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After 25+ Years, It’s Goodbye Hotmail

For me, 2024 is all about simplifying workflow and removing any speed bumps in my routine. Next stop: Goodbye to my two long-lived Hotmail accounts. I’ve had these accounts since forever, set up way back in 1998. For the first few years, I used my Hotmail accounts for everything. Then I got into web development and learned how to host my own email. As time went on, I used the Hotmail accounts less and less. Until now they are mostly […] Continue reading »

Get Yourself Some Backup Internet Service Providers

As a full-time web developer and typical human being, I rely on the Internet for a great many things. So when the Internet is not available, my work (and play) comes to a grinding halt. Fortunately my primary ISP is pretty solid, but it still goes down every once in a while. So to maintain my workflow (and general sanity), having a backup Internet service provider is absolutely essential. Here’s one way to do it.. Continue reading »

Online Tools for Traceroute & Ping

Traceroute not working correctly via macOS Terminal app, which is how I’ve been doing it for years now. For some reason, the traces hang up and never complete for certain sites. After some time troubleshooting and not finding any solution, I decided to look for alternate ways of performing traceroutes and site pings. Fortunately there are tons of free tools. Here are some of the useful services and apps that I’ve found.. Continue reading »

Apple AirTag Review

Recently learned about Apple AirTag. Which is a small round device that you can put in your bag or whatever to track its location anywhere. Think I need to try one of those cool little gadgets. Here’s my experience in a nutshell.. Continue reading »

Self-Hosted, Domain-Based Email Addresses FTW

I use domain-based emails for 99% of my email activity. The other 1% is comprised of assorted 3rd-party email services and temporary slash disposable addresses (like for testing purposes and one-off sign-ups, etc.). I can tell you whole-heartedly based on 20+ years working online that self-hosted email is THE WAY to go. Continue reading »

Subscribers: Update Your Feed URLs

R.I.P. Feedburner

This post is for any feed subscribers out there.. please update your feed URL if you want to continue getting Perishable Press articles in your feed reader. Again for those in the back: update the feed URL for Perishable Press if you want to stay subscribed. This is necessary because Google finally has killed the once awesome Feedburner service. Continue reading »

Replacement for JavaScript Errors Notifier (Chrome Extension)

Heads up about the JavaScript Errors Notifier extension for Google Chrome. Looks like it was removed from the Chrome store sometime last year. Not sure of the reason behind it, but can tell you that currently there are no suitable extensions to replace it. Kinda sucks because JavaScript Errors Notifier was one of my favorite “always on” extensions. It makes it easy to spot any JavaScript errors as you develop, design, or browse the Web. Fortunately there’s still a way […] Continue reading »

Check Your Spam Folder

Check Your Spam Folder

It’s sad that we’ve arrived at a place where it needs to be said. Unfortunately, 3rd-party email services such as Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, and so forth have to deal with tons and tons of spam. So they tend to use very aggressive spam-filtering rules. Overly aggressive, in many cases. Continue reading »

Important Notice for Email Subscribers

Whoops! I spaced off sending this before July, so figured better late than never :) Hello! As you may have heard, Google/Feedburner is dropping support for their “Subscribe via Email” feature. This free service grabs the latest content from a site’s RSS feed and delivers it via email to a list of subscribers. So whenever a new post is published here at Perishable Press, Feedburner delivers an HTML-formatted copy direct your inbox. The subscribe-via-email service has been available for years […] Continue reading »

Roll Your Own Simple Password Manager on macOS

Password Manager

I’ve tried 1Password and Dashlane, and several other popular password managers for both Mac and PC. It always seems to be the same thing: things start off great and then go downhill from there. For example, I was loving 1Password, and then it locked me out of my password file/account. Likewise for a couple of years Dashlane was great, but then they started making drastic changes like moving from standalone app to browser extension Web-based UI. The confusion involved with […] Continue reading »

Purging Unused Data

As part of my yearly maintenance routine, I spend time each year going through a list of annual tasks. Things like archiving backups, removing unused apps, and of course purging and organizing data. As an aspiring minimalist, my approach is less is more. I am always downloading, consuming content, yes. But also I am constantly deleting and pruning as much as possible. It is a discipline and an art. Continue reading »

Disable Ask for Location Prompts in Google Chrome

Chrome location prompt

Want to stop Google Chrome browser from constantly asking for permission to “know your location”? This mini tutorial shows how to do it quickly and easily, for Google Chrome versions (around) 83 and better. Continue reading »

Apple Nags Killing UX

iPad Lock Screen with nags displayed

Heads up! This post is a giant rant about Apple screwing up the user experience (UX). If that is not what you want to read, then now is your chance to hit that back button and escape. Otherwise, if you feel like hearing all about it, continue reading. With Apple devices in the past, you could log in to an Apple account or not. No hassles. No worries. Just enjoy the software. Enjoy that super smooth Apple user experience. Right? […] Continue reading »

Switching from Photoshop to Affinity Photo: Lessons Learned

Affinity Photo

This post is a bit different than my regular in-depth tutorials. This is where I scribble down notes and thoughts about my experience switching from Photoshop (PS) to Affinity Photo (AP). As I continue to learn AP and collect more notes, I’ll add them to this post. It’s an informal work in progress. To give some context of where I’m coming from, I have around 20 years experience working with Photoshop (and other Adobe apps). Like many others, for me […] Continue reading »

Remove __MACOSX and .DS_Store from ZIP Files on Mac

[ The Cleaner ]

Zipping files on Apple/Mac is a chore because of all the hidden files and folders added by macOS. Like .DS_Store and __MACOSX are two of the most common files and folders that are added to zip files when compressed on macOS. The folder named __MACOSX especially is problematic because it contains duplicates of every file in the zip archive. So for example, if you use Finder to compress 20 files, the resulting zip file will contain the original 20 files, […] Continue reading »

How to Ask for Help and Get It

[ Screenshot of pathetic Facebook post ]

I see so many technical (and other) questions in forums and social media that go unanswered. Not due to lack of trying, but due to lack of understanding. People posting questions like this (an actual post in a popular PHP group on FB): Continue reading »

Welcome
Perishable Press is operated by Jeff Starr, a professional web developer and book author with two decades of experience. Here you will find posts about web development, WordPress, security, and more »
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Thoughts
Went out walking today and soaked up some sunshine. It felt good.
I have an original box/packaging for 2010 iMac if anyone wants it free let me know.
Always ask AI to cite its sources.
All free plugins updated and ready for WP 6.6 dropping next week. Pro plugin updates in the works also complete :)
99% of video thumbnail/previews are pure cringe. Goofy faces = Clickbait.
RIP ICQ
Crazy that we’re almost halfway thru 2024.
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