

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).
‘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.
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How to Quickly Restart a Windows App?
Over the time of using Windows You might encounter apps which sometimes stop reacting to anything - or even worse: they stop reacting pretty often. There are many things which may be the source of the issue - but You might rather prefer to simply use the app instead of carefully investigate what causes the problem.
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Privacy of Your Web-Browsing.
You might not know that every time You visit a website, the information what website You’re visiting is relatively easily available for 3rd parties (...).
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LibreOffice - Did You Know, That...?
Aside from posts dedicated to particular LibreOffice-related topics, I decided to provide a single special place reserved for more general curiosities, regarding both the suite’s apps and LibreOffice as a whole. As usual, it won’t be a complete set of tips & tricks - it will just reflect my personal experience and needs, unveiling and expanding themselves alongside my own LibreOffice adventure.
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My Favorite Notepad++ Plug-ins.
- DSpellCheck.
- Quick Color Picker.
- MarkdownViewerPlusPlus.
- TopMost.
- MenuIcons.
- TextFX.
- Plugin Manager.
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My Favorite Chrome Extensions.
Convenient web-browsing, an incredible RSS reader and other useful extensions which You also might enjoy :) !
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Five Essential and Powerful Habits I Find Crucial.
- Habitual Backup at Every Change I Would Miss.
- Give It a Chance Regardless of Likelihood or Mood.
- Underestimated Power of Small Systematic Steps.
- Patience May Turn Out Invaluable.
- A Few-Moments Action Always Taken Right Off The Bat.
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How To Easily Memorize Difficult Words Spelling.
There are some words which spelling You may find especially difficult to remember. In my case a few examples out of a sleeve are: “consciousness”, “successfully”, “instantaneously”, “simultaneous”, “exaggerated”.
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Use Special Characters As Bookmark Folder Names.
By default You can access Your web browser bookmarks by pulling out its list from the browser’s menu. Bookmarks bar makes the thing much more convenient: it makes bookmarks always visible (usually just below the address bar). To enable it go to Your web browser settings and check “Show bookmarks” (or “Show bookmarks bar”).
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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.
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Check Out the Real Availability of an App
(...) it’s indeed not a rare occurrence that computers and laptops are not always equipped with all the status LEDs, if with any. I still well remember how much I liked such LEDs in my old Acer laptop: they were well-placed in front of Your eyes just below the screen, so it’s always been easy to take a quick look on how things are going, HDD- or network-wise. None of my further notebooks had this thing implemented in such a good way, let alone desktop computer which definitely may not be convenient to observe (regarding the LEDs placement on the tower - or the tower itself).
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A Brilliant Simple Idea for Contemporary Learning a Language - Live.
An interesting and creative idea for learning a foreign language has been recently shared on Vivaldi blog. It incorporates one of the browser’s feature called “Notes”, which allows to write down notes alongside websites You’re browsing. Then, notes are both automatically saved (i.e., no need to click “Save” anywhere) and synchronized throughout Your devices (e.g., between a PC and a smartphone).
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Notepad++: Moving Up the Efficiency Ladder.
- Phase I: basic feature of remembering all the currently opened files.
- Phase II: harnessing sessions.
- Phase III: switching to workspace(s).
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Make a To-Do List Your Creativity-Hub.
I’d like to present You with the idea of harnessing a simple to-do list concept in a way which You may find surprisingly helpful, making several things much easier, fluent and seamless. Let’s take a little survey throughout all of this fantastic topic :) .
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Wanted: Paste as Pure Text.
If You often work with text, there are chances that You might appreciate its so-called plain form. Basically speaking, in a world of computers, smartphones and tablets text can take two forms, depending on what app is used to manage it. The forms are: formatted or plain. Formatted text is the one which allows You to do much more with its appearance (bold, italicize, underline, color, etc.) - whereas plain text is just sole content, which does not carry “within itself” any visual changes performed.
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Wanna Use Git? Here Are Further Improvements.
So now You know how You may benefit from Git, as far as Your creative work is concerned. Whenever You are a writer, a blogger, a webdesigner, or even a computer graphic artist (You name it) - You could take advantage out of this interesting invention.
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Life Can Be Much Easier Thanks to This Windows tool.
Most likely You’ll appreciate this especially in the long run, when You can really feel how much time and hassle it saves.
Here are a few examples of how You could benefit from AutoHotkey:
Quick survey on what's coming:
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Instantaneous Windows Arrangement.
My everyday creation - as probably in case of many people nowadays - involves working with a computer. Being more precise, I use Windows and - as far as this OS is concerned - I’m happy to benefit from several priceless workhacks, i.e., tricks making everyday work much easier (less time- and effort-consuming). Under Windows 7 my main hacks are: 1) windows arrangement on demand and 2) instantaneous calling out the one I need.
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How Git May Significantly Improve Your Creation Process?
Git may significantly improve Your creation process. It does that by embracing experiments and trial-and-error approach - without a risk to disrupt Your project’s stable state. This way it gives You such flexibility as never before.
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Freshly Into Git.
