On October 1st of this year, Facebook will be requiring that all apps on Facebook must support HTTPS (SSL).

I’ve provided a guide below which I’ve used for apps I’ve worked on that are Rails based.

This guide shows you how to change your Rails Facebook App into an app that supports SSL using Passenger and Apache2.

Step 1: Get an SSL cert or roll your own.

Dreamhost.com made it very easy to add an SSL cert for just $15.00 / year.

I tried out my app out using a locally signed certificate which seemed to work just fine:

Step 2: Install and compile Apache 2

Get the latest version of Apache: http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi.

Configure and compile Apache:
./configure –prefix=/usr/local/apache2 –enable-rewrite –enable-so –enable-ssl
make && make install

Step 3: Configure your Rails app

gem install passenger
passenger-install-apache2-module

Step 4: Edit your Apache 2 config files:

Edit httpd.conf. For example:

LoadModule fcgid_module modules/mod_fcgid.so
LoadModule passenger_module /Users/jimbarcelona/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/passenger-3.0.8/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
PassengerRoot /Users/jimbarcelona/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290/gems/passenger-3.0.8
PassengerRuby /Users/jimbarcelona/.rvm/wrappers/ruby-1.9.2-p290/ruby


    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all


Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf


IPCCommTimeout 40
IPCConnectTimeout 10

# TODO: change this to production if you are on production
DefaultInitEnv RAILS_ENV development
SocketPath /tmp/fcgidsock

Edit extra/httpd-vhosts.conf:

  ServerName berkeley.l33tcave.com
  ServerAdmin wwwadmin@berkeley.l33tcave.com
  DocumentRoot /Users/jimbarcelona/rails_apps/github/hipsterhookups.com/public
  ErrorLog /usr/local/apache2/logs/rails_error_log
  RewriteEngine On
  
    AllowOverride All
    Options -MultiViews
  
  RailsEnv development

Edit extra/httpd-ssl.conf:

#   General setup for the virtual host
DocumentRoot "/Users/jimbarcelona/rails_apps/github/hipsterhookups.com/public"
ServerName berkeley.l33tcave.com:443
ServerAdmin you@example.com
ErrorLog "/usr/local/apache2/logs/error_log"
TransferLog "/usr/local/apache2/logs/access_log"

# needed for rails
Options Indexes ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RailsEnv development

AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi

  
    AllowOverride All
    Options -MultiViews
  

Be sure to add your SSL certs in the httpd-ssl.conf too!

Step 5: Start Apache

# check syntax
apachectl configtest
# start apache
apachectl start

Step 6: Go to facebook and use https for canvas URLs

This is a quick guide on how to set up Cucumber and RSpec on Padrino.

I’ve created a simple test app on github that reflects the steps written down here.

1. Create the app:

padrino g project todo -t cucumber -d sequel -b

2. In the Gemfile use rake 0.8.7:

gem 'rake', "0.8.7"

3. In features/support/env.rb comment out “require ‘spec/expectations’” so it looks like:

# require 'spec/expectations'

At this point ‘cucumber features’ should work and should return a failed test for adding two numbers.

Also at this point, if you create any models, then bare specs for them will be created in the ‘spec/models’ folder.

Please feel free to leave questions or comments if you’ve got a different way of setting things up on Padrino.

This week I got to pair program with Oren Golan whose last high profile job was at Border Stylo. While there, he wrote a series of excellent blog posts that I highly recommend reading. The one that caught my eye was his post on MiniTest, that’s a lighter version of RSpec.

We created a Padrino app that uses the Sequel gem as an ORM for SQLite.

We tested a raw file upload and the uploading capabilities of Carrierwave.

The working test is on http://github.com/barce/test, and to run it just clone the repo and type the following:

Here’s the test:

# put this into the test/test.rb file
require 'rubygems'
gem 'minitest'
require 'minitest/autorun'
require 'rack/test'
require '../config/boot.rb'

class TestManualBadgeType < MiniTest::Unit::TestCase
  include Rack::Test::Methods

  FILE2UPLOAD  = "/Users/jimbarcelona/pink-pony.jpg"
  UPLOADEDFILE = "/Users/jimbarcelona/repos/oren/forks/test/test/pink-pony.jpg"

  def app() Test end

  def setup
    if File.exist?(UPLOADEDFILE)
      File.delete(UPLOADEDFILE)
    end
  end

  def test_opload
    post '/', 'file' => Rack::Test::UploadedFile.new(FILE2UPLOAD, 'image/jpeg')

    assert_equal last_response.status, 201
  end

  def test_carrierwave_201
    post '/carrierwave', 'file' => Rack::Test::UploadedFile.new(FILE2UPLOAD, 'image/jpeg')

    assert_equal last_response.status, 201
  end

  def test_carrierwave_file_exist
    post '/carrierwave', 'file' => Rack::Test::UploadedFile.new(FILE2UPLOAD, 'image/jpeg')
    assert_equal last_response.status, 201
  end
end

Now you’re ready to run the test upload:

At the end of the LA marathon, I was a healthy 165, but my foot was busted. There’s a stress fracture on my 4th metatarsal on my left foot and I’ve got to keep it flat in a wooden boot until it heals. I can’t even swim, since the water would flex my foot.

