DigitalOcean Official Complaint

First of all, I would like to state this complaint is not directed at any one person, but the steps that were taking in dealing with a DMCA request (DigitalOcean Ticket ID:###).

Having woken up to my site being down. Without any notice and on a Friday morning, where I could not do anything until I got into work, did not please me in the least.

Networking was disabled for my “droplet” and because I only use ssh key login I had to force a password reset. This gave me a long secure random password e.g. 6de9fb329ced9517. I then had to use the DO console which does not support paste functionality. If I did not enter the password fast enough the Centos console would quit and ask for the username. Even after entering it in correctly, I had to re-enter it because it asked to change the password.

Due to the DMCA not specifying the exact URL for the images instead only one page URL and the other stating “fourth image down” on a dynamic page (which means the page will change URL), it is extremely difficult to track down the exact images on my droplet.

So I requested my web server be put back to “normal” so I can do this. The response to which was:

Hello

Thanks for getting back to us.

Have you reviewed the letter that was sent in?  The picture we sent

There is instructions to the images in question, and appear to include the descriptions used.

Can you help us better understand why you are unable to remove them?

No trust at all. My website is down, I didn’t have time to explain why I can’t remove them. Downtime can affect search rankings which is the main source of traffic for my website.

Thankfully, Google had cached both pages and from looking at the source code I was able to delete the images from the droplet.

Why was the network disabled on my droplet without any notice, even though there was still time to respond back to the DMCA?

I had received a DMCA a few months ago (for the first image), but completely forgot about it (I’m only human) and never heard from them again. Why could not DO send me an email or any other communication about the second one and allow me to respond (as I have stated, there was still time).

Why do I not receive a refund for the downtime caused? I make zero money from my site, but if I did, I would have lost revenue which would have been important to me.

 

Apple Sept 2014 Keynote

I was not that impressed with the iPhone 6 / 6 Plus or the other announcements from yesterday’s keynote. There was no release date of Yosemite, the next version of Mac OS X. No sapphire screen for the iPhone 6 which may have been a good thing due to it being more brittle than harden glass.

Apple Pay is the equivalent of contactless cards that we have here in the UK and many other countries. Perhaps the US does not have this convenient method of payment. I do not even have to take my card out of my wallet, I just tap on the card reader.

The Apple Watch (interesting not iWatch) was the most exciting product. Probably the best smartwatch announced so far, but I do wonder what the battery life will be like.

However, despite all this I will be buying the iPhone 6 (not the Plus) as I’m using the iPhone 5 on a daily basis, so it will be worthy upgrade for myself. Pre-ordering opens this Friday!

Follow me on Twitter

Hi everyone, sorry I haven’t been posting much. This is mainly because I started micro-blogging on Twitter. I find it faster, easier and simpler.

So follow me on twitter: @sonu27. I still will be posting on WordPress.com, but only major stories of great interest to me.

You might also like to check out my YouTube channel.

Thanks.
ASR

UEFA Champions League Quarter-final Draw 2009

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL DRAW

Villarreal v Arsenal

Manchester United v Porto

Liverpool v Chelsea

Barcelona v Bayern Munich

The first legs will be played on 7/8 April with the second legs on 14/15 April.

Blyk Offers More Freedom, But At A Price

Blyk the mobile phone network which offers free allowance of texts and minutes to people aged between 16 and 24 living in mainland Britain, has a new price plan. This removes the old allowance of 217 texts and 43 minutes and instead gives you £15 of balance to use how you like. The main advantage of this is that you can now send MMS and browse the internet without having to top-up.

However, as sweet as this sounds, you have a much lower allowance than before. At 8p a text, they may be cheaper when compared to other UK mobile phone networks, but £15 of balance only gives you 187 texts if you don’t use any other services that cost, like calling. Previously, you were getting 217 texts. On the other hand, you do get more minutes, a total of 62.5 minutes (at 24p per minute) to be precise. If we were to use the current rates on the old plan, we would get a balance of £27.68 (calculated (8p * 217 text) + (43 minutes * 24p)). A loss of £12.68 balance. Which in turn for them is a lower cost of operating their business.

Simple IQ Test Part 2 Released

We’ve just released Part 2 of the Simple IQ Test, you can give it a go here: http://simple-iq.com/part2/.

If you signed up for news from intelligence-test.net and don’t really know what simple-iq is – check out the original here: http://simple-iq.com.

A lot of you have been asking for answers to the intelligence tests, so, as always, we’re giving you the links to all the tests and answers, enjoy!

Tests: http://intelligence-test.net/
Answers: (don’t cheat, try to do your best before giving up and looking at the answers!) – Answers Part 1 | Answers Part 2 | Answers Part 3 | Answers Part 4 | Answers Part 5

More Posts

Google This Week (26/11/2008)

Gmail now has themes.

Google Chrome gains a bookmark manager.

Google SearchWiki Launched

Google Maps Has a New Interface

Google SketchUp 7 Released

Lively Will Be Discontinued

YouTube Experimenting With 720p HD Video and Now At 16:9 Aspect Ratio

Google Chrome – A New Web Browser

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

The browser uses WebKit as the rendering engine and has Gears integrated into it.

A word of advice, it looks much better on Windows Vista and when it is maximised. You might also want to enable the Home button and keep the bookmarks toolbar visible at all times.

Like this:

One thing I absolutely hate is when you install the product, it adds a startup entry of GoogleUpdate.exe. So each time your computer starts it runs the exe and it never shuts down. It also does not install in the Programs Folder like normal software programs, but instead at C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Local on Windows Vista.

I know that this is beta software, so this may change when the final product is out, but Google don’t add files or services to our startup list, no matter how small. You don’t see Mozilla Firefox doing that.

Overall, it is a very good web browser, but too simple for my liking. It’s hard to keep lots of bookmarks and it doesn’t support RSS yet, but it is very fast. It is also supposed to be more efficient then other web browsers in the way it handles processes and threads. I would not recommend it for daily use just yet. A lot of sites that use advanced JavaScript functions have problems e.g. the new Facebook, so many features to do work, like joining a new group or deleting a comment.

Read the Comic Book to get a better insight into the ideas and features behind Google Chrome.

View: Comic Book about Google Chrome
Download: Google Chrome (BETA)

160GB PlayStation 3 Announced for Europe and North America

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced at Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig that the 160GB PLAYSTATION 3 will launch in October/November 2008 in the PAL markets as part of a bundle box including additional PLAYSTATION Network content. It will have the same features as the 80GB PAL PS3 except double the storage.

Other sources have also reported that there will be a 160GB PS3 for North America. This will include Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, PLAYSTATION Network Voucher for PAIN and a DUALSHOCK3 Wireless Controller.

This has come as a complete surprise as the new 80GB PAL PS3 is due to release this Friday (22nd August). Too bad I have already ordered my 80GB PS3. I might have waited for the 160GB version, but then they may have announced another one. You can always change the HDD to a higher capacity one on your own.

Press Release: Europe | North America

UEFA Euro 2008 Final – Germany 0-1 Spain

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres was Spain’s goal hero, striking after 33 minutes when he cleverly lifted Xavi’s pass over Jens Lehmann.

Spain dominated the final throughout, with Torres heading against the post and Marcos Senna within inches of adding a second after 80 minutes.

Michael Ballack came close for Germany, shooting narrowly wide after the break.

Source: BBC Sport