This week on The Download, Cassidy covers the new semantic search for GitHub Issues and essential updates to GitHub Actions, including a new case function. We also discuss Dependabot Proxy going open source and the rise of OpenClaw, a platform for running AI assistants on your own infrastructure. Plus, we say goodbye to Babel 7.
00:00 Welcome to The Download 00:30 GitHub Issues gets semantic search 01:19 Improvements to GitHub Actions 02:01 Dependabot Proxy is now open source 02:50 OpenClaw AI assistant platform 03:42 The final release of Babel 7 04:10 Outro
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About GitHub It’s where over 180 million developers create, share, and ship the best code possible. It’s a place for anyone, from anywhere, to build anything—it’s where the world builds software. https://github.com
Copilot's 'Auto' model picker in VS Code and Visual Studio currently routes to whatever model is most available and policy-compliant--not the one best matched to your prompt--while Microsoft/GitHub say task-aware routing is planned but not yet shipped.
The Ember project is excited to announce the release of Ember v6.10. This is a standard minor release as part of the standard Ember Release Train process. This release takes a big swing at cleaning up the blueprint for newly generated Ember apps by updating deprecated dependencies and upgrading the use of WarpDrive and Glint 🎉 Keep reading to find out more!
Ember.js 6.10
Ember.js 6.10 does not introduce any new features, but we have added one deprecation related to how the ember-source package will be published going forward.
Deprecating Ember Vendor Bundles
Today, the published ember-source package contains several AMD-specific bundled builds of Ember that are appended to vendor.js in the classic build system. This used to be the main way that people got the Ember framework code into their apps before we started generating new apps with Vite and Embroider in Ember 6.8. Since then, for newly generated apps, the Vite build system would access the ESM sources in the published ember-source package directly.
For anyone who has not yet upgraded their build system to Vite, they will still be getting the old build behaviour where the pre-built AMD bundles will be added to vendor.js. The newly added deprecation will mean that after Ember 7.0 we will no longer publish ember-source with these pre-built AMD bundles and apps that are on the classic build system will start to consume ember-source via ember-auto-import in the same way as any other v2 addon (ember-source has been published as a v2 addon since Ember 6.1). Most apps won't notice any difference once this change happens, and if you want to opt-into the behaviour early (and silence the deprecation) you can enable the new use-ember-modules optional feature which is described in the AMD bundles deprecation guide.
Ember CLI has made a significant improvement to the number of reported package deprecations when installing a new application. There have also been some modernisations added to the default @ember/app-blueprint so that new apps are genrated using the @warp-drive/* packages and default WarpDrive setup (instead of the old ember-data pacakge), and Typescript apps are now generated with Glint 2. We have also stopped installing tracked-built-ins in newly generated ember apps because they are actually built-in now, and we have finally dropped ember-auto-import from the default blueprint.
Note: ember-cli has updated its required Node version to at least v20.19.0 because some of the dependency updates need support for requiring ESM
Package updates
Usually updating dependencies doesn't make it to the highlight reel of a release, but this has been a major effort by Bert De Block who painstakingly went through all the dependencies of ember-cli and updated them all to the latest major and made any necessary changes as part of that upgrade. This ember-cli version also brings in the new major version of broccoli which itself has had a bit of a package cleanup thanks to Katie Gengler. There is an ongoing effort to clean up all the remaining npm package deprecations when generating a new Ember app so watch this space for more updates!
Modern WarpDrive Packages
In case you didn't know, ember-data is in the process of rebranding itself to WarpDrive. It's mosly the same ember-data that we know and love, but it's starting to feel a lot more modern and fits in a lot better with the increasingly modern-feeling Ember ecosystem. For the past few versions ember-data has already been powered by the new @warp-drive/* packages, but this version is the first time that we drop the old ember-data package and start using WarpDrive packages directly.
Everything you are used to in ember-data should still work because for now the WarpDrive setup is being installed with legacyMode turned on. We haven't yet updated the Ember Guides to start using the more modern WarpDrive features (like schemas) so that will be something we communicate more about in upcoming releases
Glint v2
Glint is the system that Ember uses to allow type-checking of your Glimmer templates. When Glint was first created it did a number of weird and wonderful hacks on top of tsc to get things to work, but this was hard to manage and always a bit brittle. Glint v2 is built on top of the Volar.js Embedded Language Tooling Framework and is specifically designed to work very well with GTS files. In this release we are generating new apps that use the --typescript flag with Glint v2 set up. If you are upgrading you can check out the Glint v2 upgrade guide for more information.
tracked-built-ins actually built-in
tracked-built-ins is a very useful addon with a collection of utilities like TrackedObject, TrackedArray, TrackedMap, etc. that we have been installing by default in new Ember apps since Ember v5.2. These utilities have been available in ember-source directly since v6.8 so in this release we have removed tracked-built-ins from the default addons in new applications.
ember-auto-import removed
Since we moved to using the Vite build system by default in v6.8ember-auto-import has been completely inactive in new applications, but we weren't able to remove it from dependencies because of a bug. This may seem like a small thing to highlight in the release, but it has a decently large impact because even though we weren't actively using webpack for anything in the new build system, ember-auto-import was pulling in webpack as a peer dependency. So this change will stop you either installing unnecessary packages, remove missing peer warnings, or stop it being an error (depending on your package manager's approach to peers).
