Google Podcasts moving to YouTube Music

In a blog post, the YouTube team announced the availability of podcasts on its YouTube Music app globally which is a step forward towards discontinuing Google Podcasts later in 2024.

Screenshot below shows podcasts in search results on YouTube Music for Android app version 6.20.51.

Earlier in April this year, YouTube Music started carrying podcasts in the US only which received mixed reactions from users as many popular podcasts were not available or were hard to find along with the inability to add RSS feeds [source].

The screenshot below shows the New episodes feed in the YouTube Music Library.

Google Podcasts has been around since June 2018 and is presently available on the Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and ChromeOS platforms alongside it's browser-accessible website. It is the 4th-most popular podcast platform after Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio.

The screenshot below shows Google Podcasts version 1.0.0.5 running on Android.

Google Graveyard has added Google Podcasts as the 289th service that Google has killed.

US Government makes available more COVID-⁠19 test kits for free

Every U.S. household may again place an order to receive four free COVID-⁠19 rapid antigen tests to be delivered at no extra cost. The order can be placed at COVIDtests.com. A similar distribution was also done in January 2022 which I had written about here.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230925153653/https://www.covid.gov/tests

Find files with path lengths exceeding CD/DVD restrictions using Windows PowerShell

If you have been burning CDs or DVDs for your personal archives or any other purposes, you already know it allows file paths only up to 255 characters. If you are burning files in bulk it an often difficult to ensure that your file path lengths confirm to the prescribed limits. Or if you are like me, then you probably want to limit the path length to 100-150 characters for manageability and protection against burn failures.

For this example, we consider a bunch of subfolders and files in a local drive path named "D:\MUSIC-Full-Backup\BACKUP0933\ARCHIVE05". We intend to burn the content inside this folder on the root of a DVD disc. For this purpose, we want to know which files here breach the 100-character limit of path length so we can take appropriate action to correct this.

Open the Windows PowerShell and change directory to "D:\MUSIC-Full-Backup\BACKUP0933\ARCHIVE05". Next run the following command at the prompt:

cmd /c dir /s /b *.* |? { $curPath="D:\MUSIC-Full-Backup\BACKUP0933\ARCHIVE05"; $_.length-$curPath.length -gt 100 }

Here we are deducting the length of the current path from the full path of each file as it will not be part of the patch when it is burned the DVD. This should list all files in the folder which exceeds the length of 100 characters. An example output is below.

D:\MUSIC-Full-Backup\BACKUP0933\ARCHIVE05\Greatest Collection of the Century\JD YNK ULEATOBS NKY ULEATOBS\ARH OKIKIS VS LSNEIA LYTFTUREB JD KYN MAHUSP IXM.mp3

D:\MUSIC-Full-Backup\BACKUP0933\ARCHIVE05\Greatest Collection of the Century\JD YNK ULEATOBS NKY ULEATOBS\REMAD NO VS UHJT EINM ARB ILIONV TEEHM IMX FT SPEENAD.mp3

D:\MUSIC-Full-Backup\BACKUP0933\ARCHIVE05\Greatest Collection of the Century\JD YNK ULEATOBS NKY ULEATOBS\UHTJE HULBA IADY RESROPIVSEG NRETAC IMX.mp3

Now you can go to the individual folder and plan your strategy for shortening the path lengths.

Apple iPhone 15 available worldwide

Apple's new iPhone lineup, which includes iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, hit the markets worldwide today, September 22, 2023. In addition to the above devices, Apple also made available Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, the new Apple Watch SE, and AirPods Pro (2nd generation). [press release]

iPhones on display at Apple Regent Street, London. Credit: apple.com

The iPhone 15, 15 Plus devices were debuted on September 12 with a press release and has been available for pre-order since September 15.

The entry-level iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are available in blue, pink, yellow, green and black with 128GB, 256 GB and 512GB variants. iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are available in natural titanium, blue titanium, white titanium and black with 128GB, 256 GB, 512GB and 1TB variants.

