Most of us know about it, and not many people like it – the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA for short) is one of the most talked about pieces of law talked about in geeky circles in the past few years.  How much do you really know about it though?  Thankfully, I have found a great guide for both newbies to your digital rights and experts.

Here is just a small sample of this great DMCA takedown guide:

For the most part, that system has been used as intended. Countless DMCA notices have been filed to secure the removal of everything from illegal MP3s and movies to plagiarized poems. However, the system has also been abused at times and mistakes have been made in other cases.

Given how important this process has become, it is crucial for bloggers, Webmasters, hosts and anyone who posts content online to understand how the procedure works so they can both take advantage of it to protect their own work, if needed, and be prepared to answer any claims that are filed against them.

Be sure to check out the rest of this fantastic write-up over at brainz.org.  Well worth checking out for any webmaster out there.

All you need to do is visit the Submit a Question page, fill the form out, and then tune in to the Web Hosting Show each time a new show is released and your question will be answered and your web site will be plugged!

What can you ask about? I’ll answer anything that is even remotely related to web hosting.  Maybe you could ask about search engine optimization techniques?  Perhaps you need to know how to install WordPress?  You might even want my recipe for poor man’s pigs in a blanket (white bread and Vienna sausages).  Give me your questions, and I will give you the answers.

Since I have both podcast #190 and podcast #200 coming up this month, I would really like to have a slew of questions to go through, so I can help each and every one of you.

Far from being just another off topic service, in a world filled with them, the new Web Hosting Show Coupons and Deals page will deliver, and impress you.  This was a quick project I cooked up over the weekend, to better serve the public at large by delivering a better way to keep track of the latest coupons, deals and special offers from the entire web hosting world out there.

Point your browser towards: http://www.webhostingshow.com/coupons/

Once you navigate yourself to the web site, you can browse through 15 of the most recent offers that have been featured, as well as get a little description of what the offer is all about.  Then I try to link back to the source, so you can get instant gratification in the quickest way possible.

Want more web hosting coupons and deals? You can follow the Web Hosting Show’s coupons and deals on Twitter @whscoupons too.  The third content delivery method you have is the RSS feed, which you can subscribe to – to have all the deals streamed to you for free, into your favorite news reader of choice.

• Follow @whscoupons on Twitter!
• Subscribe via RSS to our Hosting Coupons!

Are you a web host? Good!  I need your help too.  Just like the Web Hosting Show podcast itself, I am looking to serve both the web hosts and the web hosting clients with this tool. Want to see your own special web hosting coupons and deals listed here? Contact me, with your web hosting special, coupon or offer and I will get it listed with the rest. For more on what went into building this new coupon tool, I would suggest you listen to podcast 198 of the Web Hosting Show where I go into a little more detail.

Free Vaga Icons – this set of 60 semi-transparent .png icons are all 16×16 in size are are ready to be download and used for free!

Free Web Dev Icons from IcoJoy – Icojoy team is happy to present you some free icon sets. These icons are free to use in any kind of project unlimited times.

Splashy Icons – 470 icons and counting, all free to use for any web site layout design.

Free Web Design Icon Set – There are 310 of them and they are designed to be used on web design projects, but some are also suited to be used as system icons. They are all 16 by 16 pixels, in PNG format and free to use in print and web projects.

Sizcons – This icon set is free to use for any way you see fit and is available in both 16×16 and 12×12 sizes.

Xiao Icons – This free icon set is alright to use without any permission.  They are simple, great looking and free!  Perfect for any web designer on a budget.

FamFamFam Icons – The FamFamFam icon sets (Silk, Flags and Mini) have been a favorite of many web site designers for a long long long time.  Most of these are free to use, as long as you show the creator how they are being used and you give them a link back – which isn’t too much to ask.

So in conclusion, the person who said you can’t have something for nothing was wrong.  Here is a LOT of something for nothing.  I would suggest though that if you use any of these icon sets, you do thank the designer in one way, shape or form.  I am sure they would appreciate it.  Have another set of free web designer icons you like, or you would like to share with the world?  Feel free to leave your suggestions and praise in the comments.

On the Web Hosting Show podcast, we have done a lot of talking recently about web hosts that use Twitter, and how they use it.  Some use it for support, others use it for marketing, and the best ones use it for both.  Who are the most popular web hosts on Twitter though?

To put that question to the test, I thought I would compile a list of all the web hosts on Twitter that have over 1,000 followers.  Out of nearly 100 web hosts on the Web, here are the 25 that made the cut.

