Unlocking Local Storage: How PWAs Can Access Folders on Your Smartphone

Unlocking Local Storage: How PWAs Can Access Folders on Your Smartphone

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have come a long way since their early days as “just a fancy bookmark.” Today, they blur the line between native apps and web experiences—loading instantly, working offline, sending push notifications, and even appearing in your home screen’s app grid. Yet one capability long reserved for native apps remained out of reach for PWAs: accessing folders on your device. Thanks to the emerging File System Access API, that’s changing—at least on Android.


Why Folder Access Matters

Imagine a mobile sketching app that saves your projects directly into a “Sketches” folder you already use in Google Drive. Or a lightweight PDF annotator that writes notes back to the very directory you organize your documents in. These seamless workflows are familiar in desktop web apps; with folder access on mobile, they become possible in PWAs too.

Until recently, web apps on smartphones could only prompt users to pick …

Why Waste Our Kids’ Time for Years When AI Can Do It Better? We Need a Paradigm Shift in Education

Why Waste Our Kids’ Time for Years When AI Can Do It Better? We Need a Paradigm Shift in Education

Every generation promises to “change the world,” yet our classrooms remain eerily familiar: rows of desks, chalkboards or whiteboards at the front, lectures handed down from on high. Meanwhile, outside the school walls, artificial intelligence is reshaping industries, accelerating discovery, and personalizing experiences at scale. It’s time we ask ourselves: why are we still forcing children to learn in a format built for the 19th century, when AI-powered tools can teach them faster, smarter, and more engagingly than any one-size-fits-all curriculum?


1. The Slow March of Traditional Education

Traditional schooling is bound by schedules, standardized tests, and rigid curricula. A class of 30 students moves at the pace of the median learner—slowing down advanced students and rushing those who need more time. Concepts are introduced according to an arbitrary timeline, not when each child is ready to absorb them. As a result:

  • Boredom and Frustration: Gifted children grow restless repeating …

The University Paradigm Shift: Adapting Higher Education in the AI Era

The University Paradigm Shift: Adapting Higher Education in the AI Era

In an age where artificial intelligence can generate research papers, solve complex problems, and provide instant answers to almost any question, traditional university education systems aren't just old—they're increasingly at risk of becoming obsolete. As we navigate this transformative period in education, it's worth examining how AI is reshaping our academic landscape and why educational institutions must evolve to remain relevant.

The Growing Disconnect Between Education and Modern Needs

The perception of higher education's value has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years. While obtaining a degree was once considered a guaranteed pathway to success, public opinion has changed significantly. In 2012, about 60% of Americans believed college education was worth the cost. Fast-forward to 2023, and the tables have turned—56% now believe higher education is not worth the money despite the wage premium it offers. This skepticism is particularly pronounced among younger generations, with 60% of millennials and …

The AI Code Editor Wars: As Cursor IDE Skyrockets in Popularity, VS Code Responds with Open Source AI Strategy

The AI Code Editor Wars: As Cursor IDE Skyrockets in Popularity, VS Code Responds with Open Source AI Strategy

Cursor IDE has emerged as the fastest-growing development environment in recent memory, reaching an unprecedented $100M annual recurring revenue in just 12 months, while Visual Studio Code has announced plans to become a fully open source AI editor. This dramatic shift in the code editor landscape represents one of the most significant developments for software engineers since the introduction of GitHub Copilot, as two major players take different approaches to AI-powered development.

Cursor's Meteoric Rise

In less than three years, Cursor has transformed from an ambitious startup to what many are calling the fastest-growing SaaS product in history. Founded in 2022 by four MIT graduates, Cursor took the bold step of forking Visual Studio Code to create something entirely new: an AI-native development environment that fundamentally reimagines how developers interact with their tools.

A Revolutionary Approach to Code Development

What makes Cursor different isn't just that it has AI …

The Remote Work Paradox: Why Your Virtual Job Could Be AI's Next Target

The Remote Work Paradox: Why Your Virtual Job Could Be AI's Next Target

In the evolving landscape of work, remote positions have become increasingly desirable for their flexibility and convenience. However, a concerning trend is emerging: the very characteristics that make jobs suitable for remote work also make them prime candidates for AI replacement. As we navigate the post-pandemic era where digital transformation has accelerated, remote workers face a sobering reality check about their job security in an AI-driven future.

The Vulnerability of Remote Work to AI Replacement

Remote work surged during the pandemic, creating a seismic shift in how we view employment. Yet this shift coincides with unprecedented advancements in artificial intelligence capabilities, creating what experts call a "be careful what you wish for" moment. According to research from Oxford University academics, tasks that can be performed remotely are also the easiest to automate, making home workers particularly vulnerable to AI replacement.

