This podcast and newsletter focus on clear conversations about technology, security, and modern software. Experts share insights on DevOps tips, open source projects, cybersecurity, and Europe's move toward its own cloud services. You will hear about continuous integration, airplane hacking, and new laws that affect the tech industry. Each show explores real problems and fresh solutions in the digital world. By subscribing, you will keep up with the latest trends in software, gain helpful advice from pros, and stay current in a fast-changing environment. We also talk about supply chain security, IoT, and the details of building strong systems. This blend of technical ideas with real-world viewpoints is a great resource if you want to grow your skills, learn about new technology, and connect with others who love all things tech.
The Hidden Cost of Scaling Your Prototype
|
Hi Reader, As someone who has managed IoT devices at scale at Screenly, I wish I knew what I know now when I first started. Learning about Yocto early on would have saved me a lot of pain. That’s what this episode is about."
“This is why I wanted to do an episode on Yocto: to save people the time and agony we wasted trying to solve this ourselves.”
Why this mattersHere’s the common story. You build a prototype on a Raspberry Pi (or similar). It works. Maybe you launch a Kickstarter. You get traction. Suddenly, you’re shipping real devices. And here’s the mistake: you take the prototype and try to scale it as-is. That works for a handful of units. It does not work for thousands. Updating them becomes a nightmare. One bad update and you’re stuck pushing fixes in the middle of the night. Or worse, you have fleet of bricked devices on your hands. Yocto helps you avoid all that. You build a Linux image tailored to your hardware. It’s minimal, locked down, and built for updates. You ship with fewer bugs and fewer regrets. Why nowThe EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is now law. Starting in 2027, connected products sold in Europe must follow strict rules for security and updates. That may sound far off, but it’s not. If you’re designing hardware in 2025, there’s a good chance it will launch after the CRA kicks in. What you build now decides if your product ships on time or not. Yocto makes CRA compliance easier. You get reproducible builds, long-term support, and solid tooling for SBOMs (see my blog post) and OTA updates through multiple tools. Also worth noting: the Linux Foundation now offers a CRA training course. I’ve heard from a few people that it’s solid. Episode summaryIn this episode, I talk with Joshua Watt from Garmin and Ross Burton from Arm. We break down what Yocto is and how to use it in real products.
You'll find the episode embedded below, or on the episode home page. Watch on YouTube Watch on Spotify
Other news
If you have any questions, comments or just want to catch up - just reply to this email. Many thanks, Social: Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn or Mastadon. |
Nerding Out with Viktor
This podcast and newsletter focus on clear conversations about technology, security, and modern software. Experts share insights on DevOps tips, open source projects, cybersecurity, and Europe's move toward its own cloud services. You will hear about continuous integration, airplane hacking, and new laws that affect the tech industry. Each show explores real problems and fresh solutions in the digital world. By subscribing, you will keep up with the latest trends in software, gain helpful advice from pros, and stay current in a fast-changing environment. We also talk about supply chain security, IoT, and the details of building strong systems. This blend of technical ideas with real-world viewpoints is a great resource if you want to grow your skills, learn about new technology, and connect with others who love all things tech.
Hello Reader, In this episode, I'm doing a mega-recap, focused on SBOMs (Software Bills of Materials). Over three podcast episodes, I've been honored to talk to some of the biggest names in the SBOM community about why SBOMs matter, what’s driving interest right now, and how they can help us make software safer and more trustworthy “Software Bill of Materials is the radical notion that we should actually know what’s in our software.” - Allan Friedman of CISA, known as the father of SBOM I...
Hi Reader, When we featured Earthly last week, we never imagined they’d unveil a major pivot just days later. This week we’re diving into the startup world with my good friend Kevin Henrikson, talking about how to build and scale engineering teams. We cover everything from the early days of open‑source at Zimbra, to successful exits, to designing systems that last. Why does this matter? Kevin has founded and sold several companies, including Accompli, later rebranded as Outlook Mobile after...
Hi Reader, The CI/CD landscape is changing. This week we're unpacking this with the founder of Earthly. Why This Matters In my latest episode, I sit down with Vlad A Ionescu, the founder of Earthly. Earthly is changing how teams build and deliver code. They have almost 12,000 stars on GitHub, plus customers like Adobe, Intel, VMWare, and Zapier. That tells me they're onto something big. Why Now There's a major shift happening in CI/CD. Tools like Earthly and Dagger let developers run entire...