A longtime web developer who relied on JPEG, PNG and SVG for over two decades describes switching to WebP after years of reluctance. WebP launched in 2010 but saw slow adoption - Chrome added support in 2011, Edge in 2018, Firefox in 2019 and Safari in 2020 - and tooling lagged behind, with Photoshop only getting native support in 2022 while its export dialogs still lack proper WebP integration. Early pressure from Google's Lighthouse to serve WebP felt premature when browser support and real-world savings were inconsistent, so the format remained a nuisance rather than a go-to choice.
A move to Pixelmator Pro changed that friction: better tooling made WebP practical, and recent projects showed WebP files are consistently smaller than equivalent JPEGs or PNGs at similar visual quality, aligning with Google’s findings on lossy and lossless gains. Attention has already shifted to newer formats: AVIF already has baseline browser support and looks promising, and Google recently shipped JPEG XL support, suggesting broader adoption could follow. The writer expects future Pixelmator Pro support will make AVIF and JPEG XL easy to use, while noting GIFs have largely surrendered their role to smaller video formats.
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Aaron Swartz's personal website aaronsw.com has expired, with the domain registration ending on September 29. His family or estate can still renew it during the grace period, and the site is available in archives. (news.ycombinator.com)
Carrier-explode 2.0 offers decoded and compared carrier settings from iPhone, Pixel, and Galaxy firmware, including APNs, VoLTE, Wi-Fi Calling, and 5G. Users can compare features across carriers and versions, with data available as JSON or a CC0 dataset. (carrierexplode.com)
Vertical drama is gaining prominence as a new format in television and film production, tailored for mobile screens. The trend is fueled by the rise of social media platforms emphasizing vertical video content. (medium.com)
Walmart executive reiterates support for dynamic pricing technology despite criticism and patent concerns raised by a watchdog. The company defends its use of electronic shelf tags and pricing strategies amid ongoing regulatory scrutiny. (nypost.com)
A blogger has announced they will stop writing publicly but remains active online. The decision is linked to concerns about internet security, online harassment, and the impact of open platforms. (rachelbythebay.com)
Deno, a user-friendly Javascript runtime, was acquired by Cloudflare and will be shut down within a year. Its ease of use, security, and philosophy left a lasting impact on developers and the JavaScript ecosystem. (orgsoft.org)
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