Oct 28
You’ve probably heard security articles talk about JavaScript being used to attack websites, but you might not know why it’s quite so dangerous. This video helps explain.
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Oct 27
This video game inspired resume beats any resume that you have offered to potential employers. It is the work of designer Robby Leonardi, who wanted his C.V. to stand out from the crowd. He certainly accomplished that.
Robby created an interactive resume with a Super Mario Bros. sort of theme and it is amazing. It has four levels of awesomeness. This interactive resume is basically a miniature version of Robby as a Mario-type superhero character that runs through the levels, telling employers about his employment history, work experience and portfolio. As an added bonus, it shows off his HTML, CSS, JavaScript and JQuery skills along the way.
You can see it here. Just push the down arrow or spin your scroll wheel and enjoy the ride. Then hire this guy!
Awesome resume. My Mario hat is off to you Robby. I would hire you in a heartbeat just to create cool stuff like this for my own personal amusement.
[via Mashable via Nerd Approved]
Sep 16
Here’s something completely awesome on a day that needs more awesome. Tim Pietrusky recreated the famous opening crawl of Star Wars from 1977 using HTML, CSS and JavaScript because he couldn’t find a web version of it. Even better, the code is all up on Codepen.io and Pietrusky detailed his process on his website for all to see. Watch the opening sequence here (just click on the text). [Tim Pietrusky via BoingBoing]
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Sep 09
Arcade Fire’s ‘Just a Reflektor’ music video takes cues from your smartphone
Posted in: Today's Chili
Arcade Fire already knows how to immerse its fans in a web music video. For its new “Just a Reflektor” video, though, it’s also bringing smartphones into the action. The band’s Chrome-based project links a PC to a mobile device through a webcam, turning the handheld into a visual effects controller — halos, reflections and wireframes in the video adapt to every movement. As the experiment is open source, viewers can even tinker with the web code (primarily JavaScript and WebGL) to build their own masterworks. Whether or not you’re a fan of Arcade Fire’s indie rock, you’ll likely want to give “Reflektor” a look for curiosity’s sake; just don’t be surprised when the video looks back.
Filed under: Internet, Alt, Google
Source: Just a Reflektor, Google Chrome Blog
Aug 30
Espruino Seeks Kickstarter Funding To Help Jump Start Its “JavaScript For Things” Effort
Posted in: Today's Chili
Arduino is great, but Arduino is also pretty hard to wrap your head around, especially for newbies. The Espruino is “world’s first JavaScript microcontroller for beginners or experts,” and has been offered up to hobbyists and enthusiasts for a couple of years now by Cambridge, UK-based Gordon Williams, but now he’s taking to Kickstarter to make it even easier to use.
The Kickstarter project is designed to help Williams take his open source hardware board and get his Source Code cleaned, accessible and ready for Open Source release. Williams says via his Espruino project page that another goal of the Kickstarter is to make it possible to ship boards pre-installed with Espruino software, so that users can just order one and get started with coding immediately.
The concept of a “JavaScript for Things” is amazing for home hardware hackers, since it considerably simplifies the process of making devices behave the way you want them to. Williams uses the blinking light example to compare the amount and complexity of code required for both an Espruino-based board and an Arduino one. the JavaScript method is not only familiar to people who’ve done some web development, but it’s much easier to modify and extend, whereas Arduino often requires a lot of rework to accomplish even similar things.
Williams is a software developer with experience working for Altera, Microsoft, Nokia Collbaora and more, and he now heads up his own company, which makes the Morphyre 3D music visualizer. Hey’s a Cambridge computing grad and an avid at-home DIY gadget enthusiast, whose passion led to the creation of the Espruino as a way to help others enjoy similar hobbies via events-based programming.
The plan is for these to ship to backers (who can pre-order a board starting at £19) beginning in January 2014. Williams has experience making the hardware already, and a very detailed production plan in place to meet that target. Other kits include low power wireless radios, multicolour LED lights and more for higher pledge amounts.
