Archive | November, 2006

HostingFu Does Not Like Me

While surfing around some of my old referrals for the Web Hosting Show, I ran across an old link that I had never seen before. It seems like HostingFu did a little mini review of my hosting podcast.

Mitch is a “self-proclaimed” web hosting guru, but his only credential seems to be that he has “worked in several hosting companies”. The content, although is web hosting related, is not really technical, which might hardly interest all the software engineers and system administrators out there.

What really annoys me is repeated trumpet blowing like “one and only one voice of web hosting world”, “I am web hosting industry media rockstar”, etc. Hmm. I know it is really surprisingly the only one I can find, but I found it is just way too much to be professional. Maybe it is just something distinctive which his audiences love.

A little harsh I might say, but for me any feedback is good feedback?

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DemoWolf and DemoSuite

DemoWolfThere is no doubt in my mind that DemoWolf might be one of the most impressive companies of the entire year of 2006. If I was putting together a set of awards for the year, they would be taking home more than a few.

They have most recently launched a new service that will allow you to play anybody’s flash tutorials straight from your PC. The DemoSuite is the perfect tool for any Web host to pick up to provide to customers. It is one more way to enjoy those flash tutorials that DemoWolf puts out for the Web hosting industry as well.

DemoSuite is an application that web hosting companies can use to create a custom-branded Flash Player for their customers to download. The DemoSuite Flash Player is a desktop application that allows the customer to play their web host’s flash support tutorials directly from their Windows desktops.

Let’s be honest folks, DemoWolf has gone from being somebody who is nipping at DemoDemo’s heels to a major competitor. Now I have always been a friend of DemoDemo as well, so you will not see me picking sides. I do have to say though, impressive is what DemoWolf has really been these past few months.

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Grid Server Outage at Media Temple

I hate to be the one to tell you that I told you so, but I did. According the Netcraft:

Customers of MediaTemple’s GridServer, which received widespread attention upon its debut last month, experienced significant downtime Tuesday. GridServer is among the many cluster-based grid hosting services, offering the promise of enterprise-level reliability and scalability in an affordable web hosting plan.

Now that I got the “I told you so” out of the way, let me say something in the defense of Media Temple.

Bad things happen, no matter who your Web host is.

Media Temple’s advantage is also it’s disadvantage. They are host to a lot of popular blogs out there, so when things are good they get praise ten times more than anybody else. When things go back – the same thing happens in the negative sense.

Related Hosting Links:
+ Chris Pirillo Was Burned By the Outage As Well
+ Here is a Thread About the Situation at Web Hosting Talk
+ News Coverage of the Event Via Netcraft

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Online Shopping Helper

Do you want me to let you in on a little secret? Your favorite Online place to shop is not the place where you can get the best deals. Sure, you should shop where you feel comfortable, but you might be missing a lot of good offers if you do not look elsewhere. One of my new places to find the proverbial goods is SecretPrices.com.

Read More About SecretPrices.com! | Check Out More of My Web Goodies!

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Web Hosting Podcast Server Move and Update

Web Hosting PodcastAlright, I think it is just about time to make my announcement about one of the new major supporters for the Web Hosting Show podcast.

FastServers.Net have been brought on and are now providing me with a server to host the number one Web hosting podcast out there today on. Hopefully in the future this machine might even be home to a few other hosting projects as well. (Don’t let me get ahead of myself though)

FastServers.Net is by far the leader when it comes to data centers out there today, so it just tickles me to be able to associate myself with him. Web Hosting Chat, which has been my major supporter for the year and a half is staying on a supporter (still giving me that forum space!). I think it is save to say though that FastServers.Net would be considered the new major supporter.

While I am in a thanking mood – I would like to thank everybody in general in the Web hosting industry that has supported my dream via the podcast. Who ever knew that one guy from Texas could draw all this attention just by helping people figure out what Web hosting is all about.

Now what does all this butt kissing mean for you and the Web Hosting Show? Well it means that you will be able to listen to the show week in and week out for a while longer. I would be happy as heck if I could be doing my 200th or 2,000th episode associated with FastServers.Net.

I’ll have a little more news on next week’s podcast – so stay tuned for more.

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Mitch Bashes a Coconut

Yes this is how I relax – got a problem with it?

Oh man, you have no idea how much fun this is after a day of answering sales and support questions all day long. My stress was totally gone after this. :)

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Hosting for Christmas?

Tis the season to be thinking about what you are getting your loved ones. Now will you knit them a sweater with love and care? Probably not – that takes way too much time. I’ve got the perfect stocking stuffer for you to give and I can promise nobody will be looking to return your gift anytime soon. Ready or not, here I come because the Web Hosting Show is now on the air.

Other topics on this week’s show include:

+ Giving the Gift of Web Hosting for the Holidays
+ How and Why Web Hosts Should Create a Knowledge Base

[Download and Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Podcast 86!]

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Feed Reading Not There Yet

Sure, feed reading and RSS in general has gone a long way since the early days, but I do not think it is “there” yet. I was reading about the review of the current feed reading habits, and it does show promise.

I just can’t believe anything has caught on yet till my Mom thinks it is easy. Now she is “mid” tech savvy, and I think that is the world’s target with this stuff. When people outside of the tech sphere really find a good reason to use this stuff then we are all going to be doing a little ‘bit better.

Then again, when you mention Web 2.0, RSS, feeds or blogosphere to normal people, they still look at you like your crazy. We may have blogging Gods on the Web – but in normal life, they are just another loser with a habit that nobody understands.

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Finding Free Wallpaper on Google

Want a quick tip? Well one of my favorite ways of finding new and neat wallpaper is to use Google’s image search. For me, I use 1280×1024 resolution – so this is what I do to find the best of the best.

1. Go visit Google Image Search
2. Type in your screen resolution into the search box
3. Hit “Enter” and browse!

This is a great way to find wallpaper from Web sites that you may or may not have heard of before. Finding new content is always a good thing.

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Free Remote PC to PC Connections

LogMeInHow is this for problem solving? I needed a way to reach my main PC from my notebook computer, but I didn’t want to pay for anything because honestly, it is a simple connection for just simple random tasks. I am not performing brain surgery I am sorting a few things on my computer’s desktop.

I found a totally free solution with LogMeIn. They do offer paid services (which I might look into later on) but the free one is a nice addition to any home as well. All I had to do was sign up, do a quick and painless install, and I was up and running. Now I can access my desktop PC with my laptop all inside of Firefox. How cool is that?

I also think this might come in handy the next time I need to check my sister’s computer for problems. I don’t have to tell her to bring it here and I don’t have to go over there. We can do it all through the magic of the Internet.

I have been higly impressed with the quality of service thus far – and I just wanted to share the word with everybody just in case you haven’t heard of it yet. If you need to make quick remote connections from PC to PC – LogMeIn is the way to go.

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