[All Things Quality] Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Skype (Again)

Supernodes not so super?

Skype once again had a worldwide outage related to software problems in their supernodes:
  • blocked millions of people from making Internet phone calls
  • crash left a large chunk of Skype's 560 million users with nowhere to go
  • was completely offline for more than three hours on Wednesday
  • experienced its biggest global outage in three years
  • was caused by a “software issue” with the “supernodes” 
  • the company plans to issue compensation vouchers 
  • the bigger question is whether businesses should be relying on these services in the first place
It's not the first time the service has gone down.  

In August of 2007, Skype was down for several days.  A faulty algorithm in their supernodes was exposed when many users rebooted their client machines while installing a Windows update: 

Certainly those supernodes are tricky.  

But perhaps Skype should have tested more, particularly after the worldwide failure just a few years ago?

Read more at: 


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Vegetable Garden Results

So my first-year vegetable garden harvest is complete.

It was fun to have a small garden, and experiment with lots of different varieties of vegetables.  We didn't know what to expect, other than to learn more about what we might want to do in upcoming years.

Some of the plantings worked out really well - others, not so well.  All of the herbs flourished, probably because they are so simple to grow and were planted in a great spot.  Some of the tomato varieties were delicious - others were tasteless.  None of the squashes or cucumbers did anything at all - they were the biggest disappointment.

Next year, we'll grow fewer varieties, and concentrate on the vegetables where "home-grown" really makes a difference.  Tomatoes for sure, and zucchinis.  And I'll have to pay more attention to the variety and location for cucumbers.  We'll grow herbs again, probably more varieties, but in smaller bunches.

I believe I wasn't as careful with the placement of plants as I need to be.  I ended up having some tall plants shading the smaller plants.  And I need to be more careful with stakes and cages.  Some of the tomato plants ended up far taller than I had anticipated, and taller than the tomato cages could handle.

Overall, the garden was fun to do, looked nice in the back yard, and yielded enough vegetables to make it worthwhile, without consuming too much time maintaining it.  Now, I can't wait for next spring!

Successes
  • Basil
  • Chili Red Pepper
  • Chives
  • Curled Parsley
  • Hot Red Cherry Pepper
  • Husky Cherry Red VF Tomato
  • Patio Tomato
  • Rosemary

Mixed Results
  • Big Boy Tomato
  • Bonnie Bell Hybrid Pepper
  • Bush Blue Lake Beans
  • Cherry Belle Radish
  • Red Bell Pepper
  • Sweet Treat Carrot

Failures
  • Black Prince Tomato
  • Boston Pickling Cucumber
  • Burpless Bush Hybrid Cucumber
  • Butterstick Squash
  • Fordhook Zucchini
  • Sugar Baby Watermelon


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] SQAForums Wins Again!

Recently, The Automated Testing Institute ran their 2nd Annual "ATI Automation Honors" competition. 

From the ATI website:
The industry's original set of awards dedicated to software test automation is again looking to crown industry leading tools, resources and practitioners with automation's top honor. That means it's time for all of you to get busy! The ATI Automation Honors awards rely on industry practitioners to identify which tools, resources and people are the best, which have the most significant upgrades and/or which are setting the trends that will help to take software test automation to the next level in the coming year. 

Last year SQAForums.com won the Best Software Testing Website award.  This year they were nominated in the "Best Automated Testing Forum" category.

So the Automated Testing Institute's ATI Automation Honors winner for "Best Automated Testing Forum" is...

SQAForums.com

Congratulations, AJ - well done!

See the official announcement at:



This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Target

National retailer Target Corp. has been shortchanging customers for months when they use some manufacturers' coupons.
  • Target says it has been aware of the problem since August
  • Target couldn't explain why the problem was happening nor why it hadn't been resolved
  • Some customers are finding that a coupon with a face value of $1.50 are being credited for only $1.02
  • Others who have redeemed $4.00 worth of coupons saw only $2.54 taken off
  • Target blames the problem on some sort of computer glitch
  • Target has told its cashiers to check coupons

Perhaps Target should have tested more?

