Streamyx DNS sucks - switch to OpenDNS

If you're blessed with a Streamyx (Screamyx) connection, you may have hit some problems connecting to certain websites. I've been facing problems trying to connect to some of Google's services, e.g. Gmail and Google Reader. Turns out that this is in relation to TM Net's DNS servers.

Switch to OpenDNS -- now!

We just did that for our home router, and it worked like a gem. Moreover, OpenDNS offers some great features at no cost -- it protects you from phishing and provides typo correction (e.g. when you hit google.cm instead of google.com)

All you have to do is switch your DNS server IP addresses to the following OpenDNS IP addresses:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Before switching to OpenDNS, and using TM Net - unable to resolve to www.google.com:

Immediately after switching to OpenDNS, we were able to resolve to the latest IP address for www.google.com:

The OpenDNS team has put together comprehensive information on their website with regards to their service, and they also include extensive guides on configuring various routers -- kudos!

Useful links:

• OpenDNS: 2 minute start guide
• OpenDNS: What is it?
• OpenDNS: FAQ
• OpenDNS: Stats (number of DNS requests per day)
• OpenDNS: System Status (or pull their RSS feed)

Over 350 million DNS requests per day (see Stats):

A remarkable System Status report:

Related links:

• Jeff Ooi: If you face Google difficulties on Streamyx line

LifeHacker worth $6 million?

Jason Calacanis has posted a piece on how he arrived at the $6 million price tag for LifeHacker. It serves as a good benchmark for other valuations in the field of professional blogging:

Update: Someone asked me how I got to the $5-12 RPM number. Let me explain. RPM is revenue per thousand pages. You get this number by adding up the value of all the ads on the page. In LifeHackers case that is three graphical ads and the text links on the side of the page. The leaderboard is a $12-15 CPM (cost per thousand impressions) unit, the skyscraper is an $8-12CPM unit, and the medium rectangle down the page is a $4-8CPM unit. The text links are another $1-2CPM. If you sold those units out at full price at the low end of the range ($12 + $8 + $4 + $1 = $25 CPM) you would make 7,000 x $25, or $175,000 a month. At the high-end of the range even more--but most deals are not at the highend of course. Also, very few blogs are sold out, so if LifeHacker sold 1/7th of their inventory that would be $25k a month, if they sold out half their inventory that would be $80k a month--you get the idea. My guess is they sell 1/3rd and are doing $50k a month or $600k a year. That makes LifeHacker worth 5-10x the revenue number in this market to a buyer, or $3-6M. That is what someone like CNET would pay for it. In a don market you might get 2-4x revenue, or $1-2M.

Quote of the day

James Russell Lowell:

Fate loves the fearless

Firefox 2.0 is hanging on me!

I've experienced frequent cases of Firefox 2.0 hanging on my machine. I can't pinpoint the cause at this stage, but I have a hunch that it may be in relation to filling up HTML forms or opening new tabs.

Thankfully, the MozillaZine knowledge base has lots of useful articles on possible causes and recommended diagnostic steps.

It's interesting to note that the official Google Toolbar is listed as a possible problematic extension, with memory leaks being one of its drawbacks (see screenshot below). I'm going to try and disable the Google Toolbar extension as part of my diagnostic test. There's a note on this page that indicates that the Google Toolbar spellchecker interferes with Firefox 2.0's built-in spellchecker. It's a good thing that extensions can be disabled as it allows for quick diagnostic tests without the need to uninstall.

Side notes:

• What's the difference between a crash and a hang? A crash is the term used when an error occurs and the program (e.g. Firefox) closes itself. A hang is the term used to refer to cases when the program is running but stops responding to user input.

Useful links:

• Firefox problematic extensions
• When Firefox hangs
• When Firefox crashes
• Firefox standard diagnostic test

Pandora.com puts a smile on your face for nothing

I have been a big fan of Pandora since the start of this year. Pandora is a music recommendation service that is tuned towards discovering music based on its inherent qualities. The music is streamed via a Flash application.



