Web Hosting

Web Design: Do it Yourself or Outsource?

When you are creating and developing your own website, you will find out that web design is very important. The web design is what makes your website stand out from other websites and separates it from all the rest. Each website is supposed to have its own unique web design. A website that lacks in the web design department will not do as well as other websites that have a professional look and feel to them. Because it is so very important to have web design on your website, you may be wondering whether or not you should design the website yourself or have someone else do it for you. There are a few ways for you to figure out which decision will be the best for you and for the success of your website.
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A Look at the Top Xen VPS Web Host Providers

The virtualization race is on.  Now that concept of hosting several accounts on a single server as if they are on their own server has taken off, multiple platforms have been developed to try to perfect this emulation.  Each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses, and there already exist long online discussions about which is better.

The battle is just in its opening stages, but so far as best as we can tell, the leader in this area seems to be Xen.  This is all dependent on exactly what you most need it for, and do note that some hosts will provide more than one platform. Continue Reading »

A Comparison of Lesser-Known Tablet PCs

The tablet PC is where it’s at, and the computing world is reacting accordingly.  This means that in addition to the biggest names like the iPad and Kindle variants, a number of also-rans are jumping into the fray. Our review explores some of the tablet alternatives that have received the most positive attention.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

The first version of the Galaxy Tab was one of the opening salvos in the tablet wars.  It was decently received, though it had a number of significant problems, most notably in its performance.  The 10.1 model was released in the summer of 2011, and while reviews of it still noted some problems, overall scores were far higher.  One review called it “the best Honeycomb [Android] tablet to date”.

When the Galaxy Tab was first released it was criticized, famously by Steve Jobs, for its small size.  While most reviewers mentioned this first thing, not all of them said it was really a negative.  Besides its greater portability, the Galaxy Tab still manages to squeeze onto it a 1024×768 resolution.  Smaller-sized tablets have since taken off as a major sub-market; sorry, Steve.

Its harlequin black-on-front-white-on-back design has been called a thing of beauty.  Of course you’re buying a computer, not a painting.  To that end, the reviews of its under-the-hood performance have been markedly better than that of its initial release.  It seems to have been given a little bit of improvement in just about all areas as opposed to a great leap forward in any one or two, but in this case that’s a good thing.  Overall reviews of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 found a solid piece of equipment all around with little in the way of major sticking points.

Find Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on Google Shopping.

RIM BlackBerry PlayBook

We feel it appropriate to close our reviews with a BlackBerry model, as the BlackBerry was one of the main combatants in the smart phone wars from a thousand years ago.  The BlackBerry Playbook is another smaller model, with comically miniscule buttons: the power button is all of a few millimeters in diameter.  Like other smaller models, though, it sports an impressive resolution.  Its screen is also 1024×768, and its 5 megapixel backside camera can notably take video at 1080p.

Adobe Flash is fully supported out of the box, something which has become a major differentiating point among tablets.  This is largely due to the fact that the tablet runs its own in-house operating system designed to work well with Adobe, the creatively-named BlackBerry Tablet OS.  The downside of this operating system is that application support is not high.  The PlayBook includes no native email or calendar applications, and its online app library isn’t big.  It also has no support for Android applications, though developer company Research In Motion states that this is on its way.

In the end reviews were strongly mixed, with the BlackBerry Playbook getting both strongly negative and strongly positive scores.  It’s hard from looking at the evidence for us to make a clear case for either, but it does seem to be a good bet that this tablet will be around for a while.

Find RIM BlackBerry PlayBook on Google Shopping.

Motorola Xoom

The Motorola Xoom came out in February of 2001 and was considered one of the first major competitors to the iPad.  A primary reason for this was the introduction of Android 3.0, the Google-based operating system developed specifically for mobile and tablet devices.  Indeed, most of the early reviews of it highlighted the system’s efficient processing and ease of use.  Though benchmarking Androids suffers from inherent measurement problems, the Xoom typically scored high.

What a difference a year makes, though.  The Android has become the new hot OS, available in more than three dozen different tablets.  This has caused the Xoom’s shine to wear off a bit.  Recent reviews of it aren’t nearly as glowing as ones from earlier in the year.  Given that the price hasn’t really come down and is still hovering at around $600 with a 2-year contract, it may have lost whatever edge it might have had.

Looked at in a vacuum, though, it still seems a good piece of technology.  It has some odd design points, such as speakers and a power button in the back, and a docking station for video output.  It also includes an inclinometer, accelerometer, magnetometer and barometer!  In terms of computing power and usability, it still seems like a solid selection, and one that the market continues to embrace.

Find Motorola Xoom on Google Shopping.

T-Mobile G-Slate

The G-Slate was next on the Android parade.  That seems to have opened up the floodgates, as a slew of other tables subsequently jumped on this new OS.  This was good for the G-Slate, since at the time the lack of a large application library was one of its down sides.  The price of $530 with a 2-year contract didn’t help matters, though T-Mobile apparently took this criticism to heart, as it’s now available for $299 with the same deal.

