The Baltimore Chapter of IEEE Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits is co-hosting a free, one-day Colloquium on Sensor Devices from 10:00 to 5:00 on Wednesday, September 25. The event will be held in the Benjamin Banneker Room (2212) of the Stamp Union Building at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Invited speakers include Dr. Philip Perconti (Army Research Laboratory), Prof. M. Alam (Purdue University), Dr. Parvez Uppal (Army Research Laboratory), Prof. Mark Reed (Yale University), Dr. Herbert Bennett (NIST), Prof. Michael Shur (RPI), Dr. Anupama Kaul (National Science Foundation) and Prof. Agis Iliadis (UMCP).

Attendance is free. To register please contact: Dr. Naresh C. Das (naresh.c.das2.civ at mail.mil), Dr. Victor Veliadis (victor.veliadis at ngc.com).

I previously asked several top developers the following four simple questions:

1. What’s your primary development focus?
2. What hardware are you using for development?
3. Which editor or IDE do you use?
4. What software can you not live without on a daily basis?

The article generated a lot of interest and discussion about the tools the community is using which was really great! We love to motivate discussions with our topics. Well, this also motivated us to ask the question, "Why don't we post about what we, the Nettuts+ authors use every day?"

So we did just that. We chose ten Nettuts+ authors and asked them the same four questions. And like before, you’ll find the answers they gave below and hopefully discover some tools that could make your development much easier.

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Csaba Patkos

Bio: I had my first contact with computers in the mid-80s when I visited my father at work. That was an important moment for what I am doing now. I am a proud member of an agile team working for a company called Syneto. Through my carrier, I programmed in several languages and I had the chance to learn and use daily all the major Agile techniques from Scrum to Lean and from TDD to DDD. Since August 2012, I am sharing my knowledge with the Nettuts+ readers by articles, tutorials and premium courses, all about programming.

Connect with Csaba on Twitter and on his blog.

I am mainly a back-end programmer and mostly program in PHP but I continuously try new languages. I am most focused on general software design and architecture. The programming language I use is just a tool to achieve that.

Well, at work we have Mac Minis but I am not a fan of Apple. So, at home I have an HP desktop with 27" Samsung monitor running my favorite Linux distribution, Sabayon.

NetBeans, definitely. Even though it has its limits, I find it the best IDE when it comes to multiple languages. Its Java part is just superb and from all the free IDEs it has the best PHP support.

I spend a lot of my time in the web browser and email client; Opera. It would be hard to live without it. And of course NetBeans.

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Krasimir Tsonev

Bio: Krasimir Tsonev is a coder with over ten years of experience in web development. With a strong focus on quality and usability, he is interested in delivering cutting edge applications. Currently, with the rise of the mobile development, Krasimir is enthusiastic to work on responsive applications targeted to various devices. Living and working in Bulgaria, he graduated at the Technical University of Varna with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science.

Connect with Krasimir on Twitter: @KrasimirTsonev and on his blog.

I'm usually working with PHP, JavaScript(NodeJS), HTML/CSS and sometimes Flex/AS3. In some of the projects I'm a front-end developer, in some others I'm the back-end guy. Generally I'm interested in making the things in the right way. I love KIS (keep it simple) and DRY (don't repeat yourself) principles and I'm trying to follow them all the time. Very often I develop tools which help other programmers work faster and efficiently. When I don't code, I normally blog, which is kinda a passion of mine.

I have Dell Vostro 3560 connected to an external monitor Dell 23". I'm a Windows user, but also have Ubuntu running in a VirtualBox VM.

I'm a big fan of Sublime Text 2. Most of the time I'm switching between three windows – Sublime Text 2, Chrome and PowerShell (+ posh-git installed). A couple of years when I worked mainly on Flash-based project, I used FlashDevelop. Even for PHP or JavaScript it was a good choice.

That's my favorite browser – Google Chrome. It's not just a program for visiting the web. It's actually a great tool for development and even for design.

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Pavan Podila

Bio: I am a Financial technologist specializing in front-ends, mostly for Trading and Analytics applications. I have worked on a wide variety of UI technologies in the past, ranging from Java Swing, Eclipse SWT, Nokia Qt to Cocoa on OSX/iOS, .Net WPF, and HTML5. I am also a published author for “WPF Control Development Unleashed” with Addison/Wesley-SAMS. When I am not programming, I like to play Table Tennis, Badminton or paint using my Wacom Tablet with Photoshop or SketchBook Pro.

Connect with Pavan on Twitter: @pavanpodila and on his blog.

I am a Front-end consultant in the financial services sector of New York. Most of the apps I develop/maintain are trading apps, visualizations, portfolio management tools, etc. These apps run on a mixture of desktop, mobile and web platforms. For desktop I've mostly use .NET/C#/WPF. On the web its been a combination of the standard JS technologies/frameworks with Node.js, Java or Rails backends. On the mobile side, its primarily iOS. I like to learn new things all the time and always looking out for exciting ways to bend the mind! The part that I like the most about being a consultant is the opportunity to explore new platforms, technologies, languages which I would never venture into voluntarily.

MacBook Air 13" with a 24" monitor.

RubyMine, Sublime Text, Visual Studio 2012 and XCode.

Git, Sublime Text, Zsh, RubyMine, Final Cut Pro (for all my video editing), Dash, Google Chrome, Keynote (for all my diagrams)

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Aurelio De Rosa

Bio: I’m a web and app developer with more than 5 years’ experience programming for the web using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and PHP. I mainly use the LAMP stack and frameworks like jQuery, jQuery Mobile, and Cordova (PhoneGap). My interests also include web security, web accessibility, SEO and WordPress.

Currently I’m self-employed working with the cited technologies. I’m also a regular blogger for several networks (SitePoint, Tuts+ and FlippinAwesome) where I write articles about the topics I usually work with and more.

Connect with Aurelio on Twitter and on his blog.

I'm a full stack web developer working with the LAMP stack. Apart for PHP for the server side, I use JavaScript with jQuery for the client side, and a lot of HTML5 and CSS. Besides, I reuse my web knowledge to build mobile apps with the help of frameworks like jQuery Mobile and Cordova (PhoneGap). My interests also include web security, web accessibility, SEO and WordPress. Currently I'm self-employed working with the cited technologies. I'm also a regular blogger for several networks where I write articles about the topics I usually work with and more.

A PC with an i3 processor with 4Gb of RAM plus a 24'' monitor. While I deploy on Linux, both my PC and 13'' notebook run Windows 7.

It depends on the projects I'm working on or the code I have to write in the moment I sit in front of the desk. For small changes I usually just open the file using Notepad++. As an IDE, I used to develop with NetBeans but some months ago I tried PHPStorm and from that moment, I felt in love. It's really a complete, stable, and useful IDE.

Based on what I said so far, it should be clear that I cannot live without browsers. My favorite one is Chrome, but for work reasons that you may easily guess, my PCs have all the major browsers installed. In addition, I must mention Composer, Git, FireFTP, Poedit, Google, StackOverflow, and Twitter . Oh…and YouTube and Spotify! Who the hell can code without music?

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Jeremy McPeak

Bio: Hi! I’m Jeremy McPeak, and I’m an author and a software developer. I’ve written a few books, articles, and courses at Tuts+. I specialize in my two favorite languages: JavaScript and C#, but I’ve been known to delve into other languages like PHP and Java when needed. When I’m not working, I’m spending time with my family, playing guitar or piano, gaming, or reading.

Connect with Jeremy on Twitter: @jwmcpeak and on his blog.

These days, I spend the majority of my time with C# and .NET for both desktop and web applications. I got into this industry as a client-side developer, and I’m continually trying to fit more client-side work into my daily work flow. JavaScript is my first love, after all.

