New E learning sites for engineering and applied sciences

Here are the three best sites featuring free online video lectures from the top universities of the world.

1. coursera.org is the biggest site having many courses active or planned in the near future.
You can get courses like cryptography and social network analysis from universities like stanford, michigan, etc.

2. edx.org is a relatively newer but equally good site having subjects like AI from University of Berkeley and a few others.

3. nptel.iitm.ac.in is a joint effort from the iits and the iiscs in India. It features lectures from Indian top professors on topics like natural language processing, etc.

All these sites offer certificates and teacher's recommendations to anyone who qualifies any of the supplied courses. At the end of each course there is a test to qualify the course completion.

Do post your experiences and help to spread the word....

Watch free streaming movies online on your Android device

This method allows you to watch instantly and even download latest free online movies from www.1channel.ch directly from your Android smartphone or tablet.

You will need three Android apps---
1. Hubi
2. MX player or vmplayer
3. Web browser

Best part is that it avoids the use of Adobe Flash player which is a great benefit for Android 4.1+ users.

As all of you know running Flash movies on browsers also consumes much CPU, gives an error prone experience, needs Ad blockers and drains away battery easily.

Playing an HTTP video in native player is much user friendly. You can also take advantage of Hardware acceleration.

Steps:

1. Browse to your favorite movie link on 1channel and copy-paste it to Hubi client.

2. Hubi will extract the actual HTTP video link from the website link. It has two options - download or play live.

3. Open and play movie via any native player like MX player or vmplayer.

Hubi supports popular file sharing sites like putlocker.com and veehd.com

Voila!!! Enjoy movie watching and do post your comments.

Boost internet speed for free with UK VPN

For all wired and wireless users who are experiencing fluctuating internet speed at daytime or other peak hours, now you can use a high speed free VPN situated in the UK.

Just log on to http://uk.newfreevpn.com/ and follow the steps to setup the VPN for your respective operating system.
Authentication Details:
PPTP Server: ukvpn.newfreevpn.com
PPTP Username: free
PPTP Password: 1234 

Whats more, it works in Windows and Android both and its ad free!!!
Also, you will also get additional encryption security via the VPN which can prevent anybody from sniffing your confidential information over an unsecured line. Especially applicable when surfing over public WiFi environment.

I have personally tested it with YouTube and Dailymotion. Both are working like a charm.
You can also unlock UK specific web resources like BBC iPlayer, etc.

For a great tutorial on how to set up a VPN in Windows 7 follow this link:
https://www.ipredator.se/guide/pptp/windows7

Another high speed VPN server details are at http://www.freevpnservers.com/free-vpn-account/.
It plays YouTube videos like a charm.

Also try these newer sites-
http://www.justfreevpn.com/

Server:  uk.justfreevpn.com
PPTP Username:  justfreevpn
PPTP Password:  <check site>


http://www.securitykiss.com offers a limited data VPN service with a transfer limit of 300 MB per day.
It offers great speed due to its fair usage policy and fully supports both desktop and mobile platforms.
You just need to create your own free account to get your VPN credentials. It supports L2TP/IPSEC technology too which offers greater security than PPTP VPN.

Five moves that BSNL can take to improve broadband speed

BSNL is mostly famous for its wide reach, lower tariff and good network up time.

But many people, like me, do not get their maximum subscribed internet speed during peak hours. This is mainly due to overloaded backbone network of BSNL. The edge routers which make the transition to a foreign network like TATA, Reliance, Level 3  etc. are overloaded and hence the users get lesser speed during peak hours.

This may be minimized by doing some improvements.
1.) BSNL must improve its backbone network utilization by moving all the bandwidth intensive activities inside its own network. There is a lot of redundant bandwidth inside the network due to presence of optical fibers, but sadly it cannot be used much because major servers like YouTube caching servers lie outside the network.
All the other network biggies like VSNL, Reliance Comm, Airtel and even Spectranet have their own dedicated YouTube caching servers. But BSNL still relies on VSNL server for streaming YouTube videos. If BSNL had its own dedicated server inside its own network then a major data consumption problem would get solved then and there.
Thus, BSNL must setup its own YouTube caching server.

2.) Other thing is that it should also install a network looking glass within its network like Reliance, Tata, Airtel, etc. It would surely help in debugging network and routing problems remotely and customers can also get a proof of the state-of-the-art network of BSNL. End users can also use it to perform trace route from within BSNL network to their respective networks.

3.) Another thing is that the DNS mapping of BSNL servers is flawed. I am especially talking about mapping of domain names of some very popular CDNs like Akamai. Here what happens is that even though BSNL has an Akamai server within its own network (210.212.*.*), its DNS servers tend to resolve domains like "cdn.blinkx.com" to IP addresses belonging to VSNL, NTT America, etc. This finally results in wastage of international bandwidth because the content will then be fetched from far off networks when it actually lies within the ISP's own network.
What's the use of a CDN if you still want to download from remote servers?

4.) BSNL should try to enhance the cluster router capacity that facilitates connection with international networks like Tinet, Level 3, CWW, etc. If possible provide more number of edge routers and that too spread them evenly across the globe. At present all the routers connecting to Tinet, Level 3 and CWW are situated in the US. So if packets have to travel to UK then initially they must go via US!

