UPC Breaks the Internet

UPC continues to manage to make me irate, today its the fact that *every domain* whether it exists or not, on UPC it exists. How is this so? because UPC has unilaterally decided that should a website, server, or domain not exist that they will serve advertising to me instead – how very helpful (sarcasm!).

Only its not at all helpful. Most modern browsers have the option already at the application level, without breaking the inherent functionality of the Internet. Effectively this is what happens:

• if a website exists, UPC will give you its correct IP Address.
• if a website does not exist, UPC will pretend to be that website, and give you the IP Address of a server in the United States, which currently shows a search page with advertisements.

There is a couple of issues I have with this. First and foremost, I’m already paying a hefty fee by European standards for my Internet access, and don’t appreciate having my internet experience co-opted so that my ISP can earn an extra buck or two… particularly when I did not sign up to this!

Secondly is the privacy concerns this raises, if every domain thats misspelled goes to this server in the US, what is stopping UPC from simply logging all these requests – privacy laws are much more lax in the United States than here in Europe. Particularly why this is worrying is there is no other obvious motive for having the server over there in the first place, why not a Dublin hosting provider? I’m very suspicious of this.

This is in direct contradiction to how the Internet, or any network for that matter, is designed to work. If something your looking for doesnt exist, whatever program is looking for it has functionality to handle that absence smartly. Since all domain queries return a site address, its fairly obvious that applications that rely on being able to know if a site no longer exists will stop functioning correctly. This will likely be a subtle change and not something thats readily obvious to the observer – which makes those of us with home networks have even more overhead to deal with. Thanks UPC!

If you feel this is all a bit too much, you can change your DNS settings to the following, which I’m assured by UPC tech support will not behave badly when a site doesnt exist:

1. 89.101.160.8
2. 89.101.160.9

You can also use the various free dns providers out there.

Solution: Nested Classes & Variable Scope (Ruby)

I recently began work on a Twitter library for Ruby, some already exist -which I didn’t consider, I wanted to develop a library of my own design which took a very object-oriented approach to accessing Twitter, mostly for practice. Because I wanted an intuitive, and for the lack of a better word, ‘logical’ implementation, I decided to use nested classes.

Ruby nested classes are child classes which are defined within a parent class. Unbeknownst to me, Ruby has some interesting quirks when using nested classes. Take for example, a typical class:

class A
    attr_accessor :var
    def initialize
        @var = "something interesting"
    end
    def tellme
        puts @var
    end
end

Nothing peculiar here, but lets say we want a child class – for all intents and purposes, a namespace, which doesnt inherit from its parent but does exist inside it:

class A
    attr_accessor :var
    def initialize
        @var = "something interesting"
    end
    def say
        puts @var
    end

    class B
        def tellme
            puts @var
        end
    end

end

What we’re doing here is creating a parent class, A; inside that class we have another class B which is a part-of class A, but is not an inherited child. This is an important distinction, because an inherited child would have their own instance variables – what we have here is a class, A which ‘owns’ B. In theory, B should have access to A’s variables.

Heres a usage example, which you might expect to work:

parent = A.new
parent.tellme

child = A::B.new
child.tellme

In theory, we should have the same output, ‘something interesting‘ from calling the tellme method on each class, but no. Instead the child will throw an exception, why? because the instance variable is not visible – it is outside its variable scope. To reiterate: nested classes are outside the variable scope of their parent class.

This is true of class variables and constants. Nested children of a parent class simply do not have access to their parents, unless you provide that functionality programmatically:

class A
    attr_accessor :b, :var
    def initialize
        @var = "something interesting"
        @b = B.new(self)
    end
    def say
        puts @var
    end

    class B
        def initialize(theparent)
            @parent = theparent
        end
        def tellme
            puts @parent.var
        end
    end

end

a = A.new
a.tellme
a.b.tellme

This is the solution I ended up using, hopefully this post will have helped you avoid some of the frustration I went through trying to figure it out.

Trials and tribulations of a DIY 1u server

Building your own computer, that’s relatively easy; building your own server is only a little harder; building your own 1u rack-mount server for colocation – that’s a whole new level.

42u Dell Data Cabinet

A few years back -maybe two, I got a real steal on ebay for a Data Cabinet. One of those badass cases that houses upto 42 servers in one glorious case. For around 500eur (560 if you include delivery) I bought a 42u Dell Data Center Cabinet, a UPS, a KVM, rackmount monitor/keyboard, two Switches and a bucket load of cat6 cables. It was only the beginning, ever since I’ve been eager to fill it to capacity with some serious hardware.

