Vodafone 3g call woes – Solved!

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This blog post is about my recent switch to Vodafone 3G and related experience. Or just related woes. Experience hasn’t been much yet.

Vodafone finally launched 3G in bangalore (I think using Airtel infrastructure).

I had tested BSNL 3G earlier (pretty good) but wasn’t ready to make a permanent switch to BSNL (number woes despite MNP). Also am quiet satisfied with Vodafone phone services.

Anyways, after I moved to 3G, I suffered a drastic setback. My calls wont be connected! Not dropped connections, but calls simply wont be connected. After I dial a number, it would just hang up in a matter of minutes. Everytime I would ve to reselect the Operator from the network menu. And somehow, the menu would always show two vodafone (and NO Airtel at all!).

I ve an android phone. And there was no simple way to select manual selection of operator explicitly ( I do miss the good old days of not so smartphones at times!).

I did tweet about my woes and VodafoneIN replied with a complaint number.

And on the sidelines, I found the solution, by mistake..

I selected “Use only 2G Network” and voila! All my calls were being connected at ease like before!

Guess this demonstrates the fact that Vodafone uses 3G using airtel network and since airtel becomes the preferred network, the outgoing calls have some issues.

Will debug more on this later in the week.

Blogging from mobile

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I am kinda late to the mobile blogging scene, owing to slow gprs speed, missing 3g connection and a mobile device with wifi connection (well I had the ipad for about 6 months now but guess I was lazy). So now that I ve 3g on my nexus s (not to forget wifi on it as well) , I ve now installed WordPress for android on it. I can immediately see the pros n cons of it. Pros – blogging on the move.  Cons – the linking to other pages etc would be more cumbersome as you can’t just open a tab, copy a link and paste. A big major pros is the auto suggest and auto correct that you get on all mobile phones. Well… I guess am gonna be happy about it…

UPDATE: I opened the post in my laptop browser to add the android marketplaces link. Guess, mobile blogging will take sometime before its my first choice. I ll try it from my ipad as well. Somehow it appears as if thats gonna be more intuitive.

How to stop auto selection of preferred network operator in android or set manual operator selection.

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I was hunting for this question for the past few days, ever since I enabled 3G on my nexus S vodafone connection. The phone would use auto PRL (preferred Roaming List) to switch over the network with better connection. In my case I was getting two vodafone networks. While I could always receive calls and messages, I could never send a message or make a call unless I reselected the other network.

To avoid this, and cases like these , you need to switch off automatically select prefereed network.

The way to do this is

dial *#*#4636#*#*

click Phone Info -> Set preferred network type -> GSM only (or CDMA if you are using CDMA).

The important thing here is not to use any auto or PRL settings.

And voila, now your android phone will only use manual network operator, just like the golden times…

And I ve moved, again..

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And its time again for the next @indiblogger meetup.

And this meetup prompted me to get my blog up and running again :P I ve moved from slicehost to the parent company rackspace owing to

  • lesser cost
  • Upcoming ipv6 support

Even though slicehost itself is about to integrate into the rackspace infrastructure, meaning slicehost will be moving to rackspace cloud and will be charging similar prices, I, as always, being impatient couldn’t wait and moved :P

 

I guess the downside of that being that I had to manually move and setup everything myself. Vs maybe slicehost and rackspace would ve provided moving support had I waited for them :P

 

but anyways, its the next @indiblogger meetup about the samsung galaxy tab that has got me interested in blogging again. I ve my exams in the next week and I woke up this morning with intent to read, but I took the wrong step of opening up twitter. One thing lead to another and here I am blogging. But considering that the entire thing happened in less than two hours, I think it was a pretty efficient usage of time. Time to get ready for office, and then back and then try to study and blog and tweet and all as usual :)

Good thing be that grandmom aka amma is here now. So I dont ve to worry about dining plans :)

PS: There is a new domain as well, hackalyst.info. Right now anshprat.info and hackalyst.info both point to the same site. Maybe I ll merge, maybe I ll let it be.

And the new site is called muddle-muggle. Muddle – coz of the ever presence confusion. Muggle – coz I wish I was a wizard, or atleast had some super powers :P

New malware attack hits facebook through chat!

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I just got pings from three of my friends over facebook chat, all of them containing the same message

Hey, check out this girl, lol, she must be out of her mind for making that video!: bit.ly/eNYMXb

Well, so lets see where does the link take us..

anshup@listsettle-lm: ~$ curl -I bit.ly/eNYMXb
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved
Server: nginx
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 09:35:54 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Connection: keep-alive
Set-Cookie: _bit=4d8478fa-003c1-04438-d8ac8fa8;domain=.bit.ly;expires=Thu Sep 15 05:35:54 2011;path=/; HttpOnly
Cache-control: private; max-age=90
Location: http://www.torsing.info/
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Length: 116

As expected, the first bitly link is a proper redirect to some site. Now lets see what the second link has.

anshup@listsettle-lm: ~$ curl -I http://www.torsing.info/
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 09:36:04 GMT
Server: Apache
Location: http://www.torsing.info//dashboard.php
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html

