our blog
A Few of Our New Year’s Resolutions
Paul I resolve to brighten the lives and businesses of our clients and partners at every touch point. I resolve to be more creative and persistent in uncovering the deepest and most meaningful ways in which we can impact our clients' and partners' success. I resolve...
Generating PDFs: wkhtmltopdf & Heroku
So, it has come to this.
Reports, yes, your application will have to have reports – in brand colours, with images and logos abounding, and probably festooned with graphs of various sizes, shapes and degrees of relevance to what was once a nice, streamlined set of data. This report has just become a part of the application ‘product’, meant not just to communicate, but also to entice and enthrall. Form has become just as important as function… and, did I forget to mention? It also needs to be exportable.
Understanding: the Difference Maker
In the world of software consulting, it can be virtually impossible to determine what the fair market value for software development is. Nobody estimates work according to the same parameters: some firms have differing rates for differing services, some have offshore development services, some won’t provide a meaningful estimate at all (and for good reason).
Vote for Miracles so Kids Can Get Better!
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals launched a nationwide “Vote for Miracles” campaign today, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Credit Unions for Kids program. From November 29 through December 20, credit unions and the general public are invited to cast their votes to support their favorite CMN Hospital.
What Does It Mean to Be a “Thought Leader”?
I was recently given the opportunity to present myself as a “thought leader for my industry.” I’ve been pondering this. What do I know? What do I know so deeply and fully that others might want to hear my opinions on? Not much, it seems. Actually, I don’t have nearly as many answers as I have questions. But more than this, it’s the questions that really keep me interested. Here’s an example.
Book Review: Programming Beyond Practices
This new book from Gregory T. Brown (@practicingdev) provides a fresh look at the skills and habits that modern software developers need to possess in order to advance past the stage of slinging code around. The most clever code in the world is useless if it’s solving the wrong problem, or solving the right problem in the wrong way, whether that’s because it only addresses a user’s needs tangentially, or is brittle in the face of real world constraints. None of us should settle for being just a code monkey.
IoT Smart-Locks: Apple HomeKit & Schlage Sense-lessness (or how to spend $2000 on a deadbolt)
The goal Upgrade home-office security and take the opportunity to join the Star Trek generation of smart-home IoT. Exec summary Describe my experience installing and configuring a couple of Schlage Sense smart-locks and configuring them to connect to a couple of Apple...
The Apple Watch is Silly, Isn’t It?
I love my smartphone. Like many of us today, I couldn’t live without my phone. I don’t do anything these days until my phone tells me I need to do it. Ok. Maybe slightly hyperbolic, but I can certainly say without exaggeration that I’m a more organized and productive person because of my phone.
But, the idea of a smart, wearable device? I didn’t get the point of it. Why would I want to take the functionality of my phone and compress it into an even smaller screen? It’s already tough enough to navigate my 4.7-inch smartphone. The idea of navigating an interface only slightly larger than a postage stamp was laughable.
Teaching Your Computer To See The Easy Way
You’re curious about how SnapChat can apply those stamps, you want to create an autonomous controller for your USB controlled Nerf missile launcher, or maybe you have an actual business need. Here is a simple formula to get started with OpenCV so that you can achieve your Computer Vision dreams.
Composing and Improvising: the Art of Software Development
In the early years of Art+Logic, my wife and I liked to visit a small inn in Palm Springs called Villa Royale. It was lovely. Each room was decorated in a different European country theme. The proprietors traveled frequently and brought back regional artifacts to lend...
Top Ten Ways in Which Software Development Is like Parenting
One of our developers was recently talking about a personal milestone that happened to mark both his 20th year at Art & Logic as well as his son’s 20th birthday. That got me thinking about how much parenting and software actually have in common. For instance......
Go Fetch 2! (JavaScript Fetch API)
Last time we discussed the Fetch API in general, taking a look at how it differed from the XMLHttpRequest API, and some of its advantages. Today, we’re going to take a look at a little library that you can include in your projects today that offers you localStorage caching for the Fetch API.