From InfoQ · 28 stories
QCon AI New York 2026 Registration Opens for December Conference
Registration has opened for QCon AI New York 2026, a two-day conference scheduled for December 15-16, 2026, in Jersey City, New York. The event targets senior software engineers, architects, and engineering leaders who manage AI systems in production, focusing on practical challenges encountered when deploying AI features.
Scott Jenson Discusses Desktop OS Stagnation, Local-First Software, and Agentic UX
UX designer Scott Jenson discussed the lack of innovation in desktop operating systems, the limitations of mobile and cloud-centric models, and the potential of local-first software and agentic user experiences. He proposed that future operating systems should move beyond current interface design to create more intuitive and privacy-conscious computing environments, especially with the integration of large language models.
Netflix's Commerce Architecture Evolution from DVD to Global Streaming
Netflix's principal engineer Kasia Trapszo detailed the evolution of the company's commerce platform, which was originally designed for a DVD mail business but adapted to support its global streaming expansion in 2016. The platform's transformation involved significant engineering challenges and trade-offs to scale for international payment processing and user sign-ups. This evolution highlights the complexities of scaling legacy systems to meet rapid business growth.
eBPF and AI Integration for APIs Discussed by Isovalent Engineer
Dan Finneran, an engineer at Isovalent (now part of Cisco), discussed the integration of eBPF with AI and APIs, highlighting the increasing use of AI-generated code in production environments. He noted a growing disconnect where developers submit AI-generated code without understanding or being able to support it, creating maintenance challenges.
Extending Reactivity to the Server for Local-First Application Development
A presentation argues that the next significant advancement in web development lies in extending client-side reactivity to the server, moving away from traditional data fetching. This approach, termed "sync engine architecture," enables instant UI updates through optimistic state and background synchronization, improving user experience.
Challenges of Using LLMs for Selection Systems in Procurement Automation
Jendrik Jordening discussed the difficulties of integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into procurement automation for selection tasks, highlighting issues like context window limitations, integration with existing infrastructure, and new security vulnerabilities. The presentation outlined how LLMs, despite their apparent flexibility, introduce complexities in data handling, accuracy measurement, and system reliability compared to traditional deep learning models.
Increased Incident Counts Can Signal Improved Incident Management, Not Declining Reliability
A recent article argues that a rising number of reported incidents often indicates an improvement in an organization's incident management culture, rather than a decline in system reliability. As teams enhance processes and tooling, they become more willing to formally declare incidents, leading to greater visibility into operational issues. This perspective challenges the use of incident volume as a primary performance indicator for system reliability.
Podcast Discusses Early-Stage Startup Engineering Team Challenges and Career Choices
A podcast featuring David Gudeman discussed the unique culture of early-stage startup engineering, highlighting how founder personalities and premature process implementation can negatively impact teams. The discussion also covered how engineers can build influence and make deliberate career choices within this environment.
CHERI: A Capability-Hardware Enhanced RISC Instruction Set Architecture for Memory Safety
CHERI is a hardware-based approach to memory safety and fine-grained compartmentalization, not a standalone ISA but an extension to existing ISAs like ARM's Morello and RISC-V's RVY. This technology addresses the challenge of secure communication between isolated workloads, which traditional MMU-based isolation struggles with. CHERI matters because it offers a hardware-level solution to memory safety, potentially reducing vulnerabilities in systems from mobile phones to data centers.
KubeCon Speakers Discuss Shifting from Project to Product Thinking for Platform Development
Eugenia Bergman and Hagen Tonnies presented at KubeCon & CloudNativeCon Europe on their shift from project-oriented to product-oriented thinking for platform development, emphasizing user adoption and clear interfaces. This approach aims to reduce coordination overhead and align development with actual user value by treating internal platform capabilities as products with producers and consumers.
JioHotstar Details Distributed Engineering for Personalized Ad Requests at Scale
JioHotstar published an engineering overview of its ad request workflow, explaining how it coordinates distributed services to select and deliver personalized advertisements during video playback. This matters as it details how a large streaming platform handles real-time ad decisions under strict latency and high traffic conditions.
Disaggregated Systems Driven by Cloud Economics and Network Advances
Murat Demirbas, from MongoDB Research and formerly AWS, discussed the rise of disaggregated systems, emphasizing that cloud economics and advancements in high-speed networking are the primary drivers. This architectural shift decouples compute and storage to address their inherent mismatches and optimize costs for cloud providers and users.
DORA 2025 Research Identifies Team Profiles and Capabilities for AI-Assisted Software Development
DORA's 2025 research on AI in software development identifies seven team profiles and seven capabilities that enhance AI adoption outcomes. The research emphasizes that AI acts as an amplifier, with strategic focus on organizational systems yielding the greatest returns.
