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Crafting the Web: Tips, Tools, and Trends for Developers Advertise with Us|Sign Up to the Newsletter @media only screen and (max-width: 100%;} #pad-desktop {display: none !important;} } @media only screen and (max-width: 100%;} #pad-desktop {display: none !important;} } WebDevPro #92: Smarter Tools, Cleaner Code — Claude, Stitch, and Kotlin’s Big Week 🌍🔍 Crafting the Web: Tips, Tools, and Trends for Developers Hi , This week, web development takes a confident leap forward. Claude gets introspective, Gemini moves into your browser, and Google’s Stitch promises cleaner UI code with zero pixel panic. Shopify’s widget set is ready for prime time, and Microsoft? They just dropped 50+ new tools to redefine how workflows run. Here’s what’s shifting the stack: 🧬 Claude 4.1: Anthropic’s AI gets smarter and a lot more dev-friendly 🧩 Google Stitch: From mockups to production-ready UI, with AI in the middle 🤝 JetBrains + Spring: A strategic partnership to accelerate Kotlin-native backend dev 🎤 Chris Oliver on Dev Complexity: Why chasing “hot” tools won’t ship better software 🚀 Smarter Caching: From CDN tweaks to header tricks, here’s what actually works 🕸️ Circuit Breakers for Microservices: Fail gracefully and avoid cascading chaos Plus, we’ve got a must-read for Java devs: Software Architecture with Spring, a hands-on guide to designing systems that scale, evolve, and survive the real world. Want to be featured in WebDevPro? Share your tips or takes—we’re all ears! Advertise with us Interested in reaching our audience? Reply to this email or write to kinnaric@packt.com. Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities here. Latest news: what's new in web development? 🧑‍💻 This week’s releases signal a clear message: the web isn’t waiting for you to catch up. From drag-and-drop storefronts to code-ready design systems, the dev stack is evolving toward speed, clarity, and a lot less friction. 🧬 Claude 4 Isn’t Just Chatty. It’s Getting Introspective:Anthropic just dropped Claude 4.1, and it’s not your average autocomplete AI. This model reasons, rewrites, and even reflects on how it thinks. Claude’s now better at solving problems than GPT-4—and it’s terrifyingly polite about it. For devs? You get API access, long context, and enough code chops to write that backend you’ve been procrastinating. 🧩 Google’s Stitch Could Make Frontend Design Sane Again: Meet Stitch: Google’s attempt to rescue UI design from pixel purgatory. It reads your mockups and spits out component code like it’s been pair programming with Figma. Less grunt work, more “Oh hey, this actually compiles. 🛍️ Shopify’s Storefront Widgets Are Now Drag-and-Drop Dev Candy: Shopify's Web Components are now production-ready, and it’s a dream for e-comm devs. Drop in a cart, product card, or variant picker without rebuilding the planet. Framework-agnostic, fully styled, and ready to convert. This is Shopify finally treating devs like first-class users. 🤖 Microsoft Is Going Full Agentic. And It’s Coming for Your Workflows:At Build 2025, Microsoft announced it’s not just Copilot anymore, it’s Copilot, Agents, and a whole Agentic Web. Think AI that reads docs, hits APIs, manages state, and knows when to ask questions. Your app isn’t the product anymore. Your workflow is. 🔗 Kotlin + Spring Join Forces: JetBrains just announced a strategic partnership with the Spring team, aligning Kotlin’s roadmap more tightly with Spring’s modern architecture patterns. Expect faster iteration, deeper tooling, and official support that closes long-standing gaps in backend development. A strong signal for Kotlin shops building production-grade services. 🛠️ 50+ New AI Tools. Yes, You Read That Right: And if that wasn’t enough, Microsoft’s got more: over 50 new tools aimed at making you an AI overlord. Phi-3 extensions, dev agents, language bridges, Copilot everywhere. This isn’t just about speeding up dev. It’s about flipping the dev stack inside out. Machine Learning Summit 2025 Level up your skills with exclusive insights from top ML experts! 40% OFF if you book now. 🎤 LLMs AMA with Sebastian Raschka Ask your most pressing questions about large language models 📈 GPTs for Time Series with Khuyen Tran Discover how to bring generative models to real-world forecasting. 💡Learn directly from Luca Massaron, Thomas Nield, and 20+ ML experts in a power-packed lineup of live sessions, workshops, and AMAs. Use Code: EARLY40 REGISTER NOW AND GET 40% OFF Expert corner: what's the web community talking about?🎙 This week, the dev stack shows its teeth. From Copilot turning co-architect to Firebase embracing agents, the real skill now is knowing what not to over-engineer. 🚀 Cache Me If You Can: Optimize Web Performance with Smarter Caching: From CDN layers to header hacks, this guide is your go-to for making sure your users stop hitting the reload button out of spite. TL;DR? Cache is king, but only if you wield it right. 🧠 Copilot: Assistant or Autonomous Dev-in-the-Making?: This Copilot breakdown isn’t fan service, it’s field notes. Copilot is no longer just an autocomplete tool, it’s edging into full-on agent territory. Big question: Are you steering the AI, or is it steering your backlog? 