Posts on myByways

Migrating from Grav to Hugo

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Due to issues with updating PHP on my shared hosting which I cannot be bothered to resolve, I am now considering migrating from Grav to Hugo.

Creating an audiobook (.m4b) with FFmpeg

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Following on from my previous TTS post using Chatterbox Turbo (or any other TTS like Kokoro or Qwen3-TTT), here is code to combine audio files in a single .m4b audiobook retaining author and title metadata, chapter markers, and a cover image. Mostly this is a Python wrapper to FFmpeg.

Chatterbox Turbo TTS with MLX-Audio

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post, I tried Qwen3-TTS… This time, I test Chatterbox Turbo by Resemble.ai, which is an open-source, MIT licensed, text-to-speech model with zero-shot cloning.

Qwen3-TTS with MLX-Audio on macOS

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alibaba’s Qwen3-TTS for Speech Synthesis (text-to-speech) was open-sourced (Apache-2.0) on 22 Jan 2026. And within the last couple of weeks, we now have Apple Silicon optimization via MLX-Audio. Here is code to create an audiobook from an ePub.

Reflections on 2025 through the Word(s) of the Year

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In March 2025, I posted an opinion piece entitled “My Disillusionment with Generative AI”. Things have gotten worse since then, to the extent that “Slop” and “AI Slop” have been picked as the Word(s) of the Year for 2025. What follows are my thoughts on the trajectory of technology and, more specifically, AI, as reflected in the Word(s) of the Year (WOTY).

Updating CrossOver to GamePorting Toolkit 3.0

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The current version of CrossOver 25.1.1 utilizes with Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit 2.1. Here is how to update it to use Game Porting Toolkit 3.0 (GPTK), released (updated) on 5 December 2025, which emulates NVIDIA DLSS with MetalFX!

Kokoro TTS and Abogen on Windows

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post, I described trying out Kokoro text-to-speech (TTS) model via Kokoro-FastAPI web UI in a macOS (native) container. Here, I install Kokoro-TTS and Abogen on Windows, to take advantage of my Nvidia GPU.

Running Kokoro TTS via macOS Containerisation Framework

Sun, 17 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A short 2-in-1 post of two things I’ve been meaning to try out on macOS - first, to try the new macOS Container framework on macOS 15.5… and second, to spin up Kokoro Text-to-Speech (TTS) in a container.

Music Streaming Server on DietPi

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Onward: How I setup my DietPi SBC as a local music streaming server. I use Navidrome and OwnTone.

AdGuard Home on DietPi

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Previously, I documented my Orange Pi Zero 3 setup with DietPi. Here is how I setup AdGuard Home using the DietPi installer.

Orange Pi Zero 3 SBC with DietPi

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I recently wanted to upgrade my Raspberry Pi, and I setted on an Orange Pi Zero 3 Single Board Computer (SBC). Here is how I set it up.

My Disillusionment with Generative AI

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a techno optimist by default, I do believe technology can solve the problems we face today, and make our lives better. But I do have concerns with the direction we are taking with Generative AI, and the future we are heading towards. This is an opinion piece…

My 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad Alt Build

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Something totally different today… another Lego Alternate Build MOC, that merges the 4 micro builds from a single 40712 “Micro Rocket Launchpad” set. Presenting my Micro Mobile Launchpad with spaceship and rocket Alt Build.

Using Flux.1 in GGUF format on macOS

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

city96 has published GGUF versions of the Flux1.Dev model and T5 XXL text encoder, along with custom nodes to use them in ComfyUI - thought I’d try them on my M2 Mac mini, hoping for faster inference!

Faster Flux.1

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

More Flux.1-based models! Go faster with FP8 or NF4! New LoRAs and ControlNets! There is quite a bit of interest with this model, as evidenced by the speed of community-led enhancements.

Wow! Flux.1 by Black Forrest Labs

Sun, 04 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While I have many posts about SDXL, I do not use Stable Diffusion 3 at all - license concerns aside, it is simply not good, and may never get better. But just a few days ago, a new, freely available, offline model that is better than SDXL was released by the team that presented Latent Diffusion and created Stable Diffusion, Flux.1 by Black Forrest Labs!

Tesla Model 3 Highland accessories

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been over three months since I last posted anything, becase I haven’t done much recently! So today, something different - a list of Tesla Model 3 Highland (2024) accessories.

Fun with Llama 3 (8B) in Ollama

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I saw a post on Reddit, entitled “Llama 3 rocks with taking on a personality!”. A fun experiment! I thought to replicate it, blatantly copying the puzzle presented. Llama 3, released by Meta just before the weekend, is impressive.

Testing new PAG and Perp-Neg nodes in ComfyUI

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I know it’s bad form to start off with a disclaimer: but the truth is, I do not know what I am doing. I am just testing out two new ComfyUI nodes, PerturbedAttentionGuidance and PerpNegGuider.

Mistral System Message setup to improve Image Generation Prompts

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post, I used ComfyUI-IF_AI_tools to integrate to the brxce/stable-diffusion-prompt-generator model running in Ollama. I wonder if I could use the base Mistral 7B model to help improve my uncreative prompts instead…

LLM Prompt Generation with Ollama in ComfyUI

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post, I described running Mistral, a Large Language Model, locally using Ollama. To accompany that piece, I created a prompt and manually used AI to generate an image. Today, I’ll wire up a ComfyUI workflow to Ollama to do this seamlessly, thanks to ComfyUI-IF_AI_tools.

A game with Mistral 7B using Ollama

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I keep posting about Stable Diffusion, but I do experiment with Large Language Models too! I do not have much to contribute in this regard, instead, here is the transcript of a game I played with the open source Mistral 7B model via Ollama.

Stable Video Diffusion

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

More and more AI generated images are shared as short video clips. So, here a quick test of Stable Video Diffusion - which was released back in November last year. Don’t know why I didn’t post this when I posted about AnimateDiff and the Hotshot Motion model around the same time.

TripoSR image-to-3D-object

Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Do you want to convert a 2D image into a 3D model auto-magically? On 5 March 2024, Stability AI and Tripo AI released TripoSR: Fast 3D Object Generation from Single Images that does exactly that!

Differential Diffusion for in-painting

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Differential Diffusion is the newest method (framework) of in-painting without an in-painting model. Instead, all that is needed is a mask (map) where the lighter the area, the greater the re-painting applied.

Generate transparent images with Layer Diffusion

Sun, 03 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Ever wished you could generate Stable Diffusion XL images with transparent backgrounds? Well, your wish has been answered by the smart people behind the Transparent Image Layer Diffusion using Latent Transparency paper. They have made their code and models available, and what do you know, Chenlei Hu has ported it to ComfyUI!

SDXL-based 4-step models compared

Sat, 02 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

With the advent of techniques like Adversarial Diffusion Distillation and Latent Consistency models, A.I. image synthesis based on Stable Diffusion XL has been getting faster and faster. Here is just quick comparison of a few models at 4-steps, some of which are fine-tuned and trained for realism.

Consistent portraits revisisted: InstantID

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Not long ago, in a attempt to obtain Consistent portraits using IP-Adapters for SDXL, I shared a comparison between IP-Adapter-Plus-Face and IP-Adapter-FaceID. Today I’ll look at InstantID.

New Stable Cascase Checkpoints for ComfyUI

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

An update to my previous post on Stable Cascade with ComfyUI - instead of requiring four separate model files, we now only need two checkpoints, and the ComfyUI workflow is now very straightfoward!

Stable Cascade with ComfyUI

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On 12 Feb 2024, Stability.ai released Stable Cascade “research preview” (non-commercial license), and over the weekend, ComfyUI was updated to support this new model! Time to give it a go!

Convert animated WebP to WebM movie with Python

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post I mentioned converting an animated WebP image format into a WebM movie format. This post expands on how I did it.

Comparing face IP-Adapters for SDXL

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As a follow up to my last post regarding Consistent portraits using IP-Adapters for SDXL, this is a short comparison of the two face IP-Adapters for SDXL by h94 / xiaohu: namely, ip-adapter-plus-face_sdxl_vit-h.bin and ip-adapter-faceid_sdxl.bin.

Consistent portraits using IP-Adapters for SDXL

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Getting consistent character portraits generated by SDXL has been a challenge… until now! ComfyUI IPAdapter Plus (dated 30 Dec 2023) now supports both IP-Adapter and IP-Adapter-FaceID (released 4 Jan 2024)!

Extracting images from PDF files

Sat, 06 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Happy new year!

Ever needed to extract images from PDFs and found both on-line and off-line tools lacking? Well, I certainly have, and here I present my Python code to extract JPGs/PNGs from PDFs, using PyMuPDF.

Go even faster with SDXL-Turbo!

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In the span of a couple of weeks, we got Crazy fast image generation with LCM LoRA for SDXL, which led me to ask if I could get Faster Stable Diffusion on M-series macs?. A few hours ago, Stability.ai gave us their response in the form of SDXL-Turbo… and now we go even faster!

Faster Stable Diffusion on M-series macs?

