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How to Disable the Mini Player in Arc for YouTube

If you're using Arc as your primary browser and YouTube as your go-to music streaming service, you may have noticed the Mini Player feature that was added a few releases ago. While it can be convenient for keeping your music playing while you browse other tabs or windows, it can

Burnout: Understanding the Signs and How to Address It

As a software developer, I have experienced the effects of burnout firsthand. The demands of my job combined with the challenges of working from home and caring for a small child have left me feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. I know I am not alone in this experience, as burnout has

M1 MacBook and 5GHz WiFi Connectivity Problems? Here’s the Solution You Need!

As a MacBook Pro M1 user, I recently ran into an issue with connecting to my home’s 5GHz WiFi network. I found that my device would have difficulty connecting to it, or that the connection would be unstable when connected. This was a frustrating problem to have, as I

Life is Short: Why You Should Live It Intentionally

“The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.” — Myles Munroe Life is short and unpredictable. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine and lose sight of the bigger picture. However, it’s important to remember that every day is precious

Overcoming FOMO: 5 Tips to Help You Stop Worrying and Start Living

The Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, is a feeling that many of us have experienced at some point in our lives. Whether it’s checking our social media feeds obsessively or feeling compelled to attend every event or party, FOMO can hold us back from truly enjoying our lives.

The 2-minute rule: A simple hack for increasing productivity and getting more done

The 2-minute rule is a simple yet powerful productivity hack that can help you tackle even the most daunting tasks with ease. As the famous author and productivity expert David Allen once said, "Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them." The 2-minute rule is a way to help

Say Goodbye to Mid-day Slumps: 5 Practical Ways to Increase Motivation

💡“Motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running” — Zig Ziglar Motivation can be hard to come by, especially during the day when our energy levels tend to be at their lowest. However, with a few simple strategies, you can boost your motivation and get more done. Here

Why FOMO is Holding You Back and How to Overcome It

The Fear of Missing Out, commonly known as FOMO, is a feeling of anxiety or fear that something amazing or exciting is happening elsewhere and you’re missing out on it. With the rise of social media, FOMO has become more prevalent as we are constantly exposed to the highlight

The Struggle is Real: A Personal Exploration of Procrastination and How to Beat It

Procrastination is something that almost everyone struggles with at some point in their lives. Whether it’s putting off a work project, avoiding cleaning the house, or even delaying making a simple decision, procrastination can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. As someone who has struggled with procrastination myself,

Elevate Your React Development: Discover Why I Switched to Visual Studio Code and You Should Too

As a software developer, I have used many different code editors over the years. However, my journey to Visual Studio Code (VS Code) was a game changer. In this article, I want to share my experience and explain why I made the switch to VS Code for React development and

React Newbies Guide: Learn How to Improve Your App’s Performance with useLayoutEffect

Are you looking to improve the performance of your React applications? Look no further than the useLayoutEffect hook. useLayoutEffect is a hook that allows you to synchronously update the layout of a component before it is rendered on the screen. This can lead to smoother animations and better overall performance.

React Newbies Guide: Efficiently Managing DOM Elements and Persistent Variables with the useRef Hook

The useRef React hook is a powerful tool that allows you to create and manipulate references to DOM elements and other values within your components. This can be extremely useful when working with forms, animations, and other complex user interactions. In this article, we’ll explore the two most common

React Newbies Guide: How to Use useMemo for Expensive Calculations and Complex State Management

Working with Expensive Calculations One of the most common use cases for useMemo is when working with expensive calculations or operations that do not need to be performed on every render. For example, imagine you have a component that displays a large dataset and needs to calculate the average value

Workaround the iOS 16.x simulator hangs on language change issue

Recently, I updated my Xcode to version 14.1 (14B47b) and didn't notice anything disturbing until I had to test something with a simulator with the French language as default. Obviously, there is a problem with the Intel MacBooks. So, this is what happens when I try to change the

