Daily Battles: StayFocusd Blocking Websites Not On Blocked List

StayFocusd is a free Chrome Extension I use to self-regulate how much time I spent on news and social media web sites every day so I can stay more focused and waste less time. It is a great tool I would recommend to everyone who wants to be more efficient and get more done each day.

However, I just found out today that the StayFocusd tool started blocking my Google Adsense dashboard page. I don't ever recall blocking this web site. And after I went into the extension settings page, I also don't see the Google website on the blocked list.

If you also experience similar problem where websites not on the blocked list gets blocked by StayFocusd, don't worry. Here's how you can take care of this extension bug.

If you are like me, most likely you enabled the Require Challenge option, which requires you to type this long paragraph of text (min 425 characters) without making any mistake (any mistake would reset the challenge). Don't bother! Because it is HARD! I failed the challenge twice today.

1. Go to the settings page of the StayFocusd extension and then click the tab that says Import/Export Settings on the left and then click Export Settings to save your settings to a JSON file.

2. In the address bar of your Chrome browser, type in chrome://extensions. Find StayFocusd and then click Remove.

3. Go to the Chrome Web Store and find StayFocusd (or click this link) and click Add to Chrome.

4. Go to the settings page of the StayFocusd extension and then go back to the tab that says Import/Export Settings on the left and then click Import Settings and load the JSON file you saved on your computer.

That's it. Now it should not block websites that are not on your blocked list anymore.

Tao of the Day:

If you get erased by the Mainstream Media, become the Mainstream Media! #LetYangSpeak







BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Daily Battles: Blank Notifications on Samsung Galaxy Android

Have you noticed that recently you start getting blank notifications on your Android phones? It happened to my Samsung Galaxy S8. Some notifications are fine, while others are just blank, something like this below.

First I thought it was a bug from the app I was using. But then I started noticing it happening with different apps, such as my Vivint app, Twitter, or even my coupons.

Did my research and eventually found out the cause. It is a bug relating to fonts and styles. To fix the problem, just go to your settings page, search "Font size and style", then select the one under "Display". Choose "Font style", and then select the one you use. If it is already selected, just deselect it and then select it again.

Now go back to your home screen and then swipe down to see your notifications. All the notifications should be not empty now!

Wish I had figured this out before I start cutting down on my twitter time. Well! Another battle won!

Video of the Day:

So glad the fire is under control in Australia. Such a disaster. Even the magpie learned to sound like a fire engine!

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Daily Battles: How to use Chrome with multiple Google Accounts

Some people have multiple Google accounts (like me). Some people help their family members with their Google blogs or Gmails (like me). Some other people share a computer among family members (not me). Yet some other people have multiple emails such as a school email and a personal email (like my daughter). Each Google account also meant different bookmarks, different Google drive docs, different YouTube subscriptions, different Google map timelines, different Google calendars and task lists, or different Google search preferences... (now you see, Google owns our lives, and there's no escaping it).

Whatever the situation, it can be very helpful to be able to use multiple Google Accounts on the same computer. It would be super inconvenient to have to log yourself out and then log into other people's accounts. So in the past, I would just open an incognito Chrome window and then log in to their accounts. But that's still a lot of work, especially trying to remember all their different passwords. There's actually a much easy way:

You can configure Chrome to use multiple Google Accounts!

And here's how you can do it:

1. Click on your avatar at the upper right corner of your Chrome browser (which is just left of the 3 dots icon).
2. Click Add.
3. Follow the instructions to log in to the Google Account you want to add.

Now if you right-click on your Chrome icon on your taskbar, you will see all the accounts in a list that you can just click on one to open a new Chrome browser window with that Google Account. As simple as that!

Hope this can be helpful for those who could benefit from this feature!

Video of the Day:

The Known Universe

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Daily Battles: Can't login to WeChat in a web browser

I use WeChat, because I can use it to video chat or voice call family and friends in China for free. But really, it's because most of my Chinese friends (in China or not) all use it as their main messaging app. Fine, the real truth is that my boss (wife) uses it to inform me when she needs things done. 😅

As not a Millennial or Gen Z person, I am very uncomfortable with typing on my phone. I type super slow and make all kinds of mistakes (and then the autocomplete feature of the phone would replace them with all kinds of stupid and inappropriate words). On a keyboard, though, I can type super fast, both in English and in Chinese. So when I have to use WeChat, I'd much prefer using it on the computer than using it on the phone.

That's why one day when I saw a friend using the web browser version of WeChat, I was super delighted! She told me that all I had to do is to go to http://web.wechat.com and then scan the QR code with my WeChat app on my phone. Sounds easy, right? So I immediately gave it a try. Then I got this:

What's going on? My account was suspended? What did I do???!!!

Also, I only want to use the web version. I definitely don't want to install any Chinese apps onto my computer!!! Who knows what kind of Trogen Horses they are going to sneak in with those apps!

I frantically searched the web for solutions. You know, it's like when you just found a treasure chest, and then realize it is locked. You want to pick that lock, or smash the lock, or just pry the chest open, or smash the chest.

Couldn't find anything! Keep searching!! Still can't find anything!!! Keep searching!!!

Eventually, I found it!! From a developer on GitHub who wrote a program that integrates with WeChat:

Your issue is related to the latest policy changing from Tencent: Newly created Wechat Account will not be able to login via Web Wechat anymore. Wechaty is using the Web API of Wechat, which means newly created account will not use Wechaty to log in.

Now I just feel like Fan Xian who simply can't open that chest his incredible mother left him no matter how hard he tried. (Check out Joy of Life, a great book and TV Series.)

Well, you win some battles, and you lose some battles. I'll patiently wait for Tencent to someday enable this feature for "new" WeChat users like me because after years pass, I will no longer remain a "new" WeChat user.

Video of the Day:

This is how I feel about my daily battles sometimes.

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Daily Battles: How to disable news notification on your Mac

I don't remember that I ever enabled news notifications on my Mac. But time from time, something would pop up on my screen, notifying me of some piece of news I had no interest in reading.

Hi Apple, if I want to follow the latest news, I go to Twitter or go to YouTube and watch the Daily Show. Stop sending me useless stuff I never requested like how the many other companies do.

I tried searching for "news" in system preferences in my attempt to shut it off and found nothing!! Is this Apple's way of telling me, stupid Apple users, Apple knows what's good for you. So stop questioning and just OBEY!

Enough ranting. Here's how you can turn it off:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Select Notifications.
3. Find News in the left pane and select it.
4. Select None under news alert style.

You are welcome! Now on to my next tech battle!

Key to Happiness: Lower your expectations, especially when it comes to your kids.





BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com