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Edit: I updated the widget with other (more useful to me) informations, jump at the bottom: Updated v2 v1 If there’s one thing that I don’t like to use, are the stats apps in the menubar. Apps like iStat Menus, eul, MenuBar Stats, Usage Monitor, etc… to me all looks like a waste of system resources to monitor the system resource. Because they can monitor too much stuff that I don’t need to check, or the windows are vey big and I can’t put them as my desktop background. Anyway sometimes is useful to know quickly what’s going on your system, for example if an app crashed, or Lightroom is eating tons of RAM, the disk usage, etc… usually I was used to open Activity Monitor but it takes... Read More

As you may know, this blog is running on my VPS on DigitalOcean using Jekyll to generate the site, and in order to make a new post, it’s not that easy because I have to write a Markdown file, upload to the posts folder via FTP and update Jekyll via SSH. Well, this is not complicated but do the limitations from iOS is a bit tricky. But I absolutely love to write when I’m making a walk in the nature, so I had to figure out how to post from my iPhone. And there are all the (few) steps: First I create a new Markdown file using One Markdown app (App Store link): And I save it to One Markdown iCloud folder to have the file synced with my other devices. Then I go to Files app, I copy the ju... Read More

yubiuser has released a new updated for PADD, to 3.10.0, and this update I think is quite important because it fixes the “flickering refresh” that was introduced with the v3.9.0. So I updated also my modified version with more info that fits 800x480px screens. You can download it the file from GitHub: padd.sh v3.10.0 for 800x480px display Be careful because now PADD auto-center itself in bigger screen/terminal, so you need to change the launch command in your .bashrc file to disable the x/yoffset, just change the : ./padd.sh to ./padd.sh -xoff 0 -yoff 0 The full code to launch PADD now is: # Run PADD # If we’re on the PiTFT screen (SSH is xterm) if [ "$TERM" == "linux" ] ; then whi... Read More

Requirements Installation Grafana image render Automating the report Tips Bonus: build PDF reports Conclusion This project consists in a way to receive the stats of my Grafana dashboards (home network, Netatmo Weather Station/Thermostat, home consumption/Homebridge, Pi-Hole, servers, etc…) from my Grafana server delivered automatically to my inbox every time I want (usually daily and weekly). I’ve made this project alongside the project to receive the push notifications with the critical info from my Grafana dashboards/environment: Some custom push notifications that improved my life - Etcetera In this way I can make a little more u... Read More

yubiuser has released a new updated for PADD, to 3.9.0, so I updated also my modified version with more info that fits 800x480px display. You can download it here: padd.sh v3.9.0 for 800x480px display. Be careful because this release has lots of modifications, because now PADD auto-center itself in bigger screen/terminal, so you need to change the launch command in your .bashrc file to disable the x/yoffset, just change the : ./padd.sh to ./padd.sh -xoff 0 -yoff 0 The full code to launch PADD now is: # Run PADD # If we’re on the PiTFT screen (SSH is xterm) if [ "$TERM" == "linux" ] ; then while : do ./padd.sh -xoff 0 -yoff 0 sleep 1 done fi Read More

Introduction The final results Building the notification system Pushover with HomeKit Conclusion My dashboards In this post I want to describe how Pushover and Grafana are helping me to get some important push notifications of my life, health, home and nerdy stuff. Disclaimer: I hate to be full of useless push notifications! For that I have really few push notifications active on my phone, as always I’m a minimalistic guy and I like to focus on few things that are important. If I receive a push, it must be useful, so I blocked all the useless (maybe also dangerous) push notifications, consequentially this is not a post tha... Read More

Maybe you know Netatmo, if not, they sell: Smart Alarm System with Camera Smart Video Doorbell Smart Indoor Siren Smart Smoke Alarm Smart Carbon Monoxide Alarm Smart Door Lock and Keys Smart Thermostat Smart Radiator Valves Smart Weather Station Well, pretty useful things, like heat your home in winter, view who is in front of your door, give the access to someone to your home, etc… Okay, then you now will wonder how to do all of those stuffs if the service on who you rely on is down! Because yesterday for about 7-8 hours all the Netatmo smart services were down. And I mean the API of all those stuff. And not for 1-2 hours, but for all the afternoon and evening (C... Read More

The nanoPi R4S is a great router with a very efficient metal enclosure to keep it cooled, but it has one defect: it’s flat on the base. I mean that it doesn’t have anything that can rise it few centimeters from the table, in order to allow a small flow of air under it, and also to avoid scratching or damage (with the heat) your table/forniture. To solve this, in the beginning I was using some stupid plastic, or metal, “feet” under it, but honestly they’re terrible, and the gain in height is small (with the plastic feet, with the spikes is better but uglier): Anyway few days ago I bought a new 3D printed RaspberryPI stand, this allowed me to remove a phone support under one Raspbe... Read More

Introduction In the last days I listened an interesting podcast episode of Click Here, the episode was about the Iran protests, and one of the first phrases was Almost everyone (in Iran) learn how to use a VPN or Proxy […] even my grandmother (78) asked how to setup VPNs on her phone and lear how to use them. You can listen it here on Stitcher: The hijab will never be the same In this episode, there was an Iran guy who was saying that the first thing the government is doing when there are protests is blocking the internet. But not blocking the access or take down the connectivity, instead the government allows the people to use internet, but the Iranian ISPs give access only to som... Read More

After I bought and reviewed the beautiful Grid iPhone 3G, the founder of Grid (with my surprise) contacted me to thank me for the honest review, and he also said that he wanted to gift me another product from Grid: the Grid A7 (APL5698). And it has arrived! The Grid A7 is essentially the Apple A7 SoC of the iPhone 5S and iPad Mini 2, encapsulated in a very cool “frame”. Since the A7 was the SoC of the iPhone 5S this isn’t special or iconic (like the iPhone 2/3G), but as a SoC it was a bit special because it has been the first 64 bit chipset on the iPhone and on any commercial phone. You can read more about this SoC at wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_A7 or AnandTech.... Read More