Aug 05
Tor browser for Windows exploit discovered, malware may be gathering info for Uncle Sam (updated)
Posted in: Today's Chili
It was just over two years ago that the paragon of internet privacy, the Tor project, decided to build its own browser by forking Firefox. Wired reports that an exploit of that very same browser has been recently discovered that allowed a number of users’ Windows computers to be infected with malware. Once installed, the code delivered infected machines’ hostnames and MAC addresses to a remote web server in Reston, Virginia, a city located just outside Washington D.C. The browser exploit — a JavaScript vulnerability inherent to Firefox version 17, the version upon which the Tor browser was built — was enabled by a breach of Freedom Hosting servers. In this case, affected Freedom Hosting servers delivered web pages to users with the JavaScript exploit embedded in them.
There’s no direct evidence that the malware comes from the government, but the malware’s command and control IP address is registered to a governmental defense contractor. Plus, the data pulled from infected machines indicates it could be an example of the FBI’s computer and internet protocol address verifier (CIPAV) software first identified by Wired in 2007. CIPAV has been used by the FBI to help identify and catch terrorists, hackers and criminals since 2002, but the exact nature of the software has never been revealed. Regardless, the vulnerability in the browser has been identified and fixed, so users need only update to the newest version of the Tor browser to keep their web traffic away from prying eyes… for now, at least.
Update: To be clear, the Firefox exploit in question was fixed, along with the Tor browser well over a month ago, and any users who have updated since June 26th were not affected.
Filed under: Internet
Via: Wired
Source: Tor Project, Tor Blog
Jun 25
The latest version of Firefox (22) is full of big new features. Most notably, the latest update adds support for 3D gaming (care of Epic Games), for video and voice calls as well as file sharing “without the need to install additional software or use third-party plugins,” and for a new version of JavaScript that Mozilla’s calling, “supercharged.” Mozilla’s even got a 3D game for you to play called BananaBread, so you may put the company’s claims through the wringer.
Should that not be enough for you diehard Firefox devotees, there’s also a thrilling update that’ll show download progress on OS X directly in the Dock icon. Take a breath and a seat, and maybe download the latest Firefox build right here when you’ve cooled down.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: The Next Web
Source: Mozilla Blog, Release Notes
Jun 20
Dart isn’t conquering the world wide web just yet, but that doesn’t mean Google is giving up on its darling programming language. The internet giant has just released the first beta of the SDK and Editor, and the update’s focus is obvious: speed. The analysis engine, which is responsible for altering you to errors in your code, has been revamped and is now 20 percent faster, according to Google. There are a whole bunch of new features designed to simplify development too, such as the ability to import or rename libraries. And the Editor’s autocomplete engine is now “camelcase aware,” meaning when you type “iE” the editor tracks down “isEmpty.” Dart code compiled to JavaScript now results in significantly smaller file sizes and Dart VM performance has supposedly been boosted by between 33 and 40 percent. Oh, and there’s much, much more… this is just the SparkNotes, folks. For the full change log hit up the source.
Source: Chromium Blog, Dart News & Updates
May 09
Google unveils ‘Save to Drive’ button for websites, streamlines content delivery to cloud storage
Posted in: Today's Chili
Google Drive may be playing catch-up to its competitors in some ways, but the cloud storage team in Mountain View is forging ahead in others. Today, Big G announced a ‘Save to Drive’ button that allow users to save content directly from websites to Google-fied cloud lockers. Adding the button’s easy, as it only requires a few lines of HTML, and a JavaScript API allows web admins to control their behavior. Folks looking to take advantage of the new button can learn more about it on the Google Developers portal, and as for the rest of us, we’ll just enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google Developers blog
May 03
Mozilla shows off Epic Citadel web version ported with Unreal Engine 3 (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili
Mozilla wants to quell any doubt that its Unreal Engine 3 Firefox port works well, so it’s just released a demo browser version of Epic Citadel so you can see for yourself. The game was ported to Javascript using the technology, and will run in HTML5 on most browsers without any plugins — though using the latest nightly build of Firefox is recommended. Epic says that the performance of such games “rivals native” with “stunning” visuals, and in a short test, we managed to get about 16fps on a reasonably equipped PC. Mozilla wants to recruit more developers to the new platform as part of its Emscripten project (see More Coverage link), but meanwhile you can grab the game at the source or see the video after the jump — just don’t count on wreaking any havoc, as the demo’s strictly a scenic tour.
Source: Mozilla (blog)
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