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

All my recent Stable Diffusion XL experiments have been on my Windows PC instead of my M2 mac, because it has a faster Nvidia 2060 GPU with more memory. But today, I’m curious to see how much faster diffusion has gotten on a M-series mac (M2 specifically).

QR Code Monster for SDXL

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Time to try another ControlNet for Stable Diffusion XL - QR Code Monster v1 in ComfyUI. This ControlNet can influence SDXL such that the generated image “hides” a scan-able QR code, which at first glance, looks like a photo!

Generating animations / videos with SDXL LCM

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I never tried generating video clips or animations with SDXL before, simply because my GPU is not powerful enough. But after testing out the LCM LoRA for SDXL yesterday, I thought I’d try the SDXL LCM LoRA with Hotshot-XL, which is something akin to AnimateDiff.

Crazy fast image generation with LCM LoRA for SDXL

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Stable Diffusion keeps improving at an astounding pace! This time, it’s the idea of distilling a model into a Latent Consistency Model (LCM) for very, very fast image generation with a quality trade-off. On 24 Oct 2023, the distilled Segmind Stable Diffusion 1B (SSD-1B) model was released, followed by a better implementation in the form of Latent Consistency LoRAs for SDXL and SDD-1B released on 9 Nov 2023.

Fix Web Background Videos That Do Not Auto-play in Safari on iOS

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I recently encountered a situation where Safari would not play background videos in web pages! I initially assumed the page was broken… until I realized mine was the only iPhone with this behaviour, yet I am on the latest iPhone and iOS version. I finally figured what was different with my setup, and how to solve this issue.

Using the SDXL-Inpainting 0.1 Model

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Stability AI just released an new SD-XL Inpainting 0.1 model. Here is how to use it with ComfyUI.

Improving faces with Impact-Pack Detailers

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Stable Diffusion XL has trouble producing accurately proportioned faces when they are too small. Today, I learn to use the FaceDetailer and Detailer (SEGS) nodes in the ComfyUI-Impact-Pack to fix small, ugly faces.

Improving poses with SDXL ControlNets

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I previously tried Thibauld’s SDXL-controlnet: OpenPose (v2) ControlNet in ComfyUI with poses either downloaded from OpenPoses.com or created with OpenPose Editor. Here are a few more options for anyone looking to create custom poses.

SDXL Revision workflow in ComfyUI

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, I tried out Stability AI’s four Control-LoRAs but mentioned that I did not understand the output of the Revision “image-mixing” workflow. I’ve since done a bit more experimentation…

Stability AI Control LoRAs

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Less than a week after my post testing diffusers/controlnet-canny-sdxl-1.0, along comes Stability AI’s own ControlNets, which they call Control-LoRAs! Not one but 4 of them - Canny, Depth, Recolor and Sketch models!

SDXL 1.0 with SDXL-ControlNet: OpenPose (v2)

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As promised in my last post, today I am testing out Thibaud Zamora’s SDXL-controlnet: OpenPose (v2) model using ComfyUI. I keep saying I’ll keep my posts short but never do…

Fooocus KSampler Custom Node for ComfyUI SDXL

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I tried Fooocus by Lyumin Zhang (Illyasviel) which fulfills its promise to allow one to “Focus on prompting and generating” - it is certainly easy to use! But shortly after its release, someone has “ported” the code to ComfyUI as a Custom Node! So of course it’s time to test it out…

SDXL 1.0 with SDXL-ControlNet: Canny

Sun, 13 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Stability AI documentation now has a pipeline supporting ControlNets with Stable Diffusion XL! Time to try it out with ComfyUI for Windows.

Scale and Composite Latents with SDXL

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In this post, I experiment with latent scaling and latent compositing with SDXL 1.0 using ComfyUI. That is to say, increasing / decreasing the size of the image, and combining multiple images into one à la green screen (chroma key) compositing.

Two Text Prompts (Text Encoders) in SDXL 1.0

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SDXL 1.0 uses two text prompts used to guide image generation. In my first post, SDXL 1.0 with ComfyUI, I referred to the second text prompt as a “style” but I wonder if I am correct. I have no idea! So let’s test out both prompts…

CLIPSeg with SDXL in ComfyUI

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Onward with SDXL and ComfyUI! Sometimes I want to tweak generated images by replacing selected parts that don’t look good while retaining the rest of the image that does look good. Rather than manually creating a mask, I’d like to leverage CLIPSeg to generate a masks from a text prompt.

SDXL with Offset Example LoRA in ComfyUI for Windows

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I mentioned in passing that my Nvidia RTX 2060 with 12GB could not run both SDXL 1.0 Base and Refiner models in a single ComfyUI workflow. Today, I show you my workaround and also experiment with adding the SDXL 1.0 Official Offset Example LoRA to the workflow.

Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0 with ComfyUI

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Stability.ai has released Stable Diffusion XL (SDXL) 1.0 (26 July 2023)! Time to test it out using a no-code GUI called ComfyUI!

Configure a mouse for macOS trackpad-like gestures

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A short post about setting up a mouse on macOS to mimic trackpad gestures.

My Blacktron Star Fighter MOC 40580

Sat, 17 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

May I present to you: my second LEGO Space MOC, the Blacktron Star Fighter! This is an alternate build using only parts from set 40580: Blacktron Cruiser.

Running Steam in Game Porting Toolkit

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In my previous post, I managed to get Whisky, with Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit, working on macOS Ventura without Homebrew. Here I manage to get Steam running after jumping through hoops.

Apple Game Porting Toolkit with Whisky

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A long time ago, I compiled Wine from scratch on 32-bit macOS Sierra. I lost interest because I never used it. Now after WWDC 2023, everyone is talking about the happy side effect of Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit (GPTK) which uses Wine under the hood to run Windows 10 DirectX 12 games on macOS!

Run code in a macOS Sandbox

Sun, 11 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I sometimes test randomly downloaded code on macOS in a Sandbox that has limited and network access. I posted about this way back in Jan 2017, Creating a macOS Sandbox to run Kodi, and this is a short refresher for me…

Prevent macs from sleeping

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The current macOS “System Settings” continues to confound me. Did you know you can prevent your mac from sleeping with a setting? I previously thought caffeinate was the only way to achieve this.

Create an animated PNG

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I recently wanted to create an animated PNG, but macOS does not include any built in tools to combine multiple PNGs into an APNG file. Here’s an option using Python source code.

File Date Created = Photo / video metadata

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When I export photos or videos from Photos.app, I want the file’s Created Date (Created Date in Finder) to be the time the photo or video was taken. Alas, this is not the way Photos works, and setting the date turned out to be more challenging than expected.

“Delete” (Move) to Trash in macOS Shell

Mon, 08 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A short one today: here is a function to “delete” (read: move) a file to the macOS Trash (Bin), as a safer alternative to rm.

Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad battery level

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Want to check your connected bluetooth device battery level on a mac? Here is one way: using xbar (I am aware there are a bunch of other xbar plugins to do something similar, but I’ve been using my own script before I ever used xbar).

Enabling the macOS Metal Performance HUD

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know that macOS has a built-in game performance HUD with a frames per second (FPS) counter, similar using RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) to display a GPU performance overlay in Windows? Here’s how to enable the Metal Performance HUD.

The Art of Linda Bergkvist

Sun, 23 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Not long ago, I was reminded of one of my favourite digital artists, Linda Bergkvist a.k.a. Enayla. I love her macabre yet stunningly beautiful and evocative art, but alas, she’s not posted her art since around 2007. This post is a departure from my usual techie stuff – it’s just appreciation post!

skhd RunAtLoad launch agent

Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Some time ago, I explained how I setup “Global hotkeys for macOS with skhd”. I mentioned running it automatically upon login via the macOS Launch Daemon but did not detail the steps. So here they are…

Using Rosetta in a UTM Linux VM with Docker on Apple Silicon

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I have been using UTM on M1/M2 macs for all my virtualization needs for a while, but never posted much because it practically works out of the box. Since around October 2022, UTM v4.0.9 on macOS Ventura allows Apple Hypervisor Virtualization Virtual Machines to use Rosetta 2.

Fast external storage for M1/M2 Macs

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I was recently researching external storage for my Mac, looking for the “fastest” and most “reliable”. There are so many options, and of course, so many different price points! It’s all very confusing: NGFF M.2? NVMe M.2? USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Mbps)? USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)? USB 3.1 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps)? Thunderbolt 3? Thunderbolt 4? USB 4.0?

myByways Simple-SD v1.1 Python script using Safetensors

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Epic Diffusion recently came to my attention, a high-quality merge of various models by John Slegers: “Epîc Diffusion is a general purpose model based on Stable Diffusion 1.x intended to replace the official SD releases as your default model. It is focused on providing high quality output in a wide range of different styles…” Figured I’d give it a spin.

Lite XL text editor on MacOS

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I recently tried Lite XL v2.1.0, a forked and updated version of the original rxi/lite, “A lightweight text editor written in Lua”, on MacOS ARM. Here are some findings.

