Of course, this is a scam! All they want from me is to purchase these domains using their platform, at a very high price.  It is indeed very unlikely that anybody is trying to register any e-romagnoli.* domain,  and Mr. John Wang probably doesn’t even exist. On top of that, I assume they’ll ask me to pay with bank wire, MoneyGram or Western Union and never give me the domains in the end.

So be careful with these unsolicited messages and remember to use you credit card for your online shopping. Paypal is a good option too, as it doubles the security: you get protected from Paypal and from the credit card company that you use to transfer the funds thought Paypal. However with bank wires,  MoneyGram or Western Union, you’ll have absolutely no way of filing a dispute and claiming your money back in case you get scammed. I advise you to have a look at the secure payment options page on ebay as a reference for online payment good practices.

Here is a the full text:

From: Judy <Judy@domainasia.cc>
Sent: Wed, 9/6/2010 17:13
Subject: (e-romagnoli)Notice of Domain Names Property Protection 2010-6-9
Dear Sir/Madam
I’m sorry to disturb you so abrupt. We are a domain name registration service company in Asia,

On 8th June. we received a formal application submitted by Mr. John Wang who wanted to use the keyword “e-romagnoli” to register the Internet Brand and with suffix such as .cn /.com.cn /.net.cn/.hk/.asia/ domain names.
After our initial examination, we found that these domain names to be applied for registration  are same as your  domain name and trademark. We aren’t sure whether you have any relation with him. Because these domain names would produce possible dispute, now we have hold down his registration, but if we do not get your company’s an reply in the next 5 working days, we will approve his application

As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect Mr. John Wang is a domain investor. so we need you to attach importance to this issue.

In order to handle this issue better, Please contact us by Fax ,Telephone or Email as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely 　　　　　　　　2010-6-9
Judy
Oversea Marketing Manager
——————————————-
Room 1008,
International Building,
No.38 YueLong road,NanTong City
Tel:+86(513)85330968
Fax:+86(513)80260081
Email:Judy@domainasia.cc
Website: www.domainasia.cc

You might need to install nmap on your distribution before using the script. On CentOS, install nmap with:

# yum install nmap

The script pings all addresses in a specific range and looks at who has connected/disconnected since the last time the script was run. Whenever activity is detected, it is sent by mail. Of course the accuracy of the results depends on how often the script is run. I use a crontab entry for this purpose.

Don’t forget to change the path, the IP range, the email address, etc… before using !

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#!bin/sh
 
cd  /path/to/script
i=0
unset arr
 
#Read the hostlist.dat file from a previous run and store it to an array
while read line
do
  arr[i]=$line
  (( i=$i+1 ))
done < hostlist.dat
 
#ping all IP's in a range and redirect the output to hostlist.dat in the same directory
nmap -sP 192.168.0.1-255 | grep 192.168.0. | awk -F ' appears' '{ print $1 }' > hostlist.dat
 
#first loop to detect new hosts on the local network
while read line  #read the just created hostlist.dat file one line at the time
do
  j=0
  found=0
  while [[ $j -lt ${#arr[*]} ]] #read the array
  do
    if [[ ${arr[$j]} = $line ]] #compare the hostlist.dat file to the array
    then
        found=1
    fi
    (( j=$j+1 ))
  done
  if [[ $found = 0 ]]
  then
     lineip=$line
     line=`echo $line | egrep -o '192.[0-9.]+'` #return ip adress
     line=`nmblookup -A $line`  #retreive machine name
     #I chose to send a mail, but you can change this line to whatever suits you
     echo $line | mailx -s "INFO: $lineip now connected to the local network!!!" name@domain.com
  fi
done < hostlist.dat
 
j=0
#second loop to detect hosts disconnected from the local network since last run
while [[ $j -lt ${#arr[*]} ]] #read the array
do
  found=0
  while read line #read the just created hostlist.dat file one line at the time
  do
    if [[ ${arr[$j]} = $line ]] #compare the hostlist.dat file to the array
    then
        found=1
    fi
  done < hostlist.dat
  line=${arr[$j]}
  (( j=$j+1 ))
  if [[ $found = 0 ]]
  then
     lineip=$line
     line=`echo $line | egrep -o '192.[0-9.]+'` #return ip address, no nmblookup here since machine is disconnected
     #I chose to send a mail, but you can change this line to whatever suits you
     echo $lineip | mailx -s "INFO: $line now disconnected from the network!!!" name@domain.com
  fi
done

And this is the crontab entry for running the script every two minutes.

