Having fun working with QuickTime now. For some value of "fun."

• Git Bundle - TextMate bindings for the new sexy source control system. With prominent projects moving to Git, I probably should figure this stuff out.


• Testing in Rails: Part 10 - Assertions - More in the continuing testing series from Null is Love.


• Peepcode Unlimited - New annual all-you-can-eat subscription from the premiere source of Rails & related podcasts. Tempting.


• Merborial: Up and Running with Merb 0.9.0 (dev): How to install all the pieces from the git repositories.

Got my first Cocoa app up and running last night. Progress!

• SQL on Rails -  News of a model-model-model development environment.


• YamlDb for Database-Independent Data Dumps - Rails plugin to dump and load data from any supported database. (via Andrzej)


• Live Mongrel Debugging and Recovery - Some of the fine points of keeping Mongrel in line.


• Living on the edge (of Rails) #8 - the code optimization edition - More changes from the next version of Rails.

Coming off a hellaciously busy early morning full of early-bird kids, so just a couple of links today.

• ibtool(1) - Time to start collecting Mac client links for myself.  This one dumps all sorts of stuff from a NIB file to XML, which helped me track down some issues with the code tangle I've been handed.


• One-stop JavaScript Unit Testing for Rails 2.0 - Dr. Nic extols the virtues of combining newjs with Rails. Easier testing is a Good Thing.

Having loads of fun figuring out Cocoa, XCode, Core Data, Merb, and DataMapper all at the same time. At least life isn't boring.

• PicoShot - HTTP-based web site thumbnail generation service, free to use.


• newjs = newgem for JavaScript projects; free TDD suite - Dr. Nic adds some structure to quick and dirty JavaScript projects.


• Google Charts on Rails - A plugin wrapper for Google Charts, which I switched to because I was hitting too many bugs in the gem I was using previously. Of course, then I had to go and fix and extend the plugin to do what I wanted. I'll have to see about contributing some code back when I get it tidied up.

Looks like a little Cocoa is next on the agenda, with potential Merb/DataMapper and Second Life stints coming soon as well. Do I have the best luck with clients or what?

• Merborial: Getting Started with Merb and DataMapper: A tutorial on the very basics, starting with "what to install." (via Rob Bazinet)


• OpenID-2.0.2 with Rails-2.0.2 - Getting these bits to play nicely together.


• sudo gem install password - A new gem and a rant all in one.

Hm, there's a bit of a problem when I'm ready for a weekend & it's only Thursday.

• Auto-Complete for Text Fields in Rails 2 - A guide to getting it working now that this functionality has been removed to a plugin.


• Living on the edge (of Rails) #7 - improved ActiveRecord::Base#attributes, time zone support - More changes in edge Rails.

The new GrowlMail beta works with OS X 10.5.2 just fine. They ask that people not link to the beta URL, but if you need it and can't find it drop me a line and I'll point you in the right direction.

• Firefox 3 Beta 3 - I'm running this full-time now, and it's my browser of choice. Release notes here.


• BrainBuster 0.8.0 - Logic-based captchas for Rails.


• InfiniteBits - Web and FTP access to Amazon S3. Looks interesting, though other tools (like Transmit) are adding direct FTP integration these days too.

Nailed down another contract yesterday - this one for some design and building work in Second Life. Nice to have the billing base broadened a bit.

• About the Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update - This installed smoothly for me, though I'm not seeing any amazing changes (except for the temporary loss of my beloved GrowlMail again).


• Andrzej's Rails tips #5 - A couple of nice RSpec-related tips.


• RubyFringe - Rails is too staid for some folks now; here's a new conference for people who want to work with Ruby stuff (mainly web-related) "outside of the Rails monoculture."


• Nginx & Memcached, a 400% Boost! - More fiddling with the Rails production stack.

My head cold goes on, but so does the Internet. Let's see what rummaging around lately has tossed up on my desktop.

• A strftime for Prototype - Should be handy if I ever get around to learning Prototype.


• Ruby Cheat Sheets - A selection of useful aids when learning the language.


• Testing in Rails: Part 9 - Attributes and Callbacks - More in the ongoing series from Null is Love.

I hate being sick. Of course, that doesn't stop me from catching the latest virus in a house full of kids.

• The Once and Future Ruby.NET - There's a shakeout going on in Ruby projects targeting .NET. Here's an entrance to the story.


• Living on the edge (of Rails) #6 - better performance, Git support, and more - The latest news roundup from the cutting edge.


• SwitchPipe: My New Rapid and Easy Way To Deploy Web Apps - A shot at making it easier to deploy Ruby apps on the web.

I wasn't able to post this yesterday because our T1 line went down for 16 hours. It was almost like living in the boondocks again!

• 21 Merb Links, Tutorials and Other Resources - A roadpmap of merb goodness collected by Peter Cooper.


• RSpec-1.1.3 and ZenTest-3.9.1 - How to match up your RSpec and ZenTest versions.


