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How to unTAR a .bz2 file in Linux

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I always forget how to unTAR a .bz2 file – perhaps this little memory aid will help me remember for the future. tar -xjvf filename.bz2 This will do the trick 🙂 The key to the magic is to provide the j switch, which tells the TAR command to use bzip2 compression.

How to fix the greyed out option for Scheduled Videos on YouTube

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For several times I’ve experienced an issue with the YouTube Creator Studio Classic, in which I can’t seem to schedule new videos. The error manifests after hitting upload, with all appearance options available except for Scheduled (so Public, Unlisted and Private are all available, but Scheduled is greyed out). So what’s going on here? I … Read more

Beauty meets Endurance: Ruipu Q80 Power Bank Review

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Ruipu have released a new 24,000mAh Power Bank. Being extremely satisfied with their other Solar Power Banks, I though I’d give this one a spin. It has some interesting features that I though were worth exploring.

First of all, the Ruipu Q80 is a thing of beauty: it’s made of white plastic with a faux leather pattern ingrained. It even has “stitches” embossed on the sides, as if it’s made of white leather. It’s not though – it’s standard plastic, but it just looks gorgeous.

Features

The Q80 has FOUR USB outputs, and all of them can be used at the same time. That’s right!  You can charge up four devices at once. Even better, ALL ports support fast charging, delivering up to 2.1A if a capable device can handle this much power. The iPhone 6 and above for example and several other gadgets all support fast charging.

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Western Digital My Passport Ultra Review

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After several months of use, here’s what I found out about the WD MyPassport Ultra external USB 3 hard drive. Mine is the White/Gold edition with a whopping 4TB of storage.

In the box was a matching white USB 3 to SATA cable, a leaflet with extremely small writing on it, and the drive itself contained some software to do backups and encryption – all of which is available from the Western Digital website.

I bought this drive in May 2018 from Amazon to exchange large amounts of data between my Mac and my Windows system. Therefore, I chose to format the drive in exFAT so that both operating systems can read and write to it without issues, and to accommodate long video files in excess of 2GB.

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How to download older versions of macOS after Mojave was released

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My good old MacBook Pro from 2011 can only supports macOS up until 10.13 High Sierra. It’s been purring along nicely with macOS 10.12 Sierra for the last couple of years, and I didn’t see the need to upgrade just yet. Why risk breaking things that are working, right?

A couple of weeks ago, macOS 10.14 Mojave was released, with which my MacBook is sadly no longer compatible (not officially at least). So when I searched for “High Sierra” on the Mac App store, I was surprised to learn that it didn’t come up. It appears that only the very latest macOS release is available to download from the Mac App Store.

So now the $100k question is: How can I get an official copy of macOS High Sierra, now that Mojave is out? I’ve never downloaded it before, therefore it doesn’t show up in my “previous purchases” tab either. Have I missed my 12 month window to download the last operating system that’s compatible with my hardware?

Lucky for us, Apple have made some contingencies. I did some research and found several older Mac operating system for ya’ll’s enjoyment. Might come in handy 😉

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Blue Yeti vs ZAFFIRO – Microphone Comparison ASIN B07BVRQD8G

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I was looking for another desktop USB microphone for my second desk. Currently I’m using a wonderful Blue Yeti with my Mac on my main desk (or Studio A as we like to call it), and every time I do a screencast or podcast on my Windows workstation (or Studio B as we’d like to call it), I have to bring over the Blue Yeti.

So I discovered the ZAFFIRO Desktop USB Mic, for over $100 less. I thought I’d give it a spin – and I really like it. Here’s what I found after a couple of weeks of working with it.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 10:35 — 9.7MB)

Ruipu Power Bank Review: 24000 mA⋅h with Solar Panels (and how to use it)

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Last year, in September 2017, I ordered a RUIPU 24,000 mAh Solar Power Bank in preparation for Hurricane Irma here in Florida. I’ve had a whole year’s worth of experience with this gadget and decided to buy another one.

This thing rocks! Let me tell you all about it, and how to use it in this review.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 22:05 — 20.2MB)