Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ip

Connect Two!

davidmsc — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:50:05 -0800

Two computers at work: my desktop, and a DVR-capture computer in another workcenter. I can "ping" the DVR computer from my desktop using the ipconfig command with no problem. Accessing it from my browser, however, does not work. Tried both Firefox and MS IE. Using the same IP address (http://xxx.xxx.x.xxx) in both instances, but no luck connecting via browser. Our internet guy claims that there's no firewall issues. So what's the problem - why can't I connect to the DVR computer from my desktop? Much obliged for any assist, MeFites!

Help me with a bit of passive home defence

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:26:38 -0800

Looking for a GSM alarm system for my house. I don't live in the States, so the answer should ideally be non-US specific. I was wondering about the Panasonic BL-C131A, but that needs presumably a decent amount of light and a working internet connection to alert me of break-ins. And without push email, fifteen minutes could pass before I get the alert. It's not really ideal, I don't think... A GSM alarm seems like a better idea, but they all seem so expensive and if not expensive then Chinese. Does anyone have a recommendation for a basic all-in-one system with GSM alert for under $200? I only need one PIR, with bonus points for expandability. I noticed Ontech GSM Mini 9009 (+ Ontech GSM Relay 9010) but they are fairly expensive considering the actual alarm isn't included here. Any thoughts? Surely in this digital age the home security market has moved on from closed solutions like a monitoring centre?

Website based oin IP address

yoyo_nyc — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:37:59 -0800

How do I show different webages to my website visitors based on country of origin? Currently I read the browser language settings with this code.

This has some disadvantages for my application. How would a code look that shows different websites not based on the language browser settings but on the actual IP location?

Whose game is this?

MrMulan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:54:49 -0800

Who owns the games on Steam?(or any digital download service) Are there any online, resources, blogs, sites that are keeping track of what seems to me a big looming question regarding IP?

When I purchase a game from Steam, am I buying or renting?
What will it take for this to get litigated? What are the possible ramifications of any decision?

If I purchase a game, I am free to resell the game after I play it, be it for console or PC. I can resell most anything I purchase.
Steam says that it is against their EULA to sell your free account that you have purchased games for.
I tried going through the Steam forums, but all I get is emotional opinions on one side or the other.

Personally, I am interested because I use Steam exclusively for all game purchases for a variety of reasons, and am wondering what happens 1,10,100 years from now when I want to give or sell Plants vs Zombies to somebody.

How likely is it that this would come back to haunt me?

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:59:11 -0800

If someone enters a scientific "Theoretical Challenge" under my name and wins the competition, would that come back to haunt me even though all intellectual property rights would be relinquished to the company running the challenge? I have a parent who is in the process of coming up with the financing for a new investment, and though it is doable, it will be very tight for them for the next several years. They are a researcher by profession, and have discovered a scientific competition in which they need to create a theoretical solution to a proposed challenge.

This presents a conflict of interest to their current workplace and they would not normally be allowed to accept the cash prize, should they win. Their theory is that since this particular challenge requires that the entrant/winner relinquish all intellectual property rights, they should be able to enter the contest under my name.

If they don't win, no harm done. If they do win, what implications would that have for me? Taxation is the obvious one, but is there a chance my name would be linked to this project somehow even after all the intellectual property rights are transferred?

I'm rather wary and skeptical of the whole situation, but I do know how tight things are for them right now and I'd like to be able to help out. If I refuse, I would like to have a more solid reason beyond "I don't feel comfortable with it". I'm aware that this is a perfectly legitimate point, but please humour me and come up with other concrete consequences.

I'm in Canada, and living away from home. Thanks in advance!

What is the lowest priced IP camera with optical zoom for use as webcam to display a mountain to the public?

fenwaydirtdog — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:55:03 -0800

What is the lowest priced IP camera with optical zoom for use as webcam to display a mountain to the public? I would like to set up a webcam for only one use: to display a mountain that is a few miles from my house for anyone on the internet to see. I need this webcam to be independent, i.e. not attached to my computer (I've heard terms like IP camera, network camera, or video server to describe this). But I also need an optical zoom feature, as 1) the mountain is too far away for the picture to be interesting with no zoom, and 2) the digital zoom on another webcam I've tried (Panasonic BL-C111A) yields very poor picture quality. Alternately, I could use a potential optical zoom lens accessory that attaches to a camera -- I won't need to be adjusting the zoom once I have achieved the level of zoom I want initially. Finally, this webcam would need to allow anyone on the internet to access it and display basically a window that only has the picture -- I don't want members of the public to be doing pan/tilt and such (the camera doesn't need pan/tilt at all), and I'd rather there not be any other superfluous text in the window that the public would see.

There are so many different options that I am lost. Can someone point me to a low-cost option that would solve my problem? I would love for this to be $100-$200.

Proxy? VPN? How can I fool download services into thinking I'm from the USA?

GilloD — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:01:23 -0800

Proxies, VPNs and restrictions, oh my! How can an American dude in South Korea get his Hulu, Steam and Direct2Drive on. More inside. I'm an American dude who is living in South Korea, as you can tell from my recent AskMeFi history. Here's a new kink: I got this sweet, sweet gaming laptop. I like to play games. And unlike other dudes, I like to pay for them. I have the $ to spend, I like to support the safe, lgal alternative to piracy.

Problem: I can't spend it. Many Steam games aren't available outside the US. Same with Direct2Drive. The vast majority of titles aren't purchasable with a Korean credit card. More, if I try to use my American card I get a warning like "The billing address you're using doesn't match the country you're buying from".

So, ugh. I thought we all liked capitalism and here I am trying to spend money and I literally CANNOT GIVE IT AWAY. Recently I've had friends 'Gift' me the game which lifts this restriction, but I feel bad putting them on the spot.

So: Proxy? Proxies are slow, yeah? Are there pay-for proxies that are quicker? WHat about VPNs? What are my options for tricking websites into thinking I'm coming from the US. I'm not against shelling out a monthly fee to have access to a service like this. Suggestions?

How do I protect a card game invention?

velvetsmog — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:51:34 -0800

I have invented a card game and would like to protect it before I start large-scale game testing. I can't find useful information about the laws surrounding protecting this kind of intellectual property. First, what kind of protections should I be seeking for a card game? Second, any recommendations on reputable, ethical lawyers in Seattle who can help me protect my game?

How cool can Wordpress get?

london302 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:43:34 -0800

What is the coolest thing you have seen/done using Wordpress. Special relevance to a corporate website. Can I get it to do cool stuff for me like IP filtering and more? I am not a web developer or a designer but am willing to read and learn and any help will be appreciated.

The site itself will be hosted as a wordpress theme and the client will use it for updating it (CMS). What I was wondering was if there are any nice plugins/tricks which would allow us to do some of the following cool things:

1. Embed Google documents which can be shared either the whole world or in a password protected section (particularly interested in presentations and spreadsheets)

2. Can we present a different set of pages to visitors from different part of the world based on their IP addresses?

3. We are planning to use Dreamhost as our web host - any good or bad experiences with Wordpress/plugins?

4. Can we backdate postings in our press release section?

Can I work in IP?

Kifer85 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:51:38 -0800

[LawFilter]Should I not indicate to employers that I'm interested in Intellectual property? I'm at a top-14 law school (after transferring from a top-30) and will be interviewing this week with about a dozen firms for next summer. Over the last couple years I've developed a strong interest in technology, and am personally very interested in the types of litigation dealing with digital property rights and simply intellectual property in general. I'm very tech-savvy, but I hold no hard science, engineering, or computer science degree (I was a Government major...).

So for those of you who are lawyers, practicing IP, or familiar with how top firms recruit for this type of litigation--how exactly should I present this interest to employers? Would I look ignorant for even suggesting that I am qualified to do this type of work? It is my understanding that much IP litigation can be done by those without hard-science backgrounds, and that such a background is only necessary to be admitted to the patent bar for patent litigation.

Bringing Big Brother closer to home.

kaibutsu — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:38:14 -0800

I'm curious about 'trojan' software for tracking a computer after it's been stolen. Human Interest Part: A very cool local bike co-op recently had a bunch of equipment stolen, including an old computer. This got me to thinking about the possibility of tracking a computer after it's been nicked.

Technical Part: So I'm thinking it should be possible (and even easy) to write a script such that a machine transmits it's IP address and a bit of identifying data to a trusted source when it connects to the net and every ten minutes or so thereafter. On the other end, another machine is set up to receive said data. This could potentially be either a pair of personal computers that are stored in separate locations, or a central server at Google or something that everyone uses. Presumably, the IP address could then be used to obtain a physical location for the missing computer, should it ever be stolen.

Questions: Does it exist already? And if not, I'm curious about the feasibility of this as a project. The weak link that I have little real knowledge of is how accurately one can turn an IP address into a physical location. Any thoughts?

FWIW, I prefer linux/*nix-friendly answers, though hearing about existing software for Windows wouldn't put me off.

I also fully understand how creepy this software would be on a personal computer; I ask mainly for the purposes of an organization that would be trying to track a usually-stationary computer.

Can I use a U.S. based web server to gain a U.S. ip address for a computer located outside the U.S.?

