Bottom line: Take a minute and write your representative now and tell them in the strongest terms to oppose SOPA. This is a rotten piece of legislation that threatens the Internet as we know it, and could potentially pose a very real threat to your online business.

Now, put SOPA in context, and think through the unintended consequences of this legislation.

First note that there is no due process or judicial oversight in SOPA. None. If you’re accused of violating copyright, you’re effectively blacklisted at the DNS level (section 102). You’re shut down and branded a violator. It’s game over with no restart. That alone should scare the pants off of anyone doing business on the Internet today.

Next, by encouraging private corporations to create target lists (section 103), Big Media are going to serve their best interests and their shareholders by overreaching. If the history of sweeping and error-prone DMCA take-down notices are a guide, these lists will inveitably include potential copyright violators, not actual copyright violators. There is no judicial oversight. There is no court of appeals. If your site comes up in some algorightmic search–warranted or not–you’re taken off the Internet.

Now add section 104 of SOPA to the mix which indemnifies card companies (Visa, MC, Amex, etc.) and payment processors (Paymentech, Authorize.net, etc.) who cannot be held accountable if they cease processing payments to any site, as long as they have a “reasonable belief” that the website is engaged in copyright violations of any kind. The safe bet is that these massive corporations are not going to know or care if you are a legitimate rights licensor. If they so much as suspect that you are infringing, they’re could stop processing your financial transactions. Again, no recourse. No judicial oversight. Just lights out.

I’m sure there are other unintended consequences of this legislation that I can’t imagine, but my point is this: it wouldn’t take much under SOPA to shut down your site, and you would have no recourse.

SOPA and PROTECT-IP must be stopped.

What’s truly scary is how this slippery piece of legislation is skating through Congress. In yesterday’s House hearing, the house invited exactly one opposing voice to speak among dozens of proponents. The lone voice of opposition? Google. Who else has joined Google in their opposition to this legislation? Facebook,Twitter, eBay, Yahoo, AOL and Mozilla just to name a few.

This isn’t hyperbole.  I’m not advising this lightly.  I’ve done the research, and I’m scared shitless.

What can you do?

• Click here to write your representatives

Further reading:

Source:

• HR 203261 – “SOPA” House Bill
• GRA11445 – “PROTECT-IP” Senate Bill

Context:

• The Stop Online Piracy Act: A Blacklist by Any Other Name Is Still a Blacklist
• Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It’s Worse than Ever
• An Explosion of Opposition to the Internet Blacklist Bill
• At Web censorship hearing, Congress guns for “pro-pirate” Google

Google have announced the launch of their Cloud SQL product. This is a MySQL variant that stores the database in the cloud and works in conjunction with Google’s App Engine service. Until now, App Engine developers have had to rely on rough, schemaless file systems to store data objects. Now, they can take advantage of a MySQL-like database stored in the cloud.

There are still a ton of restrictions and limitations. For instance, there’s a glaring lack of relational joins, compound query filters, and sub queries. However, it’s a start.

Read more here, here, and here:

• Google Developer Blog:
  Google Cloud SQL: Your database in the cloud
• Google Code page:
  Google Cloud SQL
• ars technica:
  Google puts MySQL in App Engine Cloud with Google Cloud SQL

Heads up, developers: the PHP folks have announced their intention to deprecate the old MySQL database extension.

As they say, “Don’t panic.”  It’s not like MySQL-extension-based sites are suddenly going to start throwing exceptions; this is more a documentation change and a community education effort.

Going forward, the PHP team recommend two alternative extensions for new site development: pdo_mysql and mysqli, with PDO being the PHP way and main focus of future [PHP team] endeavors.

If you’re currently a Dreamweaver user or are just using the old MySQL extension out of habit, I developed a free tool in MyQuery Builder that will convert your existing code to both procedural or class-based MySQLi code, your choice.

Sign up for free and click on the Tools tab once you’re in to use the “MySQL->MySQLi Converter.”

Many of you know I’m a bit of a data visualization nerd. I’m pretty impressed with this graphical Evolution of the Web.

Done, aptly, in HTML5 rather than…what did they used to call it??? Oh, yeah. Flash. Remember that?

Good news, everyone! MyQuery Builder is now available as an app in the Chrome Web Store. Once you install it, an icon will appear on your new tab and/or home screens. Click on that icon, and it takes you directly to the Query Builder (assuming you’ve signed up, etc.).

MyQuery Builder, if you don’t know, is a visual MySQL query editor and php code building tool designed for php web developers. Try it for free or find out more information at myquerybuilder.com.

I’m proud to announce the launch of my latest project, MyQueryBuilder.com!

