Cisco AnyConnect for Linux – save profile

by @edent | # # # | 1 comment
Binary code displayed on a screen.

I couldn’t find a simple guide to this – so these are notes to myself. Create a file called myVPN.xml: <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?> <AnyConnectProfile xmlns=”http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/encoding/” xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xsi:schemaLocation=”http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/encoding/AnyConnectProfile.xsd”> <ServerList> <HostEntry> <HostName>My Work VPN</HostName> <HostAddress>vpn.example.com/connect</HostAddress> </HostEntry> </ServerList> </AnyConnectProfile> Place it in /opt/cisco/anyconnect/profile/ Now, when you launch your VPN client, it will show you your saved hosts. Huge…

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OMG! Twitter release an OFFICIAL conversations API!

by @edent | # # # | 2 comments | Read ~397 times.
An organic, branching tree view of a conversation.

One of the most requested Twitter API features is now available – the ability to get replies to a Tweet as a thread. Long time readers know that I’ve long been a fan of Visualising Twitter Conversations in 2D Space. But up until now you had to use horrible hacks to get the data. As…

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Adding SIP calls to Android – for free!

by @edent | # # # # # # | 7 comments | Read ~277 times.
Config setting screen.

SIP is a stupid acronym. It’s basically a standard way of making phone calls over the Internet. This means you can make and receive phone calls over WiFi. Here’s how I got it working – for free – on Android. By the end of this tutorial you will be able to: Receive calls to a…

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My triple screen set-up for effective online presentations

by @edent | # # # | 4 comments | Read ~540 times.
A computer with three screens.

I recently gave an online presentation at Tech Nottingham. It went off without a hitch, and I got some great feedback. I’d like to briefly discuss the tech that I used to make it all work. Here’s “mission control”: On the left portrait monitor, I had two windows. The top one was Zoom, running in…

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Howto: Disable image pop-ups in WordPress comments

by @edent | # # # #
An mshots popup obscuring the screen.

If you have the Akismet spam plugin for WordPress, you’ll be familiar with this problem. When your mouse pointer goes over any URL, you get a large website preview taking over parts of your screen. I asked for a way to turn this off and I’m happy to say the developers listened! Sadly, there’s no…

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Better Keyboard Buttons in CSS

by @edent | # # # # | 2 comments | Read ~1,022 times.
A pet cat typing on a computer keyboard.

Here’s a simple scrap of CSS which you can Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V kbd { border: .1em solid #aaa; border-radius: 15%; display: inline-block; padding: .1em .5em; background: linear-gradient(180deg, #fff, #fff, #fff, #ddd); user-select: none; cursor: pointer; color: #000; font-weight: bold; } kbd:hover { background: linear-gradient(0deg, #fff, #fff, #fff, #ddd); } Features Semantic use of the kbd…

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Semantic Dates in Wagtail Blog Posts

by @edent | # # #
The HTML5 Logo.

(Written because I couldn’t find an easy guide online.) Here’s the code (formatted for readability): <time datetime=”{{page.first_published_at|date:”c”}}”> {{page.first_published_at|date:”j F Y”}} </time> You can also use last_published_at if it is a page which has been updated. WHY?!??! Semantics. HTML5 contains the <time> element. The contents of it show up as normal running text, but the metadata…

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LED strips for under-bed lighting

by @edent | # # # # | 5 comments | Read ~286 times.
Lights threaded over slats.

When we moved house, we found the previous owners had installed under-cupboard lighting in the kitchen. It uses basic and cheap 12V LED strips. The strips are flexible and have glue on the back. We didn’t like them in the kitchen. So we tried them on the stairs. Trying to work out where I want…

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Finding your most popular Tweets

by @edent | # # # | 1 comment
The Twitter logo drawn in circles.

Twitter’s search interface has all sorts of lovely and obscure options. My three favourites are “min_retweets:”, “min_replies:”, and “min_faves:” Using those filters, you can create a search for Tweets which meet a certain threshold. For example, here are my Tweets which have been liked more than 500 times: twitter.com/search?q=from:edent min_faves:500 Here are the ones which…

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Configuring Pop!_OS – Keyboard lights, fonts, and more

by @edent | # # # # | 1 comment | Read ~571 times.
Font selection panel.

I’ve got a new laptop which runs Linux! These are mostly notes to myself. Fonts First, from the console, install Gnome Tweaks sudo apt install gnome-tweaks Run Tweaks and select “Fonts”. You can swap fonts, boost them, and generally have a good fiddle. Increasing the scaling factor is a good way to boost the size…

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