Author Archives: .

Sending email from an O2 Broadband connection

Posted on by
Reply

There are many options for sending email from an O2 Home Broadband connection:

  • If you have a static IP address (provided free with ‘The Works’ package or as a cost option in other packages) and you have access to a third party mail relay (e.g. SMTP2Go or AuthSMTP), you can connect directly to the external SMTP server on port 25
  • If you have a regular dynamic IP address then you can still connect to an external mail relay, but O2 blocks port 25 (SMTP) and so you will have to connect on port 587 (message submission)
  • Use the O2 Broadband mail relay – relay.o2broadband.co.uk – this will only accept mail from your broadband connection and will not work when outside of your home network
  • Use the O2 Mobile Data mail relay – smtp.o2.co.uk – you will need to authenticate yourself using your O2 portal username and password

If using smtp.o2.co.uk then you will also need to authenticate yourself using your O2 portal username and password. Note that even if using your own domain name your O2 username will also be made visible to the recipient in the mail headers, e.g.

Received: from yourhost.example.com by mail.o2.co.uk (8.5.119.05) (authenticated as yourlogin@o2.co.uk)

O2’s mail servers do not support SSL/TLS and so you will need to specify an insecure connection when configuring your mail client.

In the Windows Mail client go into the mail account properties and under the Outgoing Mail Server settings in the Servers tab tick the box next to ‘Outgoing Mail Server: My server requires authentication’. Go into these settings, fill in the account name and password with your O2 portal credentials and make sure that ‘Log on using Secure Password Authentication’ is NOT checked. In Advanced settings make sure that ‘This server requires a secure connection (SSL) is NOT checked.

For Unix users I have provided instructions for configuring exim4 to use an external smarthost in a separate post.

WeWillRipYouOff.com

Posted on by
Reply

They have the most banal and irritating advertising campaign ever (which makes goCompare.com look positively award winning!) and now webuyanycar.com has been investigated by the Office of Fair Trading who have taken enforcement action against them over concerns that its online valuations were misleading.

The full investigation can be found on the OFT web site.

We Buy Any Car Limited also has a bit of history with the Advertising Standards Authority …

… and in the national press (this article from The Sun):

CAR sales “specialist” WEBUYANYCAR sacked an employee for paying too much for a motor, the worker has claimed.

He was among dozens of readers who emailed us to complain about the company after it was slammed by regulators last week for ripping off Brits.

The employee, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed colleagues “reset” service warning lights on cars they bought. It meant they could sell them for more at auction.

WeBuyAnyCar yesterday said anyone found doing so would be “dismissed”.

A spokesman added: “We train our buyers to make accurate valuations. Occasionally the buyer proves incapable of the task and we have to let them go.”

How Disappointing.ly Prophetic

Posted on by
Reply

I just read an article over at TechCrunch about Letter.ly losing their Libyan domain name.

Didn’t someone around here warn that this might happen? 😛

Random Nostalgia

Posted on by
Reply

When I were a lad …

  • A first class postage stamp cost 10p and we had two reliable postal deliveries a day
  • Computer games ran in 1KB of memory
  • Modems connected at 0.3Kbps
  • London telephone numbers had 9 digits
  • You left a spare front door key under the door mat
  • There were 3 television channels
  • Daytime TV was ‘Pebble Mill at One’
  • TV closed down at night
  • Remote controls were attached by wires
  • Only trucks had diesel engines
  • The First Division was the top tier of English football – not the third
  • Snickers were called Marathon and Starburst were called Opal Fruits
  • Minis were mini

Tell EvoCam to start recording

Posted on by
Reply

A quick AppleScript which can be used in EvoCam to tell it to start recording on startup (useful in unattended recording setups):

tell application "EvoCam"
 start recording webcam 1
end tell
 

Set this in EvoCam > Options > AppleScript Settings… > When opening EvoCam