I know it’s a little strange to still be writing AppleScript in 2023, but this was the best way I found to easily connect and disconnect from a GlobalProtect VPN “automatically”. I trigger this from a Keyboard Maestro shortcut, you are free to trigger it any way you wish!

This is a simple script that will toggle the connect/disconnect state of GlobalProtect on macOS. Tested with the latest version of GlobalProtect (v6.2.0-89) and macOS Ventura (13.4.1).

I discovered that Home Assistant has a not-so-recent feature called “Quick Bar” that I somehow missed when it was released in 2020. In short, it allows you to press the e (for entity search) or c (for command search) anywhere in the Home Assistant web interface to access a Spotlight-style search box. This allows you access settings and devices in Home Assistant with just a few keystrokes.

I discovered a new static site generator today, Nikola.

It’s been years since I last paid for an Audible.com subscription. I just signed up this week ($5/month for 3 months) and it’s been a delight so far. I discovered that you can pretty easily remove the DRM on the audiobook .aax file. I am using Audible Tools to help me create the ffmpeg command to do this.

Another recent discovery is that Overcast, my podcast player of choice, seems to natively support .m4b files (audiobook file format). It even includes artwork and chapters, so it behaves just like most of the podcasts I listen to.

The earliest photo I have of me at a computer. Circa 1997!

Last month Apple announced the end of the iPod. I thought it might be fun to document my history with the product.

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I got my first iPod in March 2005. I believe I bought mine at Best Buy on a weekend trip 350 miles away from home.

I was listening to a lot of podcasts in those early days and had to use “podcatcher” software because iTunes didn’t support podcasts yet. That changed later that year when iTunes 4.9 added podcasts and the rest is history.

I started using Nginx Proxy Manger at home recently and found a fast and easy way to add internal domains to it. Here is a simple walkthrough.

Prerequisites

• You need to be using AdGuard Home for DNS
• You want to quickly add new domains to Nginx Proxy Manager

AdGuard Home setup

In the AdGuard Home web interface, go to Filters->DNS rewrites.