Barstow Harvey House Archives

Beyond the Hype: How AI is reshaping the future of professional web development

12 May , 2025 No Comments Image Post

I recently pushed myself out of my normal comfort zone and volunteered to a talk at the newly re-launched Bristol WordPress People meet-up. This group has a special affinity for me as I used to attend their meet-ups before the pandemic and it’s actually how I discovered Atomic Smash, the company I currently work for.

I’d decided to do my talk on AI and how it’s changing web development as this is an area I’ve been experimenting in at work to find ways to be more efficient and increase my personal productivity. After some last minute tweaks to my presentation on a family holiday to Portugal I was as ready to give my talk.

Prior to this meet-up there had been a few at a local pub in Bristol that attracted some attendees but the numbers were much lower than the pre-pandemic meet-ups so I was expecting a small room of maybe 10-15 people, so I was surprised to see the numbers had grown to 50 people when I checked the MeetUp app which didn’t help my nerves. On the actual evening we had somewhere between 35-40 people actually turn up!

After introductions I began my talk and immediately noticed the tell-tale sign of a migraine coming on with the flashing aurora starting to block parts of my vision, I’ve suffered from these since I was 18 and get them a couple of times every year but I felt the timing of this one was particularly frustrating. I powered through despite being barely able to see my notes on the laptop screen and although there were technical issues, lots of ums and pauses, and a live demonstration of an AI tool that didn’t go as planned, I made it to the end and spent an equal amount of time answering the many questions people had about the tools I use, AI in general, and the future of web development.

For those that weren’t able to attend but are interested in the subject, I’ve made my slides, notes, and a video of the event available:

Click here to view the slides full screen or click here to view my notes.

The video was recorded on my phone last minute as we hadn’t planned to video anything so the quality isn’t professional but I’ve edited it down to a watchable length and enhanced the audio (using an AI tool called ):

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Switching PHP versions automatically with Laravel Valet

01 Dec , 2021 No Comments Image Post

Note: This article was originally published by me on SiteRig’s blog on 29th August 2021.

I recently made a contribution to Laravel Valet which adds the ability to specify the PHP version via a .valetphprc file in the project root to make it easier working with the different versions of PHP that some projects may use.

Just make sure you’re using Laravel Valet v2.16.0 or higher on macOS and then add this simple script in your ~/.zshrc file:

autoload -U add-zsh-hook
load-valetphprc() {
  [[ -a .valetphprc ]] || return
  local php_version=$(php -r "echo PHP_MAJOR_VERSION . '.' . PHP_MINOR_VERSION;")
  local valetphprc_path=".valetphprc"

  if [ -f "$valetphprc_path" ]; then
    local valetphprc_version="$(cat "${valetphprc_path}")"

    if [ "php@$php_version" != "$valetphprc_version" ]; then
      valet use
    fi
  fi
}
add-zsh-hook chpwd load-valetphprc

Now when you cd into your project directory, if a .valetphprc file with a valid version of PHP is found (e.g. php@7.4) the valet use command will be run automatically giving you one less thing to think about when working across multiple projects.

Sailing to the Isles of Scilly

20 Sep , 2018 No Comments Video Post

It’s me! Matt Stone. It’s the summer and after a bumper year of vacations in 2017 (see video links below) we decided in 2018 to focus on paying off debts and saving for buying our first house, however when my parents invited us to go sailing during one of the nicest and sustained heatwaves we’ve ever had in the UK, I managed to convince Dianne we should go (she doesn’t enjoy being on boats!).

We sailed from the Helford River in Cornwall across the Celtic Sea to the Isles of Scilly, the most westerly point in England. We had 3 nights anchored in St Marys and Tresco and enjoyed exploring both of these beautiful islands that look less like England and more like the Caribbean.

Vacations from 2017:
London to Paris & CitizenM Room Review – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhnEhQoUi9s
Disneyland Resort Paris – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ipwIsC1gR4
Disneyland Anaheim in California – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY1DTQZ25vA
California Route 66 Road Trip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girtVmd_dow
The City of Los Angeles – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozZPIJAgyMI

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel and also follow me on social media for more interesting content:
https://www.twitter.com/MeMattStone
https://www.instagram.com/MeMattStone

The locations were:

The English Channel – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel
Porthcressa, St. Marys and Tresco in the Isles of Scilly – https://www.visitislesofscilly.com/islands

The first track is Alive by Dyalla.

Download her music and follow her here:
http://dyalla.com/home/
https://soundcloud.com/dyallas
https://dyalla.bandcamp.com
http://youtube.com/dyalla
https://www.patreon.com/dyalla
https://www.facebook.com/dyallas
https://www.instagram.com/dyallas/

The second track is Movin’ by Joakim Karud ft. Blue Wednesday

Download his music and follow him here:
https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
https://joakimkarud.bandcamp.com
https://twitter.com/JoakimKarud
https://www.patreon.com/joakimkarud
https://www.facebook.com/joakimkarudmusic/
https://www.youtube.com/user/JoakimKarud

The third track is Midnight by David Cutter

Download his music and follow him here:
http://www.davidcuttermusic.co.uk
https://www.soundcloud.com/dcuttermusic
https://www.twitter.com/dcuttermusic
https://www.facebook.com/dcuttermusic
https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidCutterMusic
https://www.patreon.com/dcuttermusic

Filmed with a Canon G1x Mk II/Gorillapod Hybrid.

The City of Los Angeles

03 May , 2018 No Comments Video Post

It’s me! Matt Stone. It was our last full day in Los Angeles and we decided to see some local sights. We travelled to Griffith Park to hike up the hill to the world famous Griffith Observatory made famous by Hollywood movies and containing an amazing science museum and of course the observatory. We then went and met our friend James for lunch and ended up at Santa Monica beach and the Pier where my brother Morgan finally got to have a go on his skateboard.

On our trip to Los Angeles where we spent most of our time at Disneyland, Anaheim (video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY1DTQZ25vA), we also did a day trip into the California desert along Route 66 as far as we could drive in half a day (video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girtVmd_dow).

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel and also follow me on social media for more interesting content:
https://www.twitter.com/MeMattStone
https://www.instagram.com/MeMattStone

The locations were:

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA USA – https://www.laparks.org/griffithpark
Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA, USA – http://griffithobservatory.org
Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA, USA – https://santamonicapier.org

The first track is Oh, My Life by Dyalla.

Download his music and follow him here:
http://dyalla.com/home/
https://soundcloud.com/dyallas
https://dyalla.bandcamp.com
http://youtube.com/dyalla
https://www.patreon.com/dyalla
https://www.facebook.com/dyallas
https://www.instagram.com/dyallas/

Filmed with a Canon G1x Mk II/Gorillapod Hybrid.

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