*/2 * * * * . /path/to/script/hostlist > /dev/null 2 >& 1

I’ve goggled extensively looking for a way to achieve push mail by installing an additional, open source,  RIM-like server (Funambol, Notifylink, etc…) on my Scalix box, but I’ve never been convinced by any of these solutions. It was either too expensive, too limited, too difficult to set up, insecure,… I just didn’t liked it. Then I discovered IMAP IDLE. In fact, everything was already build in for push mail, both on the Scalix server and on my Symbian mobile phone. There is no extra server needed. Indeed there is no code or installation trick in this post, it’s all there already!

Wikipedia tells us:

The IDLE feature allows IMAP e-mail users to receive immediately any mailbox changes without having to undertake any action such as clicking on a refresh button. This feature provides automated mail updates on the client computer.

In practice, there is a permanent connection between the phone and the server  (just like BB technology). This part is achieved by sending keep alive packets regularly. As soon as a message hits a mailbox, Scalix alerts all IMAP-IDLE clients logged on the matching account, and magically, the message gets to the phone. It’s so fast it even reaches my phone before it appears in SWA or Outlook 50% of the time. Of course when I delete a message or move it to another folder, modifications are applied on the phone automatically. Brilliant!

Just to make things clear, this solution handles messages only, no calendar or contact sync is to be expected. To be precise, Scalix actually handles contacts and calendar items in IMAP folders, which can be seen as emails from your phone. They will not be synced with the phone’s internal calendar or contact list however. Another difference is that only the message header is sent to the phone, not the entire body and attachments. I actually had to check whether I did it on purpose or if it was a limitation. Personally I like this, it saves bandwidth, increases  reactivity and allows me to filter what I really need to read immediately. When opening new mail however, it might take some time to download big messages. So using the IMAP protocol is not equivalent to running a BB server. It’s just a smart way of doing what 99% of the people really care about: receiving their emails on their mobile phones as soon as it hits their mailbox.

This is the most cost effective solution in my opinion. I use a Nokia E71 which is  cheaper, better looking, better build, better featured, lighter and smaller than a BlackBerry Bold. Reliability is decent, but the mail application still crashes once in a while (once a month or so) and requires to manually disconnect from the server (simply by editing your email settings). Any recent Symbian or Treo smart phone should be IMAP IDLE compliant, and some mail clients for Windows mobile exist too. Technically speaking, the overhead in terms of bandwidth is ridiculously low. Expect something like 5Mb/month on a 200Mb mailbox with 20 subfolders synced 24 hours a day.

If you don’t manage to get the phone connected to the server, it’s probably your mobile ISP who’s blocking the IMAP and/or the SMTP ports. Find ports that you don’t use and forwarding them to the IMAP/SMTP standard ports either directly on your Linux box or on your firewall. You can test these settings with any popular email clients that supports IMAP IDLE (Thunderbird, Outlook, Outlook Express, Apple mail, etc…)

For contacts and calendar sync, you still have to use the Nokia PC Suite, but I don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s very easy to sync the phone automatically with Outlook (of course you need the Scalix Outlook connector) as soon it is physically connected to the computer (USB) or within the Bluetooth range. The Nokia PC suite works so well it can even sync your phone from multiple computers (home and office in my case). I’ve never seen anything better than this for resolving possible conflicts. Whenever I have access to one of my computers, everything gets synced via Bluetooth without touching a button. When I’m away and don’t even have a laptop with me, I only use my phone anyway. Every change that I make will be synced perfectly with the Scalix server as soon as I reach civilization.

Let’s look at what most “online experts” complain about:

• Useless because distortion is huge : Are you serious? This is actually the best feature of this lens : distortion is almost  non-existent at all focal lengths! I guess these people mix up distortion and perspective… Again, straight lines will remain straight with this zoom. Keeping vertical lines vertical and horizontal lines horizontal is another story… It requires a lot of walking and moving around to achieve both. Hand-held, it’s a nightmare. This zoom is so wide it requires very precise framing. You have to look though the viewfinder for long minutes, paying attention to all details, before shooting. Our brains are not used to focus on 122°, but when it comes on paper or screen, every little detail catches you eye immediately. Trust me, it’s less obvious than you think. It has nothing to do with the quality of the lens however, it’s the extreme angle covered that makes this difficult.
• Sides and corners are soft, falloff is visible, even on APS-C body : First of all, this lens is meant to be used on full frame bodies. It is actually one of the reason why I decided to get a full frame DSLR. There are wider, cheaper and maybe better alternative for  smaller sensors. The only reason you’d want this lens on an APS-C camera is because you already know you’ll buy a Fx body in a near future. I first used it during the Nikon Dx era when Fx DSLR didn’t exist yet, and now that I’m back to full frame, I’m glad I made this choice. Having said that, some falloff and softness is indeed visible wide open on a full frame camera, but it’s so far from the center it’s way out of the Dx area. I never noticed anything like this with my previous Dx camera. On a full frame camera, I can live with it.
• The whole picture is so soft it’s useless under f/11 : I get very sharp results even when shooting wide open and printing 30×45 cm. I don’t fight for more sharpness beyond this point, especially not because I’d like it to look better on a 100% crop on a monitor. Final print is what matters.
• Can’t use it with a polarizing filter : Why would you want to use a polarizing filter on a lens covering and angle as wide as 122°? You’re not going to be polarizing half of the frame anyway. Ok, maybe it would be nice to put a protective filter in front then? No way, depth of field is so big that any dust on a UV filter would be in focus on your images. By the way, none of the full frame ultra wide lenses allow filters screwed on front (see the new Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, the Nikon 13mm f/5.6, the Nikon or the Canon 14mm f/2.8). Don’t compare this lens to a normal 16-35mm, this is a ultra-ultra wide lens. There has to be a price to pay.
• It makes the AF go crazy : I never experienced anything else than fast, focus is dead on with my Nikon’s. I can’t tell you about Canon, but I suspect a problem with the AF of  body, not the lens.
• Images are flat / no contrast : Again, the angle is so wide it is difficult for the camera to choose the correct exposure. I apply exposure compensation most of the time because the meter gets cheated by the big bright sky or the big dark area you’ll almost always end up with. This lens must be very difficult to use on film, without instant review and histogram. Once properly exposed, contrast is excellent.
• So slow it’s useless for shooting  indoors: Any newer Fx camera has an insane ISO range and you can shoot at 1/15 without worrying with this lens.  I never use a tripod. This is not a lens I use for freezing movement. I do the exact opposite: keep the background sharp and have movement in the details, so I don’t really need faster shutter speed.  Ok, 2.8 would be ideal, but how much would I have to pay for the extra?
• Sample variation : There seems to be an urban legend around being lucky and getting a sharp copy or not. I usually don’t buy this stuff. Of course I only tested mine and never compared it to someone else’s so I can’t tell. Still I think it’s entirely made up online in the forums, by people who have to find a technical reason behind their crappy pictures instead of questioning their own abilities. Anyway, I’m very happy with mine.

[singlepic id=437 w=200 float=right]

[singlepic id=445 w=200 float=right]

For the rest, build quality is great, zoom and focus rings are smooth and precise, flare and ghost are (surprisingly) not a problem. I like when nothing moves or turns on a lens (exept the rings of course), which is the case here. It’s all internal focusing and internal zooming. A big plus to me. I almost forgot to mention it’s an HSM lens, meaning it focuses quietly and allows instant manual focus override.

So is it perfect?

The only competitor I can think of is the super-expensive Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8, which is so expensive I don’t even dream about it (both Nikon an Canon also manufacture a fixed focal length 14mm f/2.8 in the same price range ). For 3 times the price, you loose 8° and you get 2 stops faster. In my opinion, it can’t be so much better that it justifies the price difference. The Sigma is not perfect of course, it’s an extreme zoom and some compromises had to be made… But it’s also the widest of all wide-angles on the market and it’s opening new creative fields. It’s not an “easy to use”,  “point and shoot” midrange zoom, but if you are willing to invest some time in mastering the beast, you’ll be rewarded with great and original pictures.

]]> http://www.e-romagnoli.com/2009/02/sigma-12-24mm-f45-56-dg-ex-test-review/feed/ 3 http://www.e-romagnoli.com/2009/02/manage-you-ipod-with-floola/ http://www.e-romagnoli.com/2009/02/manage-you-ipod-with-floola/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:54:11 +0000 Roma http://www.e-romagnoli.com/?p=266 Have you ever wanted to extract songs from your iPod or to modify you playlists  when away from your computer? The major problem you’ll face is that your iPod can only be managed by a single installation of iTunes.

So if you plug it on you kitchen computer instead of the office computer for instance, you won’t be able play/extract/upload/modify anything on you iPod as it can only be “synced” with your office computer.

Floola is the perfect solution for bypassing this limitation. It can extract song from and to your iPod, add/modify playlists and smart playlists, manage podcasts, videos, lyrics, artwork, etc… virtually anything iTunes can do!

This freeware is available for Linux, Mac and Windows, and best of all it’s portable : it doesn’t require any software installation. Just leave the executable files on you iPod and you’ll always be carring a universal iTune alternative with you, which you’ll be able to run and use to manage your iPod from any computer!

For the last 15 years, I’ve had a Canon AE-1 program, a Nikon D100, a Sony DSC-R1 and a Nikon D700 which I purchased recently. That’s it. I tend to keep my gear for a long time until I feel a new product will bring me new valuable features that will change the way I take pictures radically. With digital SLR’s, price of used equipment is dropping much faster. Your three years old camera has probably lost 50% or more of it’s value, so selling it for buying every new hot camera will quickly cost you a fortune. Manufacturers want you to upgrade as often as possible of course. But for a non-professional like me, any 6MP+ DSLR is at least as good as anything from the 24×36 film ages in terms of image quality, when printed up to 30×45 cm. Everybody was very happy with that no longer than 10 years ago. As far as I’m concerned, the DSLR pixel war ended in 2002 at 6MP . From that point, I never considered more pixels as a feature any more, just as a bonus. Why change then?

I think every new camera you buy should open new perspectives in terms of photography.

Back in the 90’s, I was a student so I couldn’t afford the fancy camera I was dreaming of (a Nikon F100) and I didn’t want to burn money on a a crappy consumer SLR kit, with cheap plastic zoom lenses, either. So I decided to drop the autofocus from my priority list, and to learn the hard way on an old fashioned (but trusted) Canon AE-1 program. The good news was that nobody wanted this kind of  gear any more, so it was very easy to fill a big photo bag with tons of used equipment and great manual focus lenses for a couple of Euro. The body itself was belonged to my father and wasn’t  being used it for quite some time, so it didn’t cost me a anything. I was shooting mostly B&W (HP5, Delta 100, Delta 3200) and processing everything in a small home lab in order to control the whole chain from framing to printing. This is where I learned it all.

In 2002, student days were over and I didn’t have time to play around with my lab any more, so purchasing a Nikon D100 and Photoshop was a great way to get even more control with no compromise on image quality. I chose the Nikon instead of the Canon EOS D60 because it was better featured, I got it for an incredibly low price and I didn’t mind changing brand since none of my manual focus Canon lenses were compatible with the EOS system anyway.

I shot a lot of pictures with the D100, and loved the result. But in the meantime I had kids and I realized quickly that a big and heavy SLR’s aren’t exactly what young parents need. It soon became difficult to find a place to fit a photo bag with a couple of lenses in the trunk of the car, or to walk around all day long with an SLR on one shoulder and a baby sleeping on the other. Above all, a baby’s natural environment is around 30 cm above the ground, and I was spending much more time eating the dust laying on the floor, trying to find a good angle, than actually taking great shots of my kid.

