From How-to

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,…

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 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,…

How to Move Save Data from PlayStation Plus Cloud Storage

The title of this post is rather wordy than it should be. If you are planning to subscribe to PlayStation Plus in another account for myriad of reasons, this is the process you want it done BEFORE the subscription runs out. The emphasis is well-deserved, as you would lose access to your cloud storage immediately…

How to Fix AirPods Playing One Channel Only on Windows

This problem has plagued me for the past few months. As some of you are aware, I have an Intel Mac, not the latest Apple Silicon hardwares with GPTK or else. This meant that whenever I booted up to Bootcamp Windows, I was facing several challenges. One of them was Bluetooth accessories; I needed to…

How to Copy File Path in macOS Finder

This week is bit hectic with everything going on in South Korea. So this one is one of the reserved pieces I was thinking to publish should I need more time to work on a post. This is a commonly known trick for seasoned Mac users, and a feature I believe should be available on…

How to Change Windows Hibernation Behavior

Did you know Windows 11 is shipped with power button replaced with hibernation? If you are starting a computer from cold boot, the computer isn’t starting a boot up process from scratch; in fact, it’s reloading the cache from what was on the previous session. I won’t go into the details as to what the…

How to Fix Firefox “Unable to Access” DSM Web on macOS

If you are having trouble connecting to Synology DSM via web with recent influx of Firefox and macOS updates, this is likely the cause. The odd bit of it all is that in my case, it didn’t happen after an update. I didn’t get any updates on either one, it just happened out of the…

How to Fix Harmony Activity Input on LG TV

Logitech Harmony is no longer maintained. Perhaps “maintained” is not the right word; Logitech stopped manufacturing of the product, but the server —for accounts and DBs— is maintained. As far as I am aware, this also indicates the DB for the device lists and commands aren’t kept up as rigorously. Many users are already stockpiling…

How to Block HDMI-CEC

This week is a home theater special. If you have just upgraded your home theater during Black Friday, chances are you are probably facing the same problem as I do. The infamous HDMI-CEC; it doesn’t work. The last time I had the pleasure of working with HDMI-CEC, which happens to be today, it was waking…

How to Add TV Button for Apple TV on Logitech Harmony

Logitech Harmony remains to be few semi-functional universal smart remote —that is mouthful— currently available, even though the Swiss-based company has decided to pull Harmony from production years ago. I’ve seen some new candidates since, but not all remotes offer the big database Harmony has, let alone offering both RF and IR functionality. But today’s…

How to Convert SAMI (*.smi) to ASSA (*.ass) Subtitles

This is yet another “Korean” problem I encountered, because I am yet to find non-Korean SAMI subtitles. SAMI is a closed caption format developed by Microsoft back in 1998. As far as I am aware, Microsoft hasn’t updated the format since, and frankly I don’t think the format has seen much usage outside of South…

How to Randomly Generate a Pattern Lock pt. 2

The last how-to I published had some backstories. It’s always easier to input a pattern lock when it only has 8-direction: up, down, left, right and 4 diagonals. But security-wise, having more options is always more preferable. This is one of the weakness of the pattern lock; you might as well use a simple PIN…

How to Randomly Generate a Pattern Lock

PSA before we begin: if you are using pattern lock on your device as primary method of authentication, find alternatives. Pattern lock is unsafe. There is a reason why password managers don’t try supporting it. Compared to that of PIN, the safety provided by pattern lock is mediocre at best even with the best of…