Here are some interesting links for your weekend reading:
Cloud
Windows Azure Import/Export service preview: Because the bandwidth of a FedEx truck is pretty awesome. Oh, there's some other Azure announcements there as well.
SQL Server Support blog: The SQL Server Support blog is currently running a series of posts based on customer questions about Windows Azure SQL Database. Here's what's been published so-far:
Client/Mobile
IE11 comes to Windows 7: If you are still on Windows 7, IE11 is now an option for you.
X-tag: X-tag is a library that lets you use web components custom elements in current gen browsers.
Hammer.js: A library for multi-touch gestures.
Lenticular: Tilt controlled images.
How to sign into Windows 8.1 without a Microsoft account using a local user: Sort of non-obvious, but good to know.
Eight-Bit Universal Roleplaying Game: Written in CoffeeScript.
Java
- Migrating a Java Spring framework app to Windows Azure: Write up about some improvements for Java on Windows Azure.
Node.js
- Meteor in production: While there's some good discussion about cons of running Meteor on PaaS, the real meat of the article is to introduce demeteorizer, which lets you turn a Meteor app into a plain Node.js app.
Ruby
Rails 4.0.1 released: Follow the link for all the details.
Upgrade to Capistrano 3: Good to know if you have a project that you need/want to upgrade to use v3.0.
Make Bundler crazy fast: Parallelize gem installs.
Misc.
Elixir - The love child of Ruby and Erlang: While I haven't had a chance to do any major applications with Elixir, it's the first functional language that I've been able to wrap my head around.
OpenNote: If you like taking notes, but don't like being tied to EverNote, OneNote, or any other proprietary solution/service, here's an open source alternative for you.
Enjoy!
- Larry