The listed prices at online Apple Stores in a few countries are below:

Country	iPhone 15	iPhone 15 Plus	iPhone 15 Pro	iPhone 15 Pro Max
United States - carrier locked - excl. taxes	$799	$899	$999	$1,199
United States - carrier unlocked - excl. taxes	$829	$929	$999	$1,199
Canada - excl. taxes	C$1,129	C$1,279	C$1,449	C$1,749
India - incl. taxes	₹79,900	₹89,900	₹134,900	₹159,900
UK - incl. taxes	£799	£899	£999	£1,199
Australia - incl. taxes	A$1,499	A$1,649	A$1,849	A$2,199
New Zealand - incl. taxes	NZ$1,649	NZ$1,849	NZ$2,099	NZ$2,499
Thailand - incl. taxes	฿32,900	฿37,900	฿41,900	฿48,900

Happy shopping.

Most NFTs are worthless now

An investigation by dappGambl revealed that out of a sample of 73,257 NFT collections, 69,795 (95%) have a market cap of 0 Ether (ETH). This indicates that around 95% of the investments on NFTs are currently worthless in the market. [report]

Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) had taken a ride along with the cryptocurrency boom and peaked in 2021/22 when it was regularly buzzing in the news with celebrities joining the hype.

An NFT is a data file, stored on a type of digital ledger called a blockchain, which can be sold and traded. The NFT can be associated with a particular asset – digital or physical – such as an image, art, music, or recording of a sports event. [Wikipedia]

Using the Windows PowerShell to bulk rename files by stripping a part from the filename

This post demonstrates how to rename files in bulk by stripping off the same part of the filename from each file by using the Windows PowerShell.

For the sake of an example, the below screenshot shows a list of MP3 files from which we want to remove artist names. The part of the filename that we want to remove is marked in red.

This can easily be achieved with the PowerShell by using a command like the one below. Remember to take a backup of the folder just in case you need to restore later. Before executing the command in the PowerShell, change directory to the folder in which the files reside:

get-childitem *.mp3 | foreach { rename-item $_ $_.Name.Replace("Paul Revere & The Raiders - ", "") }

The command executes silently and does a neat job in cleaning up the file names. Here is the result.

Send Your Name to Mars on NASA's next mission

NASA is taking registrations to send names to the next Mars mission. It asks for your name, country, zip code and email to register. You can sign up here.

After registering you will receive a boarding pass that you can download print or embed in your webpage like the one below.

Previously, NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover, which had landed on February 18, 2021, carried names of 10.9 million people embedded into silicon chips. (Source)

How to count the number of values in a comma separated (CSV) string in SQL

As the title states, this post demonstrates how to count the number of values in a comma separated string in SQL. The method we use here is to count the number of characters in the string minus the number of characters in the string after all the commas are removed, plus 1. This technique would also work if there are empty values in the CSV string.

On SQL Server you can use something like this:

DECLARE @CSVStr NVARCHAR(50);

SET @CSVStr = N'empid,fname,mane,lname,age,addr,dob,doj';

DECLARE @ValueCount INT;

-- Length of string minus length of string after all commas are removed

SET @ValueCount = LEN(@CSVStr) - LEN(REPLACE(@CSVStr, ',', '')) + 1;

SELECT @ValueCount AS ValCount;

Output:

8

To do the same in MySQL use the following (tested on version 8.0.30-0ubuntu0.20.04.2):

SET @CSVStr = 'empid,fname,mane,lname,age,addr,dob,doj';

-- Length of string minus lengh of string after all commas are removed

SET @ValueCount = CHAR_LENGTH(@CSVStr) - CHAR_LENGTH(REPLACE(@CSVStr, ',',

    '')) + 1;

SELECT @ValueCount AS ValCount;

Output:

8

On a proprietary implementation of SQL like the Aspen SQLplus v14, the following would work:

LOCAL CSVStr CHAR(50);

CSVStr = 'empid,fname,mane,lname,age,addr,dob,doj';

LOCAL ValueCount INT;

-- Length of string minus lengh of string after all commas are removed

ValueCount = CHARACTER_LENGTH(CSVStr) -

             CHARACTER_LENGTH(REPLACE(',' WITH '' IN CSVStr)) + 1;

WRITE ValueCount;

Output:

8

SuperWriter article in Wikipedia

A few days ago I created a draft article here in Wikipedia for a word processor that was called SuperWriter which was developed by Sorcim Corporation (later acquired by Computer Associates in 1985). Along with that an image with the application screenshot has also been uploaded at this location.

