Scaling Databases and backends

Very cool Intro to scaling databases and backends in general https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yDO-tmIoXY

PHP 5.6 is out

PHP 5.6 released, from the release notes... with a quick glance, nothing major in most use cases but still worth the upgrade, especially since there are a few security fixes. Post memory usage down 300% (I like that), attachments larger than 2 gb, constant scalar expressions (I like that) and other constant goodies, php://input is reusable, unified default encoding, new variadic (variable parameters) functions syntax. phpdbg improvements and a many minor changes/bug fixes. The full change log is at http://php.net/ChangeLog-5.php

Google ranking Factors

Interesting page listing factors affecting ranks in search results: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140730122737-31469765-google-s-200-ranking-factors-the-complete-list

Writing maintainable code

Buffer overflow in GNU TLS

A Buffer overflow in GNUTLS library. Not used in many places (The most common seem to be openldap with ubuntu, wine, wget but there are others). if you do use it, make sure you upgrade, especially if you are using it in a server component. ARS technica has an article here and a technical analysis here.

Evaluate your php skills

I cam across an interesting page this morning, on testing PHP knowledge, http://martinonphp.ghost.io/2014/01/27/evaluating-php-skill-level/ If you are a developer, then it is certainly worth taking a look at, making sure you know all constructs talked about. As the saying goes, 'if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail to you.' It is important to know more than one way of doing things and though you certainly do not need to know all PHP keywords/functions to write great code, it is always good to help you write higher quality code that is more simple to read while potentially being more efficient as well. If you are hiring php developers, then this can be used as an inspiration. Some of the most common questions like telling the difference between get and post are not necessarily indicative of coding skill.

lenovo acquired motorola mobility

Though the transaction is not yet completed, Lenovo is definitely on my radar. After it acquired IBM's server business earlier this year, it is moving towards purchasing Google/ Motorola Mobility. Interestingly, google selling for ~3billion after buying it for $10 billion . As a side not, after the recent patent deals across phone manufacturer, would it be a signal their patent wars that has been raging over the last few years is over? Nothing official yet but it sure looks like it. More details at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/lenovo-to-acquire-motorola-mobility.html .

Wordpress 3.8 is out

A new version of wordpress is out. I find the video a big hyped but the new version changes are nice, I like it. You can find more details here http://wordpress.org/news/2013/12/parker/ .

Google play games

It looks like google will has been investing heavily into adding a game extension to Google plus. More details here http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/05/11/google-play-games-leaks-out-in-all-its-glory-ahead-of-google-io-hello-cloud-game-saves-apk-teardown/

Turbulenz html5 game engine

Nice to see one more engine open source, turbulenz ... http://news.turbulenz.com/post/49430669886/turbulenz-engine-goes-open-source

Google glass source code released

The source code to the kernel of google glass has been released. I guess all I need is a device now. https://code.google.com/p/google-glass-kernel-source/ The project really seems exciting and I would really love to try it but call me old fashioned if I humbly believe I would probably find tiring having information superimposed all the time. That said, I have not tried it so I have no idea how annoying it can be to be wearing them long term.

phpMyAdmin 4.0 rc 4

phpMyAdmin version 4.0 release candidate is out. I really like how they finally got rid of the frames and they are working on the design. http://www.phpmyadmin.net/

Yahoo UI 3.10 is out

Yahoo has come out with a new version of its Javascript UI components, available at http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2013/04/24/yui-3-10-0-released/ . The new release includes major speed boost. You may have to rewrite some of your code.

GIT is hard video

git can be amusingly delightful sometimes (or not):

GIT IS HARD from Meagan Fisher on Vimeo.

My new year resolutions

Time for new year resolutions :)

• 30 mega pixels with 12x optical zoom... get a sharper image about the world I live in
• 1920x1600 widescreen ... work on my weight by making things smaller (not my brain obviously)
• 127.0.0.1 = localhost (dns resolution) ... unleash the geek in me
• 365 dpi (365 days per iteration or dpy days per year if that makes you more happy)
• resolution of world peace... haha, yeah right :)
• reese-solution - buy a box of reese chocolate
• brie-solution - buy some brie, yummy :)
• grease-solution ... clean things up in my life :)
• re-solution - copy paste my last year's resolution... at least I'll sound I know what I am doing