As for the tablet’s specifications, the new feature used to attempt differentiation from other tablets is a pair of 3D cameras on the tablet’s back.  This produces an old-style dual-color image, and purchase of the tablet comes with a pair of red/cyan glasses.  Reviews of this feature were lukewarm.

Overall, counting in physical and technical aspects, the G-Slate was at the time considered a major contender, with reasonably fast surfing, few bugs and comfortable handling.  User reviews on the whole since its release have been moderately positive, and support for it appears to still be going strong.

Find T-Mobile G-Slate on Google Shopping.

ExoPC

ExoPC. It’s difficult at this point to give any strong recommendations to any tablet running Windows 7.  Windows 8 is on the horizon, and with the amount of development and attention being given to this tablet-centered OS, it seems a sure bet that Windows 7 tablet support will fall to non-existent at record-breaking speed.

Even forgetting that issue, reviews of the tablet were mixed.  One web site gave it high scores, particularly for its sensitive touch screen and intuitive user interface.  Others found a number of bugs and performance issues.  Its large, high-resolution screen and high sound quality are among its highest points.  Its weight and short battery life are among its lowest.  Overall it seemed like a decent enough mixed bag, but given the rapid market changes, it’s hard to guarantee that this tablet now approaching its first birthday has a much longer shelf life.

Find ExoPC on Google Shopping.

These are very quick summaries of some of the well-reviewed tablets out there.  These aren’t the only tablets, and even for the above there are many fine points that the consumer will want to take a closer look at before purchasing.  We’re in the tablet era now, but these toys are no cheap thrill.  With your list of options increasingly rapidly, there is no reason to go haphazardly throwing your money away.

How to Find a Good Gaming Server Host, and Keep Them

It’s time for you to go pro.  No, we don’t mean playing World of Warcraft for money, though we couldn’t fault anyone who did.  We mean running your own gaming server.  You’ve got some game that you want to dedicate your own machine to, and you want it done right.

This means that you can’t settle for it being on your home machine: it’s good to have it the server right in front of you, but you don’t have the resources to make sure that, for example, the power always stays on, or the network never, ever hiccups.  You also wouldn’t mind an expert at the wheels if something seriously goes wrong.

Where to begin?

In a literal sense that is the first question you want to ask.  Before you go anywhere with any prospective host, you need to ask them whether or not they will host this kind of server.  Even if you are on your own machine, some hosts won’t allow this for reasons ranging from network stability to security.  Contact them and get a solid answer.  Make sure you get a guarantee that they will try to give you warning if, for some reason, they can no longer host you.

The next thing you want to do is get your own machine.  For this type of service even a Virtual Private Server isn’t good enough.  You run the possibility of using resources like mad, to the point that you shouldn’t be surprised if you need more than one machine.   For the most part forget about using any type of cloud services as well.  Even if you’re permitted to, you run the risk of racking up a fortune in service-hour fees.  If you must use the cloud, keep it to something that you’re not going to use every few seconds, like nightly backups of data.

Make sure that you hop your server up right from the start with all of the juice it will need.  Get your RAM, your dual or quad-core CPU, and whatever else you need.  Even if you choose to start low, make sure that you have room to expand easily.

Finally, depending on a lot of factors related to your game’s popularity, you might want managed service.  This all depends, though, on precisely what “managed” means from them.  This brings us to the next point.

Get the right services

If you are running some type of 24/7 game, then you need a 24/7 service to match that.  If your machine crashes, your players are not going to want to hear that they have to wait until 9AM for someone to reboot it.  Make sure that round-the-clock service is available for your machine.

More specifically, make sure that this service includes everything that you might need.  Some hosts will say that they will respond all night, but by this they mean that they can only answer basic technical questions.  Make sure that they have someone who can be there to hit the button on your machine.  Unmanned data centers are a half-decent substitute.  They will handle basic server reboots, but they won’t handle what will happen if there’s a bug in your kernel and you need some hands on deck to get your server back up and running.

To that point, make sure that if you need to upgrade your server that they can do it as quickly as possible.  Again, 48 hours in the gaming world is something akin to an epoch.  Most hosts typically have, for example, the RAM that you need on hand.  What you want is someone who can install it on a moment’s notice.

Clipping coupons

While on some level you’re probably going to incur some high costs that you aren’t going to be able to do anything about, there are some ways to make sure that your wallet doesn’t get too badly ruptured.

If anything is going to kill your bank account it’s going to be bandwidth.  There are ways that you can minimize this hit.  First, ask your host if they send you warnings if you look like you are going to go over your monthly allotment.  If they don’t do that, make sure you at least have web analytics you can fall back on, and ask for assistance in maybe setting that up to warn you.

You can also ask if throttling is a possibility.  While this may not be too popular with your players, an hour or two of downtime here or there is preferable to getting shut down entirely.  Some will do this network side, others will have the software necessary to do it server side.  Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance in getting this set up.

