey from being a successful pop songwriter to becoming a Machine Learning Google Developer Expert (GDE) and running the…
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Episode 268 - The New @langchain/google Package
Allen has been busy! This week, he unveils the new `@langchain/google` package for LangChain JS. This major update consolidates five previous libraries into a single, standardized, and powerful tool for developers working with Gemini and Vertex AI. Allen walks Mark through the motivation behind…
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Episode 267 - Behind the Scenes: How We Use AI to Build Two Voice Devs
Ever wonder how "Two Voice Devs" goes from a raw recording to a finished episode? In this episode, Allen Firstenberg takes Mark Tucker on a deep dive into his production workflow. They discuss how Descript’s text-based editing revolutionized their process, how Allen uses a custom Gemini CLI agent...
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Episode 266 - Supercharging Your AI Agent with Skills
Mark and Allen dive into the emerging world of Agent Skills, an open standard for extending the capabilities of AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Gemini CLI. They explore how these skills work, how they compare to the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and walk through…
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Episode 265 - Gemini's New Personal Intelligence: A Second Brain?
Allen and Mike discuss Google's new "Personal Intelligence" feature for Gemini. They explore how it connects to your personal data like Photos, Gmail, and Docs to provide context-aware answers. The conversation covers real-world use cases, privacy concerns regarding training data, and the...
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Episode 264 - AI, Context, and the "No-UI" Future
Allen Firstenberg welcomes back guest host Mike Wolfson, an Android Google Developer Expert, to discuss the shifting landscape of User Experience (UX) in the age of Artificial Intelligence. As we move toward autonomous agents and multimodal interactions—incorporating voice, haptics, and...
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Episode 263 - Exploring the Parlant Agent Framework
In this episode, Mark introduces Allen to Parlant, an open-source framework for building agentic AI. They explore how Parlant differs from other frameworks like LangChain and LangGraph by using concepts like "journeys" for flexible conversation flows and "guidelines" for conditional rule...
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Epsiode 262 - 2025 Wrap-Up: The Great Agent Takeover & 2026 Vibe Check
Happy New Year! Allen and Mark kick off 2026 by looking back at the whirlwind of AI developments in 2025. From the explosion of agentic frameworks like LangGraph, Google's Agent Development Kit, and the Microsoft Agent Framework to the emergence of protocols like MCP and A2A, it was a year of…
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Episode 261 - The Great Holid-AI Rebus Battle
Get ready for the ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN of holiday cheer and artificial intelligence! In this SPECIAL HOLIDAY EPISODE, Mark and Allen aren't just exchanging pleasantries—they're exchanging MIND-BENDING REBUS PUZZLES generated by some AI models themselves! It's a battle of wits, a clash of code, and a...
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Episode 260 - Turn Your AI Agent into a Voice Agent With Microsoft Foundry
Mark Tucker explores Microsoft Azure's "Voice Live" feature within the newly rebranded Microsoft Foundry. He demonstrates how to take a standard text-based AI agent—in this case, one that talks like a pirate—and instantly give it a voice using WebSockets to bridge speech-to-text and…
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Episode 259 - Building Better MCP Servers: Lessons from Vodo Drive
Allen and Mark discuss the architecture of Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, using Allen's experience with "Vodo Drive" as a case study. They dive into critical considerations for building effective agents, focusing on security, managing API complexity, and enforcing business logic. The...
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Episode 258 - Getting Started with GitHub Copilot
In this episode of Two Voice Devs, Mark Tucker and Allen Firstenberg dive into the world of GitHub Copilot. Mark shares his recent experience preparing for the GitHub Copilot (GH-300) certification and walks us through the various features and modes of the tool within Visual Studio Code. They...
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Episode 257 - Building Enterprise Agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio
Mark Tucker and Allen Firstenberg dive into Microsoft Copilot Studio, a low-code tool for creating conversational agents with a focus on enterprise integrations. Mark demonstrates how to build a file upload agent that summarizes invoices using a Large Language Model (LLM). They explore the…
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Episode 256 - Gratitude, Growth, and Human Connection: A Thanksgiving Special
Allen and Mark return after a hiatus for their annual Thanksgiving episode. They reflect on a busy year, expressing deep gratitude for the community's concern and support. The conversation explores the vital importance of human connection in a tech-centric world, the impact of mentorship, and...
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Episode 255 - Agonizing About Agent-to-Agent
Join Allen Firstenberg and Noble Ackerson in a deep dive into the evolving world of AI agent protocols. In this episode of Two Voice Devs, they unpack the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol, comparing it with the Model Context Protocol (MCP). They explore the fundamental differences, from A2A's...