Advent of Code 2022 Day 11: Monkey in the Middle Solutions

It's day 11 of the AoC and here is my solution to the Monkey in the Middle puzzle: from math import floor, lcm from copy import deepcopy from input import input def inspect(item, divisor, operation): operation, value = operation value = int(value) if value != "old" else item inspected_item = 0

Advent of Code 2022 Day 10: Cathode-Ray Tube Solutions

It's day 10 of the AoC and here is my solution to the Cathode-Ray Tube puzzle: from math import ceil with open('input', 'r') as file: input = file.read().split('\n') instructions = [] cycle = 1 for line in input: parts = line.split(' ') instructions.append((cycle, 0)) if len(

Advent of Code 2022 Day 8: Treetop Tree House Solutions

It's day 8 of the AoC and here is my solution to the Treetop Tree House puzzle: from functools import reduce with open('input', 'r') as file: input = list(map(lambda x: list(map(lambda y: int(y), list(x))), file.read().split('\n'))) MAX_X = len(input[0]

Advent of Code 2022 Day 7: No Space Left On Device Solutions

It's day 7 of the AoC and here is my solution to the No Space Left On Device puzzle: with open('input', 'r') as file: input = list(file.read().split('\n')) class Directory: def __init__(self, name, parent=None) -> None: self.name = name self.parent = parent self.files

Advent of Code 2022 Day 6: Tuning Trouble Solutions

It's day 6 of the AoC and here is my solution to the Tuning Trouble puzzle: with open('input', 'r') as file: input = file.readline() def get_message_start_idx(input, length): idx = 0 for i in range(0, len(input) - 1): items = input[i:i+length] if len(

Advent of Code 2022 Day 5: Supply Stacks Solutions

It's day 5 of the AoC and here is my solution to the Supply Stacks puzzle: import re from copy import deepcopy with open('input', 'r') as file: input = list(file.read().split('\n\n')) def prepare(input): copy = deepcopy(input) rows = copy[0].split('\n') positions = rows[

Advent of Code 2022 Day 4: Camp Cleanup Solutions

It's day 4 of the AoC and here is my solution to the Camp Cleanup puzzle: with open('input', 'r') as file: items = list(file.read().split('\n')) grouped = [[]] for item in items: grouped.append([]) if (item == "") else grouped[len( grouped) - 1].append(int(item)) def solution_1(

Advent of Code 2022 Day 3: Rucksack Reorganization Solutions

In this short article, I want to share with you my solutions to the 3rd day of Advent of Code 2022 Rucksack Reorganization Solutions: from functools import reduce with open('input') as file: contents = file.read().split('\n') def get_priority(item): return ord(item) - 96 if item.

Advent of Code 2022: Day 2 Solutions

The time of the year has come when the Advent of Code begins! I want to share with you my Python solutions to Day 2: Rock Paper Scissors puzzle: with open('input') as file: rounds = file.read().split('\n') def solution_1(): return sum( map(lambda round: { 'A X':

Let's use different environment variables with ExpressJS TypeScript server

When you developing your servers, do you have the need to have different values for certain configurations depending on the current environment: development, staging or production? If the answer is YES, and you've never worked with environment variables before - this short tutorial is for you! Let's assume that you

Delete all local branches except the ones you're working on

Most of us accumulate an endless list of local branches in the repositories we're working on. Let me share with you a fast and easy way of removing all of the remaining local branches you're not or completed working on but forgot to delete from the repository. Just execute the

Interesting case with URL query params

Last week, I encountered another interesting case of something I didn't know. I worked on the implementation of one API call that requires sending some data as url query params. One of these params was an email. Everything is fine unless you have a + sign in the string. RFC3986 specifies

Strange Xcode and autocomplete issue

A few days ago I experienced a strange issue with the Xcode and its autocomplete functionality that ate some 2-3 hours of my time tracing back when and what happened in the commit history... Background I have a big array in a separate file containing items representing all of the

Google detected that I have multiple AdSense accounts

How to resolve such a problem which is not that easy resolvable... So, if you receive such warning from Google what do you do? That's correct, you go to the Help Center. But what happens, when the suggested resolution to your problem is not applicable in your case? You start

GraphQL: What is it and why you should consider it over REST?

