Is UK2 a Good Hosting Company in 2024?

UK2 is a web hosting provider. They also sell domains and provide more complicated cloud computing services such as VPS etc. But is UK2 a Good Hosting Company in 2024? No they are not. 

Rewind . . . . 

If someone had asked me "Is UK2 a Good Hosting Company" around 2 years ago I would have rated them excellent. Apart from a few domains registered with Google Domains, and a couple of older sties hosted on Firebase, I had all my websites with UK2. Probs about 10 in total. 

The reason I was so please with UK2 up until a couple of years ago was that I thought they really understood what the customer wants, i.e reliability and expandability. 

 All was well. I had used UK2 for over 10 years, and it had been super reliable. THey obviously had it all figured out. . . .

UK2 . . . . THG 

So around Jan - February 2024 I noticed the UK2 website was rebranded UK2 THG. No big deal I though companies get bought out all the time. 

But around April 2024 one day all my websites went down, and when I contacted support no body answered the ticket, I waited for 36 hours before I got a reply. I'm not really sure how much I lost in leads, on a pro-rata basis it would be about £2000. 

Here is the review I left on UK2 THG Google Maps Listing 

So I will write the details of what happened (and reduce to 1 star - facepalm):

a- I had to wait 36 hours for a support ticket to be answered, I missed out on a day and a half of leads, goodness knows how many opportunities lost,

b - turns out this was because you changed from working system (CPanel) to StackCP

c - You didn't update nameservers automatically

d - You didn't even email me to say you were doing this!

e - After 24 hours of waiting I had to make a move and so very laboriously I have had to move my websites and domains to other servers.

Whatever possessed you to mess with a working system, not tell anyone about it, whilst blanking me on support for 36 hours. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Stack CP

But Stack CP is OK right?

No no no, its not OK. I spent 2 hours today trying to hook up filezilla, to FTP. I have to log in to Stack CP to unlock, and then the FTP client won't connect. I have tried dozens of different configs. No joy. 

Well perhaps I can upload the files using file manger. No. In trying to upload about 8 files to the required director it results in files disappearing instead of being overwritten, and not all of them are over written. Its a right mess. 

So from my limited experience Stack CP os absolute garbage. I wonder how much money they saved by switching.

Conclusion 

I would have been a customer for life with UK2, I had no reason to change. I don't pay a lot say £240 a year of something like that. But I would have paid it for years to come. . . happily for a reliable service. 

I wonder how many customers they lost. 

FYI I went to Hostinger they do a specific Control Panel hosting package. It costs about a quarter of the price and works just as well. 

If only I could get back the 50 hours or so it took me to migrate (nearly) everything. 

Flood Risk Reports

Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly  

Number of Cores vs Clock Speed - Which is Better

Number of Cores vs Clock Speed - Summary  

In all instances I have found it better to have more cores, as a opposed to fewer cores, regardless of clock speed. 

Number of Cores vs Clock Speed - Example 

I run a XW8400 and an XW6600. They are both capable of running 8 cores split over two physical processors.  

I have run the XW8400 in two configurations:

• 2 x Xeon 5160 (2 x 2 Core Processors @ 3.00GHZ - Total 4 Cores)
• 2 x Xeon E5345 (2 x 4 Core Processors @ 2.33GHZ - Total 8 Cores)

Despite the significantly lower clock speed, the 8 core set up is:

• Quicker 
• Less Glitchy 
• More Stable 

Number of Cores vs Clock Speed - How Do I Know This 

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ gives the following marks for the CPUs

• Xeon 5160 - 963
• Xeon E5345- 1868

Both systems are running 16GB RAM and High Quality SSDs. As such bottlenecks from these components are reduced. 

I also really do trash this old PC with modern heavy modelling software & and video encoding. And have found that in all cases the machine is less prone to hang ups, and crashes when run in an 8 core configuration, as opposed to a 4 core configuration. And also completes tasks much moire quickly. 

This is based on 10 years of observations, and using the same machine with 3 different operating systems (XP / 7 / 10). 

Additional 

Why am I using such an old (18 years) PC?

This:

And guess what this 18 year old PC still works really well. Please consider fixing / or upgrading what you already have, rather then adding discarding your equipment and adding to the e-waste problem. 

