Smooth Blog » Tutorials http://www.smoothblog.co.uk Updated Technology News Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:25:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= How To – Transfer Contacts from Blackberry to iPhone http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/14/transfer-contacts-blackberry-iphone/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/14/transfer-contacts-blackberry-iphone/#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:11:11 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=10123

How To Transfer Contacts from Blackberry to iPhone. you can follow step by step instruction for

Transferring Contacts from Blackberry to iPhone.

  1. Very first step would be backup all your data and update the iTunes and BlackBerry software.
  2. Sync Blackberry contacts with BlackBerry desktop manager & continue to outlook.
  3. Sync your iPhone with outlook.
  4. Go to BlackBerry address book and choose “Outlook” click OK and continue, check “one way to sync from device”, click “next” and “finish”.
  5. Check “Synchronize organizer data”, select “Synchronize”, and unplug your Blackberry thereafter.
  6. Attach iPhone to computer & from iTunes choose “iPhone” tab.
  7. Choose on “Info” tab & click the check box next to “sync contacts from Outlook”, now click All contacts/Selected groups.
  8. Choose “Apply” once your iPhone sync gets completed. Disconnect iPhone from computer.
  9. Enjoy having Blackberry contacts in your iPhone.
]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/14/transfer-contacts-blackberry-iphone/feed/ 0 How To – Send Form in an Email Shot http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/10/send-form-email-shot/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/10/send-form-email-shot/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:16:58 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=10083

I got thinking about this after getting this email from Google:

 


HTML form right in an HTML email

 

So clearly, it can be done. Inspecting the source of the Google email, it’s nothing special. Just an HTML form like any other.

I decided to try it myself, so I made a quick PHP page to send myself an HTML email.

<?php

$to = 'myself@myemail.com';

$subject = 'HTML Form in HTML Email';

$headers = "From: myself@myemail.com\r\n";
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1\r\n";

$message = '<html><body>';
$message .= '<form action="http://mysite.com/process.php" method="post" target="_blank">';
$message .= '<label>How did you like the movie <strong>Turfnuts</strong>?</label><br />';
$message .= '<input name="rating" type="radio" /> ★☆☆☆<br />';
$message .= '<input name="rating" type="radio" /> ★★☆☆<br />';
$message .= '<input name="rating" type="radio" /> ★★★☆<br />';
$message .= '<input name="rating" type="radio" /> ★★★★<br />';
$message .= '<br />';
$message .= '<label for="commentText">Leave a quick review:</label><br />';
$message .= '<textarea cols="75" name="commentText" rows="5"></textarea><br />';
$message .= '<br />';
$message .= '<input type="submit" value="Submit your review" />&nbsp;</form>';
$message .= '</body></html>';

mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);

?>

 


It worked.

 

I have only tested GMail so far. GMail gives this warning when submitting the form:

It’s just a warning. It doesn’t sound too scary. But it’s not as clean as submitting a form on a regular website. There are certainly some users that will cancel and not go through with submission. Google’s own email does this as well. If you click “OK”, the form submits as you expect it would.

Identifying Sendee

Notice the Google email (or my quick test) doesn’t include fields like “Name” and “Email”. That would be silly wouldn’t it? Anyone sending an email like this already knows that information. But how do you know it when you receive the form data? One way would be to pass it along with the post data in a hidden input. Whatever system you use to generate these emails could also drop that email in the value of the input:

<input type="hidden" name="email" value="[[prefill with email]]">

But that’s not particularly secure. Anyone digging around could see how you are posting that data and submit bogus posts with real email addresses. Not good. It’s probably better to post the form with secret codes that identify the user (and anything else you want to identify securely, like the product they are reviewing).

<input type="hidden" name="email" value="90d8a0f9d87a0987d098ad87fa0ds7fd">
<input type="hidden" name="product" value="0870n89f7cxz98f7e0qwd87sdf">

Those gibberish values would be salted hashes that you store on your end before sending out. Then when you receive them back, you can match them up and know exactly what user and product the review is for. Now I’m no security expert, so let me know if there is a smarter way.

Support

Mark Wyner blogged about this for Campaign Monitor in 2007. Here is the support from back then:

 


2007 information on support for HTML forms in HTML emails

 

I’d love to update this chart with more current email clients. If anyone can run a test, let me know, we’ll get started building it.

Because of that blog post on Campaign Monitor, I can only assume they allow you to send emails that include forms, but I haven’t tested it. I did try sending one from MailChimp, but it appeared that they stripped form before sending the email. According to that old article, some email clients consider emails with forms “insecure”, so it might be a play on MailChimp’s part to prevent bad experiences for users like that and increase deliverability.

If you are thinking of using this idea in practice, for a use case like presented above, you won’t be able to use a service to send the emails anyway (since you’ll need to generate, store, send those salted hashes securely).

