I had a feeling that more than a few folks would sound off about how Google’s new Web Accelerator works. I have to say I ran it for about an hour, didn’t notice much difference and then took it off. I do not need a lot of crap on my system that I have no use for. That is nothing against Google, just my personal preference there. Also before anybody says I am anti-Google, I’m not. I love Google when they do things right. When they do things that are

controversial though, I want to get things fixed.

Is Google Web Accelerator a security threat? Sure, if they wanted to they could track everything you do with this little bad boy. Here is somebody that is even more paranoid than I am, and that is truly saying something.

Right before he clicked on the “upload” button, the person at Google who put the Web Accelerator online probably took a nice big swig from a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Why must this be, having not been in the room and having no evidence to prove so? Because no rational human being could have posted this program without needing to steady himself, preparing for the storm that was to come.

You thought Autolink and Desktop Search and Gmail were bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Yesterday, Google released perhaps its most controversial product ever: The Google Web Accelerator. Its a simple product, one that promises to speed up your internet connection like many little applications have in the past. It doesn’t seem like much.

[Read the Rest of the Article!]

I have to say that the author doesn’t really paint a pretty picture as for the future of Google Web Accelerator. I do agree though that if these security threats are there, Google should be taking care of the problem. It shouldn’t be pushed back onto the web master to do all the heavy lifting. Wait a minute, that’s right.. Google likes to make content providers work a little harder.

Also make sure you read the rest of what InsideGoogle has been saying over the past few days. Microsoft who? Seems Google is trying to take over the roll of big brother.

On the next edition of The Web Hosting Show we are going to do an all E-mail episode! So if you have ever had a question about the world of Web hosting or if you want to know more about myself, the show’s production or anything else, this is the time to send me an E-mail. Make sure you send your E-mails to mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll do my best to answer every single question I get on next week’s edition of The Web Hosting Show.

The reason I am doing this is that I was always a big fan of the “All Call Friday” episodes they used to do on the old TechTV show, the Screensavers. It seemed like the easiest way to get a lot of work done while having fun doing it. I like to answer people’s questions because I believe that Web hosting should not be as complicated as it is.

Right now a lot of things inside the world of Web hosting are very confusing. Then throw in the sales terms, marketing and other jargon and you have a real mess. Well, I am here to sort through all the junk to get you what you need to know.

For the Web hosts out there, this show is still for you as well. Give me your questions too because I’d love to answer them as well. There is more than one way to skin a cat and there is more than one way to run a successful Web hosting buisness. If there is anything I know, it is knowing what folks are really looking for in Web hosting these days. So send me your questions, comments suggestions and feedback as well.

Hopefully this will make for one heck of a good show. If I get enough postive reaction from doing it, I might have to do it again in a few weeks. I’ll see you next Monday on The Web Hosting Show, the voice of the Web hosting world. Send me your questions, mitch@mitchkeeler.com.

How would you like to have totally free Web hosting with no ads at all? That type of service just isn’t out there, is it? Yes it is. Moved.in is causing a lot of buzz in the world of Web hosting because they are offering totally free Web hosting with no ads anywhere.

So lets first look at what you get. You get 150 MB of Web space, 5 GB of bandwidth a month, full FTP access, PHP, 3 mySQL databases, 1 PostgreSQL database, CPanel, Fantastico and ad free hosting. That is a good line up for a regular Web hosting account, so getting all of that for free makes the deal even better.

So how do they make money from this if it is free and has no annoying ads popping up? Well one way is through advertising in the newsletter they offer to customers. I was told though that since they already run several other popular and successful Web site that costs were not really a worry right now. So from what I got out of the conversation is that they can keep Moved.in running from the revenue they earn on other projects. Sounds good to me!

The Accounts Manager, Martin Bosch, told me this:

“Since there is no high cost attaches to keep the servers running it’s no big deal at all. Even if there were no advertisers it would be no big deal as we run serval high traffic sites which cover all costs. Generally it’s a ‘give back to the community’ project but if it covers the costs it’s even better.”

So is the actual Web hosting any good? I’d say it is equal to some of the low-end Web hosting plans available out there today. Sure, you don’t get much if you compare it with some paid solutions out there, but for free you have to admit this is a lot more than you’d be getting at Angelfire or Yahoo’s Geocities.

Another thing I like about Moved.in is they are working off of the invites only system. This means you have to be invited by a current member before you can get an account of your own. This system does a good job at keeping folks who just want to clutter the servers with junk far away. They don’t want the accounts just to be used to harvest pictures for other places. They don’t want the folks who just need a place to host their eBay images in other words. They want real people, with real Web sites.

Can you point a domain name to your account there? Lets say you don’t like the mysite.moved.in interface. This is what they have to say on the matter:

You can point your top level domain name to your account. However, we do not allow domain parking or add-on domain names. To point your domain name to your account you will need to setup a (cloaked) URL redirect pointing to username.moved.in

Another thing that is worth mentioning is that they don’t want forums to be hosted either. I can’t disagree with them there because forums do take up a lot of space and popular ones can hit servers pretty hard.

So if you can get an invite, I’d say try out the services and see what you think. I really do believe though that this is what the future of free Web hosting is going to look like in time. I might have to talk with the folks at Moved.in again to see if I can give away a few invites on an episode of The Web Hosting Show too.

Now Google is taking one more step to help my surf faster! I thought once I got DSL I wouldn’t need a “web accelerator” though?

I have been on DSL for a little over a year now. The experiance has been great and I could not ask for anyting more. So why now is Google telling me they can help make my browsing experiance faster? After seeing this link (via Steve Rubel)

I thought maybe this was something for the dial up crew to look at. Nope, I was wrong. It says right there in big bold print, “Designed for Broadband – Web pages load even more quickly on DSL and cable connections“.

I downloaded it, and tried it out a little. I went to a few more demanding Web pages out there just to see how quick things got. Well, I am kind of disapointed. So far, and mind you I have only had this for around 45 minutes or so, I haven’t noticed any boost or change. Google tells me something diffrent though. You see, after you install the program, it tells you how much time you have saved. So far Google says I have saved, “12.7 seconds”. Here is a neat little bar chart showing me that in comparison with the time it would have taken me without the Google Web Accelerator.

I’ll be trying it out a while longer to see if I notice any change over the long run though. Maybe the longer you use it, the smarter it will get? Try out the Google Web Accelerator, and if you have a better story than mine to share, I’d love to hear it.

Update: It seems like Google Web Accelerator doesn’t like the fact my blog is hosted at Blogware. I had some issues getting this posted, because Google’s Web Accelerator timed-out on me. Hmm, not a good way to get me to keep this thing!

Are you looking for podcast guests? How about podcasts that want to hear what you have to think? While this might be a good idea for most podcast out there, there still aren’t many Web hosting professionals wanting to talk.

The things you find when you are randomly surfing from Web site to Web site can be amazing, can’t they? That is how I ran across PodcastGuests.com. It acts as a middle man for podcasters to find guests or for guests to find podcasts. May 30 is the official launch date for this new service, but they already have some folks coming in and asking for their help.

Some of the folks mentioned on the front page are Corey Deitz, Geoffrey Kleinman, and Kristin Johnson.

So when will we reach the time where podcasting guests will need podcasting talent agents? There are a lot of podcasting markets out there and a lot of folks who have something to say. I can’t wait to see how this goes. This just gives even more proof that there is a market out there for podcasting and anybody who isn’t on board could fall behind.

Now on the other hand, I’m not sure if I’ll be using this because the folks I talk to come from a very small group. I am only really interested in talking with folks who are in someway related to the world of Web hosting. They could have ideas, they could have a company. The keyword here Web hosting enthusiast. If you’re interested on getting on The Web Hosting Show, just let me know and I’d be more than happy to work out a date and time we could get together and talk.

