streetlend - share things locally

In February I founded a website which, happily, I am now working on full-time:



StreetLend.com makes it easy for neighbours to lend things to each other. DIY equipment, DVDs, baby gear, anything you can lend, you can list on StreetLend. Local sharing is great for the environment, for building community spirit and earning cash from things you don't regularly use.

I'd appreciate if you could give my new site a whirl, and list an item you'd be willing to lend. The more people that use StreetLend, the better it will be:

www.streetlend.com

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finding out how long munin plugins are taking to run

Munin data updates occasionally timeout due to long-running plugins. The munin-update log isn't very helpful. Here's a little bash script to find the offenders:

su - munin --shell=/bin/bash
for file in /etc/munin/plugins/*; do 
	time_start=`date +%s`; 
	$file > /dev/null 2>&1; 
	time_end=`date +%s`; 
	time_elapsed=$((time_end - time_start)); 
	echo "$file: $time_elapsed secs"; 
done

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stephen fry on the ipad

How much easier it is to distrust, to doubt, to fold the arms and say: "Not impressed."

I'm not advocating dumb gullibility, but it is has always amused me that those who instinctively dislike Apple for being apparently cool, trendy, design-fixated and so on, are the ones who are actually so damned cool and so damned sensitive to stylistic nuance that they can't bear to celebrate or recognise obvious class, beauty and desire.

The fact is that Apple users like me are the uncoolest people on earth: we salivate, dribble, coo, sigh, grin and bubble with delight.

Stephen Fry: why the Apple iPad is here to stay [Guardian]

comments (total: 4)

2

Well quoted and I say this as I peruse your site with my iPad2. BTW - very nice site!

Bill Goss

01/05/11
3:28pm

2

I love my ipod touch and apple is infact a truely amazing company.

Austin Austinfatch

31/08/10
5:45pm

1

Can't wait to try one of these!

Henry Stuart

31/03/10
5:40pm

0

Okay, fine. I'll stop with my diatribes on Apple.

Masowai

18/01/13
6:58pm

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the iphone as a universal remote control (using the thinkflood redeye wifi-ir bridge)

What follows is a quick video demo of the new RedEye device, which bridges wifi to infrared. Controls any number of household appliances using iPhones and iPod Touches.

The system has just come out of beta and the iPhone app is buggy, but free-of-charge. The RedEye device itself is $188 plus taxes and VAT ($220/£135). Ordered on Thursday; arrived today (Monday) in the UK. Setup is fiddly and takes a while, but once done, all iPhones in the house sync automatically with the configured button layout. Swipe gestures and accelerometer are configurable options. Response times on button presses are good, and the app loads reasonably quickly (~2s on an iPhone 3GS). Several updates have already hit the app store and more in the pipeline. More info here: thinkflood.com/products/redeye

comments (total: 3)

0

If only they had an Android version; then I'd be tempted. Nice video!

Daniel Brownridge

19/03/11
12:01am

0

Sounds cool, are you still using it now?

H

Henry Stuart

31/03/10
5:39pm

0

did you order yours from the states?

Mark

21/03/10
11:07pm

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using your existing domain name with gmail and decluttering the web ui

Email server maintenance sucks. Last week, a botched upgrade of my VPS killed spam-filtering and rendered Plesk (control panel) useless. Days of chasing tickets with Interhost drove me to distraction. High time to consider alternative mail hosting.

Within its Apps framework, Google offers an email service which can be linked to your existing domain name and email address. The process is as follows:

1. Create a Google apps account
2. Verify your domain (by placing a Google-provided file in the root)
3. Create email accounts using "Users and groups" tab
4. Edit your DNS settings (instructions for various hosts here) to use the Google MX records. If you have direct access to DNS settings, these are the MX records:

Once that's done, after 24 hours or so, the DNS update will have propogated through the web and email will start flowing into your Google Apps Gmail inbox. Enable IMAP within Gmail settings in order to access mail from desktop clients. Then set up Google Sync to get email/calendars/contacts pushed to your iPhone.

