Posts

My answer to Polestar Connected Services Plus subscription

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I recently bought a Polestar 2 - my very first EV!  This car is such a massive upgrade from my previous tiny car, and technology wise it felt like proper 21st century!  Polestar 2 has Android Automotive built in - meaning native Android OS, Google Maps navigation, YouTube music, you name it.  The car itself has built in internet connectivity, it works through a built in eSim and LTE modem placed on the roof antenna.  The LTE service, for the time being, is free from Polestar, despite the car being 4+ years old, but there are chatters that this free service is coming to an end soon, and it will cost in the region of 10 EUR a month.  I think 10 EUR isn't too bad, considering it offers roaming across most of Europe, so one fee for you to drive all across everywhere.  However, me being a nerd, I think we can do better, for less! If you're looking to do the same, you're in the right place, do read on. Polestar Connected Services Plus vs Connected Services (stan...

Longhorn instance-manager upgrade in a Homelab setting

My kubernetes based homelab was recently borked by a myriad of issues plaguing the Longhorn release 1.11.0.  https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn/issues/12578 - borked validating webhook https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn/issues/12573 - memory leak Both requires manual bumping Longhorn to a hotfix image.  When bumping the instance-manager, existing volumes still using the old instance-manager will persist until volume is detached.  The official Longhorn document suggested scaling the workload down to achieve that outcome.  Personally I find that suggestion flawed, while I do have ArgoCD which helps reconcile the configuration, I don't want to manually update the deployment count.  Turns out, I can manage the same result through node drain - which forces workload to be moved to a different node.  Granted - I don't have a fool-proof disruption budget set, so some workloads are interrupted; and all of my volumes are RWX. But I'll take this much simpler appro...

Getting egos-tech/smtp or namshi/docker-smtp to accept IPv6 as RELAY_NETWORKS

I have recently been migrating my docker based workload to a dualstack (IPv4 + IPv6) enabled Kuberntes cluster.  In this cluster I needed a SMTP Relay so that emails can be relayed out through my Google Apps account.  The default deployment of egos-tech/smtp states that The container accepts RELAY_NETWORKS environment variable which MUST start with : e.g :192.168.0.0/24 or :192.168.0.0/24:10.0.0.0/16 . I tried various things getting IPv6 address into the list, and after a large number of trial-and-error, I managed to get it to work with this config: --- apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata:      name: smtp-config      data:           RELAY_NETWORKS: ";10.0.0.0/8;127.0.0.0/8;172.16.0.0/12;192.168.0.0/16;fd00::/8" I believe the first letter in the environment variable actually doesn't need to start with a colon, instead it defines the delimiter. By switching it from a colon to semi-colon, it avoids conflicting wi...

Using AWS CloudFront Path-Based behaviour for uploading to multiple S3 Buckets with CF and S3 resigned URLs

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TLDR In a nutshell, this allows you to:  Replace multiple S3 endpoint with a single custom CloudFront domain (e.g., for branding reasons) Use Path-Based behaviour in CloudFront to handle destination bucket (e.g., for app compatibility reasons) Combine the following: CloudFront Presigned URL - an "outer auth" for the request to be let in S3 Presigned Post - an "inner auth" against S3 for to POST request to be processed Design Diagram Points to note:  S3 Presigned Post URL The S3 endpoint generated is discarded The POST field containing signature (S3 Auth), policy, bucket name and key related to the upload is retained CloudFront Signed URL The URL is made up of CloudFront custom domain + Path of each bucket's associated CloudFront behaviour CloudFront signer adds query string to the URI with signatures, expirations, etc The Signed URL forms the outer credentials (CloudFront auth) to access the CloudFront behaviour These two are then combined and sent to the client...

Shokupan Recipe

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This recipe it based on Hairy Biker's recipe (rip Dave) published on the BBC website . I adapted it for my own kitchen setup and ingredients that I have access to: M&S Canadian Very Strong White Bread Flour Bosch Standmixer (MUMS6ZM00G) Bosch Oven (HMG7764B1B) I am writing this recipe here so that it's easier for myself to follow. --- --- Time Required Total preparation: 60 minutes Total proofing: 105 minutes Baking: 35 minutes --- Ingredients List Yudane 30g strong white flour 60g milk , whole 60g water Dough - first pass 325g strong white flour 55g granulated sugar 7g instant yeast 6g salt 15g condensed milk Dough - second pass (Yudane) 120g milk , whole 1 egg , beaten Dough - third pass 55g butter , unsalted, softened Brushing before baking 1 egg , beaten 15g milk , whole --- Method Step 1 - Make Yudane Add the following ingredients into a saucepan: 30g strong white flour 60g milk , whole 60g water Set hob to 90°C and constantly stir until content reaches 65°C or con...

Anker Charger (130W, 6 Ports, GaN) (A2155) Mini Review

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Good on Anker for shipping the product in recyclable packaging. Specs listed on the back of the box. Comes with a C8 power cable of reasonable quality, though I do wonder how long the rubbery texture would last before it turn into some sort of gooey mess.  The charger itself.  Specs printed on the bottom of the device.  Note that it comes with some decent sized rubber feet.  A hidden power LED lights up when plugged in - I really like this, gives a premium feel to the product! Port C1 Capabilities - 105 Watts Port C2 Capabilities - 65W Port C3 Capabilities - 19.98W Port C3 Capabilities - 19.98W Port C4 Capabilities - 19.98W Size comparison to the old Anker Charger It tapers a bit more than the older model, but it's definitely thicker than the older model.  It also weights a bit more - I'd say it's 50% chonkier by feel.  I'm pleased to see that the new charger still fits in my Bellroy Tech Kit (standard sized one).  Bit more of a snug fit than before th...

Americout is the new Brexit

So glad something else managed to top the chart.  Also putting the phrase here, maybe it will catch on.