iamdez » Personal

Twitter Tutorial: What is OAuth And What It Means To You

dez — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:41:30 +0000

As of August 31, 2010 the way that applications access Twitter via your account will be restricted to only one way. Applications can currently access your account if you provide them with your username and password (also known as basic authentication) or if you give them permission to via OAuth. After August 31 the only way an application will be allowed access to your account will be via OAuth.

According to OAuth‘s website the protocol is like a valet key.

Many luxury cars today come with a valet key. It is a special key you give the parking attendant and unlike your regular key, will not allow the car to drive more than a mile or two. Some valet keys will not open the trunk, while others will block access to your onboard cell phone address book. Regardless of what restrictions the valet key imposes, the idea is very clever. You give someone limited access to your car with a special key, while using your regular key to unlock everything.

If you are a Twitter user and use applications to either check your tweet stream on your phone/desktop or on another place on the web (think Tweetdeck or Hootsuite) or any of the multitudes of analytics tools available for Twitter you’ve probably come across a screen that looks somewhat like this (click to see the bigger version):

If you’re already logged into Twitter when you get to this screen you won’t be given an option to login; instead your information will be displayed. For those of you more familiar with Facebook think Facebook Connect.

The short and simple portion of OAuth is that you are not giving your Twitter username and password over to an application developer. Instead you are giving that application permission to access your account through means of a shared key which Twitter identifies as your key for that application. The application is required to have an established relationship with Twitter by means of signing up for an application.

Also required during an application’s sign-up process is whether that application is read only or read & write. If the application is read only then they will only be able to read your information. Read & write means they can do both.

The benefits of OAuth are the security of knowing you don’t need to give someone else your password. Also, you can change your password at any time and you’ll still have access to your already authorized applications. Twitter can also easily revoke the application’s access key to better enable security if an application starts being acting like spam or not in the userbase’s best interest

In that same authorization window user’s are asked if they will allow an application to access or access and update their accounts.

In a lot of ways the advantages of OAuth stop there for applications that have been allowed to access and update accounts. A user still needs to be sure that they trust the app to update their account timely and correctly. An application that updates the account without the user’s express permission even though the user has allowed the application access to the account is still considered to be in violation of Twitter’s Application Developer Terms of Service.

Here is a list of things that an application cannot do and therefore you cannot accidentally do through an application using OAuth:

Change your username
Change your password
Change your email address
Change your mobile settings
- Number attached to account
- Settings for mobile send times
- Settings for following a user’s updates via text message
- Change direct message to mobile settings

This will keep your account generally secure from being changed, but you are still responsible for the content that is sent by the app. This can include:

Status updates
Direct messages
List creation
Following someone
Unfollowing someone
Blocking someone
Reporting someone as spam
List creation
List deletion
List following
Adding user’s to a list

There are more, but you get the idea. In short, the ability of an application approved through OAuth is restricted, but still has the potential to be dangerous. You should only use applications that you trust or that you understand. Look for an applications documentation section or if the app is a small one send an email or @reply to the developer and ask them about their application.

Keep your password secure after August 31st. You will not be required to give it to an application for purposes of accessing your account. HOWEVER there are applications that still require a login, but the use of the same password that you use for Twitter isn’t required.

30, 4th decade, 29.365

dez — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:31:57 +0000

Whatever you call it, it’s my birthday today.

That’s all.

I’ll leave you with two images of what Megan got me for my birthday:

Fruit Through An MRI’s Eyes

dez — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:50:16 +0000

This was way too cool to not share.

Someone took the time to put a bunch of different fruits and vegetables through an MRI machine. The results are pretty cool. After this nice little warning I’ll give you the link: The following page is HUGE. With lots of moving gifs that take a while to load. OK, here’s the link: “Inside Insides”

Here’s my favorite (celery):

Why Do You Delete Posts?

dez — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:33:07 +0000

I asked the question yesterday on Twitter:

Bloggers: How many times have you been nearly done with a post and decided you’re spewing bullshit and trashed it?

