Category: Technology

The Perfect YouTube Video Length: 10 Minutes

In the vast landscape of online content, YouTube stands as an undeniable giant. With over 2 billion logged-in monthly users, the platform offers an extensive array of videos covering everything from educational content to entertainment, vlogs to music. As creators strive to capture their audience’s attention and maximize watch time, the question of video length becomes pivotal. Is there an ideal duration that strikes the balance between engagement and viewer retention?

I would argue that Youtube videos should only be 8 to 12 minutes long,  and that the 10-minute mark might just be the sweet spot. Beyond that, I’d rather just click Next.

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OneDrive is an intrusive piece of app

Leo Notemboom explains how the OneDrive can be so invasive on your computer’s document files if you’re not too careful.

I might have enabled OneDrive backup by accident in the past. I just hope I didn’t lose files by accident as well because of Microsoft’s and OneDrive’s stupidity ineptitude.

Airtable Script to Convert Numbers into Words (Automation)

When you’re filling out bank forms, the bank documents usually require their customers spell out the amount they put in into words. This is one way for banks to make sure customers really meant the number they put in their forms, and not made a typo. This poses a problem when you’re using Airtable’s Page Designer to auto-populate the bank forms from your Airtable records. Yes, you can type it out in a separate text field, but there must be a way to automate this, right?

Let’s say, you have a field called “Amount Sold” in your base. Go to Automations, and in one of your actions, select Run Script. Add an Input Variable and name it amount_sold , then for the Value select the “Amount Sold” field from your base.

Input Variable in Airtable

Input Variable in Airtable

Now paste the following in the Code area: Continue reading

Docker app for generating PDF from Airtable Records

There are several ways to generate a PDF from Airtable records using Docker. One approach is to use a library or framework that can generate PDFs, such as wkhtmltopdf or PrinceXML, and run it within a Docker container.

Here is an example of how you might use wkhtmltopdf to generate a PDF from Airtable records:

  1. Create a new Docker image based on the official wkhtmltopdf image.
  2. In your Dockerfile, install any additional dependencies you need to access the Airtable API and retrieve records.
  3. Write a script that retrieves the records you want to include in the PDF from Airtable, and converts them to an HTML template.
  4. Use wkhtmltopdf to convert the HTML template to a PDF.
  5. Start the Docker container and run the script to generate the PDF.

You can store the pdf in the container and store it or a way to extract it outside of it, with the help of some specific command.

Another approach is to use a pre-built service such as Airtable2pdf that can be integrated with your Airtable bases and generate pdf’s of it.

Note that the above is a basic example and the actual implementation would depend on your specific requirements and use-case.

The above quote was taken directly from the answer of ChatGPT about my query which is the title of this article. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to build a docker image from source, so I didn’t really get the help I needed. Good luck to me and you who are looking for solutions like this.

Laptop trends as per CES 2023

From CNET on Youtube:

From a giant two-in-one tablet to a pen-enabled e-reader to two dual-screen laptops, Lenovo brought its innovative A game to the giant tech show in Las Vegas.

Do consumers really need dual-screen laptops like this? Is this really where the trend is moving towards for laptops?

For me, just give me a laptop with upgradable RAM and expandable storage, that’s all I need. Unfortonately those are rare features, and if ever, are only available for ultra high end, expensive devices.

How Citibank let down clients with Entrego

A few months ago, my Citibank credit card was up for renewal. Citibank sent off my replacement card without delay via Entrego.

First Replacement Card

On the morning of the supposed delivery day, I got a text message from Entrego that my parcel was on its way. The day came and went, I got another text in the evening saying the messenger failed to deliver and they’ll attempt re-delivery the next day or so. The next day, same thing happened. After three failed delivery attempts, the parcel went back to sender.

I had to contact Citibank, and they blocked that card and dispatched a replacement to my replacement card. Continue reading

When NTC becomes the text spammer

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over all telecommunications services and television and radio networks throughout the Philippines.

The NTC is supposed to regulate the telecommunication companies including the use of SMS in the Philippines. Recently it ordered telcos to block clickable links in text messages.

But looking at my Messages app, it appears they are the ones spamming recently instead:

I know, a lot of Filipinos need reminding about these scams repeatedly. But NTC shouldn’t stop at just sending these reminders, and thus spamming us in the process. They need to do their job and stop these spammers from the beginning.

How to do Lookup in Excel and Power Query

Lookup in regular Excel function

The XLOOKUP function has been available to Office 365 and Excel 2021. For compatibility purposes with my workbook’s potential users, I shy away from using this function. Instead, I use the combination of INDEX and MATCH.

Why not VLOOKUP?

I’m not sure if there are any hardware efficiency benefit from using INDEX and MATCH over VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP. But I use INDEX and MATCH primarily for two reasons:

  1. Ability to return the value of the column to the left of your lookup array (left-most column of the table array)
  2. Never worry about adding a column between the returned column and the lookup array. Remember, you indicate the column index number being the returned column from your table array? What if you’ve not touched your file for a long time, return to it and inserting a column in a table, forgetting that you’ve used that table as a table array as a lookup somewhere in your worksheet? You’ll certainly break your VLOOKUP formula.

How to use these formulas

Sorry, but you have to look somewhere else for the usage of these formulas.

Lookup in Power Query

Power Query Lookup Sample File

To better demonstrate the functions, it’s better if we refer to a sample file:
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BDO Online Mobile ‘ADD DEVICE’ Message Sending Failed

Did I already tell you how awful and trash-worthy BDO Online Banking is? Yet, no matter how bad it is, it has been your bank of choice, because you thought they find ways.

Installing the Mobile App

You installed the mobile app, and done with your mobile app only password. When you login, it asks for your OTP. But instead of receiving the OTP directly, you received a message from (02) 25678 that you need to reply with ‘ADD DEVICE’ instead. Only then will they text you your OTP.

But replying with ‘ADD DEVICE’ the message failed sending no matter how many times you tried.

The Solution

Instead of solving the problem directly, BDO Unibank offered a solution in a Facebook comment, which involves:
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SmartSuite came to challenge Airtable

Airtable has been my favorite No Code/Low Code tool for some time now. In a few years I’ve been using it so far, I haven’t really found a good alternative. Even then, Airtable cannot rest on its laurels. Especially now, a new kid in town, SmartSuite, came to challenge its position. Airtable has already been introducing substantial improvements recently, but it needs to up its game even further to hold on to its lead.

One of my favorite Youtuber, Gareth Pronovost, details down the 3 gamechanging features about SmartSuite that Airtable has to catch up on: