Add Desktop Notifications to Shell Scripts with notify-send

Jan 13, 2015 GMT

Monitoring a running shell script usually means keeping an eye on the terminal window. Obviously, that's not the most productive way to spend your time, so instead of staring at the terminal, you can equip shell scripts with desktop notifications that give you visual feedback when specific events occur. One possible solution is to use the notify-send command which is part of the libnotify package. To install it on Debian or Ubuntu, run the apt-get install libnotify-bin command as root. Using notify-send couldn't be easier. Simply add the command followed by the message text in the desired place in the script as follows: notify-send "Hello world!"The command supports a few...

Fla.sh: The Simplest Flashcard Tool

Jan 06, 2015 GMT

Consisting of merely 40 lines of code, the fla.sh Bash script is hands down the most simple and lightweight flashcard tool out there. The script features four commands. The fla.sh write command is used to create flashcards. A flashcard in this case is a plain text file which name is a prompt and the content is the answer. To study flashcards, run the fla.sh command, and the script will cycle through the existing flashcards. When you give a correct answer to a specific prompt, the script automatically marks the corresponding card as learned by prepending . to the flashcard's file name (thus hiding the flashcard). You can also mark any flashcard as learned using the fla.sh learn NAME...

Push Files from Android Using Send With FTP

Dec 30, 2014 GMT

While Android file managers like Ghost Commander can be used to transfer files and documents to a remote FTP server, the Send With FTP app provides a more elegant way to do this. Once installed, the app adds a dedicated entry to the Android Share menu, so you can push files and documents to an FTP server with a few taps. To configure the app, you need to specify an FTP connection string in the following format: ftp://username:password@ftpserver/path/to/dir/Replace username and password with the actual FTP credentials and ftpserver/path/to/dir/ with the IP address or domain name of the FTP server followed by the path to the destination directory. That's all there is to it. Send to...

Extension Watch: Clever Tab Hiding with Tab Snooze

Dec 29, 2014 GMT

What can you do with a tab that doesn't require immediate attention? Besides bookmarking it, your options are actually limited -- unless you choose to install the Tab Snooze extension for Google Chrome and Chromium. Using this tiny little tool, you can stash any tab for later. Tab Snooze gives you several options: you can save the tab for the same day, for the coming weekend, next month, and even for some other day. This offers an elegant way to schedule your web browsing and reading activities. When it's time for the saved tab to appear, Tab Snooze displays a discrete notification. Since the extension is still under heavy development, it's...

Turbo Editor: Open Source Text Editor for Android

Dec 19, 2014 GMT

Turbo Editor may look like a no-frills text editor, but this app packs a few handy features that make it a rather capable tool for editing text files on Android. For starters, Turbo Editor sports an unobtrusive interface that adheres to Google's material design guidelines. The app is optimized for use on both smartphones and tablets, so you can use it on any Android device. The editor supports syntax highlighting for many popular languages and markups, including HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Python, and others. Line numbering is another creature comfort that in combination with the Go To Line command makes it easier to work with code. As any...

Easy File Transfer with reep.io

Dec 18, 2014 GMT

Instead of using a file sharing service to transfer a file from one machine to another, you can opt for a more straightforward solution offered by reep.io. Using this no-frills service, you can share files without uploading them to a third-party service. Add the files you want to share, send the automatically generated link to the intended recipients, and they can transfer files directly from your machine. All communication is encrypted, and you have the option to protect the shared link with a password. reep.io won't replace a fully-featured file sharing solution, but it can come in handy when you need to quickly share a file or two with...

nnmm: Probably the Simplest Pastebin-like Tool

Nov 28, 2014 GMT

The Hastebin service and software covered in a previous article may seem bare-bones, but it's not the simplest tool around. This title belongs to the nnmm web app. It consists of a simple PHP script and an accompanying database, and you can use the hosted version of the app at https://nnmm.nl/. There is actually no point in visiting the place in the browser, as the app doesn't have a web interface. You have to use the curl tool to push the output of a command to the nnmm.nl service, for example: echo "Monkey loves banana." | curl --data-urlencode @- nnmm.nl cat foo.txt | curl --data-urlencode @- nnmm.nlWhen you run the command, the server returns a short URL to the...