Do we really need a personal assistant?

https://medium.com/@gigastacey/do-we-really-need-a-personal-assistant-60f2bc7a68e6#.28qg2lscb
Argues that current interface to voice assistants are too obtrusive. Should they always be listening? 

Chat is the New Browser

https://medium.com/@tedlivingston/chat-is-the-new-browser-cef0ead46c8b#.m4s4x6de2
Argues that chat is the new browser. Chatbots for everyone?

What’s the Hardest Shot in Bowling?

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/02/hardest_shot_in_bowling_it_s_not_the_7_10_split_it_s_the_greek_church.html
Amazing data set and visualization of the hardest splits in bowling.

Internet Security 101: A starter guide to avoid being an idiot online

https://blog.andreacoravos.com/internet-security-101-a-starter-guide-to-avoid-being-an-idiot-online-6058ee51c6c6#.j64514aeg
Introduction to internet security. Do the simple stuff.

Encryption Is a Human Rights Issue: Your Privacy and Free Speech Depend on It | Amul Kalia

https://medium.com/learnliberty/encryption-is-a-human-rights-issue-your-privacy-and-free-speech-depend-on-it-amul-kalia-71c85089ab6b#.1vw2irv5i
Encryption is a human right. Some historical examples of why:

The AI Takeover Is Coming. Let’s Embrace It.

https://backchannel.com/the-ai-takeover-is-coming-lets-embrace-it-d764d61f83a#.pvrej1jws
Recent developments in AI and why they're important: 

Elon Musk and Bill Thurston on the Power of Thinking for Yourself

https://medium.com/the-mission/elon-musk-and-bill-thurston-on-the-power-of-thinking-for-yourself-f1bd61c2f368#.q0nu8bsts
Thinking: try first principles, not analogies.

World's largest cities over the ages

https://i.redd.it/9zng0bv1av4y.gif
World's largest cities over the ages, wish it was more than just a gif.

Keystone Habits: Improve All Areas of Your Life with One Small Habit

https://zapier.com/blog/keystone-habits/?utm_campaign=Keystone%20Habits%3A%20Improve%20All%20Areas%20of%20Your%20Life%20with%20One%20Small%20Habit
What are Keystone habits and why are they important?

Gaming Market Brief — Year in Review 2016

https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/
Gaming market report for 2016 - Mobile Rules, PC close 2nd: 

A little trick for grouping fields in an HTML form

https://mattstauffer.co/blog/a-little-trick-for-grouping-fields-in-an-html-form
Interesting trick for HTML forms to talk to PHP better, not sure how often I'll use it, though:

Scaling Laravel Using AWS Elastic Beanstalk Part 1: Setting up Laravel

https://deliciousbrains.com/scaling-laravel-aws-elastic-beanstalk-part-1-setting-up-laravel/
Got asked about this on Quara the other day: scaling Laravel on AWS. 

Systemd at 3am

https://www.redpill-linpro.com/sysadvent/2016/12/22/systemd-at-3am.html
Good shortcuts for when you have to resurrect something running under systemd. 

Curated list of technical case studies, mostly around front-end/creative development.

https://github.com/luruke/awesome-casestudy
Curated list of technical case studies, mostly around front-end/creative development.

Why the fuss about serverless?

https://hackernoon.com/why-the-fuss-about-serverless-4370b1596da0#.7xbs9snqw
Not sure I quite understand all the graphs, but good piece about serverless: 

When Do You Outgrow IKEA?

https://priceonomics.com/when-do-you-outgrow-ikea/
Interesting data piece about the peak ages of customers at various home stores. 

The Top 10 Movies Of 2016, According To Everyone

http://digg.com/2016/best-movies-2016-top-10-lists-moonlight-arrival
I think I've seen exactly zero of these. 

Exploring Google’s new IoT platform: Android Things

https://blog.riddhimanadib.me/android-things-468c91c28020#.kkt72ihre
Google's new IoT platform: Andriod Things works with RaspberryPi 3. 

Piwik 3.0.0

https://piwik.org/changelog/piwik-3-0-0/
PiWik, the opensource web analytics platform, hits 3.0.0.

Introducing Gomix Build the app or bot of your dreams, in minutes.

https://medium.com/gomix/introducing-gomix-aec205c421cb#.3gzdn2iwt
The latest from Fog City Software: an app maker for the remix world. 

How a Defense of Christianity Revolutionized Brain Science

http://nautil.us/blog/how-a-defense-of-christianity-revolutionized-brain-science
The unlikely origin and far-reaching ramifications of Bayesian statistics 

Intro to the 8-Point Grid System

https://medium.com/built-to-adapt/intro-to-the-8-point-grid-system-d2573cde8632#.8i9ivhj5y
Most CSS grids are horizontal 12 column. Here's a case for a vertical 8-point grid to go with them

Debugging with Humility

http://amir.rachum.com/blog/2016/12/18/debugging-with-humility/
When your explanation of the bug hinders instead of helps...

5 tips to help developers keep up with changing technologies

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3151326/application-development/5-tips-to-help-developers-keep-up-with-changing-technologies.html
Developers can stay current by being curious, connected, skeptical, etc. 

How much water do we use?

https://owi.usgs.gov/vizlab/water-use/
Interactive map of water use by US State: 

Win-win: Open source .Net pays off for devs

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3149765/application-development/win-win-open-source-net-pays-off-for-devs.html
Microsoft claims open-sourcing core .net has boosted the platform's developer base.

34 Users Who Paid for DDoS Attacks Arrested by Police, 101 More Questioned

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/34-users-who-paid-for-ddos-attacks-arrested-by-police-101-more-questioned/
People are getting arrested for renting botnets for DDoS attacks: 

Which programming languages are most popular (and what does that even mean)?

http://www.zdnet.com/article/which-programming-languages-are-most-popular-and-what-does-that-even-mean/
Different opinions of popularity of programming languages summarized, with a reasonable recommendation:

SEO and Digital Trends in 2017

https://moz.com/blog/seo-and-digital-trends-in-2017
SEO trends from MOZ. In short: it's a mobile world. 

How Digital Nomads Went From Niche to Normal

https://backchannel.com/in-2017-your-coworkers-will-live-everywhere-ae14979b5255#.qp4ixnwz6
Teleworking is more normal than ever. Case study from GitHub.