Archive | December, 2008

Best Web Hosting Podcasts of 2008

This year has been another great one for the Web Hosting Show podcast and web site. Popularity keeps growing, more people are tuning in and we had tons of great topics to discuss all throughout 2008. Here are my favorite podcasts from the year gone byhttp://www.webhostingshow.com.

Web Hosting to Go – Episode 169 – October 20th

What would I like to have today? Lets see. I will have a large data center mashup map, a side of hosting tools (just remember to hold the tomatoes), a HP performance-optimized datacenter and a definition on what domaining is all about? For here or to go? I think I am about ready to go – because the Web hosting Show is now on the air.

The Magnificent Fantastico – Episode 168 – October 6th

From the first time I ever heard about Fantastico, I always thought about the traditional magician pulling rabbits from his hat. Who would have a clue that a few years later on down the road I would have a chance to speak with one of the magicians behind the magic at Netenberg to find out more about this favorite cPanel addition.

Bobcares About Support – Episode 166 – September 22nd

Any web host will tell you the hardest part about the web hosting business is finding a team of support people that care about your clients as much as you do. You want to make sure they are in good hands. One company that promotes themselves as those good hands to trust is Bobcares.

They specialize in support for small, medium and large hosting companies.

Continue Reading →

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Roll Your Own Video Tutorials for Free!

Are you a web host who is low on cash, but wants to produce a line of their own video tutorials?  This is a pretty easy thing to do (totally for free) as long as you have some free time and imagination.

Capture your Desktop with CamStudio

You can pick up an awesome desktop capturing program at CamStuido.org to capture the video from your computer’s screen.  After installing, all you need to do is highlight the area you wish to record – and then hit the record button.

Record Your Audio Track with Audacity

Audacity is the free audio editor I have used to produce my podcast since day one.  It is free and really easy to use.  You could use it to record any audio commentary you wanted, so that way you add a little more helpfulness to the tutorial you are making.

Edit your Video Tutorial Together

To edit your video, there are several programs out there you could use.  Personally, I just used the free Windows Movie Maker than came with my computer.  Then again, I am all about keeping things as ghetto as possible.  If not Windows Movie Maker, I am willing to bet you have some free program that came on your computer that would do the deed.  An online video editing alternative would be Jumpcut.com.  Another free desktop solution would be VideoSpin from VideoSpin.com.

Check out Wikipedia’s List of Commercial and Free Video Editing Software

Final Tweaks, Edits and Uploading the Final Product

Before you upload, you might also want to make sure you have your URL, brand or logo somewhere on the video.  It never hurts to do a little advertising – so people know where they can get more of your fine work.  After that has been done, you can upload your video to YouTube or a number of other video sharing sites.  Grab the embed code, and you have your own video tutorial ready to go.  To get you inspired, here is one I created on doing trace routes:

If you are a web host on a budget, there is no reason to spend more than you need to.  If you have the free time and creativity, then rolling your own video tutorials can also be a great way to gain exposure and do a little self advertising too.

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Merry Christmas from the Web Hosting Show

Santa Love the Web Hosting ShowMerry Christmas from your favorite web hosting podcast, the Web Hosting Show.  Hope it has been a good one, and you have gotten everything you could have ever wished for.  As a ‘bit of a bonus this year around, I thought I would spread around some of the holiday treats I deliver out to the public week after week.  Check out some of my other projects:

Mitchelaneous

This is my blog filled with geek candy.  More personal and of the wall in nature, this is my personal spot to rant and rave about any miscellaneous thing that might cross my mind.  From web development help to custom desktop icons – I am sure there is something for everybody to enjoy here.

My Favorite Mitchelaneous Posts of the Year:

You can subscribe to Mitchelaneous.com for free by plugging it’s RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Add to Google Reader or Homepage Add to netvibes Add to Pageflakes Subscribe in Bloglines

Firefox Facts

Firefox Facts is my daily blog about all things relating to Firefox.  It started out as an e-book project, but has expanded by leaps and bounds since then.  Find reviews for useful extensions, great looking Firefox themes and a whole lot more.  I even toss in an occasional roundup of the best tools for this, that and the other.  If you use Firefox, you need to subscribe.

