Back in 2007, when Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone on stage, there were mixed responses to Apple’s new product. “Smartphones” weren’t around to capture the every historic moments, —and frankly, the PR nightmares tech companies faced— but with recently released Nokia Design Archive’s internal iPhone launch presentation, it seems the Finnish company decided to…
The Mad Tea Party
Inspiring yet Mad Spiels
By Rian
Gray, a writer.
Analytics Tool, Google, and Geo-Lock
This post is a rant than a spiel, but thought to share some ideas on it. It you have seen some random cookie notices this morning, my apologies, if you were one of them. Long story short, I have been using Google Analytics on the website for the longest time, —probably since I started self-hosting…
App to Test Your Audio Quality Hearing
There was a time about a decade ago when wireless audio was simply not acceptable. I recall The Verge called wireless headphones to be the next quartz watch; the new technology that will soon replace the existing ones, and the consumer wired audio will live on as niche, maybe for hobbyists to admire the craftsmanship.…
Benchmarks, dGPU, and Apple Silicon
When I bought my Mac Pro in 2019, I was running under the two assumptions: a. Apple may not be able to deliver competent SoC until later iterations, b. Apple will surely support Pro models for non-ARM works. I was sorely mistaken on both parts. Apple did deliver its M1 with huge success, and now…
How to Run Local LLM for Thesaurus and Writing
I don’t particularly appreciate AI in the field of writing. My experience with AI so far as a reader was that it’s either so good you could have hired a squadron of ghost writers with the same budget to run the AI, or it’s so bad you are spamming Google with the AI-generated contents. Ultimately,…
Sonos, Apps, and IoT
Sonos CEO has stepped down. I won’t go into details about his departure from the company, nor the company’s future plans for its apps, product warranties, and/or future releases. I do recall I wrote a dreary review on dead Sonos Roam, but that’s really besides the point. What I had experienced was most likely a…
How to Generate Type-Friendly Password
For the life of me, I do not see why this is a thing for Korean websites and apps, but Korean apps often require “virtual keyboard” on a smartphone. Yes, you heard me correctly. On a smartphone’s virtual touchscreen keyboard, they insist to put in a new randomized keyboard for security sake, while banning the…
How to fix Time Machine “Disk Not Ejected Properly”: “Backups of [mac]” pt. 2
I’ve written in the past about Time Machine errors with the same error messages, and this is yet another one of the troubleshoots. I didn’t realize hibernation managed by Synology DSM could have an effect on the client side’s Time Machine. Symptoms Symptoms are nearly identical as before. I was seeing the pop up message…
App to Replace Subscription-Based Photoshop License
Adobe Photoshop is not for all consumers. This might come as a surprise for some, but there are other less known alternatives that provide more economical (i.e. less tools and options) options for average home users. I, for one, don’t do any illustrative works nor photography works; all my astrophotography hobbies often rely on open…
App to Save Variable in iOS Shortcuts
My old iOS shortcuts usually walked the path of tedious madness for the pure purpose of compatibility. I needed a shortcut that would work equally well on all platforms, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and even on HomePod, and that meant several things: one. I can’t have shortcuts relying on apps that do not exist universally, two.…
USB-C, USB-PD, and Travel Chargers
When Apple introduced all USB-C MacBooks with its infamous Touch Bar keyboard, it was not well received to put it lightly. USB-C chargers, in its infancy, were still one big brick with one port — one 100w brick to charge one device. It is only when USB-C and USB-PD became more prevalent, GaN chargers became…
How to Troubleshoot HomePod not Answering to Some Shortcuts
iOS Shortcuts is one of the main reason why I recommend iOS as a platform. Not only you can pull different apps together to automate ‘smart’ behaviors, it brings GUI accessibility for BASIC-like programming experience to iOS devices. I often find apps without a proper implementation are usually the one with makeshift ideas and scripts,…
Callisto Protocol Spiel
There is some irony in that a remake of original Dead Space and the alleged spiritual successor Callisto Protocol came out in the same year. Unfortunately, neither games have performed well to carry on the torch that is the horror sci-fi. The latest news I could find on either of the IPs were that neither…
New Category, App-to, and SEO
Some of you may have noticed there is a new category called “App-to”. I wanted to use the phrase “there is an app for that”, but that’s trademarked. Instead, I decided to roll with ‘app to [do something]’. I’ve been recommending some apps not for the sake of reviews, but the apps that can do…
App to Add Custom Fonts on iOS
Both macOS and iOS have similar font book system, where the fonts a user installs are all stored and managed from one place. The big asterisk for iOS version of font book is that it lacks the feature to import custom fonts from external sources. The only way to do so on mobile devices is…