Also ask your host if they ever sell off unneeded hardware.  Some hosts, to recoup their own costs, will sell off hardware from servers no longer needed at a pittance.  If you let them know that you would like offers sent your way, they will often drop you an email once a new piece of equipment becomes available.

Good managed care can go a long way

A last thing you’ll want to look into goes back to what we said above.  “Managed” care of your server can mean different things to different hosts.  Some go so far as to offer different types of debugging and server optimization.  Some of these could be immensely useful to you.

For this type of care you’ll probably want to go with someone who charges a certain per-hour fee.  While there are many tech workers out there who will gladly take it upon themselves to see what they can do for you out of a combination of go-the-extra-mile customer service and the personal challenge of trying to solve your complex problem, you don’t want to assume either of these.  Charging for this help by the hour gives them all of the incentive they need to find an efficient solution to your problem.

Talk it out

Finally, this is one case in which one you’re setup, it doesn’t hurt every now and then to just drop a note to your host to make sure that everything is OK.  If it is, they’ll say so.  If it isn’t, this is a good way to catch little problems before they become big.  Either way, this will help you to maintain a strong relationship with your hosting provider, and keep the game afoot.

Google Dart – Ready or not, a new Language Arrives

When the king of search engines speaks, the tech world listens.  When it announces that it’s going to start speaking in a new language, though, the tech world gets a little concerned.

Such is the story of Google Dart.  Early information about the new programming language was leaked a month ago.  What raised concerns in the IT world, though, was an internal memo stating that Google had the long term goal of using Dart to replace Javascript.  To a programmer, that’s not too far removed from hearing that someone has the long-term goal of replacing English.

Google stepped back a bit and stated that there’s no reason that Javascript has to be headed to the trash bin.  In all fairness, what was posted was likely just optimism about its acceptance as opposed to antagonism against Javascript or anything else.  Given the programming world’s reaction, that’s a good thing.  Not only is Javascript largely considered to be thriving, but some feel that it is more relevant than ever.

The only constant is change

Nevertheless, Google has stated that there are problems with Javascript that are too ingrained in its design to be fixed from within.  Given its age (it was introduced when Bill Clinton was in his first term), it’s reasonable to suppose that a lot about it might not be keeping up with the times, especially given the recent explosion of portable viewing platforms.

Moreover, Google is now about as famous for its alternate services like Google Earth as it is for its search engine.  Even a modest increase in efficiency in the programming back-ends used by these services alone would have a multiplier effect that’s hard to even calculate.  For the rest of the web, Google is helping the transition by releasing a compiler that will translate Dart code into Javascript for any browser or application that is not yet capable of running it.

What are the goals of Dart?

On their technical specifications sheet, Google outlines the following objectives for the Dart programming language:

• Create a programming language that is structured, yet flexible.
• Give Dart a “familiar and natural” feel.  Some have already noted its similarity to Javascript.
• Make Dart appropriate for the full range of web-capable devices.  This might be one of the items that pushed the need for a new language over the tipping point.
• Create a language that launches quickly and efficiently.  This is more important than it seems: as standards and devices continue to splinter, efficiency in compatibility is going to become a high priority.
• Make sure there is a language that can work across all browsers.  This can be considered a sister idea to that of ensuring multiple device compatibility.  The number of browsers right now is higher than it has ever been, and shows no sign of stopping.  Look at Amazon’s inclusion of a new browser in the Kindle Fire, as an example.

Also listed in this document are the specific programming problems Dart attempts to address.  Paraphrased here, they are:

• Dart will attempt to address the problem whereby small programs swell into larger ones that cannot easily be broken back up into smaller components.
• Dart will attempt to address the conflict between static and dynamic languages (though this sheet doesn’t make clear what exactly their remedy is).
• Dart will attempt to address the problem whereby few languages right now are designed to work well both with client and server specifications.
• Dart will attempt to make it easier for programmers to take over each other’s work, by addressing the problem in which interactions with different parts of an application are put more into the code comments than in the code itself.
• Dart will attempt to reduce the cumbersome work associated with context switching.

OK, those seem like good ideas.  What does the audience have to say?

From our surveying, the biggest problem that the IT world has with this new programming language is its mere existence.  The fact that Google has done work to make sure it can be plugged in as many places as possible right from the start doesn’t seem to have mollified them.  This is one more language to learn, and who knows whether or not the time invested in it will be well spent.

The next biggest concern after that was with Google’s approach to its development.  Working with the greater community in developing standards is at this point considered both wise and honorable.  Google says that it is going to, but the initial development sketches and basic coding structures were authored in-house, outside the view of third-party eyes.  Google defended this position, stating that it was necessary to make sure that initial plans didn’t spin too far out into chaos.

A worrisome feelin

This doesn’t dull the feeling that some are getting that Google is becoming another Microsoft, creating “standards” that it single-handedly pushes onto the world.  Given that Google is about as big as Microsoft, it’s hard to see this worry as unwarranted.

Is it fair, though?  That’s a more difficult case to make.  As much as Google has done some things that have not sat well with the internet world, the general consensus is that it has never strayed too far from its “Don’t be evil” motto.  Recall recently, for example, their decision to pull out of China in protest over that government’s information control requirements.

