Monday, December 31, 2018

The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-feynman-technique-the-best-way-to-learn-anything
You don't know anything until you can explain it.

Content management for today’s makers

https://twill.io/
Yes, another open-source PHP CMS. This one driven by Laravel

Master Python through building real-world applications (Part 4)

https://towardsdatascience.com/master-python-through-building-real-world-applications-part-4-7a72ae77e741
Intro to web serving with flask.

A “Data Science for Good“ Machine Learning Project Walk-Through in Python: Part One

https://towardsdatascience.com/a-data-science-for-good-machine-learning-project-walk-through-in-python-part-one-1977dd701dbc
Good walk-through of an actual data science project.

Nancy, a 1930s comic strip, was the funniest thing I read in 2018

https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/26/18151274/nancy-olivia-jaimes-best-comic-2018
She's back: Nancy! Really well-done resurrection.

Canonical shares the Top 10 Linux Snaps of 2018 -- Spotify, Slack, Plex, VLC, and more!

https://betanews.com/2018/12/27/canonical-10-snaps-linux-2018/
Containerized apps, aka snaps are taking off at Canonical.

Beware Silicon Valley’s Gifts to Our Schools

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/silicon-valley-school-programs-tech-toys-do-more-harm-than-good/
Does throwing $millions in tablets and laptops really help education? Hint: not-so-much.

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Monday, December 24, 2018

Meet Arsenal, the smart camera assistant.

https://witharsenal.com/
Really cool DSLR add-on to do a bunch more stuff. When will the camera manufacturers incorporate this tech?

5 Dumb Words That May Have Cost Mark Zuckerberg $34 Billion — and How Not to Make the Same Mistake

https://medium.com/inc./5-dumb-words-that-may-have-cost-mark-zuckerberg-34-billion-and-how-not-to-make-the-same-mistake-9acf71e06ed6
Zuc fell victim to recency bias.

Python and Slack: A Natural Match

https://towardsdatascience.com/python-and-slack-a-natural-match-60b136883d4d
Python and Slack integration.

DevOps and Segregation of Duties

https://medium.com/@jeehad.jebeile/devops-and-segregation-of-duties-9c1a1bea022e
One of the basic tenants of InfoSec is Segregation of Duties. How does this work in a DevOps world?

Take Script, add Snow - the appeal of the Hallmark Christmas movies.

https://longreads.com/2018/12/24/take-script-add-snow/
The appeal behind the hallmark Christmas movies.

The bad news on human nature, in 10 findings from psychology

https://aeon.co/ideas/the-bad-news-on-human-nature-in-10-findings-from-psychology
And now the bad news: we're all basically assholes.

Thursday, December 20, 2018

The Spacing Effect: How to Improve Learning and Maximize Retention

https://fs.blog/2018/12/spacing-effect/
Spaced repetition in learning. 

Three drawings I use to explain agile

https://medium.com/swlh/three-drawings-i-use-to-explain-agile-9c0ef15b64b8
Agile in simple graphics.

The Yoda of Silicon Valley Donald Knuth, master of algorithms, reflects on 50 years of his opus-in-progress, “The Art of Computer Programming.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/science/donald-knuth-computers-algorithms-programming.html
The Man, the Myth, the Legend: Don Knuth.

Max2Play is an Operating System

https://www.max2play.com/en/
Raspberry pi audio, like volumio.

Free illustrations to class up your project

https://icons8.com/ouch
Free SVG illustrations.

How to quickly improve website performance

https://medium.com/@lderendorp/how-to-quickly-improve-your-website-performance-98bf3843708
The usual suspects, but PWA manifests are new.

Introducing Flextype Modern Open Source Flat-File Content Management System

http://flextype.org/
Yet another opensource flatfile CMS.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Scikit-Learn: A silver bullet for basic machine learning

https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/scikit-learn-a-silver-bullet-for-basic-machine-learning-13c7d8b248ee
Gentle intro to what scikit-learn is and isn't

How computers got shockingly good at recognizing images

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12/how-computers-got-shockingly-good-at-recognizing-images
The turning point of machine vision: the AlexNet paper in retrospective. 

Writing copy for landing pages

https://stripe.com/atlas/guides/landing-page-copy
I'm not sure I buy all the hype of landing pages, but here's a pretty good guide.

Yep, Bitcoin Was a Bubble. And It Popped.

https://www.bloomberg.com/crypto
The bubble has burst.

Making podcast production super quick and easy

https://alitu.com/
Can you really have a podcast auto-producer?

18 striking findings from 2018

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/12/13/18-striking-findings-from-2018/
The state of the US and some European nations.

8 Reasons Python Sucks

https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/825-8-Reasons-Python-Sucks.html
yeah, pretty much

The best web hosting service for your website in 2019

https://www.techradar.com/best/best-website-hosting-service
Familiar names, new pricepoints. 

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Your Infrastructure as Code CloudFormation Vs Terraform?

https://hackernoon.com/your-infrastructure-as-code-cloudformation-vs-terraform-34ec5fb5f044
We use terraform, but there's cloud formation as well. Pros and cons of each.

The Fine Art of Weekend Puttering

https://medium.com/s/story/the-fine-art-of-weekend-puttering-bab63977b49a
I look forward to doing more of this.

How to Become a Powerful Good Luck Magnet

https://theascent.pub/how-to-become-a-powerful-good-luck-magnet-d8d04dc93fec
Is there such thing as luck? Maybe but there is chance and chance does favor a prepared mind.

The quest for sustainable free/libre non-linear video editors

http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/the-quest-for-sustainable-free-libre-non-linear-video-editors
Survey of the major open source non-linear video editors, their state of development and economic models.

5 Things That Set Apart Expert Freelancers From Beginners

https://medium.com/forbes/5-things-that-set-apart-expert-freelancers-from-beginners-90e425b90031
How to be a more professional freelancer.

10 Top Tips for Recording & Mixing Better-Sounding Podcasts

https://www.waves.com/top-tips-for-recording-mixing-better-sounding-podcasts
Hints for recording and processing voice for podcasts.

Kubernetes on AWS: Setup and Lessons Learned

https://medium.com/@bouwe.ceunen/kubernetes-on-aws-setup-and-lessons-learned-93f8322bc13a
Kubernetes on AWS: some routes are better than others.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

ESET discovers 21 new Linux malware families

https://www.zdnet.com/article/eset-discovers-21-new-linux-malware-families/
Malware that replaces your OpenSSH client or server.

11 Material Design UI Component Libraries for 2019

https://blog.bitsrc.io/11-material-design-ui-component-libraries-for-2018-b3d2c9962a2f
Libraries to add material design to the popular JavaScript frameworks.

The Song Remains The Same: A Story of Unencrypted Data, A 50-year-old Web infrastructure, A Lack of Patching And Certificate Time-outs

https://medium.com/asecuritysite-when-bob-met-alice/the-song-remains-the-same-a-story-of-unencrypted-data-a-50-year-old-web-infrastructure-a-lack-2ff8ceae3891
A post-mortum of the Equifax data breach. Lots of unlearned lessons.

How I found my dream job by contributing to open source projects

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-i-found-my-dream-job-by-contributing-to-open-source-projects-ca98cbe60009
Earn your stripes by contributing to opensource.

How I built an app with Vulcan.js in four days

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-i-built-an-app-with-vulcan-js-in-four-days-6368814077b1
Interesting new mobile development mashup.

Why Playfulness Is the Key to Success in the 21st-Century

https://medium.com/personal-growth/why-playfulness-is-the-key-to-success-in-the-21st-century-201a626fe18
One of the keys to creativity is downtime and letting the subconscious connect the dots.

Harvard Study: Gender Wage Gap Explained Entirely by Work Choices of Men and Women

https://fee.org/articles/harvard-study-gender-pay-gap-explained-entirely-by-work-choices-of-men-and-women/
And the pay gap is caused by.... individual choices!

A practical guide to testing the security of Amazon Web Services (Part 1: AWS S3)

https://blog.mindedsecurity.com/2018/09/a-practical-guide-to-testing-security.html
AWS S3 security

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Textpattern: The small content management system that can handle big ideas

https://textpattern.com/
Yet another open-source PHP CMS, actually has about a thousand plugins and extensions.

Generate Random Alphanumeric Strings in PHP

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/generate-random-alphanumeric-strings-in-php--cms-32132
Some of the simpler ways to generate pseudo-random strings in PHP

Pipenv: Python Dev Workflow for Humans

https://pipenv.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
A hopefully better way to install and manage packages in Python.

Building Mobile Apps With Capacitor And Vue.js

https://medium.com/@smashingmag/building-mobile-apps-with-capacitor-and-vue-js-944b22ec4780
Developing a mobile page, progressive app, in Vue.

I created the exact same app in React and Vue. Here are the differences.

https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/i-created-the-exact-same-app-in-react-and-vue-here-are-the-differences-e9a1ae8077fd
Informative side-by-side development of the same page in both react and vue.

The united states of wonder

https://vannizhang.github.io/wonder/
very slick visualization of what's google's top autocomplete in each state.

Saturday, December 1, 2018

6 Open Source SIEM Tools

https://logz.io/blog/open-source-siem-tools/
opensource security tools

Visualizing the Meaning of Life: The Drip Coffee Model

https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/visualizing-the-meaning-of-life-the-drip-coffee-model-87a37e3d4040
It's what you put in

Block-Element-Modifier

https://en.bem.info/methodology/quick-start/
Block-Element-Modifier web design

high fidelity music streaming

https://tidal.com/us
hi fidelity music streaming

Discover and share podcasting setups

https://setup.fm/
Recommended podcasting setups by price range.

Exclusive: Airbnb will start designing houses in 2019

https://www.fastcompany.com/90271599/exclusive-airbnb-will-start-designing-houses-in-2019
I've long argued that affordable housing is critical to economic well-being

Thursday, November 22, 2018

To Find a Better Solution, Ask a Better Question

https://medium.com/s/story/to-find-a-better-solution-ask-a-better-question-3be7fee5af65
Re-frame the question.

Next Radio Conference 2018: 5 takeaways

https://medium.com/@teodora_agarici/next-radio-2018-5-key-takeaways-9ec8cb200fd6
Tell good stories well and have fun.

Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running Out of Excuses

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/psychologys-replication-crisis-real/576223/
Only half of psychology studies are repeatable.

If You’re Online, You’re Getting Scammed

https://medium.com/s/thenewnew/if-youre-online-you-re-getting-scammed-7cd91350722d
The latest scams going around the internet.

How Font Awesome became the most funded software project on Kickstarter — and what we can learn from it

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-font-awesome-became-the-most-funded-software-project-on-kickstarter-9042897369c6
A breakdown of the wildly successful fontawesome kickstarter.

Expression Engine CMS

https://expressionengine.com/
One of the also-rans in the CMS world, Expression Engine goes open source for some reason.

Welcome to RadioKitGuide.com

http://fofio.blogspot.com/2015/07/radio-kit-guide.html
Compendium of ham radio kits

Saturday, November 17, 2018

deepin 15.8 Linux distribution available for download -- replace Windows 10 now!

https://betanews.com/2018/11/15/deepin-15-8-linux-distribution-available-for-download-replace-windows-10-now/
Marla hates Win 10. Might have to give this a shot.

Love this image

https://i.imgur.com/IzPxFqp.jpg

Amateur Don Machholz Discovers His 12th Comet!

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/machholz-12th-comet/
One of the true heros of citizen science discovers his 12th comet!

Introducing Chartify: Easier chart creation in Python for data scientists

https://labs.spotify.com/2018/11/15/introducing-chartify-easier-chart-creation-in-python-for-data-scientists/
Chartify from Spotify. New visualizaiton package.

Modern cryptography in PHP 7.2 with Sodium

https://blog.zend.com/2018/11/06/modern-cryptography-in-php-7-2-with-sodium/#.W-95zIFKizy
Yes, PHP really does have the BEST crypto of any popular language.

Friday, November 16, 2018

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

https://jamesclear.com/
Blog about habits, decisions, etc.

How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-the-ballpoint-pen-killed-cursive-1025018394
Argues that the ballpoint, not the computer killed cursive. 

My Current Setup in 2018

https://christoph-rumpel.com/2018/10/my-current-setup-in-2018
One Mac user's setup.

The Wonderful World of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

https://medium.com/coinmonks/the-wonderful-world-of-elliptic-curve-cryptography-b7784acdef50
Technical article, but still feel it could be done better. 

A Deep Dive into the Shark Tank: An Analysis of 9 Seasons of Shark Tank

https://simpletexting.com/shark-tank-contestants-stats/
Not as detailed as I'd like, but some overall trends do emerge.

How to Use The Law of Homogeneous Sequences to Drastically Increase The Return on Your Time

https://medium.com/kaizen-habits/how-to-use-the-law-of-homogeneous-sequences-to-drastically-increase-the-return-on-your-time-85c995c51dbd
Hint: no interruptions.

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Reconnaissance

https://medium.com/@IanBarwise/open-source-intelligence-osint-reconnaissance-75edd7f7dada
Open source snooping on folks and businesses.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

The Wonderful World of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

https://medium.com/coinmonks/the-wonderful-world-of-elliptic-curve-cryptography-b7784acdef50
intro to elliptic curve crypto

Google Launches New Tool That Grades A Site’s SEO Implementation

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-launches-new-tool-that-grades-a-sites-seo-implementation/278473/amp/
New SEO tool from Google.

Measure Review performance and get detailed guidance on how to improve it.

https://web.dev/measure
New SEO tool from Google.

Don’t look for the right answer. Try this instead.

https://medium.com/the-mission/dont-look-for-the-right-answer-try-this-instead-b7a13c98ea94
Something I've advocated for a while: find the right question, not answer.

