The Insider News

Creative Bloq[^]:

If you build websites for a living, you'll undoubtedly use the obvious web design tools - Firebug, Browsershots, plus the various font embedding services and page speed analysers. So this article isn't about them. Instead we thought we take a look at the more underrated tools that can help you improve client-side browser development and rigorously test everything that you build.

Paul Robert Lloyd[^]:

Although the design looks remarkably similar, much has changed below the surface. Where each page previously requested at least 14 assets weighing a total of 385kB, now only 9 requests are needed, and with an unprimed cache, these total just over 100kB. I thought it would be interesting to detail the changes I’ve made, and this time, I’ve got graphs!

Wired.com[^]:

Because of the low mass, if iPhones and iPads were substituted for larger, NASA-designed computer systems, NASA could save on development time and money (rocket fuel ain’t cheap, you know). Astronauts also get the benefits of an intuitive, well-designed user interface and more modern technology, versus the computers the astronauts now use, which are generally five to 10 years behind the latest consumer tech.

Windows Phone Central[^]:

It looks like some users who have Gmail on their Windows Phone 8 devices are experiencing syncing issues that eventually cause the email app to crash. The problem seems independent of hardware (so 8X and 920 users are affected) and is tied to Gmail specifically. The problem occurs with the People Hub and linked contacts constantly syncing. Likewise, when people head to their Gmail inbox, it too is stuck on a constant sync and may even crash when one attempts to scroll the message list.

CNET News[^]:

With more than 400 million Firefox users, Mozilla doesn't have a problem with relevance. And with today's disclosure that organization's revenue grew 33 percent to $163.5 million in 2011, the nonprofit organization doesn't have a problem with money. But it does have a problem with mobile.

TechNewsDaily.com[^]:

Far from ruining your eyes, digital screens can actually help people read better, especially those with bad vision. Researchers from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey found that people with moderate vision loss could improve their reading speed when reading on a tablet versus on paper. And a backlit screen, such as the iPad's, provided even more benefit than an E Ink screen, as on the original Kindle.

Hack a Day[^]:

Since he’s got several Raspberry Pi boards on hand Eric Erfanian decided to see what he could pull off using the robust networking tools present in every Linux installation. His four-part series takes you from loading an image on the SD cards to building a mesh network from RPi boards and WiFi dongles. He says that getting the mesh network up and running is easiest if none of the boards are using an Ethernet connection....

Tony Arcieri[^]:

Do you keep up on the latest proceedings of the IACR CRYPTO conference? No? Then chances are whenever you have tried to use a cryptographic library you made some sort of catastrophic mistake which would lead to a complete loss of confidentiality of the data you’re trying to keep secret.

Tools for hacking on HTTP[^]:

Working with HTTP from the command-line is a valuable skill for HTTP architects and API designers to have. The cURL library and curl command give you the ability to design a Request, put it on the pipe, and explore the Response. The downside to the power of curl is how much breadth its options cover. Running curl --help spits out 150 different flags and options. This article demonstrates nine basic, real-world applications of curl.

programming in the twenty-first century[^]:

The biggest change in programming over the last twenty-five years is that today you manipulate a set of useful, flexible data types, and twenty-five years ago you spent a disproportionately high amount of time building those data types yourself.

Pamela Fox[^]:

In our San Francisco chapter of GirlDevelopIt, we have an increasing number of members that are attending our web development classes because they actually want to get a job in our industry. They come from all sorts of backgrounds... but the important thing to note is that many of them do not come from a computer science background. They are learning web development skills and computer science concepts by attending classes like ours, going through online tutorials like Treehouse or Codecademy, taking online courses like Coursera's CS 101, and generally taking the DIY approach to learning. So, they can do all that to learn the skills that they need for the job, but the question remains, can they actually get a job?

The Industry[^]:

We’ve become great at curating our lives for the sake of our audiences on various social media services. We post what benefits our reputations, leaving out the parts that reflect poorly on us. Instagram is filled less with interesting photography and more with pictures that makes the photographer look like they lead an interesting life. Foursquare check-ins seem less weighted towards grocery store visits and gas stations and more towards coffee shops, music venues, and other coolhunting hotspots. Facebook is filled with posts that exhibit the wit and witticism of the poster.

Windows 95 Tips, Tricks, and Tweaks[^]:

Did you know... If you listen to CLOUDS.MID backwards, you will go to sleep and have an amazing dream. In it, one by one, you meet the Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team. Finally, you get to Mr. Gates. you reach out to shake his hand, but instead, he puts something in your palm. He smiles. You wake up...

Matt Cashdollar's Blog[^]:

In real life (off the internet), pretty much everyone I meet seems to be using the Raspberry Pi or other Linux embedded system. The use of an actual microcontroller seems quite rare with people I’ve met. Even Arduino seems less popular in my city than embedded Linux. In a way this makes sense — why would someone buy an Arduino when they can get a Raspberry Pi that does so much more at the same price or less? Linux offers a large amount of software out of the box and allows people to program in simpler scripting languages.

Shawn Wildermuth[^]:

I've heard many say that Sinofsky is responsible for the death of Silverlight and that it's absence on Windows 8 is a shame. I hear a lot of Silverlight enthusiasts (or apologists) that Silverlight, while being a great technology, was killed because DevDiv and Windows couldn't get along. At last year's build, it was big news that Sinofsky actually said the word Silverlight made news. While the idea that Silverlight ran on a Mac certainly caused waves in the Windows team, it's not the reason for it getting pushed to the pile of technologies that are now in 'sustaining engineering' mode.

TechHive[^]:

Windows Phone 8 has been official for two weeks now. Handsets hit the stores just days ago, and we’ve been busying our fingers learning all the ins and outs of Microsoft’s newest mobile OS. There’s a lot to love about Windows Phone 8—slick user experience, bright live tiles, and unique hardware—but it takes some time to get to know new software. And since we’re already elbow-deep in it, we thought we’d bring you a quick cheat sheet on some of the more common questions about Windows Phone 8.

Fox Business[^]

Apple (AAPL) launched the iPhone 5 about seven weeks ago and the sleek smartphone still isn’t easy to find on store shelves.