Poor old Joe Lieberman just can’t catch a break. First the democrats turn against him, and then his Web site goes down. Is it the work of hackers or just bad Web hosting? Also, WHIR TV is back in the news but is it any better than it was before? All that plus the return of the tip of the week right here on the Web Hosting Show.
Download the Web Hosting Show, Podcast 73!
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Hello, I am the media rock star of the Web hosting world Mitch Keeler and I welcome you with open arms to the number one Web hosting podcast out there today, the Web Hosting Show. As with every week before it, this podcast is brought to you thanks to Web Hosting Chat. WebHostingChat.com is your number one place for Web hosting discussions.
Now I don’t like to curse myself, but I think this is one of the best podcasts I have done in a while. It might even be my best ever! I guess we will see once the final download numbers start to come in. For those of you new to the show, this podcast covers the Web hosting industry from head to toe. I don’t want to be boring or dull though. I want you to be excited. I want you to be entertained. I want to leave you with wanting more.
Looks like we were overlooked yet again for this year’s Podcast Awards. I really don’t mind though. At this point, I think I am one of the black sheep of both the Web hosting and podcasting worlds. All the podcast awards are is another chance to give the same five podcasts the same five awards they got the year before.
I don’t need no stinking trophy to tell me I am doing a good job though. As long as I keep getting the thank you from the guy needing Web hosting that learned a lot from this show or the “good job” from the big Web host that likes what I do, I am one happy camper.
Hosting Headline
This week’s Web Hosting Headline is brought to you by the Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide. Go check them out at WebHostMagazine.com.
Lieberman Needs Better Web Hosting
Earlier this week, Joe Lieberman found himself without a Web site. Early on some of the blame was put on his opponent, Ned Lamont. Since then though, a lot of theories have come out of the wood work. Now, why should you care about all this political stuff on a Web hosting podcast? Well, stay with me.. I’ll get there.
You would think that these political big-wigs could afford a good Web host. I found this ‘bit of news from DailyKos.com really interesting.
They are paying $15/month for hosting at a place called MyHostCamp, with a bandwidth limit of 10GB. MyHostCamp is currently down, along with all their clients.
I don’t think this is so much them trying to be cheap though. Lieberman’s team probably thinks the same thing a lot of folks out there think. A Web host is a Web host, and they are all pretty much the same. As a guy who comes from the Web hosting industry, there couldn’t be a more untrue statement.
Now a little later, I ran into this post from Marc Perkel’s blog.
Joe Lieberman’s web site that he claimed was hacked by Lamont is still down today. When you go to his web page at http://joe2006.com it redirects you here:
http://server1.myhostcamp.com/suspended.page/
Notice the URL is called “suspended.page” which implies that this is not a hacked site, it’s a suspended page. That supports the theory that Lieberman got suspended for not paying his bill.
So what are my final thoughts on the Web hosting detective case? Well I don’t think there was any “hacking” involved in all of this. I would be willing to bet that either somebody forgot to pay the bills or maybe the bandwidth ran out. What is the lesson to be learned here by other folks? You need to purchase quality Web hosting and keep an eye on both your account limits and your billing date.
Web Hosting Tip of the Week
The Web Hosting Tip of the Week is brought to you by Mitchelaneous. If you need more Mitch in your diet, check it out at Mitchelaneous.com.
Get Some Hosting Newsletters!
I often get asked how do I stay informed with what is going on inside of the Web hosting industry. Personally, I like using HostingHoopla.com. It has all the best hosting industry news sources on one spot. For those of you who might not like it or don’t really understand the whole RSS revolution, don’t worry. I have a tip for you as well.
There are a lot of Web hosting daily or weekly newsletters out there for you to subscribe to. Usually, all you need to do is put in your E-mail address and hit submit. After that, you will get all your news delivered right to you. You will not have to go hunting for the latest headlines.
What Web hosting newsletters should you start out with? Personally, my two favorites are The Web Host Industry Review’s newsletter and TopHosts.com’s newsletter. Nobody is paying me to say that, I promise. I just think they are two of the top sources for Web hosting information out there today.
Do you have a favorite that I forgot to mention? Leave a comment on the show notes so others can enjoy it as well.
Hot Topic in Hosting
The Hot Topic in Hosting is sponsored by Top Hosts. Go check them out on the Web at TopHosts.com.
WHIR TV 2.0?
The Web Host Industry Review’s Online TV show has been around for a while now. WHIR TV has gone through several versions of itself, and has recently gone through another change. Now before I tackle where it is going now, I will let you know where it has been.
Early on it looked as if they wanted to do a weekly video release. That was pretty cool, because it gave the Web hosting industry a weekly “TV” show to watch and get informed about what happened. Back in May of 2005 they were even looking for video segments from people outside of the WHIR team. Early on, I sent them in a few video demos myself… but I am guessing somebody decided against the idea. I did end up doing some voice over work for their early ads.
So what did the public think of WHIR TV? Here are some reviews I found via WebHostingTalk.com.
+ While the host was pretty enough to keep my attention for about a minute and a half – the content all sounded like an ad.
+ It was suppose to sound different? The entire thing sounded like one giant ad to me.
+ The 1&1 part was just entirely ad-tastic – also didn’t realize the CEO of 1&1 was that boring! 
The public found itself bored and un-entertained. After that, the folks at WHIR TV seemed to drop off the radar. When asked about why WHIR TV looked to be “off the air” they said it was being reworked.
So now we see the new WHIR TV 2.0! They have an entire Web page pretty much dedicated to Hostingcon 2006 up and running right now. I have watched some of the interviews, and they are pretty good. I might almost be ready to take back my comment I said a few months back. You know, when I said they should put Anastasia Tubanos in a bikini to get more downloads?
What they need though is to bring somebody in who knows more about this whole podcasting and video podcasting world. Somebody who has more experience with putting this content out there to the public. There are still so many areas where they could expand and make this really cool. If they drop the ball a second time, you have to think that somebody out there is going to pick it up and do it right this time.
Go check out WHIR TV one more time. Give them a second chance, then leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this newest version of the idea.
Web Hosting Site of the Week
The Web Hosting Site of the Week is brought to you by Ping! Zine. Go check them out and subscribe to the free magazine at PingZine.com.
Give Your Web Site Instant Domain Search!
The folks over at InstantDomainSearch.com have released the API for the service out to the public. Now you can include this neat AJAX-powered service on your own Web hosting account. This is great news for any Web host that wants to deliver something a little “outside the box” as far as what you would be used to seeing on a Web host’s Web site. So where is the catch?
Well, to use the service, it will cost you $1 per 1,000 server requests. With the service that you would be getting, I don’t think this is a bad idea at all. I could see a small Web host using this instead of trying to resell domain names through a third party. Just park this script on your Web site, and you will have your customer’s domain name worries taken care of.
If you want to sign up for an API Key, go check out the InstantDomainSearch.com Web site.
Final Web Hosting Thoughts
Well that is it for this week’s edition of the Web Hosting Show. If you want to interact with this podcast, it is easy to do.
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I am Mitch Keeler, and you have been listening to the Web Hosting Show, the number one Web hosting podcast across the nation and the one and only voice of the Web hosting world.
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