Category: Internet

Spotify – How to unlink or change its account in Google Home

If you have experienced problems with Google Home playing content from Spotify, you may find this article very useful.

The problem may manifest itself like your Google Home device not playing anything when you ask it to play music from Spotify, or even worse start and stop playing without any explainable reason. Maybe it is not even a problem and you just need to change its account linked to your Google Home. It may look impossible to find all the options and therefore we wrote you a guide to help.

In most normal cases for adding or removing Spotify as a music service on your Google Home ap you would do the following:

1. Open the Google Home app on your phone and select the account icon.

2. Open the Settings menu.

3. Open the Music menu.

Now you have a list of music services in your Google Home.

It is now clearly visible that there is no Spotify service available

This can happen because you live in or travel to countries where Spotify is not available. For example, a lucky relative that lives in a civilized country ( 🙂 ) shares a family account with you. Of course, you would want to enjoy Spotify no matter what, therefore we go to the other steps needed to achieve that goal.

Google assistant account on a computer. You do this by logging on to any Google service like Gmail or whatever and then in the same browser window just paste this URL: https://assistant.google.com/explore. Or just open URL and login, whatever works. It should look like this:

Then you enter Spotify in a search, and you will get its options. It should look something like the picture below.

Click on its icon and there it is. Option to unlink an account.

So, this part is for you if you want to change/unlink the Spotify account to your Google Home. Another part involves enabling it to actually work like it should on your Google Home device. So when you finished all the steps above, here is another round.

Disabling Google services to access Spotify

Do this by going to https://www.spotify.com/us/account/apps/

Then again open your Google Home app on your phone and chose no default provider under music settings if it is not already selected.

VPN to a Spotify available country

The next step is to reboot your phone. Most importantly, do not skip it, because the next step is not gonna work. If you do not have any VPN service installed, get one before the reboot. After the reboot, use a VPN service to connect to one of the countries where Spotify is available. I used FreeVPN and connected to the USA. If you for some reason want to VPN to country other than the USA, you need to check two things:

1. List of countries where S. is available. You can check it on this URL: https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/the_basics/full-list-of-territories-where-spotify-is-available/
2. List of countries that your VPN provider supports.

The country of your choosing has to bee on both lists.

Choose default music provider

After connecting to VPN service open Google Home again, and go again to the settings, music. As a result, you get an option to select it or Pandora, or Deezer as a default music provider. It will ask for credentials for your account and permission to link it.

Besides the fact that the beer is in order, the final step is to reboot your Google Home device. Just unplug it from the power and wait a few seconds before plugging it again. That should do the job, and as a result, your Google Home will now play music from the desired music provider without problems or interruptions. And in the end, thank dr Kosh for great contribution to solving this problem.

Thank you for reading,

Posted in *.*

How to choose web hosting?

What is web hosting?

It is a service in which hosting provider offers IT infrastructure and on top of its web services for rent.
Usually, it is some sort of web server that provides services needed so that web documents can be accessed, viewed and in some cases edited by web browsers. Simplified, when you enter the web address in your browser or click a search result in your favorite search engine, it is a link to the website. Service called DNS than translates that name to IP address and that is how your device (computer, smartphone or any other web-capable machine) knows where to go. What waits at the end is a web server.

How much does it cost?

It cost anywhere from 0 to hundreds of $, or even more, depending on what kind of service do you want. Don’t get scared, if you need just a regular website for a project, small company or personal blog it is just a few bucks per month. There are even “free” options, but you will get commercials on it since there is no such a thing as a free lunch.

What to look for, and how to avoid being cheated.

This is very important,

so pay close attention to the following. There are many traps that hosting providers use to catch new customers. When you purchase web hosting and build your site or even worse,  sites, it can be a real pain in the ass to change hosting provider. They all make it sound so easy, and even offer so-called “migrating” tools designed for migrations from other providers to your new shiny and best, most reliable and cheapest provider.

There is no such thing as unlimited hosting!

They made it sound so great – Unlimited. No limitations for traffic, databases, websites, domains……… no boundaries at all. When you think of it that way, you could host service like Facebook on that kind of hosting, right? Wrong. The thing is that they moved limitations from the main description of service to the “terms of use”. There you will find some shady info about what “unlimited” really means. Here is the example fro iPage hosting.

