Welcome to NullMind's Lair, the blog of a cranky Web Hosting Geek

XDA Exec (jasjar) on the way

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

I’ve ordered my XDA Exec late last night from mobilefun.co.uk, I just called them and they said it’s beeing processed by the warehouse and to be shipped out today :)
Xda-Exec-I1
I went for:

O2 XDA Exec on O2 Business 250 + Data 36 (£52.04 per month)

I need the 36MB per mo, as I will be doing allot of e-mail, thank goodness it’s 3G.

the Unit itself: £19.95 (RRP is about £700) :D

What a deal !!

Now I am looking on ebay for TomTom 5 software plus a bluetooth GPS receiver, so I can make it into a GPS Car Navigation System as well.

Technorati Tags: , ,

Covering all the bases

Saturday, November 26th, 2005

I get my fair share of SPAM every day, even so we have filtering on the servers, a huge amount still spillls thru .. usually I just delete it widouth giving it a glance, but today I got one that just made me laugh

Hi,
I’m writing to let you know that I am incredibly pleased with what your product has done for me.
I’ve lost 20 pounds, all of my grey hair has returned to it’s natural color,
my blood pressure has dropped from 190/110 to 120/68 and pulse has gone from 115 to 64
but what I am most happy about is that my face looks 20 years younger.
Check out the pictures I am sending you.
Don’t run out of this stuff, I Love it!

Talk about covering all the bases, just pick your choice and this product will do it for you, remarkable doesn’t mention the person was also a stud in bed, with an erection that lasted for 4 hours, or that their penis grew by an extra 10″, but I am sure the next revision of this SPAM e-mail will mention it too.

Are spammers just getting lazy ? or are people just too gullible ?

Technorati Tags: ,

Hacked

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005

Today I woke up to find one of the servers had been hacked

It seems on server WEB1 somebody gained access they php (thru an insecure php scrip I am sure) and gained httpd access, which allow them access to php files with a 666 or 766 permissions ( meaning httpd can write to it).

They ran a script that removed “\” (back-slash) from php files code, rendering scripts unusable.

Thankfully we had backups, and due to the additional security measures in place, the hacker (or cracker to be politically correct) was unable to gain further access.

We sill 100% unsure to which script he came in, but to be safe mod-security was added, lets hope it keeps any further attacks at bay :/

Technorati Tags: , ,

Abstract Beer

Monday, November 14th, 2005

I was playing around ith my Macro lenses and different exposures/shuter speeds and I end up with this

this photo is completely untouched, straight form the camera (except for a resize)

Beer Abstract
it’s a “Duff Beer” water cooler can (can is actually red) .. and the longuer exposure made it gold due to the light hitting it.

I liked it because it’s the sort of image one can do in a snap with using a ton of Photoshop filters, but quite lucky to do it without post processing aid.

my only fault is too bad one can see fingertips on the “R”

Technorati Tags: , ,

New Relio design

Friday, November 11th, 2005

For the past 3 weeks Arimateia (Webmotiva) and Zuba (from everaldo) have been working with me on a new design for Relio.

We are trying to create a site that is a little bit more “fun” than the norm … nowadays all hosting sites look exactly like a Template Monster template .. and if a site goes out of that style it’s considered a bad design .. mediocrity likes company I guess.

We going with a more “corporate toon” look, and I hope it works .. it’s a huge gamble, people might look at it and find it cheap or outcast

this is a test of a header so far :)

Splashrafe01B
The initial concept

Splashrafe08B
the current WIP design

It’s meant to represent the fact Relio has servers both in the US (represented by NY on the left) and UK (London on right)

We also got some new mascots .. a man and a girl, the idea is to make them a visual part of each site section, and present on some of the adverts we will run.
Mascotes
No name for them yet

Overall I am very excited, if this was my main form of revenue, or if Relio was on poor financial shape, I would not attempt a site this risky and different, but since it’s not, I feel I am at the liberty of try new things .. who knows .. people might like it, if they don’t, it’s back to the Template Monster look :)

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Macro

Wednesday, November 9th, 2005

My new Sigma 150mm F2.8 APO Macro DG arrived today from Hong Kong.

I’m still learning to use it (heck, I am still learning to use the camera) .. but already see amazing results, the lenses is a little on the heavy site (especially when compared to the featherweight 18-200) but not too much to get uncomfortable, I find the pictures it takes are brighter and sharper than the 18-200 also, but then again, it’s a Prime lens .. :)

I definitely need to get a monopod.

this is a picture of a 1/2″ icon on my 24″ Dell .. you can clearly see each of the 2,304,000 pixels :D

Macro
a half inch globe

Technorati Tags: , ,

Sigma 150mm Macro

Saturday, November 5th, 2005

Ok, So I am still sick, and every joint on my body hakes, but that didn’t stop me from ordering the Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX APO HSM Macro Lens (thank you Chris :D ) today.

I’m hoping they will arrive sometime this week (the website said 2-3 days) .. so I can start Bug Hunting for some nice macro shots.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Sick

Saturday, November 5th, 2005

Today I am “sick as a dog” .. now, I hardly ever seen a sick dog, so I don’t understand were the term comes from.

Whatever the term, I feel like shit .. my daughters have been sick, and I got whatever both of them had, doubled, and with a vengeance .. my throat hurts,, I got a high fever, I pulled a muscle on my neck from coughing and blowing my nose … and I literally “look like shit” also :p

So I stay home from work today, no sense in going there and getting the other guys sick as well.

I need to get my tonsils removed, they are so prone to infection, and every time I get a small cold, they make it even worst.

Technorati Tags: