HOWEVER, it looks like somethings gone very wrong at GeoTrust / RapidSSL, or perhaps they are having an off day?

I placed my order as usual through the provisioning portal.  Go through the usual verification and authorisation processes, all seems fine.  I wait all day, send in support tickets to find out what’s going on, no reply.

Then in the afternoon I use the live chat to chase, and I am told the order has been stopped for security reasons and that I need to put a site up on the address I’m trying to buy the cert for.

I explain that it’s for autodiscover on an exchange server, not for a website, so they wouldn’t be able to verify the contents of the site anyway.  I just get sent in a loop over and over again, need to put a site up.  I provide links to what autodiscover does, its a Microsoft requirement after all, still stuck in the same loop.  A simple Google search would have shown them that it’s a genuine requirement.  I then put up a redirect to the main website, so there’s at least some content there, that’s not good enough and the security check fails, and the order is cancelled.

The suggested solution is to place the order again, as the probability of being caught out by the random security check again is slim.  Seriously, that was the suggestion, so I placed the order again, and everything worked fine, and the certificate was issued.

Talk about ridiculous, retarded, stupid, moronic, and generally badly designed policy.

My suggestion to GeoTrust / RapidSSL would be to;

1. Redesign your processes – having content on a site is a very bad way of checking if something is legit – what stops someone putting a spam site up later on?
2. An additional hole in the process is that I was able to simply place the order again after security validation had failed the first time – eh, what?
3. Train your staff to think for themselves – anyone technical could tell you that needing autodiscover.domain.com is a legitimate requirement

No one from GeoTrust.com / RapidSSL.com has been in touch to comment.

So the idea of picx.me was conceived, and after an all night coding session I had a working set of functionality.  The day after that, another evening/all night coding session and I had a working (and documented) API as well as browser plug-ins for Chrome and Firefox built off of the back of the API.

When I can go into more detail, this will make sense, honest!

For now a few people are privy to what I’m building, I need to make sure this project doesn’t run away with me, and get a BETA launched soon.   I keep getting ideas for new features which I want to build in before launching, but need to actually map out a roadmap (*sigh* this was supposed to be a very simple thing).

Its not a commercial endeavour, and I have no revenue model for it – which is very surprising for me!

I must say though, its nice to build cool techy things again, which aren’t predominately infrastructure/datacenter orientated.

For now, you can keep an eye on picx.me, and @hamlesh as always.

A while ago Boxee pulled their support and releases of the installable version of their media center software.

I have mirrored an older release which I still use on my media stations at home.

Download: Boxee for Windows – 0.9.23.15885.exe [41 Mb]

If you have the installer for a newer version than this, please let me know

This is a great and essential read for bikers, whether you are a seasoned rider or a newbie.

I tend to reread it every year as spring kicks in.

Download the PDF from here: http://zxv.me/GSVeJH

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and continuing to interact.

If you’re on twitter, come say hi! – @hamlesh

Stats courtesy of twittercounter.com.

Email has its place, it’s a useful communication tool, however as its generally misused, replying to email takes far too long.

I believe that the majority of emails should be no longer than FIVE sentences.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate detail, or that I have a short attention span.

Simple rules of thumbs;

1. Is the issue urgent?  Yes: PICK UP THE PHONE, No: Send email
2. The longer the email, the longer it will take to get a reply
3. There are other channels for quick/short communication – ie: twitter
4. 4:1 ratio – an email that has taken 4 minutes to write will usually take 1 minute to read
5. Does the email require Action/Reply/Archive – if its “just for information” it doesn’t need a reply
6. Detail should be put into documents and attached to an email, not in the email body
7. I don’t believe in sending “Thanks”, “Received” etc emails – that’s what read receipts are for
8. Replying to “did you receive my email” etc emails – that’s what delivery reports are for

These are my personal opinions and my own personal preferences, everyone has an approach that works for them.  This is mine.

If you are trying to streamline your email life, do feel free to reach out and let me know what you are trying and how its working.

Some useful resources;

• The ninja warriors super zen master reference to Inbox Zero
• This article explains why email efficiency is important
• Don’t waste your time, you don’t get it back – 43folders
• Coping with too much email

Every year the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) of India holds an exhibition of Indian technology companies.  The purpose of which is to encourage and facilitate global trade between India and foreign companies.