Let`s dig a little deeper, and see what do they mean by unlimited.

Of course, more details are on next link.

So, the real question is why do they sell it as unlimited if in fact there are so many limitations. It`s simple, it is a marketing trick. It`s stated that files must be used for websites and not for storage. So if we install an app like Own Cloud on our hosting and use it for uploading our pictures and videos on our hosting, those files are part of a website, yes? Correct, but the hosting provider will not allow you to do that. Yes you have an unlimited hosting plan, and all your files are part of a website, but if you go to tens of Gigabytes, you will be asked to reduce the number of files. If you do not comply very fast, they will shut you down. That is the fact. As I mentioned before, it is a marketing trick. It doesn`t mean that it is a bad product that should be avoided. On the contrary, few regular websites or blogs will fit and work like a charm. You just need to know what to expect.

Beware of the renewal!

Many hosting providers are “fishing” their customers by price. It is often to see that you could get the great hosting plan for few bucks.Or even for a 1 $ price. Comparing to other products on the market it is much better and cheaper. You are so happy that you found that deal and you take it. You build your websites, set up your email accounts, and everything is just perfect. Then comes time to renew. Price now is doubled or even tripled. You start looking around and found plenty of cheaper products. But you already did set up everything and don’t know how to migrate everything to another provider. So you decide to pay your old hosting only this time.It will get you enough time to plan and migrate everything. Another year passes. Again it is a time to renew. Now price went even more up. You pay again swearing to yourself that this is the last time. Been there, know how it feels.

Here is an example. At least they stated that on renewal it will be a different price. Sometimes it is not stated at all, and you do not know until renewal time when you get the invoice.

Look at this next example. You can figure out that something fishy here only by this little * after the price. On next page if you have a magnifying glass you can find this:

So you can start with 6 $ per month but you will end up with around 15 $. Great service!

Coupons for everyone.

There are also coupons for many providers, and usually, they are baits on providers hook. They just wait for you to take them. Again if you plan to keep the product that you purchase for more than a year, renewal is gonna get you. Usually, coupons work only for a new product and they are worthless at the renewal time, so keep that in mind. They are great for short-term projects that last less than a year.

Customer comes first!

There are also some honest hosting providers that do the marketing the old way. For example, after more than ten years of struggle with different companies, I found one that sad that they will do their best to keep the same price of the product for as long as I use it. It is the fourth year now, and price did not go up. If you compare the price with others, it was not the cheapest, but when you take out that marketing tricks and calculate what you actually pay in let’s say three years period, it would be among the cheapest. I still pay the same price like I paid for the first time. I did not write this article to be an advertising for anyone, so I will not mention any names ar the addresses, but the Internet is huge, and it is a wise thing to do some research before purchasing a service.

Few pieces of advice at the end…

• Think about what you actually need, don`t take the biggest package just because price looks great and the discount is unbelievable. Companies do not have fools in the Marketing department, they will take what is their one way or the other.
• Do some researching, compare the prices, while watching out for the details about renewal price and things like that. If you do not understand something, feel free to contact the company and ask them about it. Believe me, they will answer.
• Most hosting providers have multiple data centers worldwide, and when purchasing service you can choose the geographical location. Choose the location closest to the place where you expect that most of your customers/visitors will be.
• I will say the same thing one more time, start with the smallest package that will do you a job, it is easy to upgrade/expand. Shrinking is the problem. Every company will allow you and even assist you to switch to a more expensive service. Usually, for a hosting, it is just a few clicks, and a payment, and you get, more space, databases, traffic, etc.
• Figure out do you need Windows or Linux based web hosting. These days the difference in price and supported features is getting smaller and smaller, but there is generally an easy way to know which one do you need. If you are going to build or use something that requires .asp and .net use the windows hosting. For .php related stuff , use Linux.

You may also found interesting the article about Cloud computing.

