January « 2008 « Irfan’s Corner on the Web

30Jan/080

Strange Sound switching problem and soluton

I've had this problem once before, I think in OpenSUSE 10.3, now in Debian I'm getting it again: On my Dell Inpsiron 6400 Laptop, when I plug in any pair of headphones, the sound does not switch from the laptop speakers to the headphones, rather the sound continues to play from the laptop speakers.This is a very annoying problem. But despair not, I have a workaround. Whenever you want to use headphones, simply kill all sound applications, and unload the snd_hda_intel module (In case you use Intel HDDA Sound). Plug in your headphone, and load the snd_hda_intel module again via modprobe. Thats it! Now your sound should be coming through the headphones. Now even if you unplug your headphones, you will not hear sound from the speakers, rather you have to unload and modprobe snd_hda_intel again to get sound from the speakers.Whats strange is that I did not have this problem a few weeks ago on the same Linux installation. But anyway now that I have a work around it doesn't matter. Its always fun to load/unload modules

Filed under: kernel development, linux No Comments

20Jan/080

First Post frorm N95

This is my first post from the N95, I got a few months ago.

Its an excellent piece of technology (I esp. LOVE the Wifi), however due to the lack of a QWERTY keyboard I can't really use it for a lot of applications I use the Web for, like emailing, blogging, chatting etc.

This is what pushed me towards buying an Apple wireless keyboard. Its a another great product from Apple. I'll now try to blog more frrom my N95. I'll start off with a post for the top 10 applications native web applications for Symbian.

Filed under: apple, n95 No Comments

15Jan/080

Apple Introduces the MacBook Air

Apple is one of the few computing companies I really admire. They have the engineers, the talent, the designers and the visionary to lead them. Apple products are some of the most elegant products in the industry.
Apple today released their latest notebook, the MacBook Air. Its an amazing peace of technology and one of the first notebooks to use moderately large solid state hard drives, which surely are the future. Although the screen is just 13.3'', it comes in a higher resolution than traditional 13.3''. It comes with 1280x800, which is equivalent to my 15'' notebook! One of the innovations on the notebook is the multitouch touchpad. The touchpad has been around on laptops for years, recently they incooperated support for browsing documents and screens, now multi-touch is the next evolution. Multitouch allows us to use gestures like zoom into the screen, rotate etc...
It does not come with a DVD drive, which is a sensible move, rather supports external drives. I rarely use my DVD drive, and if I want to watch some movie or something, I copy it to my Hard disk. Normally ultra-portable PCs like the Asus EeePC make comprises in terms of hardware capability, not in the MacBook Air! It comes with 2 GB RAM and is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo 1.88 Ghz processor, just as any other notebook.

The price is a little too steep for the MacBook Air for now, but I expect price to fall very quickly as bigger and bigger Solid State hard drives are developed also as new smaller Intel processors are developed, both factors will push down the price. There are some big gambles Apple is taking with this notebook: unlike in other notebooks batteries are not user replaceable, there is no ethernet port and only one usb port. I'll buy one after 2-3 generations of the product

Filed under: apple No Comments

10Jan/080

My favorite Podcasts

Since I bought an ipod I have subscribed to numerous podcasts, and many have become an integral part of my daily routine. I have learned a lot from podcasts and has greatly improved the utilization of my spare time.

1. Enterpreneur Thought Leaders Series

I found this from iTunes U, and its a podcast published by Stanford University and contains talks from renowned business leaders. Every talk contains extremely valuable information about the technology industry and for aspiring entrepreneurs.

2. GeekBrief.TV

This is a podcast which always keeps me up-to-date with the latest gadetry and technology

3. Crave PodCast

This is similar to GeekBrief.TV, however it sometimes also contain provocative discussions on the latest technologies, which not only keeps you up-to-date with your latest technology but also with issues which are not discussed in other podcasts

4. IT idiots Podcast

This podcast is less about keeping you informed about the latest technology, rather is a podcast about reviewing technologies for businesses or home users. For example in GeekBrief.TV you may actually hear about a new small Mac (Mac mini) from Apple, in Crave you might here about its advantages and disadvantages in IT idiots you actually see it in action!

5. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Podcast

I've been interested in astronomy since school. In A levels I was the only one from my city (Islamabad), to appear on the A levels Astrophysics supplementary exam. NASA's JPL Podcasts keeps you updated with the latest discoveries in Space. JPL manages more than 8 crafts in the solar system and the podcast is very informative.

6., UC Berkeley's Science and Technology Events

This podcasts published talks on science and technoloy issues. A large breath of topics are covered in the talks (which last around 1 hour), from 3G CDMA to Global Competitivenes.

7. Science Talk

This is the official podcast of the Scientific American. It's like a GeekBrief.TV for Science and technology.

8. Unwired

This is another podcast which deals with the latest technologies and gadgets.

Filed under: ipod, podcast No Comments

9Jan/080

NetworkSolutions Frontrunning Domain searches!