5.) And finally, BSNL should also partner with other CDNs like Limelight Networks and EdgeCast.
Airtel already has partnered with these CDNs for getting better network performance.

The above points should be taken seriously if BSNL Broadband intends to stay in competition with Airtel, Tata, Reliance and even 3G, 4G service providers.

Simulate HTTP POST requests

Ever wondered how to simulate or create an HTTP GET/POST request without even writing a piece of HTML code yourself......
Now you can do so within your Chrome browser just by using an app called Postman REST client.
It is very user friendly and immensely powerful.
It has a lot of customization which is entirely GUI based and you can even view the reply from the server in various formats.
You can also save lengthy requests along with their cookie values for future use so that the next time you just have to send it and view the reply directly.

I used it to simulate the HTTP POST transactions to Groove shark server and for viewing the JSON reply that it gave for my manually created search queries.
I was finally able to even download an mp3 without using their flash client but was not able to save it properly or even run it as it was displaying the mp3 file as text.

DMCA blogger content security registration

This is for frequent bloggers. Remember that the content you post is available publicly over the Internet.
So anybody can unethically copy your posts, perform some presentation related mods and then re post it in their own blogs.
That way your organic visitor count might get affected due to this unethical post copying and that too without disclosing the original source.
If you feel that you post a lot of original content which require you a lot of efforts and you really do not want others to just copy your content online and paste it in their respective blogs then the following link is for you

http://www.exeideas.com/2012/08/secure-your-blog-website-from-content-copier-thefter.html

Basically you can register your blog in the DMCA database and provide your blog with text and image copyright protection. So any illegal copiers will get DMCA take down notice.
For that you may use DMCA tags on your blog along with subscribing to their paid service for a nominal fee per month.

Comparing websites and search queries --- Google trends and Alexa ranking

Ever wondered how you may compare two different websites and know which is the more popular one????

The answer to this is checking their corresponding Alexa ranking.....

Alexa is a company which collects stats about webpages and provides a rank to each of them based on their popularity, credibility and other factors.
Check http://alexa.com

Example:
1.) Suppose there are two sites http://careercup.com and the other is http://indiabix.com.
Now both are into helping people know how to crack aptitude tests and technical interviews.
So, how do we know which is the better one?
Rather than asking your friends you may also use website stats for a change.
Log on to Alexa or just search "<website-name> alexa" on Google. You will directly receive the corresponding website rankings.
Now just check which one's ranked higher in the world/U.S. to get a pretty fair idea.

Google trends:
Using this great data mining tool from Google you can easily compare different search keywords at one go.

Example:
1.) I have taken three lesser known software companies i.e. TIBCO, IVP and MAQSoftware and compared them simultaneously. You can see that TIBCO emerged as a clear winner and some further observation reveals that MAQ may be catching up with IVP in popularity over the years.
Notice an important feature that Google displays historic data or timeline view which helps in knowing how an entity changes with time.
You can also compare timelines of different websites using this tool by switching to the websites tab.
It also tells about the nation wise keyword search distribution.
There is also an "Export to CSV option" if you like.

Download YouTube videos and other flash videos without using java plugin, other software or other web service

Now with Google Chrome browser downloading flash videos is a cake walk. You don't need any other software to get the video URL from cache. Only thing needed further is your bandwidth to download the video.

Steps:
1. Open the desired streaming video for ex. YouTube and just start streaming the video.

2. Now you may close this window or just open the below link in new tab ---
                         chrome://cache

3. Search in the list for your desired video URL. You may need some practice in finding out multimedia URLs. Find sub strings like "videoplayback?" for YouTube URLs. For other websites you may try to find extensions like ".flv", ".mp4", etc.

Sample URL:


http://o-o---preferred---bom04s03---v20---lscache1.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?algorithm=throttle-factor&burst=40&cp=U0hTSFlOUl9JUUNOM19RSFZHOlRjc1IzSnhMTnFE&expire=1343934647&factor=1.25&fexp=920912%2C914076%2C910100%2C913602%2C915507%2C907217%2C919804%2C920704%2C912806%2C924500%2C924700%2C913547%2C904721%2C920706%2C907344%2C912706%2C900816%2C902518%2C909414&id=63b1beb58473c186&ip=117.217.5.178&ipbits=8&itag=34&keepalive=yes&key=yt1&ms=au&mt=1343911519&mv=m&signature=963E8654499228D382D491E65FE0CA25D042C5BA.55F7D4E540F8E6E9081E72CAAABF433E936754B3&source=youtube&sparams=algorithm%2Cburst%2Ccp%2Cfactor%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&sver=3&upn=WZYm_t2__xM&title=desi_boyz

4. After finding YouTube URL, copy the link in notepad and just do two necessary modifications ---
    a.) Remove the sub string "&range=13-xxxxx" from the URL.
    b.) Append the sub string "&title=<your-file-name>" to the end of the URL.

5. Now copy the new URL and open in browser to start video download with desired name                        "<your-file-name>.flv".

6. If you are downloading from other sites like daily motion, Metacafe, Vimeo, video bash, etc. then directly open the cached URL from step 3. Use "save link as" option if necessary.

Google Chrome net-internals, CDN hack using DNS overriding

Ever wondered how to check the URL through which videos are being streamed via flash objects or the URL through which your file is getting downloaded......Well it's easy with Google Chrome Browser.

Just go to the link chrome://net-internals/#sockets while the video is playing in the background and further click on "Flush socket pools" or "Close idle sockets" to get the exact URL you require.
See screenshot for YouTube server.

Now you may use this technique to edit your CDN server for better download speeds. A CDN is a content delivery server which delivers videos from sites like http://metacafe.com via a delivery partner like Akamai. The only interesting part is that the actual server is mostly located somewhere nearest to the user, possibly on his own network. Thus, he may get very high speeds without much contention.

But in some cases the DNS servers are not very effective in resolving the CDN host name to the best possible IP. Consider the case of metacafe on BSNL net connection. The site has a streaming URL of http://v.mccont.com which is actually supported by Akamai CDN.

But due to poor DNS management by BSNL the host name v.mccont.com resolves to an ip address of VSNL network instead of BSNL's own network. So sometimes I don't get the desired speeds due to contention.

Thus, we can bypass this drawback by using static DNS mappings for  hostnames like v.mccont.com.
Follow below steps to implement static DNS mapping in Windows.
1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ and locate the hosts file. Cut and Copy it to desktop and open it with notepad.
2. Add the following entries to the hosts file. General format is <ip> <domain>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

218.248.44.170 v.mccont.com
218.248.44.170 cdn.blinkx.com
218.248.44.170 av.vimeo.com
#210.212.11.18 cdn.blinkx.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Now save it and again cut and copy it back to its original location.

The mapped ip addresses belong to BSNL's own network so negligible contention is expected.
# means that the line is commented or inactive.

cdn.blinkx.com belongs to http://blinkx.com and av.vimeo.com belongs to http://vimeo.com.
All are supported by Akamai CDN network.

Importance of seeding/uploading in torrents

Most people who are on a limited data plan are frustrated when it comes to uploading or seeding the files they themselves download via torrents. They say that it wastes their limited bandwidth in uploading. This is very unethical in my opinion. This situation is well understood by considering an analogy.

Suppose you are writing an exam and you don't know the answer to a question. What do you do? Of course, you should leave the question in an ideal world. But in the practical world you will mostly resort to copying the answer from your nearby friend or peer. Now imagine that you have copied the answer completely from your good friend who obliged to showing the complete answer to you. Then after some time, while you are attempting another question your other poor friend needs that same answer which you had copied earlier from the previous friend.
What should you do in such a case? Show the answer or ignore him thus saving your time....

The same is with torrents. Remember, if the original seeder had not uploaded the file to you then you too couldn't have downloaded your precious file. Thus, uploading is as important, if not more, as downloading in the peer to peer file sharing world.
So always strive to maintain a good upload to download seeding ratio (0.8 to 1.0+) for each torrent. Give others too a chance to enjoy the P2P world like yourself.

And as far as the limited plan is concerned, switch over to an unlimited plan if uploading bothers you or at least consider the upload bandwidth too in your monthly data consumption. You may consider choosing an ISP which provides free uploads (BeamTele) or that which does not cap upload speeds after FUP (BSNL).
Else you can focus on downloading via LAN DC++ Hubs provided by ISPs like Five Net.
If even this is too much for you then stop using torrents and simply ask your friends for the files you need or use HTTP/FTP downloads.

Simply run u torrent in background each time you sit on your PC and always keep all the torrents in "active" mode. You may set a seeding ratio limit of 1.0 if necessary. This simple step can go a long way in helping the P2P sharing to survive and flourish.

Like they say, "Live and let live!!!"

Cable TV vs DTH

You all know that cable TV provides lesser video quality as compared to DTH. Still people use it because cable TV is still cheaper. But you all may switch to DTH for a much better quality for a small increase in monthly rent of about 50 Rs.

Some misconceptions about DTH :

1. DTH dish antenna is smaller in width than the bigger one that your local cable man has. It is NOT because  the DTH antenna receives lower signal strength than the cable person's. It is so because your DTH dish receives signals from a different frequency band called Ku Band whose frequency is about 2 to 3 times higher than the C Band which the cable man's larger antenna uses. The idea is that, higher the frequency lesser is the diameter of the receiving antenna.

Also, it is this higher frequency of DTH that allows them to deliver over 300 channels per connection which may not be possible with the older cable TV. That's why you get more number of channels.

The local cable person supplies the same signal strength as that of DTH but to a larger number of users. That's why you get low picture quality. Why share your signal strength with 50 other people when you can get the complete strength for yourself via DTH?

2. DTH antennae can't receive any signal during lightning or moderate rainfall.
That's not entirely true. It is not the water drops which hamper the signal but the cloud cover. So all you need to do is wait for few minutes until it rains steadily or a lightening strikes and the signal quality will be back to normal. This is because lightening dismisses the excess electrostatic charge created by thunder clouds.  Besides, this is a small price to pay for the 10 times better picture quality.

If you are really bothered about rain disturbance you may shell out a little more money and go for HD channels which are placed at the lowest frequency group; so you are bound to get the best rain tolerance.

Now you know why HBO sometimes doesn't work while Zee TV works fine on TATA SKY during rains. This is also related to the above rain disturbance concept.

Why compulsory digitization?

Besides, many cable suppliers don't pay the required tax for the number of users they provide service to. They do this by understating the number of TV subscribers to the Government. This is easily possible because no one can know for sure as to how many subscribers receive a particular analog signal. Thus, even though we pay tax we cannot be sure whether it reaches the channel owners because it maybe consumed by the local cable wallah. But this not possible with digital signals due to set top box. That's why the Government's forcing us to switch to Digital systems.

Which is the best DTH?

Videocon D2H may be the cheapest of all but I would recommend TATA SKY because it has got the best package organization of all. Get Dhamaal Mix pack for 200 Rs. PM and get only the best Hindi channels. If you further need English channels then add English Movies complete set for 60 Rs PM extra. If you need Sports or English Entertainment soap operas then they are again bundled into separate add on packs.

Dish TV lures customers by offering more channels at same price, almost double than TATA SKY. But note that many channels that if offers in its "Super Family Pack" at Rs. 200 PM are free-to-air channels. Ex. enterr10, cinematv, 9X, etc.

My friend has taken Hathway DTH for Rs. 270 PM and he gets ALL the available channels including BIG CBS channels which are not available in many cable TV services.
But my question to him would be "Why pay for 300 channels when you watch only 60?"
'Pay only for what you watch and watch whatever you pay for' --- this is the new digital TV mantra.

So guys, I urge you all to go digital ASAP.

Airtel 4G, 3G speed hack via proxy

For those who may be getting lesser speeds on Airtel 4G i.e. less than 40 Mbps, you may try using the below IP proxies for a free speed boost. Also works on 3G networks of Airtel and Reliance.

14.139.225.90:3128
220.225.4.250:3128 --- Reliance

124.124.93.155:3128 --- Reliance communications
14.139.225.83:3128
125.19.212.253:3128 --- Bharti Airtel
202.131.100.202:808

BSNL/MTNL users may also refer to this post or my previous post on broadband speed hack.

Tip: Combine them with a web proxy like http://proxfree.com to access blocked sites.

BSNL slow YouTube streaming problem solved!

If anybody is experiencing slow YouTube streaming problem like
1. The download speed is stuck at 256-512 kbps while your subscribed speed is 1-2 Mbps.
OR
2. You are constantly forced to change to 240p to avoid buffering even though you get your subscribed 1-2 Mbps speed on other sites like dailymotion.com, vimeo.com, speedtest.net, etc.

Solution:
Use the web proxy http://www.proxfree.com/ to get high speeds from 1.5 Mbps up to 4 Mbps.
It also supports https:// for browsing G mail and Facebook.
Use ad block for optimized experience.

Another good web proxy is http://85.31.186.21.

P.S.:
Solution is based on my previous post named "BSNL broadband speed hack".
This proxy server is connected to BSNL via TATA COMMUNICATIONS high speed backbone network.

So high speeds are guaranteed.

Google digging

These search query techniques will help to optimize your Google search experience without leading you to dead links or advertisements.

1. "abc"+"def"
Display the results including BOTH or ALL the keywords.
Ex. bread+butter+wine+shampoo+vinegar+cat+crown+ball+acid+alkali+ip

2. "abcdef ghi"
Search for occurrence of entire sub string or phrase.
Ex. "I am loving it"

3. filetype: <required file type>
Searches for DIRECT links to content of given type.
Ex. filetype:ini ws_ftp pwd
      filetype:doc security


4. site:
Searches for content only within the input domain or website.
Ex. site:telecomtalk.info


5. inurl: , allinurl:
Searches for pattern matches only within the websites' URL.
Ex. inurl:security
site:bsnl.co.in inurl:admin

6. intitle:
Searches for pattern matches only within the website's or web page's TITLE.
Ex. intitle:mobile phones


7. related:
Displays all the related or like sites to the input website. 
Ex. related:cucirca.com

8. Hybrid query to search for HTTP/FTP open directory entries.
Ex. intitle:"index of " kahaani dvdrip

9. inurl:view/index.shtml , inurl:indexframe.shtml
Displays unprotected live camera feed links.

Mobile USB modem AT commands

These commands will help you to know about the negotiated QoS parameters i.e. the down link and up link speed. Use these commands if MDMA software doesn't work with your mobile.

1. Download  PuTTy software. Run it and select Serial, enter the COM port and press Open.

2. COM port no. may be obtained from Device Manager>Modems>Properties>Modem tab.

3. Now in the black screen that opens, just type the following AT commands and press Enter after each command.
ate --------------------------------------set echo of commands
at+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”uninor” ---------- replace uninor with your Access Point Name
at+cgact=1,1 -------------------------activate Profile saved previously, try again if CME Error: 130 occurs

at+cgpaddr=1 -------------------------check assigned ip address for profile 1, try again if Error
at+cgeqneg=1 -------------------------display negotiated QoS parameters, try again if CME Error: 130

The output format is like

+CGEQNEG:<active_cid>,<traffic_class>,<max_br_ul>,<max_br_dl>,<guar_br_ul>,<guar_br_dl>,...,

where

<traffic_class>: decimal (0-4); The type of application

0   conversational

1   streaming

2   interactive

3   background

<max_br_ul>: decimal (0-xxxx); maximum bit rate ul

<max_br_dl>: decimal (0-xxxx); maximum bit rate dl

<guar_br_ul>: decimal (0-xxxx); guaranteed bit rate ul

<guar_br_dl>: decimal (0-xxxx); guaranteed bit rate dl

Sample outputs:

+CGEQNEG: 1, 3, 209, 254, 209, 254, 2, 150, 4, 4, 2, 3, 3 --- 3G result reliance

+CGEQNEG: 1, 3, 115, 115, 255, 255, 2, 150, 4, 4, 2, 3, 3 --- 2G result reliance

+CGEQNEG: 1, 3, 88, 88, 255, 255, 2, 150, 4, 9, 1, 0, 1 --- uninor

+CGEQNEG: 1,3,256,256,0,0,0,1500,"E4","E5",2,4000,3,0,0 --- loop

Thus, in first case <max_br_ul>=209 kbps and <max_br_dl>=254 kbps and so on.

Additional commands:

at+cops? ---------------------------------view network operator info
Output format: +COPS: (<mode>,[<format>,<oper>[,<AcT>]]),…


<mode>
0.Automatic network selection (<oper> ignored)
1.Manual network selection, <oper> must be present, <AcT> is optional.
2.Deregister from network.
3.Set <format only, no registration/deregistration.
4.Manual selection with automatic fall back (enters automatic mode if manual selection fails).


<format>
0.Long alphanumeric string
1.Short alphanumeric string
2.Numeric ID


<oper>
String (based on <format>) that identifies the operator.


<AcT> Network access type
0.GSM
1.Compact GSM
2.UTRAN
3.GSM with EGPRS
4.UTRAN with HSDPA
5.UTRAN with HSUPA
6.UTRAN with HSDPA and HSUPA


Sample outputs:
at+cops?
+COPS: 0,2,405926,0 ------ 0=GSM


at+cops?
+COPS: 0,0,"Reliance",2 ---- 2=UTRAN or 3G

Optimize bandwidth during ISP speed cap at 512 kbps

Nowadays many ISPs impose speed cap of 512 kbps after FUP limit.
You need to utilize this reduced speed completely to watch streaming videos without buffering.

To utilize this reduced bandwidth fully, limit your internet speed to 560 kbps using a free software called netbalancer.
Download the free version of the software at http://seriousbit.com/netbalancer/

Now open main window and go to Edit > Settings > Limit all System Traffic and here just set the download limit to 560/570 kbps.

Now experience a better performance even at low speeds of 512 kbps.
Tested on BSNL broadband. Should work fine with any ISP.

Cheapest BSNL broadband plan in India - 2012

"BSNL combo ULD 900" is the best and cheapest broadband plan in India.

You get 8 GB download + 8 GB upload at a whooping bandwidth of 4 Mbps and after either download or upload crosses the 8 GB monthly limit, only the downloading is capped at 512 kbps while uploading is still uncapped at 800 kbps!!!


Moreover, the annual plan reduces the effective rate to 900-150=750 Rs. per month!!! Adding taxes it comes up to 840 Rs. PM.
Working/Retired  Government employees can further avail 20% discount on rental to reduce the cost to   600 Rs. per month + tax = 670 Rs. per month.

Additionally, you also get 400 units of calls free per month!!!
This means 400x3=1200 BSNL to BSNL/MTNL All-India STD/Local free minutes
OR 400 free minutes to other local/STD mobiles.


Thus, leaving about 200 Rs. as monthly call costs(without any telephone rent), 
effective cost per GB is (840-200)/8=640/8=Rs.80 PM and also you get unlimited broadband at just Rs.640 PM.
What can be more cheaper than this!!!
So you might as well consider this plan seriously if you are a heavy internet user.
Note:
On their website they say that the free usage of 8 GB comprises of both download and upload but believe me it is not true as I am using this plan for the past 8 months and I am getting free usage of max. 8+8 GB.

Watch American TV shows online for free

Go to http://www.cucirca.com/

This is a site which allows you to watch TV shows airing on STAR WORLD, BIG CBS PRIME, BIG CBS LOVE and Z CAFE for free without ads or sign ups.
Works quite well even on a 512 kbps internet connection.
You can also report broken video links.

Also all the content is linked on this single site. No need for further website re-directions!!!

Some site info:

TOP TV SHOWS

1. How I met Your Mother
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Glee 4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Gossip Girl 6. The Big Bang Theory
7. Family Guy 8. Two And a Half Men
9. The Vampire Diaries
10.Dexter
11. 90210
12. Prison Break

LATEST ADDED TV SHOWS

Community
Hawaii Five-0
Person of Interest
Suburgatory
The Mentalist
Psych
NCIS

Note:

1. Sometimes, the hyperlinks may be dead. In that case you can search for an episode using the search box given below the episode list. Ex. "Two and a Half Men Episode 1 Pilot".

2. Use Google DNS 8.8.8.8 for accessing putlocker server as it is blocked by BSNL's DNS server.

3. Use any of the proxies from my previous post http://networkraid.blogspot.in/2012/05/bsnl-broadband-  speed-hack-may-2012.html if changing DNS server does not solve the problem.

4. Use AdBlock plugin to optimize viewing experience.

Snapshots:

Full screen Quality ---

If you wish to watch latest full movies online then my suggestion would be  http://www.1channel.ch.
For Bollywood movies, Google video search with a duration filter of 20+ min along with keywords like dvdrip will be my best choice.
Happy TV viewing....:)

Tracing BGP AS path to your IP

We can trace an external ip address using trace route command. But that will only indicate the path taken from our PC to the other host which will ultimately affect your upload bandwidth.

To get a fair idea of our download bandwidth, the reverse path i.e. the path taken by packets to travel from the external host to our local host, must be considered. For this purpose we need a facility to perform reverse trace route.

This facility is provided by websites popularly known as network looking glass. The looking glass of an ISP  contains scripts which fire network commands from the ISP's routers. These commands may be executed by any external looking glass user.

Some useful looking glass URLs:

http://lg.level3.net
https://lg.airtel.in/              (Airtel)
http://lg.llnw.net/index.cgi
http://lg.softlayer.com/
http://lg.as6453.net/lg/      (TATA)
http://ubs.flagtel.com/lg     (Reliance)
http://www.as3257.net/lg/
http://lg.choopa.net/

BGP path trace and ip trace route are two of the popular facilities provided by a looking glass.

Explaining the BGP Path trace output from http://lg.level3.net,

We can select the router location of the specific ISP --- Seattle,WA.
Then we input our IP address with an optional prefix --- 117.207.216.204.

The output of this BGP table query tells that there are two possible paths from that router.
It further displays the sequence of ASNs(Autonomous System Numbers) which lie on the BGP AS-translation path.
Here, both the paths go via AS3561(Savvis) and then finally to the destination AS9829(BSNL).
The green lines signify the currently selected best active path selected on the basis of BGP algorithms.

IP trace route is same as the normal tracert command in Windows but it traces the reverse path.

Checking currently used AS paths from a given IP

Initially, input the given IP in the search box at http://bgp.he.net/.
You will get its corresponding announcement IP address with prefix.

Here the announcement is as 117.204.160.0/20.
As you can see, there can be more than one announcements per IP but the prefix length will be different.
Greater the prefix length, more will be the sub network selectivity.

Then go to http://bgplay.routeviews.org/ and click on "Start BGPlay" button.

Accept the java applet permissions.

Here, enter the earlier prefix found by you.
Select the from-to dates as necessary. You can get current status by entering the latest date range or you can get a more stable status by selecting a longer time span of say 3-4 months.

After executing, fast forward it till the end to get the completed picture.
A sample run is shown below,

The nodes in the graph are the ASNs.
Here we observe that maximum connections(lines) are delivered through AS6453(TATA) and AS18101(Reliance).

Checking your ISP peering status

You can check your ISP peering here http://bgp.he.net/

Then click on the ASXXXX link to get below page.

The names given in the first table are the ISP's upstream or supplier BGP peers. Here they are Savvis, TATA, etc.
Each peer is an independent network and so has a unique ASN(Autonomous System Number) assigned to it. For ex. BSNL's AS no. is 9829.

You can get any given IP's network info by entering it in the Search Box.
Alternatively, you may just enter the ASN to get the corresponding network's information.

Clicking inside the table's cell leads you to the corresponding network's info page.

Data Network Design by Darren Spohn

This is the most sought after book for the course Advanced Computer Networks which is in Semester VI CMPN Engg, MU.

No log ins and sign ups required!!!

Here is the link for the complete eBook ---

http://www.mediafire.com/?cja24h3dvjheqa2

For more free MU engineering class notes and study e books, head on to

http://engineeringstuff.in/mumbai-university-engineering-note-fe-se-te-be-sem1-sem2-comp-itr-instru-extc-mech-civil/

BSNL all India grievance portal

If you have any complaints regarding the service provided by BSNL, here is a simple web based form which you can quickly fill up and submit.

No log ins or sign ups required!!!

http://mis.bsnl.co.in/pgs/internet/pgwebregn.asp

I have tried it myself and believe it or not I got a call back from their side within two days of submission.
Also, they had attempted to solve the problem that day itself.

You all can also try and do post your comments....

Here is another broadband specific helpline exclusively for BSNL Kalyan users: 0251-2435200.

BSNL/MTNL broadband speed hack May 2012

All of you know that BSNL has Bandwidth contention ratio of 1:25 which means that 25 people may share a connection and compete for international bandwidth. That is why some people like me are experiencing less download speeds between 11:30 am to 7:30 pm.

I subscribed to 4 Mbps plan but the speed drops to as much as 256 kbps during peak hours.

An important point is local bandwidth used by sites like youtube.com and other CDN powered sites are not affected. So I still get great speeds at youtube.

But downloading from many other sites is affected a lot. So to avoid this problem use the following IP proxies to get your full subscribed bandwidth.

14.139.225.90:3128
220.225.4.250:3128

14.139.225.83:3128
124.124.93.155:3128
202.131.100.202:808

41.217.215.238:3128
61.12.25.167:3128
109.123.126.253:8080
188.165.249.205:3128
112.217.228.212:8080

To use these proxies effectively, initially load the webpage containing the desired video without the proxy enabled. After the webpage has loaded and if the video buffers while playing then just switch on the proxy and then replay the video or refresh the page.
Use browser plugins like Foxy Proxy, Proxy Anywhere, etc. for fast and easy switching between proxies.

I have thought a lot about this problem and I think that this problem is due to poor BGP routing issue from BSNL. All the BGP paths are passing through a selected few New York based international routers which face increased load at peak time.

The above proxies use Tata's or Reliance's BGP transit path and also their international bandwidth which have greater network capacity so I get high speeds.
Tested in Kalyan telecom region.

It should work for MTNL, Sify, Tikona, Meghbela, Hathway, Railtel and Fivenet too.
Do post your comments on this...

Since these proxies keep dying within a few days of posting and also because this post receives the maximum no. of  views, I would like to share the technique to find the right proxy if anyone is interested to find more on their own.
1. Go to http://www.xroxy.com/proxylist.php?port=&type=&ssl=&country=IN&latency=1000&reliability=9000#table
and check each ip at http://bgp.he.net/ for a peer entry of TATA COMMUNICATIONS/VSNL.

2. Now you may test the proxy status and speed by downloading some file or at http://speedtest.net.

3. You may see the results for yourself by selecting a distant server like Honolulu(HI) at speedtest.net and running the test with and without the proxy and then compare the two results.

4. If there are no proxies in the xroxy list, try increasing the latency time but never compromise on reliability.

5. Spectranet, Tikona, Hathway and Railtel users may use the above procedure with additional benefit of selecting proxies which have peering with BHARTI AIRTEL.

6. If highly reliable foreign proxies are required then go to http://www.xroxy.com/proxylist.php?port=&type=All_http&ssl=&country=&latency=1000&reliability=9000#table in step 1.
You will get a much longer list (more work!) but at least those found by following rest of the steps wont die within a month.

Hack Bsnl Broadband Accounts Updated 2012

If you are a long term user of BSNL broadband then you all must have tried to hack bsnl accounts many a times by now. In this post I am only going to repeat the famous ip scanning trick, but I am adding few updates from my own experience.
The IP scanning trick works and I have tested it myself.

Newcomers may refer to this good old trick here
http://www.binarytides.com/blog/hack-bsnl-broadband-accounts/

My additional updates will be -

1. Use angry IP Scanner to directly get your own IP (run as admin).
Download it from this link http://www.mediafire.com/?kej7xt37i50sp6r

2. Set both the ports 80 and 23 for scanning and manual checking.

3. Default username,password for most routers is (admin,admin).
For "iBall Baton 150M Wireless-N" router, the credentials are (support,support).

4. Now go in "Advanced Setup/WAN" section and edit the WAN interface having VPI/VCI value as 0/35. Keep clicking on next to get to the password page. Password will be available only for "PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE)" mode and NOT for "Bridging" mode. If it says bridging mode then exit and go to next router IP.

5. For getting password, use manual technique of viewing frame source code, searching for the word "password" in the HTML code and noting down the string in the "value" field.

6. For D-Link ADSL Router, the password is not directly available. First, go to Internet Setup, edit connection  with vpi/vci as 0/35. After this, view frame source will give you username.
For password go to the link http://<victim's IP>/internet_js.html. In this page, search for password and you will find it.

7. After all this, the main part is to repeat the above steps for the entire set of hosts found by Angry IP Scanner in one go. Collect as many usernames as possible and try your luck with each one, you will definitely get lucky with atleast 1-2 passwords among the 30-40 IPs found by scanner. Keep on putting the usernames on your BSNL dial-up box till it gets connected successfully. Most of them will be port binded, but believe me when I say that some are still left unsecured.

8. Avoid the usernames ending with "_wcdr"; they wont work.

9. After getting the usernames, you may also access their mailboxes at http://mail.bsnl.in.

10. Please don't misuse or overuse the connection. Trick for educational purpose only.

Enable landscape mode for java apps and games

If you want to enable landscape mode in any J2ME(Java for mobiles) jar application, its very easy !!!!!

Open the .jar file with WinRAR.

Find a folder called META-INF.

Browse inside that folder to get a file named MANIFEST.MF

Open this manifest file in notepad and enter the following lines as applicable:
------------------------------------------------------

MIDlet-ScreenMode: Landscape
MIDlet-Touch-Support: True
------------------------------------------------------

Now save the file and update the archive and re-install the application in your mobile.

The first line enables landscape or full screen mode.

The second line enables touch support for some touch-enabled apps by removing the default java keypad
(only for touch phones).

Tested in Samsung and Nokia phones.

Samsung important and useful secret codes

These are the codes working on most Samsung mobiles.




1. *#0011#                                                   GSM/WCDMA basic information

2. *#5239870*#                                           Admin Settings

3. *#7092463*#                                           Internals Master Key

4. *#1234#                                                   Firmware version

5. *#06#                                                       IMEI number

Free USB pen drive virus protection

This technique will help you to disinfect your pen drive quickly and its free.
Always take the following precautionary measures before storing files in your pen drive
1. Never store folders in pen drives. Try to store only rar or zip archives as far as possible.
2. You may store other file formats like txt, cpp, java, docx, pdf, exe, images, videos, etc safely.

Now open a text file and type the following in it ---
------------------------------------------------------------------------

rem @echo off
echo Copy this file to the top level of the disk or USB from
echo which you want to remove the Autorun, then run it
echo press Ctr C to stop now, or Enter to continue
pause

attrib -s -r -h *.*        

rmdir /s /q recycler
rmdir /s /q astry

del *.exe
del autorun.inf
del *.scr
del *.pif
del *.lnk
del *.cmd
del *.vbs
del *.dll

del recycler.exe
del astry.exe

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

and save the file as clearVirus.bat

Copy this file to the top level of the disk or USB from which you want to remove the autorun virus and then run it whenever you insert it into an infected PC.

Caution:
1. EXE and DLL files will be deleted. Useful EXE files must have their extensions temporarily changed or store them as rar or zip archives.
2. Never run bat file as Administrator!!!
3. Hidden folders will be shown permanently.

Free live streaming TV channels

For those who want to enjoy hassle free live streaming channels, please do check on http://veetle.com.

The key benefits are:
Lots of Hindi and English entertainment channels (160+).
High Quality feature available.
No dead links.
No ads.
Broadcasting schedule available for each channel.

Reliance free 3 GB 3G/GPRS pack activation

As you all may know that currently there is offer going on by Reliance called the "Blue Android bot".
In this offer they are giving 3 GB FREE 3G DATA FOR 3 MONTHS which provides free data up to 1 GB per month for three months.

So the trick is to insert any Reliance sim in any handset and then, if you are lucky, you may get the plan activated on your sim too.
The good news is that the handset may NOT even be of Android OS. Mine was a Java powered Samsung handset and coincidentally the plan was activated on my sim.
Another good thing is that my sim was not even a new one, which means that this offer may be applicable to all the Reliance subscribers and not just prospective ones.

So, I wish everybody best of luck... :) and may everyone enjoy their "ANDROID" experience :):)

Tested on 5th May 2012 in Mumbai circle.

Uninor free gprs hack

There are no internet charges for direct IP access on port 80 via HTTP.
This means that if you access any website via its IP directly, you wont be charged.
Beware, accessing via domain name is still chargeable.
Ex:
Try this address http://wapking.com and you will be charged 20p.
But try this IP http://95.211.173.205 and there is no charge!!!

So use HTTP port 80 proxy IP in default browser to access free browsing and downloading with uninor gprs profile.
One currently working proxy IP is 41.158.128.190:80

Else you can use reverse IP trick with Opera Mini browser by setting proxy IP in internet settings same as that of opera mini server IP.

You can find more port 80 HTTP proxies here:
1. http://www.proxynova.com/proxy-server-list/country-in/
2. http://hidemyass.com/proxy-list

ALSO,
RTSP video streaming is also not being charged if url uses direct IP access.
Ex:
rtsp://217.146.95.166:554/playlist/ch65yqcif.3gp ..... (from yamgo.mobi)
The above link is not being charged at all!!!

But youtube link may be chargeable as it does not use direct IP access.

Tested on 4th May 2012 in Mumbai circle.

CAUTION:

1. Do NOT use http proxy working on any port other than 80.
2. Do NOT use socket mode in Opera Mini.

Zurker invite (social networking site)

You may already know that facebook ceo and founder Mark Zuckerberg had stolen the idea of facebook from two twin brother in harvard university in 2001.

Later on the Winklevoss twins Sued FB and got 65 million dollar in 2007.

In 2009 they started a new project(ZURKER) and launched the beta version in dec 2011.

One can join it now and become a share holder of this website. This rocking feature of share is added by them.

Currently there are thousands of member joining this web site in uk alone per day. Totally free , new features than facebook and g+.

Join today and become share holder now from india .... dont use different country ip to join..... because as beta it is limited to 7 country only........... India n US ppl can create their account.

Facebook is worth 50 billion today but its users are getting 0%; so this new idea is invoked by the twins... and its really good!!

Click on the below link to join.. you can only join on referral

http://www.zurker.in/i-57623-nfcblqkdem

Spectranet free internet hack

Use free spectranet internet without logging in.

For that use any vpn software like hackers333 vpn.
Google search "hackers333 vpn.rar" file.
                                                            OR 
follow this link    http://www.mediafire.com/?8p98pm4cp8p4a43
Run it as admin.

Note that the vpn should work on udp protocol and local port should be bound to 53.
UDP port 53 is the DNS port which is unguarded in spectranet networks.


Works with other lan cable based networks too.... 

Tikona free internet hack

Use free tikona internet without logging in.

For that use any vpn software like hackers333 vpn.
Google search "hackers333 vpn.rar" file or follow this link http://www.mediafire.com/?8p98pm4cp8p4a43
Run it as admin.

Note that the vpn should work on udp protocol and local port should be bound to 53.
UDP port 53 is the DNS port which is unguarded in tikona networks.

Tested and working for last six months that too with amazing speeds of up to 5 Mbps.