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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

yubiuser has released a new updated for PADD, to 3.8.1, so I updated also my modified version with more info that fits 800x480px display. PSA: remember that from 3.8.0 it requires FTL version (>= v5.16). You can download it here: padd.sh v3.8.1 for 800x480px display. I think it needs to have some slight layout change, like the RX and TX section and the “SYSTEM” info. I’ll look in to it soon. Read More

One thing that Steve Jobs used to say was: “Write web apps”, but unfortunately things went a bit so far and big companies are building a web apps view with lots of pointeless (or even dangerous) features that are a waste of space, privacy, battery and integration. I’m saying this because until some time I’ve always used the official app, like Amazon app, Facebook app, Meteo from X app, etc… but recently I was so annoyed from the behaviors of these apps, that I switched to use the browser, and I simply built the app using Shortcut and a custom icon. See the example gif Why this way is better? Storage: you can save lots of storage space on the iPhone, for example an app like Amazon or Fa... Read More

Since I’m a very “optimizer and minimalist user” I check for the waste of space in my tiny SSD. For three reasons: Apple’s storage prices are terribly high, the fuller a SSD is, the less it will last, why keep useless files? It’s a waste. Indeed my main storage drive is a 256GB drive, and all my system takes about 60-80GB (depending on the cache and apps) So I discovered a weird folder inside my Home directory: 2.66GB for a photos/wallpapers folder. Why? I have no idea, it’s just one of the (many) folders that macOS keeps forever without any reason. I’ve investigated into this folder and I discovered that is a stupid cache folder that keeps all your wallpapers that you set from Apple... Read More

This is a bit different post, but it’s always focused on tech, that is equal to “living” nowadays. In this post I want to describe, in order to give some suggestions or inspiration, the stuff and tips I use when I’m traveling abroad and I need all my tech and connected stuff to make a photographic reportage and remaining safe/private also outside my “everyday environment”. Background: as maybe you know, I’ve done some photographic reportages in Iraq and Syria about the Yazidi genocide and religion and on the war against ISIS, in Croatia and Sicily about the migrants, etc… where there’re some -not mainstream- events to report. So, at the end of August 2022 I went in Kosovo to make a repor... Read More