Thank you for reading,

Posted in *.*, Internet

What happened 2 .me

Introduction to DNS

or domain name system. I`m quite sure that you would be delighted to type something like 216.58.201.78 in your browser’s address bar to open google.com. Well, without DNS you would need to. DNS is a service that translates names to IP addresses and vice versa. So, in fact, when you type a website address (for example tehcestigate.com) in your browser and hit Enter, your computer goes to another computer on the Internet, called DNS server and asks a question like: do you know what is the IP address of the techestigate.com? DNS server then searches its internal record list and if it finds the record it answers. If the record is not found internally the same question will be passed to another DNS server on a higher level. Having an answer DNS server passes it to your computer. The answer can be either the IP address of the domain or statement that the domain does not exist. In the first case, your browser will try to open the website, and in a second you will get a message like “This site can’t be reached” from your browser. This is a simplified explanation of DNS. Now to the subject of this article, ME TLD or Top Level Domain.

Some legislative facts about .ME

• Montenegro was assigned the ISO 3166-1 two-letter code “ME”, which was allocated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in September 2006[1] (most other possible abbreviations of Montenegro (MO, MN, MT, MG and MR) and its Montenegrin name Crna Gora (CG) having already been taken). Source: Wikipedia article.
• In September 2007, ICANN delegated the .me domain to the Government of Montenegro,[2] with the former .yu domain to be operated temporarily by the .rs domain registry (Serbian National Register of Internet Domain Names) until its eventual abolition on or before 30 September 2009.
• The delegation of root name servers was approved by IANA,[3] establishing .me. The .me domain extension became active on 24 September 2007 and a “Public Invitation for selection of the Agent for domain registration under the national Internet domain of Montenegro” was posted on 14 November. doMEn d.o.o.—a Montenegro-based joint venture whose partners are Afilias, GoDaddy.com, and ME-net d.o.o.—was selected as the new registry operator.

Conclusion no.1

.me is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Montenegro.

Some reality facts

• The .me country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD) is an extension that represents both Montenegro and you. (Godaddy definition that can be seen here.)
• .ME is about YOU. You are one step away from owning the domain name of your dreams. Personalize your blog, business or website. The possibilities are endless. Get creative! (http://domain.me, http://domen.me (local language) definition that can be seen here.)
• In March 2016, .me surpassed one million domain name registrations.
• Most registered domain names have nothing to do with Montenegro as a country. Registrations have been done mostly due to the meaning of “me” in English.
• More than 99% registrations of .me domains happened thru registrars outside of Montenegro.
• Most people don’t even know that .me stands for Montenegro.
• Big brands like  WordPress, Facebook, and PayPal adopted the extension.
• Montenegro gained well recognized digital product with global demand and monetized it greatly. In 2015. revenue from .me domain reached around 2 % of total export of Montenegro.

Conclusion no.2

Money always finds the way. The .me domain is definitely being advertised as a personalized domain. Montenegro may be selling its digital heritage but in its own unique way, this actually turned into the win-win situation for everyone. New, short and fun domain extension is out there, registrars are making money. Montenegro is making money. Just keep in mind that this is not the only case of using the language coincidence to monetize domain extensions. The Pacific Ocen island of Tuvalu is another example. Their .tv extension is advertised as domain names for broadcast media. There is also the island kingdom of Tonga with a .to extension used like where.to or go.to.

Some interesting information regarding domain names and extensions

• IANA is the organization that takes care of the domain names. List of the top level domain names (those are the extensions with only one . before the name . like .com, .net, .org ) can be found at this link.
• mydomain.com is the domain name and in that name .com is the domain extension
• Around 100.000 domain names are registered every day.
• Domain name registration was free before. In 1995 Network Solutions got the permit to start charging for domain names.
• There are no more free three character domains.
• The most expensive domain name publicly reported was insurance.com, it went for 35.6 million US$.
• Symbolics.com is the first domain ever registered. Date of registration was March 15. 1985.

