FettesPS

DynDNS’s updater utility keeps a log of every time it has pushed a new IP to their servers. Since I have a shoddy internet connection I use this to log how many times I’ve disconnected each day and when it happened. Occasionally I need to access these logs and reset them after making tweaks to my connection. Here’s where these logs can be found if you need to erase them or back them up:

Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DynDNS\Updater

Windows Vista / Windows 7:

C:\Users\yourusername\Application Data\DynDNS\Updater

Not happy with Netflix’s selection here in Canada? Looking for a way to use Netflix USA without having to use some fancy proxy servers or VPN? Well, it turns out there is a way that’s pretty simple and just about anyone can set it up. All you need is a bit of familiarity with networking and your router. So how do you go about unlocking 13x as much content for the same low price?

1. Sign up for Your Trial at USVideo.ca
2. Configure Your Router and/or Devices with your New DNS Settings
3. Sign up for a Virtual Credit Card at EntroPay
4. Sign up at Netflix.com

Sign up for Your Trial at USVideo.ca

The main piece of this puzzle is tricking Netflix into thinking you’re accessing their page from an ISP in the US. To do this you will need to create an account at USVideo.ca. This is as simple as punching in your email address and hitting Start Trial. After your first month you will be billed $4.99 USD per month.

This will certainly be the most challenging step for any non technical users. You will need to program the new DNS settings from USVideo.ca into either your router or the individual devices you wish to use to connect to Netflix. You can opt to only set up your router and have everything on your network fool sites into you’re coming from the USA, or you can individually set up your Wii, XBox, iPhone, AppleTV or many other Netflix enabled devices to use the new DNS settings. The advantage of individually configuring devices is that should you need to access the Canadian versions of Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, etc.

Rather than copy and paste the information from their site, I’ll now point you to their Knowledge Base for articles on how to set up common routers and devices to use their DNS settings. For those of you who know how to do this already, simply set your DNS as follows:

Now just Test Your Settings to make sure they work. If not, head back to their Knowledge Base for more help.

After your free 1 week trial any time you access Netflix.com or another one of the supported sites you’ll get sent back to their site letting you know the trial is over. First you’ll have to give them you’re email address again, at which point it will give you the option of setting up a subscription. You can use your PayPal account to fund this process or your credit card. After configuring the subscription and paying your first month you will be able to continue using the service and will have not have to complete this step again.

Sign up for a Virtual Credit Card at EntroPay

Although you can get away with using your Canadian credit card with the old trusty 90210 zip code I would recommend using EntroPay. The reason I recommend this extra step is Netflix has been slowly cracking down on Canadians using their service and recently killed everyone’s ability to use PayPal for this step. I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before they do this with Canadian credit cards. Using a virtual credit card adds very little to the cost and ensures that you won’t find yourself without service when Netflix decides to bring down the iron hammer on this as well. If you do not want to use EntroPay you can skip it at this time as Netflix is still only asking for a valid Zip code and is not validating that against your Canadian credit card.

Once at the EntroPay website click on Signup Now. Select USD as your Account Currency and your country as the Country. Fill in the rest of the form using a your real billing address for your Canadian credit card to fund the Virtual Visa card. On the next screen fill in the details of the credit card you want to use to fund the virtual Visa card. Continue on to the funding screen and add as little as $8 USD to your account. I’d personally recommend about $25 to give you enough for 4 months service (3 months plus 1 month trial). Just make sure to top up your virtual credit card every few months.

Sign up at Netflix.com

If you have or had an account at Netflix.ca you’ll want to make sure you use another email address. Netflix will stop you from using the same account info and if you even accidentally try to log in with your Canadian credentials it will redirect you to the dot ca version of the site. If you are attempting to use a Canadian credit card you’ll also want to make sure it’s not the same one that was used to pay for your Canadian Netflix account.

Once all of that is out of the way, creating an account at Netflix.com is a simple process that will also start with a free 1 month trial. Make sure to use your Virtual Credit card number and a random American address if prompted for it. After your account has been created you can log in and immediately start browsing and watching Netflix USA.
$5.64 CAD

Total Cost

Since one of the major reasons people switch to Netflix is for the savings it’s important to determine exactly what we’re paying for the American version of Netflix.

Canadian to American exchange rates will naturally fluctuate, but for $13-15 a month you can be unlocking THIRTEEN times as much content by accessing the American version of Netflix. In addition to being able to use Netflix USA you are also unlocking many other services through your subscription to USVideo.ca. I mostly look forward to finally being able to use Pandora again, but have also been playing around with the free version of Hulu and am fairly happy with that. I am considering adding Hulu plus for another $7.99 USD to further boost the available content. In addition to these you will be able to access Amazon Video, Pandora, Hulu, ESPN3, MTV, CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC, and even some British sites such as The BBC and ITV.

I finally got around to upgrading to the the newest stable release of Emacs. There were a few things I wanted to be able to do and rather than use outdated methods I decided it was time to upgrade to Emacs 23. I ran into a few hitches along the way but after getting them resolved I went about setting up the Emacs daemon to load quietly in the background and start using multiple emacs clients under different GNU Screen windows. I had a bit of a time figuring out how to make it so it wouldn’t try to start up another server each time I logged in via SSH or created a new Screen. I never really found a one stop answer for this, rather it was a combination of several suggestions I saw. So here’s what I came up with for my ~/.bashrc:

# Boot up the Emacs Daemon
function emacs_is_running() {
    ps -ef | grep "emacs --daemon" | grep -v grep > /dev/null
}                                                                                                                                                                                                          

# Debug
if emacs_is_running; then
    echo Emacs daemon already running
else
    echo Launching emacs daemon
    emacs --daemon
fi                                                                                                                                                                                                         

# Fix Typos, Add Shortcuts...
alias e="emacsclient -c -a nano"
alias emac="emacsclient -c -a nano"
alias emacs="emacsclient -c -a nano"
alias emasc="emacsclient -c -a nano"
alias pico="emacsclient -c"
EDITOR="emacsclient -c -a nano"
VISUAL="emacsclient -c -a nano"