Our verdict: Worth a look

The bottom line is that, like it or not, Google now maintains a position in which, if they determine that something needs to be changed on the web, and they put the effort into doing it, it’s a good bet that they’ll succeed.  Gmail replaced Hotmail, Google Maps replaced Mapquest, Chrome is replacing Mozilla, and Google+ is making a serious bid to replace the mighty Facebook.

Let’s also remember that no one has actually worked with this language yet.  The devil is in the details.  It may be that when all is said and done, Dart becomes as beloved as, say, Perl.  One thing is for certain, though, and that is that Google is putting a lot of energy into Dart’s development and release.  If they say that Dart has the potential to replace Javascript, it’s ill-advised to not consider that they might be right.

A Preview of the AT&T Fab Phone Five

The number of competitors entering the phone market is increasing with breathtaking speed.  Making it clear that they have no intention of just letting the iPhone monopolize the market, AT&T this week revealed that it will be selling no less than 5 new Android phones.  We give you here a brief review of each of them.

Motorola Atrix 2

The Motorola Atrix was well received upon its launch in January 2011.  The Atrix 2 doesn’t look to reinvent this new line, but it does sport a number of positive upgrades.

What is the most important improvement is probably a matter of taste.  Ourselves, we loves us some graphics.  The Atrix 2 improves this in both its input and output.  The screen is increased to a crisp-looking 960×540.  On the other end, it now sports an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, and is capable of recording video at 1080p.  It also comes with a front-end camera and supports video calling.  A 3D graphics hardware accelerator is in there, and like most of the phones introduced by AT&T, it comes with Android 2.3 installed.

Under the hood the dual core 1GHz processor remains, but is now a TI pair instead of Nvidia.  The phone will be shipped with the upcoming Lapdock 100 to convert it into a portable PC.  This new docking station will fit more than one Motorola handheld, and should be less bulky than the original Lapdock.  The HSPA+ handset has connectivity going up to 21Mbps.  It comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Possibly the best feature, though, will be its price.  With a two-year agreement, the Motorola Atrix 2 will retail for a mere $99.  If the phone turns out to be solid, this could make it a real competitor.

Samsung Captivate Glide

For those of you who are like me and need the feel of an actual keyboard, however small, Samsung releases the latest flip-open phone in the Captivate Glide.

The Glide matches a lot of the Atrix 2 spec-for-spec.  This includes its back-end camera (8 megapixel and 1080p video at 30 frames per second), Android 2.3 out of the box, a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, and a full gigabyte of RAM.  That’s one of two cameras, by the way, added to the front-end 1.3 megapixel.  Its 480×800 capacitive touch-screen display uses scratch-resistant glass.

It manages to maintain a reasonably sleek body despite its sliding keyboard.  Add on to its features device encryption, compatibility with AT&T’s 4G network, and an internal SD card expandable to 32GB (one site says 40GB), and this looks to be an excellent businessman’s phone.  If you’re not so interested in running to board meetings, it has on-board software support for Facebook, Picasa, Twitter and YouTube.

Samsung DoubleTime

The first two phones look to be playing more to the professional.  The rest of the set appears to have the teenager and casual user in mind.

The biggest disappointment of the Samsung DoubleTime is that it ships with Android 2.2.  As it appears to be geared more to the social networking crowd, this isn’t the worst disappointment ever.  Add that to a small 3 20×480 display and mere 260MB of memory, and you have a phone that’s not aiming to be very high end.  As with every phone in this set except for the Atrix 2, there’s no word yet on whether or not the price tag will match the level of functionality.

On the plus side, the DoubleTime does feature a dual touch-screen display and also comes with a sliding keyboard.  That 260MB on board memory is also expandable to 32G with a microSD memory card.

Pantech Pocket

The first thing that might jump out at you about the Pantech Pocket is its unique screen size.  At 600×800 it is one of the more square-like mobile devices you’ll find.  A different aspect ratio was apparently a central idea in its design, and seems to have some nice effects.  The touch-screen keyboard winds up being easier to use, and browsing web pages requires less scrolling.

The Pantech Pocket comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread installed, and its 2.5GB on-board memory can be expanded to 32GB with a microSD card.  It’s RAM is also expandable from 600MB to 2GB.  It comes with a respectable 5 megapixel camera with flash, and can take HD video at 720p.

The device includes an in-phone compass, coupled with the complementary turn-by-turn navigation software.   It is Bluetook capable (v 2.1), and has a microUSB 2.0 port that can be used either for storage devices or for charging.  It comes with in-phone Wi-Fi, and can access AT&T’s 4G network.

AT&T Avail

Probably the most entry-level of all the phone’s here is the new AT&T Avail, built by China-based ZTE Corporation.  It is the second AT&T phone that is available on its GoPhone prepaid network (the first being the LG Thrive).