I have been following this a little over the past week or so, it sounds like things are getting pretty hot and heavy for Amen, a French Web hosting operation. This comes from Netcraft who has done a great job covering the story.

Striking workers at the Amen web hosting operation in France are using a weblog to air their grievances and try to gain a seat at the table as the business is sold to a new owner. Amen is part of cash-strapped VIA Networks, which last week agreed to a sale to UK provider Claranet to head off a liquidity crisis. But employees at Amen, which was bought by VIA last January, say they and their managers have been excluded from discussions about the sale and given no information about their fate, and gone on strike in protest.

The Amen on Strike blog, housed offsite at French host Nerim, details the Amen staffer’s grievances over their treatment and ongoing efforts to meet with executives at VIA Networks to discuss their future. The amenengreve.info domain name was obtained through the proxy registration service at Network Solutions, which keeps the owner’s name and address private.

VIA Networks has acknowledged the strike, but says that all hosting operations at Amen are being properly maintained by VIA staff. The Amen on Strike blog asserted that “certain services require manual validation and as there is no support in place these orders have gone unattended.”

As in any acquisition, the nature of the deal leaves Amen staff with little leverage. Claranet can offer no assurances, as it does not yet employ the workers. As the seller (and a cash-strapped one at that), VIA Networks has limited ability to dictate terms to Claranet on employee retention – even if it were negotiating with the striking Amen workers. Uncontent to wait for news, the Amen workers decided instead on a job action, with the blog serving as a digital megaphone to air their grievances to the public and the press.

You can read the rest of the article over at Netcraft’s Web site. It will be interesting to see how the whole thing folds out. Has blogging helped or hurt their causes?

Okay, let’s get one thing straight, there is no tech in a goose. However I feel like taking a break from the Web hosting issues of the day to share with you my recent adventure in motherhood.

It all started two weeks back when one of the hens who had been sitting on some Goose eggs for us, started to hatch the egg. I have to say, I was pretty excited. It had been about a year since we had any young geese running around here. Well, about halfway through the day the goose had made it half way out of the egg. His rear-end was coming out first. Apparently this spooked the hen enough to cause her to start pecking at the little darling over and over again.

+ Click here to see a picture of the goose in question!

This is where I run in to make my heroic rescue, right?

Well, I heard the noise, so I went into the garage to check things out. I saw the act taking place and knew I probably didn’t have much time. You should know before hand I rarely get “hands on” with all the animals around here. I’ll take care of them, bathe them, water them and feed them, but I won’t stick my hand under a mother hen while she’s sitting on her eggs. To pardon the pun, I’m chicken. Back to the matter at hand though, I grabbed a car window squeegee, pushed the hen back with that while grabbing the baby goose and egg with the other hand. Having escape from the danger, I took the half baby goose, half egg inside.

Once I got back into the house, I started trying to help the baby goose get out of the shell. I broke it, a small piece at a time till he was out. Just the thought that I was the first thing he had ever seen was an amazement to me. Now what?

I knew nothing about raising a baby goose by myself! That is when I turned to my friend, the Internet. In just a matter of minutes I found this jewel of a Web page via Google. I have no idea who C. Snape is but I thank him or her for the help.

Coming back to present time now, the goose is doing fine, but is getting a little too big for his box. As soon as he starts to get some feathers, I’ll let him out with the rest of the geese so he can be with his own kind. I got to say that I’m not looking forward to that day though. I’ve had fun raising him so far. The most fun is having him jump up and down my legs while I’m sitting on the ground watching him eat away at the green grass.

So there you go, I guess that would be my softer side. I’ll be back to HTML and Web hosting nonsense another day.

I am already a big fan of The Web Host Industry Review’s new TV project. I really feel like there is a market for WHIR TV out there, and for them to be the first to do it for the Web hosting industry, that just makes it all the better. With so many ideas it seems like the Web hosting world is slow to get on board. Hopefully this will change many people’s perceptions of that.