Fast Stable Diffusion using Core ML on M1

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Recently (around 14 December 2022), Apple’s Machine Learning Research team published “Stable Diffusion with Core ML on Apple Silicon” with Python and Swift source code optimized for Apple Silicon (M1/M2) on Github apple/ml-stable-diffusion. Here I’m trying it out on a MacBook (though the code also works on iPhones and iPads)…

Lock Screen "Launcher" Widget with Scriptable

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

iOS 16 introduced new lock screen widgets! Rather that installing various third party widdgets, I want to create my own using Scriptable. Here is a simple “universal” widget to launch an application or a Shortcut (bonus: or even the home screen too!)

Disabling macOS Print Job History Files

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know the macOS Printer service (Common UNIX Printing System, or CUPS) keeps a copy of every single print job ever? Here’s how to change this default behaviour.

myByways Simple-SD v1.0 Python script

Sun, 09 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I refactored my previous Stable Diffusion code, to clean up, OO it a little, and add new features like tiling, upscaling, PNG metadata. As I mentioned before, I don’t understand AI/ML… but I do understand programming! So here is my new, more elegant Simple-SD v1.0 Python script.

Adding CLIPSeg automatic masking to Stable Diffusion

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I have more ideas for Stable Diffusion. My nights and weekends are consumed! This time: For inpainting, why create a mask image manually, when A.I. can automatically build a mask from a text prompt? Someone much smarter has already published a paper (arXiv:2112.10003 [cs.CV]), with source code, to do just this!

Stable Diffusion script with inpainting mask

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

More Stable Diffusion! This time attempting to add inpainting / masking based on my previous code, to merge both txt2img.py and img2img.py capabilities, disregarding the out-of-box inpainting.py code, which does not have parameters for positive or negative prompts. Keyword being attempting…

My simplified Stable Diffusion Python script

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been playing around with the Stable Diffusion scripts a little (to be exact, Ben Firshman’s version). To help me understand the script, I decided to re-write it the way I prefer to use it… either breaking or optimizing it in the process :P

Stable Diffusion image-to-image mode

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Following from my previous post, AI-generated images with Stable Diffusion on an M1 mac: This time, using the image-to-image script, which takes an input “seed” image, in addition to the text prompt as inputs. In this case the model will use the shapes and colors in the input image as a base for the output AI-generated image.

AI-generated images with Stable Diffusion on an M1 mac

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

There has been a lot of buzz about Stable Diffusion for text-to-image synthesis, which saw its Public Release around 22 Aug 22. You can read more on the Stability.AI blog and try it at Hugging Face. What’s groundbreaking is is that is open source, with a pre-trained downloadable model and modest system requirements, so anyone can try it on their own computer… anyone… like me!

iOS 12.5.6 for 8-9 year old iPhones!

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Last Wednesday, August 31^st 2022, Apple released iOS 12.5.6. This Security Update fixes a WebKit vulnerability that “may have been actively exploited.” Users of newer devices will not care, but I cannot overstate how significant this is as a demonstrable commitment to security.

macOS Automator PDF Actions

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a macOS Automator script to watermark a PDF, and also set metadata like author and title. Followed by a more advanced script to do all that an also set an owner password and access permissions… auto-magically.

My System Explorer MOC 70821 + 70841

Sun, 28 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Something totally different today… As an AFOL, I created a simple Lego MOC, combining 70821 “Emmet and Benny’s ‘Build and Fix’ Workshop!” and 70841 “Benny’s Space Squad”.

Global hotkeys for macOS with skhd

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’m never quite satisfied with the various methods of creating keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) on macOS… Here I go again, this time using a small open source utility called skhd - a simple hotkey daemon for macOS.

Running GFPGAN Face Restoration in a container

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Almost a year ago, Tencent researchers released their GFPGAN Face Restoration, an AI model which is trained specifically on faces, to better upscale and restore details in low-resolution or damaged portrait photos. I thought I’d give it a whirl.

Browser support for HTTP/3 QUIC

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been over a year (or two) since three major browsers enabled HTTP/3 using the QUIC protocol over UDP. Chrome and Edge enabled HTTP/3 by default in April 2020 and Firefox followed “shortly after” in April 2021. I am not sure - does Safari in macOS Monterey 12.5, released July 2022, enable HTTP/3 by default?

Running x86 docker images in Multipass on an ARM M1 mac

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know it is possible to run x86_64 Docker containers on an ARM-based M1 mac? It’s quite staightforward with Multipass and Docker (if you are new to Multipass, check out my Multipass for Docker containers on macOS post from a few months ago).

VS Code Snippet to insert formatted date and time

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve known that it is possible to create snippets in Visual Studio Code. Recently, I discovered a few tweaks to help me when taking notes. Here, I share a snippet for inserting the date and time in the format of my choosing in a Markdown note.

Script to re-map MacBook Pro function keys

Sun, 19 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In my last post, “Re-mapping physical function keys on MacBook Pros” I used the hidutil tool to re-map the function keys on a Mac without a touchbar. I’ve since created a script to more easily apply changes.

Re-mapping physical function keys on MacBook Pros

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One common ask from M1 (Apple Silicon / ARM) MacBook Pro users is to be able to re-define what the top row of physical function keys do, for example, to change the Dictation (F5) key to decrease the keyboard backlight brightness and DND (F6) to increase it, similar to other Macs. Here’s how to do that… and more!

Simple fun: tty-solitaire

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve not posted anything in a long time, so I thought I’d dig up something from a long time ago. Once boring day, many moons ago, I stumbled upon a simple console-based Solitaire game, tty-solitaire by Murilo Pereira.

macOS PowerPoint custom font and colour theme

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Ever wonder how to create a custom theme for both fonts and colours (a.k.a. designs) in PowerPoint on macOS? In PowerPoint for Windows, is a GUI to do this, but this is lacking in the macOS version. However, it is still possible via custom XML configuration files.

Multipass for Docker containers on macOS

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I previously setup Lima as a replacement for Docker Desktop on macOS. A while ago I tried Multipass by Canonical, which makes it really easy to spin up a Ubuntu VM (using Hyperkit) without all the setup and installation typically required with Virtual Box or QEMU.

Remove words from macOS spell check dictionary

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I accidentally added an incorrectly spelt word to the macOS spelling dictionary via an Add to Dictionary menu item. Surprisingly, there was no inverse “remove from dictionary” option to undo this! Additionally, I realized there is no System Preferences page to to edit the custom dictionary. There are two ways to fix this with macOS (but none for iOS).

Shortcut to convert image format and paste - redux

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I was not satisfied with my last macOS Shortcut to convert image format and paste. The simple version forced me to choose between PNG and JPEG, and the complex version was too slow - specifically, the Find All Windows action. So here we go again…

Modifying the Grav Feeds Plugin Output

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

There are a couple of things I don’t like with the feeds produced by the standard Grav Syndication Feed Plugin. Fortunately, the feeds are generated via Twig templates that can easily be customized!

Compiling emf2svg

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I recently wanted to convert an Windows Enhanced Metafile (EMF) to SVG. I used an open source conversion library called libemf2svg by Carpentier Pierre-Francois (Kakwa).

Remove address bar in Firefox child windows

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I use JavaScript bookmarklets in Mozilla Firefox to open my email, calendar, chat, etc. in pop-up child windows without a toolbar or menu bar. I do this in order to save screen real-estate, and to prevent me from using those windows for browsing and keep them visible all the time. I’ve been wondering how to have pop-up windows without the address bar….

Amazing CSS icons at css.gg

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I recently stumbled upon a collection of amazing icons “drawn” with nothing more than CSS! Visit css.gg and browse through 700+ incredible icons created (coded) by Astrit.

New look for the new year 2022

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year! A big welcome to 2022! I’ve finally updated the look of my blog with a new theme. Well, not really… you see, I’m not very creative, and so, my theme pretty much remains the same… just more purple.

My macOS Shortcut to Tile Windows

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In the macOS Monterey Shortcuts Gallery, there are Shortcuts to “Tile Last 2 Windows”, “Tile Last 3 Windows” and “Tile Last 4 Windows”. This is my single combined version for any window (not just the last x).

AirPlay Receiver on an unsupported mac with Monterey

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

While waiting for macOS Universal Control, I wanted to try AirPlay Receiver. Unfortunately, it is not supported (“locked”) on my older macBook. But recently I stumbled upon Mr. Macintosh’s “Airplay BLOCKED on Monterey? How to unlock it!” video on YouTube!

Shortcut to convert image format and paste

Sat, 13 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have a hangup about Microsoft Office on macOS - it often elects to paste images from the clipboard in TIFF format, instead of PNG or JPG, which results in massive files, be it PowerPoint .PPTX presentations, Word .DOCX documents or Excel .XLSX spreadsheets. Enter: A new macOS Shortcut to convert clipboard images to (lossless) PNG or (lossy) JPG.