The submission was rejected for publication because the provided references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article. So I will keep the source of the article here for now:

{{Short description|SuperWriter word processor for Apricot Portable}}

{{Draft topics|literature|media|computing}}

{{AfC topic|other}}

{{Infobox Software

|name                   = SuperWriter

|logo                   = 

|screenshot             = SuperWriter1.03Screenshot.png

|caption                = SuperWriter 1.03 running on MS-DOS

|developer              = [[Sorcim]]

|author             =

|released     = 

|latest_release_version = 

|latest_release_date    = 

|latest_preview_version = 

|latest_preview_date    = 

|operating_system       = [[MS-DOS 2.11]], [[Concurrent CP/M]], [[CP/M-86]]

|genre                  = [[Word processor|Word Processor]]

|license                = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]]

|website                = 

|discontinued           = yes

}}

'''SuperWriter''' was a [[word processor]] program that came bundled with devices from [[Apricot Computers]], like the [[Apricot Portable]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Apricot Portable |url=https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=492 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803190552/https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=492 |archivedate=2022-08-03 |url-status=live |accessdate=2023-09-05 |website=Old-Computers.com }}</ref> The application was originally written by [[Sorcim]] which was later acquired by [[Computer Associates]] in 1985.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Needle |first=David |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Computer Associates buys Sorcim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wS4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 |page=11 |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |location= |publisher=[[Popular Computing Inc.]] |date=1984-06-25 |access-date=2023-09-05 |volume=6 |issue=26 }}</ref> It featured a spelling checker and various types of text justification.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=InfoWorld Reviews |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wS4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA69 |page=69 |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |location= |publisher=[[Popular Computing Inc.]] |date=1984-06-25 |access-date=2023-09-05 |volume=6 |issue=26 }}</ref> SuperWriter was a potential competitor to [[Information Unlimited Software|IUS]]'s [[EasyWriter|EasyWriter II]] program for the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] - which was also acquired by Computer Associates a few months before it acquired Sorcim.

==Features==

SuperWriter's user interface was a combination of menu-driven and command-driven experience.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= |first= |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Word Processing: The Latest Word |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wtckANahGXIC&pg=PA120 |page=120 |magazine=[[PC Magazine]] |location= |publisher=[[Ziff Davis|Ziff Davis Publishing Company]] |date=1985-08-20 |access-date=2023-09-06 |volume=4 |issue=17 }}</ref>

Apart from featuring the [[SpellGuard]] spelling checker, SuperWriter also let the user preview the document on screen before sending it to print. Among other formatting options, the application let the user define the length and width of a page, indentation length, header and trailer text and type of text justification. It let the user print the full document or only a part of the document. SuperWriter let the user toggle the case of the letters from lower to upper and vice versa, create tables, find and replace words within a document.

The mail-merge feature in SuperWriter version 1.03 was one of the most powerful around the time but lacked adequate documentation in its user manual. This caused a frustrating experience in getting started with the feature<ref>.{{cite magazine |last= |first= |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Power Performance: Nine Programmable Mail-mergers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmtbry-ytXgC&pg=PA181 |page=181 |magazine=[[PC Magazine]] |location= |publisher=[[Ziff Davis|Ziff Davis Publishing Company]] |date=1986-04-29 |access-date=2023-09-05 |volume=5 |issue=8 }}</ref>

==Reception==

SuperWriter never sold in substantial quantities and was limited by its ability to edit only what it could hold in memory. The InfoWorld magazine rated it excellent in error handling.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Satchell |first=Stephen |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Review: SuperWriter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gy4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 |page=51 |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |location= |publisher=[[Popular Computing Inc.]] |date=1984-02-27 |access-date=2023-09-05 |volume=6 |issue=9 }}</ref>

==Pricing==

In the year 1984, the listed price was $295 and was available for the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] or [[Compaq]] computer running MS-DOS.

== References ==

<!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. -->

{{reflist}}

Microsoft WordPad to be deprecated from Windows

In a new feature note, Microsoft announced that WordPad is being deprecated and would be removed from future releases of Windows.

WordPad 10 running on Windows 11

WordPad, initially released in 1995, is a basic word processor that has been included with almost all versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 onwards. It was the replacement of Microsoft Write, which was the de facto word processor in Windows versions prior to Windows 95.

The application was built in C++ and used MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes). An early archived version of the source code is available here in GitHub.

Microsoft's note, which is available here, stated, "WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt."