Author: Rick Curran

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Check Dropbox CLI / dropbox.py status via cron / bash script

I’ve been using the command line (CLI) version of Dropbox on my Centos 6.5 server as an offsite backup and it has been working well, the recent 1TB storage upgrade makes this a decent backup option.

One problem I’ve been having is that sometimes the Dropbox process seems to die, I tried several different scripts to keep track of the status of dropbox via the dropbox.py python scripts but I eventually found this bash script to work. I’ve set it as an hourly cron job in /etc/cron.hourly and it’s working well so far.

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Animated gif of XKCD’s Philae probe Comet Landing cartoon

XKCD’s daily cartoon covered the Rosetta / Philae comet landing that took place on 12 November 2014 with a great continously updating cartoon throughout the day.

As all of XKCD’s cartoons are available under a Creative Commons licence I thought it would be good to make an animated gif of all of the frames, so here it is:

XKCD 1446

You can also see all the frames over on xkcd1446.org where someone has made an interactive version where you can page through all the frames.

XKCD is licensed by Randall Munroe under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License so all original credit goes to him, I just thought it would be good to have an animation of it and that’s why Creative Commons licences are awesome!

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HTML 5 Application Cache device storage limits – Jan 2014

Update 22/Dec/2017: AppCache is now technically deprecated. Additionally I found far too many issues cross-browser to ever use it for final production code. The newer Service Workers  appears to be a lot more powerful, and is supported at the time of this update (Dec 2017) in Chrome 47+, Firefox 45+,  Opera 48+, Edge 17, and in Safari Technical Preview.

A large project I’m working on just now requires some offline capability so I’ve been doing a lot of research into the various HTML5 technologies available. One thing I found is that a lot of the information out there about storage limitations of browsers and devices was often quite old (2 years being quite old in this context!), so I’ve performed a range of tests to establish more up-to-date information, so as of Jan 2014 this is hopefully accurate!

Tests were performed using the AppCache test page at www.der-schepp.de/appcache-default-size/ apart from the Firefox results as that test page wouldn’t work at the time of testing, Firefox tests were performed using my own internal test page instead.

The tests were mostly performed using the online testing tool Browserstack, items marked with † indicate results when tested on actual devices or simulators / emulators.

Notable weird behaviour is on iOS devices where prompts to increase the available storage space to a limit of 50MB appear, however it seems that an actual limit of 16MB or 20MB occurs when running the test. Also note slightly weird behaviour with the IE10 and IE11 results on Windows RT.

Please leave comments if you see any different results than I have posted or if you have any additional results for devices.

* The AppCache test only tests a maximum of 256MB so ‘unlimited’ means at least 256MB can be stored. Please note that although limits are per each application cache manifest there is likely a maximum amount of storage space available which would limit how many much data overall can be stored, at this time I these limits are unknown but I hope to do some testing in this area in the near future.