Shortcuts on macOS: A review

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is an opinion piece on Shortcuts v5.0 (1144.2) for macOS Monterey v12.0.1. Readers of my blog know I use Automator, AppleScripts, and shell scripts to get stuff done. So I was curious to see if I could replace all these with just Shortcuts. TL;DR: no, no I can’t.

Extract Text from a Screenshot with Shortcuts

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a macOS Shortcut to take a screenshot and extract text from it using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). I find this useful to copy text from e.g. a presentation or video during a virtual call, etc.

Sending keystrokes to an application using Shortcuts for macOS Monterey

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been trying out Shortcuts on macOS 12 Monterey! I have written about Shortcuts on iOS/iPadOS in the past, so was keen to migrate my automation scripts from Automator or osascript to Shortcuts. Here is the first one: A Shortcut plus global hotkey to an application, leveraging AppleScript/JXA.

Enable the Globe key on external keyboards for iPad

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

If you use an external keyboard on iPad, this is the most important thing to do - remap a key like the fn key to the globe 🌐 key. Here is how I do it for an older Apple wireless keyboard like the second generation A1255 or third generation A1314.

Minuscule Lima setup to replace Docker on macOS

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Today’s post will be a long one - recently, Docker announced some changes to the Docker Desktop license, so I figured I’d check out the Lima for macOS instead. As always, I end up complicating things by doing everything my way…

New SF Symbols for VS Code Touch Bar

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A few posts back, I described my no-code approach to customizing my MacBook touch bar in Visual Studio Code, where I used Apple’s SF Symbols 3 Beta icon library. Now, Apple has release a new beta of SF Symbols that makes the process easier!

Viewing man pages in Preview or VS Code

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I stumbled upon a post entitled “Piping stdout and stderr to Preview” by Erica Sadun - the cool bit that caught my attention was about redirecting man pages (UNIX help) to Preview on macOS. But this got me thinking… to redirect the output to Visual Studio Code instead!

Extracting embedded ZIPs from Office documents

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have a plethora of Bash scripts littered throughout my filesystem, many written for one specific purpose and promptly forgotten about (often, just named go.sh!) I thought I share one today - a script to extract embedded ZIP files from Microsoft Office documents created in Windows.

Padding VS Code Touch Bar Extension Icons

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of posts ago, in my (rather unique, if I may say so myself) zero-code VS Code Touch Bar Extension for Markdown, I used the standard Apple icons in the SF Symbols set. I found them a bit too large for the touchbar, and wated to shirink them slightly by padding them with extra pixels around the image.

The correct way to create a VS Code Touch Bar Extension

Sat, 24 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is part two, deploying a Visual Studio Code touchbar extension for Markdown notes, using the normal “correct” development method. I’d suggest referring to part one, for my much simpler, zero-code method.

A zero-code VS Code Touch Bar Extension for Markdown

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is the first part of a two part series on deploying your own touchbar extension for Visual Studio Code, designed mainly to work with Markdown notes. This post gives you a shortcut method with zero code! The next post will details a more “correct” method. If you don’t already realize - this applies to MacBooks with Touch bars running macOS only.

Customizing VS Code for Markdown note-taking

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been using Visual Studio Code for all my notes. I have used Typora, Obsidian, and Zetlr, but I keep coming back to VS Code, because of its extensibility, customizability and integrated terminal. Here is how I set it up for note-taking.

Shell script to move duplicate files

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I setup Firefox on macOS to automatically download files to my “Downloads” folder without prompting (under Preferences… > Downloads, and select Save files to… instead of Always ask you where to save files). If there is an existing file with the same name, Firefox appends (1) to the filename (then (2), (3) and so on). Over time, I land up with files with similar file names, which may or may not be identical. This shell script finds and moves duplicate files to a different folder… for subsequent manual deletion.

Enabling AMD Ryzen 5600X fTPM for Windows 10

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

You might have read that Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). More recent AMD CPUs support Firmware TPM (fTPM) which implements TPM in software on the CPU instead of requiring a dedicated (discrete) chip. This is how I enabled fTPM.

CoreSimulator Crash Loop

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Last month, one morning, my MacBook (still running Catalina) started behaving strangely - though I was not running anything, it was sluggish as the CPU was too busy and the fans were on high. I traced it to the iOS Simulator service that comes with XCode.

VS Code Override Terminal Color Theme

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have been too very quiet! I wanted a mash-up of a two Visual Studio Code themes - a light color theme for the main editor area, and a dark theme for the terminal, which I usually keep open. Here is an easy way to achieve this.

3600 MHz RAM on AMD B550

Tue, 11 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Up until a couple of weekends ago, I’d been running my Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8 GB RAM at 3600 MHz on my ASRock B550M Steel Legend and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. In fact, I did even better than XMP settings, with a stable system even though I pushed RAM timings by reducing CAS 18 to CAS 16. Then, I upgraded my motherboard BIOS to AMD AGESA AM4 v2 1.2.0.2… and now I can no longer run at 3600 MHz!

AppleScript to change clipboard image format

Sat, 24 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

For the longest time, I’ve struggled to get the macOS version of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) to paste images as PNG or JPEG, instead of the default TIFF. TIFFs make the files far larger than they need to be! I’ve resorted to macros, shell scripts, Quick Actions… all paste PNGs (lossless) into MS Office! But I just found another method with AppleScript.

A few of my bookmarklets

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have a few Javascript bookmarklets that I thought I’d share. Bookmarklets are short snippets of JavaScript code that run in the context of the current web page in the browser. I prefer them over extensions since I can see what the code does. There are plenty on the web, here are a few of mine.

Of mice and... keyboards

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have a desktop PC and a notebook, both sharing a mechanical RGB keyboard, RGB mouse, and “air mouse” (which I use as a media remote control). This post describes my setup.

Visual Studio Code key bindings for curly quotes

Sat, 27 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

When I write, I want proper curly quotes, with the correct opening and closing ‘single’ and “double” quote marks. However, the standard QWERTY keyboard doesn’t have these keys, having only straight ‘single’ and “double” quotes. Microsoft Office and Apple Pages “Smart Quotes” will automatically fix this, but since I write this blog in Visual Studio Code, here is how I setup my keyboard.

What I learnt shopping for decent computer speakers

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I was looking for “decent” budget computer speakers… I’ll be the first to admit that I know nuts about this topic, but, after some research, I landed up getting the Edifier R1280DBs launched sometime H1 2020. Here are some things I learnt while researching my purchase.

Tweaks and Hacks to Configure Windows 10

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been meaning to post this from the time I built my Windows desktop. But I keep adding to the list of things I need to configure to get Windows 10 into a ”usable” state for me. Unlike with macOS - for which the default installation is well configured, secure, and pretty much good-to-go - the installation and setup of Windows is extremely painful and a terrible experience. I have to spend hours trying different methods to remove junk, disable telemetry, and secure Windows (and still fail)…

Command to turn off monitor in Windows 10

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I wanted to turn off my monitor in Windows 10, while listening to music, rather than wait for the Power plan “Turn off the display” timer to kick in. Hmmm, seems Windows has never improved, because I recall having this requirement back-in-the-day - haha, that was during my first project ever, when I was involved in some Win32 development…

Migrating from bash shell scripts to Python

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I recently wanted to migrate from a Bash 3 shell script to Python 3. This is nothing but a brain dump comparing a few bits and bobs.

North Bayou H80 Monitor Mount Review

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Since building my Ryzen-based Windows desktop, I have had a bad case of G.A.S. or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. This time I wanted an adjustable monitor mount to fit my old-fashioned computer table. I couldn’t find well written reviews nor a comparison with a similar model, so here is my opinion of the H80 and F80 monitor mounts / arms by North Bayou.

Configuring Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2)

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Here is how I configure Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). I do things a bit strangely: by changing the mounts, by running a GUI Desktop, and by running Docker in WSL2 and not on the Host…

DNS settings to fix emails being marked as spam

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Recently a number of emails sent from one of our domains was getting tagged as spam by the receipent. Here are some things I learnt trying to fix this problem…

Monitoring MacBook temperature

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I have been having issues with my Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro - as the notebook heats up, the LCD display starts to die. Initially the display would glitch - black bars or lines of dead pixels would appear at the bottom of the display,. Then these dead portions start to “jump” causing the display to flicker. The glitches progressively affect a larger and larger portion of display, until the display gives up and just just goes blank! Perhaps the flexgate design flaw with the ribbon cable between the motherboard and display…

Testing Grav 1.7 in a container

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

When I first used Grav, “a modern open source flat-file CMS,” to host this site, I setup a local development environment using macOS’s built-in Apache and PHP. But this is getting harder with each macOS release, so it’s time to use a Docker container instead.

Custom icons in Windows Start Menu Medium Tiles

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In the Windows 10 Start Menu, I used Pin To Start to a medium sized tile for Firefox - and the icon is nice and large - but is not the case for other shortcuts. I was wondered why… and how to make all the icons have a more consistent look.

Running Linux GUI applications in a Docker container using Xpra

Sun, 17 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

There are multiple ways to run Linux GUI applications in a Docker container, but today I’ll highlight a method that I found interesting: using Xpra to forward X11 screens from containers to a web browser. This post is based on Eugene Yaremenko’s docker-x11-bridge, which I simplified.

