• Print Ubuntu Server IP or EC2 Public IP with Bash Script

    How to get EC2 public IP from command line or bash script Recently, while helping out with the OpenPhoto project, I created a bash script that would print out the Ubuntu server’s IP address if it was not installed on Amazon’s EC2. If it is installed on EC2 it would...

  • Disable Google Chrome Cache

    Tired of Google Chrome cacheing resources while you are trying to build a web app or site? (Updated! 2014-10-09) Here is how you can disable the Google Chrome cache (using version 30): open developer console click settings gear in bottom right check “Disable cache (while DevTools is open)” in General...

  • ErrorStack – Graphite – StatsD – NodeJS – Cron Success Story

    At work I am implementing ErrorStack, Graphite, and StatsD into our projects and tools. We are doing this so we can better understand how our users interact with our products and so we can respond faster and more efficiently to errors. ErrorStack helps us collect, report, and notify us of...

  • Delete Data From Graphite

    If you have set up a Graphite server and played with it like I have, you have some data in there cluttering up your interface. You can get rid of any of the data or folders by deleting them from the server. The data is stored in files found starting...

  • Cross Browser Testing For All Versions Of IE (Internet Explorer)

    Ever had the urge to test your site or your client’s site on all versions of IE? Me either! Introducing IE Collection. You can download the .exe that will install all the versions of IE that are compatible with your version of windows all the way back to IE 1!...

  • Java Global Exception Handling

    It’s been a while since I have worked with Java and it’s time for me to brush up so I have decided to do 30 days of Java. I will be attempting to learn something new or explain something about Java each day. In many of my projects I use...

  • Rhino and Envjs

    Rhino is an open source implementation of JavaScript in Java and envjs is a simulated browser environment written in javascript. So what does all this mean? It means that you can load up a web page and execute the loaded page’s JavaScript in a browser simulated environment all without a...

  • Installing statsd on Ubuntu Server 10.04

    Installing StatsD on an Ubuntu server (10.04) was surprisingly easy. Here are the steps that I took. These will work from a fresh install of Ubuntu server 10.04 or after having installed and started graphite. # INSTALL NODE.JS sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get install python-software-properties git-core sudo...

  • Permanently Add SSH key ssh-add

    Recently on my Mac I wanted to add a second SSH key to my authentication agent. Using the ssh-add command I was able to do just that until I restarted my computer. To add the key each time I start up a new terminal session I just added ssh-add ~/.ssh/ec2.pem...

  • How-to Install Graphite on Ubuntu

    UPDATED TO WORK WITH GRAPHITE 0.9.9!!! (10/13/2011) The new release of Graphite 0.9.9 includes an experimental Flot JavaScript graph. Awesome! Steps to installing Graphite on Ubuntu -> gist.github.com Ubuntu Graphite install screencast -> youtube.com  If you are looking for a how-to on graphite one (CAD) or statsd this is not...

  • Lessons From Michael Dell

    Bob Pearson posted on his blog today 10 things he has learned from Michael Dell on innovation and collaboration. I have taken my favorite parts and shared them here. We get smarter when we listen well. Most innovation occurs step by step. It is rarely about the big idea. Collaboration...

  • Inefficiencies Of Efficiency

    “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” Sometimes trying to be efficient results in less than efficient results. You have all probably seen manifestations of this even if you didn’t recognize it. I challenge you to take the next few days and try to recognize these things around you and in...

  • Life Contains Asking Questions

    I have always found asking questions an interesting part of life. Asking people clear, concise, and well formed questions can lead you to better information and interaction faster and with less friction. Asking questions to one’s self can bring better understanding and lead to new discovery. There is soooooooo much...

  • Using LocalTunnel with MAMP Pro

    LocalTunnel Rocks! If you have never used it before, I suggest you check it out as it is an awesome tool. The first time I fired up MAMP Pro and LocalTunnel, I couldn’t get MAMP to serve up the correct directory. The key is making sure that the localhost host...

  • configure: error: BDB/HDB: BerkeleyDB not available

    If you get the error configure: error: BDB/HDB: BerkeleyDB not available Make sure you have BerkleyDB installed by running something like sudo yum install db4 You may also have to run sudo yum install db4-devel

  • configure: error: xml2-config not found. Please check your libxml2 installation.

    If you get the error configure: error: xml2-config not found. Please check your libxml2 installation. try installing libxml2-devel by running something like sudo yum install libxml2-devel

  • Tools – See A Need Fill A Need

    Your time and my time is precious. I am grateful for tools that help me get work done quicker and better. I was reminded today how grateful I am for these tools as one was letting me know that it was updating to fix some issues that were found recently....

  • Xdebug Cachegrind and MAMP Pro on Mac OSX

    Are you running MAMP on OSX? Want to profile your PHP code with Xdebug? It’s easy and here are the steps. How to run Xdebug on Mac OSX using MAMP 1 Start MAMP 2 Edit php.ini template file through MAMP to enable the extension. Edit the template file via File...

  • Mike Grace Is Hired!

    A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was looking for work and available for hire. Today I am excited to announce that I am hired! I now get to work for WCG and will be working out of their Austin Texas office on 6th street. My wife and I...

  • Craigslist Inliner Kynetx App Update

    Is there a better way to view listings on Craigslist.com? Yes! Is it easy to use? Yes! Today I released an update to my Craigslist inliner Kynetx app that I released some time ago. This new update allows anyone to view a page of craigslist posts by their images. If...

  • Google+ Filter Kynetx App

    I have decided to release my Google+ filter app to the wild today. The app can currently filter out foul language in *posts and comments and also hide animated gifs in the stream. http://apps.kynetx.com/installable_apps/4624-Google+_Filter You can turn the filtering on and off using the controls that will show up on the...

  • Mike Grace Is Available For Hire

    My wife and I are excited to announce that I am currently available for hire. I am a web developer that is passionate about making the world a better place, contributing to “the team”, social media, analytics, cycling, and family. Those who have worked with me before know that I...

  • First Adventure into Creating Animated Gifs

    Im on a Mac running Photoshop CS3 and it was a breeze! I think my artist wife and I are going to have fun with this! : D Here is my first ever creation in the animated gif world! Enjoy!   It isn’t hard to do and I watched a...

  • An Example Of Listening To Your Customers

    Today I saw a very good example of a company listening to their customers and getting it right. The company and service, Dropbox recently updated their terms of service, privacy policy, and security overview documents to make them more readable.  Many people online, including one of my close friends, expressed...

  • Craigslist Inliner Kynetx App

    Recently while browsing a lot of Craigslist postings I got sick of clicking each link to open in a new tab just to view them. If you have spent much time on Craigslist I’m sure you have experience the same frustration. This Kynetx app is my answer to my frustration....

  • Webkit Search Input Styling

    I recently needed to have a search input look the same on Firefox and Chrome. Chrome does some fancy styling when you use a search type input which is great but sometimes you need it to be the same everywhere. I was able to get it to look the same...

  • Traded My Motorcycle For A Happier Wife

    My wife and I moved to Utah almost a year ago and we have loved every minute of it. Since moving here I have been riding my bicycle a lot and not using my Honda Gold Wing so much. I decided recently that it would be a good idea to...

  • Disable Skype Auto Mic Adjustment On Mac

    If you have ever been frustrated with Skype automatically changed the input volume for your microphone you can turn it off. For Skype versions prior to 5 there is this blog post on how to do it http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20081116113445565 For Skype version 5… Open up the file found at ~/Library/Application Support/Skype/shared.xml...

  • Podcast Episode 2

    I really need to get my podcast into a place where people can subscribe to it easily but until then this will work. This weeks podcast I get to have Mike Farmer on the show and we talk about – Kynetx Impact Conference – Kynetx employee layoffs – Geeks and...

  • Kynetx’s New Sandboxed Browser Extensions

    I recently released my “Old School Retweet” Kynetx app in the Kynetx app store for the newly released browser extensions. I super love the new extensions and all that they do for users and developers alike. Something that I forgot when I released the app in the app store is...