Professors Carl-Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne from Oxford University, …

Building a Single-Page Application (SPA) with Django Templates and Vanilla JavaScript

Building a Single-Page Application (SPA) with Django Templates and Vanilla JavaScript

Overview of SPA Concepts and Django's Role

A Single-Page Application (SPA) is a web application that provides a fluid, desktop-like experience by loading a single HTML page and dynamically updating content without full page reloads. Instead of the server delivering a new HTML page for each navigation, the SPA loads data asynchronously (e.g. via AJAX/fetch) and updates the existing page’s DOM using JavaScript. As a result, after the initial page load, further interactions fetch content or data in the background and inject it into the page, giving a seamless experience to the user. This contrasts with traditional multi-page applications where each click triggers a full page refresh from the server.

In a typical modern SPA, frontend frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular handle routing and rendering on the client side, and the backend (like Django) often serves a JSON API. However, you can build an SPA using just Django templates …

AI in Teaching and Research for Engineering Education

AI in Teaching and Research for Engineering Education

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a valuable ally for engineering educators and researchers. Rather than focusing on theory or ethics, this overview highlights practical applications of AI in everyday teaching and research tasks. University-level engineering professors can leverage AI tools to automate routine work, personalize learning, and accelerate research breakthroughs. The following sections outline how AI is used for teaching (grading, content creation, personalized learning, lab simulations, student engagement) and for research (data analysis, simulation/modeling, literature review, writing support, workflow optimization), with real-world examples and platforms.

AI in Teaching

AI technologies offer tangible benefits in the classroom by reducing instructors’ workloads and enhancing student learning experiences. From grading automation to intelligent tutoring, professors can adopt these tools to improve efficiency and student outcomes. Key applications include:

AI-Assisted Grading

  • Automated answer grouping: Tools like Gradescope use AI to cluster similar responses so that instructors can grade one representative answer and …

Making JavaScript Calls from Django Templates to DRF Endpoints

Making JavaScript Calls from Django Templates to DRF Endpoints

When integrating Django REST Framework (DRF) with a traditional Django template, you can use JavaScript (via the Fetch API or jQuery AJAX) to call your DRF API endpoints. This guide provides step-by-step examples and covers important considerations like CSRF tokens, authentication, relevant settings/middleware, and best practices.

Overview of the Approach

In a typical setup, your Django app renders an HTML template, and that page includes JavaScript which calls DRF endpoints (usually returning JSON). If the page and the DRF API share the same domain and session, you can leverage Django’s session authentication for AJAX calls. If the API is hosted on a different domain or meant for third-party clients, you’ll likely use token-based authentication instead. In either case, you must handle CSRF protection for any “unsafe” HTTP methods (POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE) when making requests from a Django template.

Below, we’ll walk through examples using both the Fetch API …

Introducing django-chunked-upload

Introducing django-chunked-upload

django-chunked-upload is a Django add-on (a “Django app”) that makes it easy to upload very large files by splitting them into smaller pieces, or chunks. Instead of sending one giant file all at once, the browser sends many smaller parts to the server. The library then stitches these chunks back together. In practice, this means a user can resume an upload if something goes wrong – for example, if the network drops, they don’t have to restart from zero. In fact, the library’s description says it “enables users to upload large files… in multiple chunks, with the ability to resume if the upload is interrupted”. One blog explains the idea simply: “you break a file into chunks, and upload them separately instead of the entire thing in one go”. Django-chunked-upload automates this process on the server side so you don’t have to write all the logic yourself.

Why chunked …

Is Google Too Old and Heavy to Adapt to Rapid Technological Change?

Is Google Too Old and Heavy to Adapt to Rapid Technological Change?

Google, once synonymous with disruptive innovation and agile creativity, now faces existential questions about its ability to maintain pace with technological evolution. Over the past decade, the company’s transition from a nimble startup to a corporate behemoth has introduced structural, cultural, and strategic challenges that hinder its capacity for rapid adaptation. This report examines the multifaceted reasons behind Google’s perceived decline in innovation velocity, drawing on internal dynamics, market pressures, and comparative analyses with competitors.

 

The Weight of Bureaucracy: How Organizational Size Stifles Agility

Google’s transformation into Alphabet in 2015 marked a strategic shift toward managing a sprawling portfolio of subsidiaries. While this restructuring aimed to foster innovation, it inadvertently entrenched bureaucratic layers that slow decision-making. Today, product teams must navigate multiple tiers of approval, often prioritizing executive preferences over bold ideas. For instance, projects like Google Glass and Stadia faced premature termination despite their potential, partly due …

Advertise with Us

Reach our audience with your ads