Gmail's web interface is horribly cluttered so I have created custom CSS to remove the ads, dim some extraneous details and shrink the UI to the bare minimum. This can be downloaded and activated here:

http://userstyles.org/styles/23249

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With userstyle

Without userstyle

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the web app "scene" is dying

Last week I reluctantly passed on FOWA (Future of Web Apps conference). A smaller venue than previous years; a less compelling lineup. An event hit by the crunch but priced at a wallet-busting £385. No startup discounts, either.

Afterwards, tweets and blogs gushed praise onto the organiser, Ryan Carson and he replied personally to every one. Sounded like FOWA '09 was a hit, and I was sad to have missed it. However, Adam Charnock's blog post relieved the stinging sensation.

Adam discusses the new "sobriety" in the tech scene at FOWA, and his point about the maturing of the web app industry is spot on. It was only a few years ago that we lacked a Facebook, Wikipedia, Flickr, Twitter, Digg, IMDb, LinkedIn, TripAdvisor, Last.fm and Meetup.com. This was a time when the big problems hadn't yet been solved. The novelty and passion in the grassroots tech community was strong back then. I'm fond of those memories, and disappointed to see a progression to something more glitzy and artificial. Fluffy attention seekers and pretty posers swan around "covering" events in the scene (Not referring to anyone in particular.. ahem!). Social web "gurus." Usability "experts." Sycophants that follow them. The Twitterati. All these things that bewitch, seduce and leech the last of the "juice" from the web tech scene. It now seems more important to acquire 2000 followers on Twitter than to actually create a web application.

The freshness and excitement of the web app world has faded.

It hasn't expired completely, though. It's moving elsewhere. Devices like the iPhone have game-changed the market for developers. It's enticing to build an app that runs in millions of hands and is able to exploit a touchscreen, camera, compass, GPS/GSM/3G/bluetooth radio, accelerometers, 3D hardware acceleration, microphone and speakers. Very cool indeed.

A technologist is foolish, maybe, to write off web apps and covet the new and shiny. There are still interesting challenges on the web. Migrating monolithic apps to the cloud, for example, or monetisation.

For me, though, mobile development is where it's at. Real-world problems can be solved here. There's a learning curve, immature APIs, eclectic new hardware, UX challenges and frameworks to build. Many, many possibilities.

Oh, and venture capital and profit.. if you like that kinda thing.

So.. the future. I await a "Future of Mobile Apps" conference that is organised impeccably, like the FOWAs of old, and creates the same teched-out bliss. Somewhere where we can sit with our Macbook Pros and iPhones and talk about the cutting edge once again. Creating something new. Sounds like fun, eh?

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making outlook's task view more useful

Outlook's Task view is handy for keeping track of day-to-day work tasks. I keep it open in a separate window and use various formatting and filters to show the data I want. In particular there's a "DASL" filter to show a combination of all open tasks, and those completed within the last two weeks:

To set the DASL filter:

1. Click View->Arrange By->Current View->Customize Current View
2. Click Filter
3. Click the SQL tab
4. Click "Edit these criteria directly"
5. Enter the following:

("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062003-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/811c000b" = 0 OR 
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062003-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/810f0040" >= today(-1209600))

comments (total: 2)

2

how do you get the tasks into a separate window from the rest of outlook?

Andrew

01/09/10
6:07pm

1

I use the following in Outlook 2010, only becuase I like the sense of achievement seeing the tasks which I have completed today...

("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062003-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/811c000b" = 0 OR %today("http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/id/{00062003-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/810f0040")%)

Ben Hamblin

24/02/12
10:13am

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setting up an ethernet modem with a wireless router

I was suckered in by the new Belkin N1 Vision (with its lovely built-in screen), only to find out it's only a wireless router and doesn't include an ADSL modem. What an arse!

The real pain came trying to set the thing up. I tried getting my old Netgear ADSL router to work in modem-only mode. This was fruitless, so I ordered a dedicated ethernet modem (A Linksys AM200). When this came along I spent a LOT of time fiddling with various settings (DHCP, DMZ etc). This is the combination that works for me, on Virgin broadband:

Modem (Linksys AM200)

• Mode: Bridge Only (note: this turns the modem into a simple non-routing device and the web interface will no longer function
• VCI: 38
• VPI: 0
• IP: 192.168.2.1
• DHCP: disabled

Router (Belkin N1 Vision)

• Connection Type: PPPoE
• Username: my.name@adsl.virgin.net
• Password: As selected when registering with Virgin
• Service Name: [blank]
• MTU: 1452 (default)

..and finally it works!

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caption.me - a zero-maintenance website

The idea behind my new site Caption Competition is simple - pull an interesting photo from Flickr every day and let people add captions which can be voted on. Photos can be browsed with their best captions, and there is a "top captioneers" list, showing the users who've added the best captions.

I already have some scripts for handling photo uploads but I have deliberately avoided using them. Using Flickr gives two important advantages:

• I don't have to concern myself with accepting uploaded photos, which would require some form of manual moderation. Instead I've set up a group on Flickr which is moderated by Flickr users (and Flickr's own system which blocks porn, politically incorrect images etc). An automated job on my webserver loads the most interesting new photo from the group every day. To do this, it sorts the photos using Flickr's "interestingness" algorithm, which works surprisingly well.
• The Flickr API allows me to serve the images on caption.me from Flickr's own webservers. All I'm serving is the HTML and CSS, which are negligible in size. If my server was serving images, the bandwidth usage would be orders of magnitude greater, and very costly as the site grows.

I have also written a script that posts a comment back on the photo within Flickr to say the photo has been featured on caption.me, with a link to the relevant caption.me page (a shameless advert for the site!). The script waits until several good captions have been added to the photo before posting. To work this out, it takes an aggregate of the vote score, and posts a comment when this score exceeds a set threshold. Without this check, a Flickr comment could be posted and bring visitors to caption.me to see a page of bad captions.

As of today, there are 128 photos, 548 captions and 50 signed-up "captioneers" (users). The site is growing, and is now the number one result in Google for a search on "caption competition." It's satisfying to reach a conclusion on a website project, such that the site can now run itself.... though I will undoubtedly be tinkering with it for some time

comments (total: 1)

0

Hey, we need to chat sometime about OpenID; it'd allow folks to login and comment on a caption without bothering to register.

Dave Boden

05/04/09
9:21pm

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interhost technical support seems to have gone on holiday

Update [20/12/09]: Telephone support has been discontinued without explanation, and staff answering tickets seem overworked. However, uptime has been good.

Update [29/07/08]: Ten months later and Interhost are back on track as a great, responsive host with negligible downtime

Update [27/09/07]: Today Interhost have moved me onto a new host and my quota is now a healthy 50GB.

Update [10/09/07]: Interhost have responded to my ticket suggesting a move to a new VPS. I have asked them to confirm that I'll be getting the quota and bandwidth allowance that corresponds to what I'm paying.

I just posted my eighth ticket (see below) on a single request for support from my hosting company, Interhost UK. They have a problem with my (and probably other customers') filesystem quota.

Twice so far this year my webserver, a virtual private server (virtualised Linux host) has crashed because available space has mysteriously reduced to zero, despite me being well under-quota. Twice I have had lengthy, frustrating exchanges with Interhost technical support. They've run "fixquotas" but not explained what exactly why this is necessary. They've not proposed any long-term solution. They've not offered any promise that they'll pick up on this problem when it next occurs to save me the hassle of chasing them to fix it. And worst of all, they are now being evasive about contacting me at all. I have called three times in the last couple of weeks after my tickets went unanswered for a couple of days or more. On the other end of the phone - a non-technical person who attempts to call the technical support department but this goes straight to voicemail. I'm promised a call-back. It doesn't come.

I once recommended Interhost, but not any more.

Further to my unanswered post on Monday:

Over the last two days my filesystem availability has dropped from 2.1GB (on Monday) to 1.7GB today, despite no increase in usage from my VPS. If the mysterious drain on space continues at this rate my VPS and websites will be crashing by the weekend.

