Codeplace – Learn Web Development the Right Way

I really like the look of Codeplace as a way to start or further your web development skills. I came across the site on ProductHunt, and I liked what their CEO had to say:

Codeplace’s objective is to make you ready for your next web development job. Our belief is that the more you practice building real web applications, the more comfortable you will feel as a developer. That’s why our library mainly consists of code projects such as a Project Management Tool, 2 Sided Marketplace, Social Network, Automated Social Platform, Dating App and More. We’ve also just launched our new Web Development Path this week. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂 [Tiago Martins via ProductHunt]

Codeplace features tracks for beginners and seasoned developers. It looks like a great way to level-up!

Peanut allergy cured in majority of children in immunotherapy trial – The Guardian

Hope for children with Type 1 peanut allergies:

A small clinical trial conducted at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute has led to two-thirds of children treated with an experimental immunotherapy treatment being cured of their allergy. Importantly, this desensitization to peanuts persisted for up to four years after treatment. [The Guardian]

The article goes on to say that Prof. Mimi Tang developed a new kind of treatment combining “a probiotic with peanut oral immunotherapy”. This was designed as a way to “reprogram the immune system’s response to peanuts”.

All of this was very interesting to my wife and I as our oldest has a Type 1 peanut allergy. What’s more, we’ve long suspected that her allergy developed when she was on a trial of antibiotics, and we gave her some peanut butter. Prior to that, she’d had peanut butter with no allergic reaction. However, during this instance, we gave her the peanut butter and shortly after she developed a mild anaphylactic response. We wondered if her immune system was hyper-sensitized by the antibiotics, and it started attacking the peanut butter.

Compressify: video compression

Want to add a video background to your site, but you need to compress your video? Check out Compressify.

Google’s new VP9 codec for WebM format video files offer significant savings on bitrate for practically identical quality video files. Compressify uses an algorithm to automatically detect the optimal reduced bitrate and re-encodes the file, compressing video files by 20-60% with visually identical frames and virtually the same browser compatibility. For best results, compress from your source video.

Source: Compressify: video compression

Links of Interest – Apple Stuff

Ever wonder how you’d use an iPhone if you were blind? Read about The little-known iPhone feature that helps blind people see with their fingers (David Pogue via Yahoo Finance).

Motherboard lifts the curtain on Apple’s mysterious iPhone calibration machine:

“It was a big clunky machine that honestly looked like someone built it in their backyard,” a former Apple Genius told me. “There were different ‘moulds’ that different iPhone models would go into before going in the machine, and it would take around 30 minutes … there was some weird liquid that needed to be placed in the machine that we would have to wear gloves with to fix it. Lots of gas type valves and whatnot. It literally looked like some backyard home job. Not very Apple-like at all.”

~ Motherboard

Ever use Apple Notes on your iPhone or iPad? Federico Viticci shows us how to become an Apple Notes power-user in Optimizing Apple Notes.

Apple has hired much respected security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski. While checking out Jonathan’s blog, I happened to come across his thoughts on Christianity. Turns out he is a thoughtful Christian. His defense of his faith is refreshing.

On the heels of my review of Apple Watch, The Verge explains why Apple Watch is still the best designed smartwatch.