Environmental Consultants London

Flood Risk Assessment London 

How to Remove a Tangle of Rope or Net from a Beach

How to Remove a Large Tangle of Rope or Net from a Beach

This blog post describes some methods I have used to Remove a Large Tangle of Rope from a Beach. I also go on to describe some other methods you might use. 

I have recently returned from Scotland, doing some volunteer work for People Against Plastic Pollution . For one entire day I worked to remove a 249kg rope tangle that had been thrown above the tide line. 

Rope Tangle Removal Video 

Perhaps the quickest way to show how I did it is with the below video. 

The video shows:

1. Untangling the rope, 
2. Cutting up the rope.
3. Dragging rope to road head.
4. Loading in to trailer.

We also show the rope being weighed. Most people wouldn't bother to do this. 

Untangling the Rope

This is seldom worth doing, but on large ropes it can be worthwhile. Some filament net will be impossible to untangle.

Cutting Up a Tangle of Rope or Net from a Beach

I used a sharp knife to cut up the rope in to manageable chunks. I started off used an Opinel No.6. Which I have always found to be very good, but when it got blunt I switched to a Culinary Victorinox folding knife. This latter knife had a thinner cross section and cut through the rope a lot more easily.

Of course using a knife (although cheap and effective) has a couple of drawbacks. 

• As you saw through the rope you do release some of the fibre that are then too small to pick up. 
• You had will get very tiered. 
• It is quite dangerous, you may cut yourself. 

Alternatives might include:

• Using a "hot knife" to melt through the plastic rope of fishing net. 
• Using a team of people to drag the entire rope of net off of the beach in one piece.
• Using a machine (excavator of tractor bucket) to lift the rope of net off the beach in one piece. 

The below video shows student in South California removing filament net from a beach. 

Dragging the Rope or Net to Road Head 

For most people the route to a disposal point for the rope or net will involve road transport. Luckily on most beaches it is quite easy to drag collected plastic along the beach to a point where a skip, trailer, or truck can be parked.  

However for very remote locations it has been known to use helicopters (see below video), or as we are planning next year a boat to haul out the plastic rubbish from beach. 

Other Ideas for Getting Rope and Net from Beach

Here is a further list of ideas for getting plastic rope and nets from beaches:

• Hire an excavator and to dig out buried rope and net. 
• Use a quad bike and trailer to tow waste off of sure. 
• Use a winch to drag bags or clumps or net and rope along beach (dangerous)
• Dumper trucks (tracked and wheeled)
• Ask a farmer to tow a trailer down to beach. 
• Use a helicopter.
• Use a landing craft to access beach from the sea. 

Preliminary Ecological Appraisal 

Planning Consultants 

Metric Sizes for Fives Court

Rugby Fives Court Size

• Width 18ft (5.86m)
• Length 24ft (7.3152)

Fives Court vs Squash Court 

A squash court is a bit bigger.

• Width 6.4m
• Length 9.75m

Environmental Consultants London

Best Headphones for Bass

This page shows the best headphones with good bass response. These screen shots are taken from RTings.com

It is my birthday next months and I am research which headphones might give best bass for electronic dance music. 

Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless Headphones

Please note these were best over ear headphones I could find for bass. And have used these as a benchmark. 

7HZ Timeless

AKG N700NC M2 Wireless

AKG K371

JBL Tune 760NC Wireless 

I actually have a pair of these. The bass is OK.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro 2016…

I have a pair of these. They are very loud, and clear, and with an equaliser they sound really good for EDM. 

Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless…

My daughter has a pair of these and they are very good. Very strong bass. 

JBL CLUB 700BT Wireless

The response on these looks amazing. But they are "on" ear. I prefer over ear. 

JBL CLUB ONE Wireless

Conclusions

So after looking at above I will either go for 

Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless

or 

Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless Headphones

Potentially 

AKG N700NC M2 Wireless

Phosphate Assessment 

A Map Showing Various Points of Interest Around Wimbleball Reservoir

Wimbleball for Tourists and Nerds Alike

Wimbleball Reservoir, or Wimbleball Lake. Is an interesting place for tourists to visit, but it is also very interesting for engineers and scientists, as there is a lot of interesting things going on to make it work. 

Please find the below map that shows interesting features. You can click on markers to reveal extra facts and figures. 

