Opportunity has ended it’s mission
NASA’s Opportunity Rover looks back over its own tracks on Aug. 4, 2010. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Posts by Category
- Uncategorized 9
- Apple 9
- Annoyances 7
- Coding 5
- Xamarin 4
- Android 3
- PowerShell 3
- WordPress 2
- Hardware 2
- Javascript 2
- Employment 2
- Virtualization 2
- Localization 2
- Events 2
- Visual Studio 2
- RFID 1
- jQuery 1
- Performance 1
- Books 1
- pets 1
- Agnew 1
- Work From Home 1
- ADB 1
- OneNote 1
- Authoring 1
- Linux 1
- MAUI 1
- Jekyll 1
- Blog 1
- Ubuntu 1
- SQL Server 1
- SQL 1
- Globalization 1
- Xcode 1
- Pluralsight 1
- Social Media 1
- Jekyll Blog Ubuntu 1
- quality code 1
Uncategorized
Planning for Wi-Fi
After 20 years in our existing home, we are getting ready to move to a new home. The new house is still being built and I had CAT6 run to the places where I ...
A Xamarin wrapper for the ACS USB library for Android
ACS ACR122U USB NFC Reader
My book about localization with Xamarin is out
Cross-platform Localization for Native Mobile Apps with Xamarin
Taking the Acer W3 from Preview to RTM
It was time to install Windows 8.1 on my Acer Iconia W3-810. I received the tablet at the Build conference. The W3 came with the 32-bit edition of Windows 8 ...
Blog Tagged
Andy just tagged me. This is the geek version of tag. I share 5 things about myself, then I tag 5 other people. The hard is finding 5 other people who hav...
Apple
Apple needs to sort out their API
I have some code that uses Apple’s AppConnect API to query App store related things. I wrote a C# script that I run from LINQPad that gives me a weekly sta...
How to access Apple’s App Connect API from C#, Python, and Go. - Part 4
Welcome to Part 4 of a three part series. Last month, I did a series of posts on how to use Apple’s App Connect API to query the team membership list using C...
Getting a new dev machine set up, macOS Style
It’s that time of the decade when I get a new Macbook Pro. I use a Macbook to compile iOS apps with Xamarin which makes it required equipment. Even though my...
When your Apple device refuses to be trusted
Back in July, I received a new Macbook Pro. A lovely little device, but I had this one problem. It wasn’t showing up as a trusted device under my iCloud acco...
Using console jQuery to scrape lists from Apple’s developer portal
I needed to grab the lists of registered devices and developers from our company’s Apple Developer portal. Unless I’m being particularly obtuse (an outcome ...
Annoyances
Using PowerShell to set the Num Lock state
A quick PowerShell script for setting the Num Lock state
Why I like working on Open Source (back to FocusUF)
About a month ago, I blogged about an update to a webcam hack that I did called FocusUF. There wasn’t much to the code and I put it all up on GitHub. Someone...
When your Apple device refuses to be trusted
Back in July, I received a new Macbook Pro. A lovely little device, but I had this one problem. It wasn’t showing up as a trusted device under my iCloud acco...
Fix for “[Network & Virtual Switch] Failed to update DDNS “myQNAPcloud”
After Windows Home Server was more or less retired by Microsoft, I bought a new NAS server for home. After some deliberation, I bought a QNAP TS-451+, a coup...
FocusUF or how to turn off the autofocus setting of the LifeCam HD-5000 webcam
<img loading="lazy" class="size-medium" src="https://i0.wp.com/photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-BgcrnZW/0/7d3ad5c8/S/i-BgcrnZW-S.jpg?resize=399%2C225&ssl=...
Using console jQuery to scrape lists from Apple’s developer portal
I needed to grab the lists of registered devices and developers from our company’s Apple Developer portal. Unless I’m being particularly obtuse (an outcome ...
Coding
Running the iOS simulators after updating to Xcode 14
So Apple updated Xcode on my Macbook from 13.4.1 to 14. I wasn’t paying much attention to the prompts or even the version numbers. After doing so, I could n...
A quick check to see if the user’s locale is metric or imperial
While working on a demo mobile app for a course, I needed to know if the units of measurement on the app would be in Imperial units or Metric units. Since I’...
Controlling a WSL installation of redis-server from the Windows command line
Some shortcuts accessing redis-server running under WSL via PowerShell
Why I like working on Open Source (back to FocusUF)
About a month ago, I blogged about an update to a webcam hack that I did called FocusUF. There wasn’t much to the code and I put it all up on GitHub. Someone...
Debugging devices without displays or debuggers
I’ve been writing firmware for an RFID reader that connects over USB to an Android device. Our installers will need to upgrade the readers out in the field ...
Xamarin
MyFirebaseMessagingService android:exported needs to be explicitly specified
I needed to make a small change to an Android apop that we have in the Google Play store. I made the change, generated a new apk and we submitted to the ap...
My new Xamarin.Forms 5 Pluralsight course is out
I have a new course that was just published this week on Pluralsight, “Xamarin.Forms 5 Fundamentals”. It’s seven hours of tutorials and demos for the devel...
A Xamarin wrapper for the ACS USB library for Android
ACS ACR122U USB NFC Reader
Android
MyFirebaseMessagingService android:exported needs to be explicitly specified
I needed to make a small change to an Android apop that we have in the Google Play store. I made the change, generated a new apk and we submitted to the ap...
Resolving the .NET MAUI “VersionCode 1.0 is invalid. It must be an integer value.” error when updating Visual Studio 2022 Preview
I hit the “VersionCode 1.0 is invalid” error with .NET MAUI and resolved it.
Add a POSH ADB to your Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is so close to being out of beta. It’s been my default CLI on Windows for about a year. I still don’t think in PowerShell, but I try to use ...
PowerShell
A quick PowerShell tip
Simple tip for adding your own memory aid to your PowerShell profile.
Using PowerShell to set the Num Lock state
A quick PowerShell script for setting the Num Lock state
Add a POSH ADB to your Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is so close to being out of beta. It’s been my default CLI on Windows for about a year. I still don’t think in PowerShell, but I try to use ...
WordPress
Moved the blog from WordPress to Jekyll
First post under the new regime.
And then my blog was defaced
A couple of weeks ago my blog was defaced through a security hole in WordPress. About 800,000 blogs were hit via something called the REST-API exploit. I saw...
Hardware
Return to FocusUF
A while back, I blogged about a command line hack to set the focus for a web cam. I was using a Microsoft LifeCam HD-5000 and it has the annoying habit of re...
A Xamarin port of the usb-serial-for-android library
Back in January, I ported the excellent usb-serial-for-android library from the Java source code to Xamarin C#. We have an Android application that needs to...
Javascript
Using console jQuery to scrape lists from Apple’s developer portal
I needed to grab the lists of registered devices and developers from our company’s Apple Developer portal. Unless I’m being particularly obtuse (an outcome ...
Employment
What not to do on a job interview: Don’t play the arrogant card
Original image courtesy of Amtec Staffing
Virtualization
Checking Hypervisor status with PowerShell
Image courtesy of Serge Melki
Localization
A quick check to see if the user’s locale is metric or imperial
While working on a demo mobile app for a course, I needed to know if the units of measurement on the app would be in Imperial units or Metric units. Since I’...
Using the Multilingual App Toolkit with the Microsoft Translator service from Azure’s Cognitive Services
Image courtesy of M. Adiputra via Wikimedia Commons
Events
That time I took a group of people to Boston for the Azure Red Shirt Dev Tour
I had tweeted out the hashtag #BostonOrBust. Seriously, don’t do that. I tempted Fate, and Fate called me out on it.
Visual Studio
My new Xamarin.Forms 5 Pluralsight course is out
I have a new course that was just published this week on Pluralsight, “Xamarin.Forms 5 Fundamentals”. It’s seven hours of tutorials and demos for the devel...
Running the iOS simulators after updating to Xcode 14
So Apple updated Xcode on my Macbook from 13.4.1 to 14. I wasn’t paying much attention to the prompts or even the version numbers. After doing so, I could n...
RFID
A Xamarin port of the usb-serial-for-android library
Back in January, I ported the excellent usb-serial-for-android library from the Java source code to Xamarin C#. We have an Android application that needs to...
jQuery
Using console jQuery to scrape lists from Apple’s developer portal
I needed to grab the lists of registered devices and developers from our company’s Apple Developer portal. Unless I’m being particularly obtuse (an outcome ...
Performance
Back to Top ↑Books
It’s 2018, time to join that David Bowie Book Club that his son has started
Bowie's READ poster from the American Library Association (1987)
pets
That time I taught that dog a trick
Image by FiveRings [CC BY 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons Many, many years ago, I used to work with Jack*. Jack is a musician and at the time ...
Agnew
Bag man
If you haven’t listened to Rachel Maddow’s “Bag Man” podcast, you are missing a great tale of corruption.
Work From Home
Some quick improvements for the home video conferencing experience
A few things that I have done to improve video conferencing from home.
ADB
Add a POSH ADB to your Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is so close to being out of beta. It’s been my default CLI on Windows for about a year. I still don’t think in PowerShell, but I try to use ...
OneNote
Colored notes in OneNote
A quick way to color paragraphs in OneNote.
Linux
Controlling a WSL installation of redis-server from the Windows command line
Some shortcuts accessing redis-server running under WSL via PowerShell
MAUI
Resolving the .NET MAUI “VersionCode 1.0 is invalid. It must be an integer value.” error when updating Visual Studio 2022 Preview
I hit the “VersionCode 1.0 is invalid” error with .NET MAUI and resolved it.
Jekyll
Moved the blog from WordPress to Jekyll
First post under the new regime.
Blog
Moved the blog from WordPress to Jekyll
First post under the new regime.
Ubuntu
Moved the blog from WordPress to Jekyll
First post under the new regime.
SQL Server
A failed MakeValid call in SQL Server
We hit this strange bug in SQL Server earlier in the year. A single SQL Statement would just kill the connection. It would kill it 100% in any version of SQL...
SQL
A failed MakeValid call in SQL Server
We hit this strange bug in SQL Server earlier in the year. A single SQL Statement would just kill the connection. It would kill it 100% in any version of SQL...
Globalization
A quick check to see if the user’s locale is metric or imperial
While working on a demo mobile app for a course, I needed to know if the units of measurement on the app would be in Imperial units or Metric units. Since I’...
Xcode
Running the iOS simulators after updating to Xcode 14
So Apple updated Xcode on my Macbook from 13.4.1 to 14. I wasn’t paying much attention to the prompts or even the version numbers. After doing so, I could n...
Pluralsight
My new Xamarin.Forms 5 Pluralsight course is out
I have a new course that was just published this week on Pluralsight, “Xamarin.Forms 5 Fundamentals”. It’s seven hours of tutorials and demos for the devel...
Jekyll Blog Ubuntu
Refresh of this blog
The blog has been updated. Not just posts, all of the stuff that generates it. This wasn’t planned… About two weeks ago, the boot drive of my PC failed. T...
quality code
Poka-yoke
So I used poka-yoke (ポカヨケ) in a conversation yesterday. I am working on an update to an app that uses a web service. Under an extreme edge condition, the a...
Social Media
You can find me on Bluesky
less than 1 minute read
I’ve been on Bluesky for a while now. I still have my account on the dead bird site, but I haven’t posted to it in ages. Not since Musk decided to burn bil...