Not much other information has been released about it so far, reinforcing that this is probably a beginner’s device.  Technical specs for the device include a 5 MP camera with autofocus and video recorder.  The 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen is multi-touch capable.  The Avail has a flip-open keyboard that is curiously pink-ish.  We just thought we’d point that out.  If that’s not the most important spec for you, then it supports Flash and has a built-in YouTube player as part of its Android 2.3 installation.

While pointing out that they are not placing all of their bets on it, AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom stated “We are bullish on Android and it is a significant part of our portfolio.”  They must be.  They promised 12 new Android devices before the end of the year.  This latest set blows that number out of the water with a total of 19.

These five devices seem to cover most of the mobile world’s general demographics.  In other words, no matter what level of portable device you need, it looks likely that one of the five new Android phones will be close to what you are looking for.

coLinux: can Linux and Windows co-exist?

The logo for Cooperative Linux, more popularly known as coLinux, sums up the attempted approach to the platform.  Placing the Windows logo and Linux penguin in opposite ends of the yin yang summarizes not just this software, but the problem it is attempting to address.  With a few UNIX, Macintosh and scattered other exceptions, the hosting world is torn between Windows and Linux.  This means that webmasters are similarly torn.  While the strong and weak points of each are well known, the bottom line is that whichever you prefer, there is an advantage to having each of them.

Some users solve this with multiple machines: an answer doesn’t get much easier, but that’s certainly not the cheap route.  A bit more common is to have a dual-boot machine.  This presents its own problems, though, namely that you don’t want to have to be constantly rebooting just to switch back and forth between the two.

A marriage made in … ?

coLinux works by allowing the installation of a kernel on the host OS (usually some Windows variant, but it can be anything, so long as it sends certain types of operating data the installation needs to run).  Unlike other methods of virtualization, though, Linux doesn’t quite so much run “under” it as “down and across” from it.

The term “cooperative” is meant to signify the fact that, once installed, the kernels of the Linux OS and host OS work together, communicating back and forth with each other as needed to share machine resources.  The Linux kernel accomplishes this by converting the two operating systems into equal coroutines.

However, in order to work properly, especially since most hardware isn’t set to handle talking to two different masters in two different languages at once, the host OS still holds instructive sway.  So those two coroutines are still slaves to it, and any Linux hardware requests get sent through it.

Does it work?

For the most part, it does.  Our surveying of both different review web sites and coLinux’s own FAQ seem to indicate that it does most of what you need it to do.  This is a major piece of software though: with everything that a modern computer is capable of doing, something this complex is bound to have areas of deficiencies.  Here are some of the biggest problems reported:

Problem #1 – Multiple CPUs aren’t supported

The one that is probably most relevant given current technological trends.  If your machine has more than one processor, then it appears coLinux can run, if you only give it access to one of the cores.  This may be tricky, though, and could introduce some of its own problems.  No better solution to this from coLinux’s home site is given.

Problem #2 – No X server support

coLinux does not have the ability to support an X server that requires a graphic adapter, as it does not itself contain a virtual adapter.  Some workaround solutions have been suggested for this, but they are ugly as sin.  For the most part they consist of running the X server in such a way that Windows takes up the slack for whatever Linux can’t do, and thus gets bridged between them.  The official coLinux page has a separate section devoted to how to do this, but this just seems to be begging for trouble.

Problem #3 – No 64-bit support

This is another one that is going to become relevant real quick.  coLinux is not designed to work under any 64-bit operating system.  For Windows users this includes Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 r2.  Perhaps sensing the urgency to get this taken care of pronto, there is an active online discussion page about how to change this.  It appears possible to suggest that we might see this compatibility in a year or two.

Problem #4 – No sound support

To play sounds of any kind would require that coLinux be able to access the sound card.  We mentioned above that hardware is off-limits from coLinux, at least directly.

Is it available indirectly?  Yes, it would appear.  The trick to doing this revolves around finding a sound server in Windows that can receive data in the form of an audio stream from your network, and then make Linux part of that network.  Sound complicated?  Well, the FAQ page that explains exactly how to do this doesn’t seem any less complicated.  From the looks of it, though, users have had some success in getting this to work.

What else?

Those are the most common problems.  There are some scattered other ones that you are even less likely to run into, but are worth mentioning.  These include:

• Does not run under Windows 98/ME - Time to upgrade.
• Bugs with XML config file – A number of them have been reported: see their FAQ for the technical details and solutions.
• Linux crashes Windows – At least in some older versions, crashing Linux crashed Windows as well.
• General instability – A little bit of this is probably to be expected.

Are there other ways?

If you like the idea that coLinux suggests but want to see if anyone else has done it better, here are a few alternate packages that some users prefer:

• Wubi – This is probably the least intimidating of the Linux-on-Windows packages.  It installs Ubuntu onto Windows, but never exits Windows, and thus has the least amount of system conflict problems.
• TopologiLinux – This is a popular package that is built off coLinux.  It works by creating a hard disk instance that it runs off of.  Importantly, it has built-in solutions to the above mentioned X server and sound problems.
• andLinux – This is also based off the coLinux original distribution.  While so far it doesn’t have the following the others have, it also seems to have addressed most of coLinux’s more problematic deficiencies, though it and TopologiLinux still don’t work on 64-bit systems.

