Entries Tagged 'Internet' ↓

Linking to the above page sends spam bots to a site filled with randomly generated email addresses. The bots harvest these addresses for their spam mailing lists. This is an attempt to “overload” the spam servers by making them send spam to thousands of non-existet domains.

To buy goods online or sign up with services like paypal, you need a proper Visa or Master card. Have a look at your bank card now, if it has a “Visa Electron” or “Maestro” logo then you basicly have the little kid or debit card version of these cards, which is pretty much useless for international purchases. Paypal does not accept Visa Electron cards from South Africa.

So what are your options?

Apply for a Credit Card (Not worth it)
You could apply for a credit card, but that usually requires some minimum monthly income of between R2000 and R4000 per month. And the CC companies require proof of this, so be prepared to send them at least 3 months worth of bank statements or payslips. Also, credit cards usually have some annual fee and all kinds of arbitrary costs involved. The only credit card I am aware of without annual fees is Virgin’s credit cards.

OR

Apply for a Standard Bank Student Achiever Account (Magical Goodies Creator)
Link to Standard Bank’s Student Achiever Account page .
This really is the best banking option for any South African student at the moment. Not only is internet and cellphone banking 100% FREE, but you have NO monthly bank charges. Just about any transaction is done without any additional costs. And the best part is, you get a Maestro debit card and a proper Master Card that you can use to buy stuff online. \o/

There is one little snag though: to change the monthly transaction limit on your account, you have to physically go to a branch and have them change it. It cannot be set online like with FNB’s Student Lifestart account. But this is not really a problem, just tell them that you will be depositing at least X amount into your account every month, and they will set the limit to that.

So far, I have made 3 online purchases with my new Standard Bank magical goodies creator, and it worked perfectly. No bank charges, free internet banking, your very own Master Card… What more can I say?

It saddens me that the words “piracy” and “pirates” are more commonly used to refer to copyright violation than to plundering seafarers these days (If only people focused so vehemently on the criminals raping our coasts as on virtual theft). The first sign that somebody has no clue about bootlegging software and what it entails, is when they start raving about the “evil internet pirates”, “virus infected counterfeits” and “piracy induced hardware damage”.

First of all, let me say that I am dead set against using unlicensed proprietary software and believe it is illegal. Most game and application developers spend years pouring sweat and blood into their creations, and if they demand compensation, they damn well deserve it. However, organizations like BSA and RISA(holy crap their website looks horrible) is to piracy what Lord Cutler Beckett is to Pirates of the Caribean, or in other words: self-righteous fear mongers who don’t give a damn about the consumer they are trying to “protect” from illegal software. The BSA’s only concern lies with its multi-billion dollar sponsors like Microsoft.

Anyway, that is enough of a rant for now. You can read about the bogus piracy statistics the BSA spreads here, here, here, here, here and here.

The BSA’s big, white van, with its scary satellite dish was spotted in the Stellenbosch Student Centre’s parking lot recently. There was a bunch of previously disadvantaged kids walking around in anti-piracy t-shirts (I fail to see how the BSA concerns these poor kids who can’t even afford computers, let alone R2750 copies of Vista.). And some students thought it would be funny to stick pro-piracy propaganda on their van. My friend sent me the following picture, sorry about the terrible quality.

Apparently they stuck posters with the highly controversial cracked AACS key “09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0″ (not that it has anything to do with the BSA ) , “Microsoft is a pirate”, “The pirate bay” and other random images on the truck before the BSA kids returned and gaped at the pictures in confusion.

Please post a comment if you find this post helpful (or not), or to ask any question.
Update: A lot of people are asking me to send the GPRS settings to their phone so they can use it to browse. If you are with Vodacom, just dial *111# , select “Device Setup” and follow the instructions. Easy. MTN Users dial 082 173 for GPRS settings and Cell-C users dial 084 140 to speak to an operator to set up their GPRS. Virgin Mobile sims are preloaded with their GPRS settings.

List of network GPRS details:

Notes:
1. Try leaving out DNS addresses first. DNS servers are usually assigned automatically to your device on connect.
2. If you are using Vodacom and GPRS does not want to work, first call customer support and make sure your sim is activated for the “internet” APN.

For windows:
1. Go to Control Panel->Phone and Modem options->Modems tab->Select the correct bluetooth modem->click properties->Select advanced Tab. In the field “Extra Initialization Commands”, enter: AT+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”internet” . Replace “internet” with the correct APN name from the table above.
2. Create a new dialup connection. Dialup number is *99# , and leave username and password fields blank.

For Linux:
You can follow my guide below, but first take a look at GPRS Easy Connect: http://easyconnect.linuxuser.hu/modules/index/
If you can’t get that to work for you, try following this guide:
http://www.iki.fi/mikko.rapeli/linux_gprs.html

I had to make some minor changes:
1. Select bluetooth(/dev/rfcomm0) instead of usb connection to phone
2. Select gprs-connect-chat script instead of wvdial.conf (connect /etc/ppp/peers/gprs-connect-chat)
3. Increased a timeout in gprs-connect-chat since vodacom takes a bit longer to connect.

Make sure to edit the following line correctly according to the table above, replacing “internet” with the correct APN name for your network:
‘AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”internet”,”",0,0′

Here is my config files from /etc/ppp/peers, tested and working with Vodacom&MTN and a Nokia 6600 via bluetooth:
gprs
gprs-connect-chat
gprs-disconnect-chat

Now get your phone’s HW address: hcitool scan.
Bind your phone’s HW address: sudo rfcomm bind 0 (phone 's HW address)
Dial up: sudo pppd call gprs

I know many South Africans are weary of buying goods online, because it is such a hassle if something goes wrong. But sometimes you want something that you just can’t get from a local retailer, and then you have to turn to the internet.

Musica has a selection of cloth posters but no Rammstein. I tried amazon.com, but they were out of stock. So I visited the supplier’s website (www.d14posters.com) and was presented with an excellent deal. The exact poster I wanted + free shipping to anywhere in the world for $18.95.

The Review:
Payment: I immediately ordered my poster, and a badge (shown below). Payment is done through PayPal, so there is no risk in using your credit card.
Delivery: I placed the order on the 30th of November, waited the estimated delivery time of 2 weeks, but no poster. Finally, on the 27th of December, I received my poster. According to the stamps on the envelope, it would appear that the slow delivery time was not d14poster’s fault.
Quality: The badge is of excellent quality. The poster itself could have been a little brighter, but it certainly looks like the one in the picture. In all, it is pretty decent quality, and I am very happy with my purchase.
Conclusion: d14posters delivers on their promises, they are value for money and they ship to any place in the world!

Remember to specify the two lanyards you want that is included free with every poster purchase.
Here is the two items I purchased:

I have seen some comments on discussion boards claiming allofmp3.com is an illegal service, however these false rumours are always without proper reference and exist only due to negative pressure from US regulators.

Allofmp3.com is legal under Russian law. They are a licensed Russian music dealer (similar to Musica in South Africa) and regularly pay the required 15% of their revenues to the Russian Organization for Multimedia & Digital Systems (ROMS) which is the official Russian regulator. According to ROMS, allofmp3 is fully legal (Click to read interview with museekster.com)

Is allofmp3 legal in South Africa?
In short, yes it is. There is nothing in the copyright act against importing (legal) music from another country for personal use, except for the following out of section 23:
(2) Without derogating from the generality of subsection (1), copyright shall be infringed by any person who, without the licence of the owner of the copyright and at a time when copyright subsists in a work-
(a) imports an article into the Republic for a purpose other than for his private and domestic use;
[http://www.buys.co.za/publications/cyberlaw/CopyrightAct.htm]
The only catch is, once you’ve downloaded it, you are not allowed to copy it. See my post “Copying songs from CD to your iPod illegal in South Africa”

If it is legal, why is the RIAA claiming it is not?
The RIAA is faced with a dilemma, and the only way they know how to solve it is by challenging its legality in order to get rid of it. The cost of a music CD in Russia is much cheaper than in the US in terms of dollars and it would be far too expensive for a Russian citizen to pay the same amount in dollars as an American due to their weak exchange rate ($1 = 26.4 Russian ruble at time of writing). Normally, this would not be a problem since importation used to be limited by physical means. But with the advent of the internet, anyone with an internet connection can now import their music directly from Russia, paying Russian prices for the same product.

Is it safe to pay by credit card?
Yes. When you purchase music from allofmp3, your credit card details are never revealed to them. Instead, you use your credit card to purchase prepaid credit, or vouchers, from a trusted service such as xrost and use that to buy from allofmp3. There has not been a single reported case of credit-card abuse involving allofmp3.

But I heard that artists and labels never see their money, and their music is being sold against their will!
That is only due to fault of their own. The copyright holders simply need to register with ROMS in order to collect their royalties. If they do not like their music being distributed in this way, they may request that distribution of their work in Russia be discontinued and their wishes will be honoured by ROMS and allofmp3.

Unfortunately, money means influence, and the RIAA is known for its underhanded tactics and strong-arming. So support allofmp3 while you still can, maybe distributors will catch the hint and sell us music at prices that’s fair.

