My good friend Mike Southby has started working for himself in the Swindon and Gloucester area. He is a dab hand at server management, IT support and computer repairs. He’s fully MCSE and MCSA qualified and offers very fair rates.
If you have need of computer support, networking help or anything IT related, drop him a line. There’s an email link on his web page: Mike Southby Computer Services.
Facebook users have recently suffered their once coherent Facebook layout being bastardised beyond comprehension. If this is a “facelift”, then you can expect it to appear soon on “When Surgery Goes Wrong”.
Have you ever heard the time honoured maxim, “don’t fix what ain’t broke”? Here is a classic example. There was nothing wrong with the way Facebook was, having just been improved upon recently anyway. Sometimes, things are just right the way they are – no more engineering is required, just minor tweaks here and there as new technology becomes available. Examples of this might include: the car (4 wheels, an engine and seats – it works); the computer mouse (no, it will not be replaced by gestural systems and touch screens), and; that timeless classic – the wheel.
You can almost imagine the thumb twiddling and finger tapping going on in the Facebook design office as hapless designers and developers struggle to deal with the overwhelming possibility that they’ve already peaked. “Surely there must be something else we can do”, they say. Well, yes. You could bugger it all up completely. You could take all the nice functionality and then just roll it all up into one messy blob and call it the new home page. It’s like the plasticene that you used to play with at school. It came out of the packet in beautiful pristine coloured strips, then the fat kid with the snotty nose and the shorts that don’t quite fit properly, just mindlessly splodges it all together into a green/brown mush. Of course you don’t want to play with it after that, because everything you make will just look like a turd. And that’s how Facebook is now. A turd.
I have a mish mash of different types of information all appearing in one place. Status comments, photos, videos, wall posts, groups et al, all appear in the same confusing list, along with application posts from all manner of ridiculous apps, quizzes, games, virtual gifts and other completely useless crap. I can no longer hide other people’s application posts, I can only hide ALL updates from the person.
Everything has become much less private and much more in your face. In the past, I could see whether one friend had written on another friend’s wall, and if I so desired I could click to read the message. Now, the message is broadcast on my “news feed” which appears to have replaced everything else. However, messages sent to me are nowhere to be seen. I know that someone has written on my wall, because the notifications widget tells me so, but when I click the link, it just takes me to my feed and leaves me then to fend for myself, and I invariably cannot find the message.
In actual fact, if I click on my own name in the navigation, I get something more sensible with a Wall that I can actually navigate, but mysteriously, this feature rarely works properly. Most times, the page doesn’t load, or it just shows the news feed instead. Are Facebook still working on this? Have they forced an untested Beta onto everybody?
I imagine if the Facebook designers were actually tasked with improving the wheel, some bright spark would pipe up: “why not make it octagonal, that way it would be simpler?”, and all around the room wise designers would nod sagely and make it so.
Any web developer / ISP running their own web servers will know that, occasionally, you get some spam email being sent through your server(s) without your permission. This can be down to a newly found, and as yet un-patched, security hole, an insecure mail form script that one of your clients has kindly uploaded, or a virus on the computer of one of your SMTP users. Frankly, it can be caused by all sorts of things, and even with the best will in the world, it’s very difficult to stop it happening in an environment where users have access to your server in any shape or form.
In between the above happening and you becoming aware of the problem, complaints about your IP address may have been submitted to a black list service. There are lots of these services around and they feed spam filtration software and systems. Generally, if you get blacklisted, you then just visit the website of the service in question, enter your IP address and some basic details, and it will be removed from the list – usually immediately.
This system works. Some might wonder why the spammers themselves don’t just go in and delist themselves, and indeed there is nothing to stop them doing this. However, spammers will always continue to send spam and so will become immediately blacklisted again. Hence, it’s a complete waste of their time to do this, particularly when the vast majority of email users don’t have any active spam filtration. Remember also that most spammers send their mail through hijacked servers and computers, and therefore it’s not their own IP addresses being blacklisted anyway.
Today, I realised this had happened on one of our servers and that it had been blacklisted with SORBS. I followed the hugely convoluted process on their website of trying to get the IP address de-listed and finally got presented with a message telling me that SORBS would not de-list my IP unless I paid a ‘fine’ of $50 to a charity of their choice.
What?! Who the hell do they think they are???
This is little more than kidnap and ransom. SORBS have absolutely no right whatsoever to charge any kind of fine, inverted commas or otherwise. They certainly do not have the right to coerce people into donating money to a charity that they may not themselves support.
Will I pay the $50? Hell no! I’ll just change the IP address – they are free after all.
