There is a drawback when using mobile phone for browsing the net. Apart from having to pay for the data charges (that is assuming if you are not not subscribing to any data plan provided by your mobile carriers), the screen is just to small to look at all those amazing design and features a normal web browser can provide. Nevertheless, when using these tiny little small screens, we only want to read text or maybe some resized pictures or images.

Because of this, it would be best to provide your blog with tools to help people who loves your blog but only have time to read them on their mobiles. There’s a solution for this, Onbile.

Whenever a mobile user logs, the javascript provided will detect whether you are browsing using a mobile phone or a normal browser. This would really help your mobile readers and encourage them to visit your blog more often.

The only issue I have is:

• Only 2 pages of your title list will be available (I am guessing this would depend on your feed setting)
• You can’t revert back to your original layout once it’s loaded on your smartphone

I am still going to try this tool for a while and see if suits my need or else I am going to remove it and search for another tool or WordPress plugin.

The best thing I found out about HTC Touch is its lightweight, running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the battery’s life is not bad and the touch screen is just something cool. Of course if you compare that to an iPhone, the iPhone is way much cooler. However, the iPhone is more expensive plus there is a lot of softwares that I need doesn’t work in iPhone. The only downside in terms of network connectivity is my HTC Touch is running on EDGE and doesn’t have 3G connection. Because of that, I choose to subscribe to DiGi HighSpeed Mobile Access with Data Unlimited Plan. I’ll cover my experience using DiGi Internet service in my next blog post.

At first I wanted to replace my Sony Ericsson W810i to this HTC Touch. Unfortunately, I found out that typing SMSes using the HTC Touch is so difficult and required precise touching of the screen for the right alphabet to appear. It then became clear that the HTC Touch can only be my second gadget in my pocket.

Thanks to my brother who is using Windows Mobile much earlier than any person I know tip me on a great mobile browser call Opera Mini. I once used my boss’s iPhone and recalled how the browser on his iPhone could just slide, zoom in and out. It was so cool, little that I know this browser installed on my HTC Touch could do the same.

Another application that I like to use is Google Maps for Mobile. Since my HTC Touch doesn’t have GPS, the My location function which tells me the nearest node of my DiGi coverage as you can see on the dot on the screenshot below:

The star is my favourite places where I used to hang out. It can also be used to estimate the distance of location where I intend to go and show me the route to go there. This is the best application I always run whenever I am hitting the road. If you noticed on the screenshot, I am using a Pocket Controller software. This way, whenever my HTC Touch is connected to my laptop, I don’t have to tap the device using my hands anymore. It can work with my mouse and keyboard. Simply genius..

I guess I am becoming more of into gadget junkies with so many electronics I have on my hands. Got to keep on getting more and more resources to fuel my hunger of information technology.

My family at the moment is living at Homestay here at Losong Kuala Terengganu. It has 4 rooms with 3 bathroom and the house is big enough for the comfort of up to 5 families. If you are interested to rent one of the Homestay houses, details are available on the picture below:

D’Losong Homestay Kuala Terengganu

At Homestay, you won’t find any Wi-Fi service available. So, I brought and setup my own Wi-Fi connection using Maxis Wireless Broadband and a wireless router. Here in Terengganu, there are billboards everywhere telling that Terengganu is Celcom territory. So far, almost 4 laptops are now connected and the connection speed is so far quite reasonable. Here is how the setup is being done:

Setup of Maxis Wireless Broadband with Wireless Router for Wi-Fi connection @ D’Losong Homestay Kuala Terengganu

The ZTE modem is actually a router by itself so there is no need for any configuration except if the network address clashes or something. The internet connection is running on UMTS speed, it’s not that fast but so far I’ve been using Skype with webcam while running Youtube and downloading stuff without any problem.

UMTS Maxis Wireless Broadband connection in Kuala Terengganu

I don’t really trust on bandwitdh test but it is safe to say that Maxis Wireless broadband here in Losong Kuala Terengganu is pretty good.