Thank You!
As a community-driven open-source project with an ambitious scope, each of these releases serves as a reminder that the Ember project would not have been possible without your continued support. We are extremely grateful to our contributors for their efforts.
In this episode, Andy talks with Steve Jaffe, author of The Layoff Journey: From Dismissal to Discovery. Steve has been laid off four times over the course of his career, and those experiences shaped a thoughtful, practical framework for navigating the emotional and professional aftermath of job loss.
Andy and Steve explore why layoffs feel so personal even when we are told they are not, how identity often gets tangled up with job titles, and why the emotional response to a layoff closely mirrors the stages of grief. Steve explains why those stages are not linear, what denial, pain, and negotiation really look like in practice, and why trying to rush straight to acceptance can backfire.
You will also hear practical advice for leaders who must conduct layoffs, as well as guidance for professionals who worry they might be laid off in the future. From preserving dignity in difficult conversations to preparing financially, emotionally, and professionally before uncertainty hits, this discussion offers insight for both sides of the table.
If you are navigating uncertainty, supporting others through change, or simply want to be better prepared for whatever comes next, this episode is for you!
Sound Bites
"I wanted to give people a roadmap to process their layoff and the grief of their layoff in months rather than years."
"One of the things that makes losing a job difficult is we tie our identity up in what we do."
"And then in that period, before you've landed your next job, you're in this messy middle of Who am I?"
"Define yourself not by what you do, but by who you are and what you bring to the table."
"I've seen people be named Employee of the Year in January, and by June they're getting laid off."
"Layoffs don't measure your worth. They measure a company's priorities."
"The stages of grief are not linear. You can feel all of them in one day."
"Your job title is not who you are."
"Acceptance can become a way to skip discomfort instead of dealing with loss."
"If you don't process the grief, it shows up later as baggage."
"Dignity matters in the first minutes of a layoff conversation."
"You want to build your network before you need it."
"The person you were before a layoff will not be the same person after."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:45 Start of Interview
02:00 From First Layoff to Fourth: Taking It Personally
02:50 How the Layoff Process Has Changed Over Time
06:52 The Messy Middle Between Job Loss and What's Next
10:40 Why the Stages of Grief Apply to Layoffs
14:07 What Denial Looked Like in Steve's Experience
17:19 Balancing Emotional Honesty and Professional Reputation
22:08 The Quote That Opens the Book
23:00 Can You Jump to Acceptance Too Quickly?
24:58 When Past Layoffs Create Baggage at the Next Job
26:42 Advice for Leaders Who Have to Do Layoffs
28:55 Handling Performance-Based Separations with Integrity
30:40 How to Prepare Now If You Worry About Being Laid Off
Episode 163. A short three-minute video Andy put together about what to do before losing your job.
Episode 310 with Jeff Gothelf, about how to let your next job find you.
Episode 230 with Scott Belsky. Not specifically about layoffs, but full of insights on careers, growth, and the hiring process.
Level Up Your AI Skills
In the outtakes, Andy and Steve talk about how AI is changing the workplace. If you want to be better prepared for an AI-infused future, check out our AI Made Simple course.
If you or someone you know is thinking about getting PMP certified, we've put together a helpful guide called The 5 Best Resources to Help You Pass the PMP Exam on Your First Try. We've helped thousands of people earn their certification, and we'd love to help you too.
I know you want to be a more confident leader. That's why you listen to this podcast. LEAD52 is a global community of people like you who are committed to transforming their ability to lead and deliver. It's 52 weeks of leadership learning, delivered right to your inbox, taking less than five minutes a week. And it's all for free.
Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!
Talent Triangle: Business Acumen
Topics: Leadership, Layoffs, Career Transitions, Organizational Change, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Identity at Work, Grief, Workforce Planning, Change Management, Professional Development
Maddy, Fowler, Damian, and the rest of the Aspire team have been busy building Aspire, but we wanted to get some AspiriFridays time in just because. Who knows what today will bring?!
AI is moving fast—and so are the risks. That’s exactly why our latest Compliance Meets AI session, “What’s New – Insider Risk Management for Copilot,” focused on how organizations can confidently secure data in an increasingly agent-driven world.
In this session, Kevin Uy walked through what’s new (and what’s next) in Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management, with a strong spotlight on Copilot, AI agents, and Security Copilot integration. From real-world risk scenarios to live demos, this was a practical deep dive into protecting your organization while still empowering innovation.
If you missed the session we have you covered! You can find the recording below.
Insider Risk for Copilot & Agents – How Microsoft now monitors both humans and AI agents with purpose-built policies.
Risky Agents (Preview) – New capabilities that provide visibility and governance for agents built in Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry.
Security Copilot Triage Agents – A powerful look at AI helping security teams prioritize what truly matters by summarizing and contextualizing Insider Risk and DLP alerts.
DSPM for AI – How organizations can gain insight into risky AI usage, prompts, and responses—inside and outside the Microsoft ecosystem.
💡 One of the biggest takeaways? AI security no longer stops at users. Agents operate at machine speed, and organizations need the same level of governance, risk scoring, and investigation capabilities to keep pace.
If you’re responsible for security, compliance, data protection, or AI governance, this session is packed with insights you can apply right away.
All past recordings Can be found here Jay Cotton - YouTube and dont forget to register for our session over the next three weeks here
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