I had stopped listening to my 'station' midway through this year as the streaming quality was not ideal. I had assumed that this was in relation to the poor bandwidth via Streamyx in Kuala Lumpur. However, as of late the playback and quality of the user experience has been superb. I've had Pandora running for hours non-stop, playing the music that I like. Check out my profile page here: http://www.pandora.com/people/nprajan

While the service remains true to itself, I would be delighted if any of the following enhancements were to be introduced:

• Make it easier to share my station: allow me to publish it on my blog. The only way for me to share my station now is to email it to a friend, or rip the Javascript link and function from my profile page.
• Widget/RSS of the songs I am listening to now: this would be a nice to have as opposed to just the list of songs I have bookmarked. Fact is, if I'm listening to music on my station, it's highly likely that it's music I already enjoy. I make it a point to *train* my station by indicating the music I don't like, but find it to be cumbersome to have to *bookmark* songs I like, just for it to appear on the current widget.
• An option to disable the idle timer: I've had Pandora running for hours, and at times when my computer is unattended. Somehow, the Flash app detects this as me being idle, and stops the music. I have to acknowledge a message prompt before the music resumes. While I understand that the concept of Pandora requires user interaction to train the station, I've come to realise that after being on the service for a while and training it regularly, it's been able to dish out music I like, almost all the time. TIP: the workaround for now is to place your mouse cursor on the Flash app is you plan to leave it running idle
  

Side notes:

• I love the way Pandora dishes out ads on their dedicated Flash player page. It is automatically refreshed to serve standard IAB sizes in addition to some cool skins, which I would assume will cost more to sponsor. The screenshot above shows a Hyundai sponsored ad which is one of the more elborate ads I've seen thus far
• Pandora is looking to Level 3 for networking and bandwidth solutions -- read the press release
  
• Pandora's Flash app was built using OpenLaszlo -- read it here
  
• A review of Pandora & Last.fm by Steve Kraus -- read the review

Malaysian government portal used by PayPal phishers

Network World Asia posted an article on how PayPal phishers have infiltrated Malaysian government servers to host their fake PayPal sites. This is a serious security breach, compounded by the fact that it was publicised a day after the Science, Technology and Innovations Minister , Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, made a press statement (The Star, 19 Nov) stamping the presence of the Malaysian Cyber Security Centre.

Excerpt from Network World Asia:

The scam was discovered by Bill Carton, an engineer based in San Diego who has spent the last 10 years as a volunteer antispam activist, shutting down bulk e-mailers in his spare time. Carton received an e-mail Friday morning that purported to be from eBay Inc.'s PayPal service.

It read like a standard phishing pitch: "It has come to our attention that your account information needs to be updated," the e-mail said. "If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service."

What was unusual, however, was the fact that the link in the e-mail was to a fake PayPal site hosted by servers in the Malaysian government's gov.my domain.

"This one was interesting because of the Malaysian angle. A government server usually gets my attention," Carton said.

Google Groups susceptible to viruses?

I received the following email notification from the Google Video Blog group. Somehow, a few recent posts made to the group were infected with the mass-mailing worm, W32/Kapser.A@mm. It's strange that this would affect an announcement-only group, moreover, one of Google's official groups.



Google has recommended that users download Norton AntiVirus via Google Pack, which comes with a free 6-month subscription to virus definition file updates. However, it's interesting to take note of the characteristics of this particular virus, as documented by FRISK/F-Prot:

W32/Kapser.A@mm is a mass mailing worm. It kills antivirus processes and deletes files and registry keys belonging to antivirus and P2P programs. On the 3rd day of every month if destroys some files on the infected system.

...and disables antivirus products from some vendors, for example:

SYMANTEC
KASPERSKY
MCAFEE
TREND MICRO

However F-PROT Antivirus products are not effected.

Well, one can only wonder whether Norton AntiVirus will work effectively. Being an *old* virus (Jan 2006), I would assume it is easy to fix. The F-Prot threat description sure holds some credibility as it's the top search result on Google!

Celcom's truth promoted via AdWords

If you're located in Malaysia, try googling the keywords prepaid or DiGi prepaid. Chances are you will be served with Celcom's subtle ad that will take you away to www.thetruthaboutprepaid.com.my. Here are some screenshots:






DiGi should look into a counter-attack. Possibly an AdWords strategy to counter the misconception of their truth.

For context and clarity:

• www.TheTruthAboutPrepaid.com -- DiGi's version
• www.TheTruthAboutPrepaid.com.my -- Celcom's version
• Articles on this *war*, here and here

Another version of the truth?