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:51:29 -0800

Can I use a U.S. based web server to gain a U.S. ip address for a computer located outside the U.S.? I have a dedicated windows web server rented from a U.S. web hosting company (the server is - to state the obvious - located in the U.S.). I would like to have a U.S. ip address for my home computer which like myself resides outside of the U.S. (In Europe).

I can access the web server via remote desktop from my work computer, this access is limited to my work ip address. However I would like to know if it is possible to use the web server to somehow acquire a U.S. ip address for my home (non-work - I dont have remote desktop access) computer, for the purposes of accessing services which are limited to the U.S. (HULU.com etc). So while I can easily gain access to the web server from home via other means like logmein.com I really need the U.S. ip address as I need sound!

Assume I know very little about this aspect of computing. Also know that I do not wish to do anything illegal nor do I wish to do anything which would throw up any red flags to my hosting company or appear like some sort of hack-attack to them. They are very well run and I am very happy with their service and do not wish to jeopardise it. Final comment about the hosting company - they have very tight security, enforce strong passwords and from my limited knowledge are likely to have applied all reasonable security measures to this web server. The reason I am not asking my hosting company this question is that I do not want to be seen to be requesting something which could potentially appal them.

Hoping I have given background detail on which to base an answer to the question. So one final piece of information. Within IIS there are 10 ip addresses which I can assign to directories on the web server. Don’t know if one of these can somehow be used by my laptop.

So to restate the question for clarity. Is it possible to use a U.S. based web server to provide a U.S. ip address to a computer outside the US? And if so how?

How accurate is geolocation detection via IP Address

friedbeef — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:40:09 -0800

How accurate is geolocation detection via IP Address? I work for a small business who is only based in select locations within my country. I want to use Google Adwords to target very specific areas on a Google map.

Adwords recommends me to target an area with a minimum of a 35km radius.

My question is, can IP addresses really target down to such a granular level like a 35km radius?

Is granularity an international standard, or does it depend on individual ISPs?

I just need to set my expectations correctly. Can anyone help please?

Who owns who?

cubedweller — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:07:27 -0800

There's a website out there that aggregates operational radio transmissions (similar to coastguard radio, police radio, that kind of thing). I'd like to create an iphone app that aggregates the feeds. Am I allowed to use the websites streams? Do they have any legal ownership over the streams despite the fact that they're publicly broadcast and can be picked up on any receiver?

Help me keep my IP

Quazie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:12:46 -0800

I have some personal IP and I don't want the large corporation I'm about to be employed by to own it, what are my options? I have written some pretty interesting iPhone apps, and have a variety of prototypes of ideas that I have implemented. I want to continue to work on these even after I am employed, and as such I don't want the large corporation to own my IP.

My initial idea includes setting up a LLC, but I'm unsure if this is the best option. Currently I'm not making any money on my apps, but in the near future I do plan on selling my applications on the app store and perhaps doing some other coding that could result in pay.

I know that YANML, and very likely YANAL, but i'm just looking for what paths I should investigate. Thanks.

How did the private ip address ranges get selected?

empath — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:32:23 -0800

How did 192.168 and 10, etc get selected as the private IP address ranges? I know it's in the RFC, but is there a story about why they picked those particular numbers? Who picked them?

What sort of addresses do 3G end stations receive?

tkolar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:05:12 -0800

What sort of addresses do 3G end stations receive? A quick survey around the office has revealed that cell phone manufacturers are not really keen on making the local IP address accessible (and frankly, such a small survey wouldn't be of much use anyway).

Intuitively I would assume they're given RFC1918 private IP addresses and sit behind a NAT box, but I'm hoping someone out there in AskMe land has more direct knowledge.

Death of Google not exaggerated?

Expat — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:25:51 -0800

Sitting in a hotel room using the hotel internet connection and cannot access any Google sites. Any other site seems to come up fine. Doubt it's a problem with the hotel network or router as I'm using OpenDNS. If I try to ping google.com, I get a normal IP address response and a normal time response - when I try www.google.com (or mail.... or analytics...) the DOS prompt returns an IP address of 0.0.0.1 and a time out.

Sorry of this has been asked before, but for the obvious reasons, I cannot search previous questions.

Help me lawyer up...

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:32:18 -0800

I need to find a lawyer in the NYC area who deals with confidentiality agreements and stock option contracts, specifically in the software industry. How would I go about finding such a lawyer? I don't have a ton of money, so I'd rather keep costs low if possible.

If you'd like to respond by email, you can contact me at needaniplawyer@gmail.com

How to buy a domain from a squatter?

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:32:20 -0800

What's the best way to buy a .com domain from a squatter? Have you used a third-party to anonymously negotiate a domain purchase? I'd be very interested to hear your experiences. Googling about reveals a number of businesses that offer to handle anonymized negotiations of such matters... have any MeFites used these services and been pleased with the process? Or displeased? If so, would you recommend someone? What kind of rates, above the domain price itself, would we be looking at paying? This is in the U.S.

