Repairing Amazon S3 downloads for IE • 14 Jul 2011
I use Amazon S3 for cloud storage of big digital-cinema files (up to 3GB) for distribution. It works fine most of the time, but I kept getting the odd complaint: “I can’t download on my PC, I get an error”. Everytime I asked what browser they were using, it was Internet Explorer. I am a Google Chrome man, and I almost never do anything with IE, but still, customer is king, let’s see what could be wrong. So I tested it myself with IE and yes, most files can be downloaded, but some couldn’t. Sometimes one would get an empty...
DROA: now with a Belgian lawyer • 13 Nov 2010
It seems my contacts with the people from Domain Registry of America (DROA) have gone one legal step up. Last week I have received an official letter from a Brussels law office, representing the Domain Registry of America – DROA (Buffalo, NY, USA), Domain Registry of Canada – DROC (Markham, Ontario, Canada), Domain Renewal Group (London UK) and Mr Alan Benlolo. Apparently my claims about the “domain renewal scam”, as most legit domain registrars and thousands of fooled users call it, are “completely unfunded” and constitute “defamation and libel” (Article 443 – translated from Dutch by me).
DROA: the saga continues • 22 Sep 2010
This post is about my dealing with the company DROA / Domain Registry of America.
I first wrote about them in Dec 2004: “Domain Registry of America scam“: they had sent me letters to urgently advise me to renew my domain names. When I researched a bit who they were, it became clear it was an shady initiative of some Canadian ‘businessmen’. They write scary letters in the hope that a non-tech-savvy person in the accounting department gets scared and quickly pays, thus transferring their domain management to DROA, who charge more than the average.
Logitech online store: haunted • 18 Oct 2007
I have wanted to buy a keyboard with Bulgarian layout for a while, and as you can imagine, you don’t find these in the local FNAC or Vandenborre. So when I saw that the Logitech site allowed purchasing online, of such exotic items like a Bulgarian keyboard, I quickly ordered one. However, the experience has been unsatisfactory:
.eu domain speculation • 18 Jan 2007
When the .eu domains became available to the general public, I decided I did not want forret.eu. That means that the domain was available to be grabbed by someone else, and indeed it has been. I received the following email today: This has all the professional charm of the mafia offering “protection”. The guy hides behind the Gmail of Luxembourg, kmail.lu . A DNS search shows me that KJ stands for Kurt Janusch from G-1 Ltd, 175-177 Newland Avenue, HU5 2EP, Hull UK. His name also shows up in a Eurid dispute (Eurid is the registrar that manages the .eu...
Our customers are the perverts, not us • 30 Oct 2006
In the newspaper De Morgen this weekend, there was a full page article about a successful Belgian internet entrepreneur: Cain Ransbottyn.
Bouncing email • 14 May 2006
If you have sent me an email in the last two days, you will likely have gotten a bounce like “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender“. Please resend your message because your mail server is indeed right: my email addresses @forret.com were unavailable this Friday and Saturday.
Bluehost vs Dreamhost • 14 Apr 2006
As you might have read in my Migrating to WordPress article, I am now the proud owner of both a Bluehost and Dreamhost account. These two shared hosting providers have similar strong offerings for a similar low price, but they’re nevertheless different. Let’s compare both:
IVI: Internet voor Iedereen • 12 Apr 2006
If your (Belgian) parents or grand-parents want to buy a cheap PC to get started on the Web, tell them to hold back for a couple more days. The Federal Government – through FEDICT – has set up a program to sponsor a complete package of PC + software + broadband + training for a sharp price. The title of the project: IVI or “Internet voor Iedereen” – the launch is planned for next week, April 18th.
Barcamp Brussels: May 2006 • 19 Mar 2006
Last year we organised a fairly successfull blogger’s dinner in Brussels, and now we’re gonna try something different:
next May we will have a Barcamp Brussels event.
Saving the Net (Doc Searls) • 07 Mar 2006
In November last year, Doc Searls published a lengthy article in LinuxJournal: “Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes“. It is an essential piece of reading.
Broadband in Brussels • 17 Feb 2006
(post seems to have disappeared when I migrated to WordPress
I have what is proving to be an expensive habit: I’m subscribed to over 30 podcasts (including e.g. Diggnation at 300MB/week), I regularly download software to try out, I use BitTorrent on a regular basis, I buy stuff on iTunes. All that adds up to more than my allowance my ISP subscription gives me (20GB per month). Most of the months I pay an extra €8 per 10GB.
