Last week we had F8 from Facebook, this week we got 2 more conferences - Build from Microsoft and Google IO. Microsoft focused on integrations and IoT:

• iOS and Android can sync with Windows
• Cartana and Alexa can work together
• Timeline for iOS and Android
• Microsoft will pay developers up to 95% of the revenue
• Sets and new Alt-Tab
• Kinnect brought to the cloud
• Azure IoT Edge
• Microsoft Graph
• Mixed reality comes to the workplaces
• Visual Studio Live Share Public Preview
• .NET Core 2.1 RC1
• .Net Core 3 will support Windows Desktop Applications

Next day, Google showed us:

• Android P
• New Google Assistant Voices
• Google Duplex
• Smart displays with Google Assistant
• Gmail with intelligent auto completion
• Google Maps gets social features and augmented reality
• Google photos get new editing features
• Google News
• Ability to copy text from real world objects

Now, we know what 3 of 4 biggest IT companies are up to, Apple will unveil its plans during WWDC next month.

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the iMac. Personally I'm not a big fan of the iMac line, but without a doubt this machine changed the way how people perceive personal computers.

Speaking of Apple computers. On Friday a class action lawsuit was filed in federal court. Apple is accused of knowing about flows and defects in MacBook Pro's keyboard before it launched in 2015.
Last week we saw report about high number of keyboard failures in MacBook Pro, so this lawsuit was just a matter of time. As this "keyboard gate" is developing rapidly I will keep an eye on this matter with a great interest.

Also this week we had a premiere of the Solo: A Star Wars Story. The first reactions are positive, saying that the movie is funny. It looks like Lucasfilm did it again, even with directors swap in the middle of shooting.

As we are on the topic of Star Wars, Jon Favreau give us a couple of news about his upcoming live action TV series. It will be set about 7 years after battle of Endor. It will introduce brand new characters. The technology used for the Jungle Book and Lion King will also be used to make the TV show.

As for the interesting links, I only have one - E3 2018 conference schedule.

Image credits: Google.

At the beginning of this week, Facebook hold the F8 developer conference. Let's face it, this year edition was in shadow of Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Nevertheless, Facebook announced couple of interesting things:

• Tool for removing cookies,
• Third party apps will go through the review process,
• Dating app built into Facebook,
• WhatsApp is getting stickers and group video calls,
• Instagram is getting integration with 3rd party apps,
• Oculus Go.

Also this week, AppleInsider presented report showing that 2016 MacBook Pro keyboard is failing twice as frequently as older models. I'm working on such MacBook Pro for over a year and I must admit, those stats don't surprise me. It has one of the worst keyboards I ever worked with.

Google and GitHub made one step closer to safer Internet. Google launched .app domains with HTTPS built-in. GitHub added HTTPS support for custom domains on GitHub Pages.

And finally, here is the list of cool things.

Portrait in pure CSS
Diana Adrianne did amazing female portrait using only css.

What's new in Swift
This site explains Swift new features. What's cool about this site, it contains changes and features introduced in every version of the Swift - since version 1.0 up to current release (4.2). Thanks to this, you can select your current stack and gradually move to newer versions.

How to make meetings (with your client) more effective
I know, putting my own article here is a little bit selfish, but screw this. I think it is worth reading, so I'm gonna promote it.

Image credits: Facebook.

Today is Star Wars day, the annual celebration of Star Wars. And now there is no better time to be Star Wars fan. Every year we get a new feature length movie. We had awesome animated show (which by the way, had better storyline and characters than some of the blockbuster movies). Not to mention we can explore the Expanded Universe from novels and comic books.
When Disney bought Lucasfilm in late 2012, and they basically reset the canon I was afraid that they gonna ruin our beloved franchise. But I also hoped that they could do the same thing what they did with Marvel franchise. Where everything is connected, and one movie leads to another.
Now, couple years later, I know they did that. Not like Marvel, only with movies. They took advantage of every medium. Books introduce us to the movies and comics fill the gaps. All of them are more or less connected with TV series.
And my fears from the past are gone. Disney and Lucasfilm not only kept the spirit of Star Wars, but they gave it a new life. I can only hope they keep going and never stop.

Image credits: BagoGames.

This week Disney announced new TV series - Star Wars Resistance. It will be animated story of young pilot - Kazuda Xiono - recruited by the Resistance. For now we don't know much about the story, beside the fact that we'll meet new trilogy characters like Poe Dameron and Captain Phasma.
The series is created by Lucasfilm Animation veterans, including Dave Filoni.
Show will have its premiere this fall.

After many years Google decided to redesign Gmail. After Google Calendar, the mail client also got the Material design.
I must admit that after years of using old Gmail, now it feels strange, but I'm sure this is something that I'll get use to.

Unboxings of Nintendo Lobo started showing up on YouTube. I must admit, after watching first announcements I was skeptical. Now, after seeing how this works behind the scenes I am really impressed. I had no idea how much ingenuity and engineering was put to create Labo experiments.

And last but not least, here is the list of interesting articles.

Here are three common ways to create your Lambda functions with AWS
Serverless becomes more and more popular. Here you will learn how to create serverless functions using AWS.

Creating a Website with Nuxt.js and WordPress REST API
From this article you will learn how to create custom CMS using Vue.js, Nuxt.js and Wordpress as a backend.

I built a screenshot API and some guy was mining cryptocurrencies with it
Good reminder that we should always protect our APIs because they can be exploited to do unusual things.

Higher Order Function and its uses in Swift 4
Here you will find overview of functional programming in Swift.

Managing UI Colours with iOS 11 Asset Catalogs
Arnold Sakhnov explains how to manage and use UIColors in iOS projects.

JavaScript ES6 — write less, do more
Short but refreshing overview of new functionality introduced in ES6.

Vue.js & Electron: The easy way
Vue-CLI 3 is here and from this post you will learn how to use it to create Electron project.

Image credits: Disney.

This week LinusTechTips published a video in which they claimed that Apple and an Apple Authorized Service Provider denied to repair damaged iMac Pro.
What's really interesting about this situation, Apple not only refused to do repairs based on warranty, which is understandable because of the modifications done by LinusTechTips, but they also refused when youtuber wanted to pay for the repairs. Apple support advisor justified the refusal on limited availability of replacement parts. Regardless of the real reason I have different question. Is iMac Pro reparable at all? As long as the machine is on 1 year warranty, and we don't do any modifications to it, we should be fine. But what can we do with broken $5000 computer after warranty?
This is a little bit concerning, I hope that Apple will clarify this incident.

On another note, once again, the Internet did not disappoint. This time people croudfounded Elon Musk a new couch.

The marketing campaign for Solo: A Star Wars Story has started for good. This week we got two TV ads: Crew and Risk.

And finally, here is list of interesting articles.

Oh Man, Look at Your API!
Designing a REST API - or any other API, for that matter - is hard. Alexey gives couple of tips explaining how to make it good and usable.

Yes, React is taking over front-end development. The question is why.
React exploded in recent years and became one the most popular, if not the most popular, library in fronted development. Also there are no signs that is going to change in the near future. In this article Samer tries to explain the reasons that caused this phenomenon.

Scratching the Firebase services with your iOS app
Deyan explains how to create and setup an iOS app that uses Firebase as a backend.

Image credits: LinusTechTips.