Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Internet

Google Is Shutting Down Their URL Shortener, so I Created a Custom One

Categories Internet, Rants, Technology

I've used the goo.gl URL shortener for a while to create short links for all manner of things, but especially for sharing links to this blog on the social medias. So, it was to my surprise when I went to create one yesterday for my most recent post, that I saw the announcement that they are terminating their service, in favour of their Firebase product.

All I need is a quick way to create short URLs, and for the life of me I couldn't even figure out how to create one as they suggest using a 'dynamic link' … Read more →

Tweets for 2017

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

These are my tweets for 2017 (sans replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

  • I think I've re-fallen back in love with Rocket League 💙 Jan 02, 2017
  • So that's it? Just Zelda as the proper launch title for the Nintendo Switch? You're not getting my money at launch just for that Nintendo! Jan 13, 2017
  • $470 for the Switch here in AU?! Yeah, nah. Jan 13, 2017
  • This is a chronicle of my life! https://t.co/TQUq4bIFTu Jan 27, 2017
  • Those drones did a pretty awesome
… Read more →

Tweets for 2016

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

Twitter 2016

These are my tweets for 2016 (sans replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

… Read more →

Similar Look, New Theme

Categories Geekery, Internet

After a slow start to the year, I've done a lot of posting in the past month. So I also thought it might be time to tweak the look of the site.

Although the look remains similar., I've just enabled a new theme. The older theme was a bit bloated and wasn't being maintained by its creator any more, but I think that I got good use out of it since I switched my blog to WordPress just over 4 years ago.

I wanted a more lightweight theme that was still easy to customise, and I think I found … Read more →

Now Secure! Enabling Let’s Encrypt HTTPS

Categories Geekery, Internet

LucasCosti.com SecuredWell, that was easy. It just took me about five minutes to get this website going with a free SSL/TLS certificate using Let's Encrypt as the certificate authority. LucasCosti.com now has a padlock! 😀

Side note:  here's a nice post explaining the confusing terminology of SSL vs. TLS, and I like Google's approach of sticking to HTTPS, where possible.

My host (Zuver, a VentraIP subsidiary) made the process of generating a Let's Encrypt certificate ridiculously easy. It was pretty much just logging into their admin portal and clicking a button for the domain.

The only things that … Read more →

Vale NoSquint

Categories Internet, Rants

I wrote about four years ago that one of the main reasons I still use Firefox as my default browser is because of the fantastic NoSquint extension, which allowed me to persistently set a larger text size for readability.

It was with great sadness (and distress!) that I discovered today that NoSquint is no longer being maintained, and that it has stopped working as of Firefox v47.

Before I go on to alternatives, I have to publicly thank Jason Tackaberry for 10 years of fantastic support for this extension. That NoSquint has worked flawlessly over 10 years of browser … Read more →

Tweets for 2015

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

twitter-year-2015

These are my tweets for 2015 (minus replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

  • Watched the recent Hobbit movie today, and I think the moment I stopped taking it seriously was when the drop bear happened. Jan 02, 2015
  • First sighting in Brisbane! Still waiting for a test drive 🙁 @TeslaMotors http://t.co/UwwlxsbYZP Jan 03, 2015
  • Me fail English? That's unpossible! https://t.co/axARHljtWz Jan 05, 2015
  • Awww, the first launch I was watching live in a while, just got scrubbed 🙁 http://t.co/0zEiwaTzgB... http://t.co/1eFDmjOrds Jan 06, 2015
… Read more →

Back to Cable & New Router

Categories Geekery, Internet, Technology

Asus RT-AC68UIt took almost three months of laborious, will-testing, patience-stretching torture, but I have finally bested the beast. We are now back on Telstra cable as our internet connection.

The reason for the move back to Telstra (whom I have no love for), was initiated by TPG's takeover bid for iiNet (owner of Internode), which the iiNet board has recommended. There aren't many companies in the world that I would say I am mortal enemies with, but TPG is one (and the only other would be Samsung).

Although I have loved the five years I have spent with Internode, there … Read more →

Tweets for 2014

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

twitter-year-2014These are my tweets for 2014 (minus replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the Twitter API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

  • Obligatory "daaaayuuumm it's hoooott" comment. Jan 04, 2014
  • Nothing like waking up to Arsenal beating Spurs 😀 Jan 05, 2014
  • Today marks 10 years since I started my blog! I can't believe how quickly a decade has gone. Special '10 year' post: http://t.co/hUiNMGbRBn Jan 05, 2014
  • *facepalm* RT @GuardianAus: UK porn filter blocks game update that contained 'sex' http://t.co/EZb47pMgsC Jan 22, 2014
  • 'Her' is definitely worth a watch: http://t.co/FnBVpE5RhW Jan 25,
… Read more →

Three Days Without Internet

Categories Internet, Technology

Keep calm there is no internetThis past week, we were without internet for a full three days. It doesn't seem like much, but I can't remember a time in the past 10 years that we were completely without our main internet connection for so long (disregarding temporary connection performance issues).

I'm not sure what caused it, and despite Internode's (my ISP) best efforts, Telstra haven't given any explanation as to why my whole phone line was unceremoniously disconnected. Internode were great throughout the whole ordeal, keeping me informed every day (sometimes multiple times), and proactively noticing another Telstra stuff-up before I did: Telstra originally only … Read more →