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.
iOS 7: Before and After
Apple's new iOS 7 has been a hot topic for a few weeks now, and this site is a compilation of all the changes the iPhone's new operating system is inspiring. As you might expect, most apps are jumping on the flat-design bandwagon; however, some apps seem to handle the design change better than others.
Codebender
Codebender is an online tool that allows users to write, compile, and deploy code to their Arduino device. The editor is free to use, and has helpful features like syntax highlighting and code folding. On top of that, you can use Codebender to deploy your code directly to your Arduino device using a USB cable or the cloud, instead of installing an IDE and all its software. Finally, there's an option to share your code and explore, sketch, or embed code other developers have already built.
Apiary
Apiary is a free open source API-builder. It provides users with tools to collaborate, design, build, and implement custom APIs. Users start with an API Blueprint, which comes with a mock server, tests, validations, code samples, and language bindings. With these assets, users can design and test their API without pushing anything live before they're ready.
Segment.io
Speaking of APIs, Segment.io is a useful analytics API that is designed to simplify getting and sending analytics data. Instead of adding and integrating multiple analytics services to their site, users can instead just add Segment.io, which will then include whichever analytics services they choose.
Distill
Distill.cc is a site that takes the idea of video conferences and interviews to another level. Not only does it offer video conferencing tools for free, but it also adds features like intelligent scheduling tools, collaborative task lists, co-browsing (multiple people browsing the web together in one window), and an area to make personal notes.
Vex
Vex is a configurable and customizable JavaScript dialog library. Although there are a number of features that make Vex appealing - a clear and simple API, the smooth dialog animations, and mobile functionality, to name a few - what makes it special is its size: just 6kb minified (or 2kb minified and gzipped).
Dnsmasq
Dnsmasq is a lightweight DNS forwarder and DHCP server that is designed to provide DNS (and DHCP, optionally) to a small network. It's targeted at home networks using NAT, and could also be used for any small network (up to about 1000 clients). It can serve the names of local machines which aren't in the global DNS; it also allows machines with DHCP-allocated addresses to appear in the DNS with names configured in each host or in a central configuration file.
Lenddo
Lenddo is a service that gives users loans based on what they call "community trust." What this amounts to is instead of using your credit score to determine how much you get and how high your interests rates will be, Lenddo instead combs through your social connections (think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and gives you a "Lenddo score" based on your and your friends' activities. Good news for those of us with a clean social media history, but bad for those people who have gone on one too many Facebook rants.
SmartThings
Nest is a smart thermostat, Lockitron is a smart deadbolt, and SmartThings is a place for people who want all that and more. With Things that can sense motion, moisture, and temperature, and other devices that allow users to control their lights and their locks remotely, SmartThings is the place to go to upgrade your life and home.
FontStruct
FontStruct is an online tool anyone can use to design and create fonts, one letter at a time. The editor is fairly intuitive and easy to use, and you can also browse and download fonts other users have created.