QUIC, a multiplexed stream transport over UDP

https://www.chromium.org/quic
Pretty radical networking stuff, here.

In Conversation: Alex Trebek The Jeopardy! icon on retirement, his legacy, and why knowledge matters.

https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/alex-trebek-jeopardy-in-conversation.html
Here's to you, Trebek!

quillette - center of the intellectual dark web

https://quillette.com/
intelligent people that aren't bullied into political correctness.

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Docker for PHP Developers

https://leanpub.com/docker-for-php-developers
Docker for PHP developers. Kinda pricy.

What is reCAPTCHA? Easy to add, advanced security

https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/
Recaptcha V3 is officially out.

YetiForce is the best opensource CRM system

https://yetiforce.com/en/
Wouldn't be hard to beat the others out there.

SEO Case Study: How I Increased My Organic Traffic 652% in 7 Days

https://backlinko.com/skyscraper-technique-2-0
more great SEO info from backlinko: mostly about user intent.

Microservice Architecture at Medium

https://medium.engineering/microservice-architecture-at-medium-9c33805eb74f
Some hints and kinks on redeveloping in microservices

Six science-backed techniques to help you make hard decisions

https://medium.com/swlh/six-science-backed-techniques-to-help-you-make-hard-decisions-fde6e234c887
If they are science-based, need more citations.

The Manufacturing Mistakes You Don’t Have to Learn the Hard Way

https://medium.com/kickstarter/the-manufacturing-mistakes-you-dont-have-to-learn-the-hard-way-fefe5db296c3
How to get stuff manufactured.

The 100 Greatest Foreign Language Films

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20181029-the-100-greatest-foreign-language-films
At least they got #1 right!

Monday, October 29, 2018

Random Forest — Mystery Revealed

https://towardsdatascience.com/random-forest-mystery-revealed-69ca18b82ff5
The ins and outs of the Random Forest. Bears? Tigers? Lions?

A Simple Proposal to Help Fix Corporate America’s Cybersecurity Problem

https://medium.com/the-new-york-times/a-simple-proposal-to-help-fix-corporate-americas-cybersecurity-problem-f6f4c62ef963
Pretty well buried in the article, but good advice nonetheless.

Paper Airplane Designs A database of paper airplanes with easy to follow folding instructions.

https://www.foldnfly.com/index.html
If you want to amuse yourself or your kids.

An anonymous 4chan post could help solve a 25-year-old math mystery

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/24/18019464/4chan-anon-anime-haruhi-math-mystery
This has it all: anime, 4chan, anonymous poster, math, you name it.

The D in Systemd stands for 'Dammmmit!' A nasty DHCPv6 packet can pwn a vulnerable Linux box

https://www.theregister.co.uk/AMP/2018/10/26/systemd_dhcpv6_rce/
More fodder for those of us who aren't big systemd fans.

Create compelling Documentation with Github Pages

https://medium.com/@thomas.reinecke/create-compelling-documentation-with-github-pages-16e4149efe9e
Kinda crazy, but a Vue.js front-end for GitHub documentation pages. 

Friday, October 26, 2018

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

SeekTable online pivot tables, pivot charts and datagrid reports

https://www.seektable.com/
Interesting online table and chart tool.

Programming is Taught in Exactly the Wrong Way

https://medium.com/@dawsoneliasen/programming-is-taught-in-exactly-the-wrong-way-7c88181daa96
Interesting plea to teach OOP top-down, but precious short on actual pedagogy.

‘Logit’ of Logistic Regression; Understanding the Fundamentals

https://towardsdatascience.com/logit-of-logistic-regression-understanding-the-fundamentals-f384152a33d1
Pretty math-heavy article about logistic regression.

Stop Overlooking These Essential Skills

https://medium.com/@JohnMashni/stop-overlooking-these-essential-skills-b39714033602
Simple, basic lessons we all need.

Using Unsupervised Learning to plan a vacation to Paris: Geo-location clustering

https://towardsdatascience.com/using-unsupervised-learning-to-plan-a-paris-vacation-geo-location-clustering-d0337b4210de
Interesting (though maybe not totally successful) exercise in geographic clustering.

Secure Email Based in Switzerland

https://protonmail.com/
Interesting alternative to Gmail.

Apache Superset (incubating)

https://superset.incubator.apache.org/index.html
New visualization tool from Apache. Interesting one-table limitation.

Google Academy for Ads

https://academy.exceedlms.com/student/catalog
Google's latest training partner. Hopefully this goes better.

7 Counterintuitive Rules for Growing Your Business Super-Fast

https://medium.com/s/story/7-counterintuitive-rules-for-growing-your-business-super-fast-9dcdc2bfc649
Some interesting ideas here, though I dislike the term "blitzscaling"

Why every Data Scientist should use Dask?

https://towardsdatascience.com/why-every-data-scientist-should-use-dask-81b2b850e15b
Does Dask fill some of the same space as Databricks?

Basic Time Series Manipulation with Pandas

https://towardsdatascience.com/basic-time-series-manipulation-with-pandas-4432afee64ea
Time series with Pandas in Python

Learning How to be Original

https://medium.com/swlh/originals-how-non-conformists-move-the-world-adam-grant-4b3baa55780
You're more creative than you think: just get stuff out there.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

How I’ve Attracted The First 500 Paid Users For My SaaS That Costs $5/mo

https://blog.inkdrop.info/how-ive-attracted-the-first-500-paid-users-for-my-saas-that-costs-5-mo-7a5b94b8e820
How to bootstrap your SaaS startup.

Reusable Vue / Vuetify components

https://medium.com/@nickp34/reusable-vue-vuetify-components-79c4d2f8b130
A new way to reuse vue components.

Secure your web application with these HTTP headers

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/secure-your-web-application-with-these-http-headers-fd66e0367628
Security headers, some old, some new.

Jupyter Magics with SQL

https://towardsdatascience.com/jupyter-magics-with-sql-921370099589
Cool intro to using SQL magics in Jupyter notebook. 

A Big Tech Company Is Working to Free the Internet from Big Tech Companies

https://medium.com/mit-technology-review/a-big-tech-company-is-working-to-free-the-internet-from-big-tech-companies-df2d8aceee47
We'll see if the Interplanetary File System gets critical mass.

2018 State of Progressive Web Apps

https://medium.com/progressive-web-apps/2018-state-of-progressive-web-apps-f7517d43ba70
Between app and web page, progressive web apps are the way to go, imho.

Take Control 2018 Survey Results

https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/blog/take-control-2018-survey-results
Survey results on what kind of technical books Mac users want.

Unit testing your API in Laravel

https://medium.com/@mscherrenberg/unit-testing-your-api-in-laravel-5-6-7172bcdc593d
Unit testing an API in laravel. I need this.

Open Source Audio PROJECTS

http://www.electronics-lab.com/projectcategory/projects/audio/
kinda uneven site, but some useful projects here.

The lost art of concentration: being distracted in a digital world

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/oct/14/the-lost-art-of-concentration-being-distracted-in-a-digital-world
tl;dr: what? 

1 Super Rare Sign That Proves You Are Meant to Lead People (But It May Cause a Gag Reflex for Most)

https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/this-rarely-seen-leadership-practice-is-now-linked-to-happier-workplaces-motivated-employees-says-research.html
tl:dr: Be Kind

Top 5 Contemporary Software Engineering Books

https://medium.com/ki-labs-engineering/top-5-contemporary-software-engineering-books-8b5ca6a28e83
I've put a couple of these on my amazon wish list.

Combobox

https://vuetifyjs.com/en/components/combobox
this is the vue.js combo box i want to use on an upcoming project. 

The Ultimate Guide to Making Smart Decisions

https://fs.blog/smart-decisions/
How to make better decisions

Systems Monitoring: top vs Htop vs Glances

http://tech.marksblogg.com/top-htop-glances.html
Opensource python tool claims to give better view than htop

Friday, October 12, 2018

Circular Audio Wave — JS Library for Audio Visualization in Circular Waveform

https://medium.com/@kelvinau4413/circular-audio-wave-js-library-for-audio-visualization-in-circular-waveform-49afe0aa87a
Interesting visualization of audio.

Using Request and Response Macros

https://pineco.de/using-request-and-response-macros/
Using macros in Laravel. I've never done it, but it could be useful.

The 8-dimensional space that must be searched for alien life

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612232/the-8-dimensional-space-that-must-be-searched-for-alien-life/
Has SETI failed, or not quite started?

The high-risk, high-reward world of selling stuff on Amazon

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/09/tech/amazon-sellers-marketplace/index.html
Selling on Amazon? Is Amazon really your partner? 

ECharts

https://ecomfe.github.io/echarts-doc/public/en/index.html
fairly amazing-looking JavaScript charting package from the baidu people.

Dive into PCA (Principal Component Analysis) with Python

https://towardsdatascience.com/dive-into-pca-principal-component-analysis-with-python-43ded13ead21
ML classification with Principal Component Analysis. Moderately deep dive. 

Tcpdump Primer and Tutorial With Examples

https://danielmiessler.com/study/tcpdump/
Very nice TCPdump tutorial.

Monday, October 8, 2018

Sans Forgetica

http://sansforgetica.rmit/
Interesting neuroscience: make a font that's hard to read to you have to concentrate on the material.

SimpleSAMLphp is an award-winning application written in native PHP that deals with authentication.

https://simplesamlphp.org/
A SAML library written in PHP. Doesn't get as much press as OAuth or LDAP.

The 50 Best Anime Series of All Time

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/10/the-50-best-anime-series-of-all-time.html
A few of these I've see, and definitely agree with #1.

Using Spaced Repetition to Supercharge Your Habits

https://betterhumans.coach.me/using-spaced-repetition-to-supercharge-your-habits-9f4f0d31bd3b
Stress and relax to exercise your learning.

How to use APIs with Pandas and store the results in Redshift

https://medium.com/@ericsalesdeandrade/how-to-call-rest-apis-with-pandas-and-store-the-results-in-redshift-2b35f40aa98f
From python notebook to persisting the data in Redshift.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Laravel/Vue.js simple form submission using Vue components.

https://medium.com/@mscherrenberg/laravel-5-6-vue-js-simple-form-submission-using-components-92b6d5fd4434
Intro to making Vue.js and Laravel play nice together.

Yes, I coded a Semaphore and no, I am not an OS developer.

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/yes-i-coded-a-semaphore-and-no-i-am-not-an-os-developer-c721650e1887
Intro to C semaphores.

Cities Held For Ransom — Lessons From Atlanta’s Cyber Extortion

https://medium.com/forbes/cities-held-for-ransom-lessons-from-atlantas-cyber-extortion-59af7ce866e1
Sorta short on details on Atlanta's cyber hijacking.

Create an RSS feed from any website using Apify

https://www.mozzafiller.com/posts/create-an-rss-feed-from-any-website-using-apify
For those few platforms that don't provide an RSS feed, here's a webscraper to create one.

JavaScript Frameworks, Performance Comparison

https://medium.com/@ajmeyghani/javascript-frameworks-performance-comparison-c566d19ab65b
Comparing the performance of modern JS frameworks, some I've never heard of.

Welcome to Solid

https://solid.inrupt.com/
SIr Tim B-L's latest project. I'm still not sure I get it, or what the uptake will be.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

A Google intern built the AI behind these shockingly good fake images

https://www.fastcompany.com/90244767/see-the-shockingly-realistic-images-made-by-googles-new-ai
Cool what you can do with a near-infinite amount of compute power.

Why I chose Vue.js over React

https://medium.com/@luistinygod/why-i-chose-vue-js-over-react-509ad12d7b53
Less learning curve and friction.

Python HOW: Connect to, and Manage a Database

https://medium.com/@DrGabrielA81/python-how-connect-to-and-manage-a-database-68b113a5ca62
Intro to database manipulation via the python odbc library.

Backlinks: The Definitive Guide

https://backlinko.com/backlinks-guide
The best guide for building the highest-value SEO: backlinks.

How to rapidly test dozens of deep learning models in Python

https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-rapidly-test-dozens-of-deep-learning-models-in-python-cb839b518531
Put the creation of neural networks in a for loop and see which is best.

7 Things You Can Do to Reignite Your Creative Spark

https://medium.com/the-mission/7-things-you-can-do-to-reignite-your-creative-spark-70e3a0d4ba59
In short: mix things up.

Note Taking Apps Showdown: Evernote vs. Microsoft OneNote

https://zapier.com/blog/evernote-vs-onenote/
Evernote vs. Onenote. Pros and Cons

Why a Tennis Ball Goes Flying When Bounced on a Basketball

https://www.wired.com/story/why-a-tennis-ball-goes-flying-when-bounced-on-a-basketball
First encountered this in the Flying Circus of Physics. Complete with Python code. 


The New Startup South

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-21/the-textile-town-becoming-the-silicon-valley-of-the-south
Greenville, SC as case study in transforming an economy.

Deep Work: How to Develop the Most Valuable Skill of the 21st Century

https://medium.com/swlh/deep-work-how-to-develop-the-most-valuable-skill-of-the-21st-century-5ab655e13a42
Will deep work be the only kind of work that's not automated soon?

The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106
Excellent journal article about statistical fudging in scientific papers. 

30 Days to a Smarter Brain (How to Rapidly Improve How You Think)

https://medium.com/personal-growth/30-days-to-a-smarter-brain-how-to-rapidly-improve-how-you-think-5a5fca4db3cc
Push, read, write, move, rest.

Monday, October 1, 2018

How Books and Television Affect Your Brain Differently, According to Science

https://medium.com/@melissachu/how-books-and-television-affect-your-brain-differently-according-to-science-34ca8be1493
Yes, books and TV affect us differently. Any guesses as to which one's better?

