Category: Internet

www.IE7.com… heh I smell a lawsuit

Just what I needed. Firefox looks really cool now. [Link]

Ok, this is a strange turn of events. Flickr is now no longer blocked by Fasttelco!

I just called FT now to find out why Flickr was blocked. According to the technical support person I spoke to, “Flickr is blocked because it contains links to adult content”.

So for FT users you have to continue using the following IP to access the site: https://68.142.214.24/

Since I just got the Nano I figured I should post an update on my experience with U Shop We Ship so far. I first posted about them back in March and have been using them since. Right after my first package got delievered by USWS I stopped using Aramex because the difference is night and day.

I have received 9 packages so far all via USWS and all without any problems. Other USWS users who have been posting in the forum also have been experiencing the same great service. The online payment system makes life extremely easy, and their shipping is very fast. Currently for a limited time they are shipping packages to Kuwait the same day they arrive to your US mailbox at no extra charge. Thats the coolest thing and I hope it they keep it like that. Another cool thing is the minute your package arrives in the mailbox you get an SMS telling you the package has arrived int he mailbox and whats in the package. For example I got an SMS a few days ago telling me an iPod Nano has arrived to my mailbox. This is a lot more practical compared to Aramex who would just state that I received a package from Amazon. You also get another SMS once the package ships from the mailbox and they even include the tracking number. Finally, their phoneline has NEVER been busy so far (4724673) and the customer support girl is always very helpful and cheerful.

Anyway if you haven’t signed up yet now is a good time since they have the shipping everyday offer going. [Link]

What the hell! Not only have Fasttelco blocked Flickr but it seems they have blocked other photo sites including stock.xchng! Stock.xchng is a site I check every now and then whenever I needed some HiRes images for work. The site is like Corbis and Photodisc except its free. I was just trying to check it now and I got the Fasttelco block page, what losers.

Guess who has a website now.. [Link]

note: if you have any feedback on the site post it below

When I first started chatting on IRC (like back in late 95) my nickname was RAVErrr. Nibaq’s nickname was XBS and I still remember the first time he helped me get on IRC, I think I was using the software WS_IRC.
So what was your nickname?

I first got into Alternative music in the summer of 92. I was visiting my cousin in LA and he made me watch a music video of a band called Blind Melon. The song was No Rain and it involved a girl dressed up in a bee costume, I am sure everyone has seen it.

Anyway in 1995 the lead singer died from a drug overdose. The band split up and Blind Melon fell apart. I was still a fan though and in 1999 I designed my own website as a tribute to them. It was located at https://unex-t.com/nico and it was the most popular fan site back then.

One day I was checking BlindMelon.com which wasn’t active and decided to email the owner asking him if he could forward the domain to my site. He replied telling me not only would he forward the domain to my site but that I could have the domain since he didn’t have a need for it. That was in 2000 and ever since then I had been running the site.

Everyone was happy, I had a very active community with a active message board with over 20,000 messages, I was providing free blindmelon.com subdomains with hosting to other Blind Melon sites and mostly I was keeping the band alive.

To make a bit of cash I had links on my site advertising the bands various CDs on Amazon and for every CD I ended up selling I got like 50 cents or something. I was making anywhere from $100 to $200 a quarter selling these CDs, its not a lot of money, it didn’t cover the hosting bill (back when I had I was hosted on fasthosts.co.uk) but it was nice cash that I injected back into Amazon by buying tshirts and sneakers.

The problem is suddenly out of the blue the band is interested in the domain. The band members all had different solo projects that all resulted in failure. Unified Theory, The Tender Trio, Extra Virgin and Mercy are some of their failed projects. Now it seems they want to release a new album of unreleased stuff in September and they want the domain.

At first they wanted me to give them the domain for free and when I refused they offered me $500. I tried to explain to them that I had a lot of sentimental attachment to the domain and the fact that I spent a lot of money on it. They disappeared and hooked up with the Law Offices of David Rudich who a few days ago sent me a cease and desist letter accusing me of cybersquatting.

This is not fair and I need help. After taking care of the site for over 6 years and keeping the band alive its not fair that they can come and take it away from me just like that. What are my options? I can’t afford a lawyer. They even HAVE a official website located at BlindMelonMusic.com, what do they want with me?

You can check out the site now by going to BlindMelon.com although I put up a fruity intro page. If you want to see how the site used to look like then you need to go to BlindMelon.com/index2.html

note: Just so there isn’t a misunderstanding, I made money from the domain but it wasn’t profit. Hosting the site cost me a lot more then what I was making from Amazon..

You can read the cease and desist letter after the jump..

I just added a link on the top menu called Proxy. This will take you to a page where you can type a url of a blocked site and it will open it for you. For example the blog I don’t like you in that way is blocked for some stupid reason in Kuwait but if you go to the proxy page and type the website address it will open the page for you. Try it out. [Link]

Sometimes I can’t purchase stuff online because they require a US based Visa card or a Paypal account. My usual action then is to ask a friend who lived in the States before and has an American Visa card to purchase the item for me and then I pay him back.

Now there seems to be a way around this.. epassporte.com. Basically you get a “virtual” visa card from them which has a US billing address. You can then fill up your virtual card using your regular visa card here in Kuwait. By virtual they mean digital as in you won’t get a physical credit card you can hold in your hand, you just get the numbers.

Anyone tried this service? I am thinking of trying it out myself. [Link]

update: OK seems they are not very trustworthy.. [Link]

I love the Firefox Internet browser because of the amount of extensions available for it. The latest one I have been using is Google’s Firefox sync tool. It basically allows you to sync your Firefox browser across many computers. For example I use 3 computers for browsing, my Mac at home, Nat’s PowerBook and my Mac at work. With Google’s Firefox sync tool I can sync my bookmarks, my passwords, my browser history and even the tabs I have open across all my computers. There have been other extensions that have done this before but this is the first time one has done it so easily.

My problem with this tool like all the other sync tools is it’s slow. When you first load up Firefox it has to check online and see what updates I did in my previous browsing session on my other computers and then sync my local Mac with those changes. Also when I quit Firefox it has to save my changes online so that when I get home it would get synced over there. These waiting periods can be frustratingly slow specially if you just want to load up the browser for a quick search. Luckily you can cancel the sync if you need to and browse right ahead without getting anything synced.

Anyway its worth a shot, I have been using it for a few days now and it still hasn’t gotten on my nerve so that’s a good thing. [Link]

The coolest thing about Firefox is all the various extensions you can get. This site has over 200 extensions and they are listed in a way that makes finding what you want very easy. If you don’t know what Firefox is, its basically one of the best browsers ever made. [Link]

For the past 2 days I have been having issues connecting to mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com and some other sites like adobe.com with my Qualitynet connection. Is anyone else having this problem? Its connecting but after a really long period..

I was just reading a recent issue of Campaign ME magazine (April 30) in which they have a section dedicated to Kuwait and I got to the part where they talk about Internet in Kuwait and to my surprise they mention my blog. The funny thing is the way they mentioned it and it went something like “…there is 248AM.com which is run by Nataly and her husband”. Nataly and her husband?! It should be like Mark and his wife who posts only once every 4 weeks. I am sure she is going to enjoy this when she reads it. She comes back from Beirut tonight btw so you can expect a post from her sometime this week about her trip.. then you have to wait till next month for another one.