I was actually a little bit surprised at the answers I got. The overall consensus was that a size-able percentage of posts written end up getting deleted.

Why? For me it’s if the topic starts spinning itself into nothingness or ends up being out of my comfort area from a knowledge perspective. The other reason is if I’m just being picky. I always make sure I leave a post like that as a draft overnight before I publish it to be sure I’m not being unduly harsh

Why do you delete posts before publishing? Respond in the comments

image credit: Mixy Lorenzo

4th of July Weekend: Busy start, lazy end

dez — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:00:56 +0000

I had a four day weekend starting last Friday for the Independence Day weekend. I, by chance, took Friday off instead of Tuesday so that I wouldn’t miss a few meetings at work. My decision was well timed since Leland was born on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 5:20pm. Megan and I went up to her mom’s place around two in the afternoon to wait for news about Leland since his mom was induced at 12:30. Everything went smoothly and everyone was happy. Leland didn’t cry very much, but he did those adorable little baby noises. The only time I heard him cry was when Erin (mom) had to check his diaper and in the process unwrapped him.

You can see the whole set on Flickr: Leland

Saturday was another big day with baby Jack turning one and having a huge party. I didn’t manage to get a lot of pictures of the decorations and such so I’ll just say that Missy did a great job with her setup, homemade decorations, and the party in general. The “Super Massive Camping Chair” made an appearance and everyone seemed to enjoy the fact that it was at the party. Baby Jack especially enjoyed it. He just sat quietly in the middle of the chair looking around and just being generally happy like he normally is.

You can view the birthday party set on Flickr: Jack’s First Birthday
You can view the Super Massive Camping Chair set on Flickr: Super Massive Camping Chair

I played a lot of ladder golf and watched the not-to-be-overheated black lab continually stand over the sprinkler to cool off. Thankfully it wasn’t too humid. It gave me a chance to try to play with my camera’s sport settings a bit and try to catch one of the balls in the air. However we all pretty much sucked while I was trying to take pictures.

Saturday night, Sunday, and Monday were pretty uneventful. We did some drinking and game playing on Saturday night when a friend of Megan’s came over. We ended up in the pool at 1am and were a little drunk, but it was fun. Megan and I definitely paid for the quantity that we drank on Sunday, but it was totally worth it. I watched what I ate but didn’t track on the 4th and 5th because I pretty much work up at nearly noon and didn’t want to skew the results THAT much.

How was your Holiday weekend?

Lunch Reminders At Eye Level

dez — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:36:36 +0000

Megan leaves “Bring your lunch” reminders for me since I’m prone to forgetting them in the fridge before leaving for work. Instead of leaving the note at her eye level (below the slide chain lock) she leaves them at my eye level which she has to reach for. I think it’s funny but kind of cool that she does this. Here’s the pics:

Click through to see the bigger images. Notice how the note on the zoomed out image is above the refrigerator line?

Megan, I remembered my lunch today. Love you too, Muah.

Minneapolis or Saint Paul Farmers’ Market?

dez — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:58:01 +0000

I’m going to reach out to you local folks and ask the simple question: “Which farmers’ market should I be going to?”

I’ve only ever been to the Saint Paul farmers’ market and I appreciate the variety of not only the same foods but also of the different types of food available. Now that I’m living in Saint Louis Park the drive to the SP market is about 20 miles (which I don’t mind) but with the Minneapolis market being 5 miles away I am going to try it out this weekend.

Photo by: Andrew Ciscel

Saint Paul Farmers' Market

Photo by: Horace S. Patoot

Minneapolis Farmer' Market

The Volkswagen Bug of Awesomeness

dez — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:29:15 +0000

My evenings are starting to become full of activity. Last night I started what I’m hoping will be a regular walking regimen. I walked 3.25 miles on a treadmill and it felt great. I couldn’t wait to go walking tonight. Megan and I had a delicious dinner of pan fried pork chops, pork stuffing, cranberry chutney, ciabata rolls, and green beans. I’m definitely enjoying her not working at school during the summer. We ended up walking about 2.5 miles total and then ended up cooling off in the pool (which didn’t have the heat on).

