PS C:UsersKooshal> tracert -d speedtest.cpt.mweb.co.za

Tracing route to speedtest.cpt.mweb.co.za [41.86.121.228]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  41.136.208.1
  3    40 ms    24 ms    11 ms  196.27.70.121
  4    15 ms    11 ms    12 ms  196.192.102.182
  5   239 ms   235 ms   317 ms  80.231.76.101 <-- NOTICE HERE
  6     *      327 ms   249 ms  80.231.76.73
  7   241 ms   242 ms   238 ms  130.117.14.5
  8   247 ms   250 ms   252 ms  154.54.57.101
  9   236 ms   235 ms   239 ms  154.54.36.166
 10   292 ms   300 ms   236 ms  149.6.98.6
 11   394 ms   391 ms   433 ms  196.22.164.1
 12   393 ms   389 ms   388 ms  196.28.178.99
 13   394 ms   394 ms   389 ms  196.28.178.34
 14   407 ms   450 ms   404 ms  196.41.133.166
 15   405 ms   403 ms   405 ms  41.86.121.228

Trace complete.

I did the above traceroute to the speedtest.net server hosted in Cape Town after noticing a relatively high ping latency reported by a speed test against same server (I grabbed the host name from Chrome’s network inspector). Interestingly you will find above that instead of hopping directly to Africa, the packets are routed to the United Kingdom (see IP 80.231.76.101) and from there, they make their way to the speedtest.net server. I was like o.O after finding this, but it explained the high latency.

To confirm, I did a series of test to different destinations.

Paris, France

PS C:UsersKooshal> tracert -d speedtest.mediactive.fr

Tracing route to tmp01.mediactive.fr [83.167.35.96]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  41.136.208.1
  3    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  196.27.70.121
  4    13 ms    12 ms    29 ms  196.192.102.57
  5   287 ms   289 ms   667 ms  193.251.150.197
  6   395 ms   478 ms   494 ms  193.251.240.2
  7   399 ms   318 ms   756 ms  193.251.129.125
  8   612 ms   663 ms   604 ms  81.52.179.194
  9   245 ms   247 ms   245 ms  83.167.55.66
 10   327 ms   338 ms   328 ms  83.167.40.254
...

Here, we are directly connected to France.

London, UK

PS C:UsersKooshal> tracert -d speedtest.trancefm.co.uk

Tracing route to speedtest.trancefm.co.uk [85.133.85.170]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2   451 ms   205 ms   240 ms  41.136.208.1
  3    76 ms    19 ms    10 ms  196.27.70.121
  4    21 ms    13 ms    13 ms  196.192.102.86
  5   239 ms   235 ms   317 ms  80.231.76.101
  6   257 ms     *      245 ms  80.231.76.73
  7   325 ms   321 ms   321 ms  195.219.83.102
  8   323 ms   370 ms   326 ms  4.69.139.88
  9   522 ms   322 ms   321 ms  4.69.153.117
 10   337 ms   332 ms   324 ms  4.69.141.190
 11     *      327 ms     *     4.68.117.111
 12   360 ms   321 ms   321 ms  212.187.196.82
 13   343 ms   323 ms   324 ms  85.133.16.1
 14   331 ms   322 ms   323 ms  85.133.21.210
 15   321 ms   322 ms   340 ms  85.133.85.170

Trace complete.

Here as well.

Cyberjaya, Malaysia

PS C:UsersKooshal> tracert -d 202.71.105.233

Tracing route to 202.71.105.233 over a maximum of 30 hops

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    12 ms    10 ms    12 ms  41.136.208.1
  3    11 ms    11 ms    10 ms  196.27.70.121
  4    12 ms    14 ms    12 ms  196.192.102.202
  5    84 ms    83 ms    82 ms  58.27.14.61
  6    85 ms    84 ms    84 ms  10.55.36.114
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
...

These were some of the best results I got, out of the 9 servers I tested. I’d therefore recommend these servers to accurately determine your international connection speed:

1. Paris, France
2. London, UK
3. Cyberjaya, Malaysia

Don’t try to these African host servers, they are not reliable, even if they are closer to us.

Additionally, it’s more reasonable to test to some European or US server since all sites we access are hosted in these destinations.

To enable it, do this:

• Go to the video calling page and click “Get Started” to enable it.
• Open your chat list and pick a friend.
• Click the video call icon on the top right of the chat window.
• Wait for the plugin to download and install.

  
  

• Enjoy video calling!

Questions? Head on here.

Source: Facebook Blog

2-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your Google Account by requiring you to enter an additional code texted to your phone after you login using your regular password. However, this feature is currently not yet officially available for Mauritius users, although it just works fine with this little hack.

