Masacotes 2017
Basic HTTP access authentication in Workflow app
I’m a newbie to Workflow, the super powerful automation app for iOS that was recently acquired by Apple. I’ve known for a while that there’s some useful things I could do with it, but I haven’t had the time to sit down and play around with it.
Today I did, and my workflow required getting the contents of a URL that uses Basic HTTP Access Authentication. Since it took me a little while to figure out how to do it and didn’t find much help online, I decided to write a post and help the next poor soul to run into this.
The way Basic Access Authentication works is that the client (usually a web browser but in my case the Workflow app) sends the user name and password as part of the HTTP headers.
The nice little explanation on HttpWatch also has a handy little demo. You go this URL and use “httpwatch” as user name and anything you want as password. It displays an image containing the info you entered.
I created a workflow that hard codes the user name, asks you to enter a password, and then gets the image and shows it. It should be easy enough to use a starting point for your own workflow. You can download it here:
Chris Rock
Shlomit took me last week to see Chris Rock at the Bass Concert Hall. I expected the show to be very good, but it exceeded my expectations.
I find it interesting to see how the topics of his jokes have changed as he (unlike me) has aged. Lots of stuff about raising kids, divorce. He spent a good twenty minutes on jokes about… mortgages! Less than what’s considered average nowadays about politics, a good thing.
You will see zero photos about the show because they had the most extreme no-phone policy I’ve ever seen, forcing everyone at the entrance of the theater to put phones and smart watches in an opaque pouch that you can only open with a magnet, no unlike the security tags on clothing at stores.
Miguel Bosé
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a concert. But I couldn’t pass this one up. It was last night at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio.
Great concert by one of the great singers.
Update: Eva brought her grown up camera. Better photos below:
2017 Cap10K results
I ran my fifth Capitol 10K this morning. Right after I crossed the finish line someone asked me: “How did you do?”. “I don’t know, haven’t checked” I replied. “But how did you feel?”…
“I felt like crap”
Which is not a bad thing, in my opinion. If I didn’t feel like crap, wouldn’t that mean that I didn’t push myself hard enough?
My results:
- 2013: 53:12
- 2014: 48:33
- 2015: 48:22
- 2016: 50:59
- 2017: 50:53 (link to MyChipTime)
That’s right! I’m a year older but 6 seconds faster.
Thank you to my family, my coach, and to all my sponsors for their support.
Cap10k pre-race
T-5
Moving to India
A couple of months ago, I was made a very interesting offer: Move to Bangalore, India, in order to be the Technical Lead of a new R&D team being formed at the office over there.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but after lots of deliberation with my family, I decided to accept.
This will be a three-year stint that could be extended, starting in the fall. We’re very excited and looking forward to eating lots of Indian food.
Further information on exact date, farewell party, and so on will follow.
SXSW 2017: The I’m a loser edition
This year I only went a single Sunday morning to check out Capital Factory’s AR/VR Megalounge. And get me some swag.
They had a good amount of mostly unfinished games for the HTC Vive. Best of all: no lines. Bonus: free food and drinks.
I was pulled into a demo by Groove Jones in which you play a Tron-like disc game in a Tron-like environment against your opponent. I won several matches in a row. Unfortunately, my old body didn’t handle the intense activity well and I ended up with a torn hamstring.
Regardless of my injury, they found us graceful enough to get me on their Twitter:
Battle a friend in a friendly game of #lightstrike by @groovejonesvr! Come play now! @htcvive @metaglasses pic.twitter.com/jiGNobbwhc
— CF Virtual Reality (@CFVRLab) March 12, 2017
Since I was already downtown, I decided to walk around a little bit to see the sights and get some free toys. This in spite of my leg pain.
As I strolled down Sixth Street, I saw a large crowd of barely clothed good looking people walk towards me. I had to double check: it wasn’t Halloween nor Mardi Gras. What could it be?
This is SXSW, so of course it was an advertisement for something. However, just to make sure, I decided to stick around and pay close attention to all details in order to make sure.
It became obvious that I wasn’t going to get a free t-shirt from this crowd (maybe a free trash bag), but luckily Panasonic gutted out Parkside and turned it into a giant booze and t-shirt dispensing advertisement.
Mission accomplished.
Official lies
At some point in the past I gave my email address to the Whitehouse. I didn’t use to get emails from them. Recently things have changed and the database has been turn into a mailing list of self promotion.
This one caught my eye. It starts with the following assertion stated as unqualified fact:
The past 8 years have taken a toll on America’s job force.
A quick Google search on job statistics brings me to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose job is to collect precisely this sort of statistics. Here’s the last 10 years, handy chart and all:
Other assertion are very dubious. For example, a clueless reader would think that the new government had something to do with the Intel plant announcement when in fact it’s been in planning since 2011.
But that opening statement? Direct unambiguous lie, and easy to disprove, too. Yet this precise sort of lies (plus a dose of xenophobia) is what propelled Trump to the presidency. It makes no sense to me. And it worries the hell out of me.
Classic Mexican music
Ilán really likes music. Even better: he does not like dumb baby songs but actual good music.
He strongly favors Argentinian rock, but this morning he was in the mood for Mexican classics: Cielito Lindo and La Bikina. And strangely enough, he allowed me to record him singing.
Here it is, with subtitles so you can sing along: