Blackhat SEO – Esrun

Quad Core Mac

Well I finally got around to building a quad core mac!

>> SCREENSHOT (kalyway 10.5.2) <<

>> SCREENSHOT (ideneb 10.5.5) <<

I followed the OSx86 hardware compatibility list (HCL) to ensure the parts I bought were compatible with the mac operating system.

The motherboard of my macbook pro died a few months back and I’ve been missing the power ever since. Since it died I’ve been using an MSI wind laptop with mac os x 10.5.4 installed but the processor isn’t huge and its really meant more as a portable device than a daily work machine.

A lot of people still don’t realise that since Apple went over to the Intel platform a couple of years back, its quite easy to install the operating system on a whole range of standard desktop and laptop computers using either a retail disc or a special ‘hacked’ version such as kalyway 10.5.2 or Ideneb 10.5.5.

Because I used the OSx86 HCL, everything worked out of the box for me and was a breeze to setup. The only problem I had was finding a compatible wireless card. I tried a few usb wifi sticks I had laying around but couldn’t get any to work. I even tried buying a PCI wireless card which is meant to be compatible but couldn’t get that to work but to be fair I think this is an issue with the card or motherboard since it didn’t physically fit well in the first place!  Eventually I managed to find a Netgear WG111 (version 3) and installed it using the RTL8187B drivers for Mac.

For those concerned about copyright/pirate etc. I do have a leopard license that currently isn’t being used so bah!

Hardware

Processor – Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz 8mb L2 cache
Motherboard – Intel BLKDG35EC
RAM – 2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 PC800
HD – Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM SATA
Graphics – Nvidia Inno3d 8600GT PCIE 512mb S-video/DVI/VGA
Case – Basic case
Power – ACBEL INTELLIGENT POWER 610W ACTIVE PFC
Networking – Netgear WG111 (version 3)

Total cost: About £380

Total time putting hardware together and installing OS: 2-3 hours

Moneybookers mayhem

Myself, I’m a fan of Paypal. I don’t think much of their ebay monopoly schemes and don’t feel confident as a seller but as a buyer its great.. widely accepted, easy to use and good buyer protection.

However sometimes you have to pay people who live in the middle of a desert and such like. Not being a fan of scammers union western union, it kind of limits your options. So I decided to use moneybookers (MB) since it’s pretty widely used in those out of the way areas.

However moneybookers have these big warnings about doing a bank transfer to your moneybookers account from a bank account thats not in your name.. It’s a pain in the butt that you have to manually send them the money rather than them debit it like Paypal but hey ho.

So the account was funded but accidentally from an account in a different name to that which the MB accounts was in. Thinking it would be rejected as their site says, another transfer was made from the correct bank account.

Today I login and get a huge rant in red bold letters saying this..

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
YOUR RECENT MONEYBOOKERS DEPOSIT

No cash or 3rd party deposits!!! You attempted to fund your Moneybookers account from a bank account in someone else’s name:

Amount: GBP XYXYXY
Bank: Lloyds TSB

While obtaining the bank details for your 3rd party you were clearly warned that Moneybookers does not allow 3rd party deposits for funding of E-MONEY accounts.

ALL FUNDS MUST ORIGINATE FROM A BANK ACCOUNT HELD IN YOUR NAME!

You were expressly warned that you will be charged all banking and administrative costs should you attempt a 3rd party deposit to your Moneybookers account. We have therefore credited this deposit to you with a deduction of EUR 10.– administration fee.

WARNING! This is a one-time exception! Should you attempt further 3rd party deposits, you may make yourself suspicious of money laundering activities.

I might make myself suspcious of money laundering activities? Hey, I’m already suspicious but I think it the russians! Seems like some MB employee sitting behind his desk woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!

Namecheap checkout referal

I actually can’t beleive this! I had to renew some domains in Namecheap so I sign in and choose to use funds already in the account. Should be a 1 minute job I think..

I get an error saying my checkout request was invalid.. so I hit back and click proceed again.. same error. Then I decide I have no choice but to read the error. You must have referral data turned on! WHAT THE HELL!? I have my browser referal data disabled in firefox and I can’t believe there are people out there using referal data for checkout/basket systems.

Get with the times namecheap!

AOL Hometown alternative host

Want to make a quick buck? There’s still money to be made in free webhosting. All that free content, all those places to inject links or for those darker people maybe even drop a little something.

Anyway, AOL Hometown is closing its doors which means there’s currently thousands of people looking for a new free host and most of them have no clue how to move their stuff over or where to go because… well because they’re AOL users.

Go buy yourself a cheap dedi, chuck together a script that will automatically scrape the users content (or use their FTP details) and host it for free.

You’ll get good publicity for being their savour and you’ll suddenly be in control of thousands of sites

Why don’t I do it? I’m busy!