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<channel>
	<title>Matt Briney &#187; code</title>
	<atom:link href="http://mattbriney.com/tag/code/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://mattbriney.com</link>
	<description>Web Strategist, Data Junkie, Web Application Developer, Traveler and Technology Enthusiast</description>
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		<item>
		<title>Don&#039;t Use Zip Codes Unless You Have To</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/dont-use-zip-codes-unless-you-have-to/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=dont-use-zip-codes-unless-you-have-to</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/dont-use-zip-codes-unless-you-have-to/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:55:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reading List]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Codes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[congressional districts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[representative]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zip code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zip codes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/dont-use-zip-codes-unless-you-have-to/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many of us in the labs found it thrilling to watch the internet community unite around opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://assets.sunlightlabs.com/blog/dontusezipcode.jpg" />Many of us in the labs found it thrilling to watch the internet community unite around opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills yesterday.  Even more gratifying was seeing how many participating websites used <a href="http://services.sunlightlabs.com">our APIs</a> to help visitors find their elected representatives. This kind of use is exactly why we built those tools, and why we&#8217;ll always make them freely available to anyone who wants to make government more accessible to its citizens.</p>
<p>Still, I&#8217;d be lying if I said we don&#8217;t occasionally wince when we see someone using our services in a less-than-ideal way.  It&#8217;s completely understandable, mind you: the problem of figuring out who represents a given citizen is tougher than you might think. But we hate to think that anyone is getting bad information about which office to call &#8212; talking to the people who represent you should be simple and easy!  Since this comes up with some frequency, it&#8217;s probably worth talking about the nature of these problems and how to avoid them.</p>
<p><strong>TL;DR: Looking up congressional districts by zip code is inherently problematic. Our latitude/longitude-based API methods are much more accurate, and should be used whenever possible.</strong> </p>
<p>The first complication is probably obvious: zip codes and congressional districts aren&#8217;t the same thing. A zip code can span more than one district (or even more than one state!), so if you want to support zip lookups for your users, you&#8217;ll have to support cases where more than one matching district is returned.  Our API accounts for this, but it&#8217;s important that your code do so, too.  We err on the side of returning inclusive results when a zip might belong to multiple congressional districts.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, things are actually more complicated than that.  Most people don&#8217;t realize it, but zip codes describe postal delivery routes &#8212; the actual routes that mail carriers travel &#8212; not geographically bounded areas.  Zip codes are lines, in other words, while congressional districts are polygons. This means that mapping zips to congressional districts is an inherently imperfect process. The government uses something called a zip code tabulation area (ZCTA) to approximate the geographic footprint of a given zip as a polygon, and this is what we use to map zip codes to congressional districts.  But it really is just an approximation &#8212; it&#8217;s far from perfect. </p>
<p>It&#8217;s much better to skip the zip code step entirely and simply look up your location against <a href="http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/cd_metadata.html">the congressional district shapefiles published by the Census Bureau</a> using a precise geographic coordinate pair instead of a hazy, vague zip code.  Thanks to the Chicago Tribune News App Team&#8217;s excellent <a href="http://boundaries.tribapps.com/#about">Boundary Service project</a>, we offer <a href="http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/congressapi/districts.getDistrictFromLatLong/">exactly this capability</a>.  If you can, we strongly encourage you to get a precise latitude/longitude pair from your users (either by <a href="http://html5demos.com/geo">geolocating them</a> or <a href="https://webgis.usc.edu/Services/Geocode/About/GeocoderList.aspx">geocoding their full address</a>), then use it to determine their representatives. </p>
<p>&#8220;But what about <a href="http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/">house.gov&#8217;s ZIP+4 congressional lookup tool</a>?&#8221; I hear you asking. It&#8217;s true, many House offices use this tool to determine who your representative is (and whether you&#8217;re allowed to email them). Unfortunately, just because this tool is on an official site doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s perfect. Here in the Labs, Kaitlin (who lives in Maryland) can&#8217;t write her representative because the ZIP+4 tool gives incorrect results. Besides, not that many people know their full nine-digit ZIP+4 code.  </p>
<p>So if you can, use latitude/longitude pairs. If you can&#8217;t, and have to depend on zips, we&#8217;ll supply results that are very, very good &#8212; but not as good as real coordinates would allow.</p>
<p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sunlightlabs/blog/~4/kzdfxXlonf8" height="1" width="1" /></p>
<p><i><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sunlightlabs/blog/~3/kzdfxXlonf8/">Original Source</a></i></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How-To: Optimize the Graph API data fetch using ETags</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-to-optimize-the-graph-api-data-fetch-using-etags/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-to-optimize-the-graph-api-data-fetch-using-etags</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-to-optimize-the-graph-api-data-fetch-using-etags/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:50:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reading List]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[app]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[call]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ETag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HTTP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[request header]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-to-optimize-the-graph-api-data-fetch-using-etags/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Imagine if you could only get data from an API when things have changed or there is new data? Well, you do not [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div>
<p>Imagine if you could only get data from an API when things have changed or there is new data? Well, you do not have to imagine anymore, the Facebook Graph API now supports <a href="http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.19">HTTP ETags</a>. ETags support on the Facebook Platform can help you reduce bandwidth consumption and client-side overhead by suppressing output when making Graph API calls. In addition, clients (especially mobile devices on slow connections) can increase performance and reduce data usage when calling the Graph API with ETags.</p>
<p>
<b>This is how it works:</b>
</p>
<ol>
<li> When you make a Graph API call, the response header includes <b>ETag</b> with a value that is the hash of the data returned in the API call. Pull this ETag value and use in Step-2. </li>
<li> Next time you make the same API call, include the <b>If-None-Match</b> request header with ETag value pulled from step-1 for this API call.</li>
<li> If the data hasn’t changed, the response status code would be <b>304 – Not Modified</b> and no data is returned.</li>
<li> If the data has changed since last pull, the data is returned as usual with a new ETag. Pull the new ETag value and use for subsequent calls.</li>
</ol>
<p><b>Note</b>: While ETags help reduce the data traffic, the <code>If-None-Match</code> GET will still count against the throttling limits for your app and must not be performed at a frequent rate. We recommend only do it for data that doesn’t change frequently like user’s friends, likes, photo albums, photos etc. Do not use it for news feed, messages etc.</p>
<p>The ETag is calculated using the entire response from the API call including its formatting. Developers should be aware that the formatting of API response output may be impacted by the user agent string. Therefore, calls originating from the same client should keep the user agent consistent between calls.</p>
<p>
<b>Example:</b>
</p>
<p>Install <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firebug/">Firebug</a> and <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/modify-headers/">Modify Headers</a> add-ons on Firefox.</p>
<p>Fetching user’s friends: https://graph.facebook.com/me/friends?access_token=&lt;token&gt; returns friends data in JSON output and ETag in the response header. You can quickly test by visiting the <a href="https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/">Graph API Doc</a> and clicking on the <code>Friends</code> sample link that auto generates access token for the session user and makes this API call.</p>
<div align="left"><img width="700px" src="http://developers.facebook.com/attachment/etag1.png" /></div>
<p>Next create the <code>If-None-Match</code> request header in the <code>Modify Header</code> add-on tool with the ETag value pulled from the Firebug. Make sure the header is enabled (green lit).</p>
<div align="left"><img width="700px" src="http://developers.facebook.com/attachment/etag2.png" /></div>
<p>Now call the friend Graph API again &#8211; https://graph.facebook.com/me/friends?access_token=&lt;token&gt;. Note that the API returns no data and the status code is ‘304- Not Modified’:</p>
<div align="left"><img width="700px" src="http://developers.facebook.com/attachment/etag3.png" /></div>
<p>
<b>PHP Code Example:</b>
</p>
<p>The php code demonstrates ETags while fetching user’s friends. The code pulls the ETag from the response header and then call the same API again while passing the ETag value in the <code>If-None-Match</code> request header. Notice that the response for the second call is <code>304 – Not Modified</code>.</p>
<pre>
  &lt;?php