At SxSW, I went to Tim Ferriss’ talk on his new book, The Four Hour Body. I didn’t feel I really needed the book, but when I ballooned to 172 in less than a week, that gave me pause.

Weight on 3/28: 172
Weight on 4/08: 165

I didn’t work out except for doing some squats. On cheat days, which is Saturday for me, you can eat whatever and as much as you want: chocolate croissants, pringles, ABB Carboforce, protein drinks, steaks, ice cream. I love Saturdays.

Here’s the diet I followed and each meal except for the sardines and carrots made me full. I spent about $50 on groceries and $50 on lunch per week. $100 / week isn’t bad on a mostly protein diet.

3/28 - Monday
Breakfast: steak, 3 eggs, spinach
Lunch: chipotle bowl - no frills
Dinner: Chicken, Mixed veggies, Black Beans, Yogurt (nono)

3/29 - Tuesday
Breakfast: steak, 3 eggs, spinach, glass of milk (nono)
Lunch: chipotle bowl - sour cream and cheese (nono)
Dinner: swordfish steak, mixed veggies, black beans, yogurt (nono)

3/30 - Wednesday
Breakfast: 3 eggs, spinach, swordfish steak
Lunch: chipotle bowl with salsa and avocado
Dinner: chicken, mixed veggies, black beeans

3/31 - Thursday
Breakfast: 3 eggs, beef steak, spinach
Lunch: tofu, asparagus, veggie chili, brocoli
2nd lunch: carrots, sardines
Dinner: red wine (free), swordfish, mixed veggies

4/1 - Friday
Breakfast: spinach, swordfish
Lunch: chipotle bowl with salsa and avocado
2nd lunch: carrots, sardines
Dinner: red wine, steak, mixed veggies

4/2 - Saturday
Went nuts and ate all day

4/3 - Sunday
Breakfast: 3 eggs, chicken breast
Lunch: steak chipotle bowl - salsa, lettuce & guac
Dinner: lentils, chicken breast

4/4 - Monday
Breakfast: 3 eggs, chicken breast
Lunch: steak chipotle bowl - salsa, lettuce & guac
Dinner: lentils, chicken breast

4/5 - Tuesday
Breakfast: 3 eggs, lentils, chicken
Lunch: steak chipotle bowl - salsa, lettuce & guac
Dinner: salmon, asparagus, beans , redwine

4/6 - Wednesday
Breakfast: lentils, spinach, chicken
Lunch: barbacoa chipotle bowl - salsa, lettuce & guac
Dinner: blackbeans, mixed veggies, steak

4/7 - Thursday
Breakfast: spinach, lentils, steak
Lunch: steak chipotle bowl - salsa, lettuce & guac
Dinner: steak, blackbeans, mixed veggies

4/8 - Friday
Breakfast: steak
Lunch: salmon, asparagus, beans , redwine
Dinner: steak, blackbeans, mixed veggies

I lost a surprising 4 lbs. the first week, but only lost 3 lbs. the second week. I’m pretty sure the 3 lbs. was due to not having the 2nd lunch as recommended. I also measured my body fat with calipers: 24% – 20% body fat.

The first week was pretty difficult but the 2nd week it’s been no problem at all. I can also tell when I’m in ketosis because there’s a slight metallic taste to my mouth and my breathe seems sweeter to the nose.

Here’s what you missed:

Installing nginx with php-fpm with varnish on the front end will make your WordPress install fly 50 times faster.

If you’re using apt-get, you can just use:
apt-get install php-fpm
Or try this guide on how-to forge.
Here’s the install process I used using PHP 5.3.3 on OS X:

sudo ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --enable-fpm \
  --with-fpm-user=daemon --with-fpm-group=daemon \
  --with-mcrypt --with-mysql=/usr/local/mysql --with-zlib \
  --enable-mbstring --disable-pdo --with-curl --disable-debug \
  --disable-rpath --enable-inline-optimization --with-bz2
  --with-zlib --enable-sockets --enable-sysvsem \
  --enable-sysvshm --enable-pcntl --enable-mbregex \
  --with-mhash --enable-zip --with-pcre-regex \
  --with-iconv=shared,/usr
make && make install
cp sapi/fpm/php-fpm.conf /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.conf
# edit php-fpm.conf with the right paths
cp sapi/fpm/php-fpm /usr/local/sbin/php-fpm
cp init.d.php-fpm /etc/init.d/php-fpm
/etc/init.d/php-fpm start

If you get an error message it’s probably because you didn’t go through the config to set things up.

The next part is nginx.

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/nginx && make && make install

My conf/nginx.con looks like this. My sites-enabled/default.conf looks like this. My conf/fastcgi_params file is here.

I just start nginx with /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx and I’m good to go.

The quote that stuck with me the most was what Josh Highland said about caching:

“You should use WordPress Cache Plugins. It’s like printing money. It’s free!”

For adding your own contact form, I learned about Contact Form 7. You can ditch WuFoo if you have this configured on your WordPress.

There’s also Pods, which is like contact-form-7 except it’s a whole framework for creating your own content types and making them show up where you want.

I said I was going to blog for 6 months straight but last night after a streak of 11 days I stopped.

I was at home, and after I moved my things into my new flat, I just passed out. I’ve been plain tired with the start-up, planning for the CSS meet up, an early and long drive from SF to LA, and a touch of jet lag from returning back from NYC.

But even though the project is a fail, here is what I learned:

• I learned that you can blog from your smartphone using the WordPress App. This really helped while I was in Brooklyn and didn’t have my laptop.
• Weekends really suck for a tech blog. My traffic just dropped.
• Keyword focused-posts and quality posts grow traffic. There is no way around this.
• A really good blog post can take up 4 hours of your day.

Here’s how my Friday worked out.

5:30 am PDT Wake Up
5:45 am PDT Catch a Cab to SFO

6:25 am to 6:55 am PDT Work E-mails

7:25 am PDT Wheels up SFO
8:30 am Arrive LAX
8:30 am – 8:55 am Get Ticket for NYC & go through security again
9:00 am – 10:00 am Log into IM & plan out day

10:00 am – noon Make the database faster by sending search traffic to prod02, adding indexes where needed and optimizing table.

12:00 – 12:20 lunch at airport bk

12:40 – 14:00 Work on Android bug
14:00 – 14:55 compare SQL_CACHE vs. memcached. Use both? Where?

14:55 – 15:25 Board Flight; wheels up NYC.

15:25 – 15:45 Internet Blackout
15:45 – 18:00 Work on hosting issue for cluent & registration for business users

Hours worked: 8
internet outage: 20 minutes
miles Traveled: 3,124
Hours awake: 19.5

Here’s a list of commands I use frequently, where the first number represents the number of times I used that command today:

86 git – the best version control software ever
59 cd – used to change directories on the command-line
54 ls – used to list files in a directory
41 vim – when textmate just isn’t fast enough for moving and manipulating text I use this text editor
24 grep – this is great for searching through code
21 sudo – I use this for stopping and starting servers and anything that requires super user access

I figured this out by using the following:

I created the following script in Perl:

Recruiting talented developers in this market is still extremely difficult. How should a recruiter find the talent (PHP, Ruby, MySQL, iPhone, .NET, Java) your clients need? I outline a few creative out of the box solutions below.

Disclosure: I work as the lead developer at AppDevAndMarketing.com . This article in no way suggests we’ve used any of these methods.

Update on 4/15/2011: Ya, I’ve had to resort to all these methods and they’ve worked for us.

1. Turn your project managers, account executives and marketers into coders. This is a fairly cheap investment with a high ROI. It is cheaper than paying out a bounty, and you already trust these folks. Send them to iPhoneDev Bootcamp now! Just be sure to prepare their machines for the development they’ll need to do. I tried this at a previous place of employment with great results! If you were trained by me and are reading this, please ask for a raise.

2. Look for places not so obvious. Use dating sites to find talent. Ya, I know, you haven’t used that match.com account in awhile, or have sworn of okaycupid.com or JDate, but guess what. For you bleeding edge types, try the iPhone, dating app, Skout. Although s/he might not be the person of your dreams, s/he might have the talent you need. The key take away is to use unexpected social media spaces for recruiting. Don’t be sleazy or sly about it. A simple, “Hi, I read your profile. You seem very talented in X. I’d actually like to hire you. Coffee or drinks?”

3. Use IRC. If you’re smart enough to do this, you probably shouldn’t be recruiting, but IRC is this best place to find pure, raw talent. Details on how to get onto IRC can be found on Google, but the best guide for newbies can be found on this gaming site.

There’s one more special place that I haven’t revealed that will guarantee you top talent every time. Leave a comment and I’ll contact you with that exclusive place to find developers.

As a social media expert, I’ve noticed a severe decline in Foursquare check-ins by innovators and early adopters.

This phenomena, which I’m calling Foursquare Fatigue, can be avoided by following these 4 tips.

1. Use two phones on different carriers. We all know that AT&T’s 3G blows on the iPhone, so carry a spare phone like a Blackberry running Verizon. That way you get all your bases covered. Can’t check-in with the iPhone? Check-in with the Blackberry. Now you’re stylin’.

2. You don’t have to check in all the time. Ya, getting the mayorship for Starbucks is huge and forces you to check-in 5 times a day, but after that 5th cup o’joe there’s a diminishing point of return. Why not save money, not check-in. In fact, don’t go to Starbucks.

3. Check-in with Yelp. Ya, I know. It’s pretty pointless because you don’t get the Foursquare deals, but there’s been less of a reliability issue with Yelp where check-ins are currently faster and less buggy than Foursquare.

4. I have Stalin, who said, “No person; no problem,” to thank for this one. The discovery I made is this: No Foursquare, no foursquare fatigue.” Logic is magic.