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One of the better tech things I’ve gotten over the last couple of years is my Prusa Mini+ 3D printer. I’m a software guy through and through, and messing with hardware is definitely not my best skill. Can I do it? Sure, in a pinch. I don’t like doing it though.

Paradoxically, I ended up getting a Prusa Mini+ KIT. Yes, a KIT of all things, and me a software guy with an aversion to hardware stuff. Why? I did that because I knew that if something ever went wrong with it, I wouldn’t be shipping the whole printer back to Czechoslovakia a repair. At the time, I figured the best thing to do would be build the whole thing, figure out what I did wrong after building the thing, and get some experience. Because sooner or later, something was going to screw up, and I wanted to be able to fix it.

It took months to get the printer, because it was right after the pandemic, and they had a long backlog. I put the printer together in three nights, after work. It did come with a instruction booklet, but the thing that came in REALLY handy was the online-instruction guide. Why? Because users can add comments, each step of the way! If something is particularly tricky, users will make a comment about that. If the mods agree, then the instructions are updated. Pictures for every step. Made putting it together a real breeze.

After I got everything put together, I switched it on. It booted just fine. I inserted the first filament into the printer, and it worked fine. A few z-axis adjustments later, and I had a good first layer. Not bad for a software guy, but this 100% is because of the engineering that went into the printer and the online instruction guide.

About six months later, the filament wouldn’t feed any more. After a quick investigation on the community forums, I found someone that had a similar problem, when to the Prusa website and found some instructions on how to fix my exact problem. Since I built the thing, I knew I could take apart what I needed to, and get it fixed. And I did! One adjustment, and I’ve been printing ever since.

That’s just my experience. Yours will vary, of course.

Bottom line: My advice is to 1) get a kit, because you’ll want to be able to fix it later. 2) Follow the Prusa online build guides, they’re great! Of course, that only works if you get a Prusa. I don’t have experience with other 3D Printers.

The Prusa Community is great. Look for them on the Prusa forums, and the Prusa Reddit group.

by ·Comments Off on ATTrackingManager error in iOS 15

If you’re running into an error where your Ad Tracking request manager isn’t showing up after you update to iOS 15, here’s what you do.

You probably have some code that looks similar to this:

    if (@available(iOS 14, *)) {
        [ATTrackingManager requestTrackingAuthorizationWithCompletionHandler:^(ATTrackingManagerAuthorizationStatus status) {

}

This is Objective-C… sorry for the formatting.

If you had this code in didFinishLaunchingWithOptions, that’s the issue. You should move it to applicationDidBecomeActive instead. I have that whole code block of requesting this in it’s own method, so changing where it was called was pretty straightforward.

by ·Comments Off on Admob ads not showing in test mode? Try this!

TL;DR – put the following line in your app-ads.txt file:

google.com, pub-3940256099942544, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Long version: When I upgraded to iOS 15 and Xcode 13, I went to upgrade all my apps. I test them all with Admob test ads, the way you should. When I got done with the changes I made, started getting the error:

Google> Cannot find an ad network adapter with the name(s): (
"com.google.DummyAdapter"
). Remember to link all required ad network adapters and SDKs, and   set -ObjC in the 'Other Linker Flags' setting of your build target.

Which isn’t very helpful. At first I thought there was a bug in a Pod dependency, or one of the libraries. I downloaded an example app from Admob, and that worked. So I thought there was a bug in my code. I looked for “-ObjC” in the ‘Other Linker Flags’ – yup, it was there. I looked all over the web for a solution to this, only to find there were many other people with the same issue.

The guidance from Admob on their forums? That error occurs when there are no ads available (or if the -ObjC isn’t there in the linker flags). So….how do they NOT have test ads? I mean, that’s something that’s always available, right?

Since I do this in my spare time, I let this slide for months. Yesterday, I looked into it again, and spent several hours looking around to see what might be the case. Eventually, I searched for “Admob not showing test ads”, and ran across a thread on Reddit in the r/admob forum. Down at the bottom, user ahmedbilal12321 had the same problem, and solved it by adding the line:

google.com, pub-3940256099942544, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

to the app-ads.txt. This is specifically added so your apps can show test ads.

This is something I didn’t do when I started using app-ads.txt earlier in the year, and test ads showed up for me. Sure enough, this is also in the Admob documentation for test ads – I bypassed that in the documentation when I was searching for a solution.

I added that line to app-ads.txt, waited until Google scanned the file, tried it out, and….. it didn’t work. It was pretty late last night at this point, and I figured that after Google scanned the file, it was going to take some time for it to filter through the rest of the system.

I tried it a few minutes before I wrote this post, and it worked.

That thread was the only place I’ve seen this mentioned. I wanted to post something in hopes it will help someone else. Thanks to ahmedbilal12321 for posting that!

Several other users (specifically on Stack Overflow) have posted they ran into this problem, and ran REAL Admob ads in their apps to test to see if it’s working. DO NOT DO THIS. It will get you suspended or even banned. Add the test identifier for the simulator and any devices you might test on as admob suggests AND run using the test banner/interstitial/whatever ads they provide as tests. DO BOTH. If you do one, and not the other, it can also get your suspended or banned.

by ·Comments Off on Roku Express 4K+ Coming May 16th

Roku announced today that the new Roku Express 4K+ can now be preordered, and will be available May 16th.

The new Roku features what Roku is calling “Smooth wireless”, saying that it uses dual-band wireless for a fast connection and smooth streaming.

It comes with a voice remote with TV controls, a “find my remote” feature, and an HDMI cable and will retail for $39.99.

via Roku.com

by ·Comments Off on Arcade1up Infinity Game Table
Arcade1Up Infinity Game Table

Arcade1up announced a new product today, the Infinity Game Table. It’s a way to play digital games locally or with other people over the Internet. They talk about licensing Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and more. There will be two options, 24″ and 32″, and include Wi-Fi connectivity, removable legs (so you can just set it on your own table).

I think this would be a lot more interesting if they start licensing some of the sort of games you can find at BoardGameGeek.

by ·Comments Off on How To Turn On The Screen of the Gold’s Gym Cycle Trainer 400 Ri

So, we just bought the Gold’s Gym Cycle Trainer 400 Ri. This thing was a real chore to get put together, but I was finally able to do it. After the peddles were in place, I sat down, pressed a button, and got three beeps from the console. No matter what I pressed, three beeps.

The top layer says go their website to activate the console; so I do that, and guess what? They want my credit card, and after the free trial, $15/month to use the features on the bike.

Needless to say, I wasn’t happy. The bike was a pain to put together, and now it says it wants a credit card? Surely (don’t call me Shirley!) there’s a way to use this bike and screen without paying an extra $15 a month for their app and workout program.

Turns out, you can. You have to press the “Bluetooth” button and hold it. The first thing you’ll notice is nothing happens…keep pressing! Then a green light will go on. Keep pressing! Finally, the screen will turn on. From there, you can pedal away. Turn the fan on (and off, by hitting reset).

The screen will turn off after a period of inactivity. The next time you want to use it, just start pedaling and the screen will come on.

If you want to use their workout program, by all means, set it up. But if you don’t, follow the instructions above.

I hope this helps you!