🕸️ Microservices Need a Safety Net: Circuit breakers aren’t just for your fuse box. This guide to building resilient microservices lays out how to use fallback patterns that keep your app online when one service eats dirt. ☕ Java Gets Cleaner with Method References: Method references in Java are still misunderstood. This explainer makes the case for cleaner lambdas, less repetition, and just enough syntax sugar to make legacy code look modern. Worth it, even if you think you know this already. 🧪 Firebase Meets Agentic AI: Firebase Studio’s new agent integrations are wild. Imagine AI agents that don’t just deploy your app, they diagnose it, test it, and help fix bugs. It’s not future-talk anymore. This is now. And Firebase’s new studio is where the dev+AI handshake just got real. 🎓 Want to Get Hired in Java? These Certs Still Matter: You don’t need alphabet soup on your resume—but some Java certifications still open real doors. Here's a look at which ones hiring managers care about in 2025, and which are just digital dust collectors. Packt catalogue: must read dev books📚 📘 Software Architecture with Spring by Wanderson Xesquevixos Not just how to build, how to architect. This guide gives Java developers a blueprint for designing systems that scale, evolve, and survive the real world. 🧱 Break up monoliths with Spring-powered microservices ⚙️ Build resilient systems with event-driven and serverless patterns 🧭 Make smart architectural calls that align with real business needs Grab your copy! Tools to Regain Focus 🧘‍♂️ Building in 2025 means juggling tabs, tokens, and ten thousand Slack pings. Here are two hand-picked tools to reclaim your cognitive real estate and get back into flow: 📐 Ray.so — Code Snippets That Spark Joy: Need to share code without the clutter? Ray.so turns your code into clean, beautiful images with syntax highlighting, perfect for docs, decks, or dev blogs. Bonus: no login required. 🎧 Focusmate — Virtual Body Doubling for Deep Work: It sounds weird, but it works. Book a 25- or 50-minute session, get matched with a silent accountability partner, and commit to one task. No chat. No judgment. Just focus. Exclusive expert spotlight: Chris Oliver on AI, Rails, and Real-World Coding 🎤 This week, we’re sharing another slice of our interview with GoRails founder Chris Oliver; this time on generative AI and where it falls short. Chris shares why today’s dev tools still feel a bit behind, and what would make them truly useful in the trenches. Spoiler: speed and specificity matter more than hype. Chris Oliver is a software developer based in St. Louis, Missouri. He's an expert in Ruby on Rails and the founder of GoRails, a platform helping Rails devs learn, build, and deploy their ideas. He’s also a conference speaker and podcaster, known for bringing clarity to the complexity of modern web dev. 🎥 Watch the clip onX. Follow us on WebDevPro for more dev insights and hot takes. Packt:Have you used Generative AI in your development workflows, and what are your views on how effective it is? Chris Oliver: Oftentimes when I work these days, I'm not Google searching things that often anymore. I go straight to the source code for libraries and look at what blew up. I want to see what it expected, what its reasoning was for doing this logic. Then I can understand where I went wrong much better. When we get to the point where we can take that context and tell Cursor or whatever, “Hey, I'm using Rails, I have this error, I'm on Rails version 6.1,” and it can load up Rails 6.1 source code on GitHub and analyze that. When it can be that specific and fine-tuned, I think we’re going to get an incredibly powerful helper that can code along with you and be extremely accurate. But part of the issue now is that it’s indexing everything on the Internet, which may or may not be accurate. We already have a hard enough time figuring out if we’re looking at old Rails documentation on a blog post versus the latest version. Until that improves, that’s where I struggle with it. I want it to work, and I want to be able to use it. Also, it’s a little bit too slow today. Waiting for Claude to generate code for a couple of minutes feels like sitting and waiting for your code to compile, which we don’t do in Ruby, because it’s interpreted on the fly. So it kind of feels like stepping back in time. I sit and wait, get distracted, open TikTok or something on my phone, and I end up getting pulled out of the zone, waiting for it to finish. AI in the spotlight 🔦 🧠 Gemini Moves Into Chrome — Welcome to the AI-Native Browser Gemini is now built into Chrome for paid users. Summarize pages, rewrite copy, or brainstorm in the tab you’re already in. No extensions. no jumping out, just native, always-on AI that thinks with you, directly from the toolbar. Developer tip of the week 💡 🛠️ Bring AI to Your Web App, No Backend Needed Edge is quietly redefining what frontend devs can do with AI—no cloud required. Here’s what’s new and why it matters: 🧪 New APIs in Edge let developers run AI models directly in the browser, no backend required ⚡ Powered by Phi-3-mini, enabling text generation, summarization, and content editing locally 🔐 Faster and more private interactions with zero server round-trips 🧭 Available now in Edge’s Canary and Dev channels, a step toward truly browser-native