February 2014 Summaries

Granular permissions have been introduced for third-party applications, allowing them to request specific levels of access—read-only, read/write, or full admin—to public SSH keys, giving users control over access decisions. Users can easily revoke SSH access, as any SSH key created by an OAuth application will be automatically deleted when its access is revoked. Security is further enhanced by notifying users via email whenever a new key is added, and users have the ability to audit and delete their SSH keys at any time. More details about these changes can be found on the GitHub Developer site.

Sam Lambert and Daan Bussink invite everyone to join them for drinks at MSA in Newcastle Upon Tyne on Monday, March 17th, during the PHP North East Conference. The gathering is open to all and will start at 7:00 PM at the venue located on Hood Street. This event is an opportunity for attendees to socialize and unwind with the hosts.

GitHub has introduced a new feature to enhance collaboration and review processes for prose documents by enabling both source and rendered views in commits and pull requests. This allows users to easily view text changes and complex structures like tables as they will appear in the final document by clicking the "rendered" button. Non-text changes are subtly highlighted with a dotted underline, and users can hover over the text to see specific modifications. This improvement underscores the importance of well-written prose in various aspects of software development, such as documentation, development planning, and knowledge sharing, ultimately contributing to the creation of better software products.

Join the 11th edition of Passion Projects with Laura Gluhanich on Thursday, February 20th, from 6:00-9:00 pm at GitHub HQ in San Francisco, where Laura, a co-founder of SignalCamp and a seasoned strategist in community, support, and content at companies like about.me and Ning, will share her insights into strategic marketing and community programs for tech startups. The event, which requires registration due to limited space, promises to offer not only valuable knowledge from Laura, whose skills span product launches and supporting large user bases, but also food, beverages, and a live musical performance by Bobi Cespedes.

Dana McCallum participated in the 10th installment of a Passion Projects talk series in January 2013, where she discussed how she integrated her non-technical passions with programming. The event featured a panel discussion and a musical performance by Running in the Fog, with photography by Mona Brooks. The talk and the panel discussion are available for viewing online, and the event was documented by Manisha Sharma.

A free public speaking workshop for women, organized by GitHub, is set to take place in San Francisco on February 22nd, aiming to enhance participants' public speaking skills and increase their visibility within the tech community. The event will feature inspiring talks from notable women, mentoring sessions with accomplished figures from the tech industry, and opportunities for participants to deliver their own lightning talks. Keynote speakers include Denise Jacobs and Diana Kimball, alongside mentors like Ana Hevesi and Andi Galpern. Participants must register by February 16th, with selection determined by a lottery due to limited space. The workshop seeks to address the lack of diversity at tech conferences by empowering women to confidently present their work and ideas.

GitHub employees attending Ruby Conf Australia are organizing a joint social event with Stripe, inviting the Sydney tech community to join them for a drinkup on Wednesday, February 19, at the King St Brewhouse & Restaurant. The gathering aims to connect developers, designers, and GitHub users in the area, starting at 8:00 PM, with most attendees expected to be outside, making it easy for newcomers to spot and join the group. This event promises an enjoyable evening of networking and camaraderie among tech enthusiasts.

Webhooks have become the most popular integration at GitHub, and recent updates have made them more accessible and customizable within repository settings, allowing users to configure them without using the API and choose specific events and payload formats. A new deliveries section has been introduced to assist in tracking, troubleshooting, and re-sending webhook event payloads, and a guide is available for beginners. Kyle Daigle, GitHub's Chief Operating Officer, has been instrumental in scaling GitHub's ecosystem engineering teams and integrating AI into the company, while also maintaining a passion for software practices and developer-first culture. Before joining GitHub, he gained experience in startups across various industries and continues to engage in personal projects and nonprofit work.

GitHub has launched education.github.com, a platform aimed at enhancing educational experiences by integrating GitHub into school environments. This initiative supports students, teachers, and schools globally by facilitating collaborative learning and development. With a long-standing history of offering educational discounts, the platform formalizes these benefits by providing free Micro accounts to students and teachers, free organization accounts for classroom use, and a 25% discount for other educational purposes. To access these benefits, interested users must verify their school-issued email address and apply through the new site. This effort underscores GitHub's commitment to empowering the next generation of developers.

GitHub's feature "People you know" allows users to discover if any of their friends are aware of a new project by showing how many people they follow have starred that repository. Additionally, it provides insights into the connections within their network by displaying who is following or being followed by others they know, enhancing the social discovery aspect of GitHub projects. This feature, highlighted by Andrew Nesbitt, enriches the user experience by integrating social elements into the exploration of open-source projects.

Seven GitHub team members, including Alan Rogers, Hailey, David Goodlad, Michael Twofish, Rodjek, Shiftkey, and Lincoln Stoll, will be in Melbourne next week and are inviting people to join them for a casual meetup. The gathering will take place at the Rainbow Hotel, located at 27 St David St, Fitzroy, VIC, on Tuesday, February 11, at 8:00 pm. Attendees are welcome to enjoy a drink and friendly conversation in the pool room at the back of the venue.

In 2013, the community engaged in remarkable collaboration, resulting in the creation of the 10,000,000th repository on GitHub, with contributions from millions of users across over 200 countries. This milestone year highlighted the power of collective effort in building innovative projects and underscored the global reach and impact of the platform. The reflection on 2013 serves as a celebration of the achievements made possible through this widespread participation and shared enthusiasm.

GitHub has introduced two significant enhancements to its mapping capabilities: diff visualization for geospatial data and feature-level customizations. These improvements allow users to see changes in geospatial data over time, providing a visual representation of modifications in commits or pull requests, such as changes to congressional district boundaries. Additionally, GitHub now supports faster and more customizable mapping of geoJSON files, enabling users to specify properties like fill color or opacity directly within the file. The platform has implemented version 1.1.0 of the open simplestyle specification to support these customizations. These updates aim to enhance collaborative mapping efforts on GitHub, as highlighted by Ben Balter, Chief of Staff for Security at GitHub, who has contributed significantly to the platform's development and community engagement.

Rubyfuza is a South African conference centered around the Ruby programming language, attracting attendees with diverse interests, including those from the GitHub community, who are known for their love of beer and social gatherings. The event in question took place in Cape Town on February 6, 2014, specifically at Neighbourhood on Long Street, offering a variety of drinks and food, and promising a lively atmosphere. This particular gathering aimed to foster a relaxed environment with informal interactions, symbolized by the mention of keeping voices low and handshakes loose, and was conveniently located near the Strand Tower Hotel where the main conference was held.