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WhatsApp should really fix these issues

WhatsApp is my most used app, but its development seems stagnant. Which is not always a bad thing for software, but WhatsApp could really improve some things, especially when those improvements seem trivial. Some wishes could even be classified as bugs: which they should really fix. In no particular order (for iOS). Multi-select on media searchWhen you use the global search (pull down on iOS) and select a category (Photos,… Read More »WhatsApp should really fix these issues

Reaching 100 stars on GitHub: what I learned from putting code online

When the pandemic started in early 2020, I needed something to get my mind off things. Frustrated with most database form generation solutions I created Cruddiy and put it on GitHub. Two years later Cruddiy reached 100 stars on GitHub. Something which I did not expect. We could argue a long time on what a GitHub star as a metric actually represents, but for this post it represents: hey, more… Read More »Reaching 100 stars on GitHub: what I learned from putting code online

Windows Terminal + Cygwin

[UPDATE July 2022: I switched to using MobaXterm which does the job just fine. I don’t like that it is not free/open but I do like that it comes with an integrated SSH agent, which makes life a lot easier] I had been a happy WSL1 user for many years, but after switching laptops I more or less had to upgrade to WSL2. Which is the same thing but not… Read More »Windows Terminal + Cygwin

Bypassing Hetzner mail port block (port 25/465)

I recently switched my VPS from Linode to Hetzner. I got more CPU, RAM and storage for a couple of dollars less. Pretty good right? However it wasn’t after I migrated that I found out Hetzner blocks all outgoing port 25 and 465 traffic. At least for the first month for new customers. This means my new server cannot talk SMTP with the rest of the world i.e. my server… Read More »Bypassing Hetzner mail port block (port 25/465)

Ten 2022 Tool Tips

Here’s a list of software tools I either started using this year or tools I think everyone should be using. Bitwarden The best password manager. Free if you like, or only $10 per year if you want to have a little bit more features or just want to support the project. My advice: pay the $10, Bitwarden is the best bargain for a great password manager and you support development… Read More »Ten 2022 Tool Tips

Migrating a LAMP VPS

I recently switched my LAMP virtual server to a different VPS provider. The LAMP server that is serving you this site. So the migration worked! Here are the steps, for future reference. Mostly for myself, but maybe you — someone who came here from Google — can use this too. This should work on any small to medium sized VPS. Let’s go! Lower your DNS records TTL value When you… Read More »Migrating a LAMP VPS

Corbin

Corbin: static responsive image and video gallery generator

In classic yak shaving fashion; this weekend I created a static responsive image gallery generator. It’s one PHP file that — when run from the command line — generates a clean, fast and responsive (aka mobile friendly) video and image gallery with navigation from a directory of images and videos. The output is one single index.html file. The generator itself is a single PHP file (~300 LOC). And running it… Read More »Corbin: static responsive image and video gallery generator

Connecting a Dell 4K monitor to HDMI

When I installed my new monitor — the Dell S2721QS — and attached it to my Dell laptop, something felt… off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, the resolution was fine (3840 x 2160), screen was fine — brightness, contrast etc. — but the overall experience was more sluggish. Especially when moving my mouse. Ah of course, this new resolution calls for different mouse speed settings! But after… Read More »Connecting a Dell 4K monitor to HDMI

Thoughts on Clubhouse

You can’t Listen on demand Restart/replay a conversation Record a conversation or audio snippets Trace back when a conversation started See who is talking, you can only hear them Send (text) messages to other Clubhouse users Share pictures, videos, gifs or audio files Use it on Android You can Listen to audio conversations as they happen See avatars of who is in the conversation Start a group audio conversation with… Read More »Thoughts on Clubhouse

Merge two images in Windows from right-click context menu

Download and install ImageMagick. Go to Windows Explorer and type sendto in the address bar. This will open the following path: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo The files here will be available as actions from the Windows “Send to” right-click context menu. Create a new (text) file in this directory and add the following line: magick.exe %1 %2 -resize “x%%[fx:max(u.h,v.h)]” +append -set filename: “COMBINED-%%k” “%%[filename:].jpg” This is essentially what will be executed when you… Read More »Merge two images in Windows from right-click context menu

Podcast: Donald Knuth Lectures on Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About

I recently read ‘Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About’ by Donald Knuth from 2001. Recommended reading if you like reading about how a world-renowned computer scientist wrote a book about how he wrote a book that deals with another book! Sounds recursive 😏 That last book is of course the bible and the book Knuth wrote about it is ‘3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated ‘ — published in 1991. And… Read More »Podcast: Donald Knuth Lectures on Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About