In a previous post about cell phones, dentures and public swimming pools, I talked about how pervasive technology became. Everybody has a cell phone and they take it everywhere.
Thing is, internet access via cell phones are still a bit voodoo to many users - so that is what this post about: un-voodoo'ing internet access via your cell phone.
The first thing to mention is that most "old" cell phones were built for voice communications only. Few if any of these phones had the ability to display web pages. Of course, back then, there were no such thing as 3G (the 3rd generation, high speed data capable cell networks) so an internet connection would require a dial up modem-like connection to the internet...and you'd be charged per second for the time you stay connected...and to add insult to injury: your connection speed would be in the order of 36 Kbps per second. (The slowest ADSL line you can install today is about 384 Kbps).
Connecting to the internet with a cell phone was s-l-o-w and very expensive.
The advent of GPRS and 3G changed all that. Without going into the technicalities, both GPRS and 3G enable cell phones to make a digital connection to the internet at high speed...and...best of all...you only pay for the data you transfer: not for the time you stay connected.
So, staying online all the time is not only feasible, it is also practical and affordable. For instance, I use a data contract from MTN which costs about R 80.00 per month for 100Mb data. More than enough to handle my mobile email needs and the occasional web search to cheat on an argument at a braai.
Email Protocols
Most of the newer (- 2 year old) cell phones have email (POP3 and SMTP) built in - contrary to what some ISPs and cell phone providers will make you want to believe. A recent radio ad advertised that with this ISP you could send and receive email with your cell phone.
Like this ISP exclusively provide the service!
Fact is, provided you can connect to the internet using your phone (depends on your cell provider and phone model) and your phone supports the standard email protocols, then you can send and receive email - the ISP does not even know that you are using a cell phone. Their ad is half true...you do need an ISP...but it can be any ISP. They offer no special advantage or technology.
As they say: half a truth is often a whole lie...and Telkom did not make little green apples.
WAP
Initially cell phones had very little computing power on board, so it was difficult and slow to interpret HTML (web) pages. Besides the interpretation, the phone screens were microscopic...and black and white.
In those days (when Table mountain was a mole hill), one had to build a web page specifically for cell phones. The standard for these pages (and protocol) was "WAP", or Wireless Access Protocol.
Basically the WAP protocol was a set of rules that required simplified (small) pages with 5 or so links, no colour, no graphics, no fonts and nothing other than 1960's style plain old text.
Fast forward four years or so, and all new ("smart") phones come quipped with larger, color screens able to support graphics, fonts, animation, sound, etc. A veritable computer with a phone strapped on. Now virtually all new phones can display normal web pages - the only practical limitation being the size of the phone's screen.
The term "WAP" is still used to generically refer to web access using a cell phone - even though, strictly speaking, the WAP protocol itself is not a technical requirement for smart phones.
Configure your phone to connect to the internet
Your phone will be GPRS / 3G / WAP compatible if you received it within a week or so after Jan van Riebeeck landed in the Cape. If not, consider an upgrade...or smoke signals.
Remember that all cell phone carriers (ie Cell C, MTN and Vodacom) will charge for data you transfer: anything from R 0.50 to R 3.00 per MB, so make sure you have a data package that suits your requirements and budget before you make use of the data (internet) services.
To set up your phone for internet (web) access dial the following:
Vodacom: *111#
MTN: *123*1#
Cell C: 140
In each case select "WAP" when asked.
Cool sites
Here are some nifty and useful sites you should bookmark on your cell phone.
SA Weather: http://dev2.weathersa.co.za/mobile.asp
This url will probably change in future, but for now it gives a 7 day forecast for most cities in South Africa. Extremely effective when used to covertly check the weather, then, at a braai, look up at the night sky, frown, lick your finger, stick it in the air and announce: "I think it's going to rain next week"...
Google mobile: http://mobile.google.co.za
The world's information at your fingertips...
Fring: Http://www.fring.com
Free software enables you to send and receive instant messages on your phone from MSN, GTALK, ICQ and others. Your boss (or wife) will never even know you are not at your desk.
News24: http://m.news24.com
When you are bored on the train, or...uhm...on the throne.
Online banking: Just about all banks have sites designed for mobile access.
Standard bank: http://sbcell.co.za
FNB: http://fnb.mobi
ABSA: http://ib.absa.co.za
Nedbank: http://nedbankmobile.co.za
Facebook: http://m.facebook.com
The village square of the 21'st century.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
5 things to watch out for when you register a domain name
If you don't own your organization's domain name you can be abused, threatened, ridiculed, defrauded, blackmailed and worse....anything up to (but excluding) alien abduction and anal probes.
I do mean to scare you. It's so simple to register your domain name, it's just silly not to. The cost and effort is minimal. The risk of loosing your domain name to an abusive 3rd party is absolutely not worth taking. Unless alien abductions are your thing.
