Keeping up with technology is a lot of work. Luckily, we enjoy wading through the noise just to find the gems of awesomeness sprinkled throughout. Fusion Radar is our gift to you, Current or Potential Client, so that you can enjoy all of the awesome without any of the drudgery. Unwrap it each week, and know that you’re loved by the geeks and pixel-pushers at Agency Fusion.
Garlic.js
One of the most frustrating things on the internet is when you accidentally click out of a form you've been filling out and, consequently, lose all the data you've already put in. Garlic.js solves this by allowing independent forms to automatically persist their text field values locally, up until the form is submitted. This means that even if you accidentally close your tab or hit the back button, you won't lose your work.
Bugsnag
Bugsnag is similar to other bug-catching services in that it captures errors from your web and mobile applications. Bugsnag delivers exception reports into channels like email, Campfire, GitHub, JIRA, etc.; it also uses user-centric, real-time tracking and will work with Rails, Django, PHP, and others.
RubyJS
"If I had to code JavaScript I would use RubyJS," said the creator of Ruby, Yukihiro Matsumoto, in one of the best back-handed compliments we've heard in a long time. RubyJS is a JavaScript library based on the Ruby core-lib. It easily ports from Ruby to JavaScript, it's quick and lightweight, and worth a shot for anyone trying to avoid coding in simple JS.
Rails Retweeter Bot
The basic idea behind Rails Retweeter Bot is that the best Tweets are the ones that get retweeted a lot - so in order to avoid reading dozens of uninteresting or redundant tweets, Jakob Suder developed this tool. The bot, which is simple to install and use, filters out uninteresting tweets, based on how many retweets the original message has.
HackDesign
HackDesign is an online resource for hackers who want to learn more about design. With carefully crafted lessons, interactive content, and tangible takeaways, hackers can learn at their own pace and expand their already impressive bank of knowledge.
WeeNudge
This is a resource we were delighted to stumble upon. WeeNudge is a website designed to help web designers communicate effectively with their clients. It addresses issues ranging from spec work, wireframes, and whitespace all the way over to file delivery, content, and how to give feedback.
The Patient Record
There's been talk in the past about open-sourcing medical records, and the Health Design Challenge is another good step in that direction. A group of organizations (ranging from the US Department of Veteran Associations to Designer Fund) challenged designers across the country to reinvent the way we view and interact with patient records. Hundreds responded, and the results are pretty interesting - and should be open-source soon.
Ihttp://healthdesignchallenge.com/
Best of Kickstarter
We post a lot about Kickstarter projects on here. (If you don't believe us, check out this, and this, and that . . . we could go on and on). So if any of that's caught your eye, you might want to look into Kickstarter's "Best of 2012".
http://www.kickstarter.com/year/2012
Google Handwrite
Touch screens have been trying for years to perfect handwriting recognition so you don't have to take an extra 5 seconds to use Swype to ask Google for taco stands near you. Google has just taken it one step closer with Google Handwrite, which seems to understand even sloppy, overlapping letters and, as always, suggests to you what you might be searching for before you've even typed the 'c' in 'taco'.
FireHero 3
To create FireHero, Chris Marion had to combine only the best parts of Raspberry Pi, pyromania, and rock. The result, of course, is explosions and fireblasts every time you strike a power chord. It's worth checking out.
Periodic Table of Typefaces
Lastly, for all the designers out there, someone has put together what they call the "Periodic Table of Typefaces", which includes popular, influential, and notorious typefaces of all time. And while we agree with inclusions like Helvetica, Trajan, and even Zapfino, we have to question the lack of Papyrus and Comic Sans, at least in the "Notorious" category. Either way, it's an entertaining graphic, and could even give you some typeface ideas.
