Consumed Consumer . org

I have bunch of old, dusty laptops running around, and, obviously, I've been working to install linux onto them. Whenever I turn them on, I have to solve the same problems, so rather than repeatedly looking for the solutions I cannot memorize, I'd rather add them here.

Having recently purchased a new Flipper Zero together with a Wi-Fi Dev module and a Video Game (Raspberry Pi) module, I'm writing an updated guide on how to make the best use of these devices.

I recently had an issue with my laptop caused most likely by some software conflict or update. It's not the first time it happened so I document it here in the event it happens again. I'm also not the only one going through this, hopefully it is useful to others as well.

I purchased my gaming laptop ( .ca ) in a hurry, at a time when many others were buying theirs, and was unable to get all that I wanted. Compromises had to be made. But this past December, I took the plunge and upgraded the memory and the hard drive (which was already quite fast, but a little too small).

I have recently resurrected some older devices with flaky connectivity and while ssh-ing into them had to use some terminal tricks (aka multiplexers ) to restore connections if disconnected (or to purposely disconnect/reconnect on long commands). I used tmux where possible, but occasionally only GNU screen was available, making a summary of features opportune.

Youtube is a wonderful platform and its creators deserve to be able to make a living. Many of them actually do by serving Google ads (with Google keeping a significant portion of ad revenue) or, via some Youtube subscription model that was first called Red and now is Premium (this may be inaccurate, I’m not following it closely). If, like me, you dislike a model where Google decides who is worthy of support and who’s not and gets to keep the lion’s share of ad revenue, this article might be for you. If, on the other hand, you have the means to purchase YouTube Premium and don’t have time to waste, go ahead and get it, it’s definitely worth it!

Despite the numerous vulnerabilities and cracking methods around WPA and its successor, a black hat might find themselves brute-forcing a handshake. If the most common list of passwords fails, (a dictionary attack that automated tools generally employ) the next to try is a list of valid phone numbers in that particular area, which can be easily generated.

I recently had the opportunity to benchmark two very similar Acer computers, differing mostly in the kind of Intel processor they shared. I found that only Novabench is worth using.

Not long ago I dropped my old trusty tablet hybrid on the floor and the monitor went blank. I had to quickly purchase a new laptop, which itself was fixed only days ago. I will discuss here how I got a new one and what others can do when their laptop is almost dead to retrieve their data.

There was a time when having a “media center” involved building an HTPC, which was a difficult project to undertake, wrought with frustrations and hardware/software incompatibilities. OTA HDTV came along and many felt left behind just when they had gotten things working. Some experimented with Popcorn while others played with NZBs/NNTP/Usenet downloads. After all these years, one media interface has emerged dominant: XBMC / Boxi / Kodi.

Having recently upgraded my smartphone for the nth time, I found myself needing to automate a few tasks. Unlike my previous foray into Tasker automation however, my new phone is not rooted, nor do I plan to root it anytime soon.

A problem with my (micro) SD card unmounting itself (the famous “unexpectedly removed” error) pushed me to finally backup, root and fully move my apps to the SD card.  

Prompted by the latest Kali update (the rolling Sana), I looked through all my USB stick and decided to update them all. One such stick has Tails, the privacy and anonymity minded OS on a stick with Tor and i2P, used by privacy advocates all over the world (including Edward Snowden).

After playing a bit with Crafty Apps EU’s Tasker we share with you our first two automation profiles, as we think they are simple enough for starters and no phone should be left without them.

I have Windows 10 Enterprise Tech Preview on a "slow release" schedule. However, after each upgrade, I am forced to go through the same activation error: 0x8007007B. Here's how it went last time I fixed it.

After installing Windows, I started playing with it extensively. These are the voyages of the Windows 10 Technical Evaluation, its continuing mission to explore strange new apps and computing paradigms, to seek out better GUIs, to boldly go where no stylus pen has gone before. In this article we will look at partitioning for dual boot with Linux and the very first impressions.

I recently got another used laptop off eBay. It came without an OS so I was going to install Linux, but seeing that Windows 10 has just become available for download, I decided to give it a try and install Linux alongside, in dual boot. First, let us look at downloading the ISO, comparing the 3 possibilities: NetSession, Direct and BitTorrent. This article represents my pre-install research – the install experience and tips coming up soon.

If you have ever participated in an auction, you may have sometimes lost what seemed like a very good deal at the very last minute. We will describe here how and why that might happen and how you could as well win an auction at the last minute.

When working on the CLI (command line interface) or, as it is widely known, "the prompt", most people prefer to set certain shortcuts as typing the same thing over and over is not something anyone enjoys. In Linux, such shortcuts are called aliases. This is a continuation from choosing and then setting up your first VPS .

After discussing options in choosing a cheap, low-end, learning VPS , we take a look here at how to set it up for secure use, for when you get a so much for so little, you want to make sure it’s only yours!