John Polacek

Successful open source projects can generate a lot of traffic...

DynamoDB Engineer David Yanacek started things out by giving an overview of the types of tables and queries that exist in a typical social network app, and how they look in DynamoDB...

AWS Developer Loren Segal introduced the [AWS SDK for Node.js](http://aws.amazon.com/sdkfornodejs/) It is open source, apache-licensed and on Github.

Notes from the AWS 2nd Annual Startup Launches.

For me, this was the best session of the conference so far.

This session was about the new [Workspaces][1] product that Amazon launched at the first day AWS re:Invent keynote.

Nike has a similar setup to AuctionsByCellular with a Java stack built on top of AWS, deploying with [Elastic Beanstalk (EBS)](http://aws.amazon.com/documentation/elasticbeanstalk/).

Amazon CTO Werner Vogels is quite a character.

AWS Enterprise Solutions Architect Siva Raghupathy started by stating that 2.7 zettabytes (ZB) of data exists in the digital universe today.

No question, video is a pain in the butt.

This session was about streamlining sign-in with social login, storing user data and more...

Now more than ever, having performant applications is essential for users.

Notes from the keynote of AWS re:Invent, a learning conference.

What do all these beautiful and often amazing award-winning websites have in common?

Last week I was finally able to attend a Technori Pitch.

The promise of Bootstrap is so appealing.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been hired by AuctionsByCellular (ABC) as Lead Web Developer.

If you are someone who has a lot of ideas for a variety of things, this is how I recommend you use Trello.

My slides from my Techweek Chicago presentation are up at [johnpolacek.github.io/open-source-for-fame-and-fortune](http://johnpolacek.github.io/open-source-for-fame-and-fortune).

Notes from Techweek LAUNCH, where five startups compete for a cash prize.

Notes from a Techweek Lab Coat Series Session that covered various new prototyping tools.

Notes from the Techweek Chicago talk given by [Emerson Spartz](http://www.emersonspartz.com) and [Casey Neistat](http://caseyneistat.com)

Tips and tricks for SEO from [Brent Payne](https://twitter.com/brentdpayne)

Notes from the Techweek Chicago talk by Robin Chase, Founder & CEO of Buzzcar, Zipcar and GoLoco

Key points from panelists Natalia Oberti Noguera(twitter.com/nakisnakis), Rick Murray, Justyn Howard and [Brad Burke

Notes from an interview session with Dick Glover, President & CEO of [Funny or Die](http://www.funnyordie.com/)

The thesis of How to Build Great Products - Design and Roadmapping by Nicolette Moreno, Founder & Chief Product Officer of Open English, was that building great products is about thinking holistically...

Every year, Techweek Chicago grows.

This year, Techweek Chicago looks to be even better, with lots of great speakers and content, and I’ve been given the opportunity to speak as well.

Throughout the past year, I have been keeping a running list of cool local Chicago tech events and sharing it with friends and the people at work.

Every year Google makes its big announcements at its Google I/O event.

When inspiration hits, it is usually when the combination of two or more things collide together in your brain and give birth to something else.

A quick, simple way to generate screenshots of Responsive websites with [Responsivator](https://johnpolacek.github.io/Responsivator/)

Are you looking to get some projects up on Github?

It may seem counterintuitive to think being married with children could have a positive impact on your programming.

Like many people, I was caught off guard when Google announced it was shuttering Reader.

Even when a web technology seems to have reached maturity, I frequently seem to run into gotchas.

Idea Realification is about taking what’s in your head and making it happen.

Yesterday, I released [Extra Strength Responsive Grids](http://johnpolacek.github.io/extra-strength-responsive-grids/), the latest open source project from the devs at Draftfcb Chicago.

The [Awwwards](http://www.awwwards.com) are awards for design, creativity and innovation on the Internet, which recognize and promote the best web designers in the world.

My list of in-my-spare-time projects that I’ve in 2012 include [Scrollorama](https://johnpolacek.github.io/scrollorama/), [BigVideo.js](https://github.com/johnpolacek/BigVideo.js), [Responsivator](https://johnpolacek.github.io/Responsivator/), [Stacktable…

When you love what you do for a living, a great thing to do is never stop getting better.

There are some cool new updates to [SuperScrollorama](https://johnpolacek.github.io/superscrollorama/), courtesy of Austrian art director and developer Jan Paepke

It seems like everybody working on websites these days is experimenting with various responsive web design approaches.

A few weeks ago I created, [open sourced](https://github.com/johnpolacek/Responsivator) and released [Responsivator!]

I cleared out a bunch of old apps that I never use anymore, and also took a few minutes to make a list of apps and websites that I use all the time.

I created a video channel dedicated to showing mindblowing modern technology to show on video screens around our office.

Do your web pages suffer from FOUC?

Think about problem before you go to bed.

A collection of sites using my Scrollorama or Superscrollorama plugins