Don’t you just hate it that the best websites are often blocked at work or school? Well, this post is for all of you who just can’t get enough of myspace, facebook, orkut and God-knows-what-else at home.  Aside from work and school, some countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran extend great censorship on the web. You can use the methods listed here to get round that.  

All of my favorites sites, and especially ogame, are blocked at school so this post is my labour of love in trying to outsmart the school’s techies.  Before you try out any of the methods listed here, I suggest you install Firefox browser.  Firefox is the best browser available out there. When you are accessing proxy sites or similar sites ensure that you use Firefox, never Internet Explorer.

1. Use your Own Proxy Server
This is the best method and will almost certainly always work. Unfortunately, its a bit advanced and so may not be for everyone.  This requires your own proxy server hosted at your home (where, ideally, you can access all sites) or elsewhere.  Here’s a How To on running your  own windows proxy server.  

You can get more details on this approach here.

An interesting alternative is the use of Circumventor, which you have to install. Read the instructions very carefully.

2. Anonymous Surfing
A proxy server (or proxies) is a normal computer that hides the identity of computers on its network from the Internet. This means that only the address of the proxy server is visible to the world and not of those computers that are using it to browse the Internet. Hence, the program that blocks you won’t be able to ‘see’ you.

Just visit the proxy server website with your Web browser and enter a URL (website address) in the form provided.  Here’s a HUGE list of public proxy servers, that still work, hopefully.  Normally, proxy servers won’t work for long so just google proxies to get the latest list. The real problem is that most of these servers are no longer free.

Alternatively, use a URL redirection service like tinyurl.com or snipurl.com. These domain forward services sometimes work as the address in the the url box, and do not change to the banned site.

Note – When using public proxies, do not give out any sensitive information such as credit card numbers because the guy hosting the proxy can probably see everything you’re doing.

3. Use IP Address
If the people blocking you didn’t do their homework, this is the simplest way to beat them. Type the actual IP address instead of the domain name.  For example, instead of using www.myspace.com use the actual IP which is 216.178.39.16.  There are a number of free services to help you find IP addresses, such as this one.

4. Use Google Cache
Just do a search for the site in question and click on cache. This method works pretty well, if you are not bothered by whether the content is up-to-date.

5. Use Online Translation Tools
Here, we use the translation tool as a proxy. Just ‘translate’ the site from English to English (or any language) and you’re good to go! Here are some tools: (Google for more)
a) Google Language Tools
b) Babel Fish Translation
c) FreeTranslation
d) Online Website Translation
e) Language Translation
f) Online Translator

6. Go Mobile
Google mobile search works, but output may not be optimal. This is very similar to using a Web proxy – Google displays the normal HTML pages as if you are viewing them on a mobile phone. It therefore ‘translates’ them somewhat.

Alternatively, use the Opera Mini Simulator.

7. Good Old Email
“Most Internet services can be accessed by email. Just about the only technologies you can’t access by email are those that are inherently interactive by nature, such as IRC and MUD’s, where you need to participate in real time.

The most common form of Internet access by email is getting web pages for people that don’t have direct web access, perhaps because they are not directly connected to the Internet or they have a very low bandwidth connection.” Go Here For Details.

Enjoy yourself, and do tell me how it goes!

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“Hello, blogTV is here! This is the place where you can show off your talent, build a fan base and share your opinions LIVE! You bring the webcam, we bring the stage. We’re here to help you get your 15 minutes of fame. ” From here.

A while ago I got an email inviting me to join BlogTv. I’m pretty happy with ustream.tv so I was a bit apprehensive to check it out at first. I still haven’t really used it – just gave it a short try once – but my experience was good enough to think about shaing it here.

So, what is BlogTv? It’s alivestreaming service combining live video streaming and chat in one window, which you can embed on your own blog. You can also team up two webcams at once – think cohosts, live interviews, etc etc. Moreover, you can record bits of the live ‘show’ and record them in an archive. Your users can then browse through them like they do videos at youtube, for example. Each author has his/her own channel which users can subscribe to.

From their own FAQs:

Here is what you can do with blogTV

• Broadcast your own live shows, just plug in your webcam and Start Broadcasting
• Record and archive your shows,press record at any time during your show and it will automatically be stored in your show page.
• Chat with your viewers, it is the perfect way to get live feedback during your shows.
• Co-host live shows, split a show with a friend or invite an audience member to co-host with you.
• Share you shows,send shows to friends, post shows to blogs, send email alerts and RSS feeds.
• Manage your shows, organize your shows once they are recorded. You can change your show title, write a description, insert a logo/picture and add tags so everyone can find you.
• Watch live shows, discover something new.

Complaints
I really haven’t used it enough to start complaining but I foound something that may be of importance: BlogTV’s embeddable player isn’t quite up to snuff compared with some of the other livestreaming players I’ve seen. While it does show you how many people are watching a program, the integrated chat is a one-way experience. You can see what others are typing, but you can’t type back or see who is in the chat room. READ more.

Finally, all the info you want on BlogTV, all on one page.

Thanx to Kayliz for suggesting I review Joost. We’ll look at a Walk-through, Pros and Cons. The screen shots are from Version 0.10.3, which has since been upgraded to 0.10.4. My Cons list may be longer than Pros, but I still love Joost!

Walk-through

I adding my email address at the URL www.theveniceproject.com/apply.html (which now redirects to the home page), and finally received an email invite from Joost back on April 5th . This page also allows you to download Joost for Windows.

Joost’s setup file indicates my Dell laptop barely passed the minimum requirements, but performance is smooth overall. When a program initially loads, there is a lot of jitter as it buffers, and finally smooths out. Picture quality is also good through a 1.5Mbps download and 256kbps upload connection.

Programs can be accessed through “My Channels” or Channel Catalog. “My Joost” pulls up various Widgets to invite others, blog about your experience, or chat with others, to name a few. Pros

1. Potential
Bringing together the “best of TV with the best of the Internet” is a promise hopefully leading to a good execution. For example, it’s an election year in Kenya, so I would gladly log on every day for quality analysis of grassroots efforts directly from those “on location”.

2. Resume Playback
After logging on, the last viewed program starts where it left off, even after a reinstall. Very convenient.

Cons

1. Yanked or Unavailable Content
Joost, where’s “Cops Uncut” in the Channel “Braindead“? Back in April the show would stream for about for about 10 minutes, then “this program is unavailable right now, #121” would pop up. After the upgrade to Version 0.10.2, the show was unavailable! Now, even Braindead has been yanked. I can envision Couch Rage from regular TV users used to 99% reliability. OK, 90% reliability.

2. Time counter removed
A minor issue, but is noticeable for those of us that watch TV in small increments. Earlier versions like 0.7.3.1 reviewed here had a time counter that helped me return to a certain point in a program, but Version 0.10.4 does not seem to have the counter.

3. Cryptic error messages
Yes, I know it’s Beta, but hear me out. If you log on and get this “Panic” error, it probably means they have upgraded from 0.10.x to 0.10.(x+1). It happened to me twice, from 0.10.2 to 0.10.3, and from 0.10.3 to 0.10.4. Isn’t it just better to upgrade in the background?

Also, I’ve tried exiting Joost, and after trying to relaunch it, get this error, and have to reinstall Joost.

Thanx again, Kayliz!!

This post was written by Erick, a regular reader of Let’s Explore! Erick has also written: Why I don’t Blog. So that’s why he has not yet got his own blog despite his obvious potential. Thanks, Erick.

Using RSS feeds can change your life, trust me.

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
Link to Video Page.

Recommended Feed Readers

Feed Reader – Software that you have to download to use. This is its main advantage as you can access your feeds even when offline. It may cause problems if you use it on a slow computer. I currently use this one and recommend it for everyone.

Google Reader – A simple, powerful reader from google. It’s nothing fancy but it is simple to use and excellent for beginners. However, it may take a while to load at tmes.

PageFlakes – an impressive start page that gives you access to all your feed content, and more. I haven’t used this one for very long but so far I’m loving it.

Now that you know what RSS is, don’t you think it would be much easier to read Like Chapaa from a feed reader? Subscribe to my blog’s feed.

UPDATE: If you take a look at the comments at the end of this post, you will notice some criticism. I’ve responded to these here(and also in the comments below).

Three months down the road, the most popular page in this blog is, by far, the ‘Sasanet.co.ke Opera Mini Hack.’ Everyday, I get 30-50 visitors to this page who are brought my way courtesy of google. It seems many of you are interested in sasanet, free sms and hacks. Not being one to let an opportunity go unused, I’ve decided to write more on sasanet and free sms.

Sasanet.co.ke – wtf!?

Please not that in this context, wtf has not been used to mean “where’s the fire”

Sasanet.co.ke used to be one of my favorite sites as it allowed me easy, free communication. I even came up with a hack specific to this site. Things change, however. Right now, I have an extreme dislike for sasanet.co.ke. Why?

Sasanet exhibited what I call classic jerky jock behavior. A jerky jock courts you, uses you then abuses you. Sasanet courted us by providing free sms services. I suspect this propelled them to widespread popularity and drove thousands to their site – that’s what they (sasanet) wanted. Later, they discontinued the free sms service and monetized everything on their site. See, that’s classic jerky jock. Now the thousands who visit (or used to visit) sasanet are probably either as disappointed as I am or got sucked into the ‘trap’ and now help sasanet make more money.

I’m not against making money in this way. In fact, I respect the jerky jock approach to business. However, I think the viability of this approach is ebbing away. Think web 2.0: freedom and equality geared to user (that’s you and I) satisfaction. This just goes to show that the web2.0fication of the net is not equal in all places. Kenya, evidently, still lives web 1.0.

With sasanet having gone the jerky jock way, does this spell the end of free sms services in Kenya?

There’s Always Someone Looking to Stab You in the Back and Kick You When you’re Down

The jerky jock approach is simple, fast, efficient, and makes sense (and money). As I said earlier, I think this approach cannot be used effectively anymore – it cannot work in the long run nowadays. The internet, after all, is the international network. This simply means that there is always someone somewhere who can, is and/or will compete with you.

Take sasanet, for example, they probably still make loads of money from visits to their site by people looking for free sms. Unfortunately, this is bound to be very short-term – the site’s visitors will eventually realize that sasanet cannot satisfy their need for free sms and will go looking for others who can satisfy that need. The lesson here is: do not go the jerky jock way. If you must go this way, make sure you don’t piss off your users (read customers) by keeping something, anything in it for them. Then again, if you must go this way, check your business model and re-strategize.

So, is there an alternative to sasanet.co.ke? You bet!

The Competition

Needing to send a text message to someone, for free, I went about on a search for a way to do just that. (No I’m not trying to spoil the sasanet party.) The search was too long for my liking but I did get results. The winners are:

First Prize – sms.ac: Just register as a user and you can send 3 absolutely free texts per day to anyone in the world. An added bonus: this site can help you make money. Plus, sms.ac is more than just a place to send free sms, its the largest mobile community on the net. An absolutely shocking thing about this site is that it is not ‘optimized’ for Firefox.

The also-rans: Both sendsmsnow.com and textnation.com provide free sms services. You have to register as a member of these sites before you can send any texts. A problem with these sites is that the recipient gets the sms as an email. This presents two problems:

• Recipients must be able to receive emails on their phones.
• Retrieving emails is not free in some countries. Countries like, you guessed it, Kenya.

So you send someone an sms and they get charged for reading it. This, in my point of view, is just plain evil good old robbery and begs the question : Isn’t safaricom even worse than a jerky jock? (I kindly ask Celtel users to elaborate on email retrieval charges, if any.)

My advice to sasanet.co.ke : find away to re-introduce the free sms service. As you can see, the competition is way behind what you used to offer (10 completely free text messages per day). It makes sense – you are likely to make more money that way. Did you know that sms.ac had, like you, scrapped free sms only to re-introduce it due to ‘public’ demand? Learn from their mistake.

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