    $app_id = &#039;YOUR_APP_ID&#039;;
    $app_secret = &#039;YOUR_APP_SECRET&#039;;
    $my_url = &#039;YOUR_REDIRECT_URL&#039;;

    $code = $_REQUEST[&quot;code&quot;];

    echo &#039;&lt;html&gt;&lt;body&gt;&#039;;

    // Auth the app using the server side OAuth 2.0
    if(!$code) {
        // get permission from the user to publish to their page.
        $dialog_url = &quot;http://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth?client_id=&quot;
         . $app_id . &quot;&amp;redirect_uri=&quot; . urlencode($my_url);
        echo(&#039;&lt;script&gt;top.location.href=&quot;&#039; . $dialog_url . &#039;&quot;;&lt;/script&gt;&#039;);
    } else {
        // get access token for the user
        $token_url = &quot;https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?&quot;
         . &quot;client_id=&quot; . $app_id
         . &quot;&amp;redirect_uri=&quot; . urlencode($my_url)
         . &quot;&amp;client_secret=&quot; . $app_secret
         . &quot;&amp;code=&quot; . $code;
        $access_token = file_get_contents($token_url);

        // get user&#039;s friends now we have the access token
        $friend_url = &#039;https://graph.facebook.com/me/friends?&#039; .
                    $access_token;

        // initialize curl if not yet initialized
        if (!$ch) {
          $ch = curl_init();
        }

        /*
         * Disable the &#039;Expect: 100-continue&#039; behaviour. This causes CURL
         * to wait for 2 seconds if the server does not support this
         * header.
         */
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, &#039;Expect:&#039;);
        // set the URL to Graph API URL
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $friend_url);
        // we want header in the output
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, true);
        // but do not display the curl output
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        // execute the curl and get the info
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $info = curl_getinfo($ch);

        // extract the http code, header and body
        $http_code = $info[&#039;http_code&#039;];
        $headers = substr($response, 0, $info[&#039;header_size&#039;]);
        $body = substr($response, -$info[&#039;download_content_length&#039;]);

        // convert header string into an associate array and extract the ETag
        $headers_arr = http_parse_headers($headers);
        $etag = $headers_arr[&#039;Etag&#039;];

        echo &#039;&lt;a href=&quot;&#039; . $friend_url . &#039;&quot;/&gt;&#039; . $friend_url .
                &#039;&lt;/a/&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#039;;
        echo &#039;HTTP Code: &#039; . $http_code . &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&#039;;
        echo &#039;ETag: &#039; . $etag . &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&#039;;