This summer I decided the time was right to thrust myself into a bit of debt and fill out the cabinet with some proper hardware, so I began selecting components for a server or three. For this post I’ll just focus on the 1u servers as they gave me the most trouble and perhaps something to be learned can be passed onto others from my experience:

Tyan s7002 Server Mainboard

The following components were selected:
* Norco RPC 150 1u Server Chassis w/ 4 hotswap SATA drive bays
* Intel XEON E5520 2.26GHz
* Dynatron 1u Heatsink
* Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz
* Tyan s7002 Server Mainboard
* x4 Hitachi Deskstar 500GB SATA Hard Disk Drives

As the proverb goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail” and so it was with the components I had selected. I hadn’t sufficiently researched the Tyan mainboards in question, had I done so I would have known that they *require* two 8pin EPS12v connectors, so the power supplies I had ordered were never going to work out-of-the-box. To solve this, and to save any headache in returning the PSU’s I took a look at Maplin’s website.

4pin 12v Molex to 8pin 12v EPS adapter

I think we all have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with Maplins in Ireland, they have some really great stuff – all the electronics components and obscure cables you could ever need, its just a shame that they shaft us for it. They’re still working off what can be best described as a 5yr old exchange rate between UK and Ireland prices and have no intention of changing it so it seems. They’re prices are just silly sometimes, but I digress. I bought one of these, a 12v Molex to 12v 8pin EPS cable adapter (£2.99 UK, €4.99 Eire).

And it works marvelously! I would however advise anyone using one of these cables to absolutely make sure that no other devices use the same rail (ie: dont connect any other devices to any additional connectors on the same cable) as overloading it could be disastrous to your motherboard/cpu. I connected some fans to mine but the draw will be such that it should have little to no affect on it, and besides, I have only one CPU in this board at the moment so I’m not worried at all.

Another problem I found was that the motherboard faceplate just simply did not fit the chassis, and the set that came with the Norco RPC-150 didnt suite the Tyan s7002 board. So I didnt use one at all. Ultimately its just a fascia, it serves no real function so I’m happy to not have one.

I’ll end this now with a warning about 1u power supplies, they are incredibly hard to source. I now have a folder full of websites that have various degrees of 1u power supplies but the point I’m trying to drill into you here is that when your designing your 1u server, recognize that the more power it requires, the harder it will be to source a supply. Saying that however, Scan.co.uk and Insight were my top choices.

Things to take care of when building your own 1u server:

* Do your research, even when you get tired, don’t buy until your 100% sure everything will work. Unless you want to live dangerously… both are good choices.

* Most normal heat-sinks will not fit a 1u case, look for and purchase a heat-sink for your CPU that is specifically designed for a 1u chassis.

* Recognise that building a 1u server is not the ‘norm’, it can be frustrating, but take your time and you’ll get it right.

* 1u Power Supplies are the hardest component to source, find yours first and work from there.

Getting self-signed SSL certificates to work on Firefox 3.5

Theres alot of discussion lately about Mozilla’s decision to annex self-signed certificates in Firefox 3.x; up until now Firefox would have grudgingly lived with self-signed certificates – when reaching a website that was self-signed all you had to do was click the ‘add exception’ link at the bottom of the warning message, but no more!

When you visit a website that secures itself with a self-signed SSL certificate your now more likely to recieve a much more ominous warning telling you that the certificate is invalid and no obvious way to allow you to proceed regardless.

Having recently setup a secure subversion repository I had this exact problem also. This morning I found a solution, its not ideal but it works perfectly. To make Firefox play nice you have to add your CA (certificate authority) certificate AND your server certificate to Firefox’s list of allowed authorities, then and only then do you get the option to add the server as an exception. Here’s how you do it:

You will need a local copy of the ca.crt and server.crt certificate files.

Open the certificates window

Firefox Preferences -> Advanced Tab -> Encryption -> View Certificates

Import your Certificate Authority file

Authorities Tab -> Click Import -> Browse to your ca.crt file

Import your Server Certificate file

Servers Tab -> Click Import -> Browse to your server.crt file

Thats it! Next time you visit your website (https://mywebsite.com/ for example) you should now be able to add an exception to allow the self-signed certificate.

Reaching the Firefox preferences window differs slightly from OS to OS. In Mac OS X its Firefox -> Preferences, in Linux its often Edit -> Preferences and in Windows its Tools -> Preferences. Its beyond me why Mozilla couldn’t keep it consistent, but there you go.

I hope this post helped you.

The Future of Computing is Google – Should we be worried?

The Future of Computing is Google – Should We Be Worried?
By Jonathan Huie

I didn’t just say that Google is the future of the Internet – that is scary enough – and virtually true today. I said, The Future of COMPUTING.

Google has always been a gentle giant – unlike the bravado Microsoft. No rantings and ravings – no pronouncement that “our way is best,” or “we know what is good for you.” No, Google’s way is to welcome open standards and actively promote their competition. For example, their tool to move a blog off their (free) Blogger service is fully as complete and usable as their their tool to transfer a blog onto Blogger. Try getting your data out of a Microsoft product such as Outlook or Hotmail.

Perhaps Google has learned from Microsoft’s mistakes. Gentle wins in the long run. This is really good for Google, but is it good for the rest of us. Because Google take such great pains to offend no one, because it is so capable, and because it now has tremendous momentum, Google is taking over more of the world of technology every day.

