🪅 Heap Heap Hurray Ed. #318

Happy Thursday! Let's make the most of the last few days!

#LiquidGlass - Apple could release the first iOS 26 public beta as soon as next week, likely on July 23rd. This comes unusually late, as Apple typically releases public builds just days after developer beta 3. That is why it is likely we might see developer beta 4 arrive tomorrow before the public beta drops.

#AWS - AWS Free tier has now been modified. You now get $200 worth credits - more than the previous one. But at a cost - previously the free tier was for 12 months. It’s now been reduced to only 6 months. Further, the credits are not available for use at once - you need to earn $100 worth credits by using 5 services that they have mentioned - to be eligible to get them.

#Cloudflare - Do you know that Cloudflare offers a free public DNS at 1[dot]1[dot]1[dot]1 ? Well, it went down, causing inconvenience to users globally in accessing the internet. Turns out they were not hacked - just a misconfiguration of legacy systems.

#Waifu - Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. xAI team, the ones behind Grok, are looking for a full stack engineer - that can work with “Waifu” - female fictional characters with romantic traits. We are not sure what that has got to do with code development but we recommend our readers to try your luck.

No news today. Nothing to report on - there were some layoffs by Scale AI. And some more by Wells Fargo in India. Then a launch event for Pixel 10 was announced by Google. And much more. But nothing made the cut - so we are not publishing any posts in this section today.

Xbox - Stream your own games from your library directly from the Xbox PC app.

ChatGPT - New 'Style' feature enables users to easily create AI-generated images in various styles, including anime, by selecting a predefined prompt and converting images with a single click.

Windows - Copilot Vision can now see and interact with the entire desktop, providing users with tips, insights, and information about open apps.

React Native - Node-API integration for native module system.

Ishan Anand | How LLMs work for Web Devs: GPT in 600 lines of Vanilla JS - Ever wonder how ChatGPT actually works? This engineer breaks down the magic behind LLMs, showing you how to build a GPT-like model in just 600 lines of plain JavaScript. No complex libraries, no black boxes. You'll see how text becomes tokens, how the model "understands" context, and how it predicts the next word. This is the deep dive you've been waiting for.

Google Maps Reimagined: Crafting Interactive, Animated Experiences - Forget static pins. A top developer reveals how to bring Google Maps to life with stunning animations and interactive elements. Learn the secrets to bypassing Google's limitations and creating truly dynamic map experiences in your Android apps. This is a masterclass in pushing the boundaries of what's possible with maps.

Tapas Adhikary | Scaling Your Front-End in a Realistic Way - Is your front-end a tangled mess? A seasoned expert with two decades of experience reveals the tell-tale signs of an unscalable app and shares a realistic roadmap to fix it. Learn how to build a robust front-end that can handle anything you throw at it, from a massive user base to a flood of new features. This is a must-watch for any developer who wants to build for the future.

Mastering Scroll-driven Animations In Web Development
This article will teach you how to create interactive experiences by tying the movement and transformation of elements directly to the user's scroll position. You will learn how to animate text and headings based on the user's scroll position, create a solid and accessible fallback, and use pseudo-elements to animate content dynamically.

Database Trends Revealed
Hacker News data analysis shows DuckDB's explosive growth, with 50.7% YoY increase, followed by ClickHouse and Supabase. PostgreSQL maintains a strong 3-yr slope, while cloud-native SaaS engines like DynamoDB and BigQuery decline in share of conversation.

Browser Alternatives Emerge
Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari currently dominate the web browser market. But users seeking alternatives will find a variety of browsers aiming to challenge these industry giants. This includes browsers leveraging AI, open source browsers that promote customization and privacy, and “mindful browsers”