Note that the decision has already been made that if the domain can be had at a reasonable price, we should just buy the thing. I'd rather not encourage squatting as a business model... if it were me personally I'd try to take it to arbitration, but it's not my call.

Recommend a good IP security camera that does motion detection.

monkeybutt — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:22:34 -0800

Can anybody recommend a good IP surveillance camera that does motion detection internally? I currently have an IP network based surveillance setup using a variety of Toshiba and D-link IP cameras all feeding a windows box running ActiveWebCam. currently the PC and software do all of the motion detection, and it hits the CPU pretty hard depending on how many cameras you have active.

i was wondering if anybody had any [resonably priced...$300-500] camera recommendations that did the motion detection and emailing of images/videos onboard rather than offloading it to a computer.

i've tried some Linksys solutions that had detection built in but the motion detection is spotty and the video quality is horrible.

thanks for any help

gmail through SMTP without showing local IP to recipient?

nolnar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:24:31 -0800

when emailing from the gmail web interface then the users local IP is not included in the message source. But when emailing from gmail via SMTP ( smtp.gmail.com ) then the local IP is included in the source. Can I somehow stop that from happening? Scenario: Someone wants to run a blog anonymously but still use a gmail adress for receiving email from readers and replying to such emails.

Can that be done using gmail through SMTP (using thunderbird or some similar program on the local computer) WITHOUT the email recipient getting the IP number of the local computer?

I did some testing. When emailing from the gmail web interface then the users local IP is not included in the message source. But When emailing from gmail via SMTP ( smtp.gmail.com ) then the local IP is included in the source. Can I somehow stop that from happening?

(note: in this thread http://ask.metafilter.com/30539/anonymize-email someone claims that gmail through SMTP strips identifying IP adresses but when testing I found that to not be the case)

(note2: I'm only asking for some way go achieve weak anonymity. If something illegal is done then authorities can probably still request the sender ip from gmail. But that is no problem because the actual scenario involves nothing illegal)

How to get camera to work on internet via WISP?

bob749 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:00:31 -0800

My internet security cameras only work on the ISP I subscribe to and not on another ISP. The router is port fowarded. I use to use Hughes and everything worked fine. I switch to an ISP that uses a roof antenna with modem built into the antenna. Sounds strange but they call this a WISP. When I try accessing my cameras (all have specific http address like http://xxx.viewnetcam.com:5000), on say Verizon DSL or any other ISP, the page won't display. If I try the same when I'm using the WISP I subscribe to, everything works fine. Bottom line SEEMS that any other ISP can't get through to my router to complete the connection to let me connect and view the cameras.

Xbox 360 won't connect, thus limiting my 'rocking out' time.

cgomez — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:27:03 -0800

I've been using my Xbox 360 for almost a year without any networking problems. As of two days ago, it will not log into Xbox Live and the problem has gotten worse. I've been using the Xbox 360 on my network with an Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and a cable internet connection without issue. On Thursday, I tried to get online and it wouldn't sign in - the network test failed on the MTU stage. I didn't have time to troubleshoot it then, so I waited until this morning. Now that I've been working with it, I tried swapping ethernet cables, power it off, along with my router and cable modem and such, now it won't even get an IP address. I even went so far as plug the 360 directly into the modem and restart the modem.

Is there a way to reset the 360 completely (and not lose my profile, downloaded content)? I'm certain that there is something on the 360 that is causing the problem. I've reset the 360 network settings to default, but they weren't change in the first place.

This is quite frustrating, please help. All logical attempts at remedying this have failed.

Selling plants of uncertain ancestry.

Jimbob — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:34:37 -0800

Plant breeders' rights question - propagation and sale or plants, when in ignorance of the fact that the plant you're propagating and selling is a registered variety. Say you buy a house, and in the garden is a lovely pink geranium. You decide to take some cuttings from it and grow them. After a while you've got a few dozen new little geraniums growing, some of which you plant in your garden, but you've really got no space to plant them all. So, you put up a sign on your gate - "Geraniums for sale $5".

Now, imagine if the geranium you're selling is actually a registered / patented breed of plant. The sort of thing that, if you bought it in a store, would have a little tag attached saying something like "Propagation and commercial sale of this variety is illegal under the Plant Breeders Rights Act..."

Would you get in trouble, from a practical (detection) point of view, or a legal point of view, for doing this? I'm in Australia for the record, but I'm assuming things would work in a similar way elsewhere. Essentially, are you doing something illegal by selling plants grown from cuttings or seeds that you had no idea, or no simple way of knowing, were registered plant breeds?