There are three computers I use for development, all of which run Windows 8 Pro. For development on-the-go, I use a Dell XPS 14 Ultrabook with 8GB of RAM, and it will soon sport a SSD. My workstation at the office is an Ivy Bridge-based Xeon with 32GB RAM and dual nVidia Quatro cards for powering four displays. For development (and other things) at home, I built a Haswell-based computer: i7-4770 CPU, 32GB RAM, two Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSDs, a ton of conventional storage, nVidia 660 GTX, and three Dell U2410 displays.

I primarily use Visual Studio Professional 2008 and 2012 with Resharper and NCrunch for web and desktop development. I also use WebMatrix if I need to quickly prototype something, and Sublime Text and Notepad2 get notable usage when I don’t need Visual Studio.

I must have Resharper and NCrunch. Visual Studio is a top-notch development environment, but the Resharper and NCrunch plug-ins make it the absolute best environment on the planet. I also need VMWare Workstation. I do a lot with virtual machines, and VMWare’s Workstation is currently the best client-based VM software available.

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Nikko Bautista

Bio: I’m Nikko Bautista. By day, I work as a Software Engineer at Bright.com, where we make hiring smarter, faster, and cheaper. By night, I develop web applications and write tutorials for Nettuts+. I specialize in PHP and PHP frameworks. I have experience with Symfony, Zend Framework, CodeIgniter, FuelPHP, and Laravel. I like creating and maintaining developer-friendly APIs. I also have expertise in third-party APIs from Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other platforms. I often explore new technologies, frameworks, and web services by building web applications that use them. Nettuts+ allows me to share what I’ve learned with the world.

Connect with Nikko on Twitter: @nikkobautista and on his blog.

I'm a web application developer, using PHP as my main language. I also dabble with other languages like Ruby and Python, but not as much as I'd like. Together with this, I use jQuery and Ember for the client-side. I currently build applications for Bright.com, where we help people score their next job.

At work, I use a MBP 15" with a 23" secondary screen. Before I started working at my current job, I used to be a Windows fanatic. I've always hated how OSX had different conventions than Windows. I decided to give it a fighting chance when I started work at Bright, and I couldn't be happier that I did. At home, I have a triple 27" monitor set up, connected to a small mATX PC. The PC has a quad-core i5, 8GBs of RAM, and 7TBs of hard disk space all packaged in a Lian-li V350B. For work on the go, I have a 11" MBA that I bring around with me almost all the time since it's so light you barely even notice it's there. Additionally, I use my trusty Logitech K350 Keyboard and Logitech M705 Marathon Mouse (for both my work setup and home setup).

Like many, I mainly use Sublime Text for my everyday coding. It's fast, reliable and extensible, although I sometimes miss the features only full IDEs can provide. When mucking around in servers though, I use Vim. In the future, I'd love to be able to work more efficiently using Vim, and use it as my main editor, but for now, I can't live without my cmd+p to open files in Sublime.

Google Chrome is definitely on the top of my list, working is just so much faster if I use it. Fantastical on OSX (and just plain Google Calendar on Windows) is a great way to keep track of stuff on my calendar and add new tasks/events.

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Stephen Radford

Bio: I’m Stephen Radford, a web designer and developer from Leicester, UK. Working with stuff like Laravel, Backbone and AngularJS.

Connect with Stephen on Twitter and on his blog.

I'm primarily a PHP working on web applications, with my go-to framework being Laravel 4. On the frontend side of things I'm working with AngularJS for the most part, as well as maintaining some applications built with Backbone.

During my day job I'm using a 21" iMac as well as a cheap, secondary display which usually is littered with terminal windows. When working on my side-projects, I'm using my 13" MacBook Air which is perfect to be able to chuck in my bag and work somewhere else should I need to. Though most of my work is done from the sofa.

