Seriously now back to the subject, considering the fact that something expected takes forever to materialize, the unreasonable long wait seems to just have shortened, in respect of ADSL speeds in Cyprus…

I am talking about the image below from my B-FOCuS Wireless 352+ which briefly insinuates that CyTA has allocated the folowing bandwidth on my account and i should be getting download speeds of 2368kbps and an upload speed of 448kbps, but i am currently NOT (CyTA seems to restrict the download speed to 1mbit).

I couldn’t really understand why everything was is kept hash-hash, till i had some conversations with people in the market, who made it all crystal clear to me.

Still wandering why Cyprus is still in the stone-age of ADSL speeds when our providers market a 2mbit download speed of as being “Speedy Gonzales”, where the rest of the world moves with 24mbit speeds having 2mbit as a bare minimum.

At first there was GOD only CyTA, providing all ADSL services, *monopoly abuse* but who cared…

As ADSL became more and more widespread, clientele became bigger CyTA did nothing to keep up, thus providing a really lousy service to the clients. Then people began changing internet service providers, -who leased CyTA lines-, promising better services, which somwhat reduced CyTA’s server load. Still nobody cared about CyTA’s *monopoly abuse*.

Then all of a sudden Cyprus became an EU member, and as such all EU member companies have to abide the EU regulations, and now somebody cares about *monopoly abuse* … did anybody ask them to ? come again ?

So, now CyTA has make room for the new market entrants in order to avoid any fines and penalties from the EU. CyTA therefore can NOT currently reduce prices and can NOT offer better services than its competitors, until it loses a major portion of its clientele to its competitors in order to favour fair competition.

In the end the ones in loss is the internet community that may not enjoy speeds and prices comparable to other countries.

Speculators though say, that from September 2008, CyTA clients may enjoy further reductions in prices and better services offered including increased ADSL speeds.

Only time will tell… if my patience doesn’t run out till then…

in any case, for home use i too have two sets of passwords, my standard one (shorter) and a more “secure” password (longer), i thought.

i’ve been using them for so long with out ever considering the strength of the passwords as after all they are a bunch of random key strokes.

now i have decided it’s time to strengthen my security by revising both my passwords, difficult part is remembering all the places i’ve used them

so back to the matter in hand, google has found some good tools in order to test your password strenght. after all there is no patented procedure to test one’s password strength so i decided to run them on all available tools.

to my disappointment and surprise both my passwords were rated weak and medium, with all password checkers, which is really unacceptable for my standards, so this post ends here, you know what i’ll be doing for the time being, and if i don’t post here ever again, you know what that means -better write that new password down somewhere-, *oups*…

below, you can find links to the password checkers i’ve used…

• Microsoft Password Checker
• Password Meter
• Security Stats

more reading at http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx where microsoft has put together a really nice article for a change, on how to create passwords, dos and don’ts, etc…

Here is the direct link (Right Click -> Save Link As). The file size is 316.43MB (331,805,736 bytes).

The official hashes for the Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 posted on TechNet are as follows:

• CRC32: C411A9DA
• MD5: BB25707C919DD835A9D9706B5725AF58
• SHA-1: C81472F7EEEA2ECA421E116CD4C03E2300EBFDE4

You can verify the hashes by using FileVerifier++, it is a freeware.

Installed Windows XP SP3 and everything works normally, at the moment.

SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine.

SQLite is the most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world. It is used in countless desktop computer applications as well as consumer electronic devices including cellphones, PDAs, and MP3 players. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain.

Please, rest assured that SQLite does indeed have UNICODE (UTF-8, UTF-16) support, but…

If you have searched and resulted in reading this post, then you have probably realized the true facts of life; the limitations of SQLite in regards to native non case-sensitive UNICODE text comparison and especially the use of the LIKE operator which has been crippled.

Traditionally non case-sensitive string comparison, would mean that, strings being compared would be transformed into lowercase before comparison, and then an incremental binary comparison loop wound be made for each byte constituting the strings to determine whether the strings were identical or not.

Unfortunately SQLite uses C/POSIX functions tolower() and toupper() to make string transformations and subsequently non case-sensitive string comparisons, which have no native UNICODE equivalents but instead are locale-specific.

As specified in MSDN library :

The case conversion of tolower() is locale-specific. Only the characters relevant to the current locale are changed in case. The functions without the _l suffix use the currently set locale. The versions of these functions with the _l suffix take the locale as a parameter and use that instead of the currently set locale.

Therefore, a problem arises where locale-specific case mappings do not agree with UNICODE case mappings for each language family character.

ICU people have faithfully followed the UNICODE standard and produced open-source libraries, which have been also used by SQLite to optionally provide native UNICODE support. The disadvantage of this library is that it is too darn big ~10mb of compiled binary libraries to be used in association with SQLite. Even by omitting features I couldn’t get it to build to a sensible binary size added the fact that i despise having dependencies in dynamically linked libraries that i have to ship as well.

Therefore i decided to extract the case folding tables from the UNICODE standard, similarly to what SQLite developers have done for lowercase mappings of the ASCII table, and implement the functionality in SQLite.

The following file may be build as a separate dynamic library or a static library to be compiled directly in your SQLite compilation.
It uses the already existing ICU infrastructure built in SQLite in order to unleash its power.
Build with SQLITE_CORE and SQLITE_ENABLE_ICU preprocessor definitions.

Hopefully there are *no significant* errors in the code, if you find one please leave a comment below.

Download the implementation file sqlite3_unicode.c

The Dynamic Library is created as a complement to the Media Library bundled with Winamp. Dynamic Library implements the ability to mirror the files on your hard disk and dynamically update the library when changes are made.

As Noveber 25th, 2007, the brand new, refurbished, all around renewed and rewritten Dynamic Library v2.0 for Winamp is released to the general public. After a 9 month incubation, from its first inception, we are proud to deliver the fruits of our labour.

This new release is no more considered as freeware nor donateware as the previous releases, as a lot of effort and time was spent by Jonas Sandman the lead developer and of course me as the lead quality review and beta tester, in order to keep up with the rigorous development of Winamp, familiarise with the . Therefore as you have guessed the new version is released under shareware license, with a minimal registration fee of $10, and only a few limitations to the general functionality of the plugin.

The new release was rewritten from scratch implementing most of the ideas and functionality of the previous releases, but basically incorporating very little of the legacy code, due to major changes by the :

• implementation of unicode support, keeps up with Winamp internationalization development, provides the availability of your library, on any system irrespective of the localization settings.
• implementation of an SQLite database system, a well known and fast client-server database system, hat supersedes the poorly implemented memory database system that run in previous versions. This new development resolves many issues reported in the past, such as database corruption, poor load, response, exit times, etc.

The plugin’s main features include but are not limited to :

• a hard disk folder and file structure mirroring system, implemented within Winamp, that is dynamically updated whenever changes occur, provided Winamp is running.
• storing the folder and file structure in a database system including all the meta data as retrieved by Winamp for each file.
• quick query system for keywords located in filenames and folder paths as well as ID3v1 and ID3v2 meta data as retrieved by Winamp mainly consisting of (Artist, Title, Album, Track number, Comment, Bitrate, Length)
• creation of smart playlists which perform a specific query on the database and are dynamically updated whenever changes occur to the databse.
• creating, editing and searching within Winamp playlists (currently supporting, m3u and m3u8 unicode)
• design queries disregarding any accents that may be found in the query string or the information stored in the database, thus returning an enhanced result list.
• functionality to play, enqueue, enqueue after current, from the folder of file list and place the items directly in Winamp’s playlist.

The plugin requires Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP and Winamp 5.33 or higher to function properly, due to the inherent limitations of some libraries being used.
(Microsoft Vista support is not yet confirmed)

Enough of the chit chat, give it a shot and post your thoughts.

Download here or Buy Now

MP3 Audio: mahnamahna.mp3 (2,712KB)

First of all, no, the website design has not changed (probably will not for the time being), but I have made upgrades to the final version of Wordpress as well as adding some new functionality to the Wordpress interface and mainly in regards to commenting posts.

The updates, among others, are:

• Ability to subscribe to comments so that you will get notified by an e-mail message next time there is a new comment or activity to a specific post.
• Ability to quote other posters’ comments in your reply, making clearer to which person/question you refer/reply to.
• Ability to add tags and smilies to your comments by clicking on the desired tag or smilie button above the comment box.
• Ability to print comments in addition to the post with the print post function.

Secondly, I have made necessary updates to the ECI B-FOCuS Router (Router Configuration Manual) post in order to add instructions on how to configure Static LAN IPs for different MAC addresses as well as on how to enable Port Forwarding feature to enhance the functionality of p2p and torrent downloads (for programs such as eMule, Limewire, uTorrent, BitComet, etc).

Chain Letters
Any email that you receive daily in your inbox forwarded from friends, colleagues and associates containing any content ranging from jokes, pictures, funny videos, prayers, wishes, to complaints and protests for certain events that happened long in the past, can be categorized as a chain letter these days, as it is forwarded from one machine to another on a daily basis, as if it was a plague.

It is also very annoying to receive an email ten pages long containing a two-line message at the very end after all the forward details of previous senders or even worse in the middle of the email content (if signatures are taken into account) to figure out the contents of a questionable attachment file.

As some emails state in their content; of course the emails can be tracked down, considering the tons of forwarded email addresses returning to the original sender, but what if the original sender is not the one claiming to be? “The easiest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” -taken from my favorite movie “Usual Suspects”.

Unsolicited Emails
Now lets flip the coin to examine how spam is involved in all this.
Consider the above example, containing forwarded details of ten (10) senders that could easily accumulate upto a hundred (100) recipient email addresses of other individuals not even in your contact list. Of course there is no bad intention in forwarding other people’s email addresses along with the email message body, as after all the email is sent from trusted sources to trusted destinations, but this is still a violation of their privacy.

In any case, now imagine this email being received by the above said individuals or companies that want to promote their products or services. They will not hesitate one second to add all those tons of email addresses in their bot and engage the attack by sending you unsolicited emails, forever.
Because you might think this situation is far fetched, as there are no trust issues between senders and recipients, as said above, consider the same email being received, or opened on an infected machine, the consequences could be the same or even worse! (as we all know, not everyone is capable of maintaining their machines in top shape, in regard of external threats, such as viruses, trojans etc)

It is well known that spammers employ various techniques -such as website/email filtering and machine scanning- for collecting victims email addresses for sending unsolicited emails, one could as well be chain letters.

Solution
To conclude, if you still want to forward an email (chain letter) to a considerable number of contacts please…

Before forwarding an email asking your contacts to sign-up their name or email to support a cause, make sure that the complaint, protest, petition, is actually a current issue (making a web search), unless you want to irritate them. Outdated emails for a specific cause that have lapsed, become spam by themselves.

Now the actual procedure of forwarding a chain letter:

• First, strip-off the message body from all previously forwarded email addresses, to ensure the privacy of the previous recipients
• Use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field instead of TO field, that all good email clients have -but nobody appreciates its use- to ensure the privacy of the forward recipients

This way emails get sent individually and no recipient knows each other recipients’ email addresses.

Please encourage your contacts to act the same way!

It seems that CyTA is actively trying to subcontract the most-difficult-to-configure devices and does not even give the chance or technical knowledge to customers to configure the device for their own needs. It comes preconfigured to your residence or office and I am still wondering if CyTA technicians are capable or have the technical knowhow of configuring the device, or any other device of such matter. In any case this time CyTA actually bothered to setup passwords for accessing the router configuration interface to ensure that customers cannot mess with it (this pisses me so much), but I guess it is for the best for the not-so-technologically-literate-users-who-like-to-mess-up-every-device-that-floats-around.

But the struggle goes on…

ALCATEL THOMPSON SPEEDTOUCH 585

ROUTER CONFIGURATION MANUAL

(compiled by: Ioannis Epaminonda on 29 November 2006, last updated on: 14/11/2007 by Chris)

INTRODUCTION

As I do not have access to such a device all the information maintained on this manual are bits and pieces gathered here by other members of this blog, mainly Chris.

Stay tuned, for more updates on the subject.

DEVICE SPECIFICATIONS - DIRECT LINK

CONFIGURE ROUTER LAN CONNECTION

OPTIONAL - ENABLE UPnP

OPTIONAL - ENABLE ROUTER WIRELESS ACCESS POINT

SAVE ROUTER CONFIGURATION

If you do not use the GUI Interface (that means the browser) to make changes, then to save them just issue a “saveall” command from the telnet session, that should do it! Otherwise they are autosaved!

SYSTEM CONNECTIVITY CHECK

ACCESS INTERNET

HARDWARE RESET

FIRMWARE UPGRADE (for Advanced Users Only)

BEFORE YOU START DO THIS:
It is always recommended to run the SpeedTouch firmware upgrade wizards with a statically set IP address on your PC with the following:
IP: 10.0.0.1, Subnet: 255.0.0.0, Default Gateway: 10.0.0.138.

ALSO

It is A MUST to have all security programmes (firewalls, antivirus) turned completely off. ESPECIALLY ANY NORTON CRAP!

AND

DO NOT TURN OFF OR RESET THE DEVICE UNLESS YOU FINISH!!

Now Download the latest firmware *CURRENT = v7.4.1.7*HERE.
Download the Upgrade Wizard HERE.

Extract the Upgrade Wizard into a folder along with the image file bli you downloaded first.

Cyta Passwords for SpeedTouch if anyone got trouble.
user = cytadsl (if it doesnt work try cytacytadsl)
pass = cytaspeed

DISCLAIMER

This configuration manual is unofficial and maintained by the author of this site.
It is provided ‘as-is’, without any express or implied warranty.
In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this configuration manual.

REFERENCES

Parts of this compilation were taken from:
1. Alcatel Thompson SpeedTouch 585
2. Alcatel Thompson SpeedTouch 585 Router Configuration Manual in English
3. Whirlpool Australian Forums
4.
5.
6. Wikipedia Encyclopedia
7. i-choice Website

Judging from the change log below due care and effort has been put in fine-tunning this release, in order to restore the bad publicity that has built-up over time for its incompatibility issues with 3rd party plugins.

This version fixes major compatibility issues with most output plugins reported to me and in Winamp’s Official Forums (still one pending, VolumeLogic, but I have already contacted their support staff, as the incompatibility is on the other party’s behalf) some of them being the ever popular AndrewLabs ATSurround Processor and SqrSoft Advanced Crossfading output plugins.

The core output plugin loading and menu populating procedure has been recoded from scratch, to a more reliable version that takes into account only the output plugins loaded by Winamp.

Also numerous hotkey fixes that nobody has ever reported (seems nobody uses the hotkey feature) and some code clean-up.
Change Log - Build 1.5

• New method of loading output plugins
• Added compatibility with AndrewLabs ATSurround Processor output plugin and SqrSoft Advanced Crossfading output plugin
• When no output plugin is selected ‘Multiple Output Plugin’ searches first for DirectSound and then for waveOut output plugins
• Fixed DSP/Effect menu item not updating correctly in extraordinary situations
• Fixed hotkey registration of plugins with the same name description, when two or more instances of an output plugin are loaded
• Hotkeys will register correctly irrespective of other output plugin version changes
• Cleaned-up the code
• Until further notice VolumeLogic v1.31 should be used in the following dataflow situation:
  [Winamp] > [VolumeLogic] > [Multiple Output Plugin] > [DirectSound or any other output plugin]

This fine release is up for grabs here and it is a must update.