Here is a list of 5 things to watch out for when you register your domain name:
1. Make sure you are registered as the owner.
Some ISPs register new domain names with themselves as the owner. This means that you (the client) do not own that domain name...the ISP does. Of course you can lodge a domain name dispute and pay R 10 000 or go to court to get the name returned you, but a better bet would be to use a reputable ISP who protects your rights from the beginning, right?
And don't think this only happens with ISPs ran by 14 year olds from their dad's garage. Unfortunately not. Many large ISPs in South Africa still register domain names with themselves as the owner.
Probably not with an intent to defraud, but rather just bad systems and procedures. The effect on you remains the same: you don't own your own domain name until the official domain name registrar says so.
2. Pick a reputable, stable ISP.
Rather obvious don't you think? If you pick the lowest price ISP you can find, you will get what you pay for...plus possibly loose your domain when the ISP goes bankrupt or disappears...your domain name and all.
Pick an ISP who has been around for a while, who will probably stay around for a while and, most importantly, an ISP that has a (good) reputation to protect.
There is a reason they have a good reputation and a motive to make sure it stays that way.
3. Register variations of your domain name
When you register your name, make sure you register alternate spellings too. No sense in owning my-domain.co.za and not mydomain.co.za. If at all possible register the .com for your domain name in addition to the .co.za, for instance, register cozahost.com in addition to cozahost.co.za.
Many times a friendly Asian fellow will alert you to the fact that some dishonest miscreant in the far east is about to register your domain with the .cn (China) extension and do unspeakable and disgusting things to it. The friendly gentleman will offer to help you register the name before the villain does. Tell him he can have it. There are hundreds of domain extensions (eg: co.za, com.au, co.uk, etc, etc) and it is neither necessary nor practical to register them all...unless you are or are planning to do business in that country.
And besides, you know the .cn name "warning" is a spam scam, right?
We at Cozahost have systems that will automatically keep an eye on your .co.za and .com equivalents. If you have one and the other is available, we will let you know.
4. Don't make it too long
If your business name is Sipho's early morning gardening services, don't register that as a domain name. It's too long, and you probably do not refer to your business like that. If you and everyone else calls you Sipho's service, then that's the name to register. The rule of thumb is to register the domain name for your "brand" - the name commonly used to refer to your business.
5. Protect your products too
In addition to registering your company's domain name, also register domain names for your products - if they are "branded". For instance, if you are selling a product called "wacky widget", then you better own that domain name.
Reputable hosting companies will allow you to register domain names that can be used as "aliases" for your primary domain - at very little cost. This means that cozahost.co.za and cozahost.com will seem to be the same thing, ie the one is an alias of the other.
Remember that a domain name registration costs only a couple of Rands per year. It's silly not to take a few easy steps to protect your intellectual property on the internet.
Check if your domain name is available to register here...
I do mean to scare you. It's so simple to register your domain name, it's just silly not to. The cost and effort is minimal. The risk of loosing your domain name to an abusive 3rd party is absolutely not worth taking. Unless alien abductions are your thing.
Here is a list of 5 things to watch out for when you register your domain name:
1. Make sure you are registered as the owner.
Some ISPs register new domain names with themselves as the owner. This means that you (the client) do not own that domain name...the ISP does. Of course you can lodge a domain name dispute and pay R 10 000 or go to court to get the name returned you, but a better bet would be to use a reputable ISP who protects your rights from the beginning, right?
And don't think this only happens with ISPs ran by 14 year olds from their dad's garage. Unfortunately not. Many large ISPs in South Africa still register domain names with themselves as the owner.
Probably not with an intent to defraud, but rather just bad systems and procedures. The effect on you remains the same: you don't own your own domain name until the official domain name registrar says so.
2. Pick a reputable, stable ISP.
Rather obvious don't you think? If you pick the lowest price ISP you can find, you will get what you pay for...plus possibly loose your domain when the ISP goes bankrupt or disappears...your domain name and all.
Pick an ISP who has been around for a while, who will probably stay around for a while and, most importantly, an ISP that has a (good) reputation to protect.
There is a reason they have a good reputation and a motive to make sure it stays that way.
3. Register variations of your domain name
When you register your name, make sure you register alternate spellings too. No sense in owning my-domain.co.za and not mydomain.co.za. If at all possible register the .com for your domain name in addition to the .co.za, for instance, register cozahost.com in addition to cozahost.co.za.
Many times a friendly Asian fellow will alert you to the fact that some dishonest miscreant in the far east is about to register your domain with the .cn (China) extension and do unspeakable and disgusting things to it. The friendly gentleman will offer to help you register the name before the villain does. Tell him he can have it. There are hundreds of domain extensions (eg: co.za, com.au, co.uk, etc, etc) and it is neither necessary nor practical to register them all...unless you are or are planning to do business in that country.