AI experiences And that's a wrap 🎬 That’s a wrap for this issue! Got a tool, stack tweak, or dev story? Hit reply, we love featuring real builders and their breakthroughs. Until next week! Cheers! Kinnari Chohan, Editor-in-chief SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE AND SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND! *{box-sizing:border-box}body{margin:0;padding:0}a[x-apple-data-detectors]{color:inherit!important;text-decoration:inherit!important}#MessageViewBody a{color:inherit;text-decoration:none}p{line-height:inherit}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{mso-hide:all;display:none;max-height:0;overflow:hidden}.image_block img+div{display:none}sub,sup{font-size:75%;line-height:0}#converted-body .list_block ol,#converted-body .list_block ul,.body [class~=x_list_block] ol,.body [class~=x_list_block] ul,u+.body .list_block ol,u+.body .list_block ul{padding-left:20px} @media (max-width: 100%;display:block}.mobile_hide{min-height:0;max-height:0;max-width: 100%;overflow:hidden;font-size:0}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{display:table!important;max-height:none!important}} @media only screen and (max-width: 100%;} #pad-desktop {display: none !important;} } @media only screen and (max-width: 100%;} #pad-desktop {display: none !important;} }

A look at the week gone byBuilding GenAI infra sounds cool—until it’s 3am and your LLM is downThis free guide helps you avoid the pitfalls. Learn the hidden costs, real-world tradeoffs, and decision framework to confidently answer: build or buy? Includes battle-tested tips from Checkr, Convirza & more.Grab it now!#199: An ATT&CK Review and into the BlogosphereA look at the weekWelcome to another_secpro!For all of you who attended the RSA Conference, we hope you had a great time getting up to scratch with the goings on in this industry. Got something to share? Reply to this email and tell us about your thoughts. This week's issue contains:-Apple's AirPlay Vulnerabilities Expose Devices to Hijacking Risks-U.S. Charges 16 Russians Linked to DanaBot Malware Operation-Budget Cuts to U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Raise Concerns Amid Rising Threats-Anthropic Implements Stricter Safeguards for New AI Model Amid Biosecurity Concerns-Russian Hackers Target Western Firms Supporting Ukraine, U.S. Intelligence Reports-MITRE ATT&CK - Explained- Understanding the use cases of the MITRE ATT&CK Framework-Integrating MITRE ATT&CK with SIEM Tools-Demystifying the MITRE ATT&CK FrameworkCheck out _secpro premiumCheers!Austin MillerEditor-in-ChiefReflecting on MITRE ATT&CKMaking our way through the MITRE ATT&CK's Top Ten most exploited techniques over the last 9 weeks has been fun. We're almost ready to dive into the most exploited T-number, but we thought it'd be good to stop and smell the adversarial roses for a minute first - just make sure you've been paying attention. These T-numbers are on the test, so make sure to go back and check out #10 through #2 in the list below:- #2: T1059- #3: T1333- #4: T1071- #5: T1562- #6: T1486- #7: T1082- #8: T1547- #9: T1506- #10: T1005We have five copies of Glen Singh's Kali Linux book to give away. Leave a comment in order to win a virtual copy!RSA Conference 2025 – Navigating the New Cyber FrontierA reflection on this year's eventsRead the rest here!News BytesApple's AirPlay Vulnerabilities Expose Devices to Hijacking Risks: Researchers at cybersecurity firm Oligo have identified 23 significant security flaws in Apple's AirPlay system, collectively dubbed "AirBorne." These vulnerabilities could allow hackers to hijack devices connected to the same Wi-Fi network, affecting both Apple's native AirPlay protocol and third-party implementations. The discovery underscores the need for prompt security updates to protect users relying on AirPlay-compatible gadgets. Oligo's analysis reveals that the vulnerabilities stem from issues in the AirPlay protocol's implementation, allowing for zero-click remote code execution (RCE) attacks. The flaws are particularly concerning due to their wormable nature, enabling potential rapid spread across devices.U.S. Charges 16 Russians Linked to DanaBot Malware Operation: The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 16 Russian nationals associated with the DanaBot malware operation, a sophisticated tool used globally for cybercrime, espionage, and wartime attacks. DanaBot infected over 300,000 systems and was sold to other hackers via an affiliate model. Notably, it was used in state-linked espionage, including attacks on Ukraine’s defense institutions during the Russian invasion. DanaBot is a modular banking Trojan that has evolved to include functionalities such as credential theft, remote access, and data exfiltration. Its architecture allows for dynamic updates, making it adaptable to various malicious activities. Additional commentary at WeLiveSecurity.Budget Cuts to U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Raise Concerns Amid Rising Threats: Security experts warn that proposed 17% budget cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) could leave the U.S. vulnerable to retaliatory cyberattacks, especially as Chinese cyberattacks surge. The cuts would lead to the dismissal of 130 employees and