Will I ever use a spam filtration system that queries the SORBS database? Of course not, because a system that works in this way is never going to be worth a damn. In fact, most high-end filtration solutions do not query SORBS.
Spam is a scourge. Having some self-appointed police force punishing the ISPs is not the answer at all. SORBS use the analogy of a police speed camera on their website. This is a good analogy, because speed cameras rarely catch the real criminals either. No, this is just another bunch of self-absorbed, labotomised morons trying to make some kind of mis-guided statement without taking any time to actually think things through properly.
I strongly urge all ISPs and users to boycott this ludicrous bunch of jokers.
It would appear that Microsoft is losing faith in Windows’ ability to cope with changes in modern computing, and are now working on a new project called “Midori”. I’m glad they realise this. Windows is archaic behemoth of an operating system, built on an unstable foundation to start with. Someone once told me that the rise of the PC and Microsoft was largely due to companies not wanting their staff to be “playing games” on their computers. At the time, the marketplace choice was plentiful: machines like the Amiga and Atari ST offered windowing, multi-tasking, operating systems with colour displays. Instead, in their ignorance, the company executives chose the IBM PC, and with it Microsoft DOS – a product Bill Gates bought from elsewhere and re-branded to fulfill the IBM contract. Whether this is the real reason the PC took off or not, the fact remains that the IBM PC and Microsoft DOS marched hand in hand to market supremacy. Many other platforms were faster, and many had better operating systems, but it was Windows that prevailed. Therefore the software companies wrote for Windows, further tieing everyone to the OS.
In today’s computing world, people are increasingly mobile, and often have more than one computer. Take me as an example: I have a desktop computer at home, a laptop that I use primarily for work, an ultra-mobile laptop I use when I don’t want to carry my big laptop around, and an iPhone, which is essentially another computer. I also work on a number of different machines at work. Suddenly, having an OS that is tied to a piece of hardware seems a bit of a misfit, and this is precisely what Microsoft are researching with Midori.
I’m not convinced that this is a new concept or amazing innovation by Microsoft, although they will no doubt claim such when/if Midori ever comes to market. There are other companies who have tried variations on this theme, but I think the solution doesn’t need inventing, a similar solution already exists: Linux. The beauty of Linux is that it separates out the components of the OS, and it doesn’t really care where those components are. In simple terms, there are three levels to the Linux OS: level one is the Kernel – the heart of the operating system itself; level two is the windows server – the code required to present high resolution images to the display, and the core windowing behaviour, and; level 3 is the window manager or GUI. In a standard Ubuntu installation you have a kernel based on the Debian Linux kernel, X11 as the window server and Gnome as the GUI. You could just as easily run KDE as your GUI. Or you could have a Red Hat kernel and run KDE or Gnome on that. It’s all interchangeable.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. The GUI does not need to be output on the same physical computer as the OS. You can use a basic terminal and network connection to work with your OS. (This is not the same as using Windows remotely via VNC or Remote Desktop, as in those cases the GUI is on the same computer and images of it are shunted through the network connection.) This opens up other possibilities, namely: supercomputers. Supercomputers that have thousands of processors and huge volumes of RAM, can be worked upon by large numbers of people at the same time. With the progression of Internet bandwidth, we could rapidly see a scenario where we rent space on a supercomputer and then use this from any terminal we like. Likewise, the software we need could be rented also. Then, your personal hardware becomes largely irrelevant.
Some would argue that this already exists with Windows using Citrix etc., and to an extent it does, but you still need a computer with an OS on it in order to use it, which sort of defeats the object.
So, I welcome the Midori project and the fact that at least one part of Microsoft is actually thinking about what people will really need from computers as we move forward. The main issue for Microsoft to overcome is that 80% of its income comes from PCs that are shipped with Windows pre-installed. Currently they have a captive audience and a steady revenue stream that requires a comparitively low advertising budget. They are consistently losing customers to Linux and Mac as it is, although despite the increase, these numbers are still a drop in the ocean. Midori and other similar concepts are likely a long way off from the mainstream yet as this form of computing requires something of a paradigm shift across the whole industry. In the meantime, Microsoft have a real task ahead of them to make their next version of Windows a success. Another (comparitive) failure like Vista will give a real boost to the OS migration. Ideally, they will build elements of Midori into the new OS, to start a phased changeover.
It’s not just Microsoft that need to think ahead like this, it’d be nice if Apple did too. I don’t want to pay Apple for their MobileMe syncing service (formerly .Mac) – I believe I should be able to sync my desktop, settings and select files between my iMac and my MacBook Pro. It’s a real annoyance when you try to keep both machines set up identically.