Hmm, another redirect to same site, not bad.

anshup@listsettle-lm: ~$ curl -I http://www.torsing.info//dashboard.php
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2011 09:36:11 GMT
Server: Apache
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html

anshup@listsettle-lm: ~$ curl http://www.torsing.info//dashboard.php
<script type=’text/javascript’>top.location.href = ‘https://www.facebook.com/login.php?api_key=134003950005663&cancel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.torsing.info%2Fmain.php&display=page&fbconnect=1&next=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.torsing.info%2Fdashboard.php&return_session=1&session_version=3&v=1.0&req_perms=xmpp_login’;</script>

Now here is the bad part!
As you see in the last output, its merely a trick to directly access your facebook credentials as if you approved it (thats my assumption, am not sure what it does and am not going to find that out right now.

What I am surprised at is that facebook uses a non salted/non nounced url for such requests.. :!
Definitely you know better facebook :)

lets see how fast it spreads and what all comes out of it!

Lets see a lil about the domain.

anshup@listsettle-lm: ~$ whois torsing.info
Domain ID:D36666838-LRMS
Domain Name:TORSING.INFO
Created On:05-Feb-2011 19:58:43 UTC
Last Updated On:06-Feb-2011 10:32:05 UTC
Expiration Date:05-Feb-2012 19:58:43 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com Inc. (R171-LRMS)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR74380736
Registrant Name:Matej Kalanj
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street1:Marohniceva 18
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Rijeka
Registrant State/Province:Primorsko goranska
Registrant Postal Code:51000
Registrant Country:HR
Registrant Phone:+385.955533376
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:webmaster@sex-galerije.com
Admin ID:CR74380738
Admin Name:Matej Kalanj
Admin Organization:
Admin Street1:Marohniceva 18
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Rijeka
Admin State/Province:Primorsko goranska
Admin Postal Code:51000
Admin Country:HR
Admin Phone:+385.955533376
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:webmaster@sex-galerije.com
Billing ID:CR74380739
Billing Name:Matej Kalanj
Billing Organization:
Billing Street1:Marohniceva 18
Billing Street2:
Billing Street3:
Billing City:Rijeka
Billing State/Province:Primorsko goranska
Billing Postal Code:51000
Billing Country:HR
Billing Phone:+385.955533376
Billing Phone Ext.:
Billing FAX:
Billing FAX Ext.:
Billing Email:webmaster@sex-galerije.com
Tech ID:CR74380737
Tech Name:Matej Kalanj
Tech Organization:
Tech Street1:Marohniceva 18
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Rijeka
Tech State/Province:Primorsko goranska
Tech Postal Code:51000
Tech Country:HR
Tech Phone:+385.955533376
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:webmaster@sex-galerije.com
Name Server:MDNS1.NMSERVERS.COM
Name Server:MDNS2.NMSERVERS.COM

Hmmm, so a site registered in croatia. Interesting.

The NewYork Times launches digital subscription, beginning with canada.

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Copy of an email sent out by The NewYork Times:
NYTimesNYTimes.
An important announcement from
the publisher of The New York Times

Fine Print
Dear New York Times Reader,

Today marks a significant transition for The New York Times as we introduce digital subscriptions. It’s an important step that we hope you will see as an investment in The Times, one that will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform. The change will primarily affect those who are heavy consumers of the content on our Web site and on mobile applications.

This change comes in two stages. Today, we are rolling out digital subscriptions to our readers in Canada, which will enable us to fine-tune the customer experience before our global launch. On March 28, we will begin offering digital subscriptions in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

If you are a home delivery subscriber of The New York Times, you will continue to have full and free access to our news, information, opinion and the rest of our rich offerings on your computer, smartphone and tablet. International Herald Tribune subscribers will also receive free access to NYTimes.com.

If you are not a home delivery subscriber, you will have free access up to a defined reading limit. If you exceed that limit, you will be asked to become a digital subscriber.

This is how it will work, and what it means for you:

  • On NYTimes.com, you can view 20 articles each month at no charge (including slide shows, videos and other features). After 20 articles, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber, with full access to our site.
  • On our smartphone and tablet apps, the Top News section will remain free of charge. For access to all other sections within the apps, we will ask you to become a digital subscriber.
  • The Times is offering three digital subscription packages that allow you to choose from a variety of devices (computer, smartphone, tablet). More information about these plans is available atnytimes.com/access.
  • Again, all New York Times home delivery subscribers will receive free access to NYTimes.com and to all content on our apps. If you are a home delivery subscriber, go tohomedelivery.nytimes.com to sign up for free access.
  • Readers who come to Times articles through links from search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles, even if they have reached their monthly reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of free links to Times articles.
  • The home page at NYTimes.com and all section fronts will remain free to browse for all users at all times.

For more information, go to nytimes.com/digitalfaq.

Thank you for reading The New York Times, in all its forms.

