Mossberg 500 Persuader & Cruiser Reviews

Mossberg 500 Persuader & Cruiser | Gun Review:
https://athlonoutdoors.com/article/mossberg-500-persuader-gun-review/

Some folks rely on the distinctive "shuck-shuck" sound a pump gun makes as a deterrent.  My instructors advised trying hard to make no sounds until the gun goes bang if the situation warrants that.  Either way, a 12-guage pump shotgun is a powerful tool to end home invasions.

"Pump guns are noted for their reliability. You can depend on a manually operated pump, which is comforting when lives are on the line. In the unlikely event of a misfire, cycling the slide will quickly have you back in business."
"No other type of weapon has a longer record of proven battlefield success."
"The Mossberg 500 Persuader sports a conventional buttstock with a recoil pad. The pump-action forend on the test gun has an integral tactical light that throws a bright, high-intensity beam when the rubber insert on either side of the forend is squeezed. This L3 light from Insight Technology produces a tungsten-halogen beam rated at 125 peak lumens, with a battery life of 90 minutes of continuous operation. The L3 features a "temporarily on," a "temporarily off" and a "strobe" setting, and is operated by an ambidextrous pressure pad on either side of the slide handle.
...
The light is bright enough to temporarily blind your assailant, while giving you a clear picture of who's facing you and where to aim. If you feel you're in imminent danger and must shoot, the shotgun eliminates the need to "double-tap," or fire a pair of closely spaced shells, as you would with a handgun."
"The Persuader's 18.5-inch barrel gives the gun an overall length of just 38.5 inches, making it easy to swing in the confines of any room in your house. If you want something even more compact, the Cruiser, which comes with a pistol grip, measures just 31 inches overall. This length comes in handy for carrying the gun in your car or a truck and is ideal when there's little room to deploy a full-length shotgun."
"A tab on the left side of the receiver and to the rear of the trigger allows you to cycle the action to remove a loaded shell from the chamber. This tab also serves as a loaded chamber indicator—if the full-length of the tab is visible, the action is loaded, cocked and ready to fire. If the tab is retracted into the action, the chamber is empty."
"The receiver is drilled and tapped to allow mounting a scope or adding a Picatinny rail. A variety of sighting options are available, including ghost-ring aperture sights, laser sights and virtually any optic that fits a Picatinny rail. Both the Persuader and Cruiser shotguns come standard with a white-dot front bead."
NOTE: according to MidwayUSA, these models have been discontinued, but the Model 500 is still available in many variations.

You can convert any Mossberg shotgun (and other popular shotguns) with an 18.5" barrel and a weapon light like the Streamlight TL Racker Weapon Light:
    https://www.streamlight.com/products/detail/tl-racker
    https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-69600-TL-Racker-Lithium-Batteries/dp/B07P9RSS32
    https://www.midwayusa.com/product/102084710?pid=753201
    https://www.brownells.com/gear/tactical-gear/flashlights-accessories/tl-racker-shotgun-forend-lights/

Barrel:  

    https://www.mossberg.com/parts/type/barrels.html?mb_barrel_length=18.5%22&model=500

    https://www.brownells.com/gun-parts/shotgun-parts/shotgun-barrels/500-barrels/

Everything AI allows you to do in Windows 11 that saves you time | Mashable

https://mashable.com/article/windows-11-ai-copilot-saves-time

Build an your own cheap NAS (Network Attached Storage)

How cheap can you build a NAS (Network Attached Storage)?
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-cheap-can-you-build-a-nas/
"All you need to ensure is that you have SATA slots for your HDDs  ..."

How to turn an old PC into a NAS:  https://www.xda-developers.com/how-turn-old-pc-into-nas/
"Any old desktop PC will do, but the better the hardware the more capabilities you have."
"Plenty of people use old Raspberry Pis for media streaming without transcoding and with a hard drive attached for data storage."

"For a NAS, you'll want to pick up specialized NAS drives, but that's all ...
You'll just need to have enough SATA connections on your motherboard and space for the drives inside your computer.
If your PC has things like a DVD reader, you can even buy adapters from the 5.25-inch slots desktops typically use to get them to fit a 3.5-inch SATA drive."
"It could be good to also pick up an SSD for booting from. This doesn't have to be large, and in most cases, a 64GB SSD is more than enough. You can get a larger one and partition it if you'd like to use the secondary partition for caching, but you don't need to and you'll be completely fine without it."

