Terence Eden. He has a beard and is smiling.

Terence Eden’s Blog

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SlideShare is selling your old slides - here's how to stop it

· 2 comments · 200 words · Viewed ~368 times


Screenshot saying "Want to download this document? Download with a free trial."

Remember SlideShare? It's where we used to upload PowerPoints back in the day. It was easier than emailing them around. I think. No one really remembers. I think they got bought by LinkedIn? Anyway, they're now owned by Scribd. If someone visits one of your old slideshows and wants to download it, Scribd will charge them US$10 per month for membership! What a rip off! Of course, Scribd don't…

How to fix an upgraded Firefox profile

· 2 comments · 150 words · Viewed ~2,620 times


Using an older version of Firefox can corrupt bookmarks and browsing history already saved in your existing FireFox profile. To protect your information, create a new profile for this installation of firefox.

I'm an idiot. I ran a new version of Firefox nightly without creating a new profile. When I went to run my regular Firfox, I got this error message: Here's how I fixed it. Close down Firefox Open a terminal and run: firefox --allow-downgrade Let Firefox start up and create a new profile. Then go to: about:profiles You'll see something like this: Select "Set as default profile" and click…

Book Review: Such Big Teeth - by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch (Darkwood Book 2)

· 400 words


Book cover with a snarling wolf on it.

The Battle of Nearby Village is over, and deep in the Darkwood, Gretel and her friends journey into the hostile mountains of the north, seeking new allies in their fight against the huntsmen. There they find Gilde the Bear Witch, along with a Werewolf named Scarlett and a winged man named Hex. Meanwhile, Hansel and Daisy set off on a dangerous trip of their own to the Citadel, where they end up …

Gadget Review: SubbyTech Magnetic Charge & Sync Cables

· 4 comments · 600 words


Five small pins on the head of a cable.

I've been raving about how magnetic chargers are the future. Paul from SubbyTech offered to send me some of their cables to review: Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentMagnetic chargers are the future shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/09/m…shkspr.mobiMagnetic chargers are the futureApparently, Apple plans to make a port-less iPhone which only uses wireless charging. This is something I predicted 7 years ago! Q…

Gadget Review: Seek Thermal Compact Infrared Camera

· 2 comments · 700 words · Viewed ~1,263 times


A small camera with a big lens.

Winter is coming! And, as such, I want to check which parts of my house are leaking heat. So, the natural solution is to buy an Infrared Camera and point it at things! The Seek Thermal is a curious beast. While you can buy Android phones with built in thermal cameras, and dedicated devices, this is an add-on. Plug it into your existing phone, download an app, and off you go. In theory! …

Buying obsolete keyboards - Microsoft 4000

· 14 comments · 500 words · Viewed ~1,390 times


Photo of an ergonomic keyboard.

The MS 4000 keyboard is the best typing experience that I've ever found. I have one in my home office, one in my work's office, and one spare. But, at some point in the last 18 months of working from home, my work keyboard has gone walkabout. Oh well, a good excuse to buy a new one! Except - sadly - Microsoft have discontinued it. Don't get me wrong, you can buy a "4000" branded keyboard - but …

Change how fast your cursor blinks in Firefox

· 100 words


(Mostly written to prevent me forgetting) In about:config add this setting ui.caretBlinkTime of type integer. Then set the number to how many milliseconds between blinks. 250 is very quick, 500 is about normal. I tend to go for about 400. Set it to 0 if you don't want it to blink at all. Click the ✅ button and your caret blink speed will immediately change. You can see more configuration o…

New Batteries Make Everything Better

· 4 comments · 400 words · Viewed ~292 times


Graph showing 5% battery left after 28 hours.

It has been 4 years since I got my OnePlus 5T. For a mobile geek like me, that's unbearably long! In recent months, the phone has become temperamental and the battery barely made it through the day without a couple of charges. Using the OnePlus Diagnostic Tool, I could see that battery health had fallen below 50%. New batteries cost around £15 on eBay - and come with the tools needed to …

DVD Review: The Invisible Enemy

· 1 comment · 500 words


DVD cover.

This is such an unfairly maligned Doctor Who story. It is chock-full of brilliant high-concept Sci-Fi ideas. Even the spelling on the stencilled doors and windows rewards the careful viewer with little insights into the far future. This is heavily "inspired" by Fantastic Voyage - and I think that's great; Doctor Who has always ripped off other sci-fi. It introduces younger viewers to concepts…

Opting Out of TurnItIn

· 5 comments · 950 words · Viewed ~702 times


Screenshot of TurnItIn displaying a list of my blog posts.

The web service TurnItIn is a "plagiarism detector". Lots of universities use it to assess whether their students are copy-n-pasting content which they haven't written. I'm not a big fan of it. First, I'll explain how to opt-out your websites. Then I'll explain why I don't like the service. Block Their Robot TurnItIn scans the web and records everything on your website. It then uses that to…

Magnetic chargers are the future

· 4 comments · 350 words · Viewed ~281 times


5 magnetic USB cables.

Apparently, Apple plans to make a port-less iPhone which only uses wireless charging. This is something I predicted 7 years ago! Qi - the wireless charging standard - is excellent. Put your phone down on a mat, or in a cradle, and it starts charging. Lovely! But there's a problem. You can't pick up your phone while it's charging. How many times have you lain on the sofa, cord tethered twixt…

Movie Review: Free Guy

· 300 words


Movie poster.

It always amuses me how rarely American actors are allowed to act. Ryan Reynolds stars as Ryan Reynolds - with the exact same delivery and intonation as all his other rôles. The same semi-improvised witty asides. The same fourth-wall breaking memes. Hey, look, it works for him and audiences seem to love it. I just think it'd be nifty to see him playing something other than Ryan Reynolds. Anyway, …