• Scout - Ruby-based web monitoring and reporting software. Doesn't appear to be shipping yet.

Delivered another reasonably major feature today. Things are still going well on the Rails front.

• ActiveCouch - A Ruby Wrapper for CouchDB - Yet another thing to learn if I had unlimited time.


• 'IP' Police Line - Do Not Cross - Intellectual property shenanigans from IBM. Shame on Pearson for publishing a programming book that explicitly refuses the use of the techniques it covers.


• mephisto 0.8 is out! - New release of this Rails-based blogging software.


• Restful Authentication with all the bells and whistles - Comprehensive tutorial using Rails 2.0.2.

So Microsoft has put out a hostile (and high) bid for Yahoo! For me, that means it's time to start making a list of new services to boycott. Flickr, del.icio.us, and Messenger would all inconvenience me somewhat to dump, but not so much that I want to get sucked back into the Microsoft fold.

• Better Reporting with Sparklines - Introduction from topfunky. I've got a site that would probably benefit from this, though I'm not sure the client would agree


• ActiveMerchant 1.3 released - Just in time for the PDF that just went by.


• Segregated page cache storage - Some discussion of tweaking Rails' page caching, kicked off by Josh Susser. Read the comments too.


• Get ready for the TextMate "Trundle to Rails 2.0 Bundle" - Dr. Nic takes over maintenance.

We now have Rails apps being developed on two developer desktops in this household - another small victory for the forces of light.

• Super-fast bulk data imports in Rails with ar-extensions - There's a gem out there to make for quicker batches if you're faced with this problem.

The joy of independence: trying to nail down an elusive contract. There might be room in my dance card coming up in the future if you're interested in talking.

• Living on the edge (of Rails) #5 - better eager loading and more - This series continues to be the best way to keep up with developments in Edge Rails without actually installing the software yourself.


• Beanstalk - Hosted Subversion system with hooks to FogBugz, Basecamp, and Campfire. Been around for a bit but just now crossed my radar.


• ActiveMerchant PDF - The latest print publication from PeepCode, covering e-commerce in Rails.


• RailsConf '08: Registration is open! - Sure enough, it is.

Yesterday was going swimmingly until the 3-hour power failure. Felt like I was back in the sticks again.

• Rails REST 101 meets Rails 2.0 - If you learned REST with Rails 1.2, here's an update.


• RailsConf '07 keynotes on video - Just in time for RailsConf '08 tickets to go on sale. It was fun once, but I've got better things to spend the money on this year.


• Creating bubble tooltips..... - Another design technique to spiff up your Rails applications.

I'm hoping some renewed energy and inspiration comes out of somewhere today, because I sure didn't have any this weekend.

• Merb Supports rSpec Text Stories - Merb is reaching a tipping point very quickly, I think.


• The Maria engine is released - A new plug-in storage engine for MySQL.


• MultiRails 0.0.5 - A way to test your Rails code in multiple versions of Rails. Most useful to plugin authors, I think.


• Simpler than dirt: RESTful Dynamic CSS - Technique for having CSS that depends on the details of the current model instance. Check out the comments for some other alternatives.


• Write Only Ruby - Jay Fields takes DRY to its logical and absurd conclusion.

Woke up this morning to emails from two different clients, both promising to ship over spec for more Rails work today. I think I've made it.

• Upgrading to Rails 2.0. A Recipe - A quick look at the major steps involved in upgrading an existing application.


• One Hundred, Two Hosts, Three Engines - Looks like there may soon be a new Rails blog engine in town.


• E-TextEditor Cheat Sheet for Ruby on Rails - For those of you still on the dark side.


• Easy Integration: From XML to the Datastore Without the Mess - Using XML::Mapping to get arbitrary XML into Rails. This worked out nicely for me yesterday.

I fear I have code that is best written to use regular expressions. Hopefully this is not one of those "now you have two problems" cases.

• Testing in Rails: Part 8 - Validations - More from the continuing series over at Null is Love.


• Living on the edge (of Rails) #4 - faster routes, easier form partials - The latest news from the cutting edge.


• Prototype 1.6.0.2 cheat sheet - Some day I'm going to learn Prototype. No, really.


• Feeds for Free - How to get Atom feeds with hAtom decoration and a bit of shim software.

I wrote a whole 39 lines of code yesterday. I was proud of myself, till I realized about half of them weren't the right lines of code. At least I didn't ship them.

• Living on the Edge (of Rails) #3 - X-Sendfile and many other sexy enhancements - More news of what's coming in Rails 2.1.


• chartpart - Type in data, caption, and so on, and get back the Google Chart API chart and URL.


• Bridging Rails to Amazon SimpleDB using ActiveResource - As I expected, folks are working on hooking up the latest Amazon offering to Rails.


• Merb Routing in 0.5 - Toolman Tim adds some documentation.