From How-to

How to Troubleshoot WordPress Scheduled Post Not Publishing

No doubt different writers have different post publishing schedules, but we all do have a schedule —or at least try— to follow. What used to be simple ‘schedule to publish’ on WordPress is quite no more, however, with many hosting services now require WordPress hosted websites to take advantage of caching. Personally I find it…

How to Connect to Network Drive on Boot

This one belongs in the “there is an app for that” department. If you are an avid NAS user, chances are most of your drives are already connected via network. And that means, on every boot up, you will need to manually login to the NAS on Finder to mount the drives. One might call…

How to Disable Windows Web Search on Start Menu

For unknown reason, Microsoft can’t stop shipping its OS without more bloatware. Both Mac and Linux can be guilty of the same crime, but I am more surprised that Windows doesn’t have a dedicated ‘lite’ version available for .iso on the website. To reiterate, Windows is shipped with Bing search embedded on the start menu.…

How to Upgrade RAM on Synology NAS DS1520+

Synology NAS is weirdly customizable for a NAS. This one is a compliment. Not only Synology offers various NAS models, each models have usually have few upgradeable points, namely m.2 SSDs and RAM. This piece is about choosing the RAM, why someone would consider upgrading the RAM, and what would be the potential downsides of…

How to Astro Bot: Splashing Sprint

While Astro Bot is truly a GOTY contender for 2024, there are several quirks the game didn’t iron out. I think “Splashing Sprint” level is the epitome of such issues. Here is how I managed to get past the level, perhaps the hardest level I have seen so far in the game. Walkthrough The time…

How to Band-Aid Fix Unity Graphical Artifacts on Intel Macs

This piece is not a technical explanation on what is happening. I wanted to document what I found and hear from other people as well on the potential fix, and possibly Unity and game developers’ input to actually fix the problem. Apple Silicon does make an enticing platform, hence, more the reason why this will…

How to Upgrade iRobot Robot Firmwares

I still do not understand what was the reasoning behind the exclusion of simple ‘update’ button, but not only iRobot has decided not to include the button, the company uses bizarrely phrased error message for a software update, like “Software update is currently unavailable”. This message is somehow equivalent to “your device is up to…

A Guide for Upgrade to DSM 7.2 Full Volume Encryption

Synology introduced full volume encryptions (FVE) as of DSM 7.2. There were some testings in the community surrounding the performance, and the actual effectiveness of the security itself. The real fun part, and frankly the part that matters for many users, of the Synology’s new implementation is its innate capability to support 255 bytes in…

How to Fix HomePod Setup Failed (401)

1st gen. HomePod is officially classified a “vintage” by Apple. I, for one, who benignly thought HomePod’s role in HomeKit is also depreciated, had to re-add the HomePod back to the home app. Symptoms When adding a HomePod to existing home in HomeKit, the app would produce “Setup Failed (401)” message after the login and…

Popular App Bartender Buy-out Raises Security Concerns

Probably the most unwanted surprise for many macOS users. The popular macOS app, Bartender, is indeed sold to an unknown third-party. Speculations seem to lead that the new owner is an iOS app publisher, but that is the least of our —or mine— concern. Not only Bartender already needed critical permissions to run, if you…

How to Set Time Machine Quota on NAS

I don’t recall Time Machine having a quota feature when it was originally announced back in OS X Leopard. Most users would use any hard drive lying around, and if needed, can set up a pseudo-quota by creating a volume in Disk Utility. Preface This method requires to setup a new destination. When I was…

How to Fix Erroneous Apple Music Geoblock Message

Being a music streaming platform, Apple Music isn’t free from geoblock. Or better yet, Apple Music and others are generally not from licensing disagreement often found in music industry. I personally find it odd that interested parties behind a streaming agreement would rather pull the song down, rather than keeping the fees on the balance…

How to Troubleshoot iRobot Roomba j7+ not Self-Emptying

iRobot Roomba lines —robot vacuums— are popular for its unusually powerful vacuums, but frankly lost its shine in recent years in convenience and smart departments. It’s late in the games with self-emptying, vacuum & mop combo, and self-cleaning or self-exchanging mop pads. But regardless, Roomba has its place as one of the finest robot vacuum…

Finding K-Pop Nyan Song

I was listening to Korean radio today. As a classical music fan, radio isn’t exactly my go-to for musics, but the radio was on nonetheless. Then it hit me like a freight truck. Or, like a tabby cat suddenly jumping on my laps so I chocked a little with some coffee in my mouth. It…

How to Band-Aid Fix SteamAPI Initialization Issue on macOS

I do want to make it clear that this isn’t the usual ‘how to fix’ tips post. Instead, I’m hoping to log what I’ve learned for indexing purposes. I do have a band-aid solution for the time being, but I wouldn’t call this an ideal fix. Perhaps someone will pick up where I left off,…