"TrueNAS Core is technically more supported than TrueNAS Scale, and it's based on FreeBSD. Most people would prefer Scale for running actual apps, so if you want your NAS to be more than just storage, you probably don't want to go with Core unless you're comfortable doing some advanced tinkering. Core is very stable with wider documentation and longer support, but Scale will typically be easier, especially if you already know your way around Linux."

"TrueNAS Scale is a Debian-based (so, Linux) OS that you can install on a NAS, and it manages your Docker containers using Kubernetes. Containers are how you run most programs on a NAS, where a container is essentially an isolated digital island for an application to run in. To allow it to connect to other containers on the machine and to share data, you build "bridges" between these islands by allowing them to directly connect to each other. Containers are naturally isolated, which is great for security and means that applications only share the data that you let them share."

"OpenMediaVault looks dated, but it's very functional. You're not locked into using the ZFS file system meaning that there's a lot of flexibility in adding and changing drives around, and there's also no real hardware requirements. OpenMediaVault can run on a Raspberry Pi if you want it to, and it's a lot more straightforward and to the point in its UI. I find myself sometimes clicking around in TrueNAS to find options for things in a sea of menus, whereas OpenMediaVault is a lot more deliberate. It's different software for different people, but it's worth checking out too."

TrueNAS operating system:  https://www.truenas.com/
TrueNAS CORE Minimum Requirements -
64-Bit CPU | 8 GB RAM (16 GB Recommended) | 16 GB Boot Drive (SSD Encouraged) | At Least One Attached Disk | Network Port | Hardware RAID Not Recommended
https://www.truenas.com/truenas-core/
https://www.truenas.com/download-truenas-core/

Best hard drives for NAS:  https://www.xda-developers.com/best-nas-hard-drive/
Look for Western Digital WD Purple drives for under $100 ... some of the old 2Tb versions are available for less than $50.
"Alternatively, you can go for the affordable Seagate BarraCuda 1TB hard drive. While it lacks the high reliability or better storage capacity of the other drives on this list, it's an inexpensive option if you plan to use your NAS as a media server.
That said, if you're planning to outfit your PC with a quick and snappy storage drive, it's better to invest in a high-speed SSD instead. From ultra-fast PCIe SSDs to easy-to-carry external SSDs, there's quite a lot to choose from, too."

"...a great Google Photos alternative: Nextcloud. Nextcloud is a self-hosted cloud storage provider that you can access and automatically synchronize from multiple devices. I have all of my photos that I capture on my smartphone automatically back up to my Nextcloud instance, meaning I can then access those photos anywhere else really easily as well."

"Jellyfin is similar to Plex except that it's free and completely open source, but you can self host your own media with it. For example, if you have a lot of ripped DVDs and TV shows (I do), then you can host these and stream them to your devices in your home. There are a ton of automations you can set up with Jellyfin and many different applications that you can install to work with it, so be sure to do some digging into this one if you're interested."
------------------------------------------------------------

Alternative views -
Everything you need to build a DIY NAS and store all your data:
https://www.nasmaster.com/everything-you-need-to-build-your-own-nas/

How to turn an old PC into a NAS server:  
https://www.nasmaster.com/how-to-turn-an-old-pc-into-a-nas-server/

"An old PC is a perfect candidate for recycling into a NAS."
"A NAS is run continuously like a server. I recommend Seagate IronWolf or Western Digital Red (Plus) drives for NAS enclosures."

"Running a NAS is a great way to save money on subscription services. Have an active account with Spotify, Netflix, and Google Drive? Cancel them all and run everything from your single NAS server. This will cost a considerable upfront sum of money but will save you much more in the long term. Plex Media Server can catalog all your photos, movies, music, and shows for streaming to almost any device.

Then there's the potential for hosting websites from the server. Play Minecraft or some other online games with custom server support? That's possible too! Then there's security with some surveillance system apps on your old PC-turned-NAS. Last, you can use the NAS for storing data such as backups."

"It's possible to run a NAS with your existing copy of Windows. This is an OS you're perhaps most familiar with and it's good to go if already installed. Some issues with a desktop OS such as Windows are unnecessary bloat running in the background, slowing the NAS down, and Windows does not support RAID.

Luckily, there are a few server environments available without paying a penny! One of the most popular is OpenMediaVault. It may not have the flashiest user interface, but this robust OS has excellent hardware support and is incredibly easy to use. Another great OS is Unraid, which acts differently and more as just a bunch of disks (JBOD).
What is openmediavault (Free, Open Source)? https://www.openmediavault.org/
Unraid ($49, free trial) - a powerful, easy-to-use OS for servers & NAS: https://unraid.net/
"Unraid OS lets you use what you have to build what you want."
"Mix and match hard drives of any size to build your server and grow your storage capacity."

Finally, there's TrueNAS CORE. This is another free server environment that offers excellent performance and reliability. It's geared toward those with advanced knowledge and experience but can be mastered in a few hours with handy guides if you're building your first DIY NAS. TrueNAS SCALE is the better option for running apps."

Best NAS drives 2024: Reliable HDD, SSD, and M.2 cache: https://www.nasmaster.com/best-nas-drives/
"The best NAS drive would be one that's specifically designed for use in servers. You could go all-out and pay big bucks for enterprise-grade drives, but manufacturers including Seagate and Western Digital have NAS-specific HDDs and SSDs. Just don't go and use your old desktop PC drives."

"We'd usually not recommend an SSD for NAS storage since it's not the best choice due to how flash storage degrades over time through use. Mechanical drives are better overall and don't have a finite amount of data that can be written."

------------------------------------------------------------
How to Turn a Raspberry Pi Into a NAS for Whole-Home File Sharing:
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-nas-for-whole-home-file-sharing
"... a standard external drive will do the trick in most cases. However, since the Pi may not be able to supply enough power to all your drives, you may need one that plugs into the wall or a powered USB hub. If you want a cleaner setup, you can use an internal drive designed for network attached storage, but that would require a big enough case."
"A NAS-Friendly Case (optional): If you want your system to have a clean look, it may behoove you to get an enclosure that fits your Pi and connected drives. This will also help to organize the mess of wires and cables this project will create."

"Start by installing Raspbian with the recommended software as described in our beginner's guide (https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/beginners-guide-how-to-get-started-with-raspberry-pi#:~:text=How%20to%20Install%20an%20Operating%20System%20on%20an%20SD%20Card)."

"If you prefer, you can SSH into your Pi and perform these commands from another PC."
   {print the detailed instructions}

How to build a Raspberry Pi NAS:
   https://www.raspberrypi.com/tutorials/nas-box-raspberry-pi-tutorial/
"To SSH into the Raspberry Pi, you'll use the hostname you set in Imager. If you have issues connecting using this method, you may want to use the Raspberry Pi's IP address instead."
   {print the detailed instructions}

------------------------------------------------------------
How to Build a DIY NAS with TrueNAS CORE:
  https://www.storagereview.com/review/how-to-build-a-diy-nas-with-truenas-core

Ultimate DIY NAS Build Guide: https://www.wundertech.net/diy-nas-build-guide/
"This also allows you to customize the NAS device based on your overall budget ..."
"... my favorite feature of OpenMediaVault is how user-friendly it is and its compatibility with different types of hardware. Due to how easy it is to use OpenMediaVault, it's a great NAS operating system to learn on."

TrueNAS Core vs. Scale: Detailed Comparison:
   https://www.wundertech.net/truenas-core-vs-truenas-scale/

Everything you need to know to build your own NAS:
   https://www.windowscentral.com/heres-what-you-need-know-when-building-your-own-nas
"Rather than stockpiling a collection of external hard drives with precious backups and home media, building a network-attached storage (NAS) machine helps keep everything neat and organized as one reliable solution. NAS servers offer a fantastic way to share selected files and media to any compatible device connected to your home network ..."

Building a Budget Homelab NAS Server (2022 Edition):  Great write-up!

    https://mtlynch.io/budget-nas/

How to use Wake-on-LAN on Windows

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-use-wake-on-lan-windows/

How to find your Raspberry Pi IP Address

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-find-raspberry-pi-ip-address/

How to protect your home network with a Raspberry Pi firewall

https://www.xda-developers.com/protect-network-with-raspberry-pi-firewall/

Arizona history & facts

From FB:

For those of you who may be new to AZ, here are 64 interesting facts you might not have known.

1. Arizona has 3,928 mountain peaks and summits, more mountains than any one of the other Mountain States (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming).