With that being said, they rolled out a new show last Saturday and are still working on adding even more content to each and every episode. I’ve been working with them some, trying to figure out a few new ways of getting content on there and how we can do it so that it is informative and fun for everybody who watches.

Just this past week they added to my delight a RSS feed to the broadcast so folks can be updated via their favorite feed reader on when new episodes are done and when new posts are made. Make sure you check that out as well.

As for the future for it? It is really up in the air for now. Anything is possible, so if you have any ideas in which direction it should go, make sure you let me know and I’ll pass along the word to the folks at The Web Host Industry Review.

With WHIR TV and The Web Hosting Show, Web hosting media is growing by leaps and bounds. It is an exciting time in the world of Web hosting.

There are millions of Web hosts out there and even more Web hosting accounts for you to choose from. With the new podcasting movement that has been going on though, how many companies have jumped on the band waggon and started providing special podcasting Web hosting services? Not many.

There are a few though, and I’ve had some time to look at each and every one of them. Which one is the best? Which one is the worst? Why don’t we just take a look and see what they have to offer us.

Podbus.com

With Podbus, you get 300 MB of space and 10GB of monthly bandwidth for the price of four dollars a month. Not too bad right? You could get a regular Web hosting account for a cheaper price if you did a little shopping though. You get your own little corner on a shared server after signing up, with a mysite.podbus.com domain name. You can pay by month or by year, so that isn’t a problem. If you want to pay two more dollars a month, you can get to host Web pages as well. With the bare bones package, I guess they will only handle your audio files and RSS feed. A few things in the Acceptable Use Policy though caught my eye:

* No streaming

* No material which would be illegal by international or US law

* No web pages (contact us for web hosting at a slightly higher monthly cost)

* No violations of copyright law

* No spamming

No streaming? I know that it can be a strain on the server, but they are really limiting what you can do with your audio once it is on the server. Thanks to a little flash, I have my podcast streaming on my Web site for anybody to listen to while they are on the Web site. With Podbus.com, I guess you wouldn’t be able to do that.

Rizzn.net

Rizzn.net didn’t do anything that really impressed me. It is a totally free podcast Web host, so that is a good thing. However the Web site for it is really confusing and doesn’t give me many details about their services. This is from the Web site itself:

The first true podcasting service out there, Rizzn’s Podcaster is a free service that allows you to podcast with no muss, no fuss, and even does some of your production and publicity work for you. Podcasting is a technology in it’s infancy, so we decided we wanted to make easy. If your know how to use a telephone or a computer with an email client, you can now podcast!

I wish there was more to tell about this, but really the Web site leaves people who are interested in the service in the dark. Can’t say I was too impressed at all.

Liberated Syndication

Thankfully after looking at the mess that was Rizzn.net, I had the chance to see somebody doing the whole podcast hosting deal right. Liberated Syndication is one of the more popular podcast hosts out there, and it is easy to see why. They have some reasonable prices and several plans to choose from. Choice is a very good thing.

I usually say stay away from places that promise you unlimited bandwidth, but Liberated Syndication does a good job at explaining what it means for them.

One of the biggest issues facing the early pioneers of podcasting is the bandwidth usage. We have a planned architecture of distributed downloads across multiple servers where the most recent, high-demand media files are served from faster, larger pipes, and older, archived material is from reliable- yet lower speed- connections.

They go through all the features they offer and do a good job at explaining what each one is about as well.

Audio Blog

This is another place that does a great job at providing special podcast and video blogging tools to folks. They will even give you a nice flash player to display on your Web site as well. Very nice addition.

For folks that are new to either podcasting or video blogging, I would tell them to turn to Audio Blog first. The do a good job at making things as easy as possible. Right now they are having a 7-day free trial too, so if you want to try before you buy, give them a shot.

After looking through the features to see what all they offered, I am really impressed. It seems like they have the best back end set up at the lowest cost.

