softwarelaboratory

[softwarelaboratory]

#any.do

To share a task with your partner, you need to ceate a workspace. However, this is not a free facility.

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I am after a shared todo list app for household management.

Currently I am using todoist, but it has problems scheduling dates with tasks getting postponed, and reoccuring dates getting rescheduled.

#todo #todoist

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Best cloud storage service for personal use is idrive (currently 149 USD for two years for 10TB). They do state normal price is 99USD per year, but that still beats Google prices by a significant margin.

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I am looking to buy a drone, so I am currently testing drone control apps.

This is article 1 of drone control apps.

First app tested is Q1 GPS by guanxukeji

This is for the peainabox Q1 gps drone.

App does not appear to be tainted by adverts and the language is in english.

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This is article 18 about tumblr.

Yuck! In app purchases. I hate those.

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I am looking for analternative platform to replace tumblr

I found this list of alternatives, so I hope to start testing some of these:

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Lost Articles

Some of the articles in this blog have been lost due to a bug in tumblr.

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Google Docs

This is the first in a series of posts showing the bugs and issues I have found in Google Docs.

Bug 1 Tables slide left and right as you scroll up and down through the document causing the document to become misaligned.

Bug 2 Table widths are inconsistent. If you put one table under another there is no obvious way to make them span the same width on the page.

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Tumblr

This is Article 17 about Tumblr.

There is yet another couple of bugs with Tumblr. When trying to copy the text from an article (such as required following a post to an incorrect blog or for dome other reason), it is necessary to go into edit mode for the article otherwise the text selection tools do not appear (Bug Number 1 of Article 17).

Once in the editor, the select all tool does not always select all the text but selects just a single line. Trying to move the selection head and tail to envelope the text body does not work and instead the text body of the article becomes rearranged. To add to the annoyance we are in edit mode due to Bug Number 1 of Article 17. (Bug Number 2 of Article 17).

[softwarelaboratory]

21st March 2020

I've decided to stop using Dolphin Browser. It gets progressively worse with each update. It no longer provides the ellipses for video playback, the address bar can contain fake information (a serious security flaw), the browser was also removing typed information from the google search box, and making up random searches. It also has security flaws that could result in confidential information to be accidentally shared, because of the way that the menus are structured, and the browser has been getting slower and crashing more frequently.

[softwarelaboratory]

This is article 16 about Tumblr. Here I show a screenshot with the blog on screen, the blog selector, and the compose button. So why can’t the developers get this working? Why do articles keep getting posted to the wrong blog?

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Koodous Antivirus

This package weighs in at 18.7Mb. It shows what is being scanned, but again does not have a log file. The app sends collaborative data about the scans taking place to a central community.

[softwarelaboratory]

AVL Pro

This antivirus package weights in at about 21.7MB. It shows which app is being scanned as it runs, and it has a modular design allowing non essential features such as a task manager to be incorporated. It has a built in app analyzer which lists app permissions. This was not a module, so could not be removed. There is no log viewer, so it is not clear if on access scans are taking place. There is no noticeable lag from the app, but the manual scan is quite slow.

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Bornaria Antivirus

This lightweight package at just 3.55 Mb seems to be pretty decent. It has facilties for system and full scan, on access scanning and produces a log file so you can check scan resuts. It has some sort of app audit facility and can detect some advertising facilities being utilized by the application. There is also a rudimentary modified file detector, but I am not sure of the effectiveness of this. I have installed updates, and they do not show in the modified file list. The app also includes some sort of network report showing socket statuses. I would remove this and make it a separate tool, slightly reducing the app resources, because it is not really what I would consider within the scope of antivirus as it stands. However, a reasonable package overall.

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Antivirus Plus

This lightweight package by Zr technologies is just 1.55 Mb. The system scan and data scan just show as a count from 0 to 100, so you have no way of knowing what was scanned. Again there is no log facility either.

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Chomar Antivirus

This weighs in at a hefty 36.5 Mb. As it scans, you can see what it is scanning, and it has a quarantine facility. The only thing this seems to be missing is an activity log, so that you can see what was scanned. I am not noticing any lag as a result of using this package, so I guess that CPU utilization is at an acceptable level.

[softwarelaboratory]

How I Make Software Choices

For me, software packages must be unbloated and simplistic. I prefer simple tools that do a single job over a bundled or multipurpose suite. I do not tolerate advertisements, so any software that displays banners is removed almost immediately. I look at system resource usage and usually favour the least resource hungry. I like to choose my own colours and layouts. I expect no inherent restrictions. I do not expect problems with accessibility issues. I like language packs to be bundled separately, rather than having my storage space filled with junk. I don’t mind plugins or modules being made available to extend functionality. I like to be able to use google drive to store my data. I like apps to be able to function offline. I prefer open source solutions to proprietary solutions and I prefer easy read languages encoded in ascii if this is an option.