And perhaps they should get going on a fix for the problem before the holiday shopping kicks in?

see:


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Apple

This morning, iOS 4.1 users in Europe reported that their alarm clocks failed to account for the time change due to the end of Daylight Savings, which shifted their clocks back an hour at 2 am this morning. As a result, their alarms went off an hour too late.

  • iPhone is getting blamed for making some Europeans late for work this morning
  • Scores of British iPhone 4 users said they were late for work on Monday
  • Hundreds of angry comments were posted on microblogging website Twitter 
  • A similar bug was reported a month ago by users in Australia and New Zealand
  • Apple said last month that a software patch was being developed
  • Unclear whether that fix would come by next Sunday when the U.S. will be switching to Standard Time

If I recall correctly, this whole Standard Time versus Daylight Saving Time isn't a new invention, right?  Perhaps recurring alarms are a new invention?

Perhaps Apple should have tested more.

see:



This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Our Kayaking Destinations (so far)

A few months ago, my wife and I took up kayaking. (http://strazzere.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-hobby-kayaks.html)  It's been a lot of fun.

We were able to get out most weekends, and ended up enjoying four different ponds/lakes.

Spot Pond, Stoneham, MA

This was our first time.  We were brought there by instructors, using their kayaks, so we couldn't explore on our own.

Spot Pond is a beautiful lake, but unfortunately, it's not open to the public.


Silver Lake, Wilmington, MA

Silver Lake is the body of water closest to home.  It's very small, and not overly scenic.  But for a quick, easy paddle, it's nice to have a place so close.

We went together once, and I went once alone.  When the water is clear, you can see some fish and turtles, along with the geese and other birds.

Lake Quannapowitt, Wakefield, MA

We had been walking around Lake Quannapowitt many times before, so it was fun to be able to get on the lake itself and paddle around.  

The parking can be difficult if you don't get there early enough, but Quannapowitt is big enough that you can explore a bit without being bored, so it's worth the effort.

Winnisquam Lake, Sanbornton, NH

My wife's friend has a home on Winnisquam.  We visited and spent several hours on the lake in their power boat, before ending the day with a quick paddle in the kayaks.

Beautiful, big, yet fairly quiet (at least when we were there).  Lots to see, including some beautiful lakeside homes, and a loon sanctuary.  I wish it were closer to home so we could get there more often.

We hope to get out a few times more before the weather becomes too prohibitive.  Unfortunately, we tend to get busier this time of year, so we'll see if that works out or not.

Next year - kayaking on some local rivers?



My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Periodicals for my Kindle using Calibre

I purchased a Kindle a few weeks ago, and I've really enjoyed it.  Recently, I learned how to use Calibre to enjoy my Kindle even more.

Calibre is a free, open-source tool for managing libraries of e-books.  But it also has some features that work particularly well for me.
  • Calibre can download news from almost any website
  • Calibre can convert content to many e-book formats
  • Calibre can email e-books to any address
  • All of this can be scheduled
Using these features, I can now have almost anything from the web delivered to my Kindle as a Periodical.

For example, I currently have Calibre set up to send me my daily fix of New England Patriots news:
  • I have Calibre "recipes" set up to fetch Patriots news from The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald
  • Each are scheduled to run at 5:30 AM every day
  • The downloaded content is converted to an e-book in .MOBI format
  • The e-books are automatically emailed to my Amazon free.kindle.com email account
  • Amazon converts the .MOBI file to .AZW (native Kindle) format, and sends it out to my Kindle via Wi-Fi
  • Once I turn my Kindle on in the morning, it automatically syncs up and downloads these e-books as Kindle Periodicals, for reading later during the day
It's like having my favorite part of the sports sections tucked into my bag for me, as I leave for work.  And it's all free (I'm a big fan of free).  When I'm away on vacation, I'll get to read about the Patriots every day, without having to hunt down the out-of-town newspaper stand.

The same process will work for almost any online news source (newspapers, magazines, blogs).  I'll certainly be adding a few of them over time.

Customized periodicals delivered to my Kindle automatically.  Nice!

