Make Smarter - Google I/O 2012, JSConf, Learning Github, and Building an App with GeoLocation and Tracking

A couple of big conferences wrapped up recently, leaving me with more presentation videos than I can waggle a mouse at.

First, check out the gaggle of videos available from Google I/O. The quantity and quality of stuff that came out at this year’s I/O was staggering, even by Google standards. A new Android release, a Nexus 7 tablet (want), Google Maps 3.9, Chrome developer tools…Gaaah! I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. Note that there are videos available for a lot of the sessions at the above linked page that don’t have a video marker next to it in the grid - click on the session to see if there is a video available. Here is a really good talk on Spatial Data Visualization that shows off a lot of the new Google Maps 3.9 features.

Next up is JSConf, which has a bunch of videos online. One of the really good ones is from Paul Irish on JavaScript Tooling. The tools available for HTML5/JS development are getting really good. I have been fighting against the whole CSS/JS/HTML preprocessor business, but it may be a loosing battle.

New to Git (or version control in general)? tryGit is what you’re looking for. In 15 minutes it will walk you through everything you need to get started, including creating your first Github repo.

And finally, mobile tuts+ is starting a new 2-part series called Build an Exercise Tracking App. It uses PhoneGap to create a mobile app that includes geolocation and tracking, with results viewed in Google Maps. PhoneGap essentially wraps your HTML5/JS app with a native framework so you can get access to device API’s and deploy in app stores. If you have been thinking about creating mobile apps, this is a set of tutorials to follow.