Why do I need to install an extension just to copy/paste?

I was creating a document in Office365 the other day - something I’ve done a hundred times - but when I tried to paste with their custom right-click menu I was greeted with a popup telling me to download a browser addon. Well, that’s weird.

  Dec 31, 2022 (rev. Oct 7, 2025) ·  7 min

Create a TOTP 2FA code for your app

I use 2FA on every site that supports it, but I’d never given much thought to how a 2FA code is generated. Let’s learn how!

  Aug 13, 2019 (rev. Oct 7, 2025) ·  7 min

What is minification vs obfuscation?

Mozilla announced they’ll no longer accept extensions with obfuscated code. It’s good news for users, maybe not so much for developers. Obfuscated code is (intentionally) nearly impossible to understand, and could easily be malicious. Let’s unpack and break down a few concepts.

  Jun 14, 2019 (rev. Oct 7, 2025) ·  6 min

Protect your GitHub account to keep your code secure

GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket just released a joint statement on a widespread ransomware attack that resulted in compromised accounts. That got me thinking, what can a person do to protect his or her code on GitHub? As it turns out, a lot…

  May 22, 2019 (rev. Oct 7, 2025) ·  10 min

Regaining access to a Mozilla Addons account

I recently realized that somehow, in the 6 months since I last logged into my Mozilla developer account, none of my short list of emails would let me back in. Here’s how I regained access.

  Mar 13, 2019 (rev. Oct 7, 2025) ·  2 min

A look at the many ways APIs can authorize access

After writing about so many APIs and having to figure out the auth process for each, I wanted to compare and contrast how some of these services approach authentication and authorization, and why they might’ve decided to do it the way they did.

  Jun 19, 2018 (rev. Oct 7, 2025) ·  11 min