Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

If your startup is planning to build an app, you're going to need an Application Programming Interface, better known as an "API." The role of an API is to give your app a set of directions so it can get all the information it needs to interact with your business. APIs are extremely valuable, but they can also be difficult to navigate. Here's a look at the 10 best APIs for start-ups that will ensure your business has the fundamental technology needed to be successful in 2025.

Many businesses are on the lookout for robust alternatives to popular tools like CDATA. Whether it's due to cost, specific functionality, or compatibility requirements, finding the right tool can significantly impact your data management strategies. Here’s what you need to consider when looking for a CDATA alternative.

Three seconds. That’s how long it takes for over half of your users to abandon your site if it doesn’t load. One extra second of lag? Say goodbye to 20% of your conversions. Your customers are one bad experience away from leaving – and they won’t hesitate to switch to your competitors. Whether it’s a sluggish app, a confusing interface, or a glitch in the checkout process, digital frustration comes at a steep cost.

Tracing TLS (Transport Layer Security) traffic is crucial for modern observability systems. It helps monitor encrypted communication, diagnose issues, and optimize application performance. However, traditional methods like TLS proxying and packet capturing often come with significant performance overheads and security risks. They are not always the ideal solution, particularly for high-performance or security-sensitive environments.

Chaos testing, also known as chaos engineering, is one of the most-used methodology to test the resilience and reliability of systems by intentionally introducing controlled failures. Simply put, the goal is to identify weaknesses and improve a system’s ability to handle unexpected scenarios. Originating from Netflix’s famous Chaos Monkey tool, chaos testing has become a key practice in building robust distributed systems.

Since Adobe introduced the PDF in 1993, this versatile file format has played a key role in the digital revolution. PDFs give us a universal languages across different devices, they support interactive and multimedia elements, and they provide robust encryption. Today, Adobe estimates there are over 2.5 trillion PDFs in existence around the world. It’s fairly self-evident, then, that PDF functionalities are now a crucial part of web application development.

Real user monitoring (RUM) is a type of application performance monitoring that provides insights on how people interact with your app. With RUM, you can see what your users see by monitoring key elements of their experience within your application. There’s lots of industry buzz about observability, but for good reason. RUM is a critical part of digital experience monitoring because it’s incredibly valuable to understand user behavior and preferences.

Hello, and welcome to part two of the BugSnag Beginners Series! We will cover the error details page and how it can be used to maximize error debugging in your BugSnag Dashboard. We’ll start by going over how error details heading information is organized, followed by what different pivots mean, how the status box works, where to find diagnostic data, and lastly how to create custom filters using your error’s metadata.

Last month, TestGuild’s Joe Colantonio sat down with two of SmartBear’s product wizards to discuss the world of developer observability and upcoming trends. Eran Grabiner is co-founder of distributed tracing tool Aspecto, which was acquired by SmartBear earlier this year. Right now, he works as Director of Product Management for Aspecto spearheading observability projects. Justin Collier is a longtime member of the SmartBear team and currently serves as Senior Director of Product Management.

Apache Iceberg is transforming how organizations hanle data by solving key challenges in traditional data warehousing. It offers schema evolution without downtime, automated partitioning, ACID compliance, and time travel for historical data access. Its open table format separates storage and compute, enabling scalability, flexibility, and cost efficiency.