1. WestHost Web Hosting (WestHost) on Twitter = 1,804 followers
2. softlayer_news (softlayer_news) on Twitter = 2,609 followers
3. Sustainable Websites (sustainableweb) on Twitter = 2,946 followers
4. Surpass Web Hosting (surpass) on Twitter = 1,960 followers
5. Slicehost (slicehost) on Twitter = 3,500 followers
6. Six Apart (sixapart) on Twitter = 15,401 followers
7. SiteGround (SiteGround) on Twitter = 1,132 followers
8. Site5 Web Hosting (site5) on Twitter = 1,010 followers
9. PinchHost (PinchHost) on Twitter = 8,891 followers
10. mediatemple (mediatemple) on Twitter = 8,571 followers
11. GoDaddy.com Guy(GoDaddyGuy) on Twitter = 3,060 followers
12. lunarpages (lunarpages) on Twitter = 1,528 followers
13. linode (linode) on Twitter = 1,655 followers
14. LiquidWeb (LiquidWeb) on Twitter = 12,734 followers
15. Laughing Squid (ls_hosting) on Twitter = 1,079 followers
16. Joyent (joyent) on Twitter = 2,350 followers
17. JaguarPC (JaguarPC) on Twitter = 4,637 followers
18. Sunil Saxena (inmotionhosting) on Twitter = 1,259 followers
19. HostGator.com (hostgator) on Twitter = 4,668 followers
20. Hostcats.com (Hostcats) on Twitter = 1,299 followers
21. 123-Reg (123reg) on Twitter = 1,677 followers
22. Gary Jones (bluefur) on Twitter = 46,671 followers
23. dreamhost (DreamHost) on Twitter = 2,934 followers
24. FireHost Inc. (FireHost) on Twitter = 3,783 followers
25. INSANE Deals Only @ (HIVELOCITY) on Twitter = 6,508 followers

There you have it, 25 of the most popular web hosting companies that are on Twitter right now.  You can find a list of nearly 100 web hosts on Twitter on the Web Hosting Show’s web site.  Did your web host make the cut?

How do you like that new logo, by the way? It was designed my my good friend and graphic design specialist, Sean Barton.  I’m personally pretty proud of it – as it is pretty much the logo I always wanted for the show, but never had the time or the skill to put together.  Want to learn more about the web hosting industry?  The web hosting show is both a podcast and web site dedicated to helping anybody from novices to experts learn more about how to make the web hosting world work for them. If you haven’t before – be sure to bookmark WebHostingShow.com, subscribe to the e-mail updates, and add the RSS feed to your favorite news reader. 

Over on the Web Hosting Show, I have been talking all week long about our good ‘ol departed friend, Geocities.  After looking back at what went wrong, and what was or was not done, one thing can be said for certain.  The main reason Geocities fell is because they failed to innovate. 

If you too want to follow the rise and fall of this free hosting giant, check out these articles and be sure to download the accompanying podcast too.

A Lesson in Geocities History

You might have heard of Geocities in passing, however if you are new to the Web, or the way things once were – all this concern about a free hosting service might be a little confusing.  So I figured, what better way to pay tribute to the web host that once was, than to give you a history lesson in Geocities.

Saving Geocities for Future Generations

In an effort to save the content that was on Geocities, a group calling themselves the Archive Team is working hard to save the Web that way it once was.  Time to pack away the animated gifs, blinking text, and web rings into their own individual boxes, so that someday we can look back what was once considered, “cool” in web site design.

Alternatives to Geocities Hosting

With the word that Geocities would be closing, “sometime in 2009” many of the Geocities users are looking for other places to host their content.  Even though Geocities is closing the door on it’s free hosting, there are still many free hosting alternatives to Geocities.

Why Did Geocities Fail?

The reasons as to why Yahoo! dropped the ball with Geocities will be a great debate over the next year or so.  However, I feel the main reason Geocities ended up fading off into the sunset is that Yahoo failed to evolve the product into what people needed.

For more web hosting podcasts, interviews, tips and more be sure to check out WebHostingShow.com.  It is tons of fun!

• Web Hosting Thaw – Episode 176
• Hope in Hosting – Episode 177
• Axsys Hosting – Episode 178
• Host Improvement – Episode 179
• Domain Name Dictionary – Episode 180
• More Domain Name Terms – Episode 181
• Payment Processing Demystified – Episode 182
• A Look into Aplus.net Hosting – Episode 183
• Web Hosting Relationships – Episode 184

Going all the way back to 2005, there are over 180 podcasts in all uploaded on the site, and ready to be listened to.  If there is ever a topic you would like to hear more about – I am all ears, and always welcome to feedback.

Sharing your images has never been easier with the thanks of imgur.  No, this isn’t just a tribute to the fact that all the good names are taken.  Imgur makes image sharing as easy as it can.  You have a browse box, where you can select your picture from, then you continue.  The requirements are it has to be under 2MB, and in the jpg, gif, or png format. 

Have any more questions?  The FAQ would be a good place to start.  Overall I like easy, I like simple so I like imgur for free photo sharing.