Category: Other

org.apache.http stops working in Android SDK 23

Issue A project no longer compiles in Android Studio after switching from Android SDK v22 to v23. The compiler complains that it can not resolve symbol HttpClient, or that package org.apache.http does not exist.
DELL SonicWALL – get AirPlay and DLNA working between bridged LAN and WLAN

Setup DELL SonicWALL NSA 220 wireless-N LAN and WLAN interfaces Bridged (on the same subnet) Issue Streaming protocols that rely on multicast (such as Apple Bonjour/AirPlay and DLNA/UPNP) don’t work between devices that span LAN and WLAN zones. If all devices are either on Wireless or Wired part of the network, everything works fine. On residential routers…
Kunena Forum – You are banned until Today

Issue After restoring a Joomla website from a backup, all users logged on to a Kunena Forum are greeted with “You are banned until Today” message…
Finding Peugeot (Clarion) stereo unlock code

Before selling my old Peugeot 206, I removed my Kenwood stereo and I put back original Peugeot radio, model: Clarion PU-2325A(B). Bad news was that the radio was now locked and demanded a 4 digit unlock code. I could not find this code in any of the paperwork that came with the car so resorted to the…
Microsoft Family safety in Windows 10 just doesn’t work…

Microsoft have been changing Windows built-in Family Protection in recent Windows 8 and 10 quite a bit. The latest one – Windows 10 version has been renamed to Microsoft Family and moved to the Cloud. All configuration and reporting is now done online on Microsoft Family website. In addition, in order to use Microsoft Family you have…
Installing custom OS on original Nexus 7 (2012)

Before starting, make sure you have working adb (Android Development Bridge) tool on your PC. adb.exe is part of Android SDK, so if you have Android Studio, you should already have adb. If not, you can download Android Studio (or SDK only) from developer.android.com. Warning: following instructions below will wipe all data on your tablet. Step…
Root failure – Firmware upgrade encountered an issue

Issue Trying to root Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using Kingo Root failed. The phone doesn’t boot and only displays following message when turned on: Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again. Recovery attempt in Samsung Kies failed. Re-flash full Samsung firmware via Odin also failed.
Flashing using ODIN fails – Complete(Write) operation failed

Issue Trying to install a custom recovery on Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using Odin fails with following output: <ID:0/003> Firmware update start..<ID:0/003> recovery.img<ID:0/003> NAND Write Start!! <ID:0/003> cache.img.ext4<ID:0/003> Complete(Write) operation failed.<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)
Google Play Services automatically add new permissions

Issue After upgrading Google Play Services from 6.1.11 to 7.5.0, bunch of new permissions are automatically added to the application’s manifest. The app actually only uses Admob (Google Mobile Ads) libraries from Google Play Services and permissions such as “ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION”, “ACCESS_ACCOUNTS”, “USE_CREDENTIALS” are completely unnecessary.
Google Photos doesn’t show people album outside US

One of the coolest new Google Photos features is “Group similar faces“, which automatically detects faces in photos and groups them in “people” albums. Unfortunately, this option at the moment is only available in the US. The good news is that there is quite simple workaround that lets you to enable “Group similar faces” wherever you…
Android – Some UTF-8 characters get lost during HttpPost

Issue Some non ASCII characters get lost when submitting HttpPost (or HttpPut) requests to a remote web service. All text after the problematic character also gets stripped out.There were no issues on the server side as other clients could submit any non standard characters without any issues.
PHP json_encode() fails with error “Invalid UTF-8 sequence in argument”

Issue PHP / MySQL web service fails to return JSON encoded data when it contains some non standard ASCII characters. Text in MySQL looks correctly and database has “utf8_unicode_ci” collation.The issue occurs while running json_encode() function. The web service returns following error: Type : Error ExceptionMessage: json_encode(): Invalid UTF-8 sequence in argument