Outlook

It looks like older versions of Outlook strip the forms functionality. So that’s a problem. Hopefully new versions don’t do that. Older versions of outlook also used Internet Explorer as the rendering engine, which means that you could use conditional tags to help:

<!--[if IE]>
      <a href="http://yourwebsite.com/review.php?whatever">
        Review this product
      </a>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if !IE]><!-->
      <form>
         <!-- Actual review form -->
      </form>
 <!--<![endif]-->

Milage on that may vary… apparently Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 use Microsoft Word (WTF) as the rendering engine instead of Internet Explorer. Not sure how conditional tags work in Microsoft Word (again, WTF).

Tangential Examples

 


Amazon sends emails asking for reviews. They don’t use in-email forms, but could!

2010 Netflix Email which doesn’t use forms, but each ☆ is a different anchor link which goes to a URL which saves that value as your user rating.

Credit goes to: http://css-tricks.com

 

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/10/send-form-email-shot/feed/ 1 How To – Use Google Ads with GeoLocation Targets http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/10/google-ads-geolocation-targets/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/10/google-ads-geolocation-targets/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:13:08 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=10080

It is easy to take advantage of Google’s geographic targeting options to lower your CPC and increase conversions. Here is how.

 

Getting started
Click on the campaign you want to use for geographic targeting and then the Settings tab.

Underneath “Targeted locations” click on “Edit”

Here you can either start typing…

Or you can click on “Show map”.

Either way you’ll still have the same options to choose from. I’m going to click on “show map”. If you originally chose to target all countries and territories or all of the UK, delete them from the list. Because the antiques stores are based in Derby and Nottingham, those are the first two places I am going to add.

Although the stores are based in the city centres, that doesn’t mean only people who live within the city boundaries will want to come. Looking at the map, there is a massive catchment area nearby as well. Click on “Nearby” to get suggestions on more areas you can target.

Alternatively, you can choose to target a radius.

Type in the central point and then how far out you want to reach. E.g.

Once you are happy with everything, click on “Done”.

Additionally, Google has three targeting methods and two exclusion methods. To see these, in “Settings” click on “Advanced location options”.

The default setting is, in my opinion, the best one. Here people using your target keywords within your specified location AND using it in their search will be shown your advert. For example, if I bid on the keyword “Antiques store” and have targeted Nottingham, someone in London searching for “Nottingham antiques store” will see my advert.

If you want to just show adverts to a geographic region regardless of the keywords used, choose “Target using physical location: Device-based location signal”. If you want it to be based exclusively on the keywords used, choose “Target using search intent: Location terms in user queries”.

My campaign is now set-up to only show adverts to people searching for my products within reach of my stores, or who are searching specifically for the products I sell in the area I am based.

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/10/google-ads-geolocation-targets/feed/ 0 How To – Fix Veeam FastSCP Error Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID [5F1555F0-0DBB-47F6-B10B-0AB0E1C1D8CE} failed due to the following error: 800700c1 http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/05/fix-veeam-fastscp-error-retrieving-class-factory-component-clsid-5f1555f00dbb47f6b10b0ab0e1c1d8ce-failed-due-error-800700c1/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/05/fix-veeam-fastscp-error-retrieving-class-factory-component-clsid-5f1555f00dbb47f6b10b0ab0e1c1d8ce-failed-due-error-800700c1/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:28:08 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=10030

1. Download the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SDK (THE 64-BIT VERSION!) from the Microsoft Website. This download is about 300MB if I remember correctly.
2. Install the SDK on the 64-bit machine that you would like to run Veeam FastSCP on.
3. Now, open a command prompt (Start -> Run -> Type “cmd” -> OK)
4. Change directory to: C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v2.0 64bit\Bin
5. Now Run: corflags “C:\Program Files (x86)\Veeam\Veeam Backup and FastSCP\VeeamShell.exe” /32BIT+
6. Now when you try and run Veeam FastSCP again, it should work fine.

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2012/01/05/fix-veeam-fastscp-error-retrieving-class-factory-component-clsid-5f1555f00dbb47f6b10b0ab0e1c1d8ce-failed-due-error-800700c1/feed/ 0 How To – Configure ESXi WebServer To Display List of VM’s and To Start / Stop Them http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/12/16/configure-esxi-webserver-display-list-vms-start-stop/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/12/16/configure-esxi-webserver-display-list-vms-start-stop/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:47:57 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=9863

William from VirtuallyGhetto posted the following which got me very interested in implemented in my own ESXi lab :)

I got the idea for this post a few months back after noticing several questions on the VMTN forums on how to enable webAccess for ESXi. With ESXi, the webAccess interface is no longer available as it was with classic ESX. After seeing the question and randomly browsing through the various flings on VMware Labs, I noticed an interesting fling called Ops Panel for ESX. Ops Panel provides a simple javascript that leverages the vSphere MOB to perform basic power operations for virtual machines and it is loaded onto the homepage of a classic ESX host remotely using Greasemonkey.