I guess the only downside to all of this is that your entire computing experience will hinge upon the quality of your connection. But perhaps a change to centralised computing would force the telecoms companies to up their game too, and that can only be good for computing as a whole.
If like me you have encountered problems setting your iPhone 3G up to sync with Microsoft Exchange on SBS 2003, read on.
Judging by the posts in forums all over the Internet, many people are having problems connecting their iPhone to SBS 2003 Exchange. You may be getting a certificate error come up (due to having a self-signed certificate on your SBS 2003 server), but you accept this and the account appears to verify. However, your calendar and inbox remain defiantly empty. I managed to solve this, so check out the following steps and see if it can fix it for you.It’s important to bear in mind that Exchange is something of a behemoth, and different configurations abound. Our server is running Small Business Server 2003 with a single network card and is standard configuration from the SBS setup wizards. If you have a similar environment, your chances of success are high.
Caveat: whilst this all worked smoothly for me, I cannot guarantee this will be the case for everyone – Microsoft products can be tempremental at the best of times! So, if anything goes drastically wrong, it’s not my fault – you use these notes at your own risk.
I don’t know for sure whether the iPhone will work smoothly with the SBS 2003 self-signed SSL certificate. It may work with it, and it will probably work if you switch SSL off, but I took the decision to buy an authenticated certificate as they’re not much money. I can arrange an Equifax certificate for anyone for £50 – get in touch if you want me to do this. Or you can do it yourself. Just avoid intermediate certificate providers like GoDaddy, as these require extra configuration on the iPhone. If you are going to buy a certificate, here’s the process:
The certificate alone is not enough to fix the problem. The real problem is that SBS 2003 ships with Exchange 2003 SP1, whereas iPhone requires at least Exchange 2003 SP2. So, we need to install Service Pack 2 for Exchange, but before we do this, we need to backup our information store – just to be on the safe side. Choose Start > Run and type ‘ntbackup’ (without the apostophes) then press enter. Follow the wizard.
When you are done with your backup, we need to patch Exchange. You cannot do this with Windows Update as Microsoft have not released an official Exchange 2003 SP2 for SBS 2003. However, you can download the service pack separately and apply it – it works with no problems.
Download SP2 here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=535BEF85-3096-45F8-AA43-60F1F58B3C40&displaylang=en (link opens in a new window)
Extract the service pack to the desktop or wherever suits, and find the upgrade.exe – double click it. When the upgrade finishes, reboot the server just to be on the safe side.
Now you should be able to add the Exchange account to your iPhone. Give it a few seconds and your inbox will start filling up.
If it doesn’t, and you’re connected with WiFi to the same LAN that the server is on, it could be that your router doesn’t support loopback. Remember that you put in an external DNS name for your server address, and some routers can handle external DNS names that loop back to the same IP address. If this is the case, switch off WiFi on your iPhone (it’s in the settings) and it will connect via EDGE or 3G instead.
This might seem like a lengthy solution, but the key is really the SP2 thing. The vast majority of SBS 2003 servers out there will be Exchange 2003 SP1, which just won’t work.
Much thanks and kudos must go out to my lifelong chum and Microsoft guru Mike Southby, as he gave freely of his time to help me sort this out.
Let me know if this helps anybody else.
UPDATED 28 August 2008
As I was relaxing on the sofa last night, I became aware of the general silence in the room. For the ordinary guy this might not mean anything, but when you are sharing the room with a 10 month old who’s just started walking, silence is usually a fair indication of a misdemeanor being committed. In this case, the little darling had pulled the cover of the front of my iPod HiFi and was busy prodding the middle of the speaker cone. Result: one deformed speaker cone, and one angry daddy.
So, I figured I would just dismantle the iPod HiFi and push the middle of the cone back out from behind. In fact, if I had thought about it for any amount of time I would have realised this is not possible as the center of the cone connects directly to the magnet, preventing any rear access. This is pretty much the case with all speakers, but I wasn’t focusing properly, and having decided to open the damn thing and got my toolbox out, then it was coming apart and that’s that.
As it turns out, opening up an iPod HiFi is not a simple task. I spent ages looking at it from every angle trying to figure out where the screws are. I eventually decided they must be under the rubber foot on the base of the unit, but after prising part of it off (it’s glued on), and seeing no screws I gave up on that notion. It took some extensive Googling, but I eventually found a Swedish website with a couple of photos that pointed me in the right direction.