11 Javascript Data Visualization Libraries for 2018

https://blog.bitsrc.io/11-javascript-charts-and-data-visualization-libraries-for-2018-f01a283a5727
JavaScript visualization libraries. Some of the top contenders from years past, with a few new ones.

Extra Can Never Be Enough

https://artplusmarketing.com/extra-can-never-be-enough-8a2248096c9f
Hints on uncluttering

Bossies 2018: The Best of Open Source Software Awards

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3306843/open-source-tools/bossies-2018-the-best-of-open-source-software-awards.html
Infoworld's annual open source awards. In cloud computing, everything's coming up containers. 

Friday, September 28, 2018

8 Ways to Make Money as a Blogger

https://medium.com/@jyssicaschwartz/8-ways-to-make-money-as-a-blogger-d28447ea2c3a
Not just by selling ads. 

Make a POST Request from PHP With Guzzle

https://dzone.com/articles/make-a-post-request-from-php-with-guzzle
How to post form data or JSON with Guzzle in PHP.

Laravel view models

https://stitcher.io/blog/laravel-view-models
Making MVC even muddier: view models in Laravel

LUYA provides an integrated deployment process that lets you easily publish your projects to different stages and servers.

https://luya.io/
Yet another open-source CMS. Still don't see the distinctives.

Here’s how you can get a 2–6x speed-up on your data pre-processing with Python

https://towardsdatascience.com/heres-how-you-can-get-a-2-6x-speed-up-on-your-data-pre-processing-with-python-847887e63be5
How to parallalize data loading in python.

First principles and asking why

https://medium.com/@jstanier/first-principles-and-asking-why-4f7577ef1ad0
Using five "why"s to get to first principles.

How to Make Time to Make Things

https://medium.com/s/story/understanding-creative-time-4225bb9b5e7b
How to coax serendipity. 

A Gentle Introduction to Maximum Likelihood Estimation

https://towardsdatascience.com/a-gentle-introduction-to-maximum-likelihood-estimation-9fbff27ea12f
Translation: how to find the best parameters for my model. In Python.

Putting a Laravel app into production

https://medium.com/@tobiashn/putting-a-laravel-app-into-production-d847ac2a04ed
Hints on putting Laravel into production from CI to logging.

LinkedIn Top Startups 2018: The 50 most sought-after startups in the U.S.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-top-startups-2018-50-most-sought-after-us-daniel-roth/
Top startups in the current market.

The 4 Pillars of Extraordinary Bliss

https://artplusmarketing.com/the-4-pillars-of-extraordinary-bliss-d14dbf13d235
I would call it more of "fulfillment" than "bliss" but ok.

Top mathematician says he solved the 'single most important open problem' in math after 160 years

https://amp.thisisinsider.com/riemann-hypothesis-solved-by-sir-michael-atiyah-after-160-years-he-says-2018-9
Basically there's an auxillary function that does 99% of the heavy lifting.

Paragon Initiative Enterprises Blog The latest information from the team that develops cryptographically secure PHP software.

https://paragonie.com/blog

The latest information from the team that develops cryptographically secure PHP software.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

30 Amazing Machine Learning Projects for the Past Year (v.2018)

https://blog.makcorps.com/2018/09/30-amazing-machine-learning-projects.html
Some interesting machine learning projects. A few of the "this photo in that painting style" with higher performance.

Queensboro custom embrodiery

https://www.queensboro.com/home
Custom shirt computer-embrodiery company

America's Record Middle-Class Earnings Exposes the 'Imaginary Hobgoblin' of Income Inequality

https://fee.org/articles/americas-record-middle-class-earnings-exposes-the-imaginary-hobgoblin-of-income-inequality/
Data on income inequality. I wish more of the data was corrected for inflation.

Schiit introduce Modi 3 DAC, still $99

https://darko.audio/2018/09/schiit-introduce-modi-3-dac-still-us99/
Review of a Low-price good quality DAC

Vue.js and Firestore

https://medium.com/@smashingmag/hit-the-ground-running-with-vue-js-and-firestore-8b45d6a9fa0b
Interesting backend-as-a-service from the google cloud folk.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Why Cloud Migrations Fail — Part 1

https://medium.com/@anuj_85518/why-cloud-migrations-fail-b0d921888fc7
Reason #1: bad code, especially bad SQL queries.

PHP Encryption Methods for Passwords & Other Sensitive Data

https://deliciousbrains.com/php-encryption-methods/
Not your father's MD5 hash.

The New Generation Open-Source CMS and Website Builder

https://microweber.com/
yet another open-source cms

What Facebook, Amazon, and Google really look like

https://www.fastcompany.com/90237447/what-facebook-amazon-and-google-really-look-like
step 1) traceroute step 2) art step 3) profit?

Inside the infinite imagination of a computer

http://www.dazeddigital.com/science-tech/article/41363/1/james-bridle-new-dark-age-artificial-intelligence
Can machine learning be elucidated by mere mortals?

The Best Python Books

https://realpython.com/best-python-books/
The current cut of what's the best python books.

Drawing is the best way to learn, even if you’re no Leonardo da Vinci

https://qz.com/quartzy/1381916/drawing-is-the-best-way-to-learn-even-if-youre-no-leonardo-da-vinci/
We're not talking art, just drawing to help us make connections.

Study: people tend to cluster into four distinct personality “types”

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/study-people-tend-to-cluster-into-four-distinct-personality-types/
No, not the four humors, but a cluster analysis of the five currently-identified personality traits.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Reflections on Clean Code

https://medium.com/@severinperez/reflections-on-clean-code-8c9b683277ca
Review of a standard programming reference.

Multivolume rendering in Jupyter with ipyvolume: cross-language 3d visualization

https://towardsdatascience.com/multivolume-rendering-in-jupyter-with-ipyvolume-cross-language-3d-visualization-64389047634a
Most all the Python graphing packages are 2D. This one's 3D. 

Unbound, an Easy, Fast and Small DNS Server

http://troubleshooters.com/linux/unbound_nsd/unbound.htm#installation
Interesting alternative to the ubiquitious BIND

Light, fast & easy Bootstrap ready CMS.

https://batflat.org/
Yet another flat-file CMS.

The Best Web Hosting Services for Small Businesses

https://medium.com/inc./the-best-web-hosting-services-for-small-businesses-94c454118109
GoDaddy's back on the list?!?

Approaches to Securing Decentralised Microservices

https://medium.com/@ivan.niccolai/securing-decentralised-microservices-43044df88bca
Never was a fan of the SOA.

When to add an interface to a class

https://matthiasnoback.nl/2018/08/when-to-add-an-interface-to-a-class/
A lot of people (myself included) are fuzzy on this concept. Good SOLID article. 

Sunday, September 16, 2018

A Tour of The Top 10 Algorithms for Machine Learning Newbies

https://blog.makcorps.com/2018/09/a-tour-of-top-10-algorithms-for-machine.html
I swear, it looks like a mommy-blogger post!