cancellation of key contracts, compromising national cyberdefense at a time of heightened threat. Analysts express concern that the reduction in CISA's budget and workforce will hinder the agency's ability to coordinate threat intelligence sharing and respond effectively to cyber incidents, particularly those targeting critical infrastructure. See commentary by Dark Reading.Anthropic Implements Stricter Safeguards for New AI Model Amid Biosecurity Concerns: Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4, its most advanced AI model, under heightened safety measures due to concerns it could assist in bioweapons development. Internal testing indicated that the model significantly outperformed earlier versions in guiding potentially harmful activities. As a result, Anthropic activated its Responsible Scaling Policy, applying stringent safeguards including enhanced cybersecurity and anti-jailbreak measures. The Responsible Scaling Policy includes AI Safety Level 3 (ASL-3) measures, such as prompt classifiers to detect harmful queries, a bounty program for vulnerability detection, and enhanced monitoring to prevent misuse of the AI model. See Anthropic News.Russian Hackers Target Western Firms Supporting Ukraine, U.S. Intelligence Reports: Hackers affiliated with Russian military intelligence have been targeting Western technology, logistics, and transportation firms involved in aiding Ukraine. The cyber campaign sought to obtain intelligence on military and humanitarian aid shipments, using tactics like spearphishing and exploiting vulnerabilities in small office and home networks. Over 10,000 internet-connected cameras near Ukrainian borders and other key transit points were targeted. The attackers, linked to the group "Fancy Bear," employed advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques, including the exploitation of unsecured IoT devices and spearphishing campaigns, to infiltrate networks and gather intelligence on aid logistics. See the NSA report (PDF).This week's blogsMITRE ATT&CK - Explained: This comprehensive guide breaks down the MITRE ATT&CK framework, detailing its components such as tactics, techniques, and procedures. It also compares ATT&CK with the Cyber Kill Chain model, highlighting how ATT&CK provides a more flexible approach to understanding adversary behaviors across different platforms.Understanding the use cases of the MITRE ATT&CK Framework: Tailored for newcomers, this blog offers a step-by-step approach to utilizing the MITRE ATT&CK framework. It emphasizes the benefits of integrating ATT&CK into cybersecurity practices, such as improved threat detection, incident management, and communication among security professionals.Integrating MITRE ATT&CK with SIEM Tools:This article explores how to integrate the MITRE ATT&CK framework with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, specifically Microsoft Sentinel. It discusses features like the MITRE ATT&CK Blade, rule creation, and tagging, providing insights into enhancing detection and response capabilities.Demystifying the MITRE ATT&CK Framework: This blog offers a clear explanation of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, discussing its role in understanding cyber-attack patterns and applying appropriate mitigation strategies. It emphasizes the framework's value in improving an organization's cybersecurity posture and adapting to evolving threats.Upcoming events for _secpros this yearHere are the five conferences we're looking forward to the most this year (in no particular order...) and how you can get involved to boost your posture!DSEI (9th-12th September): DSEI stands out as a global platform that bridges defence, security, and cybersecurity. With its broad focus on cutting-edge technologies, this event is critical for those involved in national defence, law enforcement, and private security. Cybersecurity is a prominent theme, with sessions addressing both offensive and defensive cyber strategies.Defcon (7th-10th August): Defcon is a legendary event in the hacker and cybersecurity communities. Known for its hands-on approach, Defcon offers interactive workshops, capture-the-flag contests, and discussions on emerging threats. The conference is ideal for those looking to immerse themselves in technical aspects of cybersecurity.Black Hat (2nd-7th August): Black Hat USA is synonymous with advanced security training and research. This premier event features technical briefings, hands-on workshops, and sessions led by global security experts. Attendees can explore the latest trends in penetration testing, malware analysis, and defensive techniques, making it a must-attend for cybersecurity professionals.*{box-sizing:border-box}body{margin:0;padding:0}a[x-apple-data-detectors]{color:inherit!important;text-decoration:inherit!important}#MessageViewBody a{color:inherit;text-decoration:none}p{line-height:inherit}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{mso-hide:all;display:none;max-height:0;overflow:hidden}.image_block img+div{display:none}sub,sup{font-size:75%;line-height:0} @media (max-width: 100%;display:block}.mobile_hide{min-height:0;max-height:0;max-width: 100%;overflow:hidden;font-size:0}.desktop_hide,.desktop_hide table{display:table!important;max-height:none!important}}