Just have a quick update for you for now.  Just finished up putting together the first (of hopefully many more) web hosting eBooks for you to enjoy.  The Best of the Web Hosting Show Guides is a collection of some of the most popular guides I have posted and talked about here on the podcast.

Unlike other eBook deals, you get an extra perk with this setup.  You can download both the digital eBook version, or head over the the official page for it and pick up all five chapters as audio downloads too.  I wanted to give to you the best of both worlds.  The topics covered in the eBook cover all aspects of the web hosting world:

• Moving from Web Host to Web Host
• Getting going with your own Ecommerce Store Online
• How to Find a Job in the Web Hosting Industry
• Best Methods and Tips for Setting up a New Blog
• The Ever Popular Handy Guide to Domain Names

Download the PDF and let me know what you think.  Also as far as distribution goes, please feel free to share the link to download it to anybody and everybody you know.  This is a project of mine I have been working on getting together for some time now and I want everybody to know it is free of charge. 

File Dropper makes it easy to share and host your own files Online without the need of your traditional web host. They are a totally free service that just kind of came out of nowhere with what they are offering. All you do is upload your file, and then share your personal link with those that want to download the file.

What is the upload limit? Right now it is 5GB. According to the about us page, the goal of File Dropper as to create a fresh alternative to sites like MegaUpload and RapidShare. They do not wish to reel in users and make them wait for annoying countdown times. (Insert Yippee Here!) They do not hide their download links and they will not aggressively place ads all over the place.

As long as the file is still being downloaded, they will never take your files down. Now if a file is uploaded once, downloaded once and then not touched again for six months then you might see them taking it down to make more room for other material. That is totally understandable. Also, it goes without saying that copyrighted or illegal material is not allowed and will be removed.

How are they going to make money? That might be the next question you were curious about. Well, you can do the free file hosting as much as you want and that is open to anybody. If you sign up though you get a few more perks.

• 99 Cents Plan - 5GB File Size, Direct Linking for Images, Share Files with Others
• Silver Plan - 10GB File Size, Direct Linking for Images, Share Files with Others
• Gold Plan - 25GB File Size, Direct Linking for Images, Share Files with Others

There is also a Free Trial plan that will let you test out the back end to see if you really want to pay to get a little more bang for your buck. All in all File Dropper seems to be doing everything right. Go give FileDropper.com a visit and let them know that the Web Hosting Show sent you there.

We all know about the big free file hosting services out there. It seems like Rapidshare and Megaupload rule the roost but there are many inching their way up the list. The question is, how can you search through all the files uploaded to services such as these and others? here are five of the best ways to search through the Rapidshares and Megauploads of the world.

1. FilesTube.com - This resource might be my favorite of all the file hosting search options out there. All you need to do is type in what you are looking for, select the file type from the drop down box, and you are taken to tons of results. The sort by size feature also helps a lot in sorting the bigger files from the smaller ones you may not be concerned with (or visa versa).

2. Rapidshare1.com - Not as pretty as FilesTube.com, but it does get the job done when it comes to searching for a file or document from Rapidshare.com. Just wish they had a bit more description per result. They do link you to both the page the link came from and the actual Rapidshare download link.

3. Shareminer.com - This site uses the long and customized Google search string to search though and try to find what you want. Not as successful as the other two options, because since this Google search string has been in the wild a while it looks as if people have found a way to spam it.

4. FilesBot.com - Promising to be a “file storage search engine” it does a good job at filtering out the bad stuff while still delivering pretty good results. Type what you are looking for in the search box, and then find the links. Simple user interface.

5. MegaDownload.net - The last one on our list today features a pretty interface, and does a better job than most at making the search for information readable.

Are there more? Yes, but many of them are using the Google search string trick - so not really worthy for the list. If you think you know of one better than the ones on the list though, be sure to leave a comment or drop me an e-mail to let me know.

BONUS! - 4 More Ways to Search Rapidshare, Megaupload and More!

No, that is not a typo with the name or the offer. The people at myy.name wish to host for the web entrepreneurs out there for free.

Here are the features of the free hosting plan:

100MB storage
1000MB/month bandwidth
1 hosted domain (or a myy.name subdomain)
10 FTP accounts
5 MySQL databases
100 e-mail accounts

Nothing to sneeze at when the price tag reads “Free!”. They also promise no ads, no hidden fees and instant activation. So if you are in the hunt for a new free hosting solution you might want to give myy.name a visit.

Back in October I shared with you my thoughts on AOL’s tucked away file hosting service, Xdrive. Here recently that have finally got around to meeting one of my demands - a handy desktop client that will make working with your free 5GB of space a lot easier.

With Xdrive Desktop Lite, you can easily upload files and folders right from your hard drive, desktop, USB device or removable storage drive directly into your Xdrive web storage space.

This new lightweight application is using Adobe’s new AIR technology to deliver a program that should work on either Windows or Apple machines.

In the future releases they are promising:

• Configuration and controls for the Xdrive AutoCopy feature
• Synchronize between local files and those stored in your Xdrive account: Made a change to a local file? Xdrive Desktop Lite will automatically upload the new version to your Xdrive account so you always have the latest version available from anywhere you have an internet connection.
• In addition to a wide range of enhancements to the Xdrive Desktop Lite client, the Adobe AIR platform will allow us to present virtually all of the desktop functionality in a robust web application.

If you pupued the idea before, give Xdrive.com another shot if for no other reason than to just test out this new Xdrive Desktop Lite product.

The services provided at drop.io are much more than just your standard free file hosting. The describe themselves as “enabling users to create simple and private exchange points called ‘drops’ to help share information”. Unique to this type of service, it has no signing up you have to do and no “accounts” to keep track of.

To create a new drop, you just…

1. Navigate yourself to the web site, drop.io
2. Name the drop, drop.io/yourname
3. Password protect it, if you wish to keep it private
4. Set how long you want to keep it active (1 month to 1 year)
5. Setup permissions for other users to view only, view and add content or view, add & delete content

Then you are done! You can also add to each drop via the web, e-mail, a phone or via their special widget. This is a really unique service that you should keep in mind next time you want to send files to your business partners or friends. It takes the traditional free file hosting, stands it on its head and does something different.

I like drop.io.

Would you like to grab 5GB of free file hosting space from Microsoft? Last week Microsoft publicly launched their Windows Live SkyDrive service which will give you that 5GB of storage at no cost at all. This is a ‘bit of a surprise because during the test period they were only providing 1GB of space and it was only expected to increase to 2GB of space after it was launched.

To grab you free space, you must have a Hotmail or Live address, then login to the SkyDrive web site.

The file size limit per file you upload is 50MB so that still gives you a lot of room to work with. Internet Explorer users can install an upload tool to make working with the service a little easier. You will be able to upload right from the browser. For us Firefox users, we will just have to hope somebody develops an extension that will do the same.

For Microsoft, here is what I need to use this service on a day to day basis:

• Give me a upload/download tool that is not just for Internet Explorer
• Drop the plug for all the other “Live” services at the top

Go give SkyDrive a test drive for yourself at skydrive.live.com.