geeky tutorials, tips, guides and reviews
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.
The WinSCP program (for Windows users) is a great alternative FTP client you should really try out. Totally open source, this program makes it safe when copying files between a local and remote computer.
I really like it when any FTP program can give me better integration with my operating system, and WinSCP does do that and more. You can create your standard shortcuts to it, add it to Window’s “Send To” context menu, and it can also be setup to be the default handler for SFTP and SCP URL addresses.
The WinSCP installer can also install drag&drop shell extension to improve WinSCP capability of downloading files using drag and drop.
Not sure where to start, after you downloaded it? They have a plethora of guides and useful tutorials to help get you setup. So next time you are looking for a free FTP program, and you have tried the other popular names out there, give WinSCP a shot. It might be the free FTP program experiance you’ve been looking for.
Bonus: Need more help? Check out the FTP FAQ from the Web Hosting Show!
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.
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?
For those of you who might not have noticed, one of my other projects – WebHostingShow.com got a little ‘bit of a face lift yesterday, mainly as far as the logo goes. This did give me an excuse to spruce up a few other features that are well worth checking out too.
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.
Boasting of all the bandwidth and space they have for you to use, Sharenload is a new free file hosting service, that seems to round the bases when it comes to the basic features you come to expect from a free file host.
As it slides into home plate, it looks to have everything you might be looking for in a free file host. Of course, the terms or service says you should not upload any adult or copyrighted material. Also, while we are talking about limits, you can upload up to 2048 MB and up to 5 files at a time. By clicking on the “advanced” link via their upload form, you are also given a way to e-mail and password protect your upload too.
So, if you are looking to support a new free file host, Sharenload delivers all the basics you would come to expect, living up to their moto – just another file host.
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.
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.
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!
You can file this one under cool things I didn’t know I needed. File2.ws is a unique service that promises to convert anything into a web page. Fuffy kitten aside (because they won’t fit in your CD-ROM drive no matter how hard you try) it does a good job at delivering on that promise.
All you need to do is browse for the file you want to convert, and then hit the “start conversion” button. Some of the files it currently supports include:
Once uploaded, every converted file has a unique web address created for it, so you can point others to it and share the document in question. So if you are searching for a free way to convert any file into a web page, give them a shot at File2.ws.
I did my first two-part podcast series this week on the Web Hosting Show. This week, in podcast 180 and 181 we covered some of the most confusing domain name terms you might hear being tossed around inside of the web hosting industry.
On podcast #180 covered these specific domain terms:
On podcast #181 rounded things out with these domain terms:
I would highly recommend checking out both podcasts, as I think they will be a handy addition to have for anybody who is wanting to learn more about the domain name jargon that is being tossed around.
For more web hosting podcast fun, talk, help, interviews and more check out webhostingshow.com. Speaking of which, that project of mine is about to hit the 4 year anniversary mark – so that alone should let you know there is a ton of information posted over there for the newbies all the way to the gurus out there in the web development world.
I am really becoming a big fan of the Hosting Industry group on LinkedIn. When it was first launched, I mentioned it on the Web Hosting Show podcast, however – I had no idea how useful it would be till now, a few months down the road. Here recently, I used it to get a few guests lined up for future interviews on the Web Hosting Show – and thus far the response has been really superb.
As much as I like the mix of hosting customers and web hosting professionals meeting in one place, the highlight of this group on LinkedIn is that thus far it is only people who are working in the hosting industry in one way, shape or form. With that said, it kind of blocks out some of the discussions, such as “Is ‘X’ web host any good?” or “Stay away from ‘X’ as a Web Host, they just robbed me!” and well – you get the idea.
If you want to learn more about the Hosting Industry Organization and the LinkedIn group that is related to it, be sure to check out HostingIndustryOrg.com.
Christmas has even made it’s way over to Mitchelaneous.com – and who would have guessed I’d pass up the chance to call it Mitch-mas. 
For all of you I have two very special presents – a couple of my other side projects you may or may not know that much about. I wanted to take a minute or two of your time so that you could check them out, and if you like them as much as you like Mitchelaneous – feel free to subscribe there too. Merry Christmas!
The Web Hosting Show is my weekly podcast on and about the wacky world of web hosting. From news, to help and even some shopping tips – I like to help people get the most out of their hosting accounts – while having a little fun along the way.
My Favorite Web Hosting Show Posts of the Year:
You can subscribe to WebHostingShow.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:
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:
Thanks to all my visitors and free RSS feed subscribers for keeping this rambling side project of mine fun to do. This November was the 5 year anniversary of Mitchelaneous.com, and hopefully we will have many more years to come.
Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.
Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
