Topic: The Internet and the World Wide Web
The human perception of web response time can be manipulated, says Yahoo! engineer Stoyan Stefanov. He talks about the subjective experience of time as experienced by Internet users. This understanding can help developers who are trying to "make the page feel faster, although it isn't." Some techniques and tricks for web developers can minimize frustration and enhance the browsing experience for end users.
Social networking has quickly gone from new technology to cultural movement. The diminishing cost of connecting through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn expands and enhances those weak-tie relationships on the outer edges of our social circles most of all. Clara Shih of Hearsay Labs explains Facebook era psychology and the new norms and expectations it creates. It will shape our relationships with fans, followers, and customers.
WebHooks are meant to do something. The concept of a WebHook is simple. It is an HTTP callback: an HTTP POST that occurs when something happens; a simple event-notification via HTTP POST. Developer Jeff Lindsay talks about what a WebHook is and how it works as a programming API. He also discusses some of the current uses of the concept.
The elmcity project "collects online calendar events for geographic or topical communities." Meant to demonstrate the capabilities of Microsoft's Azure platform, it presents an opportunity for individuals to become curators for events. Jon Udell discusses the web service and how it demonstrates how we are sources for public data.
Mike Arrington and Tim O'Reilly engage in a spirited exchange. O'Reilly argues that companies competing against Google, Apple or Facebook should strike out into new territories. Quoting Sun Tzu, O'Reilly admires PayPal for carving out a new niche, while he gives Apple's iPhone group kudos for outflanking competitors. Arrington worries about a potential privacy disaster at Facebook.
Facebook is one of the largest websites in the world, and it takes a lot to keep it running. Tom Cook of Systems Engineering at Facebook discusses the scale of the hardware required, the software, the IT stack, and best practices.
Companies are working to develop apps software that take advantage of the growing number of hardware platforms. In addition to smartphones, browser developers are using the cloud to distribute programs. The group discusses these projects, as well as how new versions of browsers are coming that will be of even greater use with applications. They review how cross platform development is an important part of new software as well as Web 2.0 capabilities must also be included.
An open API for all government functions would be a transformative achievement, and Tim O'Reilly and Chris Vein have been working to make it a reality. In this free-flowing Q and A format, Chris Vein shares his experience as CIO for San Fransisco, building IT as a platform for the 21st century city. Vein and O'Reilly discuss their front line experiences in government data with an audience of location-based developers.
In this presentation, Leading Edge researcher Simon Wardley explores hypotheses about change, reflecting on cloud computing and organizational shape. Considering how companies deal with the consequences and emerging patterns of change, Wardley asserts that the cloud increases innovation and productivity which yields commodity. He describes how commoditization erodes value, therefore requiring more innovation.
Michael Feathers asks his audience whether clean code is good code. Looking at examples from business and academic research his talk seeks to address the problem of legacy code in software development. Taking some lessons from engineering he suggests some ways to make code better and cheaper.
