Previously, I have discussed a specified time entry shortcut that behaves similarly to a microwave touchpad. It works for an absolute time entry (e.g. 10:23 AM), but many applications mix in countdown with no regard for streamlining the UX. Claude, for example, shows usage reset in both 1h23m and 4:20. Again, the goal of this shortcut is simple. Instead of using a scrollable default timer, let’s opt for a known method that works: the microwave-keypad, left-align, countdown input.
From How-to
How to Get Weeks Left from Dates on Shortcuts
We are nearly done with July, so it’s at least a month late to say “we are halfway through 2026.” Now is still a good time to run biannual checks on week-based automation before July is actually over. And if you are trying to get how many weeks are left from date X in year Y, Shortcuts does have an answer.
How to Set Up Daily Time Machine Backup with Local Hourly
This piece is a continuation from an app-to I published a few days ago. Currently, Time Machine does not natively support hourly local snapshot creation when the backup schedule is set to daily. Although it sounds counterintuitive, the key here is “local snapshot”. Time Machine runs on snapshots, capturing what has changed at every interval. Creating a snapshot locally is a light task, whereas pushing the snapshot to a remote location isn’t. Hence why I searched for a solution.
App to Prune Time Machine Backup
Time Machine is the reason I recommend macOS for regular users. It’s quick. It’s simple. It’s set and forget. But there also comes a point where your Time Machine destination, be it remote or local, needs pruning. The cleanest solution without additional tools is to create another destination on a regular basis, perhaps with every new machine. However, keeping two independent destinations comes at the cost of double the initial commit.
How to Remedy “Go to Line” on Nano Editor
There are a few annotations that only Unix-likes are fixated on, one of which is ^. It means the Control key on the keyboard. Official Mac keyboards often include the annotation right on the keycaps, so it is never difficult to find. However, there are shortcuts that just won’t work even after the deciphering. For example, “Go to Line” on GNU nano. The Homebrew version of nano editor says the shortcut is ^/, yet it fails to register.
How to Take Microwave-Keypad Time Input on Shortcuts
When I am setting a reminder for an odd time (e.g. Claude usage reset), I must admit, the part that is frustrating is not repeatedly making an entry. Making an entry can be automated with Shortcuts. But marking time in every entry, scrolling through default time selector UI, makes the experience too tedious. So I opted for a known method that works: the microwave-keypad, left-align time input.
How to Get Start of Any Minute on Shortcuts
Continuing on from last week’s attempt to make “Get Start of X-Minute” on Shortcuts, instead of making multiple shortcuts, I thought it would be best to make one that can be reused: start of 5-min, 10, 15, 20, 30, just about anything.
How to Get Start of 10-Minute on Shortcuts
Shortcuts on iOS and macOS are not the most documented tool to navigate, and one particular thing that catches me off-guard every time is the lack of integration for date and time. For example, when I hit session limits on Claude, I usually set a reminder for when it resets. And it resets usually at 10-minute intervals, 10:10, 10:20, and so on. Oddly enough, Shortcuts don’t have an action for this.
How to Secure Erase Synology DSM FVE Drives
My old post on wiping retired Synology drives covered most use cases with two big caveats: one, Synology has since introduced full volume encryption on DSM, and two, the FVE implementation on DSM does not guarantee clean disposal. I will get into details in the tangent, but the short version is — DSM does not encrypt the whole drive; it still leaves a small area in plaintext. Paired with the unit itself, that area is a significant risk vector.
How to Remedy Apple Music Library Issue after Region Change
It has been about two weeks since I migrated my primary Apple account over to South Korea. The migration itself was near instantaneous. What caught me completely off guard was Apple Music’s behavior across the different Music apps. On iOS, the app displayed my library (with albums available in the region). On tvOS, I did need to reboot, but after some time, it was able to rebuild the library for me. It was the macOS Music app that gave trouble. First with “the Cloud Music Library can’t be loaded”, and when I tried to log in again, it simply refused.
How to Skip All Claude Code Permission Prompts on VS Code
Continuing on from yesterday’s Claude Code piece, Anthropic provides an official extension for VS Code. In it, the command-line flags from yesterday do not parse as expected. Instead, the controls you’d want live in the extension’s own GUI settings page.
How to Skip All Claude Code Permission Prompts
In a more closely controlled environment with less risk, say, in a home lab of an enthusiast, the risk of Claude Code accidentally wiping the drive or destroying another repo is minimal. Not that it cannot happen, but a reasonable amount of backup or git versioning practice could mitigate most of the risks from accidental or non-malicious actions. In such a scenario, Claude asking for permissions only slows down making your idea come true.
How to Remedy SERVFAIL during Caddy + DuckDNS Certificate Challenge
Caddy is a tool I use for home lab HTTPS management. However, the tool is not bulletproof. It’s not a simple GUI tool to add services and forget. One such problem Caddy can introduce with HTTPS is during the challenge to obtain a certificate. Because the certificate has to be renewed periodically, even if it succeeded at one point, it may fail or give out an error tomorrow.
How to Band-aid Fix Seerr “Movie Not Found” Error
My Seerr started acting up after the migration. In the web UI, it threw “Movie Not Found” errors — not on everything, but, evidently, only on some of the movies in the library and some of the entries in trending. Both LAN and WAN were working fine. The errors weren’t persistent. They came and went, and the number of films affected kept changing.
How to Disable Auto-Lock in Pythonista
Pythonista, coupled with LLM for vibe coding, is a great way to play around with making your apps come true quickly. No need to pay for a developer account or register it. However, being an iOS Python IDE, there are limitations on what it can mimic. One such limitation was disabling Auto-Lock while a script is running. I’d asked LLMs to fix it more than once, only to crash Pythonista every time.