MyQuery Builder is a visual tool for professional PHP developers who need to construct MySQL queries reliably and easily. If you have ever needed to build database functionality into your site, you’ll want to check MyQuery Builder out. The tool is a web-based app that can run either in the cloud or locally on your dev server. It is designed work in harmony with your existing tools (e.g. Dreamweaver, Coda, BBEdit, etc.) and to be an integral tool in your production pipeline.

At the heart of MQB is the SELECT Query Builder that lets you drag and drop tables and fields on one another to build your query up interactively. It’s a really slick way to build even complex queries with multiple JOINs and condition statements. Find out more and see the SELECT Query Builder in action.

Its counterpart is the Utility Query Builder that lets you build UPDATE, INSERT, REPLACE, TRUNCATE, and DELETE queries with just a few clicks.

Both tools can throw their resulting queries over to the PHP Code Builder that construct functions and class methods (or stand-alone procedural code) with ease. If you’re working on multiple projects simultaneously, you can use saved Sets that create code to your custom coding standards. It even supports both the old MySQL and the newer MySQLi PHP extensions.

The starter account is free, so there’s no risk at all to kicking the tires. For more advanced developers or situations where you need to access secure data, there’s an option for you to download and install MQB on your local development server. Compare the features and pricing over at MyQueryBuilder.com.

MyQuery Builder is an integral part of my development workflow, and I hope it will be for you, too.

To help spread the word about MyQuery Builder, you’ll get a free month of the Pro or Locally Hosted plans for every user you sign up. Simply put your referral link up on your blog or site and you can conceivably never pay for the service.

матрациNot to be outdone by Apple’s recent launch of their HTML5 playground, Google has launched their own HTML5 Developer Resource site called HTML5Rocks.com.

The site has some useful tutorials and an interactive sandbox, but for the time-impaired, they also have an excellent presentation that shows you quickly what is new and different. As with most things Google, it’s not the prettiest site, but it gets the job done. Check it out.

If you’ve been considering buying a MapTechnica Tile Set (c’mon, you know I’m talking about you), you now have a risk-free way to try a sample tile set to see if it will work for your map project.

I created a special tile set that contains the Rhode Island tile set and supporting data, along with sample files that help you get going quickly. For more details, visit the Free 5-Digit ZIP Code Sample Set Information page over at MapTechnica.

Apple has just launched an effort to support more widespread adoption of HTML5 in the developer community. This page showcases a bunch of cutting-edge demos, and this page digs into the demos more deeply and provides more resources to learn how to develop features using HTML5.

Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web. And you can start using them today.

I try to use this site for positive tips, tricks & posts about web development. No, really. I do. But every now and then I come across a site so horrible, so incomprehensibly broken, that I just need to call them out by name: Dish Network.

Dish Network’s website is an unmitigated disaster of usability and UI. Clearly born out of some corporate design committee, this customer goodwill-burning, will-to-live-sapping site employs some of the worst design and UI practices out there. In the end, they violate the number one rule in business: Never make it hard for a customer to give you money. But along the way, they put up every conceivable obstacle to achieving even the most simple task possible.

For starters, they use Flash-based logins. I personally believe that Flash-based logins are evil and pointless. They block accessibility and prevent use of password managers like 1Password. But in this case, it’s especially bad because there is no fall-back if you don’t have Flash installed. No Flash? You’re screwed. iPhone/iPad users? Fuck you. Users who have plug-ins disabled? Bitez moi. ClickToFlash users? Sit on it.

Next up: Mac users, you must not exist. Inexplicably, the site is very broken in all three major browsers on the Mac. Images fail to load. Accessibility support is inconsistent or outright broken. Every Flash-based button is broken because the sans font is different on the Mac and nobody at Dish bothered to check. I’m sure it works in IE6, though.

But here’s the ultimate kicker: You cannot do anything on this piece of shit site with regard to your bill. After logging in, all your account options are locked out (you know this because the broken button labels are a slightly darker shade of gray than they normally are). So all roads lead to the account profile page. After some trial and error, you have to figure out on your own that you must scroll to the bottom and re-enter all your login credentials (keeping in mind that you’re *already* logged in). First they kick you in the left nut by making it look like you’re resetting your account with an entirely new password. Then they finish the job with a Flash-based form that uses a different password validator than the main Flash-based form. Even if you wanted to enter a new password, you can’t reset your account because the form won’t validate your existing password. This effectively locks you out of the account and prevents further changes, online bill pay, auto-payment setup or any other means of managing your account. So if you happened to, say, use an exclamation mark in your password, you’re done. Game over. Pack it up. Go home. Or should I say, “Go home!”

The site has been this way for the two+ years I’ve been a customer. It’s a good thing I enjoy their HD programming or I would have kicked them to the long ago. I won’t pretend that someone at Dish will read this post and suddenly make the necessary changes, but it sure does feel good to rant.