Sincerely,
Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Publisher, The New York Times
Chairman, The New York Times Company

 

Fine Print

As a loyal reader of NYTimes.com, you will receive a special offer to save on our new digital subscriptions. We will e-mail this special offer starting on March 28, the day we begin charging for unlimited access to our Web site and mobile apps*. We truly value your readership and look forward to bringing you the world’s finest journalism every day.


Fine Print *Mobile apps are not supported on all devices. Does not include e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords or The New York Times Crosswords apps. Other restrictions apply.

This message was sent to inform you about an important change to our Web site and NYTimes applications. Please note, if you have chosen not to receive marketing messages from The New York Times, that choice applies only to promotional messages. You will continue to receive important notifications that are legally required or could affect your service.

To review our Privacy Policy, please go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/rights/privacy/policy/privacy-policy.html

© 2011 The New York Times Company / 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018

 

My hunt for the perfect browser for work :!

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UPDATE: And now I have moved (back) to firefox 4! Firefox 4 is fast, so far no crashes and is looking good. more on this later as I spend more time on it!

hi,

First and foremost a little into what this post will give you. In this post, first I talk a little about why I need this post. Then a little of my browsing habbits history. Then some of my problems. And then my problems.

This post started when I realised I ve been switching between browsers one after another whenever I face some issue with one. Now few months down the lane, I don’t remember what the problem was and why I switched away from a particular browser and to what and why. So this post is more like a little documentation effort.

Now a little into my browser usage history. As a kid I remember using IE, Firefox and a little of Opera. In college, I was primarily a firefox user (with a little bit of elinks thrown in whenever the network would be clogged down). After I started work, one of the worst versions of firefox was released. FF 3.0. It would crash like a drunken dog gone nuts on the roads. I switched over to Opera at this instance after suffering for weeks (on fedora). Then I switched to Mac. My love for Opera continued. Ofcourse I have firefox with firebug and webdeveloper and various profiles. And then, I guess it started crashing for some reasons. I tried safari but wasn’t really impressed. At this time I primarily switched to Chrome. I had tried chromium on fedora earlier and Chrome had evolved a lot from its chromium days.

At the moment, am back to Opera. This post is being published in Opera. And the reason. Well, the latest version of Chrome is buggy or maybe its the speeddial extension. Now when I click on any speeddial, the speeddial opens up, but the address bar is empty :!

And its hightime I try Opera 11 :)
In the meanwhile, I ll be downloading latest firefox nightly release aka minefield :)

And will keep this post (or further posts) as a part of documenting my waddle through the various browsers. (IE wont be part much of it, though I do use it once in a while owing to some stupid IE rich web applications.).

More on it later. Cheers
Anshu Prateek

Starting programs on a remote linux desktop

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This was something that I was looking for a long time and finally found while looking for a completely different thing altogether!
Agreed I always wanted this only for mischief :P Basically what I wanted was to fire up any GUI so that it would show on a remote desktop and not on my local display. clearly I didn’t want vnc or ssh -XCYP.

What I needed was this:

ssh -X host
export DISPLAY=:0

and then I can run any gui and it will open on the remote desktop.
would make things look like some hacky mischief ;)

okay, another thing I learnt was how to start and stop gnome screensaver remotely.

so instead of doing a killall -9 screensaver, you can do
gnome-screensaver-command -d

So there are things that are still fun!
Gosh, do I miss college!

IANA IPv4 Exhaustion

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* IANA IPv4 Exhaustion

At a ceremony held on 3 February, 2011 the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA) allocated the remaining last five /8s of
IPv4 address space to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) in
accordance with the Global Policy for the Allocation of the
Remaining IPv4 Address Space. With this action, the free pool of
available IPv4 addresses is now fully depleted. To read the full
text of this announcement please go to:

http://www.nro.net/news/ipv4-free-pool-depleted

* World IPv6 Day

Facebook, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), websites
with more than one billion combined visits each day, are joining
major content delivery networks Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) and
Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW), and the Internet Society, for
the first global-scale trial of the new Internet Protocol, IPv6.
On June 8, 2011, dubbed World IPv6 Day, participants will enable
IPv6 on their main services for 24 hours. Cisco, Juniper,
Hurricane Electric, and Bing have also announced their
participation.

http://isoc.org/wp/worldipv6day/

Hurricane Electric’s open letter to Hurricane Electric Customers,
Partners and Managers of Interconnected Networks about World IPv6
Day.

http://he.net/news/Hurricane_Electric_Letter_Regarding_World_IPv6_Day.pdf

At Hurricane Electric, every day is an IPv6 day.

* IPv6 Deployment Growth
The global IPv6 routing table has passed 4000 IPv6 prefixes.

Of the 36820 networks in the world running BGP, the number running
IPv6 has increased to 3107, or 8.4 percent.

Source: http://bgp.he.net/ipv6-progress-report.cgi

* Hurricane Electric Updated Network Map
We’ve continued to expand our network.

Updated Network Map: http://he.net/HurricaneElectricNetworkMap.pdf

Hurricane Electric now has over 6000 BGP sessions with over 1600
IPv4 and IPv6 networks at 45 different exchange points in North
America, Europe, and Asia.