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Episode 254 - Agent Frameworks Compared: Google's ADK vs LangChainJS
Allen and Mark are back to discuss AI agent frameworks again. This time, Allen compares Google's Agent Development Kit (ADK) with LangChainJS and LangGraphJS. He walks through building a simple agent in both frameworks, highlighting the differences in their approaches, from configuration by...
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Episode 253 - The Future of Voice? Exploring Gemini 2.5's TTS Model
In this episode of Two Voice Devs, Mark and Allen dive into the new experimental Text-to-Speech (TTS) model in Google's Gemini 2.5. They explore its capabilities, from single-speaker to multi-speaker audio generation, and discuss how it's a significant leap from the old days of SSML. They also...
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Episode 252 - GPT-5 First Look: Evolution, Not Revolution
Join Allen and Mark as they take a first look at the newly released GPT-5 from OpenAI. They dive into the details of what's new, what's changed, and what's missing, frequently comparing it to other models like Google's Gemini. From the new mini and nano models to the pricing wars with…
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Episode 251 - AI Agents: Frameworks and Concepts
Join Mark and Allen in this episode of Two Voice Devs as they explore the fascinating world of AI agents. They break down what agents are, how they work, and what sets them apart from earlier AI technologies. The discussion covers key concepts like "context engineering," and the essential...
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Episode 250 - Five Years Up, Up, and Away in Voice & AI
Join Mark and Allen for a very special 250th episode as they celebrate five years of Two Voice Devs! You won't want to miss the unique, AI-animated opening that takes them to new heights, or the special closing that brings it all home, both created with the help of Veo 3. In between, they take a...
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Episode 249 - Cracking Copilot and the Mysteries of Microsoft 365
In this episode, guest host Andrew Connell, a Microsoft MVP of 21 years, joins Allen to unravel the complexities of Microsoft's AI strategy, particularly within the enterprise. They explore the world of Microsoft 365 Copilot, distinguishing it from the broader AI landscape and consumer tools like...
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Episode 248 - AI Showdown: Gemini CLI vs. Claude Code CLI
Join Allen Firstenberg and guest host Isaac Johnson, a Google Developer Expert with a deep background in DevOps and SRE, as they dive into the world of command-line AI assistants. In this episode, they compare and contrast two powerful tools: Anthropic's Claude Code CLI and Google's Gemini CLI....
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Episode 247 - Apple's AI Gets Serious
John Gillilan, our official Apple correspondent, returns to Two Voice Devs to unpack the major announcements from Apple's latest Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). After failing to ship the ambitious "Apple Intelligence" features promised last year, how did Apple address the elephant in the...
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Episode 246 - Reasoning About Gemini 2.5 "Thinking" Model
Join Allen Firstenberg and Mark Tucker as they dive into Google's latest Gemini 2.5 models and their much-touted "thinking" capabilities. In this episode, they explore whether these models are genuinely reasoning or just executing sophisticated pattern matching. Through live tests in Google's AI...
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Episode 245 - From Python to TypeScript: Coding JCrew AI to Build Better Agents
Ever find that the best way to understand a new framework is to build it yourself? In this episode of Two Voice Devs, Mark Tucker takes us on a deep dive into Crew AI, a powerful Python framework for orchestrating multi-agent AI systems. To truly get under the hood, Mark decided to port the core...
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Episode 244 - What's New With Anthropic?
What do Anthropic's latest announcements mean for developers? In this episode, Allen is joined by freelance conversation designer Valentina Adami to break down all the major news from the recent "Code with Claude" event. Valentina shares her hands-on experience and perspective on the new Opus 4…
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Episode 243 - AI Agents: Exploits, Ethics, and the Perils of Over-Permissive Tools
Join Allen Firstenberg and Michal Stanislawek in this thought-provoking episode of Two Voice Devs as they unpack two recent LinkedIn posts by Michal that reveal critical insights into the security and ethical challenges of modern AI agents. The discussion kicks off with a deep dive into a...
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Episode 242 - From the Creatives Corner at I/O 2025
Join Allen Firstenberg and Linda Lawton of Two Voice Devs as they record live from Google I/O 2025! As the conference neared the end, they dive deep into the groundbreaking announcements in generative AI, discussing the latest advancements and what they mean for developers, especially those in...
