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Android Lockscreen - June 2021.

Very interesting cat-style digits :) .

MIUI theme: Amoled2.

Pidgin: Failed to Read Thrift.

Pidgin-wise (lightning-fast and light Messenger like You’ve never experienced before) Facebook issue arises again:

Failed to read thrift: api.c:1897 fb_api_cb_publish_pt: assertion 'fb_thrift_read_stop(thft)' failed

...waiting for the fix.

jDownloader rules :) .

I find it very interesting that free/libre app jDownloader 2 can download Rumble videos while its commercial counterparts Any Video Downloader Pro and MediaHuman YouTube Downloader (which I’ve recently tested) can’t. Since even @YtbDownBot (a Telegram bot: “Download files/videos/audio from most websites”) cannot handle this, I consider jDownloader 2 the most effective app to download stuff. Oh, and keep in mind that jDownloader is not especially dedicated to download videos from YouTube/Rumble/etc. - while the two apps mentioned above are.

Nutmeg-flavored coffee.

Since yesterday I drink nutmeg-flavored coffee - very interesting taste :) !

My Android desktop - May 2021

Here is one snapshot out of my current desktop set. This is an old KLWP preset I designed and just modify over the time to fit my needs. I wanted to show You what I especially like today: a nice relation of two spheres on the top left, one being a weather icon (beautiful Komponent Weather Classs set I still love) and a FTP Server widget (here active).

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‘Memories Midnight’.

A glimpse into the past.

One of my fondest memories from this lifetime are years when I’ve been conducting my own e-zine. At the beginning it had been distributed in an off-line form - a few issues later it reaches the Net.

Long story short, the whole thing was an incredibly pleasant, exciting and satisfactory experience. To this day I remember how I forced myself to keep going late into the night to meet the upcoming deadline :) . It was fantastic to create and coordinate various things which altogether make up the final magazine (I was a chief editor, a writer, a web and graphics designer, and a manager).

Among things I liked the most was to write a preface. Each time it was like celebrating a new birth, recognizing and emphasizing its leading traits (each issue had been different, each deserved its own ‘theme’ or tone).

Now, when that time had passed long ago, I am at the beginning of another vision of my website. Wondering about its character I’ve reminded myself of those good times of the past and decided to reflect them at least to some degree, today. I thought: “Why not to apply a magazine-like form to it?” With its own occasional preface, highlights, and maybe even “issues” - although I’d like to treat them more metaphorically than formally, with more flexibility (meaning: no specific boundaries between one and another).

I find it a brilliant and brisk idea which inspires me much. Therefore I’ve decided to take that path and re-design Trail of the Light in this mold.

In the meantime, graphics-wise, it turned out to be nightly... mysterious... and, perhaps, a little bit nostalgic. I came back to my original logotype from That Time - although I’ve been experimenting with other ones down the road, this one (and my very first one, in fact) always managed to show up one way or another, throughout my design. Therefore, I thought, the time is right for it to take the main place again. Back to the beginning, back to things I still highly value - although reborn through all the new experience I’ve gained. Even technically-wise it’s a kind of a come-back: switching from Blogspot to TextPattern, years after I’ve done the opposite.

- AudioAnchor: positive impressions.
  I use to listen to both audiobooks and podcasts and I definitely prefer to use a single app for both of them. Recently I’ve switched to AudioAnchor (from Smart AudioBook Player) and I am enchanted. Here are the reasons:
- How to Exchange Files Between Android and PC Wirelessly.
  If You have access to a WiFi network and would like to exchange files between a mobile device and a computer or a laptop in an quick and easy way, here is how You could do that without a need to hassle with an USB cable.
- Smart Backup: Secure Any Android App.
  When it comes to backup Android apps, it’s good to know that some of them are already equipped with a backup feature. Unfortunately not every app informs You about that crucial thing, so it’s good to do some research: first, take a closer look on the app’s menus and settings - maybe You’ll find a backup-dedicated section - second, open Your file manager and look for any folder or file which name might suggest that this is in fact the app’s backup.
- What Helps Me to Fill My Life with Value?
  There is a bunch of activities in my life which I highly value and look forward to see myself being engaged with them on a daily basis. Recently I decided to improve it by paying more attention to these things.
- Meet Your Ultimate Dream Magazine.
  Surprisingly I’ve discovered my personal excitement of the past reborn in a new form today.
- Your Own ‘Weather App’ Within KLWP.
  One of the most exciting things out of Kustom apps I find the ability to design Your Own ‘weather app’.
- My First KLWP Preset.
  I feel excited about KLWP since I’ve realized that it is highly probable that I could replace several standalone apps - by using this single one. Moreover, I could make my Android experience even more convenient because with KLWP it should be possible to replace more elements of Android GUI explicitly to my own needs (e.g., enlarge & dark-theme).
- Kustom Lockscreen - Codename ‘Rings’.
  Design ‘the lockscreen of Your dreams’ from scratch :) .
- How Really Your Android May Look Like?
  If You like GUI customizing and use Android - the Kustom apps may be a pretty neat choice. They allow You not only to customize a lockscreen, widgets, or live wallpapers - but to design them completely from scratch, fully according to Your taste. So those apps are not of a kind in which a couple of taps will be enough to be happy with the result - on the other hand, however, the scale of possibilities... seems to be imposing, confined mainly by Your Own imagination and creativity.
- GMail: Changing UI Language May Disrupt Your IMAP Account.
  Recently I’ve changed my GMail UI language and - to my surprise - discovered that I can’t send e-mails any more. The issue referred only to e-mail client apps: both AquaMail on Android and The Bat! on Windows. Logs checked and I’ve found that it had to do with IMAP folder names - which have been changed due to language change mentioned above. So a natural conclusion was to fix IMAP folder pairing in The Bat! - which in fact solved the problem.
- How to Get Rid of Ads?
  Although there is a way to get rid of ads in Your web-browser (e.g., the AdBlock extension for web-browsers either on Windows or Android), it doesn’t work anywhere but within the web-browser itself. Interestingly there is a method which could cover any program on Your device, which especially comes in handy using Android apps (because many of them display ads).
- Android and Windows Ad-Hoc Connection Remedy.
  Recently I was looking for a tool for Windows 7, which could share the Internet connection from a desktop PC, therefore turning it into a hot-spot. I reminded myself of a Connectify - a fantastic tool which some time ago had become a salvation for me.