        /*
         * Execute the same API curl call while passing the
         * ETag value in If-None-Match request header
         */
        echo &#039;Executing the same API call with request header &lt;br/&gt;
                &lt;b/&gt;If-None-Match: &#039;. $etag . &#039;&lt;/b/&gt;
                returns : &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&#039;;
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array(&#039;If-None-Match: &#039; .
                    $etag));
        $result = curl_exec($ch);
        $http_code = curl_getinfo( $ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE );

        echo &#039;HTTP Code: &#039; . $http_code . &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&#039;;

        curl_close($ch);

    }
    echo &#039;&lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt;&#039;;

    /*
     * Function to convert header string into associative array
     * Source - http://php.net/manual/en/function.http-parse-headers.php
     */

     function http_parse_headers( $header )
     {
        $retVal = array();
        $fields = explode(&quot;\r\n&quot;, preg_replace(&#039;/\x0D\x0A[\x09\x20]+/&#039;,
                    &#039; &#039;, $header));
        foreach( $fields as $field ) {
            if( preg_match(&#039;/([^:]+): (.+)/m&#039;, $field, $match) ) {
                $match[1] = preg_replace(&#039;/(?&lt;=^|[\x09\x20\x2D])./e&#039;,
                        &#039;strtoupper(&quot;&quot;)&#039;, strtolower(trim($match[1])));
                if( isset($retVal[$match[1]]) ) {
                    $retVal[$match[1]] = array($retVal[$match[1]],
                                $match[2]);
                } else {
                    $retVal[$match[1]] = trim($match[2]);
                }
            }
        }
        return $retVal;
     }
  ?&gt;
</pre>
<p>Sample Code Output:</p>
<pre>

https://graph.facebook.com/me/friends?access_token=&lt;access_token&gt;

HTTP Code: 200
ETag: &quot;84a290085a1bb6df44534ac017bfed800c407a15&quot;

Executing the same API call with request header <b>If-None-Match: "84a290085a1bb6df44534ac017bfed800c407a15"</b> returns : 

