Simon Willison's Weblog: torchbox

The TimeToLead.eu technical stack: Django and Flex

2008-09-11T20:33:07+00:00

The TimeToLead.eu technical stack: Django and Flex

Nice case study of a site using Django’s i18n support along with django-rosetta.

Tags: django, flex, i18n, jp-stacey, python, rosetta, timetolead, torchbox

The Carbon Account

2008-03-30T19:04:14+00:00

The carbon calculator project I contributed to at Torchbox last year has launched, and they’ve made the code available as open source.

Tags: open-source, thecarbonaccount, torchbox

jQuery in 15 minutes

2007-08-07T14:57:51+00:00

jQuery in 15 minutes

A quick introduction I put together. Much more interesting in conjunction with Firebug powered demos.

Tags: firebug, javascript, jquery, torchbox

Extending a WiFi network with two Macs and a FireWire cable

2007-04-12T13:59:14+00:00

Last night's Oxford Geek Night went really well, despite more than the usual flurry of problems. It's definitely true that the more geeks there are in a room the less likely it is that the projector will work! Thankfully we got everything up and running in time for the talks to start, although it was a pretty close call.

A few of the talks needed internet access from the stage - always risky at conferences, which is why I've taken to recording screencasts of anything I want to demonstrate just in case there's a problem. For the last event we hooked up a mobile phone to a laptop running an ad-hoc WiFi network, which was slow but worked fine. This time round we checked with the venue well in advance to confirm that their WiFi had been installed.

The wireless was indeed up and running, but there was one pretty significant problem: the stage was just out of range! We could pick up a network signal fine from about 10 feet away from the stage, but the layout of the building meant that the stage itself was a WiFi blackspot.

At that point the evening started feeling a bit like Apollo 13. We had a bunch of laptops, various cables (but sadly no 10 foot network cable; that's on the list for next time) and about half an hour to go before the event kicked off. That's when I remembered that Internet Connection Sharing under OS X has a "FireWire" option.

So here's how to build your own WiFi repeater using two Macs and a FireWire cable:

Connect Mac A to the existing WiFi network. Confirm with ping or a browser.
Turn off the AirPort card on Mac B (for the moment).
Run a FireWire cable between A and B.
On Mac A, bring up System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet.
Share your connection from "AirPort" to "Built-in FireWire".
On Mac B, find System Preferences -> Network -> Built-in FireWire, and check that you've successfully connected.
Confirm that Mac B can see the internet, using ping or a browser.
On Mac B, browse to System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet.
Share your connection from "Built-in FireWire" to "AirPort".
Click "AirPort Options..." and set a name for the new network (and optional WEP key). This is the network that other machines will connect to.
Hit "Start".

All we had to do then was position our pair of laptops somewhere that was in WiFi range of both the venue network and the stage. Job done!

Except for one thing... we forgot to factor in the dampening factor of human bodies. As the area filled up the signal strength from the venue WiFi reduced, leading to intermittent network failures. The nice thing about laptops is that you can move them around, so for the talks that needed network access Nick and I stood near the door with our laptops held over our heads.

It's a good thing the venue microphone showed up at the last minute, as our backup plan for that involved two laptops, a USB microphone, a patch in to the mixing desk and iChat AV...

We've started adding slides to the official site, and will hopefully soon have videos up there as well. If you took any photos at the event tag them on Flickr with oxfordgeeknight2 to have them show up on the site. Nat's planning the next event for June or July, so subscribe to the announce-only mailing list if you want to stay informed.

Tags: events, macos, oxfordgeeknight2, oxford-geek-nights, torchbox, wifi

Oxford Geek Night 2

2007-03-28T19:21:16+00:00

If you missed the last Oxford Geek Night, you really owe it to yourself to make it to the next one. If you were there then you shouldn't need any convincing.

Oxford Geek Night 2 will be on the 11th of April, starting at 7.30pm (talks start at 8.30) upstairs at the Jericho Tavern. Nat has just announced the two keynotes: Jon Hicks will be talking about typography on the Web and his thoughts on typographic trends for 2007, and James Webster from Amazon UK will be presenting Amazon's web service suite.

In addition to the two 15 minute keynotes there will also be eight 5 minute microslots. Nat is currently taking proposals for these; this is a good chance to give a lightning demo of something you've worked on and a great opportunity for first time speakers to gain valuable experience in front of a friendly audience.

The event is sponsored by Torchbox. Entry is free to all, but you should sign up on Upcoming to give us an idea of numbers.

Tags: amazon, james-webster, jon-hicks, natalie-downe, oxford, oxford-geek-nights, torchbox, typography

Leaving Yahoo!, going freelance

2007-01-15T01:16:51+00:00

Last Friday was my last day at Yahoo!. I've had a fantastic time there, and will really miss working with Tom, Paul and the many other superb Yahoos I've had the privilege to meet.

I'm leaving for entirely personal reasons. The plan had always been to move out to the US for the job, but it became clear that my girlfriend would not have been able to move with me. When it came down to it I decided my relationship with her came first. We moved in together several months ago and our quality of life has been enormously improved as a result. Even the lure of San Francisco (and the best burgers in the world) can't compete with that.

As of today, I'm going freelance. I'll be working for three days a week for Torchbox, an excellent web development company based near Oxford that specialises in sites for charities and the public sector. The other two days are available for freelance projects; please drop me a line (simon @ this domain) if there's something I can help you with.

I'm also looking forward to investing time in projects of my own. 2007 will be an exciting year.

Tags: freelance, torchbox, yahoo, personal-news

SSH ControlPath/ControlMaster

2006-12-18T11:53:20+00:00

SSH ControlPath/ControlMaster

How to get OpenSSH v4 and above to re-use an existing SSH connection for multiple sessions, dramatically speeding up connection start times.

Tags: nick-burch, ssh, torchbox