I have just booked my train tickets today, I’m off to Cologne (Germany) at the end of the month.

There is a WebHosting Day conference in Cologne on the 28th, this is the sort of conference that’s important for me to attend, so I started to look for the dreaded plain tickets .. after sorting it al out, I decided, just for curiosity, to see if I could get there from manchester by train instead.

Yep, I can, and for about the same price .. so I take off on Monday, 27th from Manchester to London Waterloo, get to the Eurostar train to Brussels at 10:43, arrive on Brussels at 14:05 .. then take the next train to Cologne at 14:28 in First Class (heck, it was just 5£ more) and arrive on Cologne at 16:45

The plain would have taken almost as long due to a long exchange at Frankfurt

I will then stay on a .. err .. Chinese hotel called “Hotel Phantasia” on Phantasialand

I then return on the 29th, once again First Class from Cologne to Brussels, leave at 12:14, arrive at 14:32 .. I then decided to take a few hours to check Brussels .. i never been there, so this is a good chance to sightseeing, later at 17:56 I take the train to London and arrive at 19:28 .. the train to manchester follows an hour later.

I’m very excited .. several reasons, this conference is a must be for us (PSoft/Comodo) .. and Serguei Beloussov (SWsoft CEO) will be one of the speakers and they will have a booth, it will be a good chance to rub shoulders with the competition and learn what they are up to … and of course, the chance to add Brussels and Cologne to my “Have visited” list.

I started a tradition of buying a Teddy Bear with the country I am on stamped on it somehow a while back, my task while there is to get one from Germany and one from Brussels to add to the French, American and Scottish ones I have … yep, I am missing quite a few

Technorati Tags: Germany, WebHostingDay, Travel, WebHosting Day

Popularity: 26% [?]

Finally, my MacBook Pro arrived today

Today I arrived at the office expecting my MBPRO to be there, but no sign of the currier, so I checked the online tracking, it said there was an error on the address, but that it was at the Manchester depot.

So I called TNT (the Courier) and arranged to go and pick it up.

At their Mancs office, it took them 30+ minutes to locate the parcel, I was getting upset, and they were getting worried (heck, i waited 5 weeks for it, somebody was going to have hell to pay for if it got lost or stolen in their depot)

But all was well, I notice the packaging is quite slimmer than the Powerbook one, back at the office we didn’t waited any time opening it up, it looks very much like the older PB, except the track-pad is allot wider, another change, becuase it has the built in (and outstanding quality) eyesight camera, during the OSX setup it gives you an option to take a snapshot for the user account.

I am still playing with it, but first impressions are positive, it feels allot faster than the PB, Safari opens instantly, and thanks to the 7200rpm drive (an option) file transfer from the backup drive is incredibly fast.

I got the 2.0Ghz, 1GB Ram (soon to be 2), 256MB Video and 100GB 7200RPM HD

Here are some crappy pics with my cameraphone

On the second picture you see the PB 15″ on the left, the MBPRO 15″ on the right and my new 30″ Dell in the back
And yes, the new screen is allot brighter, as nice as the dell on the back (the 2nd picture is misleading, it is actually brighter than the old PB)

Now I am going thru the backup HD and restoring everything into it .. loving it

Technorati Tags: MacBook Pro, MBPRO, Apple

Popularity: 16% [?]

I’m just so excited I had to post, I got my Powerbook (OSX 10.4) and my XDA Exec working together, the Exec as a Bluetooth modem thru O2.

So now I am able to browse the web/get emails on my Powerbook using the EXEC as a GPRS/3G modem .. Anywhere.

I had scour the web for a month, every post I found on this was a failure, nobody could get it going, seems it would work on a PC, but not on a MAC .. well, it will work on a MAC
All I had to do was:

1 - Flash be bios with the Jasjar one (??) (I had done this before, I dont know if it works with the O2 bios, I will assume it will)
2 - On EXEC, start Bluetooth and make it discoverable, run “Wireless modem” under programs .. enable Bluetooth modem in “Wireless Modem”
3 - on Powerbook, Setup a new Bluetooth device, choose “any device” . it will find the Jasjar/Exec .. pair them.
4 - On Powerbook, go to “internet connect” .. click on bluetooth, create a new config with:

Description: O2 Web
Tel. Number: *99#
user: mobileweb
passwd: password
modem: au cdmaOne Bluetooth adapter

Then just click “connect” and your on the web (well, at least I am)
I am about to leave to Edinburgh tomorrow morning for a R&R Weekend, and was worried how I would check my mail and work offsite if I needed to .. now I got it covered

Technorati Tags: Jasjar, O2, OSX, XDA Exec

Popularity: 38% [?]

I have since received a new Jasjar from Mobile Fun, and it’s much better.

But I still find that sometimes when browsing on 3G or picking up mail, it will fail due to weak signals .. I assume the O2 3G network is just not that great right now, I have turned 3G off and enable GPRS Only .. and sure enought, it works fine, ALL the time .. yes, it’s not 3G speed, but I dont need it to check e-mails .. GPRS suits me just fine.

If I am ever using it to connect with my MAC t the web, then I look for a strong 3G signal and enable it ..

I have also installed TOMTOM 5.1 with a Bluetooth GPS receiver … and I am loving it .. you never realize how much you need a Sat Nav until you get one.

My last beef with it i sometimes I find the volume on the headset can be a little low during calls, even at the max volume, but I am ordering a Bluettoth headset, hope that solves that last hurdle.

Technorati Tags: Jasjar, O2, XDA Exec

Popularity: 22% [?]

A point I forgot to mention .. I received the XDA Exec last week on Wednesday .. and returned it on Friday.

I got very erratic service, hardly ever could I connect to a website, and the mail checking kept on failing.

It was as if the DNS could not resolve the domains .. after allot of googling I decided to retuned it for a replacement unit, it seems nobody else has this problem, so I hope it’s just me
The replacement should be here Friday …

Technorati Tags: Jasjar, O2, XDA Exec

Popularity: 19% [?]

I just tested the updated enom API for H-Sphere, with Maxim’s help, we ironed out some bugs on my cluster, and I cant be any more pleased.

Being about to go more into the domain registration arena, I wanted to do as much as possible thru H-Sphere .. but unfortunately we could only use the API to register 11 domain TLD’s .. and it did not include some vital ones like .co.uk

Before - Only 11 TLD’s

But now with the new version, we can register ALL 38 TLD’s .. means I can really setup a total Domain Registry offer based on H-Sphere

After - a whopping 38 TLD’s

This is great, I want to have a offer that includes domain + domain parking + 1 e-mail account .. all thru H-Sphere .. with this I wont need to use 3rd party products to register the domain automatically, or have to resort to “e-mail” registration, which means no API for some domains and added workload for us .. simply “marvelous” as the brits say

Technorati Tags: enom, H-Sphere, Relio

Popularity: 21% [?]

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
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)
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: Jasjar, O2, XDA Exec

Popularity: 21% [?]

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: SPAM, Idiot

Popularity: 19% [?]

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: Hacked, Idiot, Relio

Popularity: 19% [?]

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

The initial concept


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.

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: Design, Relio, toonz, work

Popularity: 31% [?]