What to do with your Baofeng Radio

http://www.avgguytech.com/what-to-do-with-your-baofeng-radio/
Intro to a basic handy-talkie

PHP Test Driven Development Part 4: Enter The Mock

https://medium.com/@sameernyaupane/php-test-driven-development-part-4-enter-the-mock-106b4fdedd00
How to Mock via Mockery

A comparison between Angular and React and their core languages

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/a-comparison-between-angular-and-react-and-their-core-languages-9de52f485a76
Comparison of Angular and React, or JavaScript and Typescript.

How To Learn Data Science If You’re Broke

https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-learn-data-science-if-youre-broke-7ecc408b53c7
My oldest son did something like this and is now employed in the field.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Essential Cheat Sheets for Machine Learning and Deep Learning Engineers

https://startupsventurecapital.com/essential-cheat-sheets-for-machine-learning-and-deep-learning-researchers-efb6a8ebd2e5
VERY dense listing of ML cheatsheets for Python.

9 Things You Should Know About TensorFlow

https://hackernoon.com/9-things-you-should-know-about-tensorflow-9cf0a05e4995
TensorFlow's come a long ways. Lots more usable now.

The 10 Best Note Taking Apps in 2018

https://zapier.com/blog/best-note-taking-apps/
Some of the best note-taking apps: mobile and desktop.

A primer on the noble craft of refactoring

https://medium.com/@tygertec/a-primer-on-the-noble-craft-of-refactoring-1f1aede84509
Done my fair share of this. Good intro.

Python: How to build a Convolutional Network Classifier: Nike vs Adidas Shoes

https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-build-a-convolutional-network-classifier-81eef880715e
First guess is that the classifier's looking for the Adidas stripes, but we may never know.

Controlling the Web with Python

https://towardsdatascience.com/controlling-the-web-with-python-6fceb22c5f08
Submitting a form from a script can be tricky. Here's some help with Python.

Here’s how to learn absolutely anything, according to a world expert

https://qz.com/1377571/heres-how-to-learn-anything-according-to-a-leading-expert/
Another interview with the great Barb Oakley on learning how to learn.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

The secret to successful BBQ pork butt and brisket is science

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/let-science-be-your-guide-for-the-perfect-labor-day-bbq/
The science behind the stall: evaporative cooling. 

Introducing a simple and intuitive Python API for UCI machine learning repository

https://towardsdatascience.com/introducing-a-simple-and-intuitive-python-api-for-uci-machine-learning-repository-fd2ce8eb6cd4
It was meant to be: and API to find datasets.

25 incredibly useful things you didn’t know Google Docs could do

https://www.fastcompany.com/90221069/25-incredibly-useful-things-you-didnt-know-google-docs-could-do
Most I already knew, though seldom use.

Ordinary People Focus on the Outcome. Extraordinary People Focus On the Process.

https://theascent.pub/ordinary-people-focus-on-the-outcome-extraordinary-people-focus-on-the-process-6d9a0888df01
Outcome vs process

ProductHunt

https://www.producthunt.com/
A meeting place for new tech ideas. similar to indiehackers.

How to Work 40 Hours in 16.7 (The Simple Technique That Gave Me My Life Back)

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-work-40-hours-in-16-7-the-simple-technique-that-gave-me-my-life-back-1291711976
Good lifehack.

Monday, September 3, 2018

HotJar analytics

https://www.hotjar.com/
Interesting, kinda creepy analytics package.

Emotiva TA-100 Review | The Millennial Audiophile

https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2018/09/02/emotiva-ta-100-review/
Interesting new line of moderately-priced home audio gear.

Learn AWS Serverless by creating a basic email signup list

https://medium.com/@drwtech/learn-aws-serverless-by-creating-a-basic-email-signup-list-2b5ce5c94a19
AWS lambda to create email signup form. In JavaScript, unfortunately.

An A-Z of useful Python tricks

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/an-a-z-of-useful-python-tricks-b467524ee747
Lots of cool Python tricks I've never seen.

15 Life Changing Ideas

https://medium.com/@dariusforoux/15-life-changing-ideas-ceeece7f4ca0
15 good life lessons.

Why Stock Predicting AI Will Never Take Over the World

https://blog.usejournal.com/why-stock-predicting-ai-will-never-take-over-the-world-b1b411decc21
Want to train a ML model with stock info and make a billion dollars, yeah about that..

Everything you need to know about AutoML and Neural Architecture Search

https://towardsdatascience.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-automl-and-neural-architecture-search-8db1863682bf
Now meta-packages that help choose the best ML models to use.

SharkLinux Distro: Open Source in Action

https://www.linux.com/learn/intro-to-linux/2018/8/sharklinux-distro-open-source-action
SharkLinux: a distro for containers and virtualization developers.

Nat Eliason's personal blog

https://www.nateliason.com/
Living example of how to write SEO-favored content.

Backlinko's YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/backlinko/
YouTube videos of how to get better SEO rankings.

The Wiki Strategy: How to Grow Your Blog to 100k+ Monthly Visitors

https://www.nateliason.com/blog/wiki-strategy
Some of the best SEO advice out there that spins off Google's "write quality content" by someone who's mastered the art.

Build powerful apps for your business, fast.

https://developers.google.com/appmaker/
Google app maker appears to be kinda like VBA for Google apps/docs/sheets.

One of the best sources for modern SEO advice

https://backlinko.com/
The name says it all. Everything old is new again.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Down the Security Rabbit Hole

https://medium.com/s/the-firewall/down-the-security-rabbit-hole-31327f47743d
Tails vs. Whonix

How we avoided if/else and wrote extendable code with Strategy Pattern

https://itnext.io/how-we-avoided-if-else-and-wrote-extendable-code-with-strategy-pattern-256e34b90caf
The strategy pattern looks a lot like dependency injection. 

The World’s Oldest Blockchain Has Been Hiding in the New York Times Since 1995

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/j5nzx4/what-was-the-first-blockchain
Claims to be a paper blockchain, more like a hash. 

A sysadmin's guide to containers

https://opensource.com/article/18/8/sysadmins-guide-containers
How docker works for us old sysadmins. 

The Laravel Admin Panel That You Need

https://www.codewall.co.uk/the-laravel-admin-panel-that-you-need/
How about an open-source Laravel Admin Panel?

The Milky Way Died 7 Billion Years Ago And Came Back To Life

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a22823197/the-milky-way-died-7-billion-years-ago-and-came-back-to-life/
Is the Milky Way a two-stage galaxy? Could be...

Psychologists have surprising advice for people who feel unmotivated

https://qz.com/work/1363911/two-psychologists-have-a-surprising-theory-on-how-to-get-motivated/
Interesting twist on how to get motivated. Give Advice. 

Why do startups fail? A postmortem of 256 failed startups.

https://hackernoon.com/why-do-startups-fail-a-postmortem-of-256-failed-startups-fb157a16d98b
Great survey of failed startups. Tl;dr Money and Product

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Best Open Source Tools For Developers

https://dev.to/sarthology/best-open-source-tools-for-developers--300f
Surprisingly, I'm unfamiliar with most of these.

Modern JavaScript Explained For Dinosaurs

https://medium.com/the-node-js-collection/modern-javascript-explained-for-dinosaurs-f695e9747b70
Yes, modern JavaScript development can turn into a hot mess. 

A battle-tested marketing strategy any company can use

https://medium.com/swlh/a-battle-tested-marketing-strategy-any-company-can-use-95810d4fb796
Get the word out. 

Robot security guards will be pointless until they’re terrifying

https://theoutline.com/post/5959/who-watches-the-bot-men
Security guards are supposed to be active deterrents, not passive detectors.

The Fight to Secure Vulnerable Medical Devices From Hackers

http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/08/insecure-medical-devices-vulnerable-to-malicious-hacking.html
There's little standard for securing medical devices.

WTF is a supply-side platform

https://digiday.com/media/wtf-supply-side-platform/
Details of online adversiting

‘Peak Car’ and the End of an Industry

https://www.bloomberg.com/hyperdrive
Are the glory days of the auto industry over?

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Podcasting websites made simple

https://ironmic.fm/ 
Interesting concept: taking a podcast RSS stream and turning it into a website. 

Steve Jobs Was Right When He Said Podcasts Were The Future Of Audio

https://www.forbes.com/sites/montymunford/2018/08/16/steve-jobs-was-right-when-he-said-podcasts-were-the-future-of-audio/#2e8559bd2025
Yes, the future of listening is Podcasting, even without iPods.

The seL4 Microkernel Security is no excuse for poor performance!

http://sel4.systems/
Interesting - a provably secure microkernel.

9 telescopes that will change how we see space

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/space/blogs/6-new-telescopes-that-will-change-the-way-we-see-space
Not all the new telescopes coming online are huge.

Using AWS EC2 instance store vs EBS for MySQL: how to increase performance and decrease cost

https://www.percona.com/blog/2018/08/20/using-aws-ec2-instance-store-vs-ebs-for-mysql-how-to-increase-performance-and-decrease-cost/
How to speed up MySQL on AWS, but there's some downsides.

A Look at Vim, a Text Editor for the Ages

https://thenewstack.io/a-look-at-vim-a-text-editor-for-the-ages/
Some of the history of Vim.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

So Should I Follow My Passion or Not?

https://medium.com/@matt.tanner/so-should-i-follow-my-passion-or-not-e6af83d60479
There's more to satisfaction than "follow your passion"

Podcasting websites made simple

https://ironmic.fm/
Interesting concept: taking a podcast RSS stream and turning it into a website. 

8 resources to learn about SOLID design principles

https://barryvanveen.nl/blog/51-8-resources-to-learn-about-solid-design-principles
SOLID design principle resources.

The Strange Infinities of e-Commerce

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/the-charming-infinite-dystopia-of-contemporary-e-commerce/567452/
The long tail gets really strange.

Meet the Man With a Radical Plan for Blockchain Voting

https://www.wired.com/story/santiago-siri-radical-plan-for-blockchain-voting/
Can blockchain revitalize democracy?

5 Tools for Faster Vue.js App Development

https://blog.bitsrc.io/5-tools-for-faster-vue-js-app-development-ad7eda1ee6a8
Software tools for Vue.js development, mostly CLI.

Data Science for Startups: Model Services

https://towardsdatascience.com/data-science-for-startups-model-services-2facf2dde81d
More on data science for startups. 

Want Enormous Success? Immediately Stop Doing What Everyone Else Is Doing

https://theascent.pub/want-enormous-success-immediately-stop-doing-what-everyone-else-is-doing-fe666bc2d35
Don't do what everyone else is doing: e.g. NOTHING.

A Vue pattern for idiomatic, performant component registration you might not know about

https://itnext.io/vue-a-pattern-for-idiomatic-performant-component-registration-you-might-not-know-about-9f3c091846f5
Interesting way to import Vue.js components.

IETF Approves TLS 1.3 as Internet Standard

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ietf-approves-tls-13-as-internet-standard/
SSL is dead, the next version of TLS is here.

Next-Generation API Platform for Modern Architectures

https://docs.konghq.com/
Interesting open source API gateway

Monday, August 13, 2018

Learn Functional Python in 10 Minutes

https://hackernoon.com/learn-functional-python-in-10-minutes-to-2d1651dece6f
No, Python really isn't a functional programming language, but here's some functional ideas made accessible via Python.

2 Simple Yet Awesome Ways To Improve Your Idea.

https://medium.com/the-mission/2-simple-yet-awesome-ways-to-improve-your-idea-fde7e49d6d7a
I've read a lot about ideation, but these two ideas are really solid improvement paths.

New post 10 scariest theories known to man

https://imgur.com/gallery/9n2uu8W
Scary cosmological theories. Bang or whimper? Seems like a lot of bangs listed here.

Get Started With Pusher: Build a Chat App With Channels, PHP, and Vue.js

https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/get-started-with-pusher-build-a-chat-app-with-channels-php-and-vuejs--cms-31252
Interesting implementation of real-time communication via a library called Channels. 

Essential Visual Studio Code Extensions for PHP Developers

https://andy-carter.com/blog/essential-visual-studio-code-extensions-for-php-developers
A lot of people use Visual Studio Code from Microsoft as their Editor/IDE. Here's some PHP-specific add-ons.

How To Become Ridiculously Self-Aware In 20 Minutes

https://medium.com/the-mission/how-to-become-more-self-aware-in-under-20-minutes-968268c53ffd
It's as old as the hills: Journaling. 

We Analyzed 43 Million Facebook Posts From the Top 20,000 Brands (New Research)

https://blog.bufferapp.com/facebook-marketing-strategy?mc_cid=8c68121a2d&mc_eid=578966eda0
What you already knew: Facebook advertising is less effective than ever.

How Musicians Make Money — Or Don’t at All — in 2018

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-musicians-make-money-or-dont-at-all-in-2018-706745/
Yes, the business of Music is still horribly broken.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

javascript:void(0);Running Tighten's Jigsaw on Netlify

https://dyrynda.com.au/blog/running-tighten-jigsaw-on-netlify
Running the SSG Jigsaw on Netlify.

An extremely picky developer's take on PHP static site generators: Part 1 - Sculpin

https://www.contentful.com/blog/2018/04/04/an-extremely-picky-developers-take-on-php-static-site-generators-part-1-sculpin/
Another SSG review: the leader of the pack: Sculpin.

Laravel by the Numbers

https://jason.pureconcepts.net/2018/07/laravel-numbers/
Great sysopsis of what packages and versions Laravel sites run.

An extremely picky developer's take on static site generators for PHP: Part 2 - Jigsaw

https://www.contentful.com/blog/2018/08/01/extremely-picky-developers-take-php-static-site-generators-part-2-jigsaw/
I'm seeing more and more SSGs: Static Site Generators. Here's a review of one.

Introducing Laravel Nova: A Tool for Building Admin Panels and Custom CMSes

https://mattstauffer.com/blog/introducing-laravel-nova-a-tool-for-building-admin-panels-and-custom-cmses/
The latest in the Laravel ecosystem. 

What performance tricks actually work

https://frederickvanbrabant.com/2018/07/24/php-performance.html
Some of the traditional advice about PHP performance is just plain wrong.

Top 10 PHP errors from 1,000+ projects (and how to avoid them)

https://rollbar.com/blog/top-php-errors/
Yes, I've committed each and every one of these.

Break the content bottleneck. Agile teams use content infrastructure to deliver content to any website, app or device. See ya, CMS.

https://www.contentful.com/
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what this service does.

9 ways to master awful code, fast

https://techbeacon.com/9-ways-master-awful-code-fast
I've had to use most of these techniques before.

Accounting Software Showdown: FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks vs. Xero

https://zapier.com/blog/freshbooks-vs-quickbooks-vs-xero/
Small-business online accounting software comparison. Xero's come a long way,

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Kickstarter successes, fails and cancellations by category, between 2009 and 2017

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/948hvo/kickstarter_successes_fails_and_cancellations_by/?st=JKEQ0B4C&sh=92b3398f
Kickstarter successes and failures by category.

AutoKeras: The Killer of Google’s AutoML

https://towardsdatascience.com/autokeras-the-killer-of-googles-automl-9e84c552a319
For a cheaper ride on the Machine Learning roller coaster: try AutoKeras. 

How to Write Consistently and Show Up Every Single Day (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It)

https://writingcooperative.com/how-to-write-consistently-and-show-up-every-single-day-even-when-you-dont-feel-like-it-883013802b4d
One more time: the key to writing is: to write.

Cutting-Edge Face Recognition is Complicated. These Spreadsheets Make it Easier.

https://towardsdatascience.com/cutting-edge-face-recognition-is-complicated-these-spreadsheets-make-it-easier-e7864dbf0e1a
This is an amazing tour-de-force. A complete, complex neural network in Excel!

Friday, August 3, 2018

Why THIS is so powerful in JavaScript

https://medium.com/@kristyburge/why-this-is-so-powerful-in-javascript-34116f1ca5f2
What is this in JavaScript? Could be several things. 

How to visually design state in JavaScript

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-to-visually-design-state-in-javascript-3a6a1aadab2b
A lot of people don't fully realize the importance of state in modern JavaScript frameworks. Here's help. 

How we spent 30k USD in Firebase in less than 72 hours

https://hackernoon.com/how-we-spent-30k-usd-in-firebase-in-less-than-72-hours-307490bd24d
Yeah, caching is important. 

There’s A Debate Raging Over Whether Dark Matter Is Real, But One Side Is Cheating

https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/theres-a-debate-raging-over-whether-dark-matter-is-real-but-one-side-is-cheating-d25f28319d70
Dark Matter vs. MOND, different results at different scales. 

The Cost Of JavaScript In 2018

https://medium.com/@addyosmani/the-cost-of-javascript-in-2018-7d8950fbb5d4
Yes, JavaScript-based client-rendered sites are great, but at what cost? 

How you can make a progressive web app in an hour

https://medium.freecodecamp.org/how-you-can-make-a-progressive-web-app-in-an-hour-7e36d560610e
Skeleton progressive web app.

The Coolest Blockchain Startups at Consensus

https://medium.com/pcmag-access/the-coolest-blockchain-startups-at-consensus-1b2ebed3dfba
Some of the most innovative blockchain startups.

A one year PWA retrospective

https://medium.com/@Pinterest_Engineering/a-one-year-pwa-retrospective-f4a2f4129e05
A retrospective of doing a progressive web app for a year.

How To Stay Broke Forever

https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-stay-broke-forever-e7b8a48c6219
The difference between real entrepreneurs and posers.

Monday, July 30, 2018

752,626 Facebook Ads Analyzed, an eCommerce Growth Case Study, New Social Media Tools, and More!

https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-news-episode-104
Transcription of a new, meaty podcast on social media.

36 Reasons Why Having a “Free Website” is a Bad Idea

https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/36-reasons-why-having-a-free-website-is-a-bad-idea/
No, those free website deals might not be so great.

When Slack Won the Team Chat Market

https://zapier.com/blog/slack-versus-hipchat/
Graph and notes on how Slack clobbered hipchat.

Which College Degrees Earn The Highest Salaries, Charted

http://digg.com/2018/college-degrees-highest-salaries-visualized
Few surprises here: any degree with "engineering" in the name topped the list, education and religion at the bottom.

We Need Transparency in Algorithms, But Too Much Can Backfire

https://hbr.org/2018/07/we-need-transparency-in-algorithms-but-too-much-can-backfire
Strange paradox: People like transparency in algorithms, but not too much. 

Friday, July 27, 2018

Top 5 Mistakes of Greenhorn Data Scientists

https://towardsdatascience.com/top-5-mistakes-of-greenhorn-data-scientists-90fa26201d51
It's not about the data, it's about insight.

Stock Prediction in Python

https://towardsdatascience.com/stock-prediction-in-python-b66555171a2
Interesting to learn, but no, it really doesn't do a good job of predicting.

How To Be Successful At Writing

https://medium.com/@krisgage/how-to-be-successful-at-writing-3561a55b081
Advice on writing: DO IT.

How Security Tokens Will Transform Traditional Finance

https://hackernoon.com/security-tokens-will-transform-traditional-finance-31427343d7de
Another piece on the promise of blockchains in finance.

Government spends $150,000 to create video game to teach people how to run a business

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12095092
Strangely enough, they don't tell you how to get the game.

Hard Drive Stats for Q2 2018

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-for-q2-2018/
The latest in the series of rotating media reliability from backblaze.

12 Best PHP Based Open Source Ecommerce Applications to Build Online Store

https://www.cloudways.com/blog/php-based-ecommerce-applications/
I'd disagree with a couple of these. The open source PHP ecosystems isn't as vibrant as it once was.

Bye Disqus, hello Webmention!

https://evertpot.com/bye-disqus-hello-webmention/
I've never been a fan of Disqus. Apparently it's getting worse. Here's an intro to Webmention, but it's still unclear how it functions.

How do MVC routers work

https://www.codediesel.com/php/how-do-mvc-routers-work/
How routing in MVC works with a simple example

Debug PHP In VSCode With XDebug

https://www.codewall.co.uk/debug-php-in-vscode-with-xdebug/
How to set up Xdebug in PHP with Visual Studio Code.

Securing Credentials for PHP with Docker

https://websec.io/2018/07/22/Docker-Secure-Credentials.html
How to secure credentials in Docker, mainly using Vault.

Notes on GraphQL

https://mwop.net/blog/2018-07-18-graphql.html
Yes, GraphQL looks great on paper, but the devil's in the details and lack of documentation.