The Subrosa Blog is now complete
Please be aware that this incarnation of the 'Subrosa Blog' has now ended - why not visit the new Stuart Homfray weblog?.
Of course, that's not to say that the Subrosa blog will never return... I may decide to reincarnate it as a sort of sideblog or something!
If you've arrived here via a search engine results page, you may also wish to consider entering the site via the main entrance, as Subrosa itself has now outlived it's usefulness...
posted by Stuart NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT POSTED VIA BLOGGER!
Thursday, July 10, 2003
A moment of mirth and then...
The SoundHunters program, a fascinating development from the computer scientists at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, follows a user around the office allowing them to access email, for example, from the nearest computer. The interesting part of the system is that it actually validates the individual using the sound of their voice or laughter.
I found this very amusing - so amusing in fact, that before I knew it, I was looking at Tony Blair's inbox!! Must turn off that microphone...
posted by Stuart 8:47 PM
Sunday, July 06, 2003
...and I've chosen P4HOST as my new hosts!
P4HOST seem pretty fast, they host the Haloscan comment system in use on here (and many other sites), their prices are excellent for what they offer (it gives me a lot more elbow room, and other folks who have sites hosted by them seem pretty happy.
So, here goes... and if there's something not working correctly on the site, please let me know (already had to make a few changes as the PHP directive
register globalsis set toOFF)By the way, if you can see THIS post, you're looking at the site on the new hosts!
posted by Stuart 7:57 PM
Goodbye Hostgroup1.com...
So now it's time to wave a final farewell to Hostgroup1.com, my webhosts for the past year. I'd like to say that you've done a great job hosting my site, but unfortunately I'm not really able to do so.
There have been many occasions when my site has been unreachable, slow, and it was even hacked at one point.
The hosting deal start out with a company named Chitie.com, but on 7th November 2002, I was informed by 3 identical emails that "...Chitie.com is now operating under new management, and under the name of www.hostgroup1.com."
Towards the end of January 2003, I found that, for the nth time (where n is a number that I lost count of) my web site was not appearing. After eventually managing to get in touch with my esteemed hosts, I discovered that I actually had to sign up once again (using the ticket number that I was allocated during my initial sign-up process), BUT, they were unable to offer any backup of my database that had been lost, or email that may have been lost.
After carrying this out, and suffering more periods of 404-dom, on the 1st July I received this email:
Dear Client
We would like to inform you that Breezeland.com of Breezeland Incorporated has bought out Hostgroup1.com and it is now under new management.
When inspecting the Hostgroup1 server our server administrator discovered several security holes in the system and he has insisted that all clients be moved to a more secure server, as the current Hostgroup1 server needs to be reconfigured and upgraded. When the reconfiguration of the server is complete the server will be used as a mail server for Breezeland.com members.
We advise that you backup your files and signup for web hosting accounts with Breezeland.com. You can signup for your hosting accounts at http://setup.breezeland.com/signup/signupd.php?package=phosting&size=3. After signing up you will be required to request chat and ask us to activate your account for you. In order for us to do this you will have to provide the chat operator with your Hostgroup1domain name, order id and email address. Once your account has been activated you will have to upload your pages to your new account, and if you already have a domain name you will have to contact your domain registrar and request that they point your domain name to the Breezeland server.
The name servers for breezeland.com are:
NS1.FREEHOSTING-BREEZELAND.COM, IP address 212.5.219.24
NS2.FREEHOSTING-BREEZELAND.COM, IP address 212.5.219.24
If you registered your domain name with Hostgroup1 and they are your legal registrar please contact them via live person and ask them to change your details for you. Please note that you will be unable to view your site if you point your domain name to our servers before you have created an account with Breezeland and uploaded to the Breezeland server.
We advise that you read the Breezeland terms of service before you signup for a Breezeland hosting account, as you will be bound by our terms of service upon signing up for an account with us.
If everything goes according to plan we will be formatting the Hostgroup1 server on Tuesday the 8th of July. We would like to make it clear that Breezeland Inc will not take responsibility for the loss of files and we will not backup any files for customers. If you have any questions please contact us via the live chat link on the Hostgroup1 web site and we will be more than pleased to help you with any problems that you may be having.
Thank you,
Breezeland TeamWell, with thoughts not unlike the bowl of petunias in Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy ("Oh no, not again," if you're not familiar with this excellent book), I finally decided to 'jump ship' and move to new hosts. This is my final post here on these hosts, and if you are reading this as the top post of the page, then one of two things has happened:
- you need to refresh the page in your browser, or
- the name server settings for stuarthomfray.co.uk have not yet fully propagated and you'll need to just hang on just a tad longer...
So, as I've said at the top of this longer-than-expected posting, goodbye Hostgroup1.com (or whoever you turn out as next), and it's on to.....
posted by Stuart 5:36 PM
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Bridgnorth and District Young Farmers and Rural Social Club
For those of you who live anywhere near Bridgnorth (well in and around Shropshire really) and you fancy meeting some great people (I can vouch for that!) and having a good time (who doesn't?!?!), check out the Bridgnorth Young Farmers and Rural Social Club. Not only that, they do some great work for charity too!
posted by Stuart 5:50 PM
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
GUARANTEED! Achieve PageRank 10 Status!!
Here's the answer to all our SEO dreams! A guide to hitting a PageRank of 10 at Google.
Be careful though, abuse of this highly secret information could affect your current PageRank!!!
posted by Stuart 2:37 PM