How lucky…  Sony came out with the perfect camera for me : the DSC-R1, a big point and shoot with a 10 MP large APS sized CMOS sensor, looking like a small and light SLR. Not bad… Did it have more?  Yes, a great  24-120mm f/2.8-4.8 lens, with a manual zoom and a focus ring. The lens could not be removed from the body, which solved problems like “shall I bring one more big heavy lens with me” and guaranteed a sensor free of dust.

The screen could move in any direction. No more laying down on the floor. I could shoot in any position from any angle! Last but not least, it was not an expensive camera considering the great value for money. Unfortunately it didn’t have a optical viewfinder though.

I kept using the D100 for serious stuff in parallel with the DSC-R1  until recently, still having in mind Canon’s range of full frame DSLR (the first one being the EOS 1Ds in 2003)  running around my mind.  I knew full frame would be my next step, and I’d jump on  the first  reasonably priced Fx camera Nikon would be kind enough to produce. So I skipped the D200 and the D300 because I didn’t feel the step forward was huge enough to me, although the D300 was very tempting. So was the EOD 5D when it came out, but selling all these great Nikon lenses? You know what I mean… During this period, I deliberately avoided buying any Dx Lens (Nikon name for lenses designed for small APS sized sensors). The D700 came out 5 years after the 1Ds. A long wait indeed!

In the end, I’m very happy of my choice. A D300 wouldn’t bring me a full frame format, an insane ISO range, a huge viewfinder or the magic automatic ADR (Adaptive Dynamic Range or D-Lighting). Other major improvements from previous camera include AF, handling, build quality, in-camera controls & shortcuts, etc… Waw! Now that’s a big step forward!

So does the D700 open new perspectives? Yes, definitely. Shooting with available light in any condition, having a true ultra-ultra-wide angle and cranking up colors the way I want are just a few examples of what makes this kind of picture possible now. And beleive me I have tons like this!

You get messages like “The image cannot be displayed because it contains errors”?

Then you should probably  uninstall the skype extension for Firefox!

The problem occurs on Firefox 2 and 3.

See this for more info.

This behavior can be changed globally at installation by modifying the userconf file or individually for each user.

$ more /var/opt/scalix/XX/s/sys/userconf #XX being the first and last letter of your mail node
1
 
# This file contains the default configuration values for a mail user.
# (The line length should not exceed 128 charaters.)
#
 
# ConfigType=1   The default Waste Basket clearance time in days.
#                This value represents how long a message will reside in
#                The Waste Basket before it is eligible for deletion
1       1
...

Changing this parameter to

# ConfigType=1   The default Waste Basket clearance time in days.
#                This value represents how long a message will reside in
#                The Waste Basket before it is eligible for deletion
1      30

will make Scalix keep messages 30 days in the Deleted Items before permanently deleting them.

However, this will only apply to users created after the file modification. Indeed, this file is read and parameters copied in the configuration file of the user whenever a new user is created,.

So in order to modify this behavior for existing users, you have to know which folder Scalix uses for this user:

omshowu  "user name" -f

Look for the “User Folder” value.

In this folder, edit the 000002g file:

1
# User Configuration File
1  1
 
...

Change it to

1 30

for keeping messages 30 days

In Firefox, go the the page:
about:config

Filter the settings on “urlbar” and right-click/toggle on :
browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll
to change the value to “true”

For applying this to all users, you can change the firefox.js file :

• /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.1/defaults/preferences/firefox.js on RHEL / CentOS
• /usr/share/firefox/defaults/pref/firefox.js on ubuntu

Change
user_pref(”browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll”, false);
to ‘true’.

Here are some useful Firefox shortcuts:

Ctrl + L – select the URL
Ctrl + I – show page information
Ctrl + K – select text in search bar
Esc when the pointer is in the address bar to select the url