Un-surprisingly, I'm a big Sublime Text 2 fan. The huge repository of plugins (mainly accessible thanks to the fantastic Package Control and unique features like multiple cursors and distraction free mode just make a joy to use.

I probably wouldn't be as productive without CodeKit, iTerm, ColorSnapper or Base. Kickoff allows me to manage a collaborative to-do list, FileShuttle lets me easily share screenshots or files, and I certainly couldn't work without the constant stream of music delivered by Spotify.

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Adam Conrad

Bio: I’m Adam Conrad the VP of Product for fantasy sports startup @starstreet, DJ as @deejayacon, and a front-end developer. I lift things up and put them down, too.

Connect with Adam on twitter.

I work on the front-end – HTML/CSS/JS, but we're a Rails shop so I do that too. Straight JS/jQuery for most of our work, but we're investigating AngularJS at the moment as a way to wrap a framework around the front-end.

MacBook Air 13'' from 2011 – 4GB RAM, 1.7 GHz Intel i5…I could use a bit more RAM especially if I wanted to do some work with VMs but it gets the job done. I used to use an additional external monitor (24'' Asus HDMI screen) but the color profile discrepancies between the two screens were annoying enough as a front-end guy that I abandoned it altogether in favor of one single screen. For our responsive work, I'm constantly cycling between an iPhone 5, Nexus 4, iPad 3, iPad Mini and Nexus 7. And of course, no hardware setup can be complete without some gnarly headphones. I rock the Audio Technica ATH-M50s because they had the highest ratings on Amazon for pretty much any product and man do they deliver.

Back in my .NET days I was a Visual Studio guy, then I moved to Vim when I switched to Ruby on Rails, but then I saw the light that was Sublime Text 2 and life is golden. I have a host of packages installed for pretty much anything you could possibly need for Ruby, Rails, jQuery, JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Can't say I've used them all, but they're slowly creeping into my development workflow.

My IDE (obviously), Chrome DevTools and my feed reader to provide me an endless stream of great new music.

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Hendrik Maus

Bio: Hendrik is a Web Application Developer based in Cologne. He is working with SAE Global/European IT and Navitas Ltd., mostly on large scale database driven PHP applications using Zend Framework, MS SQL and some pretty exciting cutting edge stuff. Always happy to branch out and experience related fields.

“Trying to become a renaissance developer seems to be the ultimate goal for me. Being able to pick any right technology for the job, adapt and use it quickly.”

Connect with Hendrik on Twitter and on his blog.

My current daily business is developing database-driven web applications based on object-oriented PHP for educational businesses. I most frequently use custom PHP, Zend Framework (Delivery and DB manipulation), MSSQL, MySQL, and Javascript (mostly native + jQuery for DOM & Ajax stuff). Besides work, I am digging into Sencha Touch, Node and Angular JS.

I use a 13" MacBook Air as a portable server (with both Mac OS & Windows) as I constantly change workspaces and cannot rely on the cloud for a major part of my work. I usually connect the server to the local networks at home or in my office. At home, the desk is powered with a Mac Pro connected to a 30" display which is quite a pleasure to work with. At the office I use a 2012 Mac Mini i7 with two displays – 27" and 19". Both of them are SSD powered as you must admit that you never want to miss it again once you've tried it. ;) I fly over to our headquarters in Berlin on quite a regular schedule where I work directly on the MacBook. This setup has proven to be very flexible and fits my needs in any situation.

I have been using PhpStorm as IDE from the minute it came out. Seriously, this is one of the most incredible pieces of software ever made for really powerful web development. For quick editing I am a fan of Sublime Text 2 as it is incredibly lightweight and even comes powerful features you'd much more likely expect from a full blown IDE. On the command line I tend to stick with nano or vim if I'm forced to. I must admit that Microsoft did a pretty good job on the SQL Server Management Studio; fun to write SQL with it.

