John Spahr

Exciting new update for Sidebar! 10/31/2019   Hello, everyone! I have some very exciting news. Sidebar just got an exciting new update! This update introduces some new features and improves some old ones. Keep reading to learn more about what's new. What's new: Quick links:  Want to visit a website with just a few clicks? If so, Sidebar's newest feature will be interesting to you. Sidebar now features several quick links to popular websites. Neat! Dark mode:  Like most software in 2019, Sidebar has received a dark mode. There is also an option to turn on dark mode at night and switch to the light mode in the daytime. Pretty handy! Refinements:  I have made Sidebar look nicer and moved the close, restart, and shut down buttons to the new "Other" tab. I have also made some other small refinements to the design and code. ​Bug fixes:  I have fixed a few bugs. Hooray! While the list of features isn't very long, this is still a very big update...

An update on PassLab for Windows 10/29/2019   Hello, everyone. You may have noticed that the PassLab for Windows page went down. After careful consideration, I have decided that it's best if I focus on the online and Android versions of it. Having three different versions to manage is cumbersome, and there really is no point in having a dedicated Windows version now that the online version is available. Thanks for your understanding and have a wonderful day!

Octua 15 has been released! 10/27/2019   Hello, everyone! Good news: Octua 15 is here! This update is fairly minor, but it does make some important improvements. In this post, I'll be going over what's new in the latest version of Octua. Tab position:  One of my main goals when working on Octua is to add helpful features that haven't been seen before on other browsers. With Octua 15, you now have the freedom to have your tabs be displayed at the top, right, left, or bottom of the browser. From my testing, I have found that this feature is quite handy! Tab manipulation:  You can now easily reopen closed tabs and close other tabs with only a few clicks. Nice! Security info:  You can get more info on if a website is secure or not by clicking on the secure/not secure label at the top of the browser. Bug fixes:  As usual, this update fixes some bugs and makes a few small improvements. This is a very incremental update for Octua. However, it is updates like ...

John's Very Tiny Operating System 10/26/2019   At some point or another, most programmers want to make their own operating system. I'm no exception, as I've wanted to create my own OS for a long time now. After many hours of coding, I'm excited to announce that my dream of an operating system is finally a reality and available for download! I call it John Spahr's vtOS (Very Tiny Operating System). Those of you who are subscribed to Tectra's YouTube channel will know that vtOS has been in the works for a little while now. You'll also be aware of what apps come with it and their limitations. However, what you might not know is that vtOS only takes up 21 megabytes of storage. For some comparison, that's equivalent to 0.021 gigabytes. Furthermore, vtOS is unique in that it runs completely off a flash drive. It leaves no trace, nor does it remove your current operating system. Reboot your PC and everything is back to normal. What's the point of vtOS? Well...

Introducing SpeechLab! 10/21/2019   Introducing SpeechLab, the latest and greatest Android app from Tectra! This is a simple and ad-free text to speech app. You can easily change the pitch and volume of the voice, among other things. Overall, it’s a handy app to have! Similar to the Scanner app, SpeechLab isn’t a major app that I’ll be dedicating a lot of time to in the future. Rather, it’s a handy tool that I wrote for fun. If you want to check it out,  click here . I hope you like it!

Plans for October 10/21/2019   I'll admit, it is a bit late to release my plans for the month. However, I feel that it's still worthwhile, as I have a few exciting things planned. Keep reading to learn more! First and foremost, I hope to update my Compass & Barometer app. I want to add text to speech functionality. Keep an eye out for that! Next, I have a few cool ideas for the next release of Octua. For example, I hope to add the ability to reopen closed tabs and easily block ads. Finally, I intend on releasing a version of my operating system, John's Very Tiny OS. You can visit the  Tectra YouTube channel  to learn more about vtOS. I look forward to releasing it! Keep in mind, none of these plans are definitely going to happen. However, I suspect that most of them, if not all, will be met by the end of the month. Stay tuned!

Introducing THRZ Finder for Palm OS! 10/17/2019   By now, you've probably seen my  THRZ Finder . It's a simple tool that allows you to find your target heart rate zone. Today, I am excited to announce that I have ported it to Palm OS! I apologize for not releasing a new Palm OS application for a while prior to this. I have been very busy with other projects. Anyway, if you want to check it out,  click here . I hope you find it useful!

Introducing PassLab Online! 10/16/2019   Have you ever wished that PassLab could run in your browser? If so, your wish has been granted, as PassLab now has an online version. It includes all of the features that its Windows and Android counterparts have. Additionally, PassLab Online retains the same simple and ad-free user-interface seen on its other versions. You can check out PassLab Online by clicking the button below. Enjoy! CHECK IT OUT A screenshot of PassLab Online.

New update for Writer! 10/13/2019   Tectra Writer has received a new update! It introduces many useful features and makes some important improvements. Keep reading to see what's new! What's New: Aqua theme:  This update introduces a new theme! It has a nice blue color scheme. Clipboard:  You can now easily view the text on your clipboard and clear it with Writer, similar to the  ClipTxt  app. HTML Preview:  This update adds a simple HTML Preview. It's very handy! Bug fixes and improvements:  As always, I've made several small changes to ensure that you get the best experience possible when using Writer. I hope you enjoy this new update! You can download it from the  Writer page .

Introducing Compass & Barometer! 10/12/2019   Wouldn't it be handy if there was an app that combined the functions of a compass and barometer? That's what I thought when I wrote the latest and greatest Tectra app, Compass & Barometer. Before going any further, I would like to thank Chandler North for suggesting the idea of making a barometer app. This app wouldn't be nearly as neat without his suggestion! Compass & Barometer's functions are summed up pretty well in the video that I made below. I apologize for how fast-paced it is. I needed to keep it short so I didn't use up too much cellular data when uploading it. I hope you like Compass & Barometer! It's hard to believe that Tectra now has four Android apps on the Play Store. I look forward to releasing more in the near future!

Two updates in one day! 10/8/2019   PassLab and Octua have both received an update today! Each program has received a few new features that will improve the user experience. Keep reading to learn more! PassLab v1.1 What's new: All capital:  You can now have your password only consist of capital letters. All lowercase:  You can now have your password only consist of lowercase letters. Bug fixes:  I have fixed a few small bugs. Octua 14 What's new: First run:  When you first run Octua, you will be taken to a special welcome page. Custom homepage:  Finally, you can set a custom homepage in Octua. Bug fixes:  I have fixed a few minor bugs. I hope you enjoy these new updates! Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Introducing PassLab! 10/6/2019   Passwords secure our digital lives. For this reason, it is important that we generate secure passwords. However, creating a secure password from scratch can be very difficult. For this reason, a password generator is a nice thing to have. That's why Tectra now offers its own password generator! PassLab is a powerful password generator that has many useful features. It is available for Windows and is coming to Android soon. If you want to try it out, you should visit the all-new  PassLab page ! PassLab is still in its infancy, so keep that in mind when using it. Enjoy!