Turning on 2-step Verification

1. Visit your account settings page. (Follow link on Google homepage)
2. Click “Using 2-step verification” under Personal Settings

   

3. Read the guidelines and continue through the setup.
4. When you are prompted to choose how you’d like to get notified, select “Text Message (SMS) or voice call“.
5. You will now be prompted to enter your country, but you’ll have figured out by now that there’s no option for Mauritius. And it’s here we have to apply the hack. Copy and paste the following code in your address bar and press enter.

   [sourcecode language="javascript"]javascript:(function(){ t=document.getElementById(‘primary-country’);e=document.createElement(‘option’);e.text = ‘Mauritius’;e.value=’MU’;l=t.options[t.selectedIndex]; try { t.add(e, l); } catch (e) { t.add(e, t.selectedIndex); } t.selectedIndex = 0; })();[/sourcecode]

   

6. Enter your mobile number in the text box next to the country drop down list & click send code.
7. If everything went fine, you should receive a text from +447781470659 or Google with the verification code.
8. Enter the verification code and click verify. Once verified, click next.
9. You can choose to add a backup mobile number, if ever you lose your phone or for some reason, you can’t access it.
10. You can also use backup verification codes to log in your Google Account. It’s recommended you print or write down the codes in a safe place.  If your phones are unavailable, these codes will be the only way to sign in to your account.
11. Optional, If you choose to add a backup phone. To be able to choose Mauritius again, paste-enter the following code in your address bar. The previous won’t work in this step.

    [sourcecode language="javascript"]javascript:(function(){ t=document.getElementById(‘alternate-country’);e=document.createElement(‘option’);e.text = ‘Mauritius’;e.value=’MU’;l=t.options[t.selectedIndex]; try { t.add(e, l); } catch (e) { t.add(e, t.selectedIndex); } t.selectedIndex = 0; })();[/sourcecode]

12. You may see an alert that you need to create application specific passwords. Read more here.
13. Once you click “Turn on 2-step verification“, you will be logged out of all Google services and will need to log in again with your password and verification code (sent to your phone as you log in using your password).

Tips

• Simple is good. Describe what we need with as few terms as possible, like we’d expect them on the page. For example, instead of saying “my head hurts”, say “headache”—that’s how we’d expect it to be written as on a medical page.
• Words matter, character casing doesn’t. Typically, searches are normally case insensitive and all terms are included in the search. So, a search for “Apple iPhone” is the same as “apple iphone”. However, there are certain commonly used words such as ‘the’, ‘a’, and ‘for’ – also known as stop words-which are usually truncated. This exception can also be overruled in select cases.
• Punctuation is ignored. Generally, special characters like @#$%^&*()=+[] are usually ignored. In cases where punctuation has particular meanings in terms, such special characters are not ignored. For example, “C++” and “C#” which are both names of programming languages. The dollar sign ($) and other currency signs are also not ignored since it is used to indicate prices. The underscore (_) is also not ignored when it is used to join two words. For example “ quick_sort “ which is the name of a computer language function.

Advanced Search

• Phrase search (“”)
  Surrounding a set of words by double quotes tells Google to look exactly for the specified words, in the exact order without any change. However using such strict query, you may miss out good results accidentally. For example, a search for “Alexander Bell” will miss pages that refer to “Alexander Graham Bell”.
• Site-specific search ( site: )
  You can restrict your search to a specific site. For example, let’s say you are looking for a Wikipedia article on the Telephone. “Telephone site:wikipedia.org”  will return results from Wikipedia only. Simple queries like “telephone wikipedia” will also be as good, but may include results to other sites that mention Wikipedia. You can also do a domain-wise search. For example “hotels site:.mu” will return results from all .mu domain only (Mauritius).
• File Type ( filetype: )
  You can restrict your search to specific file types. For example, “ question paper filetype:pdf ” will return PDF documents only.
• Related Search
  You can find pages which have similar content by typing related: followed by the website address. Example “ related:en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein ” will show contents having similar content to Wikipedia article on Albert Einstein.
• Exclude Terms ( – )
  You can choose to exclude terms by prefixing the unwanted terms. For example, “virus –software” will exclude results referencing to software. You may also exclude a domain completely from your results. For example, “apple –site:apple.com” to search for apple fruit instead of computer software giant Apple, Inc.. However, when the minus is used as a hyphen. For example, “anti-virus –software” will exclude software references but will include the term virus.
• Fill in the blanks ( * )
  You can have Google “guess” the missing word. For example, “ google * ” will list all Google products.
• Exact Search ( + )
  You can instruct Google to strictly emphasize some words in a phrase. For example “ best email service +gmail ” will hit topics pertaining to Email services referencing Gmail. It behaves the same way like double quotes ( “” ).
• The OR operator ( | )
  You can choose to allow either of several words. For example, “Olympics 2008 OR 2009” will show up results for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Note: You must type OR in all caps or u may use the pipe symbol ( | ) as a substitute.