2. All New England, plus the state of Pennsylvania would fit inside Arizona.

3. Arizona became the 48th state and last of the contiguous states on February 14, 1912.

4. Arizona's disparate climate can yie7ld both the highest temperature across the nation and the lowest temperature across the nation in the same day.

5. There are more wilderness areas in Arizona than in the entire Midwest. Arizona alone has 90 wilderness areas, while the Midwest has 50.

6. Arizona has 26 peaks that are more than 10,000 feet in elevation.

7. Arizona has the largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa pines in the world stretching from near Flagstaff along the Mogollon Rim to the White Mountains region.

8. Yuma, Arizona is the country's highest producer of winter vegetables, especially lettuce.

9. Arizona is the 6th largest state in the nation, covering 113,909 square miles.

10. Out of all the states in the U.S., Arizona has the largest percentage of its land designated as Indian lands.

11. The Five C's of Arizona's economy are: Cattle, Copper, Citrus, Cotton, and Climate.

12. More copper is mined in Arizona than all the other states combined, and the Morenci Mine is the largest copper producer in all of North America.

13. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, two of the most prominent movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, were married on March 18, 1939, in Kingman, Arizona.

14. Covering 18,608 sq. miles, Coconino County is the second largest county by land area in the 48 contiguous United States.(San Bernardino County in California is the largest)

15. The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Sells, Arizona..

16. Bisbee, Arizona is known as the Queen of the Copper Mines because during its mining heyday it produced nearly 25 percent of the world's copper and was the largest city in the Southwest between Saint Louis and San Francisco.

17. Billy the Kid killed his first man, Windy Cahill, in Bonita, Arizona.

18. Arizona grows enough cotton each year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the United States.

19. Famous labor leader and activist Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma.

20. In 1912, President William Howard Taft was ready to make Arizona a state on February 12, but it was Lincoln's birthday. The next day, the 13th, was considered bad luck so they waited until the following day. That' how Arizona became known as the Valentine State.

21. When England's famous London Bridge was replaced in the 1960s, the original was purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands today.

22. Mount Lemmon, Tucson, in the Santa Catalina Mountains, is the southernmost ski resort in the United States.

23. Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch in Picacho, Arizona is the largest privately-owned ostrich ranch in the world outside South Africa.

24. If you cut down a protected species of cactus in Arizona, you could spend more than a year in prison.

25. The world's largest to-scale collection of miniature airplane models is housed at the library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

26. The only place in the country where mail is delivered by mule is the village of Supai, located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

27. Located on Arizona's western border, Parker Dam is the deepest dam in the world at 320 feet.

28. South Mountain Park/Preserve in Phoenix is the largest municipal park in the country.

29. Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, located about 55 miles west of Phoenix, generates more electricity than any other U.S. power plant.

30. Oraibi, a Hopi village located in Navajo County, Arizona, dates back to before A.D. 1200 and is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in America.

31. Built by Del Webb in 1960, Sun City, Arizona was the first 55-plus active adult retirement community in the country.

32. Petrified wood is the official state fossil. The Petrified Forest in northeastern Arizona contains America's largest deposits of petrified wood.

33. Many of the founders of San Francisco in 1776 were Spanish colonists from Tubac, Arizona.

34. Phoenix originated in 1866 as a hay camp to supply military post Camp McDowell.

35. Rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains.

36. Rising to a height of 12,643 feet, Mount Humphreys north of Flagstaff is the state's highest mountain.

37. Roadrunners are not just in cartoons! In Arizona, you'll see them running up to 17-mph away from their enemies.

38. The Saguaro cactus is the largest cactus found in the U.S. It can grow as high as a five-story building and is native to the Sonoran Desert, which stretches across southern Arizona.

39. Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, grew up on a large family ranch near Duncan, Arizona.

40. The best-preserved meteor crater in the world is located near Winslow, Arizona.

41. The average state elevation is 4,000 feet.

42. The Navajo Nation spans 27,000 square miles across the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, but its capital is seated in Window Rock, Arizona.

43. The amount of copper utilized to make the copper dome atop Arizona's Capitol building is equivalent to the amount used in 4.8 million pennies.

44. Near Yuma, the Colorado River's elevation dips to 70 feet above sea level, making it the lowest point in the state.

45. The geographic center of Arizona is 55 miles southeast of Prescott near the community of Mayer.

46. You could pile four 1,300-foot skyscrapers on top of each other and they still would not reach the rim of the Grand Canyon.

47. The hottest temperature recorded in Arizona was 128 degrees at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994

48. The coldest temperature recorded in Arizona was 40 degrees below zero at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.

49. A saguaro cactus can store up to nine tons of water.

50. The state of Massachusetts could fit inside Maricopa County (9,922 sq. miles).

51. The westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought at Picacho Pass on April 15, 1862 near Picacho Peak in Pinal County

52. There are 11.2 million acres of National Forest in Arizona, and one-fourth of the state forested.

53. Wyatt Earp was neither the town marshal nor the sheriff in Tombstone at the time of the shoot-out at the O..K. Corral. His brother Virgil was the town marshal.

54. On June 6, 1936, the first barrel of tequila produced in the United States rolled off the production line in Nogales, Arizona.

55. The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in North America.

56. Bisbee is the Nation's Southernmost mile-high city.

57. The two largest man-made lakes in the U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both located in Arizona.

58. The longest remaining intact section of Route 66 can be found in Arizona and runs from Seligman to Topock, a total of 157 unbroken miles.

59. The 13 stripes on the Arizona flag represent the 13 original colonies of the United States.

60. The negotiations for Geronimo's final surrender took place in Skeleton Canyon, near present day Douglas, Arizona, in 1886.

61. Prescott, Arizona is home to the world's oldest rodeo, and Payson, Arizona is home to the world's oldest continuous rodeo, both of which date back to the 1880's.

62. Kartchner Caverns, near Benson, Arizona, is a massive limestone cave with 13,000 feet of passages, two rooms as long as football fields, and one of the world's longest soda straw stalactites: measuring 21 feet 3 inches.

63. You can carry a loaded firearm on your person, no permit required.

64. Arizona has one of the lowest crime rates in the U.S.A.

Run Linux as an App on Android

https://news.itsfoss.com/lindroid/

" ... developers ... introduced a very interesting project called "Lindroid", which aims to let users run Linux in "a new way on Android devices"."

" With this, users can run various Linux distributions on native hardware, on their Android installation ..."

"Before you do that, you need to know that you will require a rooted Android device alongside some AOSP patches to be able to run Lindroid. It is not possible to run it without root access because the underlying architecture uses LXC with access to host drivers."

".... Lindroid will be officially made available via LibreMobileOS under the Ulumo name, where it will feature an Ubuntu base."

https://github.com/linux-on-droid/?ref=news.itsfoss.com

5 Copilot AI features that are on by default in Microsoft products | Mashable

https://mashable.com/article/5-microsoft-copilot-defaults

AI Coding Assistance & more

Using AI for Coding: Everything You Need To Know:
https://learntocodewith.me/resources/ai-coding/
"... these are some of the top uses of AI in coding:
1. Code autocompletion
AI-powered code editors use machine learning algorithms to analyze patterns in code. They can predict and suggest code snippets for you, making your coding process faster and more efficient.

2. Automated code generation
AI can generate code snippets or even entire functions based on user prompts to accelerate the development, especially for repetitive & boilerplate code.

3. Code refactoring
Analyze code and suggest improvements for better readability, performance, or adherence to coding standards.

4. Bug detection and fixes
Identify and even fix bugs in the code."

"Programming is really not about being able to type code. Programming is about being able to mentally deconstruct problems into well-defined algorithmic steps, decide on correct data structures that will model the problem and then turn all this into working code."


Microsoft / Generative-AI-for-beginners - 18 Lessons, Get Started Building with Generative AI:
https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners


AI With Python Tutorial:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-ai/


AI-Powered Code Generation Tool (JustDone):
https://justdone.ai/gen/best-code-generator-ai


10 Best AI Code Generators (June 2024):
https://www.unite.ai/best-ai-code-generators/
"GitHub Copilot represents the next level in AI-powered programming assistance. This tool functions like a virtual pair programmer that aids developers in writing better code at an expedited pace. It achieves this by suggesting whole lines or blocks of code as you type. The tool utilizes a system trained on public code repositories and is thus able to understand a multitude of programming languages and coding styles."

"Codeium is an advanced AI-driven platform designed to assist developers in various coding tasks. It encompasses a range of functionalities, including code fixing and code generation, but its most prominent feature is the code autocomplete capability."

"Replit GhostWriter, ... is another ... coding assistant designed to aid programmers in writing efficient and high-quality code. GhostWriter stands out for its ability to complete the code in real-time as the developer types ..."