We headed to the grocery store and that’s where I saw this painted, glued marble Volkswagen Bug of Awesomeness. Yes, I was ‘that Guy’ in the rainbow parking lot snapping pictures of not my car.

Megan said she wanted one but I told her no because all she wanted to do was play with her hot-glue gun. Just in case you’re wondering, the front says “You sail away to fairyland along this track of light”. Which is a quote by Ernest Thompson Seton. Pull up a Google search on that quote and you’ll be greeted by the wonderful world of Fairies on the interwebs.

Know Your Food!

dez — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 04:21:57 +0000

Growing up on a dairy farm and intimately knowing the process by which milk, beef (by way of neighboring beef cattle farmers), and grains get from the barn/pasture/field to the dinner table; the recent news stories about Wisconsin’s raw milk ban have caused me to say those three words that grace the title of this post: “Know your food”.

I was reading the post by Heavy Table titled “The USDA Challenge to Fischer Family Farms” where because of all the recent outbreaks of E. Coli, etc. in the food supply that the USDA feels the need to do something to further establish a way to verify that the food supply will be safe. Read the post, it’s very informative and contains pictures that take the reader from the field to the table.

With the recent news story about the farm in Gibbon that ended up selling tainted milk (the farm denies that its milk is to blame) to consumers and Wisconsin’s ban on raw milk sales I’m somewhat driven to comment.

I enjoy immensely the milk from my dad’s farm which is fresh from cow to filter to bulk cooler to fridge milk that I have enjoyed since I was born. It’s creamy, delicious, and yes, raw.

There are benefits to drinking raw milk. I did a magnet school project my sophomore year in high school that brought me to the Minnesota Health Department office to interview the then state epidemiologist, Mike Olsterholm. After the interview I was given a tour of the office and labs by one of the lab technicians when he asked me the question: “Have you always drank raw milk?”. When I told him yes he replied back “Do you ever get colds?” When I told him not often his response was “Lucky guy”.

I fully support the ability to get fresh, local farm grown/produced food, but you need to know what you’re getting. Get to know the farmer by having a conversation with them about food safety and what they do to promote it. Most, if not all, will be glad to talk about it with you. They won’t see it as you questioning their policies but rather as a chance to build trust and a new customer. Don’t be a passive consumer, be an informed one.

I’ll leave you with a quote that I always remember seeing on my Mom and Dad’s checks growing up: “If you eat, you are involved in agriculture”.

Photo Credit: kthread on Flickr

Are you over capacity?

dez — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 01:18:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I had a guest post on Kate’s blog about the Power of No. Today I read a post by my friend, Brian Long, who did a wonderful job tying in the Twitter fail whale and your own capacity. My favorite line:

…if I had the option to put up a sign that said, “please wait a few minutes, I am trying to do too many things at once,” I would use it.

We all get in over our heads and need a way out of it. Twitter has birds, what do you have?

Super Massive Camping Chair

dez — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:47:54 +0000

Megan gave me an early birthday gift (just over two months early). It involves 30.4 lbs of camping chair.

It’s pretty awesome. Also, it was her idea that we should do an unboxing video. Keep in mind that I’m 6’7″ and the back of this chair is 5’5″. Here is the chair and the video:

The Brobdingnagian Sports Chair

And here’s the video:

Sometimes Time Off Backfires

dez — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:38:19 +0000

I took last Friday off to give myself a nice, long weekend where I wouldn’t have to think about work, client work, or anything except enjoying myself. Holy crap did that backfire. I didn’t get to sleep last this morning until about 4:30. Why? I had repressed and conciously decided against thinking or doing anything that wasn’t related to relaxation. When I went to bed last night and started my post-weekend work checklist in my head regarding the location of my laptop, keys, wallet, etc. Everything that I repressed the whole weekend came flooding back into my head and I couldn’t sleep.

I can’t remember the last time that I took time off and purposely didn’t think about productivity of the non-restful kind. After last night it will probably be another long while before I do it again.