Here is my dock from left to right: Skype, Spotify, Chrome (love the Dev tools), VMware Fusion, PhpStorm, SourceTree (for Git), iTerm 2 (for SSH, Tunnels, Git and the usual stuff), Sublime Text 2, Navicat Essentials and Sequel Pro. The list of little helpers is omitted ;)

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Jonathan Creamer

Bio: I’m a web developer focusing mostly on JavaScript, ASP.NET MVC, jQuery, and C#. I believe that you cannot ever stop learning which is why I stay active in the development world attending user groups like NashJS, ID of Nashville, andNashDotNet, blogging for FreshBrewedCode.com,JCreamerLive, Net Tuts, and Tech.pro and scouring Twitter and the interwebs for as much knowledge I can squeeze into my brain. I work as a JavaScript Engineer appendTo and am having a great time developing front end applications in JavaScript and jQuery. I am also an IE userAgent Please feel free to contact me, I love meeting other devs who are passionate about what they do.

Connect with Jonathan on Twitter: @jcreamer898 and on his blog.

My primary focus is front end development using JavaScript, and jQuery. I love using Backbone.js or Knockout.js to build applications, and I frequently use postal.js, machina.js, mockjax, and several others. Typically I build my apps using AMD with Require.js as I feel it gives me the best development experience. I also write ASP.NET MVC, and actually got my start writing ColdFusion primarily focused around the ColdBox MVC framework.

Currently I'm on a custom built AMD Athlon X4 Phenom II with 16 GB of RAM, 2TB of HDD, and a GTX 250. I also have an ASUS U56E laptop with an I5 and 8GB of RAM. Windows is my primary OS with a Linux VM as needed.

I use SublimeText 2 for the most part. I love the speed and extensibility of it. I've also been beta testing version 3 which is blazingly fast, however the plugin support is still a work in progress for this version.

I'm a big Evernote fan. It's got a nice screen capture experience. I use the Chrome extension for it as well to clip pages or urls. Most of my needs are met in the browser with things like TweetDeck, Bit.ly, and Simple Time Track. I also use a lot of Node.js tools such as Grunt and simple-http-server by Andrew Thorp. I also use Notepad++ for super fast code edits. Spotify makes my day go by faster. Fiddler2 is a great tool for watching HTTP traffic. One of my favorite Git tools is TortoiseGit as well as Posh-Git for Poweshell.

Great Stuff!

It's great to be able to peak behind the curtains of other developers and see how they do the magic they do. And from what you can see, the tools and technologies they use are all easily available, and in many cases for free. I'd like to thank the Nettuts+ authors for sharing this information.

It seems like there’s been a flurry of logo redesigns lately and Google is the latest to throw its hat into the ring.

The new logo, currently only in Chrome on Android, has had its bevels and drop shadow removed to embrace the flat look.

It’s no secret that I personally don’t consider flat design a trend, so much as a rejection of the earlier trend for drop shadows, glass buttons and gradients. In that sense, it’s no wonder companies like Google are embracing a simpler, and perhaps more honest approach to design problems.

The Verge claims that ‘a person familiar with Google’s branding’ has assured them that this logo will only be used where a bevel doesn’t display well. Whilst it’s certainly true that the new logo has yet to make its way onto the Google homepage, I would venture to suggest that a bevel doesn’t display well anywhere.

Will this change for Google herald a whole new era of dominance? No, but it’s the kind of small incremental update that means a brand doesn’t wake up one morning with a logo that looks 20 years out of date. As my grandmother would say, “a stitch in time saves nine”.

Update: rumors and counter-rumors have continued to circulate around this story. As we originally reported, The Verge believed the flat logo to be only for use when the 3D logo wouldn’t perform well. In the last 24 hours, more voices have claimed that is the case. So, have Google simply been testing the water? Was the flat logo uploaded by mistake? Or were Google trying to steal some of Yahoo!’s thunder? We’ll find out in the coming months.

Should Google embrace flat design by removing the bevel from its logo? Should brands be consistent with their use of logos? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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