For an easier alternative to using these example, the [ESP8266HTTPClient library](https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/tree/master/libraries/ESP8266HTTPClient) can be used (which also supports HTTPS via a SHA1 fingerprint).
J. Yoon, B. Noble, M. Liu, and M. Kim. International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services, page 177--190. New York, NY, USA, ACM, (2006)