Web Hosting

Web Hosting Companies Censor Websites

Once in a while, web hosting providers stir up controversy in the industry. Recently, there has been debate over Anti-Gay extremists and their freedom of speech. As a result, some web hosting providers such as BlueHost has made the decision to ban these websites hosted on their servers. BlueHost is one of the leading providers, making themselves well-known by removing Anti-Gay websites from their hosting.

ChristChurchQuake.net

The most controversial site on BlueHost’s servers is ChristChurchQuake.net which published that the earthquakes that devastated New Zealand in February 2011 were a result of a vengeful God, punishing humans for the lifestyles of many in the region. This is a clear target toward homosexuals living the Christchurch area.

Faith-based Web Hosting Providers

However, BlueHost is not the only provider to make such choices. A number of faith-based Christian hosting providers are beginning to take a stand against hate speech. Therefore, this presents a valid question: Does free speech remain in the web hosting world? According to these providers, no some censorship is necessary.

Freedom of Speech

The fact is the freedom of speech and the web hosting providers within the borders are enforced by the United States. However, web hosts have the freedom to deny service to anyone, at any time for any reason. Therefore, the beliefs and values are another factor to consider when selecting a web hosting provider. For instance, religious hosts are likely to boast stricter guidelines for the content hosted on their servers.

On the other hand, providers like GoDaddy host a larger spectrum of clients and content. Although the company does not condone hate speech, they continue to host websites with free speech that may be considered unsuitable to other providers.

Consider your Content

If considering a religious provider, the content that will be published on your website should be reviewed prior to paying money and incurring downtime due to a violation of terms and conditions. If the host does not feel comfortable hosting your site with specific outlined content, then you must look to other providers.

With the number of websites increasing on the Internet each day, it is difficult to sift through those that are questionable, unethical or might compromise the standards set by the web hosting company. As the Internet continues to expand, this is going to be even more difficult. Therefore, these companies have set the standard and taken a stance not allowing hate speech on their servers. In the future, hopefully webmasters will consider their content prior to posting on specific servers.

A Review of the Most Affordable Windows Web Hosting Providers

When signing up with a web hosting provider, the type of server for your website is usually either Linux or Windows. Each provides their own advantages and disadvantages so business owners typically select the best fit for their company needs. Over the years, the cost of web hosting has dropped significantly due to the competitive nature of the industry. With the number of companies in the market, it can be difficult to weed through the various providers.

Therefore, if you do not have time to sift through the thousands of web hosting providers on the Internet, the following is a list of some of the most affordable Windows web hosting providers from most expensive to least expensive:

• Lunarpages
• Myhosting
• GoDaddy
• SinoHosting
• Arvixe
• Gossimer
• Aplus.net

The first web hosting company is Lunarpages which offers all new customers a free domain, free website setup and full compatibility with Dreamweaver. They are the highest priced web hosting provider on the list at $9.95. The second provider is Myhosting which delivers around the clock customer support couple with unlimited features and resources for $9.34.

The next company is one of the most popular companies available. By offering Google webmaster tools, daily data backups and free email addresses, GoDaddy has millions of loyal customers. The average Windows hosting plan at GoDaddy is priced at $6.99 per month. SinoHost has an average industry cost set at $6.25 per month. This provider hosts from China, delivers free setup and offers plans for Windows and Linux.

Arvixe is the next popular host offering customers one free domain for life, no hidden fees in the contract and around the clock customer support. All this can be yours for only $5 per month. Set at the same monthly price is Gossimer which includes a $50 Yahoo advertising credit, unlimited data transfer and unlimited disk space.

Aplus.net is two cents cheaper at $4.98 per month and comes with one free domain, Google and MSN advertising coupons and the chance to save up to 50 percent on web hosting costs. This is significant in an industry saturated by companies.

There are many excellent web hosting deals available on the Internet; you simply must conduct thorough research to find them. The aforementioned web hosting companies are inexpensive but offer high quality monthly packages.

B-Reel to Change Ecommerce

B-Reel, a Swedish cell phone company, is working to change the current methods of ecommerce and bring it into the future. With 3LiveShop, consumers are engulfed in a live online store that works as a service for customers of telecom operator 3. The company has collaborated efforts with Teenage Engineering, a Los Angeles-based studio, to develop an ecommerce hardware backend system. With this equipment, the days of dragging products to a shopping cart are coming to a close.

A Multi-Touch Interface Built on Flash

The system has been designed with a multi-touch interface built on the Flash platform. The system is so advanced; it is able to recognize multiple fingers on the screen at the same time thus allowing a sales representative to interact with products, all of which appear on the customer’s screen as well. The screen is similar to the one used by Tom Cruise in the movie Minority Report. The products are displayed as separate streams which ensure the best possible presentation.