I immediately wondered if I could run the javascript directly on an ESX or ESXi host without the use of Greasemonkey. With a quick tweak of the default index.html homepage, I was able to get a simple “ghetto” webAccess running on both an ESX and ESXi host. I also ran into several bugs, one that dealt with how the power state of a virtual machines was being captured by the differences in the ESX(i) 4.0, 4.1 and 5.0 APIs and a recent fix to a CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) vulnerability in ESX(i) 4.1 Update 1 that made it difficult to get Ops Panel running on more than just ESX(i) 4.0.

I reached out to the fling creator Ivan Donchev and he was kind enough to help assist me in the issues I ran into and also provided an updated version of his script to properly handle both the power state and the CSRF workaround. He recently published an update to his script a few weeks back supporting both ESX 4 and ESXi 5 but missed ESX(i) 4.1 support due to limited amount of testing. This was an easy fix and I modified the script to include support for ESX(i) 4.1 and also changed the default power off operation to a guestOS shutdown. The modified version of the script can be downloaded here.

When you browse to the homepage of your ESX(i) host using the browser, you will be prompted to login which require the same credentials as if you were to login to the host directly using the vSphere Client or vSphere MOB.

Once you have logged in, it will search for all virtual machines running on the host and generate the list of virtual machines and their respective power states.

You can then perform the appropriate power operation such as a power on, shutdown or suspend using the icons on the right. This can be really useful if you don’t have access to vCenter Server, vSphere Client or SSH access to the host but just have a web browser.

To load the Ops Panel script on an ESX(i) host, you will need to do the following:

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# download ops.js
wget http://air.primp-industries.com/esxi41u2/ops.js -O /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/ops.js
# update index.html
sed -i '/ID_VISDKDesc/a <p>
<script type="text\/javascript" src=".\/ops.js"><\/script><\/p>' /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/index.html
# backup changes to local VMFS datatore
cp /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/ops.js /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ops.js
cp /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/index.html /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/index.html
# update rc.local to automatically restore changes
echo "cp -f /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ops.js /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/ops.js" >> /etc/rc.local
echo "cp -f /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/index.html /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/index.html" >> /etc/rc.local

Note: These instructions are applicable for both ESX and ESXi, but with ESXi, it is important that the commands to copy both the modified index.html and Ops Panel script to docroot are executed as changes are not persisted after a reboot for ESXi hosts.

You can also add this to your kickstart file by appending the lines above in your %firstboot stanza so you automatically get Ops Panel after install. Though this will not give you a full webAccess that classic ESX did but it definitely is a useful way to quickly get to your virtual machines and perform simple power operations using a web browser.

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/12/16/configure-esxi-webserver-display-list-vms-start-stop/feed/ 1 How To – Install Siri on iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G with H1Siri http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/12/05/install-siri-iphone-4-ipod-touch-4g-h1siri/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/12/05/install-siri-iphone-4-ipod-touch-4g-h1siri/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:16:01 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=9829

Does H1Siri available for all iOS devices ?

You have to know that iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 3G, iPad 2 and iPad 1 still not supported. The only supported devices so far are iPhone 4 (GSM/CDMA) and iPod touch 4G. Now let me show you how to install Siri on iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4G with few simple steps.

How to install Siri on iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4G [Guide]

Step 1: You have to Update your iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4G on iOS 5.0 or iOS 5.0.1 and jailbreak it.

Step 2: Go to Cydia > Sorces > Edit > Add and add the following repo :

http://www.cydia.be

or

http://cydia.myrepospace.com/H1Siri/

or

http://www.iphone3gsystem.fr/cydia

install siri iphone 4 ipod touch 4g h1siri



Step 3: Tab on Search, then search for H1Siri and install it and reboot your device.

install siri iphone 4 ipod touch 4g h1siri

Step 4: Now, go to Setting > General > Siri and switch it “ON”

install siri iphone 4 ipod touch 4g h1siri

Step 5: Exit Setting, then press and hold home button and you will now start Siri voice assistant. Tap on it and Speak.

install siri iphone 4 ipod touch 4g h1siri

Important Notes: It may stuck with you at the first time, you have to reboot your device 1 or 2 times. The developer behind H1Siri confirmed that the app will get more stability by tomorrow. If you didn’t find H1Siri don’t worry, this is due to some upgrading issues in servers. Now you can give it a try now and feed us back.

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/12/05/install-siri-iphone-4-ipod-touch-4g-h1siri/feed/ 1 How To – Fix VMWare Error Cannot Open the Disk – Failed to Lock the File http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/22/fix-vmware-error-open-disk-failed-lock-file/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/22/fix-vmware-error-open-disk-failed-lock-file/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:40:39 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=9676

Fortunately enough this is easy to fix, follow the instructions below to get ti fixed:

Error Message: Cannot open the disk ‘C:\Virtual Machines\Windows Server 2003\Windows Server 2003-000001.vmdk’ or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. Reason: Failed to lock the file.