More Search Tools

• Currency Converter
  You can directly use Google search as a currency converter. Example: “ 1 USD to MUR ” will convert 1 US Dollar to Mauritian Rupees.
• Unit Conversion
  You can convert between different units using Google Search. Example: “38C in F” will return 38 Degrees Celsius equivalent in Fahrenheit.
• Cached Pages ( cache: )
  Looking for an earlier version of a web page or can’t access the website? You can use the “ cache: ” keyword to find a copy of the web page. For example, “cache:www.google.com”
• Calculator
  You can also use Google search as a calculator. Example, “ 5 * 65 ” will compute the value of the expression.

Activating Facebook Mobile Texts

1. Login to Facebook.
2. Click on Account in the right and Edit Account in the menu.
3. Click on Mobile tab.
   
   

4. Click on Register for Facebook Text Messages

   
   

5. Select Country as Mauritius and Mobile Carrier as Emtel. Click Next to proceed.
   
   
   
6. Now text F FB to 8466 8300 from your Emtel. You should receive a text back from 8466 8300 on your SMS inbox:

7. Facebook Mobile Confirmation code: ******

8. Type in the confirmation code, click Next and you’re good to go

Using Facebook Texts: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=821
Demo: http://www.facebook.com/mobile/?texts

Beware MyT users!!!

Don’t test to this server, you’ll get local speeds (i.e. around 2Mbps). Instead try an offshore server if you wish to test your international connection speed (preferably some server in the US since most of the sites we access are hosted in the US).  Seems MT will incessantly try to fool its users, how cheap! :@

Here’s my ADSL connection speed test results ( It sucks, I know! )

Do you want to download everything ever posted by you on your Facebook account?

Now you can download it easily including your messages, wall posts, photos, status updates, profile information and other data using download feature on Facebook. All the Facebook account information is downloaded as zip file. You can open the zip file and browse profile information, messages, photos offline on the local computer.

Getting Started

1. Login to your Facebook Account then click Account > Account Settings link on the top right.
2. On the Settings screen, scroll down and look for ‘Download your information’. It’s just above above the ‘Deactivate account’ option.

   

3. Click the learn more link to go to the download page.

   

4. Click the Download button.

   

5. Click the Download button on the “Request My Download” popup dialog to request your download. Once the backup is complete, you will receive an email with the download link.

   

6. Click the unique download link once you receive the confirmation mail.

   

7. For security purposes, you need to enter your password. Enter the correct password and click Continue.

   

8. Click the “Download Now“  button to begin downloading your copy.
9. Once the download is complete, unzip the contents to a folder. Then open the index.html file in the chosen folder to view the contents.

   

You can now click the links on the left to view other Facebook account information like messages, photos, wall, friends, events, notes and so on.

Note: This option seems to be unavailable on newly created Facebook Accounts.

Source: Facebook Blog

A few quick, fascinating facts about Google…

• The name ‘Google’ was an accident. A spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for ‘Googol’.
• Google started as a research project at Stanford University, created by Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were 24 years old and 23 years old respectively (a combined 47 years old).
• Google’s index of web pages is the largest in the world, comprising of billions of web pages. Google searches this immense collection of web pages often in less than half a second.
• Google receives daily search requests from all over the world, including Antarctica.
• Users can restrict their searches for content in 35 non-English languages, including Chinese, Greek, Icelandic, Hebrew, Hungarian and Estonian. To date, no requests have been received from beyond the earth’s orbit, but Google has a Klingon interface just in case.
• Google has a world-class staff of more than 2,668 employees known as Googlers. The company headquarters is called the Googleplex.

• Google translates billions of HTML web pages into a display format for WAP and i-mode phones and wireless handheld devices, and has made it possible to enter a search using only one phone pad keystroke per letter, instead of multiple keystrokes.
• Google Groups comprises more than 845 million Usenet messages, which is the world’s largest collection of messages or the equivalent of more than a terabyte of human conversation.
• The basis of Google’s search technology is called PageRankâ„¢, and assigns an “importance” value to each page on the web and gives it a rank to determine how useful it is. However, that’s not why it’s called PageRank. It’s actually named after Google co-founder Larry Page.
• Googlers are multifaceted. One operations manager, who keeps the Google network in good health is a former neurosurgeon. One software engineer is a former rocket scientist. And the company’s chef formerly prepared meals for members of The Grateful Dead and funkmeister George Clinton.

Once again…

Happy Birthday Google!

Source & More info: http://www.google.com/corporate/index.html

Source: Orange Mail (http://www.orange.mu/mailing/iphone4.html)
Official Announcement: http://www.orange.mu/kinews/…/orange-lance-l-rsquo-iphone-4-a-maurice.html
More details: http://www.orange.mu/iphone/