Ctrl blog

A comparison of the many different methods for embedding SVG into HTML webpages. Which work best with light/dark-mode, client cacheing, interactive mode, and more.

Google hasn’t turned Chrome into a feed reader, but it does use Atom and RSS feeds to let visitors follow any website. Here are more details on how it works.

A brief history of where news/syndication feeds (“RSS“) went wrong, and how Google Chrome might just have found the right place for it in the Chrome web browser.

Fixing the News Media and Digital Platform Bargaining Code

The Australian “link tax” levied on digital platforms linking to news is overly broad. Here’s an idea for how to better target it and narrow its scope.

How I fixed the intermittent Wi-Fi dropouts on my MacBook

The Wi-Fi on my MacBook Pro has intermittently stopped working. (Likely a Broadcom driver issue.) Here’s how I turned a simple workaround into a more permanent fix.

Deciding between self-hosting a Bitwarden server or KeePass/KeePassXC as your password manager? The decision comes down to security, complexity, and backups.

How to change keyboard layout on the GNOME and Plasma login screens

Neither GNOME nor Plasma’s settings app has an option to change the keyboard layout on the login screen. Here’s how you make the change through the terminal.

Bing preferred XML and machine-readable file formats over human-readable ones in its search results. How link canonicalization helped rectify the situation.

Your clipboard is only as secure as your device

A review/critique of the complexity, security, and unpredictable user experience of modern feature-laden copy–paste clipboards in today’s operating systems.

EdgeDeflector 1.2 addresses installation woes

The new EdgeDeflector version 1.2 introduces a new installation flow to accommodate Windows 10 further locking down user file and protocol association settings.

WSLg simplifies running Linux desktop apps on Windows

Microsoft has added support for running graphical Linux programs with Wayland on your Windows 10 desktop environment to the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

Superfeedr sends logins in plain-text (a HSTS case study)

Superfeedr tried securing its website with HTTPS and HSTS, but failed to apply it correctly. User emails and credentials are sent in plain-text on the first login.

Google FeedBurner (the RSS enhancer and analytics suite) hasn’t received much attention in the last decade. Google now deprecates feed-to-email and more features.

The thing about The Thing About Harry

A cute and positive LGBT romance movie is a rare treat! Unfortunately, The Thing About Harry isn’t available to international audiences outside the U.S.

Lower the paywalls to keep the bullshit at bay

It doesn’t matter if great information exists if no one can access it. “The Truth is Paywalled; but the Lies are Free.” Can micro-payments save news and the web?

What is the best file format for web shortcuts

You can store links on your file system in .URL, .LNK, .WebLoc, .Desktop, and .HTML files. But which is the best format fr your bookmark files?

Third-party extension not enough to address Coil’s transparency issues

PayTracker keeps a record of Web Monetization micro-payments made through Coil, but the extension alone isn’t enough to fix Coil’s transaction transparency issue.

A sync bug in Standard Notes kept deleting my notes

Update (2021-06-04): Lead-developer Mo Bitar says the dataloss issue has been fixed in recent versions of Standard Notes. He says the underlying issue was caused by a timing issue (“race-condition”) during data synchronization. I’ve not confirmed the fix; as this issue lead me to switch to Joplin. Though, now might be the time to give Standard Notes another try.

Windows Timeline browser add-on raises few privacy concerns

Update (2021-05-31): The Timeline extension is no longer available for download. A critical component required to handle logins no longer works. Microsoft has also announced the removal of the Timeline feature from Windows 10.

Run Windows 10 in GNOME Boxes

Article updated at 2021-05-09.

EdgeDeflector gets Windows 10 to respect your default browser setting

Article updated at 2021-05-09.

How to enable hibernation on Fedora

Article updated at 2021-05-03.

How to resize ZRAM (compressed swap) managed by systemd/zram-generator

Update (2021-05-03): Fedora 34 changed the default maximum zram size from 4 GB to 8 GB, and from 25 % to 50 % of physical RAM. The swap-create@zram0.service was also renamed to systemd-zram-setup@zram0.service.