Keep in mind that I'm comparing the free versions...
ProWritingAid is the counterpart to Grammarly. It offers the basics, but has some additional tools (also in the free version) focussed on writing, not just spelling.
I tried it ages ago, and didn't like it back then, as it would mangle my italics when copy / pasting. These days it seems to do a better job.
Let's start with Grammarly, as that's the one I am most familiar with. It does highlight some issues (even in the free version) and I've used it to get my brains to work on commas. Note that Grammarly doesn't always get it right...
And again, I've looked at free versions, using these tools in my writing process...
I'm a writer. Though not a good one. And I'm not a native English speaker. And I just don't seem to get a handle on commas. Gawd, I hate those things. And I make all sorts of other mistakes, no matter how I try.
So... are any of the modern tools any good? Now, near the end of 2026? Note that I'm actually looking at the editing aspects mostly...
(Lots of interesting reading on ageing of SDHC cards you'll find here and here. And here.)
Trump made the news... again. (He does so every day.)
This time he decided to spend billions of dollars to lower the oil prices. Maga rejoice!
But wait... Who is going to pay the bill? Not him, that's for sure!
Penny Arcade doesn't always get it right - and you have to be partial to their kind of humor - but when they get it right, they really get it right...
(Click on image to enlarge)
The cheeky bastards at NCSoft have hidden (well, kinda) the 'autolaunching' of their launcer by creating a task in the task scheduler...
Duh. That was the only place I didn't look.
It's like VNC on steroids 😁
Series Review + HBO Max + Lanterns
Does HBO still exist? And do they actually still make decent series? And besides that... is anything coming out of the DC catacombs any good?
HBO once was one of the greatest producers of top class scifi / fantasy series, but... well, these days it's a bit more rare. Still it appears they hit the ball out of the park when it comes to Lanterns. Thus far... (Remember: I'm only at episode 1.)
The older version of the Contour Jog Shuttle Pro (the v1) was also sold under the brand name Hercules back in 2002... I got one of those.
Fortunately, the old drivers still work on Windows 11 (with one caveat) so I can still use it to edit videos. Yeah!
This is how to set it up with KDEnlive.
I'm using Immprep and Microsoft Edge's Read Aloud function for some text to speech verification of my written work (using Immprep).
I noticed that an overenthusiastic fooling around with the different voices in Edge can make Edge 'lose its voice'.
Symptoms: the 'read aloud' options are greyed out, or when started you hear nothing, and you can no longer change the voice in the 'read aloud' mode of Edge.
I used my printed drying cover to heat two spools over a longer period of time, and the results weren't impressive, so I decided to try to improve it...
1. By printing it with thicker walls, and
2. by adding some heat reflecting material.
Those two steps did the job!
An accidental find, but I like it. This is hard SF, involving a world past the brink of ecological disaster (with many people unaware or actively ignoring it), the US and China in a kind of military impasse, and Canada hiring itself out as the mercenary pool for the whole world.
Let's get rid of OneDrive and CoPilot and streamline some other stuff... Who needs that crap...
Unfortunately, Microsoft may at random decide to reinstall this crapware, or re-enable some of these settings... sigh.
Audiobook Review + Alexandra Bracken
This is the sequel to Passenger. It's an interesting read, and the main character appears a bit stronger than before, willing to fight. Her counterpart and love interest ends up with the most important power in these two books, purely by (bad) luck.
Based upon my own experiences, and stuff I gathered on the internet.
Click on the image to open the table.
Note: a wrong Aruco code may affect bed adhesion!
I own an AMS-HT, but not all rolls / spools fit. You can, however, also dry your filament inside your printer, using the heated printer bed. It may be slower and less efficient, it looks less sexy and it blocks you from actually using your printer for printing, but hey! It works.
Lately I’m encountering a lot of detective / film noir inspired stuff. There’s Sugar on Apple TV, Spider-Noir on… euh… Prime Video? (More about Spider Noir later.) And here’s Dan Willis, who wrote a 10+ series of books, set in an alternative 30’s in the US, where (some) magic works, and dames are still dames.
A cat so dangerous, even a Flerken would keep its distance...
Jonesy (aka Jones) is of course the red tabby from Aliens - and one of the real survivors - but what if Jonesy would have encountered an immature, young alien, at the start of the story? In real cat style, that would have been an awfully short movie 🤔😁
Audiobook Review + Zoe Hana Mikuta
YA NA / FF / Post-apocalyptic / Mechas / First Person Present Tense.
Love betrayal combat mechas.
Can it get any better?
