Interesting New Social Networking Service !

BLIPPY (http://www.blippy.com/)

It looks lot like twitter. Works mostly like twitter. But its not another one of those social networking site. The concept is very different and to many it might be something they are not willing to try.
Its a service where people create their login and then attach their credit card to their account. YES, Credit Card. Thats all, the user doesnt do anything else. The service basically "blips" or posts messages (like twitter) for everytime the user uses their credit card. The blip contains the transaction amount, where the purchase was made and in some cases what items were purchased... coool.. huh ??



Initially to me the idea seemed weird and useless, but few minutes into it, it seemed pretty cool. You can actually see what people are buying, whats songs they are buying on itunes, what apps are famous on app store, amazon products and deals people are getting on those.
And then there is the "like" option like facebook and the commenting by friends or followers like twitter which makes it more interesting. You are actually telling people what you bought today, where you ate, what food items you bought, what kind of shoes you bought of zapos (and providing links to these products directly). This service actually started to look more interesting .. But some people might have issue using this or getting to try this. Privacy Issues is a big thing, and telling the world where you are using your credit card might sound weird. Also like twitter, you dont control who is following you. Almost anyone in the world can start looking at your purchases.
Overall a great concept, and i think it will be huge in the near future. I think there are a few ways to make money from this. Partnering with sites like Amazon, Zappos, Shopping.com, Itunes, etc and providing links to products people buy (and earning commision) ; product based advertising; Ad supported mobile app; .....

Useful Linux commands - quicklist

http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html

How to Remove Windows 7 from dual boot with XP

I installed Windows 7 on another partition to play around and then comes the time to let go of it.(i love it, but its trial version and i cannot move all my programs and data to it. so will wait till release).

To do so, we have to fix the boot menu and remove the files from the partition or format the partition.

1. Boot up and log on to Windows XP.
2. Insert Windows 7 DVD disc.
3. Open command prompt and type the following command and press enter:

[DVD Drive Letter]:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force

eg.

If the DVD drive is D:, then enter

D:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force

The step will remove the boot menu to select operating system which shows up at the boot time.

4. Remove the disc and restart the computer. Computer will start with XP.
5. Manually remove files and folders of Windows 7, including Windows, Program Files and Users folder. You can format the partition also, if you have no other data on it and you created it just for windows 7.

If you have a dual boot Vista/Windows7 and want to remove windows 7, then replace the NT52 with NT60. NT52 is the MBR (Master Boot Record) used by Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, while Windows Vista uses NT60

Setting up Tomcat as service on Linux

Instead of manually starting Tomcat each time, you can configure it to start at boot.

1. Save tomcat start / stop script
Copy and paste the following script into your text editor:

###############################################
# This is the init script for starting up the
# Tomcat server
#
# chkconfig: 345 91 10
# description: Starts and stops the Tomcat daemon.
#

# Source function library.
. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions

# Get config.
. /etc/sysconfig/network

# Check that networking is up.
[ "${NETWORKING}" = "no" ] && exit 0

tomcat=/usr/local/jakarta-tomcat
startup=$tomcat/bin/startup.sh
shutdown=$tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/jdk

start(){
echo -n $"Starting Tomcat service: "
#daemon -c
$startup
RETVAL=$?
echo
}

stop(){
action $"Stopping Tomcat service: " $shutdown
RETVAL=$?
echo
}

restart(){
stop
start
}


# See how we were called.
case "" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
status)
# This doesn't work ;)
status tomcat
;;
restart)
restart
;;
*)
echo $"Usage: @@@SMARTY:TRIM:PRE@@@ {start|stop|status|restart}"
exit 1
esac

exit 0

##############################
############ end ############


Edit the lines that start with tomcat and export to match where you installed tomcat and jdk.

I am not the original creator if this script and i got it through a friend. I modified it a little to work in my case.

2. Save to /etc/init.d and chmod

Save the edited file above to /etc/init.d directory as "tomcat" or any other name you want. Now allow execute access to the script.

3. chmod a+x tomcat

4. Add to appropriate run level directories
chkconfig --add tomcat
chkconfig tomcat on


Thats it. You might want to see which run levels you want to add this.

Do you use SPF records to prevent SPAM ?

SMTP email allows any computer to send an e-mail claiming to be from anyone. Thus, it is easy for spammers to send e-mail from forged addresses. This makes it difficult to trace back to where the spam truly comes from, and easy for spammers to hide their true identity in order to avoid responsibility.

SPF or Sender Policy Framework, allows the owner of an Internet domain to use special format of DNS TXT records or the newer SPF records to specify which machines are authorized to transmit e-mail for that domain.

SPF makes it easy for a domain, whether it's an ISP, a business, a school or a vanity domain, to say, "I only send mail from these machines. If any other machine claims that I'm sending mail from there, they're lying."

So what does SPF actually do ?

Suppose a spammer forges a hotmail.com address and tries to spam you.He connects from somewhere other than hotmail.When his message is sent, you see MAIL FROM: , but you don't have to take his word for it. You can ask Hotmail if the IP address comes from their network.
Hotmail publishes an SPF record. That record tells you (your computer) how to find out if the sending machine is allowed to send mail from Hotmail.
If Hotmail says they recognize the sending machine, it passes, and you can assume the sender is who they say they are. If the message fails SPF tests, it's a forgery. That's how you can tell it's probably a spammer.

For more information on SPF, and you to create SPF records for your domains, visit
openspf.org

How cool is this .. I neeed it !

Setting up Tomcat/Apache on IIS server on different IP, but both using port 80.

When you start (IIS) 6.0 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, IIS binds to all IP addresses on the server, not just the IP addresses that are assigned to Web sites. This may be true even though you have set the metabase property DisableSocketPooling to True. DisableSocketPooling will work on IIS 5 , but not on IIS 6.

So to successfully allow applications to use the same port on different IP addresses, you must use utility, Httpcfg.exe. Httpcfg.exe is located on the Windows Server 2003 CD in the Support\Tools directory as part of the Support.cab file.

After you have installed the support tools from the CD,

1. Open Command prompt
2. Type the following, where xxx.xxx.x.x is the IP address you want to add:
   httpcfg set iplisten -i xxx.xxx.x.x
   When this succeeds, Httpcfg returns the following:
   HttpSetServiceConfiguration completed with 0
   
   
3. After the IP address is added, use the following command to list it:
   httpcfg query iplisten
   Httpcfg returns the following:
   IP :xxx.xxx.x.x
4. Stop the HTTP service and its dependent services. Type the following string at the command prompt:
   net stop http /y
5. Restart the HTTP service and it dependent services. To do this, type the following string at the command prompt:
   net start w3svc

After this IIS will only bind to the addresses added to the list. Now you can configure IIS or any other webserver to use other IP's on the same port (80).

Zip and Unzip under Linux

To zip and unzip files under linux, you need to install zip and unzip programs.

These can be installed by
# apt-get install zip
# apt-get install unzip

or under Red Hat installations by
# yum install zip
# yum install unzip

To zip use
$ zip abc *
this will zip all files in current directory and create abc.zip

$ zip -r abc *
this will zip all files in current directory and subdirectories and create abc.zip

To Unzip
$ unzip abc.zip
will extract all files in current directory

$ unzip abc.zip -d /dir1
will extract all files in /dir1 directory

$ unzip -l abc.zip
this will just list the files in the zip file

Some shortcuts and commands

Some shortcuts and commands.... if you are not a GUI person ..

Accessibility Controls
access.cpl
Accessibility Wizard
accwiz
Add Hardware Wizard
hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs
appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools
control admintools
Automatic Updates
wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard
fsquirt
Calculator
calc
Certificate Manager
certmgr.msc
Character Map
charmap
Check Disk Utility
chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer
clipbrd
Command Prompt
cmd
Component Services
dcomcnfg
Computer Management
compmgmt.msc
Control Panel
control
Date and Time Properties
timedate.cpl
DDE Shares
ddeshare
Device Manager
devmgmt.msc
Disk Cleanup Utility
cleanmgr
Disk Defragment
dfrg.msc
Disk Management
diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager
diskpart
Display Properties
control desktop
Display Properties
desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)
control color
Driver Verifier Utility
verifier
Event Viewer
eventvwr.msc
Files and Settings Transfer Tool
migwiz
File Signature Verification Tool
sigverif
Folders Properties
control folders
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)
gpedit.msc
Help and Support
helpctr
Indexing Service
ciadv.msc
Internet Connection Wizard
icwconn1
Internet Explorer
iexplore
Internet Properties
inetcpl.cpl
Internet Setup Wizard
inetwiz
IP Configuration
ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (DNS)
ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)
ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)
ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)
ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)
ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)
ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)
ipconfig /setclassid
Keyboard Properties
control keyboard
Local Security Settings
secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups
lusrmgr.msc
Log off
logoff
Malicious Software Removal Tool
mrt
Microsoft Paint
mspaint
Mouse Properties
control mouse
Mouse Properties
main.cpl
Network Connections
control netconnections
Network Connections
ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard
netsetup.cpl
Notepad
notepad
On Screen Keyboard
osk
Outlook Express
msimn
Performance Monitor
perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor
perfmon
Power Configuration
powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes
control printers
Printers Folder
printers
Private Character Editor
eudcedit
Regional Settings
intl.cpl
Registry Editor
regedit
Registry Editor
regedit32
Remote Desktop
mstsc
Removable Storage
ntmsmgr.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)
rsop.msc
Security Center
wscui.cpl
Services
services.msc
Shared Folders
fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows
shutdown
System Configuration Editor
sysedit
System Configuration Utility
msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)
sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)
sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)
sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)
sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)
sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)
sfc /cachesize=x
System Information
msinfo32
System Properties
sysdm.cpl
Task Manager
taskmgr
TCP Tester
tcptest
Telnet Client
telnet
Tweak UI (if installed)
tweakui
User Account Management
nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager
utilman
Windows Backup Utility (if installed)
ntbackup
Windows Explorer
explorer
Windows Firewall
firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier
magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure
wmimgmt.msc
Windows Media Player
wmplayer
Windows Messenger
msmsgs
Windows Picture Import Wizard (need camera connected)
wiaacmgr
Windows System Security Tool
syskey
Windows Update Launches
wupdmgr
Windows Version
winver
Windows XP Tour Wizard
tourstart
Wordpad
write

FTP uploads Denied to FTP Sites Error 550 when behind ISA

After trying everything, giving all permissions, trying different ftp servers, on windows and on linux, if you can connect and read but still cant do uploads on external ftp server, then you better check your ftp rule in ISA. By default the ISA protocol has uploads denied in the ftp filter. So whenever you create ftp access rule, make sure you enable uploads specifically (if you need it) otherwise it will be blocked.

1. In the console tree of ISA Server Management, click Firewall Policy.
2. In the details pane, click a server publishing rule or access rule that applies to FTP traffic.
3. On the Tasks tab, click Edit Selected Rule.
4. On the Traffic tab (for a server publishing rule) or on the Protocols tab (for an access rule), click Filtering, and then click Configure FTP.
5. On the Protocol tab, select Read Only, if FTP uploads should be blocked.

HTH