Google Maps Street View video

Private URL for my reference - https://claude.ai/chat/859a7468-53e7-4e90-96ce-deca9ab6f363

Claude was happy to write code for me when I prompted, "If it is feasible, please write a google apps project which will work with google street view, capturing street view images between two points which the user chooses, and exporting the images as a video journey between the two places on the map similar to what is seen by a dashcam on a car. If not feasible, please suggest alternatives."

But the code requires a project with billing enabled, apparently it does not work with the demo api key provided at https://developers.google.com/maps/demo-key

So, pivoted to making screenshots of the google.com/maps page open in street-view instead - tested using SikuliX IDE 2.0.5 from https://github.com/oculix-org/SikuliX1/releases/download/v2.0.5/sikulixide-2.0.5-linux.jar

Points to note - the delay needs to be more than 5 seconds for me, the images load quite slowly. Alt+Shift+C to abort the SikuliX task.

ffmpeg -framerate 1 -i frame_%04d.png -vf "scale=trunc(iw/2)*2:trunc(ih/2)*2,minterpolate=fps=10:mi_mode=blend" -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p journey.mp4

for frame blending, but a timelapse style with more frames per second would probably be needed for longer journeys. The scaling is because the libx264 codec needs even numbered pixel counts for width and height, which may not be guaranteed when choosing a rectangle onscreen.

https://github.com/hn-88/repeated-screen-capture

debugging and testing local Moodle plugin with Claude

Private URL for my reference - https://claude.ai/chat/12096022-e224-4e6b-9e01-40149a93cef7

Used Claude to debug (add missing version.php, and many other omissions) the local plugin for swayamplus api integration generated by Gemini - github repo at https://github.com/hn-88/swayamplus-sso-api-integration. Also added some features like retry logic and test url generation. 

Some points to note:

1. The plugin uses the "Manual enrolment" enrolment method, which is enabled by default on all courses - we can see the enabled methods by going to the relevant course > Participants > Enrolled users (dropdown) > Enrolment methods. 
   
   
2. Guest access should probably be removed from the same place as above, in case enabled earlier.
   
   
3. Currently the classes/privacy/provider.php is not implemented, so the mdl_local_swayamplus_enrol table is not updated by deleting rows if / when users are deleted.
   
   
4. If the user is already present on our system, they are directly enrolled in the course.
   
   
5. If the user is new to our system, the user is dropped into the profile completion and agreement to terms and conditions workflows. Following that, the user is actually enrolled in the course automatically, but dropped into their Profile page. According to Claude, we can add a large link to "My Courses" in the Profile page as follows: 
   1. Go to any page where you can add a block sitewide — the Front Page is the standard choice. Turn editing on.
   2. Add a block → HTML.
   3. Give it a title (e.g. "Continue learning") and content — something like a large, bold link:

      <p style="text-align:center;">  
      <a href="https://ourdomain.org/my/courses.php"     
      style="font-size:1.4em; font-weight:bold; 
      display:inline-block; padding:10px 20px;">
      → Go to My Courses  </a></p>
      

   4. On that block's own settings (gear icon → Configure), under "Where this block appears" → Page contexts, set it to "Display throughout the entire site." Save.
   5. Now navigate to any user's profile page — your own is fine. The block should appear there too (since you just made it sitewide). Open that same block's settings again, and this time change "Display on page types" to "Only user profile pages." Save.

   
   

avidemux on Mac - default settings are fine

Verified that with the default settings on Avidemux 2.8.2 compiled for ARM on Mac,

MPEG4 ASP (xvid4) video and AC3 lav audio work for playout on the DVD player, 1920x1080.

For 4K - 3840x2160 - the Videotoolbox HEVC default settings are 2000 bitrate and 4000 max bitrate, which can be increased to 5000 bitrate and 8000 max bitrate to be on par with the settings in python-ffmpeg-warp.

investigating lack of referrals

The Moodle plugin in this previous post was not reporting any referrals for the month of August. Investigating, found that

1. In the new site (swayamplus.education.gov.in redirected from swayam-plus.swayam2.ac.in) login is via email sent to our email id, and my previous email registration doesn't seem to work. Maybe because I had unsubscribed from course alerts?
   
   
2. After logging in with a fresh email, found that swayamplus is no longer adding a referer id to the course URL. There is no &ref=ABC123 part in the URL.

Since they are not sending referral IDs, we cannot report what they don't send!

Moodle server error alert - due to .jpeg extension

One of our Moodle admins reported that

trying to add a content update. I keep getting this error: "servererror,moodle". What could be the problem?

I asked for the URL, and what he had been trying to do. Apparently, the issue was with adding image files with .jpeg extension in a rich-text box. When I renamed the files to .jpg and added them to the box, there was no error. 

creating m3u playlists with Claude

Tried out creating new playlists for playout in Kodi atop LibreElec on Raspberry Pi 4, using Claude instead of manually copy-pasting filenames. Perhaps a time saving of half-an-hour or so? Private URL for my reference at https://claude.ai/chat/cf6e6881-2424-4a24-a1a7-ed38bc9b4942

Uploaded a playlist and prompted

Just like this playlist, please create a playlist called U055newname.m3u where the items #EXTINF:0,1.mp4
 /var/media/1.mp4
 #EXTINF:0,2.mp4
 /var/media/2.mp4
 #EXTINF:0,3.mp4
 /var/media/3.mp4
 are replaced by the files

/var/media/4.mp4
 /var/media/5.mp4
 /var/media/6.mp4
 /var/media/7.mp4

and the appropriate EXTINF lines.

Claude did catch some typos I had made, and double-checked some files, like

Note the last item keeps its .mp4 extension (matching what you specified: only.mp4), unlike the ENG version which was .avi. Let me know if that should also be .avi.

Also asked Claude to create a python script with the prompt

Now, please write a python script to check each m3u file in the current directory if it has all these items as the first few items of the playlist,

(lines of playlist pasted here)

(for playlists which have TEL in the name)

and if any items are missing, to add them in this order.

Similarly, for m3u files with 3lang or ENG in the name, 

(lines of playlist pasted here)

and for playlists with HIN in the name, 

(lines of playlist pasted here)

which worked well - I have uploaded to the private repo upstairs-Kodi-playlists

dotnet api timeouts and action taken

The developers on one of our apps noted that 

The API is intermittently failing, and we are seeing a CORS error in the browser Network tab.

Claude noted that the CORS error is misleading, and it is probably because of a backend API timeout. 

this is almost never an actual CORS policy misconfiguration — it's the browser's error message for "the actual response didn't carry an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header," which happens whenever the request fails or errors out before your CORS middleware gets a chance to run. Since it's intermittent, that's your biggest clue.

Since a lot of bot traffic was seen looking for Wordpress files, they requested blocking those bots which look for non-existent Wordpress files.

Taking Gemini's advice, 

1. Disabled php on the api server, since it's not required by our services - 

sudo a2dismod php8.3

sudo systemctl restart apache2

2. Added one more firewall rule to Cloudflare, the URL being like

ourdomain.org/security/security-rules

(http.host contains "ourdomainname" and http.request.uri.path contains "wp-") or (http.host contains "ourdomainname" and http.request.uri.path contains ".php")

then Block

All of your Google Play apps have been successfully registered

There was an email from Google saying that Android apps in the Play store (and outside) need to be registered, and we need to register keys if we are signing outside the Play Store.

One of our apps was being signed outside the Play Store, so in the URL

play.google.com/console/u/6/developers/android-developer-verification

clicking the arrow against that app, it asks us to add the public key.

To find the public key,

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/16641489

where I'm using this method in a github action,

      - name: Extract SHA-256 fingerprint only

        run: |

          BUILD_TOOLS="$ANDROID_HOME/build-tools/34.0.0"

          "$BUILD_TOOLS/apksigner" verify --print-certs app-release.apk \

            | grep -i "SHA-256"

I clicked on Add Key and added the digest, at first it showed Pending verification, in 10 minutes it showed verified.

Here is part of Gemini's reply on why this key is needed - 

To ensure your app functions flawlessly whether it is downloaded from the Play Store, sideloaded by a QA tester, or downloaded directly from your website, your backend services (Firebase, Google Cloud, etc.) should always have both fingerprints registered:

1. The Google Play App Signing SHA-256 (found in Play Console -> Release > Setup > App Integrity).
2. Your Local Keystore SHA-256 (the one generated from yourkey.keystore).

major changes needed for Moodle app

I asked Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview via aistudio.google.com -

Does the Moodle Android App at https://github.com/moodlehq/moodleapp support optimization using R8?

Gemini said, in short, "The short answer is no, not out of the box. The Moodle App is optimized using Angular/JS minification tools (Terser/Webpack) rather than Android's native R8. You should not enable R8 in the Moodle App's Android build configuration, as it will likely break the bridge between the app's JavaScript and native Android plugins."

Then, I asked, 

Then how can this app (and other similar cordova apps) meet the upcoming quality requirements in https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/08/app-quality-memory-optimization-secure-onboarding.html ? The play store quality check tool seems to mandate R8 optimization.

Gemini's answer is pasted below.

The recent Google Play announcement from August 2026 (enforcing new memory and

code optimization standards by February 2027) definitely changes the landscape

for hybrid frameworks like Cordova, Capacitor, and Ionic, which power apps like

Moodle.

According to the new Google Play requirements, apps must have a minimum of 25%

coverage across optimization, shrinking, and obfuscation for their native DEX

code using R8 (or a similar tool), and they must stay below strict memory/bitmap

thresholds.

Here is how the Moodle app, and Cordova apps in general, can meet these upcoming

requirements without breaking their architecture:

1. Hitting the 25% R8 DEX Coverage Rule

While blindly enabling R8 (minifyEnabled true) breaks the Cordova JS-to-Native

bridge, it can be enabled safely if properly configured. To meet the 25%

threshold, Cordova apps do not need to obfuscate their entire codebase; they

just need to shrink enough of it.

  - Targeting Heavy Dependencies: In a standard Cordova app, the actual Cordova

    wrapper code and plugins make up a very small percentage of the compiled

    .dex (native Android) file. The vast majority of the native code comes from

    heavy dependencies like AndroidX libraries, Google Play Services, Firebase,

    and other third-party native SDKs.

  - Targeted ProGuard/R8 Rules: Developers will need to enable minifyEnabled

    true but use a highly specific proguard-rules.pro file. They will use

    aggressive -keep rules to protect the Cordova framework (-keep class

    org.apache.cordova.** { *; }) and plugin reflection methods so the app

    doesn't crash.

  - By allowing R8 to shrink and dead-code-eliminate the massive AndroidX and

    Google Play Services libraries while leaving the Cordova bridge alone,

    hybrid apps can easily surpass the 25% optimization threshold required by

    Google Play.

2. Meeting the Dynamic Memory & Bitmap Thresholds

The new requirements aren't just about R8; they strictly monitor dynamic memory

and background bitmap usage. This is actually the bigger challenge for Cordova

apps because they run inside an Android WebView, which is notoriously

memory-heavy.

To prevent the Play Store from penalizing or down-ranking the app, hybrid apps

will have to aggressively optimize their web layers:

  - Background DOM Management: The Moodle Angular app will need to actively

    destroy heavy DOM elements (like large course lists or forums) when the app

    goes into the background, replacing them with placeholders to free up RAM.

  - Bitmap/Image Eviction: The WebView caches images heavily. When the user

    navigates away from an image-heavy course, the app must ensure the WebView

    releases those bitmaps from memory rather than keeping them cached in

    non-visible states.

  - Garbage Collection: Relying more heavily on WeakReferences in JavaScript and

    ensuring Angular observables are cleanly unsubscribed to prevent memory

    leaks in the Node/V8 engine powering the WebView.

3. Implementing the "Zero-Tap Sign-In" (Device Migration)

The blog post also mandates the adoption of the Android Restore Credentials API

for seamless device migration. For the Moodle app, this means updating the

native Android authentication plugins to hook into Android's Credential Manager

API. Instead of relying solely on standard web cookies or isolated local

storage, the app's native layer will need to back up the user's secure token so

that if a student buys a new phone, Moodle logs them in automatically.

The Path Forward for Moodle (and Cordova)

Because the enforcement deadline is February 2027, framework maintainers have

several months to react. You can expect the following to happen across the

ecosystem:

1.  Upstream Updates: The Apache Cordova and Ionic Capacitor teams will likely

    push updates to their Android build templates that include safe, boilerplate

    proguard-rules.pro files out of the box.

2.  Plugin Consumer Rules: Native plugin authors will increasingly embed

    consumerProguardFiles in their Gradle setups. This tells R8 exactly what to

    preserve automatically, taking the burden off the app developer.

3.  Moodle HQ Patches: For the Moodle app specifically, Moodle HQ will update

    their build pipeline before the 2027 deadline. If you are compiling your own

    custom version of the Moodle app, you should wait for Moodle HQ to release

    their compliant ProGuard configurations rather than trying to force R8 on

    your own today.