I think that GraphQL is not that different from REST but dramatically improves the developer experience of building and consuming APIs. If you are like me when you come across a new technology there is one small moment of frustration but after you start reading the documentation and examples, you

Xcode: The folder “disabled.plist” doesn’t exist.

Today I decided to experiment a bit with the new SwiftUI and after the Xcode updated, it gave me this really strange error: 🚀 Solution Most probably you're missing the /private/tmp directory. So open the terminal and enter the following commands: > sudo mkdir /private/tmp > sudo chown -R $(whoami) /private/

Just published my first React Native package to NPM

For a few weeks now I'm working on a small React Native app. After trying to find a package that will work for me and failed, I decided to create a custom component. If you have an iOS device, you most certainly know the Segmented Control view (UISegmentedControl): Publishing this

The useState() Hook: Practical Guide

Do you know what is the difference between a class component and a function component in React? In this practical guide I will try to explain how the component's state is managed in both components after the second got on steroids! Stateful and Stateless components In the previous example, we

Dynamic switching of themes in React Native App: The funky way with hooks! 👌

In February I posted an article with example of how to switch React Native Paper themes dynamically via the recently introduced Context API. Today, I will try to rewrite the example with the latest big thing in React world - React Hooks! I'm so excited about this addition since writing

React Hooks: Gentle Introduction! 🚀

In this article I'll try to explain in a simple way what are the React Hooks and why it's good to use them when developing your React/React Native apps. Since React 16.8.0, there is a new way of calling async code in a really elegant way as

🖊️ Let's add custom fonts to a React Native App!

It's fairy simple... :) STEP 1: Create a new file in your RN project's root dir with name react-native.config.js and content: module.exports = { project: { ios: {}, android: {}, }, assets: ['./assets/fonts'] }; STEP 2: Now, if you're exporting for Android, go to: $PROJECT_ROOT/android/app/src/main/assets/fonts and

Unrecognized font family 'FontAwesome'

Just encontered this issue after installing the react-native-vector-icons package and run the app on an iOS simulator. If you're wondering what is happening even though that the library is correctly linked with the iOS project, here is the solution: Check the info.plist In my case the problem was that

MacOS Catalina Beta installation issue

Today, I decided to install the Catalina Beta but after enrolling to the beta program, I encoutered this issue: The requested version of macos is not available The solution I found is to execute these two commands in the Terminal: sudo defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate CatalogURL sudo

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 and DST (Daylight Saving Time) Issue

I'm living in Bulgaria where during the summer is +1 hours because of the DST (Daylight Saving Time). Recently my beloved wife bought me a Xiaomi Mi Band 4 and I'm pretty sure that her initial (or main) idea was to tell me that I'm fat and need to lose

How to add a StatusBar in your React Native application

I'm sure that at some point you stumbled upon the problem with the status bar. By default the React Native draws the container view from the top left corner of the screen without taking in case the status bar. To resolve this issue, we give the container view top margin

iOS pod install error. Module glog cannot be installed

If you encounter this issue when trying install/update your Pods and build your React Native iOS app, here is the solution: Open the Terminal and enter: sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app If your Xcode app is not located in the /Applications directory - replace it with its correct

How to access Firestore subcollections with react-redux-firebase

I would like to share with you a code snipped of how to access subcollections in the Cloud Firestore database. Lets say we have this structure: - Users      |    -- Tasks Our exercise is to access the tasks list of a certain user. import { compose } from "redux"; import { connect } from "react-redux"