Resources:

My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Perhaps Amazon Defines "Nonfiction" Differently?

I like to read a lot.  And I tend to prefer non-fiction.  Since I order books through Amazon fairly often, their sophisticated systems have detected this, and occasionally send me emails with offers for more non-fiction books.

Today, I got this one:

Notice that "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary" is the top title this week in Nonfiction.

From this, I suppose we must conclude one of the following:
  1. This "new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales" which starts off "The cat had a party to attend, and went to the baboon to get herself groomed." really did occur (or is occuring) somewhere in the world.
  2. Amazon has a unique and interesting definition for the word "Nonfiction".
  3. Someone messed up

Which of the above seems most likely to you?

And if you chose number 1 and have read the book, where do these talking animals all live?  I've got a few questions about testing I'd like to ask of both the Sickly Rat and the Healthy Rat, that might make for an interesting debate.


My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] My Interest Is Kindled In A Nice New Device

For a while, I've had my eye on e-reader devices.  I like to read a lot, my bookcase is getting full, and what the heck - it's time to try something new.

My son got a Nook a while back and likes it.  He owns pretty much every Android device that exists (and a few that aren't yet available publicly).  But I'm not so hooked on Android, so I was also looking at Kindles. When Amazon announced the new generation of Kindle recently (popularly known as the "Kindle 3"), with some interesting features and a reduced price point, I was pretty sure I wanted one.  So after a bit of reading I took the plunge and ordered a Graphite Kindle 3G with free 3G + Wi-Fi.

My Kindle arrived a few days ago, and I've had a few hours to play with it. So far, I'm very impressed.


I think it's clear that the Kindle is optimized for reading. The tiny keyboard, and 5-way pointing device make it possible to type and to click, but you would want to avoid that where possible.

My initial thoughts:
  • Lots of fun so far.
  • The e-book experience is terrific.
  • Reading PDFs is very good. Good enough that I'll use it to read work stuff.
  • It's trivial to email documents in several formats to your free kindle email address and have it automatically re-formatted and wirelessly delivered to your Kinde. Very nice.
  • The text-to-speech feature is intriguing. The voicing is very good. While not perfect, it may just be good enough that I could have any book read to me on a long drive. I'm going to have to try that out.
  • Reading many websites (particularly those optimized for mobile devices) using the Kindle browser is good.
  • While the Kindle has an .mp3 player, it has no UI. Thus, you can't even select which song you want to play without pressing Alt-F until you hear the desired song. Pretty much useless.
  • The keyboard is tiny. It's usable and handy, but I'll always look for ways to avoid too much typing on it. I'm not planning to use it to write any Test Plans soon!
After a bit of experimenting, I found that I can put my .mp3 files in the Audible folder, rather than the Music folder to have them treated as audio books.  On the Kindle, audio books are individually visible, and the player does display a UI with controls. This makes it possible to go to an individual song and play it.  The downside is that there doesn't appear to be a way to let the songs in the Audible folder play in the background while I'm reading something.  This seems to make my Kindle good for podcasts, or when I only want to listen to one song at a time. Passable, but still not wonderful for background music.

Before buying it, I knew the Kindle was very good as an e-reader, but wondered about some specifics concerning the "experimental" browser (which had the potential to be an extremely useful feature for me).

To answer my own questions about the browser:


Q: Does it work well for the sites you visit?
A: It works well enough for most of the sites - particularly those which are text-heavy and allow reading without a lot of clicking.

Q: Does it work for your use of SQAForums and the Software Testing Club site?
A: Not as well. I tend to skim through SQAForums and STC, clicking here and there. The Kindle isn't really optimized for that.

Q: Does it work for your use GMail? 
A: Yes. And it works even better when I use the Mobile version of GMail. For me this is a huge plus. Now I can always be within reach of GMail - either through Wi-Fi, or 3G.

Soon, I plan to experiment with creating my own Kindle-optimized websites, and experiment with using other Google products (Reader, Docs, etc) in the Kindle browser.

Meanwhile, I've already read a few free e-books, and experimented with (tested?) more of the settings and features. Very nice - I like this device!


My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.