This story broke yesterday on Slashdot in this thread, then other sites like reddit, digg picked it up. So what are they doing? When you go to their website, and search for a domain name you might want to purchase, that very moment, NetworkSolutions registers it, and now you can only buy it from them. For example one domain I searched yesterday through their site: http://www.asklfjaskldfjalafdjkasdjflkasdjfkasdjf.com, and guess what? Its nor owned by NetworkSolutions. Check the websites whois record

	Administrative Contact :
	Network Solutions, LLC
	domainsupport@networksolutions.com
	13681 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300
	HERNDON, VA 20171
	US
	Phone: 1-888-642-9675
	Fax: 571-434-4620

	Technical Contact :
	Network Solutions, LLC
	domainsupport@networksolutions.com
	13681 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300
	HERNDON, VA 20171
	US
	Phone: 1-888-642-9675
	Fax: 571-434-4620

	Record expires on 08-Jan-2009
	Record created on 08-Jan-2008
	Database last updated on 08-Jan-2008

And what does NetworkSolutions say in its defence? I found this post by one of their employees at this blog:

" I work for Network solutions and wanted to clarify our side.

We are not monetizing these domains, nor do we intend to keep them after the holding period.

Network Solutions is not front running. “ Front Runners” are people who register domain names known to have been searched, for the purpose of monetizing them and then selling them at inflated prices either directly to the customer who searched for the domain or through aftermarket channels.
We have started protecting all domain name searches at Network Solutions by holding the searched domains for our customers for a short period of time before releasing them. This gives our customers the opportunity to register names later without fear that the name will be registered by a “Front Runner.”.

We did this because we heard customers complain that queried domain names are being snatched up by other people as soon as they searched. Network Solutions makes sure its search data is secure and we do not sell it any third party. I know that Network Solutions has no intention of keeping any searched domain or monetizing it"

The fact is that they ARE monetizing the domains. By their own saying " “ Front Runners” are people who register domain names known to have been searched, for the purpose of monetizing them and then selling them at inflated prices either directly to the customer who searched for the domain or through aftermarket channels."

Now if you were to compare domain pricing amongst multiple registrars, you will see that NetworkSolutions is one of the most expensive, I can get a domain from HostMonster for $10, but they offer anywhere from $19-$34!! Other registrars are even cheaper. I guess because they offer domains not at the cheapest price, they know that many people who search for domains search at multiple registrars and buy the cheapest one. However by locking the domains to their registry, the consumer has no choice but to buy at inflated prices. Hence this is a clear case of domain "front running". ICANN had recently requested public to report instances of this kind of behaviour by registrars, and you can report this company (many of done it already), to ICANN.

Go here to find out more: http://www.icann.org/public_comment/#domain-tasting-2008 or email your comment here: domain-tasting-2008@icann.org

Or to view already submitted comments here: http://forum.icann.org/lists/domain-tasting-2008/

Filed under: Uncategorized No Comments

6Jan/080

How to use Acronis TrueImage 11 in Linux

There are a plethora of ways how you can backup your system in Linux, however none offers the reliability or ease of use as Acronis TrueImage does. I've been on g4L previously, however, unfortunately it is not reliable and I can not count on it as I can count on commercial backup solutions, which have been in the market for years.

Acronis TrueImage is advertised as a Windows only solution, however it can be used in Linux as well with ease. This tutorial will show how:

1., Get yourselves a copy of Acronis TrueImage. The software is priced reasonably. I do my computing exclusively on my laptop, and laptops have pretty high rate of hard disk failure because of the wear and tear, so once a failure occurs the disruption for me would be far beyond the cost for paying for such a solution like this.

2., Once you purchase Acronis, they don't ship you a media rather offer an internet download, which is an exe file. You can install the software through Wine, without any problems.

3., After the software is installed, you can not use the GUI because of sporadic errors which you will get for example, when you to create a backup:

So the normal GUI does not work well in Linux, however, Acronis offers a great feature in which you can load the application into a bootable cdrom, and you can use this cdrom to boot your computer and create your backups.

You can access the option from:

The bootable CD has almost all options the normal GUI offers, and form the CD you can select your drives and back them up to FTP/ another computer in the network/external hard drive etc. You can select either the data or sector by sector backup. Acronis apparently only supports ext2 and 3 so if your using an exotic file system, you will have to do with the sector by sector backup. Backups can be encrypted and password secured.

Filed under: backup, commercial apps, linux No Comments

2Jan/080

Commercial WiMax deployed in Pakistan

A lot of news on TV about Pakistan focuses on the current political situation or the situation along the border with Afghanistan. However in other areas Pakistan is really progressing. Way back in May 2006 is was reported that the largest WiMAX deployment was planned in the country. Now after more than a year it a reality. Initially I feared that the prices may be too high for anyone to purchase it, however it is very reasonably priced. Due to the reasonable price competition in the broadband area has started and prices have plummetted.

A year ago 256kbps (DSL) 'broadband' with a limit of 1GB would cost you 1000Rs ( US$ 16.7). The commercial WiMAX network deployed by Wateen Telecomm with the help of Motorola costs way less. 256kpbs for 1GB costs 350 Rs (5.8 US$). For the same amount of 1000Rs you can get 4GBs at 256kpbs wireless.

The network deployed by Wateen can support upto 1MBps, and tariffs for upto 10GB at 512kpbs cost just 2250Rs (37.5 US$), compared to 10000 (166.7 US$) it would have cost consumers with wired DSL.

Consequently wired broadband companies have responded aggressively bringing immense benefits to the consumers: The same company which used to charge 1000Rs (US$ 16.7) for just 1GB on 256kpbs, charges now 1200 ($ 20) for 4GB on 512kpbs. Increasing both the limit for usage and the transfer rates.

So Pakistanis have now access to increasingly cheap broadband options. I suspect that wireless broadband will become more popular than the wired option. Pakistan has the fastest growing mobile communication market in the World.

Filed under: networking, pakistan, wimax No Comments

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