The primary reason I got my Intel NUC 11 Performance Kit was for its upgradability, specifically for RAM and storage. So, if you offer me an Intel NUC laptop with a soldered RAM, I’d say pass.
Category: Technology
My OnePlus 8 Pro has the Dreaded Green Screen Issue
In late 2020, I chose the OnePlus 8 Pro over the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 primarily because of avoiding Samsung’s Exynos chip. The price also played a role, and I was happy with that decision, until just this Monday, April 18, 2022, when I found my device’s display was giving out this green hue throughout the whole screen, even while in the lock screen. Didn’t drop the phone nor submerged it in water recently. My OnePlus 8 Pro is currently running Oxygen OS 12 (Android 12).
I searched around, and apparently several OnePlus phones may have been suffering from this issue for some time already. Many label the issue as green screen or green tint, although my case was unlike some’s who only encounter the problem when they are on some specific apps. Mine’s green tint is everywhere.
I reached out to Digital Walker, the supplier of this specific device and the official distributor of OnePlus in the Philippines, and reported this issue. I got a not so good news response »
How to: Use Excel Power Query to Retrieve Data from Airtable
When you have your data neatly set up on Airtable, especially when they are particularly financial data and numbers, you would want to connect to them on Excel (or Power BI), and do the analysis (or charts) from the latter.
Excel’s Power Query can ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) data from your Airtable database, and here’s how to even work around the 100 Rows Limit or Pagination.
What you need are:
- Base ID
- Table ID
- API Key
So I created a throwaway Airtable account for the API key, a throwaway workspace from that account, and and loaded the Simple Project Tracker base template, just for this demonstration.
You can get your API key from your account page (https://airtable.com/account):
You can get your Base ID and Table ID by going to the base and table you want to connect to and copy them from the URL: Continue reading How to: Use Excel Power Query to Retrieve Data from Airtable
How to protect your passwords against brute force attack
Short answer: you can’t. But you can slow the attacker down by using strong passwords. How strong? Refer to the table below:
And don’t re-use your passwords. I suggest the free Bitwarden for managing them.
How I made PlexTraktSync Work for my Setup? (Docker + Portainer)
As I’ve mentioned before, it’s really a headache trying to sync Plex media to Trakt without paying extra for both Trakt VIP and Plex Pass.
Fortunately, I was able to make PlexTraktSync work with my current setup:
- I have Plex Media Server installed on a Docker in Openmediavault.
- Although I paid for Lifetime Plex Pass, I didn’t pay for Trakt VIP.
- Installed PlexTraktSync using the Docker Compose method.
Opening the terminal, I created directories in /docker/plextraktsync like so: Continue reading How I made PlexTraktSync Work for my Setup? (Docker + Portainer)
In the world of Google TV’s, why do you still need the Chromecast function?
In 2020, Google introduced the fourth generation of its Chromecast, dubbed as Chromecast with Google TV (CCwGTV), which was the first time it came with Google TV (a modified Android TV user interface) and a remote. So, in the world of Google TV’s (and Android TV’s in general), is there still a need for the Google Cast function?
Here are the reasons why we still need the Google Cast around:
Queue up YouTube Videos
The one thing I love about the Chromecast is the ability to queue up videos you want to watch from your YouTube mobile app. Oftentimes, when I want to YouTube and chill, I open a video on my YouTube mobile app, cast that thing to my TV with a Chromecast, browse more of the homepage of the YouTube app, then add as many more videos as I like to watch next to the queue.
Although you can queue up videos as well in the web version of YouTube, the same is not true on Android TV’s. I just find it so inefficient to have to quit the video you’re currently watching, browse though the homepage, and select the single video you want to watch next. Continue reading In the world of Google TV’s, why do you still need the Chromecast function?
Beelink S1 and Mi Notebook Pro Windows 10 Drivers
The Beelink S1 and Mi Notebook Pro (15″ 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U with 8GB RAM) are two of the computers I own. Finding Windows drivers for these devices are hard to find, especially after reinstalling the OS. That’s why I’m sharing the drivers I got saved here, hope you’ll find them helpful:
The Beelink S1 drivers are also applicable to Beelink models AP34, AP34 Pro, M1, and AP42.
Say goodbye to Smart Unlidata 499 for Rocket Sim
Starting today, February 4, 2022, you can no longer enjoy the Smart unlimited data for just P499 per month with your Smart Rocket Sim.
Apparently, it was a promo for like 4 or 5 months only. Now back to regular programming. So what replaced the promo package?»
Notion Windows App is a Memory (RAM) Hog
Evernote has brought me so much disappointments that I wanted to ditch it as my primary note-taking app in favor of Notion.
Recently, I got a new computer (an i7 Intel NUC 11), and I opted to have 32GB of RAM installed. Now, coming from an 8GB-RAM laptop, I didn’t expect this new Windows machine to hit its memory limit anytime soon with my normal usage. Until I installed the Notion desktop app.
A few moments after installing Notion, Continue »
When I’ll be ready for another round of Distro hopping
I’ve been a Distro-hopper, like 14 years ago, especially when I was new to Linux. I’ve tried and tested a good number of distributions: if you found them on the front of Distrowatch back then, there’s a good chance I have tried them out. Since then, my computers may have become a lot more powerful, but if I really needed to install one, I limited my selection to more reliable systems, like Ubuntu and its derivatives, like Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Mint.
But now, I’m inclined to do another round of Distro-hopping once again, and here are the distributions on the top of my list:
- Manjaro
- Pop!
- Zorin
- Elementary
Any other distros I’ve missed?