Host change
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Sunday, November 6, 2022.
I'm switching hosts so there will be various DNS changes and some downtime today.
Why Microsoft is Likely Doomed Based on one Email Folder
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Thursday, August 5, 2021.
When you get a piece of spam in Outlook you move it to Junk or block the sender. And then, even if that junk mail is marked as read, the Junk folder has a BOLD MESSAGE COUNT. It's the only folder that does this. I cannot do any other work while I have a bold message count and so I have to switch to the Junk folder and delete the message to get rid of it.
Regular email: read, file, done.
Junk email: recognize as spam, click block sender, confirm that I really want to block the sender, switch to Junk folder, mark as read, delete.
Something is really wrong with this workflow. It's a lens through which you can view the ultimate demise of the company. Sure, Office isn't going away soon and Azure is growing like crazy and SQL Server runs on Linux. But somewhere in Redmond 5,000 people designed a Junk email folder that is the MOST IMPORTANT folder in Outlook. The rest were presumably too busy making Windows Update worse to stop this.
My Google experience is that I really don't get much spam. The spam that I do get is hidden from me unless I actually need to rifle through it for some reason. On the occasion I actually get legitimate junk I just flag it as such and never have to touch it or it's ilk again.
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- I Love Email
- Updates were installed...
- Bye Skype
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Why Microsoft is Likely Doomed Based on one Email Folder #etc #outlook #microsoft The Junk folder in Microsoft Outlook is a lens through which you can view the ultimate demise of the company. )
Bay Snaps
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, June 7, 2025.
Photos of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Bay Snaps #photo #ggb #alcatraz Pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz )
Stars over Lake Tahoe
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, February 19, 2022.
4K timelapse of stars and the Milky Way over Lake Tahoe, California.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Stars over Lake Tahoe #timelapse #video #4k #laketahoe #california 4K timelapse of stars and the Milky Way over Lake Tahoe, California. )
Email Alerts for new Referers in Google Analytics using Apps Script
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Monday, February 13, 2023.
It's useful to know when you have a new website referrer. Google Analytics is plagued with spam referral and you want to filter this out of reporting as quickly as possible to stop it from skewing your data. It's also helpful to be able to respond quickly to new referral traffic - maybe leave a comment or promote the new link on social media.
The script below will send you a daily email with links to any new referrers (this is GA3, there is a GA4 version later in this post).
Start a new apps script project in Google Drive and paste in the code. At the top enter the view ID that you want to monitor and the email address that should receive reports.
Choose Advanced Google Services from the Resources menu and switch on the Google Analytics API. Then click the Google API Console link and enable the Google Analytics API there as well.
Finally pick Current project's triggers from the Edit menu and trigger the main function daily at a convenient time.
This script saves known referrers in script properties. For a site with lots of traffic this may run out of space in which case you might need to switch this out and write known referrers to a sheet instead.
For Google Analytics 4 properties use the version of the script below. The setup process is the same, but you need the Google Analytics Data API instead of the Google Analytics API.
More Google Apps Script Projects
- Get an email when your security camera sees something new (Apps Script + Cloud Vision)
- Get an email if your site stops being mobile friendly (no longer available)
- Export Google Fit Daily Steps, Weight and Distance to a Google Sheet
- Animation of a year of Global Cloud Cover
- Control LIFX WiFi light bulbs from Google Apps Script
- Adding AI to Todoist with Google Apps Script and OpenAI
- How to backup Google Photos to Google Drive automatically after July 2019 with Apps Script
- Using the Todoist API to set a due date on the Alexa integration to-do list (with Apps Script)
- Automate Google PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals Logging with Apps Script
- Using the Azure Monitor REST API from Google Apps Script
- Monitor page index status with Google Sheets, Apps Script and the Google Search Console API
- Get an email when a new OpenAI model is available via the API
(Published to the Fediverse as: Email Alerts for new Referers in Google Analytics using Apps Script #code #googleanalytics #appsscript #gas #ga4 Apps script that will email you any new referral traffic from Google Analytics. Useful for responding to new links and referrer spam. GA3 and GA4 versions. )
Reading and Writing Office 365 Excel from a Console app using the Microsoft.Graph C# Client API
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Sunday, September 18, 2022.
I needed a console app that reads some inputs from an online Excel workbook, does some processing and then writes back the results to a different worksheet. Because I enjoy pain I decided to use the thinly documented new Microsoft.Graph client library. The sample code below assumes that you have a work or education Office 365 subscription.
Paste the code into a new console project and then follow the instructions at the top to add the necessary NuGet packages. You'll also need to register an application at https://portal.azure.com/. You want a Native application and you'll need the Application ID and the redirect URL (just make up some non-routable URL for this). Under Required Permissions for the app you should add read and write files delegated permissions for the Microsoft Graph API.
Hope this saves you a few hours. Comment below if you need a more detailed explanation for any of the above.
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- Monitor page index status with Google Sheets, Apps Script and the Google Search Console API
(Published to the Fediverse as: Reading and Writing Office 365 Excel from a Console app using the Microsoft.Graph C# Client API #code #microsoft #excel #graph #office365 How to read and write data to an Office 365 Excel workbook using the Microsoft.Graph client library from a C# console application. )
Point Reyes Deer
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, June 7, 2025.
A deer on a treacherous cliff-top path at Point Reyes.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Point Reyes Deer #photo #deer Photo of a deer on a cliff-top path at Point Reyes. )
Point Reyes Lighthouse
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, June 7, 2025.
View of the Pacific from the lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Point Reyes Lighthouse #photo #pointreyes #lighthouse Photo of the Pacific from the Point Reyes Lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore, California. )
Summer Solstice 2017
By Robert Ellison.
Summer starts now (or Winter for the Southern Hemisphere). Rendered in Catfood Earth.
(Previously, Previously, Previously, Previously)
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Spherical Sunset
By Robert Ellison. Updated on Saturday, February 19, 2022.
An experimental spherical timelapse of a sunset looking west over the Pacific from West Portal, San Francisco.
In your browser use w, a, s, d to tilt and pan. Best viewed in a VR headset.
Shot on the Richo Theta S, post processed with Lightroom, LRTimelapse and FFmpeg.
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(Published to the Fediverse as: Spherical Sunset #timelapse #westportal #360 #spherical #video 360 degree immersive spherical timelapse shot from West Portal, San Francisco of sunset over the Pacific. )