Bulma customisation with Sass

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been putting of this post for too long. I use Bulma as the CSS framework for this site. I previously used Bulma Customizer to customize some settings but this does not seem to work anymore. So here is how to customize Bulma CSS yourself.

Setting up a Wireless Repeater using DD-WRT v3.0

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I wanted to re-purpose an old Linksys WRT54GL by overwriting its firmware with the open source DD-WRT firmware, because the original Linksys firmware does not support a wireless repeater setup. A Wireless Repeater is used to “extend” the range of a primary wireless router by connecting a secondary wireless router (i.e. bridging), and routing Internet-bound traffic via the primary router. Here is how I got it working.

RTSS layout for Cyberpunk 2077

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently posted about configuring RTSS to overlay CPU and GPU information on games in Windows 10. Here is my setup for Cyberpunk 2077, so that I can keep an eye on my framerates (when testing the plethora of graphics settings), CPU / GPU / RAM utilization and temperatures.

Cyberpunk 2077 settings for RTX 2060 @ 1080p

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I though I’d quickly post my Cyberpunk 20774 settings running on a Nvidia RTX 2060 at 1080p (920×1080). The default Cyberpunk Ray Tracing Medium preset results in low frame rates and rather blur graphics, although all effects are enabled.

Originally written with v1.04, but updated for version 1.05+

1stPlayer DK keyboard and mouse review

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I bought a cheap-ish mechanical keyboard from 1stPlayer, the DK 5.0 Lite 87 along with the DK 3.0 mouse. I called this purchase “a mistake” as I am not quite satisfied with the physical build and the very poorly designed software. So, I figured I might as well do a short review that may help prospective buyers.

Fix mechanical keyboard keys 1678923450

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I suddenly experienced a strange issue today - the row of number keys on my 1stPlayer DK 5.0 Lite mechanical keyboard, i.e. the keys from 2 to 9, would output the wrong number! Specifically, hitting all numeric keys in order would output 1678923450 instead of 1234567890. This happened while gaming and I have no idea what caused it.

Creating Windows and macOS VMs

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Just a bunch of un-related findings that may help when creating Windows and macOS VMs using VirtualBox.

CPU and GPU Monitoring Overlay for Gaming

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On my new Windows 10 desktop I wanted an on-screen display (OSD) of system performance overlay while gaming - similar those benchmarking videos one finds on YouTube. While I don’t overclock my CPU or GPU, I still do want to know the utilization and temperatures, as these give me a hint as to whether the system is thermal throttled or bottlenecked.

VirtualBox very slow on Windows 10

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I found that Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1 was running very slowly on my brand new Windows 10 PC.

Initially I thought it was to do with VirtualBox, e.g. insufficient cores or memory, the display controller (VBoxSVGA), insufficient video memory, etc. And then I thought it might be an AMD thing, so had a look at BIOS, e.g. nested AMD-V, etc.

Quite the year... for silicon

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We will remember 2020 for all the wrong reasons, but on a lighter note, 2020 has been quite the year… for silicon!

The incredible performance of Apple’s M1 and A14 (@ 5m).
AMD crushing Intel with its Ryzen 5000 series CPUs (@ 7nm).
The neck-and-neck race between the AMD Radeon (@ 7nm) and Nvidia RTX.
The launch of next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

My first PC build with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I just got myself a new desktop PC! I am not much of a Windows user, but am looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077! I have never built a PC before, so I did the research and learnt a lot. Here is what I bought and why.

iOS Shortcut to Join Cisco WebEx

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a quick iOS Shortcut to join Cisco WebEx personal rooms by email name. In my organization, once logged in to Cisco WebEx, we can join a colleague’s personal meeting room just by his or her email name. Here is a shortcut to either:

Launch WebEx for the contact from the Contacts App share sheet,
Or just run the shortcut to select email to launch WebEx.

Hide Firefox Toolbar and Tabs in Fullscreen

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I use macOS spaces (virtual desktops) to arrange the various apps I frequently use. I have one space setup with two Firefox windows, in fullscreen Split View mode. But by default, Firefox windows are not really “full screen” for me, in that the tabs, toolbar and bookmarks bar will still be displayed. Here is my workaround to force the browser to full screen.

An interesting Open Source Directory for developers

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I’m always eager to learn about the open source tools or frameworks developers use. I found this list a good “read” :P

Local Grav PHP ZIP Extension workaround on macOS Catalina

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Apache and PHP bundled with macOS Catalina 10.15 does not include the PHP ZIP extension. Grav (specifically, the Problems Plugin) detects this issue, and Grav will not run! Here is a workaround.

Running Sass in a container

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Here is how to create a Docker container on macOS to “compile” Sass stylesheets to CSS. In my case, I wanted to (re)compile my Bulma-based theme with the latest version 0.9.0 with my variable overrides.

Fixing issues with VirtualBox Guest Additions for Ubuntu 20.04

Sun, 31 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) (dated 23 April 2020), with the intention of creating a VM using VirtualBox 6.0.22 (released 15 May 2020). I had issues with VirtualBox guest additions, and this is how I solved it.

How to download videos from YouTube

Sat, 30 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Wondering how to download a video from YouTube, with audio and subtitles intact? Here are a couple of methods I’m documenting in case I ever need to use them.

Fixing high-DPI (retina) screenshot metadata

Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On my MacBook Pro with retina display, when I take a screenshot, the image is saved with a DPI of 144. But, using ImageOptim to compress the image with Strip JPEG/PNG Metadata enabled will remove (or reset) the DPI setting to 72 DPI - resulting in a double sized image when displayed in Preview and Quick Look. Here is how I correct this.

macOS zsh configuration

Thu, 07 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

From macOS Catalina 10.5 onwards, zsh is the default shell, instead of bash. I have a lot to learn about this shell, and so far, this is how I configured zsh… There is an overload of snippets on-line, but I’ve not seen a post doing what I do, so hopefully this helps someone!

De-bounce butterfly keyboard double keypress with Karabiner-Elements

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Grrr, to no one’s surprise, my MacBook Pro with butterfly keyboard is experiencing keyboard issues. In my case, a keypress on “j” is often triggered twice, resulting in “jj”. And with the lockdowns, I don’t want to risk a repair! So, here is a quick workaround using Karabiner-Elements v12.9.0.

CSS tips to avoid Javascript

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I’ve been building a few web sites without JavaScript where possible, relying instead on modern browser support for CSS.

Here are some things I’ve figured out, including toggling the NavBar burger dropdown, smooth scrolling, showing and hiding modal dialogs with transitions!

Static domain name resolution for Kubernetes pods

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I recently needed to setup a Kubernetes cluster without an external DNS and without Internet access. In the old days, static IPs could be mapped to FQDNs by creating entries in the hosts file, but that won’t work with Kubernetes. With Internet access, the typical solution would be to use a wildcard DNS like xip.io or nip.io. Instead, the workaround is by hardcoding the mapping in the CoreDNS configuration.

Fixing Grav Admin Panel URL redirect on a local computer

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

While testing out Grav, it’s quite easy to setup a local instance on a macOS computer, since macOS already comes with a suitable web server (Apache 2.4.x and PHP 7.x). I never realized I didn’t actually describe how I set it up, but just wanted to point out one important change.

Choice of home screen icon with DuckDuckGo

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, just as I post my method of creating a shortcut with an icon of my choice on the iPhone home screen - which I demonstrated with Firefox - along comes a browser that allows a choice of icons out-of-the-box!

Shortcuts on iPhone home screen

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s how I “changed” an app’s home screen icon on iPhone. I’m so OCD that I want my home screen dock icons (the tray at the bottom) to be all of the same colour! Actually, changing an icon is not possible, but creating a new shortcut with an icon of my choice is!

Fixing Windows 10 100% disk by stopping SysMain

Tue, 21 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I just spent hours trying to figure out and fix a Windows 10 machine that was taking 100% disk, 100% RAM and about 50% CPU with absolutely nothing running. Of course, I initially blamed the user… then, a misbehaving (hidden, background) app… then, malware / virus… the, a runaway Windows Defender… then, a hard disk / hardware failure… but ultimately discovering the culprit is - drum roll - Microsoft Windows itself! As usual!

PowerShell Pipeline to Rename Files

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

For me, Microsoft PowerShell is hard! I can’t wrap my mind around data pipelines (|). Instead, I keep reverting to if/then, loops and other traditional programming paradigms, similar to what I’d do in UNIX shell!

OCRmyPDF: searchable text from images

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I recently had a bunch of screen shots that I wanted to OCR, so that I could search for text content in the future. I found an open source solution called OCRmyPDF (created by jbarlow83 over on GitHub) to be very simple to use. It’s also very well documented with many usage examples, including my preferred option - from a Docker container.

RIP Grab.app in macOS Catalina 10.15

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I previously kept Grab.app on Mojave 10.14 by simply copying it over from High Sierra 10.13. I prefer the simplicity of Grab over the new Screenshot.app, and I hate that Screenshot adds a drop shadow.

Enabling PHP in Apache on macOS Catalina 10.15

Sun, 03 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Every time Apple releases a new version of macOS, I have to go in and re-configure Apache with PHP the way I want it. So this time, I thought I’d automate the configuration changes with a single command.

Single Page Bulma template with Smooth Scroll and Scroll Spy JavaScript

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I was building a single page website using Bulma, and I wanted to achieve effects similar to what I was familiar with using Bootstrap’s Creative one page theme. As you know, Bulma (mostly) does not provide any JavaScript code, so I had to code the Smooth Scrolling and Scroll Spy features I missed. I intentionally avoided jQuery! So I present my solution using plain-old JavaScript.

Running Db2 Data Server Manager in a container

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I previously played around with MongoDB in a few containers. Recently, I tried IBM Db2 Community Edition and learnt a few new things about containers along the way. The challenge was rolling my own Db2 Data Server Manager container, working around the background process that the startup script kicks off.

Word Macro to paste MS Office Drawing / TIFF image as PNG

Sun, 13 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I really don’t know how to explain today’s post. In short: I want to copy drawings and images out of Microsoft Office in PNG format. On macOS, copy-and-paste seems to prefer the TIFF format, resulting in large Office files. I’d rather the images be converted to PNG, preserving transparency but providing high compression. However, this is more complicated than it seems, because of limitations in Office and PowerPoint in particular…

Touch Bar Quick Action Scripts

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Just sharing some Automator scripts I use for Touch Bar Quick Actions showcasing three different methods - using pre-defined Actions, using AppleScripts and using Shell scripts.

Automatically setup a development stack with Appsody

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In a previous series of posts, I described how I set up Node.js in a Docker container for development on my macBook. It’s quite a lot of steps!

Well, there is a much simpler way - introducing Appsody.

About the Windows Sandbox

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Starting with Windows 10 May 2019 update, there is a new Windows Sandbox feature, which, despite its name, is based on Windows Containers.

The Impossible Burger

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This isn’t a food blog, but I can’t help myself. Just last week, I had The Impossible™ Burger (emphasis on The)!

Useful (but less well-known) Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Most Mac users would use at least a few keyboard shortcuts (if not, check out Apple’s Mac Keyboard Shortcuts list), but here are a few additional key combinations that I find useful. These are less well-known and many are not in Apple’s list.

Forcing Dark Mode with prefs-color-scheme Media Query

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

A few posts ago, I described how to set Dark Mode with the prefs-color-scheme Media Query. The browser will detect the OS Dark Mode setting (set in the Windows Control Panel or macOS System Preferences) and use the appropriate CSS Media Query rule. But what if you want to programmatically set either Dark or Light mode irrespective of the OS setting?

Three Ways to Quickly Toggle Dark Mode

Sun, 04 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s are a few short tips - to toggle Dark Mode on macOS without opening System Preferences. Useful when designing your Dark Mode enabled web site using prefers-color-sheme Media Query, like I did.

Building and packaging Wine 4.12.1 (32-bit and 64-bit) automatically

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

For a while now, I’ve been posting about compiling Wine on macOS, starting with Wine 1.9 in October 2016, then automating the compile for Wine 2.9 32-bit in May 2017. Now it’s July 2019, and this is probably my last post on the subject - a fully automated script to download and compile Wine 4.12.1 (released 7 July 2019) 32-bit and 64-bit on macOS.

Dark Mode with prefers-color-sheme Media Query

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Dark Mode is all the rage with desktop and mobile OS’es right now. Interestingly, modern browsers can detect the OS dark mode preference, and use a different set of CSS styles respectively for light or dark modes! Here’s how I updated My custom Grav theme.

Creating a container with an entrypoint to run code

Tue, 28 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I recently wanted to test a web app written in Node.js and exposed via fixed port. The instructions asked me to install Node.js locally, which I resist! So, here is how I built my Docker container to run the code.

My custom Grav theme

Mon, 20 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I re-designed my blog template using a new CSS framework called Bluma, re-developed all JavaScript without jQuery and customized some plugins. This was quite a journey, so this post is going to be quite long too!

Installing IBM Cloud Private in VirtualBox

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If you’ve had fun with Docker containers, I now introduce you to Kubernetes and wish you the best of luck. I’m still learning myself! I decided to install IBM Cloud Private Community Edition following the Installation guide at IBM’s Knowledge Center.

Prototyping with a Node-RED container

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If the preceding posts on Node.js and MongoDB have been too complex for you, let me introduce you to a simpler drag-and-drop “flow-editor,” Node-RED.. It was developed and open-sourced by IBM, and is now hosted by the OpenJS Foundation (the same foundation that hosts projects like jQuery, and Dojo). I’ve used Node-RED for quick prototypes and demos, as it’s easy to explain each step of the flow. It saves a lot of coding effort and reduces errors buy providing built-in and pre-built third-party “nodes”.

Wiring up Node.js and MongoDB containers

Sat, 13 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Previously, I described my development environment setup using Docker containers. I do it in a totally different way from most tutorials, which I don’t believe leverage containers and complicate things by having to build images for development.

Here I explain how I wire up (i.e. network) a few containers - a MongoDB database, a Mongo Express User Interface to manage the database, and a Node.js container using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to authenticate users against the database.

Setting up Node.js in a Docker container

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In this post I share with you how I set up a simple Docker container for Node.js development. I’ve never found a simple tutorial for beginners that meets my needs!

My requirement is to do all development debugging in a container, so I am assured of consistent behaviour in any environment. I do not want to install Node.js or npm locally on my mac! I cannot be bothered to use a Makefile or Dockerfile to build images - this is only required in the final stage for production!

Optimizing Grav page speed

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I’m usually quite pedantic when it comes to minimizing code and optimizing web page performance. I was a bit surprised to find that this blog’s page speed was far from ideal! Google PageSpeed Insights returned a very low score for this blog. Back when I started this blow, I must’ve neglected optimization, as I was too busy learning Grav, modifying my template, etc.

Do NOT update Parallels Desktop Lite - it's no longer free

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If, like me, you use Parallels Desktop Lite, then I have bad news for you. It’s no longer free to run macOS or Linux, so DON’T update it if you still want to use it!

How to remove a background service in macOS

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Want to remove macOS services (a.k.a. daemons)?

Launch an application from a keyboard shortcut

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, I posted about my Karabiner-Elements Complex Modification Rule to map a key to Escape. Here, I make a small tweak to use it to launch an application too!

Windows Permission Problems Copying From NTFS HDD

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Today I tried to copy files and folders off a USB hard disk (NTFS formatted) on my Windows 7 desktop. I encountered multiple files with permission problems. The manual method to change permissions is very tedious, so I created a script (DOS batch file) to do the same.

Enabling Apache and PHP7 on macOS Mojave 10.14

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

As in my previous guides for enabling Apache and PHP on Sierra 10.12 and El Capitan 10.11 before that, this post will update the instructions for macOS Mojave 10.14.2 which comes with Apache 2.4.34 and PHP 7.1.19.

Mapping a Physical Escape Key on a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

So you miss the physical Escape key on your brand new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar? Here’s my fix to re-map a seldom used key to Escape.

Mojave's Screenshot.App and the previous "Dark Menu Bar and Dock" feature

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I know this is very late, but I wanted to post two things I noticed with macOS Mojave regarding the new Screenshot.App tool and Dark Mode.

Installing Mojave in Parallels, and UI glitches running Electron Apps

Sun, 18 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I got macOS Mojave 10.14 / 10.14.1 installed in Parallels very easily! But encountered some graphics issues with certain apps… and managed to find a workaround.

Compressing PDF Images with macOS

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did you know you can (sometimes) shrink the size PDF files by apply lossy compression to images? This is a built-in capability with macOS - no third party tools required. Read on…

Batch file to list deleted files

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Well, it turns out that after creating a PowerShell script to list deleted files (part 1) and another PowerShell script to monitor for deleted, renamed or moved files (part 2), I’ve decided to revert to a simple, batch file instead because running a batch file is so much easier than PowerShell!

PowerShell to monitor for deleted, renamed or moved files (part 2)

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This is part 2, of my attempt to “sync” photos I deleted on my desktop to my SD card (you can read part 1 first). In this post, I try to use PowerShell with .NET framework to (try) monitor for file system changes, and output to a batch file that “replicates” the ren (rename) and del (delete) to files and folders.

PowerShell to list deleted files (part 1)

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I have an unusual workflow when copying photos from my camera’s SD card to my Windows desktop. For any photos I my desktop, I want to also delete on the SD card. In this post (part 1 of 2), I describe my PowerShell script to “repeat” what I deleted on the desktop on the SD card. In my next post, part 2, I expand the PowerShell script to (try) monitor for file system changes instead.

Fujifilm X-E3 customization table

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I recently bought a Fujifilm X-E3 interchangeable lens camera to “replace” my Sony NEX-6 (links to DPReview). I’m very happy with the camera and impressed at the plethora of customization options. Here is a table I created to familiarize myself… obviously I like tables!

Chart.js - it's easy!

Sun, 20 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

In my post yesterday, I inserted a chart using Chart.js. I didn’t plan to, but after 5 minutes reading the documentation, I was convinced to try - and it turned out to be easy! Here’s how it’s done.

A bash script to search a CSV file

Sat, 19 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I sometimes need to search a huge CSV file (13 MB), containing 21,000 rows and roundabout 40 columns, which Numbers takes half a minute to open. All I need to do is search and display the results of a few columns only… so I wrote a bash script to do this for me - and I was quite specific in that I wanted the results in color!

Crunch PNG optimization

Sat, 19 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I recently tried Crunch, an open-source tool for PNG image file optimization, currently on version 2.0.2 at the time of writing.

Grav with PHP 5.6 ini_set() fix

Sun, 01 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

On my hosting provider, there is a slight tweak needed to get Grav to run on PHP 5.6. Here’s the solution:

iOS 11.3 and Accessibility customization on my iPhone 6

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I had put off updating my iPhone 6 to iOS 11, primarily due to the poor performance reported by Netizens. But, with the release of iOS 11.3 - reported to be focused on improving performance, and more transparent power management (throttling) - I decided to go ahead!

Using an exFAT drive for Time Machine backups

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I got a new 2 TB external disk - “yay” - and wanted to use it for both on my Windows desktop and for Time Machine backups. Immediately thought to format it as exFAT but quickly came to realize Time Machine does not support exFAT! Fortunately, there is a workaround…

Fixing PowerPoint Slide Show on External Monitor

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been experiencing this problem for a while - when presenting using Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2016 (version 15) on an external monitor (or LCD projector), PowerPoint used to both the presentation slide show and the Presenter View on my notebook display, instead of Presenter View on the notebook and the full-screen slide show on the external monitor. Recently, I found the solution!

Converting JSON into CSV

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I needed to analyze some JSON data. Now, I’m no data scientist, so I wanted to convert my JSON data to comma separated (CSV) and “flatten” the data… just so I could use the data in Excel.

And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Installing High Sierra in a Parallels VM

Fri, 20 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

When macOS High Sierra was released around 25^th September, I tried to install it in Parallels Desktop Lite. However, both a clean install in a Parallels Virtual Machine (VM), nor an in-place update did not work (the High Sierra VM would refuse to boot). I discovered the High Sierra installer converts the VM file system to Apple File System (APFS). However, Parallels does not support APFS, so here’s how to disable the conversion and get High Sierra running in a Parallels.

iOS 11 "likes" and "not likes"

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I admit, my title is misleading. This is a list of mostly “not likes” with iOS 11. Why few “likes”? Because there is enough written elsewhere singing the praises of iOS 11 and detailing “what’s new”. Maybe my dislikes will help you decide if (when) you want to upgrade…

Verse contacts missing and sync not working in iOS 11

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I upgraded my iPad to iOS 11.0.0 last night - and this morning realized that my IBM Verse contacts had disappeared from my iPhone! I didn’t update my iPhone, nor did I make any changes of significance lately. Most upsetting! Here’s a guide to restoring your contacts.

Convert SVG to PNG using your browser

Sat, 23 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Lots of web pages now rely on SVG instead of PNG or JPG images. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, an XML-based vector image format that scales well, unlike bitmap images (bitmaps become pixelated when up-sized). I recently wanted a quick way to convert a SVG to PNG, and discovered modern browsers (read: Chrome and Firefox) can do this with a simple bit of code.

Fixing PowerPoint TIFF images and fonts

Fri, 25 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 for Mac (aka version 15) has a strange quirk - when I copy and paste images from Preview or most other applications, the image gets copied in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). The image is practically uncompressed (or possibly minimally compressed), resulting in very, very huge PPTX files! Plus: Removing unwanted font references.

Text Manipulation Cheat Sheet

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I recently had the “opportunity” to perform some text manipulation to get data from a huge log file into a spreadsheet. I had done this sort of work a long time ago as a developer, but had forgotten over the years. So I decided to compile a text manipulation cheat-sheet for macOS.

Installing MySQL on macOS

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

There are many open source packages that require the “AMP” stack comprising Apache, MySQL and PHP (hence “WAMP” for Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP and “MAMP” for macOS-Apache-MySQL-PHP). Since macOS 10.12 Sierra already includes Apache 2.4 and PHP 5.6, here’s how to add MySQL 5.7.

macOS launchd Service Management

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Some time ago, I posted about starting Apache automatically when macOS 10.12 Sierra starts, using the launchctl command to add Apache to the launchd Launch Daemon/Agent Manager. For those familiar with Windows, this is akin to managing Windows Services.

Automated script to compile Wine 2.9 from scratch

Sun, 28 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Following up on my posts, Compiling Wine 1.9 from scratch on macOS with Retina mode and Creating a wine.app bundle manually, here’s my script to automatically download and compile pre-requisite libraries, then download and compile Wine 2.9 32-bit, build the .app bundle, and even include a registry tweak to enable Retina Mode.

Further ways to lockdown apps like Kodi and VLC

Fri, 26 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

You have have read that CheckPoint, a cyber security research company, has identified vulnerabilities that may allow an attacker to compromise your computer using malicious subtitle files downloaded by popular media players including Kodi and VLC. It’s not clear if this affects macOS too, but in light of this threat, here is a summary of how I further “lockdown” any apps I’m unsure of…

Verifying downloads with a SHA-256 checksum

Wed, 24 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I recently downloaded an update to VLC, an open-source media player. The VLC download page, displayed it’s SHA-256 checksum - here’s how to quickly validate your download by comparing the checksum using the built-in macOS tools.

Setting printer defaults in macOS CUPS

Tue, 23 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I have experienced a couple of issues printing with the Ricoh printer drivers for macOS - at one location, I simply couldn’t print, and at another, I couldn’t get it to print “two-sided” (despite the correct duplex settings). In both cases, I reverted to the standard macOS driver, i.e. “Generic PostScript Printer” or “Generic PCL Laser Printer”. This post details the steps to set printer defaults like duplex via CUPS.

Workaround for YouTube PiP using iOS Safari with a Workflow.is Action Extension

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

It’s pretty easy to get Picture in Picture (PiP) in Safari on macOS - just a right-click twice - and if that didn’t work, I described simple workaround by disabling JavaScript. Here I have a Workflow.is App based workaround to enable PiP in YouTube in Safari on iOS. This allows me to surf (or work) while having a video running in a tiny floating window on my iPad.

Setup a virtual macOS with Parallels Desktop Lite

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

If you are a developer or someone who likes to try lots of software, head over to the App Store and get Parallels Desktop Lite. It’s free for macOS and Linux guests! (Windows support is an IAP)

Workflow is a great start to learning to code

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

In August 2016, GE’s CEO said he wanted every new hire to learn to code. And I must say, I do agree! In today’s digital, data-driven, self-service world, everyone should learn to code. But, to clarify, I’m not necessarily referring to programming in C# or Swift (like I do), but rather “coding” for automation.

macOS FileVault and Sierra Update get stuck when running concurrently

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

So I got a new MacBook for work and I didn’t realize upon next reboot, the enterprise profile had mandated FileVault encrypt the start up disk, and Apple had recommended an upgrade to macOS Sierra at the same time! You can imagine triggering both simultaneously upon reboot didn’t go well at all!

Using Google Maps in Workflow

Mon, 10 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

By now you have realized that the latest version of the Workflow App no longer has deep integration to Google Maps. That’s not too big a deal, since you can make do with the Workflow Open URLs function. Here’s how…

New iCloud Settings in iOS 10.3 fixes iCloud for Numbers

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Apple has noted that a number of users may experience an issue with iCloud setting being enabled after upgrading to iOS 10.3. For me, I had quite the opposite experience, as iOS 10.3 finally enabled some iCloud applications that I had never gotten working for a long time!

Workflow Action to add cheap IDD call prefix

Sun, 09 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Does your service provider differentiate between standard or “premium” IDD and “budget” IDD like mine does? Typically, the standard + international call prefix will default to the premium option, but to use the the cheaper option, usually via voice-over-IP (VoIP), one has to specific a different carrier-defined prefix, e.g. 12300 (I just made this up, check with your telco). I can’t find a built-in way to do this on iOS… enter the Workflow App!

Numbers has a new STOCK trick

Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Remember the time I waxed lyrical about using Google Sheets to track my stock portfolio? Well, it’s going to be a “standard feature” of spreadsheets soon, with the introduction of the capability to retrieve stock data with today’s update of Numbers on iOS (3.1) and macOS (4.1).

Retrieving an Exchange Rate with Workflow

Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s how to retrieve and display the latest exchange rate for two currencies with the Workflow App (though one could just use Numbers on iOS or macOS too).