I tried all the tricks; reminding myself that I can’t do anything about it until the morning, reading, watching boring TV, warm milk, a shot of vodka (last ditch effort around 1:30).

So what have I learned?

If you’re passionate about building, executing, or maintaining something you shouldn’t keep yourself from thinking about it. I succeeded at not actually working over my four day weekend (except for Friday where I finished a client proposal) and that would have been fine as long as I had continued thinking and taking random notes instead of distracting myself with card and computer games or movies.

Regardless of my lack of sleep, I don’t regret not doing anything ‘productive’ over the weekend, I just wish I had more than 3 hours of sleep prior to going back to work.

Guest Post: Power Of Saying No

dez — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:35:44 +0000

I recently had a small dinner with Kate-Madonna Hindes ( blog | twitter ). We were talking about personal branding, how it affected private life and some other topics. For those of you that don’t know Kate, you can read her about me page here. She’s a motivational speaker, a spokesperson for the National Cervical Cancer Coalition, and a great person all around.

We reached a point in the conversation where we talked about how busy each of us always was. I mentioned to her that I had started saying No to projects that would come my way if I really didn’t have time to do them. That resulted in her request that I write a guest post for her blog on “The Power Of Saying No”. I don’t say it all the time, but I have a better grasp on what I can handle now that I’ve let that word into my vocabulary.

Here’s the post: The Power Of Saying No

–dez

Thank you

dez — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:37:38 +0000

I just wanted to drop a note in here saying that if you’re reading this, you rock. I really appreciate your time and I hope that my writing reflects my respect for that.

Just a quick update on what I’m working on:

Twitter App (completely redone logic)
Dez Consulting: Expanding my scope of availability for tasks (small web development projects)
Continued learning of PHP: Object Orientated, Web Security, and data architecture
Another weekly series for a different day of the week (I work better with deadlines)
Tuesday Blogversation
Meeting more people in the Twin Cities
Work has switched to Agile SCRUM development process

~~———–~~
I’ve stripped my Facebook profile down to a picture and a name (and you’ll notice the lack of a link from my sidebar). I’ll get some more Facebook privacy how-to’s up hopefully this week, but it’s already a busy week with Conan O’Brien tomorrow and the Clockwork party on Thursday.

My subscription numbers have gone to 135 (high of 150) so far. A year ago I would have been over excited and probably tried too hard to gain more. I’ve not been as concerned about statistics lately since it becomes easily something to obsess over. I also believe that by not paying as much attention to the statistics that I concentrate on what is more important; giving you, the reader, a good value for your time.

I’m continuing to enjoy Tuesday Blogversation and I will continue to do so for quite a while. Tomorrow’s post is with Albert Maruggi. I have people in mind for the coming weeks, but I’m never set on the next week’s post until I get a finished product scheduled for publishing.

I might possibly make the weekly series a development series on learning more about a language and include some tips and resources. For now it will probably be PHP with mySQL since that’s what I’m currently working with, but as my Twitter App gets closer to release I’ll do some switching to ajax style and some javascript, maybe even some backend stuff like dealing with SubVersion, installing an issue tracking system (I’m getting ready to use Trac for my own planning).

I’m going to focus on going to one tweetup type event once every few weeks to continue to get myself out there. If there’s something that I’ve been horrible at it’s that I don’t tend to concentrate on some of the real life social aspects of social media. I’ve never had a bad time at a tweetup and introducing myself to more people is something I enjoy doing. If you happen to know of any in the near future, and you’d like to meet me (because it’s mutual) let me know.

Thanks again for being a reader or my ramblings. Have a great night. You guys seriously rock like the background here.

Sincerely,

Dez

Lazer Backgrounds

dez — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:45:34 +0000

Remember the blurry lazer’s from the 80′s school pictures? Today Emily wanted there to be a Wikipedia page for these backgrounds for their history and whatnot. She then posted a link so that you can make your own. So I did.

I admit it’s not the best photoshop job (because I didn’t want to spend too much time on it).

You can find more lazer backgrounds here.

OR you can make your own using this background.