And besides, you know the .cn name "warning" is a spam scam, right?
We at Cozahost have systems that will automatically keep an eye on your .co.za and .com equivalents. If you have one and the other is available, we will let you know.
4. Don't make it too long
If your business name is Sipho's early morning gardening services, don't register that as a domain name. It's too long, and you probably do not refer to your business like that. If you and everyone else calls you Sipho's service, then that's the name to register. The rule of thumb is to register the domain name for your "brand" - the name commonly used to refer to your business.
5. Protect your products too
In addition to registering your company's domain name, also register domain names for your products - if they are "branded". For instance, if you are selling a product called "wacky widget", then you better own that domain name.
Reputable hosting companies will allow you to register domain names that can be used as "aliases" for your primary domain - at very little cost. This means that cozahost.co.za and cozahost.com will seem to be the same thing, ie the one is an alias of the other.
Remember that a domain name registration costs only a couple of Rands per year. It's silly not to take a few easy steps to protect your intellectual property on the internet.
Check if your domain name is available to register here...
The true unsung hero of the internet.
How many phone numbers do you know? Off-hand I mean - in your head?
Not a lot I'll bet. Most people rely on their personal phone books on their cell phones, computers or paper.
I don't even remember my own cell number most of the times...and that's not (just) because I hate phone calls.
I don't try to remember my own phone number (or anyone else's for that matter) because I have a theory that my memory can only hold x bits of information. The space (very limited in my case) must therefore be put to good use. Why remember something you can look up quickly?
Ms Shirely
A patently obvious truth I think, but no matter how hard I tried I could never convince
Ms Shirley (my grade 3 teacher) of this. She refused to believe that memorizing multiplication tables was dangerous to my mental health. After all, why did god invent people who invented calculators if we are not supposed to use them? Her response to my argument was a quick smack to the side of the head. Every time.
(The good old bad days when corporal punishment was encouraged and dispensed with enthusiastic vigor.)
Now, in my (middle) age, I have proof that my theory is correct: the stuff I put in my memory either falls out, or pushes something else out. The bucket is full. And the multiplication tables are not even in yet.
Nowadays I try to only use my memory for important, life and limb preserving tidbits: those little do's and don'ts in a marriage that keeps your wife from lacing your morning coffee with fast acting laxative before that big meeting.
So. You and I don't know a lot of phone numbers. We rely on your phone books. We phone a "Sipho" or "Koos" or "Julius"...we never dial actual phone numbers even though the phone number is an absolute requirement. For all intents and purposes phone numbers became invisible.
Computer numbers
Did you know the same thing holds true for the internet? Every single computer in the network (including the one you are using now) has its own number...much like a telephone number...on the internet it is called an IP number. ("IP" stands for Internet Protocol).
To "talk" to any computer on the internet (to get a web page or send email or download information) you MUST first know that computer's IP number - much like a telephone number is required to reach another party.
Like a phone number, an IP number is also structured in a specific way. It looks like this: 196.25.192.86 - also known as www.cozahost.com.
The point of today's post is the fact that 196.25.192.86 = www.cozahost.com, and you did not even know. How did this magic happen?
The answer lies in the Domain Name System. The true unsung hero of the internet.
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is like a gigantic, global, invisible phone book for the internet. When you type www.cozahost.com into your web browser, your computer asks the closest DNS server who is responsible for .com domain names. Having received an answer, it asks the .com server who is responsible for cozahost.com. When that answer arrives, the cozahost.com server is asked what the ip number is for www.cozahost.com...and the reply is saved by your computer for 8 to 12 hours, so that it does not have to ask the same question over and over again.
Then, IP number in memory, your browser politely taps 196.25.192.86 on the shoulder and asks for the home page.
If you don't have a domain name, you cannot have a web site at (for instance) www.cozahost.com. neither can you have an email address at, say, me @ cozahost. You must register (own) a domain name in order to publish services on it.
Register domain name
To register your own domain name is quick, simple and cost effective, but herein lies the problem: domain names are registered on a first-come first-served basis. Think for a second: what if your business is called cozahost.com, but you don't own that domain name? What if your grade 3 teacher registered that domain name and insist you learn your tables before she gives it back to you?
Sure, you can sue her if you have intellectual rights to the trading name, but that can cost you many thousands of rands and long delays while you suffer intense ridicule at every braai you are stupid enough to attend. And worse can get worser: your ex can register the domain name and publish an open letter explaining in great length and exquisite detail why you are the sorriest excuse of a sub-parasitic life form that ever slithered out of a parasite's behind.
