Ryan is joined by Chris Coyier, founder of CSS Tricks and CodePen, to talk all about what the state of the art of CSS is today, including new features like variables and scroll-driven animations.

We all know that President Trump thinks a lot of himself, but he’s put a $10 billion price on the amount of harm his leaked tax returns allegedly caused him and his sons. Yes, Charles Littlejohn, a former Booz Allen employee, apparently decided to leak the tax returns of about 400,000 wealthy Americans, and gave...

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Load testing is most effective when it closely mirrors real-world usage and when test infrastructure is used efficiently.

We recently launched AI-assisted load test authoring which enables mirroring real-world usage. Today, we are taking another step for the efficient use of test infrastructure. Behind every load test run, there is dedicated infrastructure that needs to be provisioned, managed, and deprovisioned. Low-user or short-lived load test runs lead to inefficient use of test infrastructure. To keep the service cost-effective and ensure judicious use of test infrastructure, we are introducing a minimum usage per test run for load tests in Azure App Testing.

Effective March 1, 2026, load tests in Azure App Testing will incur a minimum Virtual User Hours (VUH) charge per test run. For each test run, the minimum VUH will be:

• 10 Virtual Users (VUs) per engine for the test run duration, or
• 10 VUs per engine for 10 minutes, if the test run duration is less than 10 minutes

If your test run already meets or exceeds this minimum usage, this change doesn’t impact you. Also, this change is only for load tests and does not impact Playwright tests in Azure App Testing.

How It Works?

Let’s make this concrete with a few examples.

Example 1: Low-user, long-duration test

• Configuration: 5 VUs, 1 engine, 3 hours
• Actual usage: 15 VUH = 5 VUs × 3 hours × 1 engine
• Minimum usage: 30 VUH = 10 VUs × 3 hours × 1 engine

You will be charged for 30 VUH, since the actual usage is below the minimum.

Example 2: Low-user, short-duration test

• Configuration: 5 VUs, 1 engine, 5 minutes
• Actual usage: 0.83 VUH = 5 VUs × (5 min / 60)
• Minimum usage: 1.67 VUH = 10 VUs × (10 min / 60) × 1 engine

You will be charged for 1.67 VUH, since the actual usage is below the minimum.

Example 3: High-user, short-duration test exceeding the minimum

• Configuration: 500 VUs, 2 engines, 5 minutes
• Actual usage: 83.34 VUH = 500 VUs × (5 min / 60) x 2 engines
• Minimum usage: 3.33 VUH = 10 VUs × (10 min / 60) × 2 engines

You will be charged for 83.34 VUH, since your usage exceeds the minimum.

What should you do?

Based on usage patterns we’ve observed, some of your test runs may fall below the minimum VUH and could incur a minimum charge. To avoid surprises, we recommend reviewing your test configurations:

• Low-user, high-engine tests? Reduce the engine count.
• Short-duration or low-user tests? Increase the user count or duration for meaningful load testing.
• Tests above minimum usage? No action needed!

A small configuration tweak can often make your tests both more effective and more cost-efficient.

Need Help?

The pricing page and pricing calculator will soon be updated to reflect these changes.

• If you have a support plan and need technical assistance, please create a support request in the Azure portal.
• For questions or feedback, share it with the product team on Developer Community

Happy load testing that is real-world and efficient!

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This week, we discuss Moltbot (née Clawdbot) taking over, Apple’s new AirTags, and finding Enterprise AI ROI. Plus, the tragic demise of the TV dinner.

Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode 557

Runner-up Titles

• The Podcasters’ Choice
• I was biding my time
• I just want to sell something I believe in
• What if you didn’t get chard
• Chard as a Service
• Let’s be cool
• The Human League
• Spinning tapes talking to each other
• Artisanal tape dispensers
• Buying into the Panopticon
• Why should only Facebook know where I am?
• Root access to your life
• The AirTag Family Circus comic
• Jar of Airtags
• Hold my beer open source
• The Value of AI is intuitively obvious
• OK, we’re done. Talk to you guys next week.

