Build your own proxy (and listen to Pandora outside USA)

I’ve always loved Pandoraradio, but now Pandora is available only to US citizens. However there is a solution, if you happen to own a VPSlocated in States (and your provider allows proxy service) then you can setup your own proxy server and enjoy listening to Pandora (and not only that) from any location. It could be also useful for Americans who gone abroad. With proxy you can also bypass your company’s firewall, so if admins are blocking some websites you’ll just access them via your proxy.

Hulu has pissed me off!

I’ve wanted to see episode of my favorite show Family Guy, so I’ve navigated to Hulu and launched it. I was presented with a message saying that if I would fill out short survey I can watch my show without ads. Nice deal, so I’ve filled all info, submitted it and started watching. But after a while I was presented with another message “There is connection problem we’re unable to stream your video”, or something like that.

What I (don't) like in IE9

I’ve downloaded Internet Explorer 9 beta lately and must say that it’s quite improvement from version 8, but still not the browser for me. What do I like about it? It’s visibly faster than previous version, especially with aspx apps. We have proprietary application for time tracking at work and performance have risen significantly. Add-ons are finally here! Well, I haven’t seen any however;) But at least there is mechanism to install and manage them, may be a step in the right direction as add-ons are main power of FF.

Wake up your PC from WD MyBook WE

Do you want to have access to your PC from remote location, but don’t need it to be on 24h per day? And you happen to have WD MyBook WE? Then here is solution how to wake up your computer using your network storage device. Follow steps below. Enable Wake on LAN functionality on your PC - description here. Obtain MAC addressof your network card - ipconfig /all. Your MAC will be visible as Physical Address.

Office 365 for 1 user

I’m subscribing Technet Magazine (both US and Polish) and recently I’ve read that Office 365 is planned to be available for single user (well one person company). It was good news for me as I’m currently using Hosted Exchange from third party provider and I would really want to switch to Microsoft Exchange Online (which currently is offered to minimum 5 users). But in the same post there was written that 5 user minimum would still be valid, so I was confused.

Spoiler Alert: Worst job in the world (Buried)

I’ve seen Buriedthe other day, pretty nice movie, I really recommend it. It’s about the guy who is driver in Iraq (not a soldier). One day his convoy gets attacked, all his colleagues (well almost all) get killed, but he ends up buried alive in coffin. Quite good drama, as he is struggling with time to get himself out of the grave. He has a cell phone so he is in contact with tormentors and people who can help him.

Nightmare of helpdesk

Today I’ve read article by Bruce Schneier about conception of Internet Quarantines. Scott Charney from Microsoft gave an idea that computers in Internet should be quarantined if they’re infected by malicious software. This method is used by many companies when you want to connect via VPN to their networks. Bruce gave it deep and worth reading analysis so I wouldn’t rewrite what was written already. From my point of view the idea would be especially bad for one group of people, helpdesk personnel at ISP.

What I don't like in OWA 2010

Few posts ago I’ve written about things I like in new Outlook Web App. Now I must write about something I don’t like. New Outlook (and OWA as well) introduced view called conversations which means that your emails exchanged with given person and on given subject would be gathered in one group. It’s pretty convenient and I like it. What I don’t like is the fact that if you have conversations switched on in OWA you can’t use Set Date and Reminder option for emails, it’s simply disabled as visible on the picture below.

No 3G without Wifi (on Kindle)

I love Amazon Kindle. This device is almost perfect. However I’ve found one “flaw” recently. We’ve bought additional Kindle (3G) for my wife’s sister and as it was a gift I’ve de-registered it from my Amazon account. Unfortunately it appears that if Kindle is not registered you can’t use 3G (it’s quite logical, Amazon protects their business), but the fact that it can’t be used even for registration is a little strange.