My Favorite Firefox Facts Posts of the Year:

You can subscribe to FirefoxFacts.com for free by plugging the RSS feed into your favorite news reader of choice.  Here are a few subscription buttons to help you in that process:

Add to Google Reader or Homepage Add to netvibes Add to Pageflakes Subscribe in Bloglines

Thank you all for listening to the Web Hosting Show this year, and I hope this holiday gift of amazing posts from around my little network of web site will at least give you something to do while you are in between football games or wanting some along time after all the in-laws have gone back home.

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Web Page Analyzer

Speed Statistics When your web site is running a little slow, there could be a number of different reasons.  It could be your design.  It could be your server.  It might even just be an issue with the connection between yourself and the web host in question.

One of the better free web site performance and speed analysis tools I have used in a while is from WebSiteOptimization.com:

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/

With this free test, you can quickly get a number of statistics about how your web page loads.  Just put in your domain name for the “URL to diagnose” and hit the “Submit Query” button.

As an example, here are the connection times I got for WebHostingShow.com:

Connection Rate Download Time
14.4K 210.97 seconds
28.8K 109.29 seconds
33.6K 94.76 seconds
56K 59.90 seconds
ISDN 128K 23.62 seconds
T1 1.44Mbps 8.99 seconds

There are tons of more details there via the web site too. You have:

  • Global Statistics
  • Object Size Totals
  • External Objects
  • Download Times …and more!

If you like this tool, you might also check out some of the other Web Site Optimization services that they provide too.  If your looking for a prettier alternative, then I would also highly suggest Pingdom Tools.

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Web Host Has Trouble Making Rent?

Even web hosts sometimes have a hard time making the rent it seems…

The problem started, when the web host IAS.net was evicted, leaving a number of businesses and non-profit organizations without hosting.  What a Christmas present, your web hosting goes out right for the holidays.  It turns out the web host had problems with late payment of rent, which lead to the owner of the building to cut them off.

A number of other web hosts chipped in and took over some of the the IAS.net clients for free – so it is nice to see some people in the web hosting industry are in the holiday spirit.

The next day, IAS.net fought back by saying they were not making payment to the landowner on purpose, due to poor upkeep of the building.  Reportedly the building had ongoing maintenance and black mold issues, which the property owners neglected to address.

So on one side you have the landlord who didn’t get paid, and on the other side you have the web host who was looking out for his workers.  Personally I can see the positives and negatives for both sides of the argument – however I think there should have been a more adult way to handle the entire situation.  It all comes off a ‘bit childish to me.

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Ho Ho Hosting – Episode 175

Podcast #175Tis’ the season to be jolly sure, but what about to learn about web hosting? Every season is the perfect one to do just that – so strap on your white beard and get ready to go caroling through the wild and wacky web hosting industry with me because the Web Hosting Show is now on the air.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 175!
Running Time: 10 minutes | File Size: 3.84 MB

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode:

  • What Happens When Web Hosts Don’t Pay Rent?
  • See How Fast Your Page is REALLY Loading!
  • Roll Your Own Video Tutorials for Free!

Here are this week’s web hosting news headlines:

As the resident Santa Claus of the web host industry, I am here to give you your happy ho ho hosting gift. A free podcast, for you to enjoy. Beats a lump of coal, doesn’t it?

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What is Domain Sniping?

Domain Sniping The domain name business, sometimes referred to as the confusing cousin of the web hosting business, has some odd slang tied to it.  One phrase you may or may not of heard of is domain sniping.

So what does a domain sniper do?  This is when somebody registering a domain name as soon as the domain name expires.  For an example, let us say I really wanted the domain name webhostingradio.com.  After doing a WhoIs search on the domain name, I find out it expires on February 19, 2009.  So I wait until that date, and then pick it up myself as soon as the registration runs out.

The fact is though, that this can pretty much be considered extinct, for now.

Thanks to ICANN’s Redemption Grace Period (RGP) registrants are allowed 30 days to reclaim their domain name.  Before the RGP went into effect, the money made in domain name sniping was done when the sniper would try to extort money from the original registrant to get their domain name back.

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10 Alternatives to Free Rapidshare Hosting

free-file-hosts Rapidshare might be the most popular free web hosting alternative right now, however they might not be the best.  Here are some equally as great alternatives.

SendSpace.com – Unlimited uploads and unlimited downloads.  The file size limit with SendSpace is up to 300MB too.