HTTP Code: 304
</pre>
</div>
<p><i><a href="http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/627/">Original Source</a></i></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-to-optimize-the-graph-api-data-fetch-using-etags/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How government can share and re-purpose open source civic software</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-government-can-share-and-re-purpose-open-source-civic-software/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-government-can-share-and-re-purpose-open-source-civic-software</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-government-can-share-and-re-purpose-open-source-civic-software/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:20:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reading List]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketplace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[showcase]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mattbriney.com/2012/01/how-government-can-share-and-re-purpose-open-source-civic-software/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Civic Commons Director Nick Grossman and 2011 Code for America Fellow Jeremy Canfield give an overview of the new Civic Commons Marketplace, a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://civiccommons.org">Civic Commons</a> Director Nick Grossman and 2011 Code for America Fellow Jeremy Canfield give an overview of the new <a href="http://marketplace.civiccommons.org/">Civic Commons Marketplace</a>, a repository and apps showcase for open source civic and government development projects. The marketplace launched in December.</p>
<p>Video:</p>
</p>
<p><i><a href="http://govfresh.com/2012/01/how-government-can-share-and-re-purpose-open-source-civic-software/">Original Source</a></i></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>5 Mac Apps That Make CSS Preprocessors Easier to Use</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/12/5-mac-apps-that-make-css-preprocessors-easier-to-use/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=5-mac-apps-that-make-css-preprocessors-easier-to-use</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2011/12/5-mac-apps-that-make-css-preprocessors-easier-to-use/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:55:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reading List]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[app]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[code]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CSS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supported]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mattbriney.com/2011/12/5-mac-apps-that-make-css-preprocessors-easier-to-use/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you’re a fan of CSS preprocessors, then you know that despite their usefulness, they can be a bit of a pain to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you’re a fan of CSS preprocessors, then you know that despite their usefulness, they can be a bit of a pain to work with at times. Most of them require some sort of Terminal voodoo to compile, which immediately scares off a good portion of potential users.</p>
<p>As always, the Mac development community has come to the rescue with some amazing tools that completely take the effort out of the process. Follow along as we take a look at five great apps that will help you work with LESS, Sass, Stylus and even some non-CSS languages like CoffeeScript and HAML. </p>
<p><span></span></p>
<h2>What Is a CSS Preprocessor?</h2>
<p>A CSS preprocessor is a tool that makes writing CSS easier, more flexible and arguably even more fun. Some purists despise preprocessors and wouldn’t dream of using them, but others, such as the folks at Twitter, have used them as the cornerstone for <a href="http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/">massive frameworks</a> that rapidly speed up web development.</p>
<p>Typically, a CSS preprocessor adds some interesting functionality to CSS such as variables, mixins, functions, nesting, etc. Some even seek to dramatically redefine the CSS syntax so it’s quicker and easier to write. Developers differ on which preprocessor is the best, but ultimately the output is plain old CSS so which you want to use comes down to a matter of preference. Here are the three current forerunners in this area:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://lesscss.org/">LESS</a> <em>- The dynamic stylesheet language</em></li>
<li><a href="http://sass-lang.com/">Sass</a> <em>- Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets</em></li>
<li><a href="http://learnboost.github.com/stylus/">Stylus</a> <em>- Expressive, dynamic, robust CSS</em></li>
</ul>
<p>As I mentioned in the introduction, there are several Mac apps that make working with CSS preprocessors much easier and more enjoyable. Let’s take a look. </p>
<h2>Five Apps to Process Your Files</h2>
</p>
<div>
<img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-1.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></p>
<div>
<h3><a href="http://incident57.com/less/">LESS.app</a></h3>
<p>LESS.app is a little older and narrower than some of the other options on the market today but it still works perfectly for all your LESS projects. LESS used to require a ruby implementation but these days it uses a .js file to automatically compile your code in the browser.</p>
<p>However, for live sites, you’ll still want to use the resulting CSS in its pure form. This requires you to view the source in the browser and copy/paste the code, which is definitely not ideal. With LESS.app, all of your .less files are automatically compiled and output to a .css file. LESS watches your project folder so as you make changes, everything is kept perfectly in sync.</p>
<p><strong>Price:</strong> Free<br />
Supported Languages: LESS</p>
<p>
<div><img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-screen-1.jpg" alt="screenshot" width="375" />
<p>LESS.app</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-2.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></p>
<div>
<h3><a href="http://crunchapp.net/">Crunch!</a></h3>
<p>While most of the apps on this list are aimed at simply compiling files, the Crunch! AIR app goes one step further and is actually a full blown text editor specifically created for LESS. With it, you can write in LESS with full syntax highlighting, organize your code libraries and of course, automatically compile your .less files to .css files.</p>
<p>The app’s UI is unique and attractive and despite the fact that I’m not typically a fan of AIR apps, I really enjoy using Crunch! to write LESS. Even if you don’t like LESS, it’s a decent free CSS editor!</p>
<p><strong>Price:</strong> Free<br />
Supported Languages: LESS</p>
<p>
<div><img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-screen-2.jpg" alt="screenshot" width="375" />
<p>Crunch!</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-3.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></p>
<div>
<h3><a href="http://livereload.com/">LiveReload</a></h3>
<p>LiveReload is a really useful utility that just about every web developer should have, whether you’re working with alternate CSS syntaxes or not. It sits in your menu bar and watches a folder for changes in the files. If a file is updated, it automatically refreshes your browser so you get an up to date look at your page without hitting Command+R every ten seconds. </p>
<p>The beauty is that it goes beyond refreshing the browser and actually processes any code that needs it. For instance, CoffeeScript files are output to JavaScript and Sass files are output to CSS. No word yet on how much it will cost when it finally releases but for now you can enjoy the beta completely free. </p>
<p><strong>Price:</strong> Free (during beta)<br />
Supported Languages: CoffeeScript, SASS/SCSS, LESS, Stylus, HAML and Jade</p>
<p>
<div><img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-screen-3.jpg" alt="screenshot" width="375" />
<p>LiveReload</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-4.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></p>
<div>
<h3><a href="http://incident57.com/codekit/">Codekit</a></h3>
<p>The developers of the LESS.app above have moved on to a new project, it’s very similar in nature with a lot more “wow” thrown in. Codekit not only watches and compiles your LESS files, it also handles your Sass, Stylus and CoffeeScript files. Like LiveReload, it automatically reloads your browser when any files are updated.</p>
<p>It doesn’t stop there though, it goes one step further and allows you to set up frameworks that you can easily reuse in new projects without copying your code. And that’s still not all! As one final trick it can even optimize all the images in your project so that everything stays nice and speedy. Impressive no? </p>
<p><strong>Price:</strong> Free (during beta)<br />
Supported Languages: CoffeeScript, SASS/SCSS, LESS, and Stylus</p>
<p>
<div><img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-screen-4.jpg" alt="screenshot" width="375" />
<p>Codekit</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-5.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /></p>
<div>
<h3><a href="http://compass.handlino.com/">Compass.app</a></h3>
<p><a href="http://compass-style.org/">Compass</a> is an open-source CSS Authoring Framework that is built on Sass. It contains a ton of useful tools such as pre-built CSS3 mixins and it’s easy to extend to suit your own needs. </p>
<p>The Compass.app is a Sass compiler specially built for use with the Compass framework. It compiles your code, reloads your browser and works perfectly with all your favorite Compass extenstions. </p>
<p><strong>Price:</strong> $7<br />
Supported Languages: Sass</p>
<p>
<div><img src="http://mac.appstorm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/csspp-screen-5.jpg" alt="screenshot" width="375" />
<p>Compass.app</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Commenter Additions</h2>
<p>Our commenters have pointed out a few great apps that should be added to this list. Here they are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://wearekiss.com/simpless">SimpLESS</a> – A free and simple LESS compiler.</li>
<li><a href="http://mhs.github.com/scout-app/">Scout</a> – An open source, free compiler for Compass and Sass.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>No matter which CSS preprocessor you favor, the tools above will help you compile your code and perform various other functions with almost zero work on your part. Considering that most of them are completely free, you might as well give these apps a shot and see what you think!</p>
<p>Have you used these or any other similar apps? Leave a comment and let us know!</p>
<div>
<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?a=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?a=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?i=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?a=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?i=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?a=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?i=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?a=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacAppStorm?i=12gZxYuQUWA:1LCppP9Tmqk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0" /></a>
</div>
<p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MacAppStorm/~4/12gZxYuQUWA" height="1" width="1" /></p>
<p><i><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MacAppStorm/~3/12gZxYuQUWA/">Original Source</a></i></p>
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		<title>Code For America Receives $1.5M Grant From Google To Help The Government Harness Technology</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/12/code-for-america-receives-1-5m-grant-from-google-to-help-the-government-harness-technology/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=code-for-america-receives-1-5m-grant-from-google-to-help-the-government-harness-technology</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2011/12/code-for-america-receives-1-5m-grant-from-google-to-help-the-government-harness-technology/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[Receives]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Code for America, a non-profit which tries to bring the people and the power of the internet into government, has received a $1.5 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img width="100" height="70" src="http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/code-for-america.png?w=100&amp;h=70&amp;crop=1" alt="Code for America" />
<p><a href="http://codeforamerica.org/">Code for America,</a> a non-profit which tries to bring the people and the power of the internet into government, has received a $1.5 million grant from Google.</p>
<p>Code for America launched this year to help governments become more transparent, connected, and efficient by connecting web developers with people who deliver city services. Earlier this year, Code for America debuted its inaugural fellowship program, which pairs technologists with leading cities to help them innovate.</p>
<p>In 2011, 19 fellows worked with 3 cities to develop over 21 applications, which are now being reused across the country and around the world. And the non-profit has also brought on Greylock Partner and former Mozilla CEO John Lilly and Tumblr VP and former White House and Google staffer Andrew McLaughlin to its Board of Directors. Other backers include the John S and James L Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation.</p>
<p>With the new funding, the organization is also launching two new programs (a Civic Startup Incubator and a Volunteer Engagement Platform). The seed accelerator, which has raised initial funding from Kauffman Foundation, will launch in the Spring of 2012 to help foster sustainable businesses that can become the next generation of government vendors.</p>
<p>In 2012, Code for America will also roll out an online platform to connect civic hackers and others with each other locally, and to reuse and remix civic apps in their cities.</p>
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<p><i><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/DZTIKCb8Gp0/">Original Source</a></i></p>
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		<title>PhoneGap Creator Nitobi Acquired by Adobe</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/10/phonegap-creator-nitobi-acquired-by-adobe/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=phonegap-creator-nitobi-acquired-by-adobe</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2011/10/phonegap-creator-nitobi-acquired-by-adobe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:05:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reading List]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[application]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Adobe just made a big splash in the mobile development world today by announcing that it has acquired Nitobi, the maker of the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img alt="" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile//PhoneGapLogo.png" width="150" height="150" />Adobe just made a big splash in the mobile development world today by <a href="http://blogs.nitobi.com/andre/index.php/2011/10/03/nitobi-enters-into-acquisition-agreement-with-adobe/">announcing that it has acquired Nitobi</a>, the maker of the popular PhoneGap framework. Nitobi confirmed the acquisition and added that part of the acquisition was that Nitobi continue with its application to place the<a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/09/phonegap-applies-to-apache-sof.php"> PhoneGap source code in the Apache Software Foundation.</a></p>
<p>PhoneGap is a &#8220;wrapper&#8221; that developers use to turn Web applications built through HTML5 and Javascript into native applications for mobile platforms such as iOS and Android. Terms of the acquisition were not announced. Essentially what Adobe has done is to distance itself from the problems it has created with Flash on mobile and align itself with the hottest mobile developers in the ecosystem. 
</p>
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<p>PhoneGap itself will continue to be open source. PhoneGap Build, which includes proprietary code, will be how Adobe monetizes the Nitobi acquisition. Yet, let&#8217;s get one thing straight here &#8211; this is about talent as much as it is about code.</p>
<p><img alt="monkchips_phonegap.jpg" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/monkchips_phonegap.jpg" width="527" height="219" /></p>
<p>Adobe has been left out in the cold ever since Apple decided that it would not support Flash for iOS. Android finally got on board the Flash wagon with version 2.2 Frozen Yogurt but the fact of the matter is that Flash does not run well on mobile devices anywhere. </p>
<p>In a press release, Adobe said that it work to make contributions to the HTML5 community and work with open source projects like WebKit and JQuery. Adobe will take a big step in game development across platforms with PhoneGap at its back and will finally have a firm way into to the native application ecosystem that it has been mostly shut out of the last couple of years. </p>
<p><img alt="dion_almer_phonegap.jpg" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/dion_almer_phonegap.jpg" width="555" height="187" /></p>
<p>Once the acquisition closes at the end of October and PhoneGap furthers its application with the Apache Software Foundation, PhoneGap will likely cease to exist as a brand. It will then become Apache branded, with &#8220;Apache DeviceReady&#8221; the early name being kicked around.</p>
<p>Is this good news? Both Nitobi and Adobe are excited and the fact that PhoneGap will remain open source through Apache means that most developers will hardly see a change. If you are a PhoneGap Build customer, you are going to be sending your check to Adobe now instead of Nitobi. Let us know you thoughts in the comments. 
</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/10/phonegap-creator-nitobi-acquir.php#comments-open">Discuss</a></strong></p>
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<p><i><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/wMoqi2lZQlI/phonegap-creator-nitobi-acquir.php">Original Source</a></i></p>
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		<title>6 Tips for Launching a Product on Facebook</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/09/6-tips-for-launching-a-product-on-facebook/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=6-tips-for-launching-a-product-on-facebook</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Facebook Marketing Series is supported by Buddy Media. Power your connections and turn fans and into real connections when you run technology [...]]]></description>
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<p></a><em>The <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook-marketing-series">Facebook Marketing Series</a> is supported by <a rel="nofollow" href="http://forms.buddymedia.com/whitepaper-form_review-strategies-for-effective-facebook-wall-posts_retail_campaign.html?utm_source=Mashable&amp;utm_medium=Banner&amp;utm_content=DataReport2_Whitepaper&amp;utm_campaign=Banner%7CMashable%7CSiteServed%7CPartnerPost%7CText">Buddy Media</a>. Power your connections and turn fans and into real connections when you run technology powered by Buddy Media. Download Buddy Media’s free guide for Successful Retail Social Posting to learn how to drive results with your social postings.</em></p>
<p><img src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/facebook-rocket-360.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="" />Businesses rely on Facebook to increase brand awareness, build community and strengthen customer service (for starters).</p>
<p>But how can companies effectively leverage Facebook to amplify new product launches? We spoke with some companies — large and small — that used Facebook to effectively introduce products to the marketplace and generate new sales.</p>
<hr />
<h2>1. Build a Targeted Audience</h2>
<hr />
<p>To ensure that time spent online is time well spent, businesses must focus on building and cultivating a targeted audience. Start by defining your audience and developing a strategy to attract that demographic to the Facebook Page. A content strategy, social giveaways and <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/08/29/facebook-ads-tips/">Facebook ads</a> can help companies reach the right people.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.sneakpeeq.com/">sneakpeeq</a> co-founder and president Henry Kim says, “We learned that if you get the right audience to share your product in the beginning — and getting this audience excited about your company is a giant step — you can do this with little money. Be creative. Where else can you get an instant audience for your company?”</p>
<p>A growing Facebook community is also an evolving community. Sheri Wallace, who works with <a href="http://www.dandelionforbaby.com/">Dandelion</a>, seller of eco-friendly baby products, notes: “The community at 10,000 fans is not the same as it was at 2,000.” She adds that keeping in touch with the parents has been crucial to increased growth and to the success of newly launched products.</p>
<hr />
<h2>2. Reward Existing Community Members</h2>
<hr />
<p><img src="http://8.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Picture-81.png" alt="" width="471" height="294" /></p>
</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.facebook.com/nikegolf">Nike Golf</a> launched a new golf ball during the Master’s Tournament, it offered a select number of limited edition green swoosh 20XI balls to Facebook fans in three time-based giveaways in the days leading up to the tournament. The giveaway occurred several weeks before the 20XI balls were available in retail stores, so the public did not yet have access to the product.</p>
<p>In addition to giving away a small number of golf balls, Nike Golf also offered a free shipping promotional code as a “consolation prize.” According to Brian Carter, digital marketing manager for Nike Golf, the launch doubled interaction rates and led to a significant increase in impressions. Most notably, the revenue generated from the campaign’s promotional code was six times the cost to run the campaign.</p>
<hr />
<h2>3. Create Clear Landing Pages &amp; Calls to Action</h2>
<hr />
<p>In some cases, Facebook can function like a traditional website landing page. <a href="http://www.transparentcorp.com">Transparent Corp</a>, a software company that exclusively sells its products online, has used Facebook Page tabs to create “condensed and easily sharable versions of the landing pages for new software products,” according to <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/mind_update">Aaron Smyk</a>, the company’s director of social media and marketing. </p>
