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Auto Layout in a UITableViewCell with an image
Auto Layout is an amazing concept for developing iOS apps as it allows for an application to more easily look good across different devices. In addition it makes using dynamic type so much easier; as someone that wears glasses I always increase the type size on my devices and when apps don't take advantage of it, I get kind of annoyed. So when I develop apps, I try to use dynamic type and using auto layout makes things so much easier.
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Home Assistant and Node-RED, automation perfected?
Earlier this year I started experimenting with Home Assistant and wrote some thoughts about it. It brought together enough pieces that I keep tinkering with it. A friend of mine had mentioned a project called Node-RED which is supposed to more easily link together IoT components and perform actions based on different inputs. At the time, I brushed it off as I didn't want to bother figuring out how to install it.
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Non-secure network connections in Carnival Cruise's app
This past summer my family took a cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines to the Eastern Caribbean. There were a total of 17 of us and we had a good time. One of the suggested ways for everyone to stay in touch was to use the Carnival Hub App which is basically their goto app for up to date information on the ship which has a messaging component. For $5 per device for the cruise, it didn't seem all that unreasonable except that just about everything on the cruise costs extra!
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HDMI ARC and HDMI CEC
Several years ago, I purchased a Vizio 5.1 soundbar system. At the time, the way to get the best audio from it was to use the optical input. This worked fine, but required me to use 3 remotes for watching TV; 1 for the TV, 1 for the soundbar, and 1 more for the Roku I had at the time. When the Apple TV 4 came out, I learned about HDMI CEC which is basically a protocol that lets devices talk to each other and have some control. The Apple TV remote then let me turn on the TV and put it in standby without touching the TV remote. That brought me down to 2 remotes. The Apple TV remote could also control the soundbar using IR which brought me down to 1 remote.