How to Use Composer's ignore-platform-reqs Flag in PhpStorm?

The other day, I encountered an issue while trying to use Composer with PhpStorm in my local environment. Every time I would try to install or update packages, I would get an error message of the following format: The requested PHP extension xxx is missing from your system. This issue was happening because my local …

Watch Maneesh Sethi's Pavlok Pitch on Shark Tank

The Pavlok is a watch designed to eradicate your bad habits through aversive conditioning, that is by associating them to a punishment (in this case, an electric shock). You might have heard of it because of the infamous pitch its creator, Maneesh Sethi, made on Shark Tank. Indeed, one of the Sharks, Kevin …

The Tracki GPS Review: Track Valuables, Vehicles & People

A few months ago, my friend was on the lookout for a real-time tracker that they could use to monitor valuables if they were ever robbed. As such, it needed to be small and lightweight so a thief could easily overlook it. Moreover, since the valuables are spread over a large geographical area, they wanted the tracker’s …

Unicode, UTF and Wide Characters: What Does It All Mean?

As a Windows programmer used to code in Delphi, I must admit I wasn’t ready for how strings are handled in C, the language I’m currently learning. To say the least, it was a shock, and I stumbled upon many issues. Among other things, I couldn’t understand how to use characters outside of the English …