As the web hosting industry becomes more competitive, web hosting providers need to provide extra services and features to stand out from the rest. One common service that numerous hosts offer is script installation. Usually managed in the host’s control panel, users can use the service to automatically install content management systems, photo galleries, forums, and other web-based software.

Ideally, script installation should be fast, easy to use, and should be simple and direct, avoiding any hacks that make the installations incompatible with normal installations (in case the user ever needs to move their data to another server). But not all hosts are equal in these areas.

Go Daddy, for example, is a well known and highly advertised host, but their control panel scripts installation is mediocre at best. When a user sets up an installation of a script, Go Daddy’s control panel will queue it and make the user wait an undetermined amount of time before the script is actually installed. It is very slow and can be frustrating to a website owner who purchased an account expecting clean and fast script installation.

(no votes)

0 comments

Many website owners need photo galleries for their content. There are essentially three options for someone who wants an online photo gallery:

1. Use one of the gallery scripts supplied and installed by your web hosting provider (if available)
2. Download a free or commercial gallery application and install it on your server
3. Use a third-party photo sharing or gallery hosting site.

The advantage of a locally hosted gallery on your own server is that you can usually easily export your gallery and take it to another host. You also have full control over customization and features (especially if you are using an open source product). With option #1 the biggest disadvantage is that you are limited to whatever your web host provides, which may or may not be available if you switch to another host. The disadvantage of #2 is that you are responsible for updates and maintaining the security and stability of the gallery.

Option #3 eliminates the disadvantages of #1 and #2. Your gallery is maintained by another company and hosted on a remote server. You never have to worry about upgrades. The big disadvantage is that you do not have control over your own content and may not be able to easily export it and take it to another host or gallery.

Photo: Flickr

(no votes)

0 comments

After losing a non-enforceable lawsuit against ICM Registry for blocking the .xxx domain, ICANN will reconsider the extension. According to a spokesman, it will be discussed at a meeting this Friday.

As much as we all love the wide array of busts and brawn available online, I really don’t see the point of .xxx. Proponents argue it would make adult content easier to filter, but this would never happen unless all pornographic sites were forced to move to the extension.

ICM Registry seems to be the only one pumping .xxx. Unless the likes of Hugh Hefner get behind, I doubt it willl ever take off. ICANN should just tell ICM to take a hike once and for all.

(no votes)

0 comments

When it comes to increasing website traffic, many webmasters often look to SEO or banner advertising. Both methods are often very expensive and do not result in permanent gains unless continuously maintained. But if you have a high-traffic website, registering typos of your domain could be a cheap way to bring in more visitors.

According to a recent study, some sites can increase their traffic by 1% simply by registering “wwwdomain.com” to redirect typo-prone visitors “www.domain.com.”

This may not seem like a lot, but even for a site that gets 1,000 visitors per day, this traffic adds up. Take 10 extra visitors per day and multiply by 365, you get 3650. Assume a domain costs $10 and divide that number of 3650, and you’ll realize that you’re paying less than a quarter of a cent ($0.0027) per visitor!

This is significantly less than the cost of PPC ads, which can run up to $1.00 or more per click. Just remember to redirect the typo domain to your site, otherwise you won’t gain any traffic!

(no votes)

0 comments

Lock and load ‘em, boys. Guns.com just sold at a auction for a jaw-dropping $800,000 USD. No information about the buyer or seller has been made available.

This is the third-biggest domain sale so far this year. Interestingly, neither of the two names that grossed more, poker.org ($1,000,000) and credit.fr (€587,500), are .coms.

Given the huge market for firearms in the United States, I think the name could have fetched a bit more than $800,000. The arms industry is one of the biggest in the U.S. and Canada. Perhaps the plural form of the name turned buyers away?

Source | DN Journal
Photo | eyebiz

(no votes)

0 comments

You might think that as one of the largest web hosts in the United States, DreamHost would want its customers to use its own email service. You’d be wrong to think so, however. Since May 2008, the company has encouraged its users to switch to Gmail for their email needs.

In a blog post, Dream Host co-founder Josh Jones stated, “Just over HALF of all the support requests we get are about email… It’s just not something people are looking for from us, and it’s something the big free email providers like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google can do better.”

So rather than improve its own email system to make it more user friendly, DreamHost has opted to outsource it to Google. This is a great cost-cutting measure and it’s nice that the company is giving its customers more options. But I think the real underlying problem here is that DreamHost isn’t as user-friendly as it could be.

The company may have improved since I switched to a different host several years ago, but from my experience, the DreamHost control panel is hard to use. I remember it being very slow and arranged in a very illogical fashion. As DreamHost half-heatedly admits, their email service wasn’t easy to set up. Instead of copping out by switching to Gmail, the web host should fix what was broken in the first place.

(no votes)

0 comments

In an effort to boost profits, the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA) has announced the release of some 1,200 “premium” generic keyword .ng domains. The question is, does anyone care?

Sure, ccTLDs are on the up, but only in developed countries and not in places with bad reputations for spamming and scamming. Names like casino.ng or sex.ng might fetch several hundred or perhaps several thousand dollars at auction, but not much. And I suspect few domainers are scratching to get their hands on cars.ng. Vacation.ng might be a goldmine, if it weren’t for the fact no one goes on vacation to Nigeria.

If NIRA were smart, it would hold most of these “premium” names until a sufficient market exists to garner high sale prices. But as it stands now, does anyone really give a hoot about .ng?

Photo | cgarbiano

(no votes)

0 comments

Ever since Jack Dorsey published Twitter’s first tweet on March 21, 2006, the online service has skyrocketed in popularity. Almost four years later, the 10 billionth tweet has been broadcast.

It is unknown exactly when the message was sent. Twitter’s best estimate is some time within the last 24 hours of the announcement.

Personally, I’ve never really understood Twitter. It looks like a great way to make short announcements, but the everyday individual does very little that is newsworthy on a day-to-day basis. Something tells me my friends don’t want to know that I just bought a cup of coffee or that I’m sitting bored at work. But hey, if that’s your thing, tweet on!

Source | The Hosting News
Photo | Flickr

(no votes)

0 comments

Just days after we posted news about Google’s acquisitions that position it to make a large impact on HTML 5 video development, suspicion is floating around the tech world that Microsoft is planning a big announcement for Internet Explorer 9, the next installment of their declining browser.

If Microsoft intends to keep their commanding share of the browser market, they will need to continue to adapt to web standards. At their MIX 2010 developer conference in Las Vegas, experts predict that Microsoft will unveil a new IE version that takes into account HTML 5 elements, including support for vector graphics like SVG.

Even with IE 8, the current version, Internet Explorer is still far behind competitors like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Opera. If ever there were a time for Microsoft to make a game-changing play, that time is now.

Source: Webmonkey

(no votes)

0 comments

Web server administrators should take notice of a “severe” vulnerability that computer scientists have discovered in OpenSSL, the free and open source encryption software package for Linux and Unix-like systems.

The bug is in OpenSSL’s cryptographic library and vulnerability allows attackers to retrieve a server’s cryptographic key, leaving any secure transactions, such as banking and sales, exposed to the attacker. Hundreds of thousands (perhaps even millions) of businesses, banks, and other enterprise-level institutions depend on SSL encryption security, particularly that of OpenSSL.

Those who discovered it said that the attack is difficult to execute, but administrators should still be cautious. An OpenSSL spokesperson said that they are already working on a solution and will release a patch for the software. Furthermore, an attack requires access to the power source of the device, making it unlikely that an attacker could exploit a server, since most attack remotely.

Source: The Register
Photo: Ivan Petrov

(no votes)

0 comments