Thoughts about our ability to focus on things

People say that their minds are wandering most of the time during the day but it's false.   See, the mind is a vast area with many sections within. These sections could be related to emotions, food, motivation and so on.   We have something called awareness. Let's picture it as a

How to avoid the virtual keyboard when entering text in React Native

Just a small article about one of the most common problems when developing a native apps on iOS or Android - how to handle the showing/hiding of the virtual keyboard and the UI. In React Native, the solution is really easy... (starting to love React even though I'm not

Xcode 10 and... Bridging Headers Issue

After updating to Xcode 10 some of the projects (ObjC + Swift) I'm working on started failing with this error: failed to emit precompiled header '*.pch' for bridging header After researching the issue for quite some time... I found a solution and some information why it's happening. The reason why

Dynamic switching of themes in React Native App

[UPDATE] Check out the example implemented with React Hooks 👉 https://www.seishin.me/dynamic-switching-of-themes-in-react-native-app-the-funky-way-with-hooks/ I've spent the last 3 hours thinking about an easy way to switch app themes at runtime and I found a really easy solution! :) I want to share it with you because there're not many examples

Android Snippets: ActionBar

Hey, fellow Android Developers and especially the junior ones! In this article as like in the following ones, I will share with you useful snippets of code. 🙃 This article will be on-going or simply - it will be updated frequently, so you could review it from time to time. Snippet

[Part 2] Smart Home Project: Flashing and configuring Sonoff Devices with Tasmota

Hey, this is part 2 of my smart home project! This article will be a lot more interesting than the previous! We will see what is within the Sonoff Basic Switch and Touch as well as flashing and configuring them with Tasmota. 1. What are the Basic Switch and Touch

[Part 1] Smart Home Project: Overview

Now I'm free... A month ago I left my job at an IT company based in Sofia, Bulgaria and now I have plenty of time to work on my side projects. One of these projects is buried in the drawer named "SOMEDAY WHEN I'M FREE" and is my idea for

Android Studio and files with size larger than 2.44MB

Today I will share with you an interesting case I had just a few moments ago... Problem I noticed that message but continued working till the moment I opened a class that imports the big sized one. For no reason, the problematic file couldn't be found and imported... Then I

Multiple domains pointing to a single IP running Nginx

In this article I will try to help you to setup multiple domains to point to a single Nginx server running multiple local servers. Step 1: We have to install the Nginx server. I will use an Ubuntu machine: $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install nginx Step 2: Now we

Upgrading to Ubuntu 18.04 and Android Studio 3.2

After upgrading to the latest Ubuntu and Android Studio versions, you have to do a few simple things in order to use the Android Emulator. When you try to start an emulator, you will be required to grant access of the current user to /dev/kvm. You can do this

Troubles when trying to mock the Bundle class with Mockito

Yesterday I got this issue while trying to test some code that contained a Bundle object within. When I tried to mock the Bundle class... Nothing was happening and the test was constantly failing with: java.lang.RuntimeException: Method putString in android.os.BaseBundle not mocked. Hmm... The only solution

Easy way to detect when your app is going to be killed

Recently I needed a way of detecting when the app is going to be killed and execute some operations. Here is a really easy solution by using an IntentService: class AppKilledDetectingService: IntentService("AppKilledDetectingService") { override fun onHandleIntent(intent: Intent?) {} override fun onTaskRemoved(rootIntent: Intent?) { // Do your operations before the app is

Android Studio Update and missing classes issue

Recently I updated my Android Studio to 3.1.3 version and a strange issue occured. When I opened a random class in one project, there're a lot of red text indicating that the used classes are not imported. After trying numerous actions like clearing the project, restarting the Android

Android view animations issue when hiding the animated views

Today I encountered another really interesting issue (or probably a bug?!). This time it is related to views and animating them. If you animate a view like this: [view].animate().scaleX(0f).scaleY(0f).setDuration(180).setListener(object:Animator.AnimatorListener { override fun onAnimationRepeat(p0: Animator?) {} override fun onAnimationCancel(p0: Animator?