If you don't own your organization's domain name you can be abused, threatened, ridiculed, defrauded, blackmailed and worse....anything up to (but excluding) alien abduction and anal probes.
I do mean to scare you. It's so simple to register your domain name, it's just silly not to. The cost and effort is minimal. The risk of loosing your domain name to an abusive 3rd party is absolutely not worth taking. Unless alien abductions are your thing.
To register a domain name is dead simple.
Go to our web site at http://www.cozahost.com/name/ to check if your domain name is registered or available, and follow the instructions.
Of course, you can register your domain name with any ISP of your choice, as long as you watch out for the common pitfalls. (For a list of 5 things to watch out for when you register your domain name, see the blog post here...)
Not a lot I'll bet. Most people rely on their personal phone books on their cell phones, computers or paper.
I don't even remember my own cell number most of the times...and that's not (just) because I hate phone calls.
I don't try to remember my own phone number (or anyone else's for that matter) because I have a theory that my memory can only hold x bits of information. The space (very limited in my case) must therefore be put to good use. Why remember something you can look up quickly?
Ms Shirely
A patently obvious truth I think, but no matter how hard I tried I could never convince
Ms Shirley (my grade 3 teacher) of this. She refused to believe that memorizing multiplication tables was dangerous to my mental health. After all, why did god invent people who invented calculators if we are not supposed to use them? Her response to my argument was a quick smack to the side of the head. Every time.
(The good old bad days when corporal punishment was encouraged and dispensed with enthusiastic vigor.)
Now, in my (middle) age, I have proof that my theory is correct: the stuff I put in my memory either falls out, or pushes something else out. The bucket is full. And the multiplication tables are not even in yet.
Nowadays I try to only use my memory for important, life and limb preserving tidbits: those little do's and don'ts in a marriage that keeps your wife from lacing your morning coffee with fast acting laxative before that big meeting.
So. You and I don't know a lot of phone numbers. We rely on your phone books. We phone a "Sipho" or "Koos" or "Julius"...we never dial actual phone numbers even though the phone number is an absolute requirement. For all intents and purposes phone numbers became invisible.
Computer numbers
Did you know the same thing holds true for the internet? Every single computer in the network (including the one you are using now) has its own number...much like a telephone number...on the internet it is called an IP number. ("IP" stands for Internet Protocol).
To "talk" to any computer on the internet (to get a web page or send email or download information) you MUST first know that computer's IP number - much like a telephone number is required to reach another party.
Like a phone number, an IP number is also structured in a specific way. It looks like this: 196.25.192.86 - also known as www.cozahost.com.
The point of today's post is the fact that 196.25.192.86 = www.cozahost.com, and you did not even know. How did this magic happen?
The answer lies in the Domain Name System. The true unsung hero of the internet.
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is like a gigantic, global, invisible phone book for the internet. When you type www.cozahost.com into your web browser, your computer asks the closest DNS server who is responsible for .com domain names. Having received an answer, it asks the .com server who is responsible for cozahost.com. When that answer arrives, the cozahost.com server is asked what the ip number is for www.cozahost.com...and the reply is saved by your computer for 8 to 12 hours, so that it does not have to ask the same question over and over again.
Then, IP number in memory, your browser politely taps 196.25.192.86 on the shoulder and asks for the home page.
If you don't have a domain name, you cannot have a web site at (for instance) www.cozahost.com. neither can you have an email address at, say, me @ cozahost. You must register (own) a domain name in order to publish services on it.
Register domain name
To register your own domain name is quick, simple and cost effective, but herein lies the problem: domain names are registered on a first-come first-served basis. Think for a second: what if your business is called cozahost.com, but you don't own that domain name? What if your grade 3 teacher registered that domain name and insist you learn your tables before she gives it back to you?
Sure, you can sue her if you have intellectual rights to the trading name, but that can cost you many thousands of rands and long delays while you suffer intense ridicule at every braai you are stupid enough to attend. And worse can get worser: your ex can register the domain name and publish an open letter explaining in great length and exquisite detail why you are the sorriest excuse of a sub-parasitic life form that ever slithered out of a parasite's behind.
If you don't own your organization's domain name you can be abused, threatened, ridiculed, defrauded, blackmailed and worse....anything up to (but excluding) alien abduction and anal probes.
I do mean to scare you. It's so simple to register your domain name, it's just silly not to. The cost and effort is minimal. The risk of loosing your domain name to an abusive 3rd party is absolutely not worth taking. Unless alien abductions are your thing.
To register a domain name is dead simple.
Go to our web site at http://www.cozahost.com/name/ to check if your domain name is registered or available, and follow the instructions.
Of course, you can register your domain name with any ISP of your choice, as long as you watch out for the common pitfalls. (For a list of 5 things to watch out for when you register your domain name, see the blog post here...)
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