Scientific Web Content 

noise management plan

Videos Play with Audio Only when Downloaded from Google Photos

The Problem  

When I download a video from Google Photos the video is audio only, no visual element is included. 

I upload a working video (.MOV) from my Apple iphone, and when I then downloaded that video to my PC, I only get the audio. 

By "working" I mean that I can use the .MOV file on my PC, watching it in media player, or editing it in Movie Maker. 

Google support forums have lots of people with this problem, but no solution is offered. After using google support for first time owing to a problem. I now have two problems as they terminated our conversation without a solution. They have said they will email. . .  but we'll see. 

Immediate Work Around

If you just need a quick fix then you can use an online convertor to change .MOV to MP4. You can then use the MP4 files in you editing software. 

More Detail

After 1 hour on chat with a two google support staff, I narrow problem to:

"So problem videos use hvc1 codec. . . . and working videos use avc1 codec. I upload an avc1 codec video to google photos and it downloads as hcv1."

I found a handy little program called GSpot  that analysis video files and this told me about the different codec that were being used before and after download. 

When I transfer a video using a USB cable, it arrives on PC as avc1 codec. This works perfectly. Please note where the video codec name comes back as H.264

When I download a video from google photos, the video codec is different and is Named as "unknown". 

Fix 1 - Change Video Storage Format on Iphone

This fix will not help with videos already stored on Google Photos. But it will fix onward compatibility problems. 

On you iphone navigate:

1. Settings
2. Camera
3. Formats
4. Select: (Compatibility)

If I do this then I find I can download videos from google photos and work with them on the PC. 

Fix 2 - Pending

Hopefully Google Support will get back with a proper fix.

Transcript from Support Chat 

You can download PDF here. 