Before you do anything I would suggest you make a full backup of the VM to an external drive.

The error message you is something similar to the picture below.

clip_image002

Go to the path of the virtual machine specified by the error and delete any .lck folders

Start the virtual machine.

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/22/fix-vmware-error-open-disk-failed-lock-file/feed/ 0 How To – Fix Error 50 on iTunes iOS 5 http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/17/fix-error-50-itunes-ios-5/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/17/fix-error-50-itunes-ios-5/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:54:45 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=9637

How to fix error 50 when trying to connect and restore the iOS 5 custom firmware

  • Uninstall Storm Vedio, QuickTime, and iTunes from your computer by navigating to
  • Control Panel –> Programs –> Uninstall a program.
  • Download and install iTunes 10.5.1 for Windows and Mac OS X.
  • Connect your iPhone to your computer and then sync it with iTunes (Use the USB port at the back of the chassis as it is more robust than the front ones).
  • Launch Device Manager on your Windows and then USB driver software update.
  • Use the original USB connector that comes along with your iOS device or use a USB connector that was manufactured by Apple.
  • Once you have managed to restore the custom firmware on your iPhone, you can now unlock it using Gevey SIM.
]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/17/fix-error-50-itunes-ios-5/feed/ 0 How To – Make Sonic Generation Run on 3.55 CFW Eboot Fix – BLES1236 http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/08/sonic-generation-run-355-cfw/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/08/sonic-generation-run-355-cfw/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:58:31 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=9556

Tutorial to play FULL GAME SONIC GENERATION BLES1236

UPDATE NEWS LINK With Demo in PKG + Param.sfo + Eboot.bin
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9E2Q5XFI

1Download the demo from here [passworld is ps3gunz]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S31TW8J9

2copy Sonic generation by ps3gunz.pkg to root of usb key
and install it with install package

3Go to MultiMann [Благодария Dean ]

4Go to manager file in HDD1/game/NPEB90337

5delete Param.sfo and USRDIR

6on right side go to your file of full Game Sonic Generation BLES1236

7Copy USRDIR of full Sonic without the eboot and Trophies Folder

8download archiv from
File name: Sonic Generations by Greystoke MS.rar File size: 17.38 MB

9copy param sfo fo archiv to HDD1/game/NPEB90337

10 copy eboot from archiv to HDD1/game/NPEB90337/USRDIR

11Come back to XBm and launch demo icon

Enjoy

Thank you to Dean for Multimann
to PS3Gunz for demo
and to Greystoke MS for fix of demo

UPDATE NEWS LINK With Demo in PKG + Param.sfo + Eboot.bin
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9E2Q5XFI

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/08/sonic-generation-run-355-cfw/feed/ 1 How To – Install OS X Lion On a PC With UniBeast http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/07/how-to-install-os-x-lion-on-a-pc-with-unibeast/ http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/07/how-to-install-os-x-lion-on-a-pc-with-unibeast/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:11:24 +0000 admin http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/?p=9539

UniBeastTonymacx86 has developed a project which converts your flash drive into a bootable operating system. Just plug n play. The project UniBeast All-in-one Bootable USB drive follows simple steps to setup your fresh operating system.

You’ll need a copy of OS X Lion which can be downloaded from the Mac app store or got from the Lion USB flash drive. You’ll also need an 8GB (at least) flashdrive and finally download UniBeast from here.

RedmondPie explains the steps:

Step 1: Firstly, you’ll need to create a bootable USB drive using UniBeast. Open/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and highlight your USB drive on your Mac.

Step 2: Next, click the Partition tab, then Current and opt for 1 Partition. Then, click Optionsand select Master Boot Record.

Step 3: Change Name to ‘USB’ (can use any name, but we’ll use USB for the benefit of this tut), and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as your format. Once you’re done, selectApply followed by Partition.

NOTE: If you’re using the Install Mac OS X Lion Application, be sure to check that it’s been placed in the /Applications folder. If you’re instead using the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive, plug it in.

Step 4: Download and run UniBeast. Continue through the first few steps.

Step 5: At Destination Select, click USB and then Continue.

Step 6: Select the package name of the method you’ll be using to install as depicted below. Laptop users will need to select the Laptop Support in addition. Once that’s done, hit Continue.

Step 7: Enter password and click Install. Depending on the speed of your system and the flash drive, it could take up to 15 minutes.

Step 8: Boot from your freshly prepared USB flash drive and install.

]]> http://www.smoothblog.co.uk/2011/11/07/how-to-install-os-x-lion-on-a-pc-with-unibeast/feed/ 0