Scanning a Contact via QR Code using Workflow

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been playing with the Workflow.is App recently, and this one is pretty cool - using Workflow to scan and generate a QR Code with Contact information.

iOS Dictionary Lookup via Workflow App

Sun, 26 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I love that iOS includes the Oxford Dictionary. I dislike that iOS has not provided a simple way for me to lookup a word, unlike on macOS, which has Dictionary. Here’s the fix with the Workflow.is app!

Using Workflow App to Track Travel Expenses

Thu, 23 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Apple acquired Workflow today, and Workflow is now free in the App Store! Workflow (http://workflow.is)is a powerful yet simple rule-based automation tool. One pre-built workflow is to lookup your next calendar meeting, retrieve the location if there is one, and pop up directions in Maps - all this from a single button click.

If you are new to Workflow, here is a short tutorial to use Workflow to track travel expenses.

Creating a macOS Sandbox to run Kodi

Mon, 30 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Since 2012, all apps on the Mac App Store must run in an app sandbox, which restricts access to system resources unless explicitly required. The secure sandbox isolates the app and defines access controls, protecting users from malicious code with undesired behaviour.

Here’s how to setup a sandbox for an app downloaded from outside the Mac App Store.

Legacy HP computer info

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

It’s the last day of 2016… Time for a bit of nostalgia! Over the years, I posted bits and pieces on Blogger, myByways.net (Microsoft), Google Pages and others. For posterity, I’ve transferred selected information about a HP notebook and desktop I used to have, but I doubt any of this information is relevant any more.

Extract files from a macOS installer .pkg

Sun, 06 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Want to extract files from a macOS installer package with a .pkg extension?

Problem compiling Wine second time around

Sun, 30 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Wine 1.9.22 development (dated Oct 28, 2016) has been released! See the release notes for changes. Alas, I encountered errors trying to compile it “on top” of the Wine 1.9.21 installation, following the steps from my post Compiling Wine from scratch. I spent a whole day searching for the problem, and resolved it as below.

Creating a wine.app bundle manually

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

So a couple of days ago, I documented how I compiled Wine 1.9.21 with Retina Mode from scratch on macOS Sierra. After that I though I might as well figure out how to bundle all these files into a .app bundle, which Finder presents as if it were a single file.

Compiling Wine 1.9 from scratch on macOS with Retina mode

Fri, 21 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I have been using WineBottler to run my favorite Windows applications in macOS. Here, I describe how I compiled Wine from scratch and configure for my MacBook Pro’s Retina Display.

My list of great free apps for macOS

Sat, 15 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Here is my list of free, macOS apps that I have installed and use often. Many are also open source! When I first got my Mac I searched the internet for lists of useful apps but found most outdated. I decided to compile this list as part of a cleanup and “audit” of what’s useful IMHO.

Exclude folders to speed up Time Machine backup

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

My Time Machine backups have started to take longer and longer to process and complete. I realized that excluding folders containing temporary, frequently changing and large files would quite dramatically speed it up.

Re-enable Apache and PHP after macOS Sierra update

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Recently I realized that the latest macOS Sierra 10.12 upgrade also updated Apache and PHP to newer revisions (2.4.23 and 5.6.24 respectively), but reverted to the default configurations. My previous post on Enabling Apache and PHP on OS X 10.11 needed a slight change too.

Trying out KeeWeb and MiniKeePass password manager

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been a long time iOS 1Password user, but recently started looking at alternatives. I discovered KeePass, KeeWeb and MiniKeePass, all open source.

Streaming from desktop with NVIDIA GameStream to iOS and macOS

Fri, 07 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I recently discovered an alternative to remote control my Windows 7/10 desktop PC, instead of using Microsoft Remote Desktop. This method requires a computer with a modern NVIDIA graphics card with GameStream and works with iOS and macOS using a client called Moonlight!

Disable JavaScript to enable Picture-in-Picture on macOS Safari

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Safari 10 on macOS Sierra has a useful Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature to playback HTML5 videos in a small “always-on-top” window, just like on iPads with iOS 9+. To activate, just right-click a playing video and select Enter Picture-in-Picture. However, not all web videos seem to allow this, as they pop up their own menus without the PiP option. Here are two ways to try to enable PiP.

macOS Sierra - a half-hearted update

Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve updated my MacBook to macOS Sierra, and it’s rather underwhelming and half-hearted IMHO. And yes, dear eagle-eyed reader, Apple capitalizes the Mac in MacBook but not the Mac in macOS - what a confusing naming (lack-of-)convention. Still, macOS is a better name than OS X (can you say OS 10 10.X instead?)

Horrible Spotlight "Suggestions in Look up" feature in iOS 10

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve stumbled on another “feature” that iOS 10 has mangled - Spotlight Suggestions in Look up. What does this double speak even mean? Worse, I can’t even get rid of “Look Up” and revert my beloved “Define”.

Triple-Click Accessibility Shortcuts with Magnifier in iOS 10

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The Magnifier seems like it’d be useful. Here’s how to setup the Home button Triple-click with multiple Accessibility Shortcuts and to avoid physically triple-clicking the Home button with the AssistiveTouch floating Home button.

iOS 10 on iPhone 6 - the cons

Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I have updated to iOS 10, and so far, I’m really not impressed, since it brings so few features that I care about that work on my iPhone 6 and in my region.

Enable Mac Full Keyboard Access, but beware!

Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

On my Mac, by default, the keyboard cannot be used to navigate and trigger dialog box buttons. To “fix” this shortcoming - enable Full Keyboard Access to use the tab key to navigate controls! But beware of downsides too…

Ricoh Aficio MP driver does not work on OS X

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I was recently at an office using a Ricoh Aficio multi-function printer. I downloaded the PPD Installer version 2.2.0.0 (dated 17/09/2014) for OS X 10.11 from the Ricoh Aficio MP 2510/3010/2590/3090 driver page. But no matter what I tried, the printer either could not be found or would print blank or garbled pages…

Grav updated to 1.1.1

Sun, 17 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I just updated Grav to 1.1.1!

Stock portfolio tracking with Google Sheets

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I wanted a simple stock portfolio monitoring tool. I failed to find a simple and free app, but happily discovered that Google Sheets does what I need perfectly!

New limitations imposed on free Apple Developer account

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

About a month ago, I discovered Apple had imposed new limitations on the free Apple Developer account. This limits the period that an app can run on your phone to 7 days (due to Provisioning Profiles) and the number of changes you can make to the project (not the source code, but Capabilities like App Groups).

Finding application files in OS X

Wed, 15 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Apps, even after being removed from the Launchpad or Applications sidebar in Finder, do leave preferences and other files scattered around. Where are they, typically, and how does one find them?

OS X Terminal color prompt

Thu, 28 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

My previous Terminal Tweaks post had an incorrect prompt (PS1) setting, that caused lines to wrap on themselves! This is now corrected, with more details on the color options…

Where is Xcode's FileMerge?

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I discovered that Xcode includes a diff tool called FileMerge. Where is it and how do you launch it?

Macs are so Expensive (Relatively Speaking)

Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I just bought a MacBook Pro! Prior to this, I’ve only been exposed to Windows and a smattering of UNIX/Linux… until now. What really struck me was the price! Total sticker shock, and that was before Apple raised prices on 14 Oct 2015!

AssistiveTouch Customisation on iOS 9

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I, like many other iPhone users, turn on AssistiveTouch so that I don’t have to press the Home button. Historically, this button has been quick to fail, so using the on-screen icon will save some wear-and-tear. And with iOS 9, AssistiveTouch has become customizable! Shocking (for Apple, not much is customizable)!

Clean Install Windows 10 with Product Key and Tokens.dat

Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

To clean install Windows 10, you need more than the product key from an upgraded instance of Windows 7/8. You’ll need a file called tokens.dat created during the upgrade process.

Free tools for OS X developers

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A short list of free tools I find useful for blogging and web development! Includes Microsoft Visual Studio Code, ImageOptim, ForkLift 2 and Commander One.

Screen capture script for retina display with PNG optimization

Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Forget the complex or manual steps, or costly tools to get screen shots scaled down from a retina display. I have a shell script that triggers an interactive window screen capture, saves the screen shot (assumed to be 2x retina display), re-sizes it to 1x and compresses the PNG further! Best of all, it does not require paid software or Automator.

Installing Grav on OS X and cPanel Hosting

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I opted to install Grav via the ZIP package, as documented here. My hosting provider does not give me shell access, so I would not be using git or the Grav Package Manager (GPM), but limiting myself to FTP or the cPanel File Manager.

OS X Terminal Tweaks

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Some tweaks to my OS X shell (Terminal.app) that I’ve found useful.

Enabling Apache and PHP on OS X 10.11

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Apache and PHP 5.5.27 are installed already in OS X 10.11 El Capitan, so just a little enabling is required.

Updated 12 Oct 2016: See the slightly updated guide for macOS 10.12 Sierra, which has been updated to Apache 2.4.23 and PHP 5.6.24.

Why I chose Grav CMS

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

In starting this blog, I installed and tested various Blogging and Content Management Systems (CMS), finally settling on Grav. Here’s why I like Grav.