Using git to deploy code across multiple servers is a handy technique that works in pretty much any situation. That is, until you’re trying to deploy to an environment such as Amazon’s EC2 servers, which uses .pem files to login. In these situations, the simplest solution I’ve found is a rather ancient technique: SSH keys.
Adding an SSH Key to Amazon EC2 Servers
Galaxy S3 – Video Chat over 4G [ROOT]
Some Galaxy S3 owners, especially those on AT&T, may have noticed that they can’t video chat in Google Talk without wifi. I don’t know the exact reason that AT&T decided to disable this feature. Maybe it was to “help” users not waste their bandwidth. Or, maybe it was because AT&T knew that many users would suffer from poor quality calls on their network. Whatever the reason, this post will show you how to make video calls with Google Talk while you are on 4g.
Galaxy S3 – Change the Default SMS App to Prevent Images Showing as Slideshows [ROOT]
A few months ago, I ditched my iPhone and jumped on the Android bandwagon with the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy S3. As a geek and technology junkie, I absolutely love the S3. It’s powerful, yet lightweight. It has a huge screen, but it doesn’t feel cumbersome or unnatural when you’re using it. Not to mention that it has more sensors than your local Radio Shack. Since I started using my S3, I’ve only had a few minor complaints. The thing that bugged me the most is how the S3 displays all MMS messages as “slideshows”, which is not only clunky, but prevents you from zooming or panning images. The good news is that if you’ve rooted your phone you can fix this problem in about five minutes.
Simplified Git Branching Model
I’m always looking for ways to simplify and optimize pretty much everything that I do. Naturally, my obsession for streamlining carried over when I started using Git and Github exclusively to manage my projects. Over the past year or so I’ve been experimenting with different branching models for Git. In this time I’ve worked on projects that used a single “long running” branch, to projects with 10 or more branches. This post outlines the branching model that I’ve found to work best with most projects.
Phonetic Alphabet Translator
The phonetic alphabet makes it easier to communicate letters and numbers over the phone. It aims to remove any discrepancies that might arise due to similar sounding characters, such as “B” and “D”. The phonetic alphabet was originally designed for communications over radio (eg.: communication between soldiers during war times), but it’s just as useful when trying to give an account number or serial number to customer support over the phone.
Enter a word — or any series of letters and numbers — in the form below to see it spelled out with the phonetic alphabet.
Using Git to Deploy Code
Like many other programmers, I use git on a daily basis to manage my code. In fact, I believe git is so useful that I list it as a required skill whenever I post job openings for programmers at work. Although it’s used by a lot of people, I often find that git is not utilized to its full potential. Mainly, I find that programmers will use git to version their code, but they still upload files through FTP or some other method. This article is going to show you how I use git to quickly and easily deploy code across multiple servers without using FTP.
You’re tying your shoes wrong!
I know, it sounds crazy. One of the first major things you accomplish in life is learning how to tie your shoes. However, there’s a very good chance that you’ve been doing it wrong all these years. Check out this 3 minute TED talk to have your mind thoroughly blown.
Solarized Color Scheme for xfterm4
If you use the terminal as much as I do, then do yourself (and your eyes) a favor by installing a new color scheme. My color scheme of choice is usually Solarized dark, so that’s what I’ll use for this tutorial. The final product should look similar to:
Use OGP Tags to Change images when sharing links on Facebook
When someone shares a link to your website on Facebook, certain information about your site (or more specifically, the actual link that is shared) is automatically gathered and displayed. For example, if you type www.google.com you will see something like:
This article is going to explain how this process works, and how you can change the image and information that gets displayed about your website.
Custom Kindle Screen Savers
In this article, I’m going to go over some of the basics for making and using custom screen savers on your Amazon Kindle.
One of the many things that I love about my Kindle is being able to personalize it by adding custom screen savers. Unfortunately, there’s not a way to do this from the factory — I’m still not sure why Amazon doesn’t include this feature. Thankfully, a group of skilled programmers have come up with a way to be able to use custom screen savers on your Kindle.