Johannes Schickling Discusses Transition to Client-Side Event Sourcing and Local-First Development
Johannes Schickling, founder of Prisma, discussed his shift from traditional three-tier web stacks to a local-first approach using client-side event sourcing and SQLite for his music curation app, Overtone. This transition highlights the architectural considerations and trade-offs involved in moving data bottlenecks from servers to clients for improved performance and responsiveness.
Platform Team Improves Compliance Adoption by Simplifying Governance and Prioritizing Developer Experience
A platform team improved compliance adoption by simplifying governance, prioritizing key issues, and rolling out changes incrementally, as detailed by Davide de Paolis. This approach addressed initial developer friction caused by new workflows and poor documentation, leading to successful adoption through prevention, detection, and communication.
DBOS Project Proposes Database-Centric Architecture for Workflow Orchestration
A presentation introduced the DBOS project, an architectural approach that compiles application workflows directly into existing databases. This method aims to simplify the management of distributed system state and improve failure handling, particularly for complex AI-driven processes.
IOP Systems Co-founder Discusses eBPF-based Telemetry and Low-Overhead Metrics
Brian Martin, co-founder of IOP Systems, presented on instrumentation at scale, focusing on the open-source eBPF telemetry agent Rezolus and the low-overhead metrics library metriken. The presentation details how these tools provide fine-grained system visibility for performance-critical applications.
Using stacked pull requests to manage large AI-generated code contributions
This article explains how to use stacked pull requests to manage large code contributions, particularly those generated by AI agents. It addresses the challenge of reviewing extensive, single pull requests that AI agents often produce, which can lead to under-reviewed code and conflict-prone processes.
AI Tools Challenge the Relevance of Traditional LeetCode-Style Coding Interviews
A developer argues that LeetCode-style coding interviews are outdated, especially with the advent of AI tools that can generate code. The author recounts failing a basic coding interview question, highlighting the disconnect between interview practices and real-world development aided by AI.
Jochen Joswig Discusses Sustainable Testing Strategies at OOP Conference
Jochen Joswig presented strategies for sustainable testing at the OOP Conference, focusing on reducing unnecessary test executions and optimizing resource use. These methods aim to decrease testing time and energy consumption by running only essential tests and those affected by code changes.
Using Numba to Optimize Python for Financial Models
A presentation discusses how Numba can accelerate Python code for computationally intensive financial modeling in the life insurance industry. This approach allows organizations to leverage existing Python resources for high-performance tasks, addressing Python's inherent slowness in numerical operations.
Continuous Delivery for Foundational Platforms: Challenges and Approaches
Ian Nowland, co-founder of Junction Labs and former AWS EC2 engineer, presented on the challenges of applying continuous delivery (CD) practices to foundational platforms. The presentation distinguishes between foundational and non-foundational platforms, highlighting why standard CD models are often insufficient for critical infrastructure.
Understanding Progressive Collapse: Applying Civil Engineering Lessons to Digital Systems
A presentation explores the concept of progressive collapse, originating from civil engineering, and applies it as a metaphor to understand and prevent cascading failures in distributed digital systems. The discussion uses the 1968 Ronan Point tower block collapse as a primary example to illustrate the concept.
Uber Eats Migrates Feeds to WebView Architecture
Uber Eats has undertaken a large-scale migration of its feeds from traditional native app screens to a native-driven, single-page WebView architecture. This change addresses challenges with cross-platform development and aims to improve efficiency in UI frontend technology.
Adversary Emulation for GenAI Red Teaming: A Foundational Overview
A presentation introduces the concept of using adversary emulation for red teaming in Generative AI applications. It covers the importance of securing GenAI, compliance motivations, and basic red teaming principles for AI security.
Microservices Platforms: Combining Team Topologies and Microservices Patterns
Chris Richardson presented on microservices platforms, focusing on how team topologies and platform teams can accelerate the delivery of microservices-based applications. The presentation aims to reduce the cognitive load on service teams, enabling faster and better software delivery by applying established patterns.
Clean Architecture for Serverless: Achieving Cloud-Agnostic Business Logic
A presentation explores how to maintain cloud-agnostic business logic in serverless environments using clean architecture principles. It focuses on building blocks like Spring Cloud Function and Gradle modules to prevent vendor lock-in. This approach helps developers manage serverless applications across different cloud providers without rewriting core business logic.
InfoQ releases free eMag on architecture as a socio-technical craft
InfoQ has released a free eMag titled "Architecture as a Socio-Technical Craft," featuring seven articles on evolutionary architecture. The eMag emphasizes that architecture is a living, evolving process, particularly in the context of AI and modern software development.