"Amazon's CodeWhisperer revolutionizes the coding process by offering real-time suggestions ranging from snippets to entire functions, thanks to its vast knowledge from billions of lines of code. ... Furthermore, it prioritizes code security by pinpointing vulnerabilities, providing instant solutions, and ensuring alignment with esteemed security benchmarks such as those by OWASP."

"CodePal is a sophisticated AI-driven assistant designed for coding tasks. It provides a variety of services including code correction, explanation, and documentation. However, its most notable feature is the code generation capability. This means it can produce source code based on textual prompts. For example, if a user inputs a request like "Write a function in JavaScript that prints the Bitcoin price," CodePal will autonomously create code to display the current price of Bitcoin."

"Cody ... offers an impressive set of features that extend beyond the scope of code completion. Cody can be a boon to developers by providing automated code reviews and even identifying and fixing potential bugs in the code.
Cody's main strength lies in its capability to understand the context in which the code is written, allowing it to provide meaningful and relevant suggestions and reviews."

"Tabnine ... uses machine learning algorithms to predict and suggest code completions, aiming to make coding faster, more efficient, and less prone to errors.
... compatibility with over 20 programming languages. This, along with its integration capabilities with various code editors, makes TabNine a versatile tool for developers across different platforms. Furthermore, its deep learning capabilities allow it to provide highly relevant code suggestions ..."

...

5 AI Tools That Can Generate Code To Help Programmers (March 2022):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/janakirammsv/2022/03/14/5-ai-tools-that-can-generate-code-to-help-programmers/
"OpenAI Codex is the model based on GPT-3 that powers GitHub Copilot - a tool from GitHub to generate code within mainstream development environments including VS Code, Neovim, JetBrains, and even in the cloud  ..."

"CodeT5 is an open source programming language model built by researchers at SalesForce. It is based on Google's T5 (Text-to-Text Transfer Transformer) framework. In order to train CodeT5, the team sourced over 8.35 million instances of code, including user comments, from publicly accessible GitHub repositories. A majority of these datasets were derived from the CodeSearchNet dataset, which includes Ruby, JavaScript, Go, Python, PHP, C, and C#, in addition to two C and C# datasets from BigQuery."

"Polycoder is an open source alternative to OpenAI's Codex. Developed by the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the model is based on OpenAI's GPT-2, which is trained on a 249 GB codebase written in 12 programming languages. According to PolyCoder's authors, the program is capable of writing C with greater accuracy than any other model, including Codex.
While most of the code generators are not open source, Polycoder is one of the first open source code generation models."

"Cogram, a Y-Combinator, Berlin-based Startup, is a code generation tool aimed at data scientists and Python programmers using SQL queries and Jupyter Notebooks."


How AI code generation works: https://github.blog/2024-02-22-how-ai-code-generation-works/
"AI code generation refers to full or partial lines of code that are generated by machines instead of human developers."
"While every developer can reap the benefits of using AI coding tools, experienced programmers can often feel these gains even more so. ... It's just faster to hit 'tab' (thus accepting the suggestion) than it is to write out those 20 characters by myself"


AI code-generation software: What it is and how it works (Sept 2023):
https://www.ibm.com/blog/ai-code-generation/
"There are three main benefits of using AI code-generation software tools:

1.     It saves time by enabling developers to generate code faster, reducing the work of manually writing lines of code and freeing developers to focus on higher-value work.
2.     Generative AI can quickly and efficiently test and debug computer code.
3.     Using generative AI for code also makes code development accessible to non-developers."

AI code generation: How it works and 9 tools you should know (March 2024, by Tabnine):
https://www.tabnine.com/blog/ai-code-generation-how-it-works-and-9-tools-you-should-know/

1. Tabnine
2. GitHub Copilot
3. Replit GhostWriter
4. Code Llama
5. CodeT5
6. AI2SQL
7. Durable
8. Mintlify
9. Cody

CODEpal -  Code Generator - Generate Code Online with AI:  https://codepal.ai/
Free startup, monthly fee for significant volumes of requests.