Rundown

• Clawdbot Rebrands to Moltbot After Trademark Request From Anthropic - Laravel News
• Clawdbot users are snapping up the Mac Mini — and it’s under $500 at Amazon
• Enterprise AI ROI is still elusive. What IT can do to fix it. It's not "culture."
• Apple Silicon machine learning code may become more easily portable to Nvidia hardware
• Apple introduces new AirTag with expanded range and improved findability
• MFi Program
• Cords, Cyborgs & Cold Cases: Grandpa Dancy’s Operating System for Life
• Anthropic launches interactive Claude apps, including Slack and other workplace tools
• AMD Quietly Funded A Drop-In CUDA Implementation Built On ROCm: It's Now Open-Source

Relevant to your Interests

• On Running a Startup of Claude Code Agents: What You Get For a Billion Tokens a Month
• Hundreds of Millions of Audio Devices Need a Patch to Prevent Wireless Hacking and Tracking
• Guiding the future of Chainguard OS: Announcing the FUD Committee
• Andy Jassy on Healthcare
• Betting on Prediction Markets Is Their Job. They Make Millions.
• How Intel Came Crashing Back to Earth After Its Trump Bump
• Intel Shares Slide as Costs Pile Up in Bid to Meet AI Demand
• Querying and Ingest issues in EU
• The A.I. Start-Up Soap Opera Riveting Silicon Valley

Listener Feedback

• Aaron Delp is hiring for a Technical Marketing Engineer in the EU. ,more in Slack

Conferences

• cfgmgmtcamp 2026, February 2nd to 4th, Ghent, BE.
  • Coté speaking, live SDI recording with Andrew Clay Shafer.
• DevOpsDayLA at SCALE23x, March 6th, Pasadena, CA
  • Use code: DEVOP for 50% off.
• Devnexus 2026, March 4th to 6th, Atlanta, GA.
  • Use this 30% off discount code from your pals at Tanzu: DN26VMWARE30.
  • I was going to moderate this panel, but now I’m not. Also, this one. They’ll be super-cool!
• KubeCon EU, March 23rd to 26th, 2026 - Coté will be there on a media pass.
• VMware User Groups (VMUGs):
  • Amsterdam (March 17-19, 2026) - Coté speaking.
  • Minneapolis (April 7-9, 2026)
  • Toronto (May 12-14, 2026)
  • Dallas (June 9-11, 2026)
  • Orlando (October 20-22, 2026)

SDT News & Community

• Join our Slack community
• Email the show: questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com
• Free stickers: Email your address to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com
• Follow us on social media: Twitter, Threads, Mastodon, LinkedIn, BlueSky
• Watch us on: Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
• Book offer: Use code SDT for $20 off "Digital WTF" by Coté
• Sponsor the show

Recommendations

• Brandon:
  • The Cloudpod
  • Grizzlies Owner Robert Pera Linked to Russia's "Crimes Against Humanity"
• Matt: Oxide & Friends 2026 Predictions - “Deep Blue”
• Coté: CNCF Annual Survey for 2025, I finally read it closely-ish.

Download audio: https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/9b74150b-3553-49dc-8332-f89bbbba9f92/2130f158-0e72-4790-b3c3-1354a51e8de5.mp3

What does it really take to grow a company and grow people at the same time? In this episode, we’re joined by Janel Merritt, Chief Operating Officer of Public Sector Solutions Group (PS2G), to unpack what she calls the modern COO playbook — one rooted in innovation, workforce development, and intentional growth. With more than 20 years of experience in technology and digital transformation, Janel leads national and international expansion across public sector, healthcare, and energy. She shares the real challenges these industries are facing today and the strategies organizations are using to meet the moment.

Download audio: https://anchor.fm/s/44cc6cdc/podcast/play/114570842/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-26%2Ff8466ebe-7345-6a2f-aa17-4968e7d86364.mp3