Outgoing mail server is mail.btinternet.com, and username is just the username, not the email address. I authorised another email address on my own clarkeology.com domain to send from my btbroadband in the end, but don't think I really needed to do that. At least if I reply to one of these messages, or Clare does, the mail will come back to me and not some unchecked yahoo / btinternet account.

Now all I want is for someone to burgle my flat!

Looks like this might be the modern equivalent of my camera.

UPDATE: and it's gone again, sent one mail and now it's back to erroring again. The mail did arrive, seemingly from my own domain so I know that bit worked. Once. What on earth did I do to get it working?

Dug out my wireless camera, to see if it could be used as a web cam - it's good quality, with sound, but more for security monitoring than sitting in front of the screen and talking. Don't think it can, but it's good to have it up and running again after about a year... It seems a little slow to respond when setting it up, like changes take a few minutes to take effect so it seems like it's not working correctly occasionally, but I got there. Even my old dyndns account was still running so hopefully I'll be able to use the camera from work today, and maybe give the address out so you can monitor my home security for me.

Only really had problems with one bit of it, and that's the "send an email on motion detect", one of the main features of this camera (pointless still linking to it, I don't think you can buy it any more). You need an smtp server for your outgoing mails, your ISP certainly provides one. I hoped to use gmail, as I use it for all my mail and have never used the email address that came with BT Broadband, but smtp.gmail.com insists on some encryption and an alternative port number that the camera can't cope with, so no go. In the end, some messing about changing settings and trying things it seems that at some point since I last used this BT made changes to not let you set your "from" address in your emails without authenticating that you really own that address. Definitely reasonable and I guessed this so I was already trying to send the emails from what I thought was my real bt broadband address, and what had been my real email address when I registered, let's say it's foo@btinternet.com. I logged on to my btinternet.com address and worked out it had been changed to foo@ btopenworld.com. Oh and there was a mail waiting explaining what had gone on, I didn't need to google round the houses after all.

Urgent – emails you send from non–BT Yahoo! Mail addresses via our SMTP servers may be blocked

Dear Customer,

You've received an Error 553 message because we've upgraded your BT Yahoo! Mail security to help prevent identity fraud and spam.

These enhancements will help protect you from 'spoofing' – when people use alternate addresses to disguise an email's real sender, possibly to commit fraud.

Making the improvements work

For the security improvements to work, we need you to take a few minutes now to verify each of the alternate email addresses you use in BT Yahoo! Mail. This will confirm that these email addresses are genuine.

Please verify addresses now to avoid any further blocking of your outgoing emails.

Simply follow the step-by-step instructions at www.btyahoo.com/verify. You won't be asked for any personal information, but you'll need to log in to your account to make the changes.

UPDATE: I've got the theory of it anyway, but no emails sent as yet. If I suddenly get an email from the camera at work today, that will be a bad thing, as it means someone is moving about in the flat...

Bit slow off the mark on this one, but our new nephew Luke Mahon was born to Kevin and Guiselle late on Friday night. This was in the US of States, so we didn't find out until the next day, have seen some pictures already and hope to get moving video this evening when he's home and propped up in front of a webcam.

From xkcd.com.

Wow this makes the blog content nearly as long as the ad-stuffed sidebar! Still haven't heard back from Ebay about their new affiliate scheme. I'm chucking free links to them left right and centre to them at the moment and not earning a bean!

Have a nice weekend, I think I will, been a pretty tiring week at work, good though.

Do these people not have blogs? See the comments

We're off to talks by David Starkey and Susie Dent, and I've also ended up with one for Sandi Toksvig. Clare was meant to be going with her Mum, but they've double booked. There are more things I'm tempted to go to, but it would mean going out on a school night... Alex Horne and Dan Antopolski are doing the comedy night at the Leas Club, and John O'Farrell is also doing something. Good to have so much to choose from.

More on Folkestone Literary Festival at folkestonelitfest.co.uk.

Very busy at work right now, I worked yesterday evening and was in early today but it all worked out and I was rewarded with champagne for helping get Easyjet parking out on schedule.

Great weekend. As an intro though, specifically for the people from work who mentioned they had found this page recently - at no point did I drink too much and become annoying, I am a fine upstanding member of staff. Probably you can go back to work now.

Weekend, great, started with comedy up at the Tower Theatre. Was not the building I thought it was, it's a big solid old church converted into a nice theatre. Little bit cold and a bit big for the comedy I thought. Also we were sat in tiered rows and not "club style" like at Lanterns. This has got to make it a bit tougher for the comedians, particularly as they weren't huge names. I don't think I'll mention the names here. First comedian was just not good, not bad, a few laughs, but not very good. Second comedian was dreadful, he really really bombed. It was awkward and embarrassing and a bit sad. He was American and maybe his comedy was a bit American and gentle. Possibly he was in the newcomer slot, where we have seen some awful bombing acts, he did say that he'd been given the shortest slot of the night. Not sure he expected anyone from the crowd to bellow out "thank god for that", this stopped him in his tracks and I think I saw tears. He looked like he might have gone down better with a cruise ship audience, it was gentle comedy for elderly americans.

It was not all bad, the compere was Maff Brown and he was great, sharp and funny and involved the audience but without too much of the repetition that you can find when people talk to the crowd. This might be a Folkestone thing, as when you ask someone in audience what they do, generally they work for SAGA and then the comic has to make a joke about old people on coaches. This was a work do, everyone knew it and might have geared their material accordingly.

Headlining comedian Steve Day was also very good. Where the first two comedians struggled with our crowd, he was particularly impressive as he's deaf - how did he gauge the reactions of those of us sat higher up in the dark?

A good night, and all free as it was a leaving do of a friend at work. I hear the following night's "real" Lone Star Comedy Club at the same venue was better. I will be along to the next one (the next one after they move it back into central Folkestone).

Saturday, food fair in Canterbury. Great weather, so we were sat out in the park eating and drinking and it was lovely. There was a good band playing from Canterbury's equivalent twin town in Italy, which I think I just googled is Certaldo. They were a performance art type act, all in matching boiler suits marching and playing saxaphones and things in sync. We stayed and enjoyed, and drank a bit too much cider and headed in tow town.

The rest of the day, ppfff who knows. We went to Karls Food and Wine and had a drink in the garden there, very civilised. Then on to The Dolphin and Bramleys and I'm not sure were else. I think there was singing on the bus home, sorry if you were there and it did not sound like singing.

Sunday, nice relaxing day. Had dinner round the in-laws, beat Clare at Scrabble and watched quite a lot of TV.

I'd love to have that weekend all over again, I had a great time.