Since the webinar was organized by Citrix, the organizer had everybody attending to install their software in order for them to show their presentation slides. Unfortunately, the audio is only accessible by dialing a toll free US number. Again, I used Skype for this purpose. It was interesting despite living in Malaysia, I have the same facility as what my counterpart in the US have. I just love being online on the World Wide Web. Here’s a screenshot of my desktop setup. (For those of you who like to analyze what type of person I am, you can see what application I have on my desktop as well *wink*)-

My Desktop Preview

I love how the Citrix online presentation flow was handled. I’ve been to a lot of presentation from my experience attending talks, seminars and webinars and normally I can spot which presentation can attract my interest. This one, eventhough I can’t see the speaker’s face, the presentation style is quite good plus there wasn’t so much of a hard selling effort. Here’s an interesting slide I’ve taken from my desktop screenshot while hearing to the webinar:

Citrix Online Webcast

Last year in December, I attended an online presentation meeting with a Canada based company. They use Adobe Connect to perform their slideshows and again Skype as the main audio communicator. That was my first time I’ve ever experienced a one to one online sales presentation and it opened my eyes to a whole lot more the usability of the web. I recorded everything using Camtasia software for my keeping.

An interesting perspective here is, not everybody is exposed to this new technique of doing demo presentation live on the internet. It might be useful at some point but there is so many technical aspect to take care of, at least initially. Anyway, the future of doing web conferencing online looks quite promising and I do look forward paying attention to it very closely.

Armed with only your flash configured browser or special software and a decent broadband internet connection, you can attend or even held a webinar. So on the 5th of March which was last 2 weeks, I attended “MarketingProfs B2B-2.0 EXPO”. Since the webinar was hosted in the US, it was almost midnight from where I live but I was still at my office doing some last minute assignment. Here are some screenshots of the webinar I’ve taken during the webinar:

B2B 2.0 Expo 2.0 Main Area

Since this webinar is using flash, it requires a little bit of download time and also consumes most of my underpowered Intel Celeron M notebook processor. It does kind of annoy me especially when my so called broadband internet somehow drops in between.

B2B 2.0 Expo 2.0 Booth

The booth are not the kind of booth you see at normal tradeshows and seminars but at least you can get information easily by just clicking and it automatically insert information inside my virtual briefcase. The only thing that I don’t like is how the sales chat is handled, it was so slow to load.

There’s also some free gift in a form of free PDF information download and stuff. Well, I did download some of them but it’ll just add more collection to my PDF junk inside my laptop. They did follow up by sending me e-mails but I won’t really bother on their offer and stuff since I’m not seriously in need of such services yet. I’m just there to gain a new experience.

Pre-Training Webinar

Last night, I attended another webinar. This webinar is supposed to be done at my office since it’s related to my job but I had the permission to do it at home since the webinar is held after my office hours. Furthermore, I need to make a recording of this webinar to be shared with my team mates so I need a stable internet connection. Apparently, my internet connection at home is much more stable than my office.

I missed 10 minutes of the introduction to the webinar because I misunderstood the instruction which required me to call a toll free number in the US. The webinar was held on Microsoft Live Meeting and I thought the audio would be included. I then remembered that I can use Skype to make phone call to the US and lucky it went through since its toll free anyway. Check out the video below to see the webinar live in action inside of my own bedroom:

I’ll have more events going on the next following weeks so I’m looking forward to that as well.

Anyway, my web hosting will expire end of this month. I’ve decided that I shall remain with my web host which is Byethost for one simple reason. They are fanatically upgrading each and every components on the web host to the latest version available.

Byethost Current Component Version List

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, install this add-on for your Firefox Browser called Server Spy. It will tell you which version of web application server the website is using. New version normally has bugfixes and contain more new features for you to enjoy such as the one my web hosting is using which is Apache 2.2.8.

Despite the economical factor, I have plans to buy another web hosting for not to put all my eggs in one basket. I have 4 days of geeky days at home this Chinese New Year holiday so I might be doing a lot more of my online activities as what I’ve been doing before.

Anyway, one of my colleague here at my office circulated an e-mail on how to remove RavMonLog virus. I’ve tried it myself, and it works:

THREAT NAME
Worm.RJump.A

CLEAN INSTRUCTIONS

1. Right click on an empty space from the taskbar (or right click on the clock from the right corner) and select Task Manager.
   – Select the Processes tab, locate ravmon.exe, right click on it and select End Process
   – Delete the following file: C:\Windows\ravmon.exe
2. To clean the removable storage device (USB stick, PEN drive etc.) right-click on your USB stick / PEN drive icon and select Explore.NB: Be careful NOT to double-click the icon because the malware will be reactivated.
   – Locate and delete the autorun.inf and ravmon.exe files
3. Click on Start, Run, type regedit and click on OK.

