Gamestop.com recently had a crazy sale on a 1TB external NVME for $50. It’s hard to get a 1TB SSD for that price, let alone an NVMe one with an enclosure. But what kind of drive is inside? Is it shuckable? Turns out the internal drive is much more Blue than Black. Here’s what Hard Disk Sentinel told me: Turns… Read more →
Category: Blog
How to Fix Missing Comments after Upgrading to WordPress 5.5+ (Arcade/Arcade Basic Themes)
This website is old, and uses a long unsupported theme called Arcade Basic. This means it, like many other prehistoric themes, often breaks in fun and varying ways when I upgrade to a newer WordPress version. The latest snafu my website ran into upon a recent WordPress upgrade was all my posts were missing comments! Users could still comment and… Read more →
Bots, Please: How to Snag an Xbox Series X (or S) for Below MSRP Using Chrome Developer Tools
So far, the only winners of the Xbox Series X/S launch are those with bots instantly draining inventory from retailers as soon as they go in stock. But it turns out the arguably most reputable seller of the Xbox makes it pretty darn easy to snag one if you know how to insert JavaScript into Chrome and have a little… Read more →
Undervolting 2020 Dell Laptops like the Vostro 7500 and More Tips to Improve Thermals, Battery Life, and Speed
2021 Update: Based on post and Reddit comments, the approach to unlock undervolting works for a number of models, including the XPS, Inspiron, G5, 11th Generation Intel processors, and 2021 Dell models and other lines. If it works for you, please leave a comment below so others may know! Disclaimer: Changing voltages or editing BIOS settings not surfaced by your… Read more →
How to Fix Noise / Snow / Display Issues with Netflix on 1440p (QHD) Resolutions Over DVI
2020 was a terrible year for people, but a pretty good one for monitor manufacturers. I got an ASUS PB277Q monitor for working from home, which features a nice 1440p (2560×1440) resolution and HDMI, DVI, VGA, and DisplayPort inputs. I found the DVI port was able to handle the max 1440p resolution at the max refresh rate…most of the time.… Read more →
Bad Apples: iPhone 6s Won’t Turn On and Outside of Warranty? You May Still Be in Luck
If you Google steps for how to troubleshoot an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you’ll get plenty of suggestions: let it charge for 30 minutes, try different power chargers, perform a hard reset (holding the sleep/wake and home buttons at the same time for 10+ seconds), and more. But if you, like me, try all these steps and still… Read more →
Google Places API Alternative in React Native: TomTom Fuzzy Search API + react-native-autocomplete-input
On July 16, 2018, pricing changes for Google’s Map and Places APIs went into effect that priced out many developers, including myself, from using them anymore. (My API usage used to fall within their free tier usage, but would now cost me about a grand a month with their new pricing structure. Goodbye, Google!) And so began the hunt for… Read more →
31MH/s Ethereum BIOS Mod for the HP OEM AMD Radeon RX 480 w/ Samsung Memory
Note: These directions worked for me when using the card on a Z97-based motherboard with AMD Radeon Driver version 16.9.2. As always, be wary of flashing any custom BIOS as there is always a risk of bricking your card. On 6/19 Frys had a great sale for the HP Pavilion 560-p015hvr desktop PC. So there are now HP OEM RX… Read more →
Sapphire Nitro Radeon RX 470 (11256-10-20G) Custom BIOS Modding w/ Elpida Memory
Figured I’d leave my experience with getting my Ethereum mining hashrate up for anyone who has the same card as me, which appears to be a new variant of the (non-plus!) Nitro Radeon RX 470: 1. Bought a Sapphire Nitro (NOT Nitro+) Radeon RX 470 with the SKU 11256-10-20G and batch number A1722 2. Stock ETH hashrate using Claymore miner… Read more →
How to Test Surge Pricing in the Uber API Sandbox Environment (Java/Android Rides SDK)
Uber has released a Rides SDK to open its API up to developers in a slew of different packages (Java, Python, Android, and iOS). But it’s new, so hunting down answers on StackOverflow or in its docs isn’t easy. One of the trickiest parts of Uber’s Rides SDK is handling surge pricing. You have to redirect users to a Uber page for them to confirm acceptance of surge… Read more →