Fun with domain names 🙂

At the end as Shaldon would say: “Fun with flags.”
Here is the list of the most stupid domains ever:

• swissbit.ch The name of the company is Swissbit, but tld is a bitCH here 🙂 it is turned off now, and the company changed the domain name to swissbit.com.
• blackhatebook.com It’s not a Ku Klux Klan manifest, it is a Black Hat eBook. People did not want to read it. The new domain is blackhatseo.com.
• ladrape.com It has to something with bedspreads but the name is definitely not encouraging.
• hollandshitfestival.nl Judging by the name, the festival is terminated. Shit happens.
• whorepresents.com Site changed, but still, exists. Follow the link if you want someone to present you…
• therapistfinder.com In need of TheRapist? Use this site to find one.
• lesbocages.com Again, the problem with a different meaning in different languages. It looks like even owner managed to figure it out.
• budget.co.ck Budget car rentals on the Cook Islands. The company was getting weird contact messages over the website for unknown reasons. The owner closed it and after reported mental problems disappeared in central Bosnia.
• speedofart.com This time it is a smelly example.
• penisland.net, In fact, it is a Pen Island, but you never know…
• tits.ac.in Institute of Technology & Sciences (also great experts on the subject of TITS)
• dicksondata.com  Want to have something on your data? Try Dickson Data.
• powergenitalia.com Use your imagination or simply find about Power Generators in Italia. For now, it waits some better times. Parked it is as Yoda would say.

I hope that this article was interesting and that it provided some fun and useful information. At least next time when you see some of the mentioned domains, you will know what they really stand for and even how do the flags of the originating countries look like.

Thank you for reading.

Posted in *.*, Internet, Tech Tavern Tagged with: .ME, MONTENEGRO DOMAIN EXTENSION, TLD, TOP LEVEL DOMAIN

Cloud computing – mist or a technology twist?

What is the fuzz about?

It’s been more than a decade that “cloud computing”  as a modern term is around us. I think that the technology was available and in use for much more time. The example is the good old web hosting. You were able to purchase a domain name and hosting by nothing but a few clicks and a credit card long before anyone even mentioned Cloud computing?! When the industry needed a new racing horse, entrepreneurial marketing gurus and CEO`s seized the opportunity. They made a sounding name and started selling it as a separate and unique technology.

Cloud origins

I would make a bold statement and say that cloud computing has its roots in engineers laziness. I mean we do not like repetitive tasks, don’t we? So we started working on automatization in a way that it would do those tasks for us. When enough automation happened, there was a possibility to pack it and sell it as a product or set of products, labeled as Cloud – something.
There goes another bold one. Virtualization was and still is foundation pillar of cloud computing. It made enough difference and free time so smart people were able to do more creative things than just the usual work.

If we talk about the date of origin of the cloud computing as a term in modern days it would be August 9, 2006, when Google CEO Eric Schmidt introduced the term to an industry conference.

What is the “Cloud computing” anyway?

It would be using ICT resources from within the organization, or from somebody else’s platform, (typically Storage, Memory, CPU, Networking, OS, and Applications) with a few practical advances. Those advances are: Easiness of use, Self-service, Scalability,  Anytime anywhere access, and Pay per use. Cloud services could be divided by type into Public, Private or Hybrid. Next type of classification is by form. There is Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service or IaaS, PaaS, and Saas. I will not write about those into much details, there are plenty of articles around, so if interested, just Bing it or Google it or research however you prefer. Just a few definitions in the next paragraph.

Cloud computing by type

Public Cloud

Cloud computing solution in which organization, in this case, Service provider, offers resources like virtual machines, applications, network or a storage for third party users, like general public typically over the Internet.

Private Cloud

Cloud that organization hosts on-premises, for itself and its users. It delivers same advantages of cloud computing like self-service and scalability.

Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid cloud is the environment which uses a mix of on-premises, private cloud and third-party, public cloud services with automatic orchestration between the two or more platforms. Regarding user experience, it is a single platform.

Cloud computing by form

Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS

It is a form of cloud computing that provides computing resources for free or for rent over the Internet. In this model cloud service provider hosts hardware, servers, networking equipment, storage, software and other infrastructure equipment in order to provide infrastructure service for its users. It is a usually base foundation for other forms of cloud computing like Paas and SaaS.

Platform as a Service or PaaS

In this form of cloud computing cloud service provider has hardware  (it would be  Iaas) and on top of it some software tools, usually needed for application development, and it provides it to its users as a service over the Internet.

Software as a Service or SaaS

Is a cloud computing model for software distribution. It means that cloud service provider hosts applications and makes them available over the Internet. Again IaaS is the foundation and software sit on top of it.

Read more of this article »

Posted in Internet, Tech Tavern Tagged with: Automation, Cloud computing, Internet, Virtualization