<p>Smyk offers the following tips to create effective landing pages within Facebook:</p>
<ul>
<li>Account for design restrictions. The section of a Facebook page that you can control and design is a fixed width of 520 pixels. Additionally, if the design extends beyond 800 pixels in height, a horizontal scroll bar will be automatically inserted into the design, which can take away from the overall aesthetic and functionality. For a cleaner, smoother integration, plan on a height of 800 pixels or less.</li>
<li>Keep navigation options extremely simple or rely on the existing left menu to navigate between pages. During the design process, remember that the custom part will be surrounded by Facebook’s existing navigational options.</li>
<li>Include clear calls to action. What do you want the user to do when they land on your page? Make sure that’s abundantly clear for a user. Smyk suggested, “Include clear links on the landing page for your new product that allow users to move forward in learning more about your product, or purchasing it. You don’t want these pages to be dead ends. All the typical ‘call to action’ rules still apply here.”</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2>4. Solicit Feedback to Fine-Tune the Product</h2>
<hr />
<p>If a business has effectively built a Facebook following that resembles the target market, this network can be a major research and development asset. Ask for feedback, design input and functionality requests. If you’re launching a product with a beta testing period, ask the Facebook community for volunteers. </p>
<hr />
<h2>5. Leverage Geotargeting Features</h2>
<hr />
<p><img src="http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Picture-5.png" alt="" width="484" height="290" /></p>
</p>
<p>If the product announcement includes a soft launch targeting specific cities, take advantage of Facebook’s geotargeting tools, including ads and customized status updates.</p>
<p>Facebook ads can be targeted by state, city or zip code. But, don’t stop there. Dig deeper to create a more targeted, cost-efficient, effective campaign. For example, if your product appeals to people who work in a specific industry, research the major players in that space and target the ad to people who work at those companies and live in the city you’re trying to dig into. </p>
<p><img src="http://4.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/facebook_ads_best_practices_targeting.jpg" alt="" width="629" height="556" /></p>
</p>
<p>But, sneakpeeq’s Kim warns, “Be smart about spending money on Facebook. Do a lot of testing and find out what works. Start small and when you find something that works, keep doing it and on a broader scale.”</p>
<p>In addition to geotargeting ads, posts can be directed toward certain locations. Just click the button underneath the status box to customize who can see the update. The default setting is “public,” but page admins can select a country and then specify states or cities.</p>
<hr />
<h2>6. Make a Splash with Creative Giveaways</h2>
<hr />
<p>In 2009, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/LittleDebbie">Little Debbie</a> used the launch of the new Little Debbie Chocolate Cupcakes as a centerpiece of the brand’s entrance into Facebook. The product launch included:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Share-A-Thon Giveaway</strong>. Fans could enter to win a new two-seater Smart Car (as featured in the <a href="http://www.luckie.com/work/little-debbie/share-a-thon/share-a-thon-tv-spot-suburbs/?filter=featured&amp;slideshow=true&amp;play=auto">Little Debbie TV ads</a>) and other weekly and monthly prizes.</li>
<li><strong>Million Cupcake Giveaway.</strong> To celebrate National Cupcake Day, Little Debbie gave away 125,000 boxes of the new cupcakes — totaling 1 million cupcakes — to randomly selected fans who had entered the Share-A-Thon Giveaway.</li>
<li><strong>“Cupcake Cars”</strong> were driven across the United States, distributing samples and posting photo galleries to Facebook and <a href="http://mashable.com/follow/topics/flickr">Flickr</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/griner">David Griner</a>, director of digital content for <a href="http://luckie.com/">Luckie &amp; Co</a>., the agency that helped Little Debbie develop and implement these campaigns, Facebook continues to be a major components of their product launch strategy. “With each launch, we feature the new products on Facebook, solicit fan feedback and offer occasional giveaways to encourage sampling. Since the cupcake launch, we’ve doubled the Facebook audience to more than 1 million Likes, thanks largely to giveaways and other promotions that help fans feel engaged with the brand.” </p>
<p>Companies want to get creative with giveaways, but as Kim notes, it’s important to stay true to the brand and use giveaways as a learning opportunity. “Everything we gave away was something we were already selling or planning to sell on sneakpeeq in terms of product/brands. We also used the launch on Facebook to educate consumers about what sneakpeeq is — a social shopping site with a twist.”</p>
<p>What advice can you offer to companies who want to incorporate Facebook into their product launch? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
<hr /><strong>Series Supported by Buddy Media</strong></p>
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<p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook/">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook-marketing-series/">Facebook Marketing Series</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/features/">features</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/mashable/">mashable</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/product-launch/">product launch</a></p>
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		<title>Skype iOS App Vulnerability Lets Hackers Steal User Data</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/09/skype-ios-app-vulnerability-lets-hackers-steal-user-data/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=skype-ios-app-vulnerability-lets-hackers-steal-user-data</link>
		<comments>http://mattbriney.com/2011/09/skype-ios-app-vulnerability-lets-hackers-steal-user-data/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:50:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[A nasty security bug in Skype‘s iOS app can lead to users’ personal information being stolen. The cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability, demonstrated in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
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<div></div>
</div>
<p>A nasty security bug in <a href="http://mashable.com/follow/topics/skype/">Skype</a>‘s iOS app can lead to users’ personal information being stolen. </p>
<p>The cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability, demonstrated in the video below, is present in Skype 3.0.1 and earlier versions of Skype’s iOS app. </p>
<p>It lets an attacker create malicious JavaScript code that runs when the user views a text message in Skype’s chat window. The code can be used to access any file that the Skype app itself has access to, including the address book on your <a href="http://mashable.com/category/iphone/">iPhone</a>. </p>
<p>The technical explanation of the bug can be found <a href="https://superevr.com/blog/2011/xss-in-skype-for-ios/">here</a>. </p>
<p>Skype is aware of the issue and is working on a fix. “We are working hard to fix this reported issue in our next planned release, which we hope to roll out imminently,” Skype said in a <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/20/skype-aware-of-xss-vulnerability-in-ios-apps-working-hard-to-fix-it/">statement</a>. </p>