Just a day after blogging about DiGi's version of the truth (http://www.thetruthaboutprepaid.com) , it seems like Celcom has hit back with their version of the truth hosted at http://www.thetruthaboutprepaid.com.my. Thanks to reader ahpek who commented on my original posting.

The intro page -- the strong yellow gives it a feel that it's a DiGi campaign:


The index page -- note how Celcom has trademarked TheTruthAboutPrepaid.com.my:


Note how the purple column is highlighted first, favouring Celcom:


This is definitely a spirited attack from Celcom. While their Flash execution is not on par with DiGi's, it's worth browsing through the site. I for one, find their use of the background colour cycling effect to be intriguing -- wonder whether there's a valid reason behind this; perhaps a subtle mind control tactic? Also note how they've played with DiGi's yellow branding theme -- perhaps the tactic here is to serve as a camouflage -- but wouldn't that be an antithesis of telling the truth?

A whois lookup on MyNIC proves that it is indeed a Celcom initiative:


DiGi should have registered the Malaysian domain names too. I would think that booking the domain names (and its variants) would be the first requirement to cover with any online campaign, assuming it's a competitive market and there's a sizable budget to play with. There's no point crying over it -- someone should tell DiGi / McCann Erickson to grab the other domain name variants which seem to still be available.

A NetSol whois lookup on thetruthaboutprepaid.com reveals that it's a DiGi initiative:

It also seems like Fireworks Solutions is squatting on one of the variants: truthaboutprepaid.com without the preceding "The". Fireworks Solutions is also behind Malaysia's version of the Creative Commons. So, did DiGi issue a Share-Alike license for this one?


The truth remains to be believed at this stage. My bet's with DiGi on this one. Come on guys -- let's see your next salvo!

Time to think out of the box?

Well, whoever's behind DiGi's online strategy, is certainly doing a good job - kudos!

Came across their new website -- a very refreshing experience! Screenshots can only give you so much, so I'd suggest hoping over to http://www.digi.com.my. I like how they've put a spin to the intro/splash page. While I've never been a fan of the intro/splash page, I think they've made good use of it here. Simple and straight forward copywriting (read: literal) to switch between three different views:

• Show me everything you've got
• I'm feeling adventurous, let me explore
• I love promotions and hot stuff

Here's what you see when you select Show me everything you've got:


Their Flash implementation rocks too. Love the little toolbar on the right border:



DiGi's definitely thinking out of the box and inspiring lots of innovation -- I'd back them to win this new war.

The truth does matter

Well done DiGi!

If you're not aware, the prepaid war is back in Malaysia, and it's bound to be hotter than ever before. Maxis recently beat DiGi & Celcom to slashing their Hotlink prepaid starter pack pricing, which now retails at RM6. DiGi's Beyond Prepaid starter pack on the other hand was introduced at RM8.50; and as any telco veteran will tell you, every sen slashed is something to sweat about.

Instead of going with the conventional route of slashing their price with a mass-media advertising blitz, DiGi has pumped in some of their budget into The Truth About Prepaid -- think guerilla tactics and your target audience: this is a lethal combo. The truth is, there is a lot of fine print in the prepaid costs of other operators (read: tiers, peak hours, etc), and DiGi went down the path of trying to educate the market - smart. Here's a screenshot of their website in some sweet Flash:


I'd be curious to see what their stats are like for this one. It does make a compelling case study for interactive marketing, especially in Malaysia.

I came across one of their fliers while having coffee at Starbucks. Turns out that they had inserts in The Sun newspaper, which has a daily circulation of 230k (side note: read Jeff Ooi's piece on The Sun's recent claims of an increase in circulation).

20 stickers, no apparent brand name / logo, but just the strong DiGi yellow and a lot about truth. Here are some photos I took with my Nokia 6230:

Death of a laptop

As they say -- all good things must come to an end.

My beat-up laptop, a Compaq Presario 2814AP, which turned four in September, gave up on me on October 16th. I'm now living like a nomad; nothing but Gmail on-the-go, and lots of Google Reader on my mobile.

The HP service centre in KL gave me a quotation for RM2,800+ to get it fixed. My motherboard and ATI Radeon graphics card is busted, or so they say for an RM95 fee! For that price, it looks like I'll be taking my money elsewhere this time -- hopefully something with a built-in webcam and mic. The Dell XPS M1210 and Macbook Pro are top on the list.