I was invited, and attended IndiaSoft 2011, I was very impressed, not just with the quality of the conference/exhibition, but more so with the lengths the ESC are willing to go in order to achieve their objectives.  So much so, that i’ve volunteered to help them IndiaSoft 2012, both in terms of social media for the conference itself (there has been very little coverage for previous events), and to help them find delegates.

If your company currently outsources, or is considering outsourcing to India, please apply to attend IndiaSoft 2012.

Legitimate applicants will receive complimentary (return) air tickets to India so they can attend IndiaSoft 2012.  You have to pay for your own accommodation and other transport (to/from airport etc), but the flight itself is totally free.  The ESC team will even help you make all the required arrangements in terms of hotels/taxis etc.

Last year I flew to India a few weeks before the conference and caught up with other contacts/friends out there, as well as taking a break in Rishikesh.  You can do the same, either fly in earlier and/or leave later, making the most of the free air tickets, and explore India

I am merely acting as an event promoter and introducer of potential delegates, there are no fees to pay, if you are a legitimate potential buyer, its all free to attend.

IndiaSoft 2012 will be taking place on the 23rd & 24th March 2012 in Hyderabad, India.

To apply to attend IndiaSoft 2012, please download, complete and return this form: http://zxv.me/vDJmGF

Applications need to be submitted by the 11th November 2011.

You can find out more about the conference/exhibition on indiasoft.org, but you need to make your application via the form linked above to qualify for the free flight.

INDIASOFT 2012 opens a plethora of opportunities IT Buyers globally looking for wide array of IT solutions & services including innovative outsourcing IT products, services & solutions such as KPO, BPO. LPO, e0security, Banking, Finance, Insurance, Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment, Bio Informatics, Engineering Design, Travel, Hotel, Hospitality, Logistics, Transportation, Educational, Pharma, E Governance, and much more…under one roof.

Whenever people visit my office or see my workspace, they are always amazed by the sheer number of screens.  The next question/statement is usually “what the heck do you need all those screens for”, or “you can’t look at more than one screen at a time”.

I’m not going to go into the awesomeness of multiple screens, but talk a little about how I have things setup.  To be honest, this is a reduction in screens for me, heres a pic from a previous office setup (theres actually another 3 screens on the left of me which you can’t see in that picture).

Anyway, the current setup, starting from the far left.

This is an XP machine, which I use mainly for Forex trading.  Although I prefer to work on OSX, and I know I could run this as a virtual machine, its just not the same experience, regardless of what any “tech gurus” might say – simply, they are disagreeing with me, and by default, wrong.  Kidding of course

When I sit in in “trading mode” on this machine, MetaTrader takes up both screens.  When not actively trading, I leave woopra.com up and running.  For those of you that haven’t seen woopra; its a real time website visitor analytics tool.  It displays visitor info/metrics in real time, including where in the world they are – which it maps (being a little boy inside, I find this very cool!).  At the time I’m writing this post, I can see there are 8 visitors viewing the zovo.co website, and which countries they are in, queue some sort of cheesy world domination music here.

The last screen on the XP machine runs Bloomberg TV, which occasionally gets muted, if you’ve ever watched Bloomberg TV, you’ll know why!  Another excellent web app is used here, check out zattoo.com, which lets you watch live TV channels.  Unfortunately the BBC feeds have been pulled now, but Bloomberg TV is there (which save me getting a Freeview TV in here).

Coming round to my much loved Macbook, running an Apple LED display (mini DVI straight off the macbook), and a Samsung LED (BX2350), running on an ezCap USB to DVI adaptor.

I do most of my browsing, document editing, chatting, etc on here.  The macbook screen gets used mainly for instant messaging and viewing youtube/ted.com etc.  The Samsung LED (on the far right) has all of my social media feeds via, Twitter OSX app, and TweetDeck as well as NewsBar (lightweight, no nonsense RSS feed reader).

Tell me about your desk/workspace, and feel free to ask any questions.  Usually a mention to @hamlesh on twitter will get a quicker response.

A few of my twitter followers were asking for a wider shot, so heres one I took a few days after originally writing this

I have a number of my websites setup with @cloudflare, its free, and offers a lot of security and optimisation filtering.  Its dead easy to implement and theres very little maintenance to do.  I highly recommend you check them out.

You can read more about the free ipv6 gateway for cloudflare users in their blog post.  Theres a really nice infographic on their post

Anyway, I’m now IPv6 ready – why aren’t you?

Click for the bigger (1024 x 768) version.