Computing Trivia

 Updating to Android Studio  2.3 - "Cannot delete" file Error Android Studio can be a challenging IDE to get going with. Customizing settings, connecting to version control systems, configuring the interface, updating... There are enough sources of headaches to thoroughly demoralize the new developers. Recently, while updating to a new version of Android Studio (2.3) in Windows 10, I came across a very stubborn error that looked like this in the console window: Cannot delete file C:\Program Files\Android\Android Studio1\gradle\m2repository\com\android\tools\layoutlib\layoutlib-api\24.5.0\layoutlib-api-24.5.0.jar Unfortunately, the error always appears in the last stage of the update as a patch is being applied. It appears that this stage requires API level 24.5 libraries be deleted and replaced with API 25.2 and 25.3 libraries. Attempting to delete the .jar file [layoutlib-api-24.5.0.jar] manually results in an error saying the file is opened by the Java SE process or s...

Simplifying Life with CSS Frameworks Responsive Design, Mobile First, Material Design, UX, IxD...   You can choke on technology. It's coming fast and furiously. The biggest challenge of the 21st century may be how to simplify life. How to do one thing at a time when you have five LCD screens blinking at you all the time each with multiple notifications, announcements, ticker tapes, breaking news and all the rest of it. I can't solve all your li f e's problems but can share a little trick or two here and there. If you gather all these tricks, you could actually simplify life.  Mobile First  This is a recent approach to website design. In Kenya 97% of web users use their mobiles.  Few have computers, many have smartphones. Therefore, why make websites for computers when these are the minority? Why not make them for mobile first and adjust to fit the few who visit with computers. The chart below shows the data from Google Barometer for Kenya: Mobile a...

A4 is a very common paper size. Most office documents seem to favour this paper size. Student notebooks take on this size and shape. A4 Problem? There is no problem with A4. The problem is created when digital documents that are designed for reading online are assigned physical sizes and aspect ratios that were designed for printed documents. The most problematic such format is PDF.  Why is PDF a Problem? PDF is not the problem. The problem is created by the absence of an option to change the document's aspect ratio at the time of saving it. Most computer monitors use the 16:1 (widescreen) aspect ration. Ideally, PDF readers should allow the user t o set the aspect ratio to use when reading the document.   PDF creators should offer a number of common ratios as a minimum or , even better, set no fixed aspect rati o but leave this to the reader. Fixed is Bad PDF is not a responsive e-document format unlike ePub. Its a fixed layout format. Fixation is a key str...

Windows 10 has some quirks. After some updates, you find changes in the user interface and may eventually find that the search that opens when you press the Windows button or the power user key combination (Windows Button + X then Search). It used to be that you could open the Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del  or Ctrl + Shift + Esc), you could look for Cortana and kill it (Right-click, select "End Task"). But now no more. Cortana seems to have disappeared from the Task Manager. But a search online reveals that Cortana is not gone, just renamed. You now need to look for "Search" in the Task Manager. Kill this process. In its place a new process called "Search and Cortana Application" will be loaded as shown below. Perhaps someone need to write a tiny little app to carry out this simple task of killing "Search" and forcing Cortana to relaunch properly. Once you do this, Windows 10 search is now well behaved.

What that loud barking sound? I's your data bundles going north... And your service provider can't help you nail down the culprit. I know who can help. It's Callistics. This fella will count all the bytes you and your apps are consuming. He counts your text messages and shows you who you've been texting to - is this a good thing? Callistics shows you  who you've bee calling and for how long. Really interesting. Here's a short clip: Callistics - your mobile usage accountant for Android from Jason Githeko on Vimeo . Note: I have no control over what videos Vimeo may be promoting. Stay safe.

Unlike PCs that present nightmares for Gīkūyū writers, Android inadvertently solved the keyboard constraints that the typical PC presents. The two letters ī and ū in Gīkūyū require a tilde (~) above the letter. The Android keyboard (am using 5.1) offers a way out if you can tolerate the bar instead of tilde.  To get ū, press the letter u and hold for a second. You will see the following letters  displayed from which you can chose:  ū ü ù û ú In a similar way, you can select i and press the key for a second to get ì ï ī î í from which you can chose the desired letter.  If you want upper case letters, press the shift button first↑. Hence you can get  Ū and Ī. Cheers as you gleefully enjoy your vernacular. Above everything, the Messiah is coming soon . Prepare well 

It appears to. But hold it: Is it node.js at fault or your good self? Its probably you, dear earthling. yet again, you got mixed up and now, when you type > node main.js , it rudely answers: 'node' is not recognized as an internal or external command ! After going all over and getting excruciatingly detailed help on how to set up a PATH statement in Windows (as if you were a students of Computer 101), you are ready to pull out all your (remaining?) hair (its actually easier to cut by the way, and less painful). However, check this most simple possibility: You clicked the wrong button during your installation. Watch and learn: 1. Step 1: Download the 32bit or 64bit node.js installer file 2. Launch the installer and you get the following: 3. Problems may occur in the next screens that looks like this: 4. If you click on the little arrow in each button, its important to read the options offered as illustrated below:   The options are: W...