Sources:
http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3faq.htm
http://www.allofmp3.com/press/centre.shtml?s=993&d=18191974&afflink=nl13
http://www.buys.co.za/publications/cyberlaw/CopyrightAct.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riaa#Criticism

!!GPRS SETUP GUIDE MOVED!! This post has been updated recently. For the GPRS setup guide, see: http://psichron.za.net/wordpress/?p=10 Cell Phone Network Operator Review: This is a review of my experience with Vodacom, MTN and Virgin Mobile’s prepaid GPRS options. Includes comparison of cost, reliability, ease of use, marketing, support, and overall impression.

Cost:
+1 Vodacom: About R5 for the sim, including no airtime. Data @ R2/Mb
+2 MTN: About R4 for the sim, received R10 free airtime. Data @ R2/Mb
+3 Virgin: R55 for the sim and starter pack, including R50 airtime. Data @ 50c/Mb

Reliability:
+1 Vodacom: Poor. Sometimes difficulty connecting, especially in certain areas. Frequent Disconnects.
+2 Virgin: Inconsistent. Would work fine one day, serious difficulty connecting the next. Sometimes suffer from domain name lookup issues. Occasional disconnects, some days worse than others.
+3 MTN: Excellent. Admittedly I only tested it before their last systems upgrade. Always connects, always on. Disconnects rare.

Ease of use:
+1 Vodacom: You need to call an operator to have your sim activated for GPRS. Dial *111# ,select “MMS settings” and follow the prompts for vodacom to send you the correct configuration settings.
+2 MTN: Call *123* to get the correct settings for your phone. GPRS works out the box.
+3 Virgin: GPRS works out the box, settings automatically sent to phone.

Support:
+1 for all. All three networks have representatives on myadsl.co.za.

Marketing:
-666. Vodacom: If it was not for that meerkat, they wouldn’t have lost any points. Their ads used to be witty, but the sheer retardedness of its current campaign makes me choke on my own bile every time I see an ad. That meerkat should burn in hell.
-100. Virgin: All I can say is “What a joke.”. Are we all mentally handicapped that their advertisement team decided to write everything as if for primary school kiddies? I guess you can’t do any better if you have a sub-100 IQ yourself, or maybe it’s their American Mentality. Their website is horrible.
0. MTN: “Y’ellow summer”. Irretating ads and severely challenged slogans, but they do much for promotion. Cancels out.
1. CellC: I just put this in here to show that not all ZA’s operators have 3rd rate morons in their marketing dept. Ads range from OKish to brilliant.

Connection type:
All GPRS users connect from behind a single gateway IP address. There is no way you will get your own IP for GPRS. Unless you know some important people, you are stuck behind NAT. (There is cases of 3G users with unique IPs on some networks.)

Overall:
If you leave out marketing the totals are as follows:
4. Vodacom: (YOU FAIL!) Vodacom’s reliability issues might be due to oversubscription.They should definately lower data costs. They have some cool extra features though.
8. MTN: (THINKOFTHECHILDREN!) Reliable, but should also definitely look at their data pricing.
9. Virgin: (LOZL!) After being with Vodacom, there is nothing like checking your balance and seeing you still have airtime left.

Winner: VIRGIN MOBILE. The other two network are just way too expensive.

I am currently working on Labyrinth (http://labyrinth.za.net), a program that tunnels data via DNS queries and replies. It is being coded in python, and at time of writing I have a working proof of concept that can only transmit about 32 characters at a time. (Update: labyrinth uses openVPN’s tap-win32 driver for packet tunneling.)

Continue reading →

Of course I can rant about the insane cost of telco’s in South Africa, and with justification, but that wouldn’t bring us anywhere.

So I’d like to introduce Vodacom subscribers to def’s website and his WAP page that allows you to use Vodacom’s free online-SMS service from your mobile phone, at a fraction of the rate it would have cost to send the actual SMS. You get 20 free SMSes per day. This is the link to the WAP site: http://wap.defza.com

Def, like myself, is also a Student at Stellenbosch University.

I came across two interesting anonymous proxy concepts this evening. The first involves Google’s translator and the second a php script that retrieves a website and translates all URLs.

A short description of the google “proxy” method can be read here, (ohgizmo.com) and a long description here(oreillynet.com).
Basicly, if you have half a nut, you can figure it out by looking at this url:
http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=www.forbiddensite.com

I’ve looked at three different php “proxy” scripts, and the one that actually worked was PHProxy by this person.
I copied the latest version here: http://div0.co.za/php*****
Due to abuse, this link now forwards to a shocksite.

Another project worth looking at is CGIProxy.

Now you don’t have to worry about corporations with blue balls suing you because of your slanderous, anonymous forum posts…