LET'S GEEK

Server generated a passive answer with an untracable address

If you are behind a NAT router you might recieve an error message when trying to list a catalogue (server generated a passive answer with an untracable address). This error is caused by your server returning a local ip addresss. By setting your server in passive mode, your server will return the correct address.

Add these lines to the vsftpd config file.

#constrain pasv ports
pasv_enable=YES
#start of pasv port range
pasv_min_port=xxxx
#end of pasv port range
pasv_max_port=xxxx
#enables DNS lookup of pasv_address
pasv_addr_resolve=YES
#your address
pasv_address=[external domain name or ip]

When installing phpMyAdmin on your new server you might encounter an 404 error when you try to access http://localhost/phpmyadmin. The short explanation to this error is that it is caused by a misconfigured apache2.conf and often happens if you miss to check apache2 as your server during the phpMyAdmin configuration.

The long answer is that phpmyadmin is not located in the www folder. Instead it is usually located in /usr/share/phpmyadmin. Therefore an alias has to be set up between /user/share/phpmyadmin and /var/www/phpmyadmin. If you miss this during the configuration then you obviously wont be able to access the phpmyadmin folder.

Solution 1

Reconfigure phpMyAdmin with it’s own configuration tool.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure phpmyadmin

Solution 2

1. Open apache2.conf: sudo vim /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
2. Add the line Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf
3. Restart apache2 (sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart)

After having restarted apache2, try to access http://localhost/phpmyadmin again.

Unetbootin is a handy tool for those who wish to install windows 7 through a memory stick. However instead of listing the win7 Unetbootin fails to recognize it on the disk. I ran into this problem the other day but found a neat solution.

The problem seems to lie in what file system the memory stick is formated with. You need to use NTFS, and not FAT32, for windows 7 to work through Unetbootin.

Earlier today I saw in Google Analytics that I had gotten referral traffic from link.smartscreen.live.com. I had never heard of it but I was interested in it since it came from live.com.

As the link itself tells us, it’s associated with the Smart Screen Filter. The filter is a new initiative from Microsoft Live Messenger which detect phishing and other malicious websites among.

SmartScreen Filter checks the sites you visit against a dynamic list of reported phishing sites and malicious software sites. If it finds a match, SmartScreen Filter will show you a warning notifying you that the site has been blocked for your safety.

So, in short, when a user clicks a link in Live Messenger they get directed to the Smart Screen. It then evaluates the site and warns the user if a threat is detected.

As you may know Facebook features their own smileys in the chat as well as UTF-8 symbols since the introduction of the UTF-8 character set. Here’s a reference of facebook smileys and UTF-8 characters.

Facebook smileys

:‌)

:‌(

:‌P

:‌D

:O

;‌)

8‌)

8|

>:(

:\

:’(

3:)

(^^^)

<(“)

O:)

:-*

<3

^_^

-_-

O.o

>:o

:v

:3

:‌|]

:putnam:

:42:

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The other day I was monitoring some trends on AdWords keyword tool and I saw an increasing demand of twitter proxy sites. Now, you don’t really need a twitter specific proxy to bypass whatever protection you’re facing. However I’ve compiled a list of simple proxy sites you can use to access twitter without any programs.

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A world of tweets is an interesting site that visualizes tweets on a geographical map. In their own words the application is all about playing with geography and bits of information.

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You know it, I know it – attaching engines to things is awesome. In this video you’ll see V8 Supercars attach a V8 engine to a skateboard for the upcoming event Telstra 500. Of what I’ve gathered, Telstra is a motor racing event held at Sidney. Apparently they got the idea when they found out Tony Hawk is attending. What I wouldn’t give to take it out for a spin.

Don’t you just love balloons in space?

Niklas Roy tried to create more privacy by creating his own robot curtain protector. The small curtain automatically move itself in front of peering pedestrians stopping anyone from getting a glimpse of what’s inside. According to the creator, the setup works pretty well but unfortunately seems to attract visitors who never would have cared about the window before. He therefore reaches the conclusion that it fails.