Dariusz Więckiewicz 🇬🇧

When I developed my Minimal Google Analytics 4 snippet, I thought about preventing it from being blocked by various AdBlockers.

Along with AdBlock Plus, I am also using the DuckDuckGo Privacy Protection extension in Safari. I am using the DuckDuckGo browser on its own as well.

DuckDuckGo, along with restrictive ad blockers, tends to block requests heading to the google-analytics.com domain. This is done on purpose, and I fully understand that.

This is why I described mitigation techniques (Minimal Analytics 4 - masking (hiding) requests).

This technique allows you to utilize Redirect 200 to mask requests to external domains under your domain.

By implementing a redirect as follows:

/g/collect https://www.google-analytics.com/g/collect 200

Instead of calling the address below in a script

https://www.google-analytics.com/g/collect

I am calling this

https://www.example.com/g/collect

Behind the scenes, thanks to Redirect 200, I am sending requests to Google Analytics that are not blocked by either AdBlock Plus or DuckDuckGo.

This solution, however, has 2 major flaws.

Have you ever tried to read an article on a website that is jam-packed with ads? Most of the time the overall experience will discourage you from it and you give up or will try to find similar information in a place, where you can access it more pleasantly.

I am using AdBlockers on all my browsers and hate when some websites tell me to turn it off just to read their content. They decided to block me from reading until I complied.

I understand that this is their source of income, however, browsing these websites without an adblocker enabled is a pain as hell.

The screens encouraging “support of independent writing” by displaying ads are nothing compared to the unpleasant and distracting experience of reading their website without adblocker enabled.

This kind of website that prevents me from visiting at the start is, for example, makeuseof.com.

This is crazy but true.

Recently, I have been in contact with several people who have been thanking me for posting articles that have helped them significantly with their technological struggles or in easing their issues.

Some of them have been so happy that they would like to know how to donate a bit to support the cause. While this gesture is appreciated, most of the activities on my site are non-profit.

I used to have ads displayed on my website when it was hosted on WordPress. However, after migrating to Hugo, I soon realized that despite the speed benefits, the web performance was being compromised due to ads served through Google AdSense.

I managed to significantly reduce the costs for my website, so I decided to take the step of removing ads altogether, and I have been happy with this decision.

Buying a refurbished Apple product is a great way to save money. I purchased my MacBook Air with an M1 chip through this route back in 2021, and the device is still working well.

The good news when buying refurbished items directly from Apple is that they are treated no differently than new devices in terms of support and service. You are eligible to purchase additional protection through AppleCare, just like with new devices.

The savings on refurbished items, compared to the same item new, can be significant. Of course, you can buy them even cheaper if you don’t mind losing the ability to get extra care for them directly through AppleCare, but if you do mind (like me), then there is one more thing that you should think about before going this route.

While I’m cautious about purchasing expensive licenses, for some businesses, the cheapest option, Business Basic for £4.90 per user per month, is more than enough!

Every now and then, I discover new “hidden” features that I can use with just a basic license, and this time was no different.

Setting up computers in businesses, I always default to Google Search. Frankly, Bing just hasn’t kept pace, despite the recent AI hype. For most users, Google’s familiarity boosts productivity, which is key in any business environment.

What I hate is that Microsoft, with every other Microsoft Edge update, forces Bing back as the default search engine.

Starting from 29th May 2024, ChromeOS 125 began rolling out to stable channels for all supported Chromebooks. The issue described below should be resolved for everyone, particularly for those writing in foreign languages with Sticky Keys enabled.

I recently faced an interesting issue with a friend’s new Chromebook.

My friend has a disability and uses a single finger to write on her blog antybariera.pl. Because she wrote in Polish by default, to put special characters, like ąśćżęł, she would need to use key combinations. For that purpose, she would have to use two fingers, which is extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Chromebooks are equipped with useful accessibility features. I remember seeing something called a sticky key that, in theory, should work as follows.

To produce the character ę in Polish, press and hold the Alt key and then press the letter e.

Sticky Keys work in a way that allows you to single-press a key like Alt. This activates it and makes it behave as if held down with another finger. In the same way, you can double-press the Control key (like the Alt key) to make it act like it’s always pressed, similar to how the Caps Lock key typically behaves. This will allow you to type more than one special character in one run. If you don’t need to use the key any longer, you press it again (for the third time) to release it from serving the sticky key function.

That’s in theory.

Thanks to Cloudflare Email Routing, I can accept and send emails in my domain, but still manage them on my ordinary Gmail account. This all is set as I wrote down in my post titled Email in your own domain with Cloudflare (and Gmail)

Over the last week, I faced an issue with emails not being delivered to my mailbox.

Firstly I thought that there was something wrong with Gmail service blocking forwarded messages. The same though had plenty of people using this service and writing their experiences all over the internet.

Just a few weeks ago I have been thinking about, what I am doing with my ageing MacBook Air with an M1 chip.

The MacBook Air Air with M1 was introduced in November 2020 but I purchased mine in July 2021, officially from Apple, but from their refurbished store.

I saved a bit on a base model and thanks to that I have been able to take 3 years of Apple Care and still meet my budget.

Despite that nothing happens along the road, so I don’t need to use this plan, I still wonder, if, after these 3 years, I will be able to buy, at least, a year more.

The device working well. I would like to have a bit more internal storage (currently got 256GB base), but apart from that everything working fine. The device is still fast and reliable. For my needs, I don’t see a reason for change.

I have been thinking about a possible upgrade when the MacBook Air is introduced with the M3 chip and that is what happens today (4th March 2024) through press release.

At the same time, Apple decided to discontinue MacBook Air with an M1 chip. Its place, in the same price range, has been offered to a 13-inch MacBook Air with an M2 chip, which is typical.

But what does that mean for users, who use MacBook Air with an M1 chip? Also, what does that mean for people, who just now decide to buy MacBook Air with an M1 chip?