On Track

Downcast General web Comcast [github] is a Go tool to simulate crappy network conditions, so you can see what how your site/app functions in more typical situations. Thrust [github] is a Chromium-based cross platform app framework that lets you distribute Node, Go or Python apps through their native package managers. Zagros [github] is a PHP bug tracker written in Laravel 4 by a Versioning reader (thanks Mohsen!)

A Drop in the Ocean Design A deep dive into the UX of mobile settings [setentaydos] finds that Android does pretty well, Windows Phone not so much. This is a cool deconstruction of Facebook’s fancy content placeholder thing [cloudcannon]. Then a look at multipliers in JavaScript animation [jameschambers] and why small changes can make a big difference. Ocean [ocean.ink] is a community for designers to share their work and receive feedback. Here’s a list of 15 essential Sass mixins [developerdrive]. Essential! Hurry! CSS Dig [cssdig] is a Chrome extension that lets you analyze your site’s CSS in clever ways, doing things like reporting on your most-commonly-used colors.

Retro SitePoint From the weekend, here’s a guide to running Chrome apps on a mobile device using Cordova. Then we have a guide to incorporating Ajax to your WordPress plugin. Agile practitioners, you won’t want to miss this piece on making agile retrospectives productive and worthwhile.

On Track News/business Twitter is using a hidden, undeletable tracking number created by Verizon to track its users’ behaviour on mobile devices [propublica], which is a little bit terrible. Semi-related, here’s an update to Mozilla’s Data Privacy Principles [blog.mozilla]. It’s refreshingly short. GitHub Todos [github] is a Node module to turn your TODOs into GitHub Issues.

Everything Is Awesome Off-topic Glose [glose] is a super social eBook reader which bears a close resemblance to the unfortunately shuttered Readmill. Wildcard [itunes.apple] is an iOS browser (US-only for now) based on the “card” UI popularized by Google. Oculus Rift owners now have access to the very worst videogame ever created, with the release of Desert Bus VR [desertbusvr]. The game is based on classic terrible thing Desert Bus, outlined in this (newly paywalled) New Yorker article [newyorker]. A guy had NFC chips injected into his hand to store his Bitcoin wallet [arstechnica], which means people will need to literally hack into him to steal his cash. Finally, this is apparently a functional Lego particle accelerator [jkbrickworks]. More dangerous than Lego Batman, for sure.