</p>
<p>[via <a href="https://superevr.com/blog/2011/xss-in-skype-for-ios/">Superevr</a>]</p>
<p>More About: <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/hack/">hack</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/hackers/">hackers</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/security/">security</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/skype/">Skype</a>, <a href="http://mashable.com/tag/vulnerability/">vulnerability</a></p>
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		<title>Google Chrome Demolishes App Divide</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/09/google-chrome-demolishes-app-divide/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=google-chrome-demolishes-app-divide</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Google&#039;s powerful Web browser Chrome has unveiled a release that brings us all a little closer to univseral Web development. The release came [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<hr />
<p><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/chrome-mini.gif" height="75" width="75" alt="" /><b>Google&#039;s powerful Web browser Chrome has unveiled a release that brings us all a little closer to univseral Web development.</b></p>
<p>The release came with two new technologies: Web Audio API, a feature that brings some advanced audio capabilities to JavaScript, and Native Client, which allows for execution of C and C++ code within the browser. Oh, and it also seemingly erases the divide between Web and native apps. </p>
<p>Originally, these features had been released on the beta channel back in August, but they are now a prominent part of the Chrome experience.</p>
<p>Web Audio API will help developers add in audio effects to JavaScript programming that will allow them to have a little more fun with &quot;cool&quot; sounds, as opposed to just playing back simple files. These only appear on browsers that support Web Audio API. </p>
<p>It&#039;s safe to say that most developers are going to be more interested in the offical release of Native Client, which makes it possible for all Chrome users to run applications that have been written in either C or C++ securely inside their browser. It works through the use of an API Google calls &quot;Pepper&quot; that provides HTML5 bindings for C and C++. When Native Client apps use Pepper, they will be provdied with a set of interfaces that equip them with the necessary bindings, allowing developers to leverage their proficiency and knowledge of the native code and pump out portable, high performance Web apps. </p>
<p>Google says that they have plans to eventually make Native Client available to other browers as a plugin. This could pave the way for cloud-based applications to execute desktop-level codes that could be run on Google Chrome, more or less eradicating the line between Web/cloud and desktop applications. </p>
<p>In addtion to these two major overhauls, Google&#039;s update also presents some improvements for Mac OS X Lion users, which, as I&#039;m sure they&#039;ll tell you, isn&#039;t the most Chrome-friendly OS available. These include fixing crash bugs and adding some &quot;visual polish,&quot; like the new Lion scrollbars and support for full-screen mode.</p>
<p> </p>
<div></div>
<p><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=17534" width="1" height="1" /></p>
<p><i><a href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2011/09/18/google-chrome-demolishes-web-and-native-app-divide.aspx">Original Source</a></i></p>
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		<title>QR Card Us Responds to Feedback, Liberates Your Contact Info</title>
		<link>http://mattbriney.com/2011/08/qr-card-us-responds-to-feedback-liberates-your-contact-info/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=qr-card-us-responds-to-feedback-liberates-your-contact-info</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Briney</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[St. Louis-based mother-son team Spearhead Development has updated its QR Card Us product in response to customer feedback, cranking out a new iteration [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img alt="QRCardUs_150.png" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/lead-images/QRCardUs_150.png" width="150" height="150" />St. Louis-based mother-son team Spearhead Development has updated its <a href="https://www.spearheaddev.com/qrcardus/">QR Card Us</a> product in response to customer feedback, cranking out a new iteration in just one week. We <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/qr_card_us.php">covered the launch</a> of the mobile Web-powered business card provider on August 18.</p>
<p>The new version of <a href="https://www.spearheaddev.com/qrcardus/">QR Card Us</a> separates the QR link itself from the &#8216;hard card,&#8217; or physical business card, so that customers can buy standalone QR Cards &#8211; mobile-friendly Web pages from which contact info can be saved &#8211; without worrying about their physical cards becoming outdated. It also adds Organizations, which allow a moderator to manage QR Cards for a company, club or any kind of group. Finally, the update adds Notes, which lets users attach any kind of text note about a new contact to their saved info.</p>
<p align="right"><em>Sponsor</em><br /><a href="http://d.ads.readwriteweb.com/ck.php?n=28591&amp;cb=28591"><img src="http://d.ads.readwriteweb.com/avw.php?zoneid=14&amp;cb=28591&amp;n=28591" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>
<p><img alt="qrcardus_small.png" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/qrcardus_small.png" width="280" height="161" />An annual $15 fee provides ongoing support for the QR Card, which can be updated anytime, to which the QR code is a permanent link. Buying a standalone QR Card allows customers to put their code wherever they want, such as their own branded materials. Customers can also purchase &#8216;hard cards,&#8217; or physical business cards, for a one-time printing fee, alongside the $15 annual charge for the Web-based card. Customers can order new hard cards without affecting the subscription for the Web card.</p>
<p><img alt="qrcardus_colors.png" src="http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/qrcardus_colors.png" width="278" height="178" />While <a href="https://www.spearheaddev.com/qrcardus/">QR Card Us</a> provides color, layout and typography choices for both the physical and Web cards, many prospective customers requested more control over their own brand. Thanks to the power of Web-based communication, the flexibility of the small team and the online core of QR Card Us, Spearhead Dev was able to iterate quickly to respond to these concerns within a week.</p>
<p>To learn more about QR Card Us, check out <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/qr_card_us.php#body">our initial post</a>, in which 19-year-old co-founder Michael Schade describes his vision of &#8220;making technology accessible for everyone.&#8221; Also make sure to visit their website at <a href="http://qrcard.us">qrcard.us</a>.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve also covered lots of different ways mobile Web technologies have been applied to business and personal networking, which you can explore <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/qr_card_us.php#bottom">here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Have you ever used a mobile business card reader for networking? Tell us about it in the comments.</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/qr_card_us_update.php#comments-open">Discuss</a></strong>
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