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Episode 241 - Google I/O 2025: AI Highlights, Human Augmentation, and The AGI Debate
Recorded live from the podcast space at I/O, Allen Firstenberg and Roya dive into the overwhelming, yet incredibly exciting, world of AI announcements permeating the conference this year. They discuss the pervasive theme of AI augmenting human intelligence rather than replacing it, exploring...
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Episode 240: I/O Eyewear - From Google Glass to Gemini
The buzz from Google IO 2025 is deafening, especially about the new smart glasses announcement! On this episode of Two Voice Devs, Allen Firstenberg and Noble Ackerson — former Google Glass Explorers themselves — dive deep into their first impressions of Google's Project Astra / Android XR /…
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Episode 239 - MCP: Hype, Security, and Real-World Use
Join us on Two Voice Devs as Allen Firstenberg talks with Rizel Scarlett, Tech Lead for Open Source Developer Relations at Block. Rizel shares her fascinating journey from psychology student to software engineer and now a leader in developer advocacy, highlighting her passion for teaching and...
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Episode 238 - LLM Benchmarking: What, Why, Who, and How
How do you know if a Large Language Model is good for your specific task? You benchmark it! In this episode, Allen speaks with Amy Russ about her fascinating career path from international affairs to data, and how that unique perspective now informs her work in LLM benchmarking. Amy explains what...
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Episode 237 - Building Bridges with Developers
Join Allen Firstenberg from Google Cloud Next 2025 as he sits down with Ankur Kotwal, Google's Global Head of Cloud Advocacy. In this episode of Two Voice Devs, Allen and Ankur dive deep into the world of Developer Relations (DevRel) at Google, discussing its crucial role as a bridge connecting...
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Episode 236 - AI, Agents, and Sphere Magic Live from Cloud Next 2025
Join Allen Firstenberg and Alice Keeler, the Two Voice Devs, live from Day 1 of Google Cloud Next 2025 in Las Vegas! In this episode, recorded amidst the energy of the show floor, Allen and Alice dive into the major announcements and highlights impacting developers, especially those interested in...
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Episode 235 - A Developer's Dive into MCP
Following up on our recent conversation about the Model Context Protocol (MCP), Mark and Allen take a step deeper from a developer's perspective. While still in the shallow end, they explore the TypeScript SDK, the MCP Inspector tool, and the Smithery.ai registry to understand how developers…
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Episode 234 - Decoding MCP: Revolution or Confusion?
Join Allen Firstenberg and Michal Stanislawek on Two Voice Devs as they dive deep into the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a proposition by Anthropic that's gaining traction in the AI landscape. What exactly is MCP, and is it the key to seamless integration of external services with large language...
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Episode 233 - Generative UI & Fine-Tuning: Turning Magic into Tech
Following up on last week's captivating discussion, Allen Firstenberg and Noble Ackerson dive deeper into the world of Generative UI. Explore real-world examples of its potential pitfalls and discover how Noble is tackling these challenges through innovative approaches. This episode unveils the...
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Episode 232 - Generative UI: The Future of Dynamic User Interfaces?
Allen and Noble dive deep into the fascinating world of Generative UI, a concept that goes beyond simply using AI to design interfaces and explores the possibility of UIs dynamically generated in real-time by AI LLMs, tailored to individual user needs and context. Noble, a returning Google...
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Episode 231 - DeepSeek AI: Beating the Odds with Older Tech
DeepSeek AI is turning heads, achieving incredible results with older hardware and clever techniques! Join Allen and Roya as they unravel the secrets behind DeepSeek's success, from their unique attention mechanisms to their cost-effective AI training strategies. But is all as it seems? They also...
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Episode 230 - Is AI Making Alexa Development Fun Again?
Amazon has announced Alexa Plus, powered by large language models (LLMs), and developers are buzzing with anticipation (and a healthy dose of skepticism!). Join Mark Tucker and Allen Firstenberg, your Two Voice Devs, as they dissect the news, explore the potential of the AI-native SDKs, and…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Mark and Allen talk about the latest news in the VoiceFirst world from a developer point of view.
HOSTED BY
Mark and Allen
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Two Voice Devs have?
Two Voice Devs currently has 280 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Two Voice Devs about?
Mark and Allen talk about the latest news in the VoiceFirst world from a developer point of view.
How often does Two Voice Devs release new episodes?
Two Voice Devs publishes regularly with 280 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Two Voice Devs?
You can listen to Two Voice Devs on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Two Voice Devs?
Two Voice Devs is created and hosted by Mark and Allen.
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