The Power of Compression

Today I was investigating some slowdowns on one of our customer facing sites and after a few minutes working with our developer and Safari, I determined that we weren't compressing files sent from the server. (Safari warned me in the Show Network Timeline option in the Develop menu.)

As we're running Apache 2.2.x on Leopard server, I found that it had mod_deflate already installed. While the module was already installed, it wasn't setup to do anything. After a few minutes reading the documentation and modifying the Apache configuration files, I had compression working. Yeah! Normally I wouldn't think this would do a lot of good as the connection is pretty fast, but some of the Javascript we use is quite large and compresses quite well. I definitely saw a speed improvement with this simple change.

So my question is, why isn't there an option in Leopard's Web Server that says "enable compression"? I see no downside to this using the configuration on the Apache site (Leopard server actually has this enabled for Collaboration) as most modern browser can handle this and can quickly decompress the files.

For reference, I created a file at: /etc/apache2/httpd_deflate.conf that had in it:

Macworld Recap

Everyone is posting a recap and analysis of Macworld and I won't be any different! My trip to Macworld this year, like every year, was a lot of fun, but tiring at the same time. In some years, I've worked at the Mark/Space booth, but most years, I just walk around the Expo floor (I don't find conferences all that interesting to me). I spent the first day walking around the booths to get a lay of the land and talking to people I know (there are some people that I only see at Macworld). The second day, I went up and down every aisle looking for products that would be helpful for my work. Yes, I actually glanced at every booth. There were a number of products that I would never have seen just searching the web.

There has been a lot of speculation about the future of Macworld Expo now that Apple has said that it will not attend next year. For me, Apple's presence is secondary to all the other vendors. While I can find out about products on the Internet whenever I want, there are many products I would never have known were out there. For instance, nekFIT is a holder for an iPod Nano that goes around your neck. It looks quite interesting so I ordered one (the guy at the booth said if I didn't like it, contact him and he'd make it right). I love running and the headphone cord always drives me crazy. In addition to that, I did find stuff for work. There is a backup program called CrashPlan that backs up during idle time. Why haven't I seen anything like this before? Then there is the BT-1 Wireless Webcam from my friends at Ecamm Network.

Will I goto next year's show? I ordered signed up for my free Expo pass, so hopefully that is a good sign. Will vendors pull out? Likely, yes, but I hope that many of the smaller vendors choose to come. I know it is expensive to come as a vendor, but it is so helpful to come and have so many vendors in one location. The big vendors don't interest me all that

In addition to looking for things for work, there was some exciting news for me. Mariner Software announced that it had acquired my ReceiptWallet program.

Check your facts

Another letter to the editor....

In your article titled "DeMaio seeks break for sole proprietors on license code", the author needs to check his facts. He talks about a business "license" in the City of San Diego. A license is defined as "formal permission from a governmental or other constituted authority to do something, as to carry on some business or profession." The City of San Diego does not issue business licenses, it issues business tax certificates which are completely different from licenses. In fact, the "Certificate of Payment of Business Tax" states "This is not a License to do business within the City of San Diego...".

The business tax certificate only means that you've paid the city money and nothing more. While they may sound like the same thing, they are not.

I've had a business tax certificate for many years and it means squat. In fact, I had a disagreement with Washington Mutual years ago where they wouldn't let me open a business checking account because I didn't have a "business license". As far as I know, I don't need a business license to do software development (nothing I do is health or safety related). I ended up going to Bank of America as they accepted by fictitious business name filing as proof of my company.

In search of the ideal drill (for me)

A few months ago, my Makita Cordless Drill started to die. The NiCad batteries were basically at the end of their useful life. This drill has served me well over the course of the last decade (yes, the batteries have continued to work for over 10 years). I started looking at replacing the batteries and the cost was about $35-$40 a piece which almost didn't make sense to just replace the batteries when I could get a brand new drill with 2 batteries for a similar cost or I could upgrade my drill.

I started looking at new drills and asked my dad for some advice. He recommended one with a Lithium Ion battery, 18V (or higher) and one that could use the battery in different tools. That all made sense, but when I looked at cost, it made me sit back and do nothing as combo kits (drill, saw, etc.) were about $300. We were in Home Depot on New Year's Day and I saw the Ryobi 12V Lithium Ion drill for about $80 and it looked compact and seemed liked it was all I needed. My Makita was only 9.6V, so this should have had more power. I looked across the aisle and saw the combo kit with circular saw, hybrid saw, and worklight for $119. I knew the limitations on 12V for a saw, but decided to give it a try. I've had the kit for about a week now and like all the components. The saws work for me needs and the drill seemed to work well. If I had bought the kit a day before, I would have gotten a $20 rebate. Oh well.

It wasn't until yesterday that I figured out what was wrong with the kit. The drill didn't have a clutch to change the torque. While this sounds like something I really didn't need, I've used the clutch setting on my Makita lots of times. So I pondered what to do and decided to get the Factory Reconditioned Ryobi 18V combo kit. The cost is about $200 with no sales tax putting it about $70 more than what I already had (I have a few more weeks to return the kit to Home Depot). While this kit isn't the newest (it doesn't have the auto-shift drill), the Ryobi 18V setup works with over 35 of Ryobi's tools. I'm sure that this kit will be more than adequate for my simple needs.

I'm looking forward to receiving this (I'm actually bidding on it on eBay to save a few more bucks, but if I don't get the auction, I can still get it for $200).