My total available space is now apparently a measly 6.7GB, and I have had to cancel backups and delete data to fit within this. I'm paying for a 50GB allowance. I'm being charged double the cost of a 10GB allowance, but getting less than 10GB!

Where is the explanation of the problem? Where is the proposed long-term solution? Where is Mark? Where is Interhost technical support?

I used to be really impressed with Interhost, but recently it seems all I get on the phone is blank, un-technical people that promise callbacks that never materialise, and several tickets I have raised have sat unacknowledged for days or even weeks (as is the case with my ticket regarding domain registration).

Update [27/09/07]: Interhost have moved me onto a new host and my quota is now a healthy 50GB.

Update [29/07/08]: Ten months later and Interhost are back on track as a great, responsive host with negligible downtime

Update [20/12/09]: Telephone support has been discontinued without explanation, and staff answering tickets seem overworked. However, uptime has been good.

comments (total: 11)

4

Interhost are crap

Hi chris,

I too share some of your issues with Interhost, we have 1 VPS and have been with Interhost for over a year. Things have slowely been going downhill. Recently we have had problems anfter problems with our VPS and yes your right a phone call is usually picked up by someone who doesnt knowe a VPS from a cabbage. They offer to take your details down and promise a call back but the call never comes.

Mark it seems runs everything and when Mark isnt there everything falls apart. If your reading this and thinking of moving over to a VPS with Interhost then think again....this used to be a little gem of a company but its going sownhill FAST...if your value your support and reliability then think again....

SL

25/09/07
9:29pm

2

vps hosting, reseller hosting, dedicated hosting, domain names and secure ssl web hosting from Interhost UK

I was ever so grateful to read all the above as I am a customer of Interhost. In the beginning there was Mark...and he couldnt do enough, was polite and the system worked.
My site goes down on almost a daily basis, and all emails are lost during this period contrary to their original claims. I get a rude and arrogant response to tickets, some tech gibberish and no improvement.
My income relies on these emails, and yet there doesnt seem to be the will to improve their service.
I need to move, but the torture of sorting various issues and the time to do it.
Far from recommending interhost Velox, they are a hazard to the web hosting world.
I have included their strap line as my subject for obvious reasons.
Are web hosts answerable to any formal organisations etc?
Cheers and thanks for the space for a rant

Unhappy Velox Interhost customer

25/05/09
12:21pm

1

I've not tried interhost but from the above I don't think I want to! I've been with 1and1 in the past and was tempted to try hostgator for a VPS.

I now have a VPS with switchlink (www.switchlink.co.uk) and haven't had problems with them. Support keep me up to date if anything is going to happen which is pretty good. I've had one bout of downtime for scheduled maintanence, which i got a warning about a week before it was going to happen.

Did have a problem with inodes? i had too many files on, but they sorted this for me too with no extra charge.

Kevin

22/08/10
4:29pm

1

Recommend another VPS

Interesting posts. I am a new customer and had some very basic questions (not even technical) about billing etc., and posted them by ticket system on Monday. Also rang. It is Friday and silence. Rang just now and tried to speak to somebody... anybody. And NOBODY could take my call. I asked the person who answered the phone whether they were an outsource phone answering company but she said she worked for Interhost. I then asked her if nobody was available because they had not come into work or just busy... and she said it was a bit of both.

Can anyone recommend another VPS hosting company in the UK that actually communicate with their customers?

Thanks, Andrew

Andrew

23/11/07
9:24am

1

exact same experience by the sounds of it

Hi Chris,

I was flabbergasted to see your post today as we've had exactly the same issue. We moved a site to a VPS with them around 9 months ago after doing some stress testing and finding the server to be very fast and responsive mirroring Interhost's technical staff at the time. Our site sells tickets to an event that happens once a year, and so it was with horror during the busy period of sales we had the zero space based crashes you describe making our sales (front end AND back end) unavailable for long periods of time. After much toing and froing over a period of a few weeks a move was suggested. Unfortunately by this time we only had an hour of selling left, so decided to leave off and do it slowly and methodically. Since then we've written test rigs to specifically test the ordering process and find that it won't even finish running on the Interhost VPS - i.e. we process 100 orders in 700 seconds on our development server, but the Interhost VPS won't get to the end of the 100 orders. Not only that the server was at some stage hacked by the looks of things. Interhost have promised callbacks on both issues but it has remained impossible to get hold of anyone. It's such a shame as they seem to have fallen into the classic hosting trap of:
1) setup hosting company with great prices and watch the customers arriving
2) think - this is a doddle this hosting lark, why didn't we do this before
3) things start getting busier and the wheels start coming off - hosting turns out to be pretty complicated
4) hide under desk hoping it all goes away

Hey ho. I'm going to try and sort this out this week, I wonder if it's worth comparing notes? Gimme a shout or IM me:

alex at (romeo echo echo foxtrot november echo tango) dot co dot uk if you want to

reefnet_alex

18/09/07
9:20am

1

a2b2

I have to VPS' with a2b2.com and although today isn't the best day for me to recommend them since my 2nd one died on me for some reason, possibly my slack security not theirs. However, they got me a new VPS ready within an hour then I just had to restore data from my own backups. If you know your stuff then their dirt cheap, unmanaged packages can't be beat.

Will

05/09/07
10:11pm

0

Please everyone stay away from this terrible company, no telephone number, no email support! and its nearly impossible to leave! sounds like a nightmare doesn't it...well listen to what most of us on here are saying...don't be lured by the low prices...its just not worth it. I have finally managed to transfer out to another provider...in the end the server i was on decided to revert to a trial version and then eventually stopped working...

The WORST host

SL

28/05/10
12:03am

0

The Dark Side of web hosting - stay away 2009

Since many of these reviews are getting old - I thought I'd add my recent experience of Interhost.co.uk hosting.

In summary - very very bad.

I was unlucky enough to have the phone answered when I made my first enquiry and the guy seemed to know what he was talking about. Which persuaded me to try them for a month.

I say unlucky because if he hadn't answered - like he hasn't ever since - then I would have been forewarned about the level of service and responsiveness to expect.

I trialed them for a month but found other hosting - I did not consciously set up a recurring payment so I was suprised to see a second month's payment go out from my card.

Consequently, I tried phoning the 0844 number - but never got a reply or even an answerphone message.

I wrote to the email support and accounts addresses - no reply.

I submitted a ticket to the support and cancellation services - still no reply.

And now I have another invoice...

They have my credit card number but I have no way of accesssing it to delete it from the account - I have tried everything.

This is a warning to anyone thinking about using Interhost.co.uk - don't. Go to Hostgator or somewhere else with a functional support system and a decent level of transparency.

Phil

Philip

24/04/09
4:41pm

0

Just try to cancel and see if you can

I have been trying to cancel my account since November 2007.

I logged a cancellation ticket, no response. Logged another one, no response.
Sent a letter to the physical address listed on their website - returned as a gone away.

Fortunately the credit card being used ran out in December, so they only managed to take 1 payment they did not deserve, before it started being rejected.

10 months later and every month they try again to bill the card.

Anyone should avoid - I am not even sure anyone is there, maybe it is just running on automatic.

Mark

03/11/08
10:52am

0

Bluehost.com

Hi,

May I recommend Bluehost.com. No disk space quota and no file transfer quota for something like 7 dollars. Unfotunately it's not in the UK...

Monty

13/08/08
3:02pm

0

File Space

I've had the problem with file space on a Windows VPS wee have with Interhost going to zero this was due to a large ammount of .tmp files in "c:\windows\system32\drivers" now they wasn't able to explain why this would happen just told me to delete them, so I now run a bat file everyone hour to check for tmp files and delete them.

In the past when I haven’t noticed them, there would be around 16,000 of them totalling 4.5 GB. SWSoft forum say's the node has likely been compromised in some way.

Graham

21/01/08
10:05am

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