Refraction - Learn, improve and generate code with AI:  https://refraction.dev/
"Generate code using AI in 56 languages — ABAP, Ada, Apex, Assembly, Batch, C, C#, C++, CameLIGO, Clojure, Cobol, CoffeeScript, CSS, D Lang, Dart, Elixir, Erlang, F#, Fortran, Go, GraphQL, Groovy, Handlebars, Haskell, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Julia, Kotlin, LaTeX, Less, Liquid, Lua, MatLab, Objective-C, OCaml, PascaLIGO, Perl, PHP, PowerShell, Pug, Python, R Lang, Racket, Ruby, Rust, Sass / SCSS, Scala, Shell, Solidity, SQL, Swift, TypeScript, Visual Basic, XML, and YAML."

Build a real-life Winamp player before the PC app goes open-source

Build a real-life Winamp (called Linamp) player with Raspberry Pi:
https://www.xda-developers.com/real-life-winamp-player-raspberry-pi

https://hackaday.io/project/196407-linamp/details
Linamp has the following features:

• Play music files from the file system (mp3, m4a, FLAC, etc.), including from SMB network mounts.
• Playlist management for file playback
• Display a real time bar spectrum analyzer
• Display track information, including bitrate and sample rate
• Control the output volume and balance
• CD Playback (when connecting an external CD drive), including getting the track information from MusicBrainz
• Bluetooth and Spotify playback (This is a Work in Progress)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Winamp is going open source (on September 24th, 2024), and it feels like the early 2000s again. - Remember Winamp? Turns out, it never went away, and it's now about to get a lot better:
https://www.xda-developers.com/winamp-open-source/
https://about.winamp.com/press/article/winamp-open-source-code

32 Common Windows Mistakes to Avoid

https://www.pctips.com/common-windows-mistakes/

For writers: Profanity in science fiction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profanity_in_science_fiction

FN's Reflex 9mm Pistol: Micro Size, Big Features. And More.

https://www.handgunsmag.com/editorial/fn-reflex-9mm-micro-compact-pistol/499197

".. the Reflex is not a striker-fired pistol but rather an internal hammer-fired single action only. The lighter single-action pull is less likely to result in inadvertent movement when firing, which could send your round askew."

" The Reflex doesn't have a grip or thumb safety ... For a concealed-carry pistol, there's much to be said for "point and shoot" simplicity."

" With an overall length of just over six inches and a height just over four inches with a flush-fit magazine, and just an inch thick, the Reflex's slim profile makes it easy to conceal. The pistol boasts a capacity of 11+1 with the flush-fit magazine or 15+1 with the extended magazine. At just 18.4 ounces, the Reflex won't weigh you down." (Approximately the same dimensions as the Glock 26, but a little lighter.)

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Top 8 Best Single Stack Sub-Compact 9mms Of 2023 Review:

https://www.battleriflecompany.com/gun-reviews/best-single-stack-subcompact-9mm-pistols/

Best Sub-Compact Single-Stack 9mm for CCW:

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/single-stack-sub-compact-9mms/

8 Best Micro 9mm Handguns of 2024:

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/best-micro-compact-9mm-handguns/

How to Fix the Atikmpag.sys driver

Atikmpag.sys BSoD: What It Is & How To Fix It?

https://malwaretips.com/blogs/atikmpag-sys-bsod-what-it-is-how-to-fix-it/

Actual runs from examples in article:

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Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.3593]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\System32>dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.22621.2792

Image Version: 10.0.22621.3593

[==========================100.0%==========================] The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\Windows\System32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to disable Windows(11) Recall

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/5-reasons-why-you-should-and-shouldnt-use-windows-recall-on-windows-11

"The feature works by taking snapshots of your screen every few seconds and storing them locally on your hard drive. The Windows Recall app consists of a search bar and timeline, which lets you scroll back through all the saved snapshots and can show you what was on your screen at any point."

Linux May Be the Best Way to Avoid the AI Nightmare - and it's easier to use than ever

https://www.lifewire.com/install-linux-avoid-ai-8655664

"As they add more features, we have less and less control over our computers. Dropbox, iCloud, Copilot, and all of Apple's Continuity features rely on the cloud, sending data back and forth. AI is already firmly embedded into our computers, powering text autocorrect, recognizing our friends and family in the pictures we add to our photo libraries, and so on.

These features are amazing and so convenient. But they have a price.  ... your computer never really sleeps anymore. And, of course, there are the privacy concerns of having your computer in constant contact with the platform owner—Microsoft, Google, and Apple"

How to Automatically Restart iOS Daily

Regularly rebooting a phone helps it run faster …
https://medium.com/@bjammin/how-to-automatically-restart-ios-every-day-4b3bfdba7a90