Tech Blog is Tech » Fun http://www.techblogistech.com Exploring technology in the modern world Sat, 04 May 2013 14:10:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 My First Google Error http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/08/my-first-google-error/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-first-google-error http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/08/my-first-google-error/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 03:12:25 +0000 sean http://www.techblogistech.com/?p=621 Continue Reading]]> GoogleUntil now I’ve never actually had Google serve an error page to me. There have been times where I needed to reload Gmail or Google Plus, but today I saw a real error page delivered right to my browser by Google. It happened during a typical Google search and response was a 502, so I can only presume there was a problem with a back-end server that was grabbing my results. At first the instant search wasn’t working, then I was getting very limited results and finally I saw the pretty picture seen below. After about 15 seconds it was working completely normally again (that was fast Google!). Having been around so long and employing so many people I’m sure Google has some really great engineering going on to help with these sorts of failures. Cheers.

]]> http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/08/my-first-google-error/feed/ 0 Google Plus Comics http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/07/google-plus-comics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-plus-comics http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/07/google-plus-comics/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 07:29:58 +0000 sean http://www.techblogistech.com/?p=132 Garfield ComicLooking for the Google Plus Comics? Head over to Awesome Blog is Awesome!

]]> http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/07/google-plus-comics/feed/ 0 Cool Stuff to do with Telnet http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/07/cool-stuff-to-do-with-telnet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cool-stuff-to-do-with-telnet http://www.techblogistech.com/2011/07/cool-stuff-to-do-with-telnet/#comments Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:43:36 +0000 sean http://www.techblogistech.com/?p=103 Continue Reading]]> TerminalTelnet may seem like a thing of the past to some people, but there are still plenty of servers out there hosting a telnet service and some of them are–quick frankly–pretty darn cool!

In this post we’ll examine a few public telnet services out there that might be worth a visit, even today!

Starwars Asciimation

$ telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

At the top of the list is the Star Wars asciimation! By telnetting to the above domain you’ll first be greeted with some text, but after a few moments you’ll see that you’re presented with an animated ascii version of Star Wars! It certainly looks like some hard work went into putting it together and it’s even cooler that it was converted to a telnet stream. Neat!

The Bofh Excuse Server

$ telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl 666

From our same friends at blinkenlights.nl comes The Bofh Excuse Server. When you telnet in you’ll see that you are immediately disconnected and a ridiculous and often humorous excuse for the disconnect is provided by the server. This is good for a laugh and could even be used as a prank among techies by providing the wrong hostname and port (a geekier version of the rickroll).

Telehack

$ telnet telehack.com

Telehack is a collection of telnet apps and goodies, including games and jokes. Here’s a sample joke from Telehack’s archive:

For Sale: parachute, used once, never opened, small stain.

The old school games are fun to explore whether you’ve seen them before or not.

MUDs!

$ telnet aardmud.org

Last, but not least: Multi-user dungeons! These interactive, multiplayer games are played entirely through telnet and are still popular even today. The telnet command above will connect you to Aardwolf, one of the more popular and active MUDs available. If telnet video games sounds right up your alley, you can visit The Mud Connector to learn more.

P.S. If you like dungeons but multiplayer isn’t your style, there’s always NetHack. It’s a popular single-player dungeon that also has a text-based interface (although GUI’s are available as well).

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That’s it! It’s not much, but as you can see people are still using telnet and there are still some interesting and fun telnet services out there on the web.

Do you have a fun telnet service you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments! Happy hacking!

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