Titbits On Technology, Internet And The Web In Ghana

I got a nice looking generic headphone with a microphone to use for Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams meetings. I was quite disappointed to find out the microphone had a buzz or loud humming sound in the background when I listen to the microphone. I ordered another headset as a result of this but encountered the same buzzing humming problem. Now the challenge is that I had two other microphones (an older damaged headset and a webcam with mic) that did not exhibit this humming buzzing behaviour. To address this, I went about it in three ways, the hard way and the easy way. Let's start with the easy solution first. 1. MICROPHONE VOLUME AND BOOST A hum or buzz should not exist in the microphone to begin with but if it does, you can tone it down using the microphone settings on your device. First check if microphone volume is not excessive or set too high. On a PC, the levels tab on the microphone setting may be used. A reduction in microphone volume should help reduce the buzz or ...

 Got a lot of stress from a guzzlehttp error when a new plugin was installed on wordpress that looks like this:  PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined method GuzzleHttp\Utils::chooseHandler() in It is probably due to a guzzlehttp conflict between some previously installed plugin and the newly installed one. A quick solution is to locate the guzzle folder in your new plugin and rename it or delete it. Make sure you have a backup before deleting the guzzle folder if you opt to delete instead of rename. You will typically find the guzzle folder under  wp-content/plugins/[plugin name]/vendor/guzzlehttp/ in your wordpress installation directory. Do not delete the guzzlehttp folder, just guzzle folder found within the guzzlehttp folder should be renamed or deleted.

  You attempt to login to your paypal account and come across this ominous message  "Sorry, we couldn’t confirm it’s you" That's quite unpleasant right? Well, support isn't much help in many of such cases. What is interesting though is that it appears to be an automated mechanism built into paypal so certain actions you take independent of support may resolve it. Solutions you may try. 1. A user reported that their problem was resolved simply by clearing cache and cookies in their browser. To test this approach, you may open paypal in an incognito/private browser window and attempt logging in. If it works, your problem is solved. 2. A second option that may work is to find the email message paypal sent you requiring you to confirm your email address. Click on CONFIRM email button or copy the confirmation link to a new browser address bar. This should send you to the login interface to login with your password. Paypal will then confirm it is you and open your account t...

The are a multitude of VPN services that claim to be free. But are they free and are they easy to use without any fuss. VPNs help browse the internet anonymously. They also might help in a place where the internet is restricted or a particular website would not allow you to access their content from your current location. Generally they are useful but do not assume you are anonymous as the VPN providers can still see your location and perhaps actually track your activities. It may very well just be a honey pot. However, if you are doing nothing illegal, they serve to offer a good way to circumvent internet restrictions. The following VPNs are guaranteed to be free or offer free versions. If you know others, leave a comment. Ultrasurf Download and use, no set up. Uses USA Servers. Fastest and smallest, might trigger a reaction from your antivirus but safe if downloaded from original source. But you might need to reset your LAN settings manually when you shut it down. Phantom VPN Comes w...

TL;DR the PHP version was upgraded without my knowledge. I removed the upgrade reference in .htaccess (or downgraded it) to fix the problem.  I found that all wordpress content on my site were suddenly redirecting to an empty content page (error 404). I had set all 404 to redirect to the home page so all links were redirecting to the home page. This was alarming because I had not made any changes or updated the website. This was a cpanel hosting package. Many searches online pointed me to the permalink options in the admin area but that did not resolve my problem. Also it was suggested the issue resided in the .htaccess file in my hosting.  What I eventually did after the solution to the problem had eluded me for a whole day was to compare the current htaccess file with a backup htaccess file using a text comparison tool . I soon discovered my php had been upgraded to a higher version by my hosting provider without my being notified. I found this code in the HTACCESS file # ph...

Cryptocurrency is not one thing. Cryptocurrency is many things with a blanket name.  Is it a good investment? Some are, some are not.  Why is cryptocurrency, many things? 1. Some function as collectibles or just like art or gold bars (e.g. bitcoin -BTC, NFTs). Are art a good investment? 2. Some function like stocks of companies, giving you voting rights etc on their projects and earning dividends (e.g. TRX etc). Are stocks a good investment? 3. Some are memes or just for fun with no clear use case but still have all the qualities of a cryptocurrency (e.g. doge etc). Is joining something that is being hyped a good investment? 4. Some are used as fuel or the underlying transport mechanism for running a process on the blockchain called smart contracts. (e.g. eth gas and BNB etc). Is owning fuel a good investment? 5. Some are used as money and aim to replace the money we know (e.g. Bitcoin Cash - BCH etc). Is owning what may become generally used as cash a good investment? 6. Some...

 Crypto Edu Series: Cryptocurrency primarily digitizes money and assets on the blockchain among other uses including securing collectibles such as art (NFTs). This post talks about one cryptocurrency solution to holding your funds in a dollar denominated cryptocurrency. The focus will be on USDT.  What is USDT? USDT is a very popular though somewhat controversial cryptocurrency that is issued (minted not mined) by Tether company with the value pegged to USD. There is currently $56,861,486,476.23 circulating supply which is actively held and traded by individuals and on exchanges. Pegged means 1 USDT = 1 USD. It is expected that for every USDT in circulation, there is a matching USD held by the Tether company to represent it. Such pegged tokens are referred to as "stable coins". Stable because they avoid the volatility characteristic of a typical cryptocurrency by being pegged to a national currency, commodity or asset. There are other USD pegged cryptocurrency tokens. https...