NB: Before you edit the registry, please export the keys that you plan to edit, or create a backup of the system before you proceed.

1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
2. Delete the "RavAV" = "C:\windows\ravmon.exe"

SYMPTOMS

1. Presence of the autorun.inf and ravmon.exe files in the root of the storage device.
2. Presence of a copy of the ravmon.exe file in the windows system folder.
3. Presence of the RavMonLog file that contains the port number for the backdoor component.

DESCRIPTION

1. Worm.RJump.A spreads by creating a copy on removable storage devices or mapped drives.
2. It drops the following malicious files:
   • autorun.inf
   • ravmon.exe
3. Also it drops a clean msvcr71.dll file that is a part of Microsoft Visual Studio.
4. It opens a port for the backdoor component.

If you have never used RDC before, you need to find another PC for you to connect and try out. However, it is best if you are familiar with IP Address and networking configuration before you use this facility. This application when in use and connected, acts like your normal Windows but you are actually controlling another computer remotely. If you want a free web-based application that is easy to use, one more tool that I use is a web service called LogMeIn:

If you look at the screenshot above, that is my remote computer or specifically known as a Virtual Private Server (VPS) located half way across the globe in Pennsylvania, US. I pay USD19 per month to use this VPS which is always online 24/7. If you do the math, I save a lot by leasing this VPS instead of owning one simply because:

1. I don’t have to buy those expensive PC/Server stuff that will cost me thousands of dollars
2. The VPS is always online 24/7 and I don’t have to worry about high electricity bill because the extensive need of cooling system the computers/servers need to have
3. The download connection in the US is superb. At 1GB per second network connection, it is hundred times faster than my normal internet connection. Of course, getting that file to my PC requires FTP that is limited by my internet connection
4. I can use a unique static IP address for my website or web apps for a fraction of a price rather than leasing one from my local ISP

My only problem for using this VPS is it can be sometime slow just to access and because of the low price, I only get 256MB of RAM which is rather limited. Occasionally, I need to restart my VPS at least once a week to free up the RAM or the VPS will crashed. Well as usual, you get what you pay for right?

If you are interested to use a cheap VPS for your Windows remote development or even Linux powered one, check out SWVPS. I’ll write more of how and what I have use my VPS for in my next following post to come.

I have to rebuild back all of my website thanks to not making back ups and thanks to my web host who was in hurry of upgrading their hard disk and corrupted all the data. I feel so miserable right now. Later..

At first I thought my office IP address was being blocked. So I thought, maybe I’ll try and access it from home and see if my home IP address can get through. Then I said to myself, “How come I am using my new found proxy server technique but still I can’t access my own blog?”, “There must be something wrong here!”. So, using my new HTTP-Tunnelling proxy technique accessing through another web-based proxy called Guardster, I still cannot get into my blog control panel. Now this is ridiculous!

I suspect that there might be something wrong with my plugin, so I immediately went to Bad Behavior plugin blog. There it is, a download solution to my login problem. Now comes the most challenging part, replacing the plugin with the new updated one. My FTP was not working because there is a connection problem where the directory can’t be retrieved. I had to do it using my web hosting control panel file manager and replace the files manually one by one. It took me longer than I thought because the download files were not being in the order as the previous plugin.

Luckily, I still managed to log into my blog eventually. Frustrated, I decided to disable the Bad Behavior plugin once and for all. It’s a shame though because this plugin is good to prevent blogging spam. Without this plugin, I predict my Akismet spam plugin could easily reach thousands with the amount of traffic I received nowadays. I should have hacked into my WordPress database and disable this plugin but I don’t want to mess around with it since I haven’t done my back up yet.

I can’t imagine someone who doesn’t have the necessary skill of repairing a WordPress blog enduring this problem. Being blocked out from your own blog can drive you NUTS! I hope that this incident won’t happen again in the future.