Netgear DG834GT router - 1.03.23 firmware released

The latest firmware version 1.03.23 has been released for the Netgear DG834GT 108Mbps Wireless ADSL router.

The previous firmware versions (specifically 1.02.19 and 1.03.22) were sub-standard and frustrating to use, mainly because of DHCP problems and reserved IP address issues. According to Netgear these issues have been addressed in the latest 1.03.23 firmware version.

I upgraded to 1.03.23 and did some tests on my home LAN; the DHCP issue has been resolved. Nice!

Problem - Cannot delete Firewall Rules

There's a new bug in this version: If you select a Firewall Rule you created and select 'Delete', it just displays a blank page in the router interface. It does not delete the firewall rule! I tested it in several browsers: Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Opera. Luckily you can enable/disable a Firewall Rule but if you have a long list of Firewall Rules then it would have been nice if you could delete them to manage the list better.

Related links
108 Mbps Super Wireless ADSL Router - Official product page
My comments on previous 1.03.22 version
My comments on previous 1.02.19 version Read more on "Netgear DG834GT router - 1.03.23 firmware released"!

Forbes announces richest man in the world - Carlos Slim

Mexico's telecoms magnate, Carlos Slim Helú (age 70), has been announced by Forbes as the richest man in the world, overtaking americans Bill Gates (54) and Warren Buffett (79). It is the first time a person from outside the USA leads the rankings since 1994 when Japanese billionaire, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, held the top spot.

Carlos Slim's net worth is estimated at US$53.5 billion! Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp holds the second spot with US$53 billion and Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, third spot with US$47 billion.

Top 10 richest people in the world (Source: Forbes)

South Africa's mining magnate, Patrice Motsepe, and Johann Rupert & family are tied at #421 with a net worth of US$2.3 billion each.

Other interesting facts

• There are 1011 billionaires in the world this year, up from 793 last year.
• Asia's richest person is Mukesh Ambani from India, ranked 4th
• Brazil's Eike Batista had the biggest increase in net worth from US$7.5bn to US$27bn
• Richest woman on list is Christy Walton (Walmart) at #12

The Forbes rankings are based on information including stakes in publicly traded and privately held companies; real estate holdings; and investments in items such as art, gems and yachts; and compiled as of the close of U.S. markets on Feb. 12.

Related links
The World's Billionaires - Forbes
Slim Overtakes Gates, Buffett to Become Forbes Richest Person - BusinessWeek Read more on "Forbes announces richest man in the world - Carlos Slim"!

Make your extensions work in Firefox 3.6

Firefox is my default browser. I use quite a number of Firefox extensions (add-ons) to do certain functions and I've come to rely on them quite a bit. However, when you upgrade to a later version of the browser, some of these extensions are not compatible anymore.

The reason is simple, these extensions are created by external developers and they can only fix the code or release later versions of their extensions, after the newest browser version has been released. Also, some developers don't update their code at all.

Problem - Incompatible extensions

I recently upgraded from Firefox 3.5.7 to Firefox 3.6 and found that two of my extensions didn't work anymore, GMail Manager and Easy DragToGo.

There are two ways to deal with incompatible Firefox extensions:

1. Set Firefox not to check the compatibility of the extension and ignore it altogether, or
2. Modify the compatibility version of the individual add-on/extension

Disclaimer: Please note that if you make any changes, you do them at your own risk!

I chose option 2 (see second section on that page) because option 1 doesn't always work with all add-ons and since you're modifying the individual add-on with option 2, there is less risk.

In short, I basically changed the value of <em:maxversion> to 3.6.* in the install.rtf file of each add-on, re-installed the updated add-on, restarted the browser and everything worked again.

Related link
Why I use Firefox (and list of extensions I use) Read more on "Make your extensions work in Firefox 3.6"!

Biggest Powerball jackpot won - R91 million!

Last night one very lucky individual won the biggest lottery prize in South African history, R91 million and change! No, it wasn't me.

[image source]

UPDATE 16 FEB - Winner claims prize

The winner of the R91m Powerball has been revealed as a 43-year old mother of two teenagers, from the Western Cape. She has requested to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons.

Related links
The R91 million winner has come forward
Powerball - New lottery game in South Africa
Powerball results
SA National Lottery Read more on "Biggest Powerball jackpot won - R91 million!"!

Springbok contracts revealed

The Springbok rugby players who signed contracts with SA Rugby have been announced. This group will probably form the nucleus of the squad who will defend South Africa's title at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Contracted Springboks

2-year contracts: John Smit (hooker), Bakkies Botha (lock), Victor Matfield (lock), Schalk Burger (loose forward), Juan Smith (loose forward), Pierre Spies (loose forward), Fourie du Preez (scrumhalf), Bryan Habana (wing), Jaque Fourie (centre), JP Pietersen (wing).

1-year contracts: Tendai Mtawarira (prop), Bismarck du Plessis (hooker), Andries Bekker (lock), Heinrich Brüssow (loose forward), Danie Rossouw (lock/loose forward), Ruan Pienaar (scrumhalf/utility), Morné Steyn (flyhalf), Wynand Olivier (centre), Adrian Jacobs (centre), Chiliboy Ralepelle (hooker) subject to a fitness test.

Overseas-based players

SA Rugby has a policy of not offering contracts to Springboks playing for clubs abroad but the following players could still feature in coach Peter de Villiers's plans for the 2011 RWC: Jean de Villiers (centre), CJ van der Linde (prop), BJ Botha (prop) and Frans Steyn (fullback). Read more on "Springbok contracts revealed"!

Miramax closing down

I'm not a big fan of typical commercial Hollywood type movies because I love independent, art-house and foreign films. So it was quite disappointing to learn that Miramax, the movie studio that produced a lot of these type of films, will be shut down by Disney. Bad news!

Bob and Harvey Weinstein

Bob and Harvey Weinstein produced and/or distributed several of my favourite movies over the years. They left Miramax in 2005 but the studio still distributed great movies like No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood after that.

The Weinstein brothers launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown) and Kevin Smith (Clerks). Other great movies were The Crying Game and Pedro Almodovar's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! They are synonymous with independent movies and thrived on producing low-budget movies which brought great financial returns. The problem though is that they started producing big budget movies later on and their initial successful business model went out the window.

There are rumours that the Weinsteins want to buy the Miramax name back from Disney. Let's hope this is true because I definitely would like to see more of these movies being released to a wider audience under the brand that has done it so successfully before.

Miramax produced/distributed other favourites of mine like Trainspotting, My Left Foot, The Piano, Il Postino, Muriel's Wedding, Beautiful Girls, Swingers, Chasing Amy, Good Will Hunting, Life is Beautiful, Amelie. Here's the full list of films released by Miramax. Read more on "Miramax closing down"!

Thumbs up to Acer Support

About a week ago my Acer laptop's keyboard started giving me problems. I would press a key and nothing happened. The problem was intermittent but happened more frequently over time.

I first did all the usual anti-virus scans and found nothing wrong. I then rebooted into BIOS and the problem persisted while moving around the menus, so that meant it was not a problem with the Windows OS, since the operating system has not loaded yet. So it could only be a hardware problem.

I contacted Acer Support in Johannesburg via email; they first checked if they had stock of the components for my model and the next day the fault was logged. The DVD writer also gave me hassles and stop burning DVD's a while ago, so I logged that too.

Timeline

18 Jan: Contacted Acer Support via email
19 Jan: Received reply, said they had to check if they had components in stock first
20 Jan: Confirmed they did and fault was logged, received Case ID
21 Jan: Courier collected laptop in Cape Town and sent it to Johannesburg
28 Jan: Courier delivered laptop to me early morning

The keyboard and DVD writer was replaced as well as a plastic long strip which covers the internal speakers. Problem solved. I was without the laptop for five working days; so apart from two travel days they had the laptop for three days. I've dealt with Acer Support on two occasions and in both cases the experience was good. No hassles at all.

I'm just glad I had an extended warranty! Read more on "Thumbs up to Acer Support"!