AdBlock : Use with Caution

AdBlock : Use with Caution

The following article is not about how i'll be paid by ads since i have too few readers to get consistent rewards with AdSense (and that's not to get money that i tried it, but only to understand its mechanism).
This is more about how big websites need advertisement to survive without the need of creating "premium accounts".



Advertisement is the way Internet content is kept free to browse: 
There are mainly two types of system : 

• Either you pay to get things 
• Or the creator needs another option to get rewards even if the user pay nothing.

Advertisement is the second option. The reader don't have to pay anything, but as a drawback he has to stand ads all other the articles.

All is a matter of compromise : 

• Blog writer shouldn't apply intrusive ads not to clutter up the blog
• Blog reader should stand non-invasive ads and only blocks big ones that destroy user-experience.

To support websites make sure you don't block ads on them or that you correctly setup AdBlock to allow "acceptable ads" ==> this is enabled by default, and NEEDS to be kept like this : 

Why is this feature enabled by default? Unfortunately, this is the only way to accomplish the goals described above. But if the majority of Adblock Plus users have this function activated, advertisers will have the incentive to produce better ads.

This doesn't work correctly on Youtube since all ads are blocked there.
a 30 seconds ads at the beginning of a 20 minutes video is nothing bad. Stand with it and enjoy the video supporting the youtuber !
Here is an excellent video (in French) about Ads and Adblock on youtube :

I might write an article about how AdSense works on my blog as soon as i better understand its mechanism...

Recycling an old VHS-recorder Power Supply

Recycling an old VHS-recorder Power Supply

>>>Part 2 <<<

A week ago an old broken VHS-recorder came home, driving belts were Out of Order, the 3.7V battery was leaked and the board partially burnt : nothing to get out of this?

In fact many things can be recovered : 

• Screws
• Springs
• Metal housing
• Motors

But that's not all, since Power Supply didn't looked destroyed, maybe we can find another life for it?

   

First there is a need to know which outputs are common, and then which Voltages are used.

Common outputs (pins):

A quick look to the PCB shows a lot of common wires, a closer look shows the following (verified using a multimeter : 0Ω indicates that the wires are common.)

Numbers are counted from left to right when looking to the port like this :

==> The two groups of pins that are in grey are common.

==> There is a 2Ω resistivity between pins 1 and 2, so i'm not sure they could be considered as common.

Assuming that Antenna blocks are linked to ground and that there is a 0Ω result between Antenna, pins 7:10;17:18, and a large amount of 'open' places on MotherBoard : pins 7:10;17:18 can be considered as ground (i hope so).

Now, Voltages: 

So there are a large range of Voltages available, but i'll mostly use 12V pins to power PC Fans and a future project i have  :

>>> here is the 2x5W audio amplifier project <<<

>>> here is the 2x5W audio amplifier project <<<

AChep's HeadUp

What does AChep's HeadsUp do more than embedded CM11 HeadsUp notifications?

Not much at first, the goal is the same : display notifications in a popup so that user can read them without dragging notification menu.

What are the CM11 feature limits? No dark/light theme No timeout settings Touch outside will dismiss without any possibility for user to change that.

What does AChep's HeadsUp better? Dark/light theme User configurable timeout before autodismiss Minimum priority needed by a notification to access HeadsUp Hide on Touch outside can be (en/dis)abled by user Blacklist capabilities (both prevent notifications in specified app AND prevent specified apps from getting access to HeadsUp notification

Some Screenshots

Xposed and Moto G (2)

Xposed & Moto G

Here are a few Xposed modules i currently use on my device [XT1032] (in addition to CM11) : 

Simply click on the links to get more about these modules

• Acdisplay by AChep (Apps' additional module)
• AcitvityForceNewTask by GermainZ
• CrappaLinks by GermainZ
• Identiconizer! by GermainZ (Apps' additional module)
• PlayPermissionsExposed by GermainZ
• CpuTemp in Statusbar by m11kkaa
• Greenify by oasisfeng (Apps' additional module)
• Unbounce by cryptyk
• MagnetOff by dubidu (disabled atm, but i enable it when needed)
• Play Store Fixes by rovo89 (disabled)
• XForceEnter by CNexus (disabled)

For another device i had to set up [XT1039, MotoG LTE] for 'standard End-User' in addition to Motorola Stock ROM : 

• Acdisplay by AChep (Apps' additional module)
• Greenify by oasisfeng (Apps' additional module)
• GravityBox [KK] by C3C076
• APM+ by kennethso168
• Unbounce by cryptyk

Quick Review (part2) : Hybrid armor case for MotoG

Quick Review (part2) : Hybrid armor case for MotoG

>> Read part 1 if you didn't already <<

>> You may want to protect your screen too <<
>> Part 3 : the Pink one <<

A while ago (middle of june 2014) i had bought a 'heavy duty' case for my Falcon and made an 'out-of-the-box' review. It is now time to see how it survived to life:

As said in previous review, i didn't use kickstand and pocket clip features that i simply removed.

Device protection The device fell on the floor a few times without phone destruction (the added thickness above screen protected it, same for camera lens and other vital parts).

Corners of the cases obviously got some little scratches : 

Looks like the rubber part perfectly absorbs shocks and preserves the device.

I didn't pay attention to my falcon at all, being confident with the extra-protection added by the case.

Wear and tear Blue-Jeans are quite abrasive stuff, so they produce some scratches in the angles

Pretty descent for a 3 month heavy usage (the case have never been removed from device until today)

Dust Rubber loves dust ...

So here is the inside : 

Less dust stuck there than expected.

And the device?? I can't say it looks like a brand new device, but there are no major flaws

Funny fact: 
The model number is molded in the rubber part : 

Looks like it is reported on the device's back cover now ...

Conclusion :  A great case that does the job it is meant to. Efficient: performance and low cost.  Resistant: not much wear and tear despite quite hard conditions Little flaws that had already been pointed out in part1, but are acceptable for the price.

There might be a part 3 in a few months to follow this case ageing...

battleforthenet.com

https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/

Why 4GB of RAM is too few for little dev

After a long struggle to get OpenJDK7, the AndroidSDK, Android Studio and git all working together ...

https://github.com/AChep/AcDisplay

I could finally build AcDisplay's debug flavour succesfully. All i can say is that my 'old' ASUS K52JT is a little too weak to do this more often : 

Acdisplay is a really small app that doesn't need much resources to run on the android device, but building needs lots of RAM!

Thanks to Artem for his help to get this working and for the app itself!


Here is a newbie-friendly script to automate git syncing to be run in ~/AcDisplay folder : 

#!/bin/bash 

#Syncing script to be run in ~/AcDisplay folder 

git fetch AcDisplay 

git merge AcDisplay/master 

echo "done succesfully" 

sleep 10