Browser Version OS Platform Device Default max (0 = unlimited*, -1 = Unsupported) Max (with prompts) Comments
Internet Explorer 6,7,8 Win XP PC -1
Internet Explorer 9 Win 7 PC -1
Internet Explorer 9 Windows Phone 7.8 HTC HD7 -1
Internet Explorer 10 Win 7 PC 10 52
Internet Explorer 10 Win 8 PC 10
Internet Explorer 10 Desktop Win 8 PC 10 52
Internet Explorer 10 † Win 8 RT Surface RT V1 10 20 Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 4MB as the default maximum here but using my own test confirmed 10MB which is what IE10’s default prompt level is set to. See notes for Win 8.1 RT tests.
Internet Explorer 10 Desktop † Win 8 RT Surface RT V1 10 20 Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 2MB as the default maximum here but using my own test confirmed 10MB which is what IE10’s default prompt level is set to. See notes for Win 8.1 RT tests.
Internet Explorer 11 Win 7 PC 10 52
Internet Explorer 11 Win 8.1 PC 10 52
Internet Explorer 11 Desktop Win 8.1 PC 52
Internet Explorer 11 † Win 8.1 RT Surface RT V1 4 20 Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 4MB as the default maximum here but using my own test 8MB was cached without a prompt appearing, IE 11 on Win RT 8.1 has 10MB set as the default level to prompt to exceed storage limits but trying 9MB or higher triggered the prompt.
Internet Explorer 11 Desktop † Win 8.1 RT Surface RT V1 4 20 Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 4MB as the default maximum here but using my own test 8MB was cached without a prompt appearing, IE 11 on Win RT 8.1 has 10MB set as the default level to prompt to exceed storage limits but trying 9MB or higher triggered the prompt.
Safari 4.0 OSX 10.6 Mac 0
Safari 5.0 OSX 10.6 Mac 0
Safari 5.1 Win 8 PC 0
Safari 5.1 Win 8.1 PC 0
Safari 5.1 OSX 10.6 Mac 0
Safari 5.1 OSX 10.7 Mac 0
Safari 6.0 OSX 10.7 Mac 0
Safari 6.1 OSX 10.8 Mac 0
Safari 7.0 OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Chrome 31 Win XP PC 0
Chrome 31 Win 7 PC 128
Chrome 31 Win 8 PC 75
Chrome 31 Win 8.1 PC 0
Chrome 31 OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Chrome 32 Beta Win XP PC 0
Chrome 32 Beta Win 7 PC 0
Chrome 32 Beta Win 8 PC 56
Chrome 32 Beta Win 8.1 PC 0
Chrome 32 Beta OSX 10.8 Mac 0
Chrome 32 Beta OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Chrome 33 Dev Win XP PC 0
Chrome 33 Dev Win 7 PC 0
Chrome 33 Dev Win 8 PC 60
Chrome 33 Dev Win 8.1 PC 0
Chrome 33 Dev OSX 10.8 Mac 0
Chrome 33 Dev OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Mobile Chrome 31 – iPad † iOS 7.0 iPad 3rd Gen 20
Mobile Chrome 31 – iPhone † iOS 7.0 iPhone 5 20
Firefox 26 Win XP PC 0
Firefox 26 Win 7 PC 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 Win 8 PC 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 Win 8.1 PC 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 OSX 10.6 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 OSX 10.7 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 OSX 10.8 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 † OSX 10.9 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta Win XP PC 0
Firefox 27 Beta Win 7 PC 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta Win 8 PC 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta Win 8.1 PC 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta OSX 10.6 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta OSX 10.7 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta OSX 10.8 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 27 Beta OSX 10.9 Mac 0 No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage.
Firefox 26 for Android Android 4.1.2 Nexus S 20
Opera 18 Win XP PC 0
Opera 18 Win 7 PC 0
Opera 18 Win 8 PC 57
Opera 18 Win 8.1 PC 0
Opera 18 OSX 10.6 Mac 0
Opera 18 OSX 10.7 Mac 0
Opera 18 OSX 10.8 Mac 0
Opera 18 † OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Opera 19 Next Win XP PC 0
Opera 19 Next Win 7 PC 0
Opera 19 Next Win 8 PC 42
Opera 19 Next Win 8.1 PC 0
Opera 19 Next OSX 10.6 Mac 0
Opera 19 Next OSX 10.7 Mac 0
Opera 19 Next OSX 10.8 Mac 0
Opera 19 Next OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Opera 20 Dev Win XP PC 0
Opera 20 Dev Win 7 PC 0
Opera 20 Dev Win 8 PC 46
Opera 20 Dev Win 8.1 PC 0
Opera 20 Dev OSX 10.6 Mac 0
Opera 20 Dev OSX 10.7 Mac 0
Opera 20 Dev OSX 10.8 Mac 0
Opera 20 Dev OSX 10.9 Mac 0
Opera Mobile † Various Opera Mobile Emulator 0
BlackBerry Browser † BlackBerry 10 (10.2.0.1155) BlackBerry 10 Device Simulator 0
BlackBerry Playbook Browser † BlackBerry Playbook 2.1 (2.1.0.1032) BlackBerry PlayBook Device Simulator 0
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 3.2 iPad 1st Gen 5
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 4.3.2 iPad 2nd Gen 2 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 5.0 iPad 2nd Gen 2 20 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 20MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 5.1 iPad 3rd Gen 2 20 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 20MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 6.0 iPad 3rd Gen 10 16 Prompt for 25MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 6.0 iPad Mini 1st Gen 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad iOS 7.0 iPad 3rd Gen 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad † iOS 7.0 iPad 3rd Gen 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPad † iOS 7.0 iPad Mini Retina 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPhone iOS 3.0 iPhone 3GS 5
Mobile Safari – iPhone iOS 4.0 iPhone 4 5
Mobile Safari – iPhone iOS 5.1 iPhone 4S 2 20 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPhone iOS 6.0 iPhone 4S 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPhone iOS 6.0 iPhone 5 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPhone † iOS 7.0 iPhone 5 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Mobile Safari – iPhone iOS 7.0 iPhone 5S 10 16 Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max.
Android Browser † Android 4.1.2 Nexus S 32
Amazon Silk 3.8 † Android 4.0.3 Kindle Fire 0
Android Browser Android 4.0.3 Kindle Fire 2 48
Amazon Silk 3.4 † Android 4.0.3 Kindle Fire HD 8.9 0
Android Browser Android 4.0.3 Kindle Fire HD 8.9 48
Android Browser Android 4.1.2 Google Nexus 7 10
Android Browser Android 4.0.4 Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 10
Android Browser Android 4.0.4 Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 10
Android Browser Android 4.2.2 LG Nexus 4 8
Android Browser Android 4.1.2 Samsung Galaxy SIII 10
Android Browser Android 2.3.3 Samsung Galaxy Note 10

