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List USB Devices from Command Line
27.2.2019
I was recently creating a Recalbox with my 5 year old son and it was an awesome experience; I saw the excitement and curiosity in his eyes while helping him put together a video game machine. We added NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 games to the device but it became apparent that the N64 controller...
Set Desktop Wallpaper from Command Line on Mac
31.1.2019
Whenever I need to accomplish a basic task that typically calls for interacting with a UI, I challenge myself to complete the task from command line. After all, most UIs are simply a mask over basic commands, especially when it comes to the operating system. Suddenly I feel like an automation...
Mac Dark Mode from Command Line
30.1.2019
One of the best professional decisions I ever made was switching to a dark text editor theme. I suffered from horrible headaches for years, partially caused by late night coding sessions with blindingly bright computer screens. Recently Apple implemented a dark OS theme which helps my eyes,...
How to Change Animated GIF Speed
29.1.2019
Comedians would tell you that timing is the most important part of any joke. The same could be said about animated GIFs; whether they’re used as a meme or to illustrate a process, the speed of an animated GIF can effect its effectiveness. With that idea in mind, I set about trying to figure...
How to Send an iMessage From Command Line
30.12.2018
As somewhat of a recluse, believe me when I say that text messages, instant messenger, and iMessage have relieved me of loads of anxiety and wasted time with short, meaningless voice chat. It’s been a decade since these communication types have become popular so we’ve moved on from...
Replace Last Command in Shell
26.11.2018
Whether I fat-finger a command or my MacBook Pro keyboard’s keys don’t want to respond like they should, I’m frequently misspelling commands. What’s more frustrating is that many of these commands are long, taking making fixing theme time-consuming. Luckily a Twitter...
Download a YouTube Channel’s Videos
7.11.2018
YouTube is an endless source of entertainment, be it stuff you’re proud to share you like or stuff you would rather others not know about (see: David’s history of watching old WWE Royal Rumbles). I watch a lot of YouTube in hotels and on flights when I don’t have internet access...
Turn Bluetooth On and Off from Command Line on macOS
6.11.2018
Bluetooth has been a revelation in wireless technology: wireless mice, headphones, streaming devices, and a variety of home and office environments. It goes without saying that wireless peripherals are so much easier to manage than wired counterparts, especially mice, that I usually have...
Mercurial: Mass Add and Remove All Files
29.10.2018
While I much prefer git and the GitHub workflow, Firefox’s codebase (mozilla-central) is store in a mercurial repository. There are tools that wrap mercurial so you can use a git-like interface, like git-cinnabar, but my philosophy is to learn the root tool so that I know what’s going...
Change Mac Brightness from Command Line
24.10.2018
Earlier this week I posted about how you can modify your Mac’s volume from command line. Little command line scripts make me smile because I spend so much of my day in command line, and automation can be the key to productivity. I next thought about modifying brightness from command line...
Find and Change Default App for File Type from Command Line
23.10.2018
There are few things more frustrating to any computer user than files opening in an unwanted application. Sure you can use the Open menu item in the desired application but we all just want to double-click a file and see it open in the application we expect. I recently got to thinking about this...
Change System Volume from Command Line on Mac OS
15.10.2018
Oftentimes the awesome GUI applications we love are simply gloss over a command line functionality. While I do love a visual app, it’s always good to know how to do things from command line, if only for the sake of automation. I’ve covered loads of command line secrets, most notably...
Search Git Commits Between Dates
12.7.2018
One of my weaknesses as a developer is relying on UIs to provide me the data I need. It’s not a fatal weakness but it does hamper me a bit. One prime example is relying on GitHub’s interface to review changes; git’s command line provides the information needed with commands...
Hide Information in Images
9.7.2018
If you’ve followed this blog, you know that I’m obsessed with figuring out every way to interact with, abuse, and convert different types of media. Whether it’s images, video, or audio, if something can be changed or exploited, I want to figure out how to do it. I remember...
Count Frames in an Animated GIF
26.6.2018
The animated GIF always makes me chuckle; on one hand they seem like a relic of the “old web”, on the other hand they aren’t going anywhere and their meme-like presence seem to only make them more popular. If you browse through my media blog posts archives, you’ll notice...
How to Delete Untracked Files in a Mercurial Repository
29.5.2018
Working around Firefox at Mozilla means that you need to get acquainted with mercurial, the version control system that rivals git and svn. Like any tool, hg (mercurial) can be difficult until you’re well versed with it. And if you hg import a URL that doesn’t match up with...
Regain Disk Space from Homebrew
21.5.2018
One of my favorite utilities is Homebrew, the shell utility for installing and upgrading other utilities — it’s a lazy developer’s dream. Dreams can easily turn to nightmares, however, and I recently learned that Homebrew caches older versions of installed packages, leading...
Reset File Changes with git
25.4.2018
There are many different philosophies when it comes to code review but mine is fairly simple: I like receiving early “work in progress” patches, I like to be positive in my code review messages, and if a patch is 90% there, I like to finish the patch myself so the project...
Set a Default Push Remote with git
27.3.2018
During my early days of git usage, my config allowed me to simply type git push instead of git push {origin} {branch_name} which I need to now. Up until recently I needed to type out the long version…(I know)…which was incredibly annoying because I like using detailed branch names....