OurMedia.org

If you are looking for something that is totally diff rent, give OurMedia.org a shot. Now free stuff usually has me a little worried, but it seems like they are doing everything right. They allow you to host video, audio, text and images totally for free. Now how can you turn down a deal like that? With the costs of video hosting really not low enough for folks to enjoy it, this is a good place to get your feet wet with podcasting or video blogging.

I like to visit the OurMedia.org Web site just to see what other folks are putting up there. There really is something for everybody to enjoy. Once you post something, you have to fill out a lot of legal jargon which kind of gets in the way. With the free hosting model though I guess you have to do it this way.

Pod Lot

Pod Lot says that they are a cheap place to park your podcast. For five dollars a month, I have to agree that is pretty cheap. Too bad the rest of the Web site doesn’t really seem to work. Once this goes live, I can’t wait to see what they are offering, right now though there isn’t much to look at.

Blog Matrix

BlogMatrix is offering something diff rent, that’s for sure. They offer their own program that you can download and use to record your podcasts and upload them. The nice thing about the client is it also acts as a RSS reader as well.

The pricing model they use is a little confusing though.

Basic Sparks!

Sparks! 2.0, for all functions except podcast recording, is free. This includes a full fledged weblog reader, podcatcher, radio recorder and many other features.

Sparks! Podcasting

Sparks! 2.0 with podcast recording costs $10. The podcasting recording feature is built in to all copies of Sparks! on a “try and buy” basis. After 30 days this feature is disabled until the podcast recording fee is paid.

If they cleared up some of the jargon on the pricing Web page where it would make a little more sense, I’d be happier. However, I do have to say they are also somebody I’d say is worth checking out.

Final Thoughts

Well there you go, just about every specialized podcast and video blogging Web host out there today. Some have a little more to offer and some have a little less to offer. What I would really like to see is more regular Web hosts jump onto the podcasting and videocasting bandwagons. They need to start offering special plans targeted to this market. Right now “podcasting” is a big buzz word and so many Web hosts are watching this gold mind just fly to the side.

Go download it and see what all latest buzz is in and around the Web hosting world.

Episode eleven of The Web Hosting Show is now on the air or at least Online. There were a lot of great topics covered on this week’s episode and here are only a few highlights of what we had to talk about.

The Planet Wins ICANN Accreditation

Managed Web hosting provider The Planet Internet Services announced on Thursday that it had recently been accredited as a domain registrar by ICANN, the body that oversees the domain name system.

“Receiving ICANN accreditation shows that the industry knows it can expect best in class solutions from The Planet,” says Sam Fleitman, vice president of information systems for The Planet. “It extends our offerings to cover even more of customers’ end-to-end hosting needs.” The Planet is currently offering .com and .net domains for $5.99 per year and will soon offer additional top-level domains such as .org, .biz, .info and .us.

WebHost Automation to Release Helm 4

Web hosting automation software developer WebHost Automation announced on Wednesday that it had released details of the next version of the Helm control panel.

The company says Helm 4 will be officially released later this year. A live demonstration of the product will be made at HostingCon 2005 in Chicago in June. Helm 4 will include a new user interface, improved server-to-server communications, load balanced distribution, secure and optimized data transmission, cross-data-center support, unlimited users levels and a full-featured API for expanding Helm’s feature set.

Go Daddy Top Registrar, Says Study

Domain registrar and Web hosting provider Go Daddy announced on Tuesday that according to current statistics provided by domain industry analysis firm Name Intelligence , it had become the largest ICANN-accredited domain registrar in the world, surpassing Network Solutions.

According to Name Intelligence, Go Daddy’s status as the world’s largest registrar is based on the total number of domains under its management and applies to the .com, .net, .org, .biz and .us domain extensions. No other registrar other than Network Solutions has ever held the top position, says Jay Westerdal, CEO of Name Intelligence.

If you want to read more or listen to the audio version of all of this, go check out the Web Hosting Show’s Web site. There you can find the show notes, past episodes, the current episode and so much more. The Web Hosting Show is the one and only voice of the Web hosting world and the Internet’s only Web hosting podcast. What are you waiting for, join in on the fun!