Google completely dominates my own professional life as an author and blogger to an extent that is more than a little concerning. Google search and Gmail are the least of it. My blogs are on Blogger, but I could use another service. It’s not even Picasa, or YouTube, or FeedBurner.

AdSense/AdWords – that’s the stranglehold. Google is essentially the only channel for a small business to either advertise of receive advertising revenue on a website or blog. Yahoo and others aren’t even on the radar. If I had to, I could use Yahoo’s search engine, but if I lost AdSense/AdWords, 80% of my professional activity would vaporize.

In its own gentle giant kind of way, Google is now creeping up on computing and enterprise information sharing. Shared calendars and shared documents for starters – moving quickly toward a complete collaborative computing environment. Just watch – for most users, personal and corporate, the only local software will be a browser, perhaps Google’s Chrome. Google’s individual and collaborative on-line productivity and authoring applications will dominate for all but the most demanding users.

Should we be worried? Perhaps not, but don’t become too complacent.

For blogging tips, visit Jonathan’s Blogging Tips – Techniques blog.
To brighten your day, visit Jonathan’s Daily Inspiration – Quote blog.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie is an author of self-awareness books. He has been dubbed “The Philosopher of Happiness” by those closest to him, in recognition of his on-going commitment to seeing Joy in all of life.

** “Today is your day to dance lightly with life. It really is.” – jonathan lockwood huie**

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_Huie
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Future-of-Computing-is-Google—Should-We-Be-Worried?&id=1953296

A brief introduction into ‘RFID Systems’

RFID Reader care of amagill on Flickr

RFID Systems
By Max Bellamy

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a network of microchip transponders, readers, and system software that makes possible the regular exchange of data.

Each RFID transponder, or a tag, is implanted with an integrated circuit (IC) and an antenna. The IC is encrypted with a unique electronic product code (EPC) that is equivalent to an electronic lineage, setting it apart the tagged item from any others in the world. When a tag comes into the range of an RFID reader, proprietary information is passed on through an antenna to a reader that consecutively supplies data to a central computer for processing.

RFID technology was firstly developed for armed forces during World War II, and it has spread out into trade, medical, education, automotive, defense, snack food, and travel industries. It has been expressed as “wireless bar coding,” but actually, even basic RFID beats bar coding capabilities by far. RFID scanning can be done from larger distances than those in bar code scanning. RFID eliminates the need for line-of-sight reading that bar coding depends on, and RFID systems can provide a range of up to 90 feet. The Intermec Technologies Corporation, a designer and producer of RFID systems, has signed a contract with the government recently. European RFID systems are still more constrained than those in the U.S.

RFID systems are self-powered and they do not have any human involvement. They can scan several items at a time and furnish fingerprint-specific information about each. RFID systems are generally differentiated by storage and retrieval capabilities (read-only or read-write and passive or active power sources) and by frequency- LF (low frequency), HF (high-frequency), or UHF (ultra-high frequency).

Read-only tags are limited to recovery of stored data, such as product lot number or an item description. Read-only systems can efficiently streamline basic production and supply chain operations. Read-write labels are designed with both read and write capabilities. In a passive system, an RFID reader produces an energy field that triggers activation and gives power to a tag.

A passive system is not so powerful and somewhat less dependable than an active system. An active system has batteries implanted in tags to power transmission of data between tag and reader. Active systems are more refined than passive systems and offer longer read ranges. They have other features such as temperature sensing and a longer operating life.

RFID provides detailed information on RFID, RFID Tracking, RFID Tags, RFID Technology and more. RFID is affiliated with DNA Testing Services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Max_Bellamy
http://EzineArticles.com/?RFID-Systems&id=407778

Choosing the right web host

By Derek Anders

Choosing a web hosting company for your online business is a job within it self. There are tons of web hosting companies that you can choose from, but how do you choose the right one?

Follow The Crowds

One of the ways to find a good web hosting company is by following the crowd. This is one of the only times that we recommend following everyone else because it is a great way to find that amazing web hosting company.

Reading Reviews

Reading reviews about web hosting companies is also a good way to find a great host. The only thing about reading reviews is that most people that write reviews had a bad experience with the company, so take what you read with a grain of salt.

Look At Many Companies

Since there are a lot of web host out there, research a lot of them. Find the one that really fits your needs with what they offer as well as the price of their service.

Do not let price alone be your deciding factor on which company to go with. It has been said that “you get what you pay for” and this is 100% true with web hosting companies.

Conclusion

Finding a hosting company is hard work due to the fact that there are so many to choose from. Do your self a favor and look at many different companies to find the one that best fits your needs. When you do a company that you like, they usually have a “live help” chat that you can use. Send them a message to see what their response time is. If you get a slow response, we recommend keep searching!

My name is Derek Anders and I love to learn new things about business and the internet. I also like to share the information I learn with out people. You are free to use this article any way you see fit as long as this stays with the article. derekanders.com Small Web Biz Info

Article Source: EzineArticles