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Creative Dundee Mid Week Meets –

We’ve been a bit starved of late in Dundee for any kind of creative meetups so it’s good to see that Creative Dundee are starting up the Mid Week Meets again.

Wednesday October 2nd is the date, Caffe Borsa, Panmure Street, Dundee, DD1 1ED (across from McManus) is the venue, 7-9pm is the time.

Tickets are free but places are limited, go to the event page on Creative Dundee to register on Event Brite for your ticket.

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GoPro Hero 3 – 720p 120fps slowmo After Effects test

I have finally got myself a GoPro! This is a couple of test clips with footage shot in 720p 120fps mode on the GoPro Hero 3, then slowed down further in After Effects CS6 using Timestretch and Timewarp.

A bit glitchy due to the flickering from light behind it, I’ll try this again in bright daylight and compare results.

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GoPro Hero 3 – 720p 120fps slowmo After Effects test
By Rick Curran
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R.I.P. BrowserLab

I wrote about BrowserLab here on Suburbia back when it launched in 2009, at the time it was one of very few web apps that let you preview websites in different browser / OS combinations. But things have moved on a lot since then with new services such as BrowserStack and Sauce which offer the much more compelling feature-set of being able to use live virtual machines accessed through your browser in order to use and test sites rather than just static screenshots.

BrowserLab has languished a bit for a while with very few desktop browser options and nothing to offer in the increasingly important areas of mobile and tablet device testing, in light of this Adobe seems to have decided that it’s better to kill it off instead of languish any further. Although some may be disappointed in this decision I had already ‘jumped ship’ and started using BrowserStack instead (as per my recent post) so it doesn’t affect my own workflow.

One bit of good news for those who enjoyed BrowserLab is that Sauce are offering a deal to BrowserLab users, for the next 30 days you can signup and get 10 free hours of testing, so go sign up for Sauce here and use ‘adobe’ as the promo code to get that offer.

I’ve just signed up for this myself and I’m going to try it out and see how it compares to BrowserStack, I can see a few differences between the two services already but I’m keen to see how the performance compares.