Ctrl blog

What happened to BitTorrent’s Project Maelstrom web browser?

In 2015, BitTorrent Inc introduced a P2P-revolution for website distribution. But it got side-tracked by investors ogling the “content” business along the way.

Which file systems support file cloning

You can instantly clone files on many copy-on-write (CoW) file systems. But how do you do that in different operating and file systems?

Network routers are just computers

Network routers are neither appliances nor magic; they’re computers and computers require ongoing maintenance and security patching. But who’s job is that?

KMail account trouble

I’ve always wanted to use KMail. However, I always run into problems trying to use it. Unfortunately, this time was no different than my past experiences.

Linux on Lenovo ThinkPad T14: great except the webcam/mic

Lenovo continues its tradition of excellent Linux hardware support on the ThinkPad T14. Except minor issues with the built-in webcams and microphone.

Fretted M.2 connector cause difficult-to-diagnose performance slowdown

A fretted PCIe M.2 connector between the mainboard and an M.2 SATA SSD drive caused intermittent and difficult-to-diagnose Windows 10 performance problems.

Fix Linux suspend on low battery and prolong your battery life

How to troubleshot and fix issues with laptops not suspending on critically under low battery conditions. As a bonus, learn how to prolong your battery life.

How to install Corel AfterShot Pro 3 on Fedora 32

Corel hasn’t maintained the RPM dependencies for AfterShot Pro 3; making it difficult to install its RAW photo editor on recent versions of Fedora Linux.

The difference between RDFa’s property and rel attributes

You can easily get unexpected HTML+RDFa Lite parsing results by unknowingly using it with RDFa Core attributes that just happens to also be HTML attributes.

The $10 LensPen Hurricane Blower vs a $1 air puffer

Comparing a cheap air puffer to a brand-name model. You get what you pay for, even when it comes to a simple product like an air puffer/blower.

Review of Firefox “Daylight” for Android

The new Firefox version for Android comes with big changes under the hood, but also drops support for thousands of extensions, and is less configurable.

The hoops I jump through to be an Amazon customer in Norway

I browse for items on Amazon UK, ordered through Amazon Germany, items get shipped from the UK through Denmark, and somehow still arrive in Norway in two days.

The distributed web isn’t ready for Runet cutoff from the Internet

Update (2020-09-23): The Dat protocol has since become the Hypercore Protocol and no longer relies on a centralized tracking server.

Embed XMP sidecars into image files with embed_xmp

Update (2020-09-02): I’ve now uploaded the source repository and opened an issue tracker for this project on Codeberg.

Software downloads now contain unique tracking identifiers

Update (2020-08-20): I didn’t discuss the security implications of this when I wrote this article. It turns out that people have found ways to append entire executable Java programs on Windows in this way. As far as Windows was concerned, it wouldn’t see any problems with executing the entirely wrong and unsigned program as long as the main portion of the program file was signed. Ouch.

Which CDN providers support stale-while-revalidate?

Update (2020-07-29): Cloudflare has been added to the table. It supports RFC 5861 even on its free tier, but only when the Origin Cache Control feature is enabled.

Reduce the bandwidth requirements for keeping Fedora up to date

Article updated at 2020-07-24.