One Big Fluke

Today I gave a talk at Velocity about a recent side project of mine called dpxdt. “Depicted” makes continuous deployment safe by comparing before and after webpage screenshots for each release. It shows when any visual, perceptual differences are found. This is the ultimate, automated end-to-end test.

Here’s a screenshot of the UI in action with my site:

More specifically, Depicted is:

• An API server for capturing webpage screenshots and automatically generating visual, perceptual difference images (“pdiffs”).
• A workflow for teams to coordinate new releases using pdiffs.
• A client library for integrating with existing continuous integration processes.
• Built for portability; API server runs on App Engine, behind the firewall, etc.
• A wrapper of PhantomJS for screenshotting.
• Open source, Apache 2.0 licensed.
• Not a framework, not a religion.

If you’d like to know more about the motivation behind Depicted, be sure to check out this video presentation. I’m looking forward to adding many features to this tool. I need help. Webhook callbacks, Firefox screenshots, IE screenshots in a VM, email notifications, and much more functionality is missing. Contributions are welcome on GitHub or discuss ideas on the mailing list.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/14KPhvT

Tantek and I sat down to talk about all things indie for GDL last week:

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“whoever came up with this *blonk* idea should be *blonk*-ing fired!” — Google Hangouts discussion forum

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“Legislation is managing failure.” - Jane Frost

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“Data is the pollution of the information age.” - Bruce Schneier

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On the one hand, I am furious. On the other, I am thankful to not lose all productivity for the rest of the summer.

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With the new Mac Pro, we’re assembling the entire product and machining several of its high-precision components in the United States. By leveraging the innovative power of industry-leading companies in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, and over a dozen other states across America, we’re able to build a product that’s impeccably constructed and beautiful in every detail. In other words, exactly as it was envisioned by our designers and engineers in California.

Details here. Looks pretty rad.

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Gave a talk for Google Developers Live. See all the details when I present at Velocity next week.

from One Big Fluke http://www.onebigfluke.com/2013/06/gdl-secret-to-safe-continuous-deployment.html

Every time I migrate a schema I wonder why I have a schema at all.

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I had no recognition of the name Giorgio Moroder from Daft Punk’s new album. Then realized he did “Chase” from Midnight Express in 1978. That song, Axel F. (1984, by his protégé), and Blue Monday (1983) were what got me into techno—oh!—but I first heard them as MODs downloaded over xmodem.

PS: The “Chase” is more proof that 1978-1982 were the best years in the history of modern music.

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Going to NewsBlur.

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I finally had a chance to read George Packer’s article for the New Yorker, entitled Change the World: Silicon Valley transfers its slogans—and its money—to the realm of politics. It’s actually less politically focused than I expected. I think he gets most of it right. It’s a good critique of the most well-known and self-congratulatory parts of Silicon Valley, the same people who have private transit fleets, “won” against PIPA and SOPA, elected Ed Lee, disrupted industry, etc.

Packer’s thesis is this:

One question for technology boosters—maybe the crucial one—is why, during the decades of the personal computer and the Internet, the American economy has grown so slowly, average wages have stagnated, the middle class has been hollowed out, and inequality has surged. Why has a revolution that is supposed to be as historically important as the industrial revolution coincided with a period of broader economic decline?

While visiting the Valley, he asked everyone this question. The answers Packer got were embarrassing.

It was Steve Jobs, after all, who told President Obama that Apple’s manufacturing jobs would not be coming back from China. Apple’s position on issues like inequality was expressed last year by an executive who said, “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.”

My answer for Packer would be: The economy has declined because of outsourcing and globalization. The economy has grown because of technology. If we could return manufacturing jobs to the US wages would increase broadly, inequality would be reduced, democracy would improve.

I’m not surprised that the free-market-minded folks that he interviewed, in the upper echelons of the Valley, dismiss this idea or are blind to it. It’s fundamentally incompatible with their worldview. But maybe they’re coming around. The Apple executive quote is from January 2012. By December 2012, Apple had decided to move some manufacturing back to the US for political reasons.

There’s still hope. I think the majority of us in the Valley don’t buy into the bullshit.

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Taught someone about Django template inheritance today. I forgot how mind-blowing override blocks are to newbies.

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class Memo(dict): \
get = lambda s, k: (len(s) > 1000 and s.clear()) or \
  (k in s and s[k]) or s.setdefault(k, s.f(k)); \
f = lambda s, k: # your code here

from One Big Fluke http://www.onebigfluke.com/2013/06/shortest-memo-cache.html

Thankful for Google’s reversal:

In response to those requests, we are keeping the CalDAV API public. And in the spirit of openness, today we’re also making CardDAV – an open standard for accessing contact information across the web – available to everyone for the first time.

from One Big Fluke http://www.onebigfluke.com/2013/06/caldav-not-going-away.html