Android + Kotlin + Unresolved references

Today I encountered a really strange error... I'm using the latest Android Studio and Kotlin versions, however when I tried to reference the ConstraintLayout into the code - the compiler cried out - Oh, no! Unresolved reference to class ConstraintLayout I was shocked because I couldn't understand why it's happening.

Mockito and testing Kotlin classes

Hey there! 👻 Did you switch to Kotlin or yet wondering? Just do it! However, there're always some inconveniences like the one I will describe in this post. Problem You started happy coding your amazing apps in Kotlin but when unit testing time has come... Bam! You cannot test final classes

Espresso UI testing and... open drawer image button click

A few days ago I experienced an interesting problem... I had to help a colleague of mine to create some Espresso UI tests and she got a really strange problem... The default Espresso actions' recording tool failed to record the action of performing a click on the open Drawer's ImageButton

Ubuntu 17.10 brightness problem with Asus FX553V

I just installed the new Ubuntu 17.10 on my work notebook and found out a very common problem with the ACPI. The brightness controls (F5 & F6) are not working... The solution to the problem is: 1. Open the Terminal and type: sudo gedit /etc/default/grub 2. Append acpi_

Really nasty 'root' security bug in OS X High Sierra

On Tuesday, a macOS 10.13.1 security issue was revealed. Everyone could gain root access to your system simply by abusing the unlock button with root username entered with empty password field. How to reproduce: To check if your OS X machine is affected simply go to: Preferences ->

How to enable WiFi debugging on real devices

Hello Android developers! Today I want to share with those who don't know that could use their Android devices over the WiFi for debugging. 😀 The task is really simple! First, you have to check if there's an opened socket already on the 5555 port on your device: $ ./adb shell netstat

Detecting when the soft keyboard is present

Hello fellow newbie Android dev! :) Today, I want to share with you a small snipped of code which will help you to detect when the soft keyboard is shown in your activity and updated the UI to adapt. The case I had was to resize the RecyclerView, scroll to the

Deep Linking with Branch, Rails server and Android client

Today I will share with you how to generate deep links from your rails server and handle them in an Android application. First we will start with the server's implementation. Rails Server For the Rails <-> Branch.io communication I used the branch_io gem which is really easy and straightforward

Ruby Singleton Pattern

The singleton pattern is probably one of the most used patterns in the development process. Here I will show you how to do it in Ruby. It's so easy! Ruby Standard Library has a Singleton Module which implements the singleton pattern. Just include the singleton module inside your class and

Store JSON in PostgreSQL column

Today I want to share with you how to store JSON object or array in PostgreSQL table column. This problem is really easy to solve since the PostgreSQL has a native support for storing JSONs as Binary JSON or JSONB. Just create a new column of type jsonb: add_column

How to execute code before action is called

Rails is a great framework! When you start building web apps with it, you will definitely fall in love with it! Today I want to share with you one really cool feature - you have hooks (called Filters in Rails) that allow you to execute code before, after or around

Rails and sending transactional emails

Yesterday I was working on configuring the default Rails mailer to work with 3rd party SMTP server providers like Gmail, Zoho and so on. First, I tried Gmail since it gives you quota of 500 mails per day for the trial users but it is paid. Then I remembered that

Setup a domain and Ghost blog running on Heroku

Yesterday I decided to start blogging and chose this cool blog (Ghost) and bought a domain that would point to my Heroku app. I tried to do the deploy by myself but there was numerous problems when deploying the app to Heroku and also I didn't have enough time to

Rails, PostgreSQL and... an empty array!

Hey, this will be my first post in the blog! 👨🏻‍💻 So... Yesterday, I came across an interesting issue or bug... since it's so old and not yet fixed in the latest Rails version. So, the case is the following: 1. Rails app with PostgreSQL database 2. Checking if a value