Chat transcript for case: 7-7409000033723 17 Jan, 00:46 (Pacific Time) 00:46:26 Maze: Maze joined the conversation 00:46:26 Dorky Thorpy: Dorky Thorpy joined the conversation 00:46:28 Maze: 7-7409000033723 Hi Dorky Thorpy. Thanks for being a Google One member. My name is Maze. How are you today? 00:46:37 Dorky Thorpy: Good thanks 00:46:44 Dorky Thorpy: You? 00:46:54 Maze: I'm glad to hear that, Dorky. I'm doing well, thanks for asking. 00:47:02 Maze: Before we proceed, may I confirm that you're contacting us about the email rollingreenhills@gmail.com, is that right? 00:47:11 Dorky Thorpy: yes 00:47:44 Maze: Thanks for confirming your email. I can see here that you have a concern with the download videos from Google Photos as it is playing as audio only, am I right? 00:47:54 Dorky Thorpy: yes 00:49:07 Maze: I'm sorry to hear that and I totally understand. No worries, I'll do my best to help you and if we can't find a solution, I will collect feedback for our developers and give you an external resource that you might be able to use. 00:49:21 Maze: May I know what device you are currently using? 00:51:27 Maze: Just checking, are we still connected? 00:51:30 Dorky Thorpy: I am downloading videos from google photos to a windows 7 PC. I can play the video OK straight in google photos. And I can take them straight off iphone with USB cable. It is download from google photos that is problematic, audio only. 00:52:13 Maze: Is it happening on all the videos? 00:52:28 Maze: Or there's only a certain video that having this kind of issue? 00:52:51 Dorky Thorpy: I have downloaded a zip file, with 5 videos in and they all show same problem. 00:53:11 Maze: And can you tell me the file type of video that was saved on Google Photos and if it is changing after downloading on your computer? 00:53:43 Maze: Is it possible if you can try to download the 1 video and tell me if it is the same issue? 00:53:54 Dorky Thorpy: They are both .mov (quick time). 00:54:31 Dorky Thorpy: Yes I have downloaded a single video (this arrives unzipped) and I have the same issue. 00:55:23 Maze: Can you please try to go to this link https://photos.google.com/unsupportedvideos? 00:55:36 Maze: Then, select 1 video to download. 00:55:42 Maze: And let me know how it goes. 00:57:43 Dorky Thorpy: Tried both, and neither play. 00:57:44 Dorky Thorpy: TITLE.doc [Compatibility Mode] - Word_2023-01-17_08-56-21.jpg 00:57:52 Maze: Checking. 00:58:39 Maze: Is it still downloading as mov file? 00:58:57 Maze: And can you also please try downloading 1 video via phone device? 00:59:07 Dorky Thorpy: No they downloaded oK, but wouldn't play as per screen shot. 00:59:33 Maze: Okay, do you have VLC media player on your computer? 01:00:02 Dorky Thorpy: yes i'll try that 01:00:13 Maze: Let me know how it goes. 01:00:33 Maze: As mov is a video format that was developed by Apple. 01:01:02 Dorky Thorpy: 0130_Message.jpg 01:01:10 Maze: Checking. 01:01:25 Dorky Thorpy: Same message for 0128 01:02:00 Maze: Is it downloaded as .mov format or hvc1.? 01:02:22 Dorky Thorpy: In downloads folder it is : .MOV 01:02:46 Dorky Thorpy: But message in screen shot (from VCL) says hvc1. . . 01:03:26 Maze: That's right. Can you try to convert this video file to mp4? 01:03:44 Dorky Thorpy: how do I do that please 01:04:30 Maze: You can go to www.google.com. 01:04:42 Maze: And search for .mov converter to mp4. 01:06:19 Dorky Thorpy: Yes that work for 0130 01:07:17 Maze: Okay, it means that it was not supported by the Windows Media Player. 01:07:34 Maze: Because of Apple restrictions with the file type. 01:08:07 Maze: As the .mov file developed by Apple. 01:08:16 Dorky Thorpy: But why can I take videos off of phone with uSB cable, they work ok then. 01:09:23 Dorky Thorpy: Code I not download a codec pack or something, is that a good idea ? 01:10:12 Maze: Apologies, as this restrictions are set by Apple but I can recommend you to contact Windows to better assist you with this matter. 01:11:02 Maze: As we don't have tools and resources for this information regarding with Apple restriction and Windows media player. 01:11:45 Dorky Thorpy: This is clearly a google problem. I upload videos that work to google photos, and then when I download them, they don't work anymore. It is not an apple restriction, because I can play the videos when I take straight from device when I use USB. 01:14:35 Maze: I do understand. However, once you upload to Google Photos it will only copy the file type from your device and that's the reason why it is working properly. The file type is working properly it's just that your Windows Media Player doesn't support this file type. 01:15:40 Dorky Thorpy: So my phone is running a newer version of .mov? 01:15:59 Dorky Thorpy: If that is case how come, I can get file with USB and it works OK. 01:16:57 Maze: Do you mean that you are downloading the videos on your USB from Google Photos, is that right? 01:19:33 Maze: Because if the download file is the same format from the Google Photos, there's no issue on your file, it is just the media player that you are using. 01:19:56 Dorky Thorpy: No. I take video from phone to PC, with no issues. 01:20:23 Dorky Thorpy: I take .MOV from phone with USB = Good 01:20:42 Dorky Thorpy: I take .MOV from google photos download = Bad 01:21:35 Maze: It is only with the file format that is accepting by your media player. 01:21:42 Maze: But there's no issue with the file. 01:22:21 Dorky Thorpy: So the upload / download to google photos, is changing the video somehow. How do I stop that happening. 01:23:17 Maze: I'll be needing to check on my resources more about your issue. Can you give me 4-6 minutes? 01:23:51 Dorky Thorpy: Yes that is fine. 01:25:01 Maze: Thanks and I'll be right back. 01:29:42 Maze: Thanks for patiently waiting, Dorky. 01:30:31 Maze: Windows Media Player can play MOV files, but you need to download and install the 3ivx codec software. 01:31:30 Maze: As if you are unable to play it properly with the particular file type on your Windows device, it's because you do not have the program that runs that type of file installed on your computer. 01:33:16 Maze: Not to rush you, but are you still there? 01:33:28 Dorky Thorpy: Working 01:34:02 Maze: I'm glad we're still connected. Please take your time and keep me updated. 01:39:43 Maze: Just checking, are you still working on it? 01:40:17 Dorky Thorpy: Hmmm. So even if I open the download video from google photos with itunes it doesn't work then either. 01:41:06 Dorky Thorpy: Have downloaded and installed 3ivx and that didn't work. 01:41:34 Maze: Can you send a screenshot of the error message? 01:42:18 Dorky Thorpy: itunes - plays with sounds only, same as media player 01:42:33 Dorky Thorpy: 3ivx - same error messages as before 01:43:20 Maze: Can your tell me the OS version of your computer as well? 01:43:50 Dorky Thorpy: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 01:45:16 Maze: Thank you! I am going to consult it to our higher tier. 01:47:41 Dorky Thorpy: Analysis of Video Downloaded from Google Photos 01:47:41 Dorky Thorpy: Program Manager_2023-01-17_09-46-55.jpg 01:47:54 Maze: Checking. 01:49:02 Maze: I am already connected to our higher tier. 01:49:24 Dorky Thorpy: Analysis of Video taken with USB to PC - This plays OK 01:49:24 Dorky Thorpy: Program Manager_2023-01-17_09-48-06.jpg 01:51:42 Maze: I'm already explaining the said concern to our higher tier. 01:54:38 Dorky Thorpy: So problem videos use hvc1 codec. . . . and working videos use avc1 codec. I upload an avc1 codec video to google photos and it downloads as hcv1. 01:56:04 Maze: So it means that the file format was changed, it that right? 01:56:40 Dorky Thorpy: Yes still .MOV. But requiring different codec. 01:57:15 Maze: I'm advising our higher tier about this matter. 02:00:43 Maze: Did you change the file type? 02:01:06 Maze: Can you tell me how did you upload the videos on your Google Photos? 02:01:07 Dorky Thorpy: No i didnt change anything. 02:02:13 Dorky Thorpy: The photos were backed up, from my iphone. 02:02:25 Dorky Thorpy: using google photos app 02:03:58 Maze: Informing it to our higher tier now. 02:08:20 Maze: Can you confirm if you are having issue when downloading the video back to your iPhone device? 02:08:57 Dorky Thorpy: When I take video from iphone with USB cable there is no issue. 02:09:17 Maze: How about from Google Photos app directly? 02:09:58 Dorky Thorpy: If you look at the hcv1 codec analysis in screen shot from GSpot it say it is "unknown". So google photos downloads are using an unknown codec? 02:10:28 Dorky Thorpy: You can watch videos OK directly in google photos app. 02:10:28 Maze: It is to set aside the issue. 02:12:29 Maze: Are you able to do it? 02:12:44 Dorky Thorpy: Do what? 02:13:08 Maze: To download a video on your iPhone device. 02:13:34 Maze: As it is different from playing it from your Google Photos app. 02:13:54 Dorky Thorpy: Ok ill give it a try 02:14:15 Maze: I appreciate your patience with this. 02:14:47 Dorky Thorpy: No worries, well done for sticking with it. 02:14:56 Maze: Please take your time and keep me updated. 02:19:13 Maze: Not to rush you, are you still working on it? 02:19:32 Dorky Thorpy: yes still investgating 02:20:00 Maze: Thank you and I'll wait for your update. 02:25:44 Maze: I hope I didn't lose you. Are we still connected? 02:25:48 Dorky Thorpy: So I can download, and view in iphone photos app, but when I connect USB the video does not show in data folder. . . 02:26:22 Maze: Can you send a screenshot of it? 02:27:43 Dorky Thorpy: I guess you can always email me if we get disconnected, there are a lot of people with this problem on the forums, and no one have provided a solution. 02:27:43 Dorky Thorpy: IMG_2275[1].PNG 02:28:03 Maze: Checking. 02:33:44 Maze: Waiting for our higher tier update. 02:39:53 Maze: As per our higher tier, you need to contact Windows support to further check with them correct extension or player that will support the file type to be able to work properly. 02:42:16 Maze: Is there anything else I can assist you with today? 02:44:16 Maze: I'll be sending you an email about what we have discussed today as your reference. Should you have additional concerns, you can simply reply to the email so I can assist you personally. 02:45:14 Maze: It was a pleasure chatting with you today! Google loves customer feedback, so you can also click into a quick survey about your overall support experience at the end of this chat. Thanks again for contacting Google One Support Team. Have a great day! 02:45:18 Maze: Maze left the conversation 02:45:18 Maze: Thanks for chatting! Let us know how we did: https://support.google.com/googleone/contact/survey_transactional_short?ctx=chat&caseid=AEvjbGWTDsr4q87iz5JGxg_qWteWrlxNNCtBFZhYqeHTRCBOdD3CMCFoN-A= 02:45:19 Maze: Maze ended the conversation

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