Tag Archives: iPad

Apple Arcade’s TMNT Splintered Fate talking Open-Source and InfoSec

Ever since my Sony PS4 Pro’s HDD broke down last year I’ve been using my iPad as my main gaming device. There are some awesome games such as Moonshot, Dead Cells+ and my personal favorite, LEGOยฎ Star Warsโ„ข: Castaways.

A day (or two, I’m not sure) ago, Viacom International Inc. and Paramount Global in collaboration with Nickelodeon released TMNT Splintered Fate. I’ve been playing the game for couple of hours now and I like it very much.

But this is not a game review, as I’m not a reviewer.

I’m not sure if people read/listen to game dialogs these days, but I do.

I just encountered DONATELLO, METALHEAD and APRIL talking about software, open-source and hacking.

Unfortunately, as I was not aware about the conversation, I had to restart the game from scratch twice so I record the the dialog.

Here’s a GIF and the dialog itself ๐Ÿ™‚ I hope you appreciate it as much as I did.

Tmnt landscape

DONATELLO: Metalhead, can you give me an update on the microchip I gave you to analyze before?
METALHEAD: Affirmative. Analysis complete. Top-level configuration consists of standard StockGen operational code.
METALHEAD: Command controls for MOUSERs, etcetera.
DONATELLO: Open source?
METALHEAD: Both open source and proprietary, most of which we have already accessed in the past. Howeverโ€ฆ the drive also contains inert sub-configurations, protected by military-grade encryption.
APRIL: What do you mean, ‘inert?’
METALHEAD: Hidden ‘ghost code’ that I posit contain command executables serving an unknown purpose.
DONATELLO: Hm. Kinda like the computer version of a sleeper agent.
METALHEAD: Affirmative.
APRIL: But why would Stockman hide ghost code inside his own code? It’s like he’s hacking himself.
DONATELLO: Yeah… it is strange. But we’ve gotta find out what’s in that hidden code before we can jump to any conclusions.
DONATELLO: Metalhead, do what you can to break through that encryption.
METALHEAD: Command acknowledged.
APRIL: Correct me if I’m wrong, Metalhead, but with this new info we should be able to… shall we say… borrow some StockGen tech to occasionally support you guys from afar?
METALHEAD: If you are equating ‘borrow’ with ‘hack into and control,’ that is affirmative, April O’Neil.
DONATELLO: Well! That’s exciting…
APRIL: Right? So, keep an eye open for some friendly support drops while you’re out there. We’ll have to keep it low key for now. Don’t want to set off any unnecessary alarms with the powers that be.

That’s all folksโ€ฆ

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Light & Dark Wallpapers for iOS: Solving a problem that Apple created

One of the best features of macOS is the ability to have Light and Dark, as well as Dynamic Wallpapers. You’d think that Apple has done some Apple-y way to implement that, but not at all.

It’s actually part of the High Efficiency Image File Format that allows sequences which are multiple time-related images.

Here’s an example of Ventura’s default wallpaper.

Ventura graphic

As you can see, it’s multiple images.

So a while back, I thought hey, I can make a Light & Dark wallpaper for myself, which I did.

SCR 20230414 w9m

For some reason, I forgot to use these wallpapers on my iPhone and iPad. Days ago I tried, and oh boy, Apple messed up again.

Here’s how the image looks like on iOS/iPadOS.

Heic

It just loops over the images and if you try to set it as a wallpaper it sets the first one. That’s it…

Anyway, now that I’ve complained about Apple, let me show you how to use “Dynamic” wallpapers. Again, this is just a hack, it would’ve been easier if Apple just tested their own wallpapers on iOS/iPadOS.

Let’s start with iOS first.

Setup two identical wallpapers using the new iOS lock screen customization thingie.

IMG 6553
IMG 6554

After that, setup a Shortcut automation to set the wallpaper based on time. In this case, I use sunset and sunrise.

IMG 6551

The automation itself looks like this.
IMG 6552

Fun fact: Apple messed up again. You know how your iPhone changes appearance automatically between Light and Dark mode based on sunset and sunrise? Well, it doesn’t match with Shortcuts automator! the Shortcut automator will set your wallpaper sooner than iOS changes its appearance. I guess they each have their own “calculation” of when sunset/sunrise is.

Okay, but this wasn’t that hard.

How about iPadOS. Well, that’s more complicated.

First, you need to have a copy of each wallpaper (light and dark), and then you have to put them into an Album.

After that, you need a Shortcut automation that looks for these images and sets them as a wallpaper. Another inconsistency that we really didn’t need between platforms…

Here’s an example.

IMG 0125

Here’s the automation itself

IMG 0127

Fun fact: Sometimes iPadOS will forget to set the wallpaper and you’ll get a notification that says “Missed automation” or something like that. I forgot to screenshot that, but if you have an example, please do send me an image.

Congratulations, now you have Dynamic Wallpapers on iOS/iPadOS.

That’s all folksโ€ฆ

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iPad with Magic Keyboard

When I was cleaning our office couple of days ago I found a Magic Keyboard. I always liked these, I had one years ago when I had a very old iMac (which was running OpenBSD at the time!)

I brought it home and connected it to my iPad. Looks like I have a new blogging station.

Iโ€™ve seen people who walk around with their iPads connected to a keyboard case. Some of these cases are very expensive.

While this is a very cheap solution, I would not recommend it to anyone, because youโ€™d need a proper desk.

Unlike a laptop, which can be used while sitting in a corner of a hotel, even without a desk/table/chair. Just put it on your lap.

But then again, this might be a nice setup while on the move.

Actually, Iโ€™m writing this from my iPad+MagicKeyboard right now ๐Ÿ™‚

And just like, see you all next year ๐Ÿ˜‰

Thatโ€™s all folksโ€ฆ

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