Digital Interaction in a Real-time Environment

The main idea is customers can sit at a computer with a webcam and interact with a sales associate in a real-time environment. By moving their finger, the associate can drag products onto the screen so the customer is able to view the cost, color, and all other aspects of the product. Therefore, this sales associate is similar to a personal shopper, only in a digital environment.

Anonymous Online Shopping

However, many customers enjoy the anonymity of shopping online, which could be the primary reason they do not shop at a brick-and-mortar store. At the same time, this could simply be a matter of adjustment and adaptation. If this is the case, B-Reel could be the pioneers of a major boom of advanced, multi-touch interfaces that maximize interaction with customers in a digital world.

How practical is this Application of Technology

This begs the question of practicality. The display and multi-touch system are incredible. However, is the application of this technology actually practical to the standard online shopper? This is one question that has been left unanswered, only time will tell.

Once this system is test and fully perfected, it appears as if it could have many other more useful applications besides online shopping. However, until that day, the technology enthusiasts will be chomping at the bit to get their hands on this piece of equipment.

New Mobile Content Management System

Sameva Inc., provider of innovative business solutions and information technology services, recently announced a new mobile content management system named Xhibeo. This software allows publishers to manage website content from any location and implement it on a variety of devices including; iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, eReaders, notebooks and tablets. This content management system presents a large amount of flexibility for its users.

Features of the Content Management System

The best features of the software include; the creation and management of an unlimited number of web pages, full integration with current systems, hosting and publishing facilities, a single adaptation to brand identity within a business and automatic timing and control of website content. Other features comprise; handset subsystem administrative functions, administrative reporting and tools, advertisement management and configurable interfaces.

Improving Businesses

There are a variety of ways Xhibeo can be beneficial to businesses. For instance, the content management system can help website owners monetize through branding. Also, the software allows for a customizable viewing experience. Additionally, users are able to manage multiple devices. Furthermore, owners will be able to build deeper relationships with their customers. Finally, high-quality applications are available to all users.

Monetization through Branding

The Xhibeo content management system presents users with a way to connect with a specified customer base from anywhere in the world. This gives users the ability to create and deliver rich, engaging media to a self-selected targeted audience thus improving traffic, sales and overall profit.

Customized Viewing Experience

Once again, Xhibeo can be used to conduct the functions of a content management system from anywhere in the world. Therefore, publishers will be able to create a brand experience for their customers who connect using a mobile device to view the content. All pages will be properly formatted for easy readability.

Manage Several Devices

As previously mentioned, Xhibeo features cross-platform solutions like administrative tools and other resources to connect to the target audience. The ability to deploy native applications across many devices while managing them on a single, centralized mobile interface is impressive.

Building Deeper Relationships

To build deeper relationships utilizing this content management system, users can push geographically targeted notifications, messages and advertisements to the customers of that region. This will unlock opportunities taking the business to the next level.

Deploying Applications

Applications can be found everywhere, from televisions to mobile devices; they streamline the most common tasks. Xhibeo is no different. By offering quality apps for all devices, users will no longer need to download each smartphone SDK to ensure compatibility.

Xhibeo is one of many excellent mobile content management systems to recently enter the marketplace. The future of mobile organization and content management and implementation is here.

Bux4Real Attacked by Hackers

The Bux4Real website has incurred a number of heavy hacker attacks over the past several days. Prior to the attacks, the Bux4Real team announced the development of their revolutionary money-making concept, the Bux4Real creator. The team has promised to continue with development despite these heavy attacks.

Statements from Management

The Customer Support Director at the organization released a statement recognizing that these attacks prove Bux4Real is considered a competitive threat by scammers. Therefore, the concept system has proven to be an undesirable asset to the competition with the exception of a few trusted companies. The Bux4Real creator is such a threat because if the team succeeds many competing Bux companies will be eradicated.

Considerable Damages

The damages to the current Bux4Real system have been so considerable that even the backup systems have been affected. However, the systems team has been working around the clock to recover as much of the lost data as possible. The Chief Technology Officer is confident the effects of these attacks will be limited.

Reassurance to the Members

The company continues to reassure their members that they are working as hard as possible to correct this issue, thus keeping customers satisfied. Unfortunately, a small portion of users will be forced to register their accounts again but none of the benefits will be lost. Executives have asked their members for forgiveness and continue to apologize for this unfortunate event.

A Bonus

Therefore, the company is allowing member who lost their accounts extra time to reenter the system. As a result of this attack, the company has decided to give back to the community by giving the first 40,000 members a credit of $10 into their account. The team believes the loyal members will remain through thick and thin.

Management has further stated that the company is fighting for no mercy to those that attacked the system. They continue to express their gratitude to members and assure them the system will be running and fully functional in a short amount of time.

There have been a large number of hacker attacks in the recent months. The attack on Bux4Real appears to have done a large amount of damage if members have lost their accounts. Hopefully the new system in development will protect members from any heavy attacks in the future.

Becoming a Domain Speculator with No Experience

Domain speculation is defined as the process of judging the value of, buying, selling, and trading domain names. This has become an incredibly profitable industry that complements web hosting during the past couple of years, as individual business owners and companies have realized the continuously expanding opportunity presented by online real estate. Each year, thousands of entrepreneurs and local business owners decide to expand their operations into the World Wide Web to solicit more clients, and in doing so they must purchase at least one domain name. However, the majority of these people eventually purchase between five and 20 domain names on average. By becoming a domain speculator you can take advantage of this exponential growth and begin earning a profit with minimal experience.

Conducting Research

The first step in becoming a domain speculator is to conduct the necessary research, and the simplest and cheapest way to do this is to become a member of various Webmaster/Web hosting forums. These forums not only allow you to gather the pre-existing tips provided by experienced webmasters and domain speculators, they also allow you to interact with these individuals on a personal basis, giving you the ability to receive personalized answers to all of your curiosities. Fortunately, all of the information needed to learn how to judge the value of domain names can be found online for free. Alternatively, if your research endeavors are more time intensive and you would rather not expend the effort to find information from various sources, you could purchase a comprehensive guide or training system to expedite the process.

The Basics of Domain Name Value

There are three main factors to consider when judging the value of a domain name – memorability, profitability, and search engine optimization. First of all, the domain name should be memorable enough that site visitors will be able to accurately describe it to their friends or family, thereby increasing the daily traffic levels through word-of-mouth. In addition, the domain name should preferably pertain to a niche or keyword that is profitable, as these websites tend to sell for a higher price tag. Finally, domain names should contain search engine optimization attributes, such as exact match keywords, which will allow the site to instantly begin generating search engine traffic with minimal effort on behalf of the site owner. Websites that are recently expired and still have backlinks, page rank, and other search engine attributes are considered to be most valuable.

Buying and Selling Domain Names

There are three main ways to begin purchasing domain names – domain auctions, registering domains with registrars, and purchasing recently expired domains. While recently expired domains are usually the most profitable, they also tend to cost more than those that are registered with the registrar. Domain registrars offer popular TLDs (top level domains) such as .com, .org, and.net for only $10 per year of registration. Domain auction sites give you the most diverse selection, and most auctions include not only the domain name, but also attached website that contains pre-developed content and design.

New VP of Subsea Sales at Infinera Announced

Infinera is one of the leading digital optical networking systems providers. The company recently announced that Deryck Robinson will be the new Vice President of Subsea Sales. This position will allow Robinson to conduct subsea sales on a global level. Robinson will also lead a dedicated team focused on expanding Infinera in the growing subsea networking market.

Another New Announcement

This appointment immediately follows Infinera’s announcement of the new 500Gb/s integrated circuits which deliver 100Gb/s channels across the Interoute pan-European network. Since 2009, Infinera Submarine Solutions have been providing submarine line terminal equipment and has shown an explosive amount of growth.

This brand of the company allows submarine operators to increase the network capacity in a cost-effective manner while simultaneously gaining from the ease-of-use, unified, efficient subsea-terrestrial network. Basically, Infinera is an organization that lays fiber optic equipment across the ocean floor to connect continents.

A Strong Portfolio

The company has already been utilized to move wire across the Atlantic Ocean, between North and South America and across the Indian Ocean. Therefore, Infinera has a fairly impressive portfolio of projects. Through expansion and growth, they will be able to provide a more efficient and effective service which will greatly improve connection performance across large bodies of water.

Current Equipment

The continued growth of the Internet is proving to be a major strain on the current submarine fiber optic cables. As a result, performance and efficiency greatly suffer. To alleviate this issue, web hosting operators have turned to Infinera due to their rapid, cost-effective upgrades to existing lines as well as the ability to lay new, better performing fiber optic cable systems.

Robinson’s Background

Robinson joined Infinera in 2006 as a senior sales director. Since that time, he has greatly contributed to the development of Infinera to achieve an industry-leading role in the North American long-haul marketplace. Infinera offers a variety of services which include their compact metro edge platform known as Infinera ATN, optical system Infinera DTN and optimization features for DTN and SLTE.

Due to the major impact this company has on the Internet, the projects they complete are extremely important. Therefore, Robinson has a great deal of responsibility to help the company grow so they are able to offer a high-quality, well-performing product at a reasonable price. If his past performance is any indication, the company’s subsea sales department is in good hands.

What Does Web Hosting Support Entail

The web hosting industry is extremely broad and diverse, so it can be somewhat difficult to properly define the boundaries of what is provided within hosting support. Web hosting encompasses and incorporates nearly every aspect of Internet technology into a single solution, so understanding related concepts is very important when requesting assistance from your host’s support staff.

There are so many aspects of building an online business that are facilitated by the use of a web hosting account, including but not limited to web design, custom scripting, website creation and promotion, and e-commerce. Within the web hosting account countless tasks can be completed that facilitate various steps in building a successful network of sites, including but not limited to link building, control panels, keyword optimization and research, on-site search engine optimization, IP addresses, bandwidth, disk space. However, not all of the aforementioned aspects of site creation/promotion and server administration are covered by web hosting support.

Inquiring about the Terms of Service

The extent to which service and support is provided varies depending on the terms of service of the hosting provider. Although it may be difficult to decipher the exact meaning of many clauses and phrases within the fine print of the web hosting agreement, it is fairly simple to contact a web hosting provider via phone or e-mail in order to inquire about what level of assistance is provided with the hosting plan. For example, there are two types of dedicated hosting plans – managed and unmanaged. Unmanaged hosting plans include customer service, but not extensive technical report. On the other hand, fully managed dedicated hosting plans include full technical support related to all aspects of server management.

Understanding the Boundaries of Web Hosting Services

Web hosting is basically a service that allows you to lease a web server, and that provides technical support related to the administration and management of that web server. Many web hosts also provide additional assistance related to script installations, task automation, and even site creation. However, there is a limit to the amount of support a web hosting staff can provide in relation to certain topics. For example, a web hosting support staff may be able to walk you through the process of setting up Cron jobs for scheduling server administration tasks, or even installing content management systems for your site such as WordPress, but they will not be able to assist you in creating a custom design for your site. Such a job would have to be outsourced to a qualified web developer or programmer.

Comparing Methods of Support

Different web hosting providers offer different levels of support through various contact methods, including phone, e-mail, live online chat, and even text messages. When examining the terms of service related to a web hosting plan’s included customer service, it is important to compare the methods of support provided and look for hosting providers that offer as many methods of contact as possible. Ideally, you’ll want to choose a hosting company that lets you chat with online representatives 24 hours a day.

How to Tell If a Domain Name Is Valuable

Finding the right domain name for your website is a crucial aspect of beginning a successful online endeavor, regardless of the industry or niche you choose to pursue. The domain name is effectively your online brand, and is the name that your site visitors will remember when discussing your website with friends. Although the majority of excellent domain names have been registered already, there are still many available, and with the right techniques it is possible to find valuable domain names relatively easily. Unfortunately, the majority of novice webmasters choose domain names for all the wrong reasons. The following paragraphs describe the process of determining whether a domain name is actually valuable.

Keywords and SEO Attributes

The best way to find a domain name that carries intrinsic value is to look for names that contain popularly searched for keywords. These domains have the potential to generate web traffic instantly, with minimal effort required on behalf of the webmaster. Domain names that contain keywords are usually referred to as “exact match domains”, and are by far the most desirable. Exact match domains give webmasters the ability to instantly capitalize on organic search engine traffic, without having to perform all of the usual SEO tasks. Some domains that have recently expired also retain SEO attributes like backlinks and PageRank. Purchasing recently expired domains is also a good way to find valuable domains, as these domains were probably registered by webmasters for a specific reason.

Commerciality and Profitability

Another aspect to consider is the commerciality of the domain name. While finding exact match domains is a good first step, it wouldn’t make much sense if the keyword is not a “buying” keyword. In other words, some keywords are likely to be typed into a search engine when an individual is looking to purchase an item, while other keywords are more likely to be used when an individual is simply looking for free information. For example, the domain name “howtorideabike.com”would not be nearly as profitable as “qualitysportsbikes.com”, since the latter is quite obviously a keyword that an individual would use when they were looking to purchase a sports bike, and would therefore be capable of generating more advertising and sales revenue.

Memorability and Relevance

A domain name should also be memorable and relevant to the niche, as this will boost the return rates of site visitors. An alternative method to using exact match domains is to register a domain name that broadly covers the entire niche, so that the site can be populated with content that contains various keywords relative to that industry. This ultimately allows the webmaster to focus on a broader range of keywords and solicit more web traffic in the long-term. However, this method of domain registration usually requires more work on behalf of the webmaster, as they will have to put forth effort to establish the site as an authority site before it will rank effectively for a multitude of keywords.

Newest Member of the Cloud Security Alliance

Symplified, a cloud security provider, recently announced that it has joined the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) which is a non-profit firm created to promote best practices with regards to security assurance within a cloud computing environment. Several weeks prior to this move, Symplified announced a new partnership with Cloud.com, an open-source cloud computing provider. The combination of the two companies is known as CloudStack which delivers a number of security features.

The Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance continues to heavily promote the best practices with regards to providing security assurance within the cloud computing environment. Within the Alliance, there are a variety of experts from different disciplines with the objectives of promoting understanding of the technology, promoting independent research into best practices and launching awareness campaigns.

Furthermore, this organization provides education of the benefits and uses of cloud computing to secure the numerous other forms of computing available. A press released by Symplified unveiled that the company’s technical team is highly-regarded in the industry for its innovative vision and leadership with regards to identity management. Furthermore, they were the pioneers of the first on-demand trust fabric that secures the adoption of cloud computing.

The Current Status

Currently, the organization’s access management trust for the cloud is over 1 million seats and continues to be the largest provider of identity protection services for the Amazon EC2 platform.

About the Management Team

The management team holds a variety of patents for web identity and developed the AuthXML specification which was submitted to OASIS to assist with the launch of the identity standard. Symplified plans to share its identity expertise with cloud IAM while collaborating with CSA to increase cloud security.

About Symplified

Symplified helped to create and establish the web access management market as well as the SAML identity federation standard from the foundation to what you see today. Therefore, the company continues to make these critical contributions to ensure cloud security standards are developed. Since 2007, Symplified has been delivering cloud security solutions and is excited about bringing their years of experience to the Cloud Security Alliance.

With the continued development of cloud computing, it is vital for best practices standards to be developed to protect customers, operators and website owners. It appears as if Symplified has a plan to conduct such a task. With the help of this organization, the web hosting community will have a secure cloud hosting environment to protect their customers and visitors

Understanding the Difference Between a Primary and Secondary DNS Server

DNS stands for domain name system, which is the largest database world, containing all registration information pertaining to every domain name in existence. A DNS server, also commonly referred to as a name server, is simply a web server that is equipped with software that allows it to connect and or interact with this database on a regular basis. Data contained within the domain name system includes but is not limited to information related to the web host, the domain registrant, and the active name servers for the domain. Every domain name has access to two name servers, which are provided by the hosting provider, and ultimately allow the site to be broadcast on the Internet.

Understanding Name Servers

There are literally tens of thousands of DNS servers located throughout the world that each contain a portion of the domain name system database. To maintain redundancy and security of this database there are also 13 root DNS servers that contain the entirety of the database on each server. There are two main types of DNS servers – primary DNS servers and secondary DNS servers. It should be noted that any web server can be used as a DNS server, and any DNS server can be designated as a primary or secondary server. The server administrator has the choice of designating a server as a primary or secondary server, and it is even possible for a single server to be used as a primary server in a zone, while simultaneously being used as a secondary server in another zone.

What Are Primary DNS Servers?

A primary DNS server is responsible for reading data related to the domain zone from a file that is stored on the web server of a hosting plan. The primary server is also responsible for communicating with the secondary server. Data pertaining to the domain zone is specifically designated by server administrators, who instruct the server on how to communicate and interact with other web servers. The process of a primary web server communicating with the secondary server is known as a zone transfer, as zone data is being sent from a DNS server to another. Each domain name is assigned to DNS servers for redundancy, and to simplify the process of server administration. If a primary server already contains the zone data for a domain, this data does not need to be replicated because the primary and secondary server continuously share zone data. In basic terms, when a request is issued to a server it travels through the primary DNS server, which then allocates functions to a secondary server.

What Are Secondary DNS Servers?

A secondary DNS server, also commonly referred to as a slave server or secondary server, is responsible for obtaining zone data from the primary DNS server immediately after being set up. Each time a secondary DNS server functions it receives information from the primary DNS server. However, it should be noted that a secondary DNS server does not necessarily need to obtain information from a primary DNS server, as other secondary servers can be set up as master servers. Secondary servers are nearly as important as primary DNS servers because they offer security through redundancy. Secondary servers also mitigate the total resource load put on the primary DNS server.