MediaFire.com – This service provides up to 100MB file size per upload, and unlimited storage.  A “pro” account will also get you a few more perks if you want to pay for it.

iFile.it – With one of the simplest interfaces, just browse, upload and cross your fingers.

MegaUpload.com – Another popular alternative is MegaUpload, unfortunately you might be looking for an alternative to it pretty soon.  Hate to give you an alternative to an alternative.

SaveFile.com – With a limit of 100MB per file in size, the most enticing thing about this hosting solution would be the fact that it isn’t used by many – so speeds should be pretty good.

TransferBigFiles.com – Oh, if only the rest of the internet was this obvious.

KeepMyFile.com – Bad web site design, with a limit of 60MB per file and 300MB max.  The advantage here is they say you can upload 30 files at once.

Badongo.com – With unlimited limits, and being free to use – have to say this alternative sounds like gold.

YourFileLink.com – Free video and file hosting is what they promise, and with the highest limit thus far on file size (5GB), you may want to go ahead and take advantage of this domain while it is still around.

UploadPedia.com – Oh, I get it – like Wikipedia, but you host stuff on it.  So it isn’t like Wikipedia at all…

Know of another free file host that deserves to be an alternative to Rapidshare?  Share your suggestions with us, and I might be able to come up with a list of at least ten more free file hosting alternatives to enjoy.

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GoDaddy Refuses to Raise the Super Bowl Bar

14324_gallery7 Ah I remember 2005, like it was… a few years ago.  GoDaddy grabbed headlines by doing their first Super Bowl ad with the controversial Candice Michelle.  They made fun of the wardrobe malfunction in the previous year’s Super Bowl and had a hard time getting the final version of the commercial onto the air.

Now let us fast forward, because unfortunately GoDaddy refuses to raise the bar…

  • 2006 = Another Super Bowl Controversial Commercial
  • 2007 = Another Super Bowl Controversial Commercial
  • 2008 = Another Super Bowl Controversial Commercial

Ok, so GoDaddy has kind of run the idea of having a pretty girl in a controversial commercial into the ground.  They shoot a commercial, tell us the Super Bowl commercial gods refused to air it, release that one Online and then give us a “censored” one for the Super Bowl.

So that brings us to today, and myself reading a press release on theWHIR’s web site:

For its fifth consecutive year advertising during the NFL championship, discount hosting provider Go Daddy has shot two racy new ads this week featuring IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, to appear in the Super Bowl, following NBC’s approval.

Oh joy, another couple of racy ads for the Super Bowl.  Let me guess, one is “too hot for TV” and the other one is “just right for the censors”.

“We have two options and they’re both absolutely ‘GoDaddy-esque,’” Go Daddy chief executive officer and founder Bob Parsons said in a statement. “They are fun, edgy and slightly inappropriate; surely network censors will have a sense of humor, people could use a good laugh these days.”

Come on GoDaddy, I was behind you the first year, waited for the encore the second year – but after that I think you have run this idea into the ground.

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Greatest Web Hosts That Never Launched

bad-web-host-names We have all seen some weird company names when it comes to web hosting.  You have OutGay, for those looking for web hosting with an alternative lifestyle.  You have FatCow, which sounds like something you’d call your mother-in-law, not your web host.

Now for some of the weirdest (and possibly greatest) web hosting names just just never got off the ground…

Perfect Toilet Hosting – The name was suppose to inspire downloads and 5th grade humor, but flushed itself before it got started.

Hamster Dance Hosting – What else were the guys behind the original annoying Internet meme suppose to do?  The hook here is they will only host your content if you Rick-roll, claim all your base are belong to us, or have a love for dancing babies.

Tighty Whitey Hosting - For when you want hosting with that secure fit.

Kentucky Fried Hosting – Inspired by the fried chicken king, this web host was unique in fact that promised a free bucket of chicken for every hosting plan you purchased.  The bad thing was, sending chicken through US mail ended up with very stinky surprise once it made it to your house a few weeks later.

GoMommy – Well, there is a GoDaddy – so why not a GoMommy?  The downfall of GoMommy as a company happened when she caught you trying to register adult domains and told you you’ll go blind if you do it too much.

TWO – Launched as a competitor to 1&1 Hosting, but nobody else got the joke.

What is in a name?  Well if you make me giggle like a school girl when I have to say it in public, it could be both a good or a bad thing.  It could be considered memorable or it could be considered embarrassing.  It all depends on if your glass is half empty or half full.

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