Is everyone busy trying to prove they add "human value"?

I'm old enough to remember people saying "Look at this cool program I wrote in Java", but after a while people stopped saying "in Java" because we normalized that Java was a good tool to use for many applications. At what point in time will we stop saying "using AI", because AI has become normal?

Did I mention that App Inspector is really cool?

I Tried App Inspector...and You Won't Believe What Happened Next!

App Inspector is LocalStack's built-in observability layer that shows you every AWS API call, IAM permission evaluation, and full request/response payload your app makes locally, before it ever hits…

blog.localstack.cloud

That feeling when AI has taken 4 minutes (and counting) to do a major refactor...

Step Functions users - if you rely on Execution History, you'll love App Inspector (by LocalStack). Not only can you see the data payload for state transitions, but also for every other service invocation across your ENTIRE application! Lambda logs and IAM Policy errors are included!

One thing I learned years ago is when visiting another country on "business", the immigration officer would ask if I'll be "writing code" (work - not allowed) as opposed to "discussing software" (business - allowed). Given I no longer write code (thanks to Claude), is everything I do "business"?

Artificial Intelligence has put me out of a job! My 3-year-old son loves to ask "Why?" questions, all day long... but if I don't give him the answer quickly enough, he exclaims "Let's ask Claude!".

If you're like most people, you probably didn't watch my AWS Community Day presentation live. That's OK, I'll forgive you... but don't make the same mistake twice. Watch the recording!

AWSUG Aotearoa Community Day -- Virtual Edition 2026

A free, 8 hour virtual event bringing together cloud builders from across Aotearoa, Australia, and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Featuring sessions on the latest AWS services, real-world production…

youtu.be

Years ago, people would tell me I write too many comments in my code. This was likely due to my decades of experience as a C programmer, working with code you couldn't understand without comments. But times have changed. My friend Claude loves the detailed way I describe what the code should do!

A big shout-out to the American Welding Society (AWS), that has apparently existed since 1919. How did I not hear about them earlier? Sorry, I won't be signing up for your training courses. www.aws.org/about/

Yet again, Stephen Hawking didn’t show up for the picnic I invited him to. #timetraveljokes

Had a great time chatting about Local Testing with AWS Step Functions on the Serverless Office Hours this week. Thanks to Jas Narula, Scott King,and @edjgeek.bsky.social for the opportunity. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mdv...

AWS Step Functions Local Testing | Serverless Office Hours

YouTube video by AWS Events

youtube.com

And we're on a roll... here's ANOTHER newly-announced AWS feature that LocalStack already supports. Thanks to our partnership with the AWS Step Functions team, you can use the new TestState enhancements with LocalStack! (AI = Already Implemented!) #localstack #awsstepfunctions #ai

LocalStack@localstack.cloud · 9mo ago

The AWS Step Functions team just released new enhancements to the TestState API which LocalStack supports: ✅ Mock Task state results ✅ Skip execution roles in mocking ✅ Test *every* state type ✅ Submit full state machine definitions ✅ Mock context fields 🔗 blog.localstack.cloud/effective-un...

Hmmm... it's a week before re:Invent, and the AWS news feed has been silent for the past 35 minutes... should I be worried? I'd expect a lot more announcements at this time! Oh wait, never mind... another announcement just came in 😉 aws-news.com

The AWS News Feed

Keep track of AWS news and blogs. See what's hot, read summaries, search, set bookmarks and ratings, and categorize articles with tags.

aws-news.com

I sometimes miss reading CoEs, especially on days like today. If you know, you know. 

It's odd to realize that exactly 50 years ago, my mother took me to my first day at school. Happy belated birthday, younger me! Now go and buy shares in a newly-formed startup named Microsoft!

I can confirm it's true - AI is making me lazy and not wanting to think too hard about writing code. I had a moment of panic today when GitHub Copilot stopped auto-completing my code, and I was forced to remember the syntax I needed. Turns out my "free credits" expired. github.com/features/cop...

GitHub Copilot · Your AI pair programmer

GitHub Copilot works alongside you directly in your editor, suggesting whole lines or entire functions for you.

github.com

And given how excited I am about the AWS Toolkit now supporting LocalStack, I wrote a blog post showing how it's done! Enjoy! blog.localstack.cloud/aws-toolkit-...

Developing with LocalStack using the AWS Toolkit for VS Code

The new AWS Toolkit for VS Code integration streamlines your serverless development by connecting directly to LocalStack’s AWS emulator. Seamlessly browse resources, deploy SAM projects, and live…

blog.localstack.cloud

We're so excited to finally get to share some BIG updates! First, AWS Toolkit for VS Code can now connect to LocalStack making it easy to build, debug & test Lambdas directly from your local machine without leaving the comfort of your IDE! Read our tutorial: blog.localstack.cloud/aws-toolkit-...

Developing with LocalStack using the AWS Toolkit for VS Code

The new AWS Toolkit for VS Code integration streamlines your serverless development by connecting directly to LocalStack’s AWS emulator. Seamlessly browse resources, deploy SAM projects, and live…

blog.localstack.cloud

Serverless developers, I'm excited to see this collaboration between LocalStack and the AWS Lambda team. You can now use AWS Toolkit for VSCode with LocalStack, complete with Lambda Debugging, making even easier to develop, debug, and test your applications locally! aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/ac...

Accelerate serverless testing with LocalStack integration in VS Code IDE | Amazon Web Services

AWS is announcing integrated LocalStack support in the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio Code that makes it easier than ever for developers to test and debug serverless applications locally. This…

aws.amazon.com

Without even realizing it, I’ve been using GitHub Copilot in VS Code, and I love it! ❤️ After several years of being frustrated at coding assistants, I’m finally enjoying the experience and getting a productivity boost! I might even pay $10/month for it!

Announcing a free GitHub Copilot for VS Code

Announcing a free plan for GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code.

code.visualstudio.com

CloudFront Functions and Lambda@Edge are incredibly useful. The only downside is the difficulty in developing and testing them, as deployments take considerable time, and AWS provides no local testing capabilities. This has changed with LocalStack.

Hey Step Functions developers - if you need to test your State Machines, and you're sad that Step Functions Local is no longer supported, read my exciting new blog post, then switch to LocalStack instead.

LocalStack@localstack.cloud · last yr.

AWS deprecated Step Functions Local, so LocalStack built a drop-in replacement. 💪🏿 If you’ve used Step Functions Local for testing workflows, mocking services, and avoiding side effects… you probably noticed it’s no longer supported by AWS! blog.localstack.cloud/aws-step-fun...

First world problems... you try to create an Amazon S3 bucket with a unique name that nobody else in the world would use... but then you realize it's already in use, by yourself at a previous company.

When they realize you're faking the whole cloud with LocalStack 😏

Is it just me, or do other people accidentally open the App Store when they really want VSCode? Perhaps it's just me 😑

With the increase in AI-generated videos, at what point should I stop believing what public figures are saying? Or should I ignore everything on social media and only watch news from the BBC? At this point in time, Doctor Who is feeling quite credible!

Does anybody else feel less miserable when they look at my odometer reading? (terrible joke of the day).

I just drove by the theatre where I watched Star Wars as a boy in 1977. For months after that I dreamed of having my own R2D2 Droid. Now I realize the 50th anniversary is just two years away, but I own an iPhone not an Android.

After relocating to New Zealand, there are two important things I miss from Canada. 1) Central heating, 2) Tim Hortons Sausage BELT with Steeped Tea. But what's really sad is that after eating 100s of Sausage BELTs, I don't have a single photo of those delicious sandwiches! Just one of this cup 😑