So, here are my instructions. If you are suffering the depressed centre speaker malady like myself, please don’t go to the trouble of dismantling your iPod HiFi – it won’t get you anywhere.
Instructions to dismantle or open an iPod HiFi
WARNING: The plastic box of the iPod HiFi is soft and easily damaged. Dismantling your iPod HiFi using these instructions WILL leave marks on the white plastic. You have been warned, and I am not responsible if you cock it up.
Kudos to Apple for designing such a good looking and great sounding speaker unit. However, they have singularly failed to accommodate their customers or provide any kind of lasting support for the iPod HiFi. It has been discontinued, and there are very few spares or service options available. You can get new battery covers, fabric fronts, or clip-in iPod mounts, but that’s it. If your speakers die, you’ve had it.
Fair enough to discontinue a product, but to also eliminate all service options on a unit that is clearly very difficult to open without damaging it, is just poor. They could at least describe the dismantling process on their website so that third parties can offer service options.
I use Apple computers and have done for many years, and I always recommend that Windows users switch. I’m not one of those Apple devotees that think they can’t do any wrong though. They’re famous for this closed box – no support nonsense. It really is pathetic given how much you pay for their kit. Their laptops are getting harder and harder to service (try upgrading a hard disk on a Macbook Pro yourself), and this is the wrong direction to head in.
Anyway, I hope these instructions help somebody get their iPod HiFi working again.
Oh, and if you have a young son who has just dented the middle of your speaker cone, the solution lies in the humble household vacuum cleaner. Suck. Pop. Simple. It’s so frustrating that I now have little marks on my iPod HiFi yet I never even needed to open it. Just be careful that you don’t over suck and turn them inside out! You may need to fabricate a tube to fit precisely around the centre dome of the speaker cone to get the right amount of suction. You can easily cut toilet roll tubes and gaffa tape them into a suitable shape to fit both the speaker and your vacuum cleaner hose. Blu-tack makes an excellent air sealer.
mde has posted a link to photos of the procedure: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42224102@N06/sets/72157624734180975/detail/
I had this problem the other day: two websites using identical code to collect RSS news feeds from identical sources. Website A loads its pages in about a second, whereas Website B takes up to 10 seconds. Go figure.
After I had thought about the problem for a while, and checked the codebase was identical, I decided the problem must be due to the server. Website A runs on a Red Hat Fedora machine, whereas Website B runs on a Debian server. It finally dawned on me that the server has to resolve the DNS for each RSS feed address, and I concluded (incorrectly) that as the two servers are on different networks, there must be a problem with name servers on the network. I tried swapping the name servers around in my network configuration, and even trying different servers – all to no avail.
A bit of Googling finally revealed that Debian switches on IPv6 by default, and then uses this before it uses IPv4 for DNS resolution. This problem won’t just be affecting servers, it will affect anyone using a Debian linux distribution, and this includes the very popular Ubuntu. So if you have slow website response on websites with external sources, or you are fed up with sitting waiting for your browser to resolve each address you type in, here is the solution:
There is a configuration file called “aliases” here: /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
In there you will find a line like this: alias net-pf-10 ipv6
Change it to: alias net-pf-10 off ipv6
Reboot the machine. If you are running a server with BIND, double check that your BIND server has come back online.
Done.
What I don’t understand, is why Debian should default to this configuration. IPv6 is a while away from widespread use, so why not at least provide an option in the install script for the OS so the user can make their own choice?
Do you ever have those dumb moments? You waste a whole load of time trying to get a piece of code to work and performing the most complex de-bugging on it only to realise that you have overlooked the most basic and obvious thing?
Yesterday I was putting together an image upload script, which I wanted to do with AJAX. I wanted to have a file upload box at the top of the screen, press upload, have a nice spinning graphic whilst it uploaded, and then have the image fade into a gallery below. I tried all the AJAX methods with Mootools, checked and double checked my form enctype, until it dawned on me…
When you submit forms via AJAX, then it runs through Javascript (that’s all AJAX is of course). The Javascript takes the content of the form boxes and then sends it through an AJAX request. What Javascript cannot do is access local files on your machine, which is why a file upload field on an AJAX form will not work.
D’oh! I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid. I put it down to the excessive hours I’ve been working…
Anyway, how about a simple workaround?
Put an IFRAME on the page with invisible borders and load up a file in that. Works perfectly, and although the page in the frame is reloading, it doesn’t appear to be at all. End result is exactly what I wanted and very simple.
I have launched a new website to bring attention to domain name scams and help bring the perpetrators to some sort of justice, or at least get them closed down.
Please visit www.domainscams.co.uk.
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