It all began with Handy News Reader - an Android app which development I am involved since late 2017. The developer highly recommended GitHub as the destination place for sharing new ideas, reporting bugs, etc. Besides, it was also the right place to grab any new release of the app - even before it landed on Google Play/F-Droid.
But I myself am not a developer, I rarely consider myself a programmer even - so the whole GitHub thing (first impression) seemed to me pretty... weird and alien. I was intrigued, however, why it gained so much praise and interest, and how does it really work, what so special about it?
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Smart Backup: Schedule Any Windows App Launch for Its Backup Purpose.
Many Windows apps have already backup feature built-in. There is one catch, however: an app has to be up and running in terms for its backup to be initiated. Sounds obvious; probably this has been the very reason for such a feature to exist: the assumption that an app will be indeed active all the time. But what if it’s not gonna always be that way - but You’re still in the need of being equipped with the up-to-date backup?
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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.
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Smart Backup: Notepad++.
Notepad++ is definitely one of my favorite piece of software, which makes a significant difference in my everyday work, making things easier and more user-friendly. On the other hand, it’s a feature-rich program in which You can adjust a great many things to Your Own liking. But what would You do in case of any failure, which could result in all those carefully tailored settings’ loss? It may be much time-consuming to restore all of those, especially given that it often hard to remember each and every detail presents somewhere within the pretty entangled configuration tabs :) .
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Key Advantages of Using Markdown.
Some time past by since I learned about Markdown and begin to incorporate it into My workflow. Earlier on I told You what especially drew my attention to it - now I can add a little more to the big picture, thanks to the experience I’ve gained over the time. To be more precise: extended Markdown writing allowed me to point out explicitly what turned out to be a tangibly significant advantage of switching to this format. So let’s get to the point.
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Finally Much Better Windows Alt+Tab switcher.
Although for a long time now I dreamed about much readable Alt+Tab for Windows 7 - I’ve avoided third-party apps offering potentially attractive alternatives because I haven’t wanted my PC to run slower (it’s a rather old setup, originally published during the Vista times). But then I’ve read this article, which somehow inspired me to visit a website of the developer of such an app. Being there I gained the impression that this time there is a chance that the app won’t slow down my computer in any significant way - so I’ve decided to give it a try.
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Smart Backup: Improved Schedule.
Although I’ve set my “global” (PC) backup to be performed every 50 minutes and, on the other hand, my computer is up usually all the time - a 24h/7 backup is not necessarily an optimal choice, mainly because 1) it could be a waste of resources since there is no need to backup anything during my absence at the desk - and 2) as You may remember I’ve set sound notifications both on backup initiation and finish - I don’t want to hear those notifications while I’m sleeping :) .
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Smart Backup: GoodSync.
Backup is definitely a crucial thing - and a tricky one in the same time, because if You are not so convinced that You need it - it’s usually a matter of time when You come to the point of “ultimate awareness”, so to speak ;) - in which, sadly, Your motivation may be some data or settings being already lost because of not doing this. Fortunately, once You get this extremely good habit, You may once more forget about it - but this time in a completely safe manner, provided that You’ve set everything the right way to work for You behind the scenes.
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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.
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Improve Your Writing-Publishing Workflow With These Brilliant Tools.
If You are a blogger or just write a lot of articles, I’d like to tell You about things which may significantly improve Your workflow, both effort- and time-wise.
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Meet Your Ultimate Dream Magazine.
Surprisingly I’ve discovered my personal excitement of the past reborn in a new form today.
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Switch Between Multiple Windows Easier and Quicker.
“(...) if You are used to work with many windows, even ALT+TAB won’t provide You with a super-efficient way of instantaneous switching to the window You need (...).”
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My Top 10 Creative Life Hacks.
I find the matter of optimizing Your work habits crucial and definitely worth attention. It may significantly impact both Your work’s quality and quantity, distinctly affecting the amount of time and effort necessary to achieve various tasks. Whatever You do, it may become more fluent, so - in the long run - it may improve Your whole life (the better You feel while working - the more content You may feel on a daily basis).
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S.f.-like Background for Your Writing Work.
I probably always appreciated and preferred things being not only useful, but of a style I like: elegant, modern, futuristic and aesthetic. I apply this as a guideline for choosing my best - both material and non-material - things I’m gonna surround myself with.
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S.f.-like Volume Control and Multiple Sound Cards.
If You like s.f. genre and would appreciate its taste accompanying You while using Your Windows PC, then I’m happy to tell You about some tricks, which nicely bring this science-fiction flavor, making it often visible - like some appetizing season :) .
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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).
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Create New Files Faster.
How often do You create new files on Windows? You may notice that the proper context menu (or the “New” submenu of Windows Explorer) for creating new files already contains a bunch of items - it may be that most of them You don’t need. In that case it would be great to clean that menu, leaving only those positions (file types) which You use. That way Your everyday activity of creating new files may become more fluid and faster (the less items You see in a menu - the faster You find what You need).
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How to Easily Change Icons for Particular File Types.
If You’d like to ascribe Your preferred icons for particular file types in Windows, You can use FileTypesMan - a fast and simple freeware tool.
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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.
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How to Quickly Restart a Windows App?