Should I?

One thing does seem certain, and that is that there is little to lose by installing these software packages: no one reported any kind of fatal system errors.  This might be a great starting point for all of the Windows users out there who want to dip their toes into some Linux waters.

What you Really Bought your iPad for – The Best Free Games

All right, you win.  We give in.  Yes, you’re interested in browser standards and security protocol and upgrades to scripting languages and all of that.  You’re also interested in blowing up pigs with a group of cheesed off birds.  Who isn’t?

We’re going to take a time out today from our usual serious discussion of what is new in the wacky world of web hosting and computer tech and talk about the important stuff: getting high scores.  Here are some of our favorite iPad time wasters.

Angry Birds

We’re going into this article under the assumption that you are behind the times on simple PC and tablet games.  For this opening, we have to.  Angry Birds has taken the browser gaming world by storm.  With more than a 1/3 billion downloads in total, it has been called “the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far.”

You are a bird.  You are angry.  You are angry because your eggs have been stolen by some particularly rude pigs.  You are going to show them a lesson by launching yourself by slingshot into their house of walls, bricks, and other miscellaneous construction material.  If you can kill them all somehow (falling, crushing them under a wall, blowing them up, etc.), you move on.  The game has already spawned the “Seasons” and “Rio” sequels, with “Magic” coming out soon.

Doodle God

This just might be one of the most zen games ever made.  You’ve been upgraded from bird to God in this one.  Your goal is to make the world.  Your supplies are the 4 elements.  But wait: if you combine fire and earth, you make lava!  Now, what can you combine with lava?  Not all combinations do something interesting, though, so you need to think through your alchemy.  If you get stuck, a hint is provided to you after a certain amount of time.

Now God can’t exactly have all the fun, can he?  Doodle Devil lets him have his due.  Other Doodle God sequels include one that apparently has you saving the princess (don’t all games eventually come down to that?) and Doodle Farm, which is on the way.

Plants vs. Zombies

If you somehow managed to miss this one you’re in for a true undead delight.  Your house is under attack.  You are ready with your defensive stockpile of … plants.  A peashooter takes out the first wave.  Later levels add more plants to your arsenal such as the cherry bomb (boom!), the squash (like it sounds), and potato mines (again, boom!).  Ah, but the zombies are getting meaner, too.  They get wise to your defenses and wear … traffic cones.  Next are metal buckets.  OK: they get tougher, but they don’t really get much brighter.

This game was a massive hit upon release, and PopCap Games has kept the interest up with new editions and varieties.  The music is criminally catchy.  Yes, it’s been out for a few years now.  We’re still not tired of popping zombie heads.

Hole in the Wall

You Tetris nuts have been waiting for some new game to scratch your itch.  You’ve got it.  This puzzle game takes things in reverse: instead of the piece rushing down, the wall that the piece must go through comes to you.  Your block is a 3D piece, and can be rotated in all 3 dimensions.  You need to find the right orientation to squeeze it through the wall.  The game comes with the requisite power-ups and the ability to purchase additional levels.

Air Hockey Gold

For such a simple concept, simulators have sure down a lousy job of making a game that matches the feel of actual air hockey.  This app finally breaks through that.  Air Hockey Gold was rated by Tech Radar the #1 free game for the iPad.  The physics are real-feeling, and combined with well-done sound effects you feel like you’re in an old style arcade again.  You can play against a human or the computer with varying difficulty levels and you can even add a second puck.  It is missing one feature, though: you can’t throw your mallet at your opponent when you lose.

Paper Toss

Let’s get out of the way that as you play this game, you may just wonder how far from the real world you’ve gotten.  This isn’t exactly something that costs much in real life to play.  But then again, your wastebasket doesn’t come with an automatic score board and high score keeper.

There is the original Paper Toss, which has a number of levels outside the office including Restroom and Bar.  Once you’ve mastered those, you can load up Paper Toss: World Tour.  After all, if you were standing in a volcano or at the Taj Mahal, this is the first thing anyone would want to do.

10 Pin Shuffle Lite

Talk about a game that mixes it all together!  The original 10 Pin Shuffle combined ten-pin bowling and shuffleboard.  You shot your puck down the alley and went for a strike.  One of its three game modes, 10 Pin Shuffle Lite, combines that with a poker game.  Get a spare and you get one card.  Get a strike and you get two.  After the tenth frame, best hand wins.  I’m surprised they didn’t manage to work pinball in there somehow.

Tap Tap Radiation

The Tap Tap games are popular, but this is such a played-out genre that you might want something more.  This version gives you that.  Instead of tapping as balls or whatever comes down a preset pike, the places to tap on the screen fly all over the place.  It’s engaging, hypnotic, gorgeous to look at, and as of right now, it’s available only on the iPad.

Tilt To Live

We hope, finally, that we see more games that take advantage of the iPad’s inboard inclinometer.  In Tilt To Live you need to keep tilting your pad to keep your ship away from the hordes of little red dots hunting them down.  It’s very simple, and hopelessly addictive.  It also comes with purchasable extra levels, but you may well be happy just playing the free levels until your arms ache.

Exploring The Social Networking World

Facebook, Twitter, and probably soon Google+, get most of the analysis of the social networking world.  With that comes most of the attention of advertisers.  This is the billion-user World Wide Web, though.  For every bar that all the cool kids are hanging out at, there are plenty of local bars near them with people spending money the same as anyone else.

These local hangouts, though, can often be a little less friendly to marketing sharks.  Let’s face it, too: you’re not interested in being one.  You just want to advertise your services to people who might honestly be interested.  Even the local dives have ads posted in them.  To do so simply requires that you understand the scene, and treat it with respect.

So let’s drop the metaphor and look at some of the smaller but still popular social networking sites.  For our purposes we are going to focus on native English sites that mostly have at least 1 million users.  If you can speak other languages then there are many very large ones that represent good alternate markets.

CafeMom

CafeMom has been growing tremendously, and is on the verge of breaking through “niche” status to become one of the web’s bigger players.  An outgrowth of ClubMom, this social networking site panders to the moms who need an outlet that they can share with other moms (men are specifically barred from registering).  General socializing happens here, but also advice and support for just about every mothering need out there.

What the advertiser should know: CafeMom is very advertiser friendly.  If you are offering a physical product of some kind, you should consider sending free samples: this is one of the draws the site uses to get people to register.  Remember that the goal of this site is to make the lives of the mothers there easier.  Make sure that whatever you are advertising is geared towards that, even if indirectly.

Care2

It’s a sign of how huge the World Wide Web has become that a site with 14 million users is considered 2nd-tier.  Care2 hasn’t rushed to growth, but has been slowly building their user base since 1998.  The reason is that this is not a site that puts profits first.  Care2 is a social networking site for activists.  It allows individuals to work with each other, discuss issues, and most importantly find concrete ways to channel their energies into effective social change.

What the advertiser should know: Care2 takes their commitment to social values seriously.  This includes their approach to advertisements.  They have on their site a long explanation of what their advertising principles are.  Read it.  Make sure you can convince them that you will enhance their site, not just draw from it. One minor marketing addendum: according to the site’s founder, Care2′s user base is also mostly female.

Link Expats

If you measure the success of a web site by how well it fulfills the Web’s potential of bringing disparate people together, this is about as successful as it gets.  Link Expats is a place for people who are removed from their home country for any reason to find each other, talk, and assist each other.

What the advertiser should know: While some of the reasons that someone would be a member of this site are benign, some are (literally) deadly serious.  This site as a result has strong privacy protections.  Users can’t even friend each other, but they can ban one another easily for spamming.  Get the idea?  Follow the site’s rules to a T, and don’t push.

deviantART

deviantART is one of the longest running and best supported amateur artist social networking sites in existence.  Just about every type of 2D art is represented, and with 14 million members, just about every demographic is represented.  There isn’t that much in the way of large communal spaces: chat rooms are the only thing this site has that fulfills that function.  Most of the interaction occurs on the pages of artists and their works.

What the advertiser should know: Ads are only visible to users who don’t upgrade to premium memberships.  That doesn’t look to be a small demographic on this site any time soon, though (reference the term “starving artist”).  In fact, it’s large enough that you can almost treat this like a “normal” demographic distribution of users, albeit one with a bit of geeky edge to it.  Anything either tech-oriented or counterculture-leaning should find an audience here.

Stickam

You might have used this site before and not realized it.  Stickam is one of the premier media sharing sites on the web, with a particular focus on streaming video.  Because the demand for this kind of service is quickly growing, and because they make embedding easy, Stickam winds up often quietly embedded in other web sites.  If a site you use has recently addedy a video chat room, check the credits: it’s possibly a Stickam room.

What the advertiser should know: Stickam has worked heavily with major media kings like MTV and CBS Radio.  This gives it a bit of a MySpace feel: if you know the kind of demographic that comparison brings to mind, then you know about what to expect.  If you don’t, we’ll sum it up: a culturally diverse group of mostly beginner to intermediate web users (this is a broad stroke: please don’t take offense Stickam wizards) who probably are used to seeing web advertising.  This is with one catch: many chat rooms are adult-oriented.  Be sure you’re OK with this.

VampireFreaks

It may seem like we’re just fulfilling some editorial requirement of including one “strange” site by closing with these guys.  This isn’t so much that case.  It’s more to hammer home the point that sometimes you are dealing with a very specific subculture, and you need to know how to approach them with respect.

VF servers the “Gothic Industrial Culture”.  If you don’t know what this is then it’s hard to describe it without resorting to obnoxious stereotypes.  Consider it those who like to “play in the dark”, in just about every meaning that this phrase might bring to mind.  The name itself is likely a “scaring the normal” point of pride jab.  If this description in any way weird you out, you should probably look elsewhere.

What the advertiser should know: This is a very self-aware demographic.  Thus it’s best to neither approach them with a typical suit-and-tie motif nor try to pretend you’re a part of this crowd, assuming you’re not.  Despite the very showy appearance of this crowd, believe it when we say that they’ll respect you the more real you are.

The BlackBerry outage – How Critical Was the Failure?

Was it just a few years ago that BlackBerry got the kind of endorsement that marketers dream at night of?  Then-candidate for President Barack Obama revealed that even he had fallen for the allure of the “Crackberry.”  Estimates are that the company made another $25-$50 million just on that word alone.  There had to have been some legendary parties when that news came out.

Since then the BlackBerry’s fortunes haven’t been much better than Obama’s.  It was already struggling to maintain relevance before this week.  Then the Great BlackBerry Outage hit.  Word started coming in from Europe, the Middle East and Africa that users’ messages and emails weren’t going out.   Research In Motion (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry OS, acknowledged the problem and pinpointed its source, but were not able to stop users in Canada and US from getting hit next as well.

What got hit hardest, though, was the reputation of the BlackBerry itself.  Now with a tablet and smart phone world that is bursting with alternatives, the question comes: is it time to move on from the BlackBerry, or is this just a series of nasty bumps that loyal users will be rewarded for seeing them through?

Putting the outage into context

This wasn’t the greatest year for BlackBerry to start out.  What was once their market to lose is now the market they’re starting to lose.  While 2010 sales were strong, the iPad series alone seized a sizable chunk of the BlackBerry’s user share.  These devices brought with them a parade of competitors that further squeezed the former king of portable devices into a defensive corner.

To try to keep up with the iJones’s, BlackBerry is attempting to reposition itself with its own Playbook tablet.  Supplanting the BlackBerry OS in the new device will be QNX, a Unix-based operating system that BlackBerry says will take over its handheld market as well as of the BlackBerry 8.  RIM is supporting all of these changes with a developer conference next week.  A feeling of “betting the farm” is setting in with all of this, and with some of the accompanying headlines, there is a growing concern that this may not be a winning bet.

The technical side

Let’s get away from economic commentary and examine the actual problem.  Not much information has been released just yet.  What we do know is that within RIM’s infrastructure a core switch failed.  This happens all the time: what usually doesn’t happen is redundant backup systems not kicking in like expected.  RIM routes all of its customer traffic through BlackBerry servers.  This centralization provides a high level of security, one of the BlackBerry line’s main selling points.  You don’t exactly want the president’s emails peeked at.   It also creates a single point of failure.  Even with this single point having its own backups within it, it proved to be too much of a technical bottleneck.

Once the breakdown occurred, a spectacular backlog of data started to pile up.  It’s believed that this is why the problem eventually spread to the Americas, though no solid information has confirmed this.  As of this writing the problem appears to be subsiding, but this is also not confirmed.  Research In Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis posted a 2-minute video apologizing for the outage.  He explained in it that he wished he had more information, but that he would continue to communicate as the problem got resolved.  It was a honest, honorable response to the situation that offered no excuses, but that simultaneously confirmed that the problem was serious.

A reminder about vulnerability

There is one quick lesson we can get from this incident.  Without making any judgments on how understandable an error this was, we can perhaps take this as a reminder that even today, with every attempt in the world to provide security and redundancy, outages can and will still happen.

Companies today like to present an air of invulnerability.   We’ve warned you in these columns, though, that nature remains more powerful than us.  Every system has its weaknesses.  This isn’t to completely exonerate RIM.  It may well be when the dust settles that some truly boneheaded errors will be revealed.  Clearly there were some mistakes, somewhere.  Regardless of this, the greater truth is that some errors will always occur.  Take this lesson from the outage: it is a fantasy to think that any company can ever engineer its way past all of life’s chaos.

Once you’ve accepted that, we can then approach the question of what to do about it in this case.  That is not as easy a question to answer.

Wait for the dice to settle?

In the world of fantasy games there is a notion called the “critical failure”.  It occurs when, during a battle, a combatant has a total defensive breakdown, and suffers a blow that is so damaging that it alone could wipe them out.

Has the BlackBerry suffered that through this outage?  It could hardly have come at a worse time for them.  Right now more than ever they are attempting to prove that they still have a place in the mobile world.  Little worse evidence to the contrary could have been offered.  All that said, we cannot say for certain, looking at the efforts RIM is putting in to continuing to maintain their product line that they are necessarily down for the count.  It’s too soon to say what the overall effect of this incident will be.

What we can say, though, is that if you are not already a BlackBerry customer, it’s wise to exercise a bit of caution before necessarily jumping in.  The entire BlackBerry line is in a significant state of flux right now.  There is talk about management changes, technical changes, and market changes.  It is impossible right now to make any long-term predictions about anything related to the entire BlackBerry line with any real clarity.

If you still love them enough to stay with them or are willing to take chances with a product line that could go either way no one would blame you.  It is still a quality set of hardware.  No would blame you either, though, for stepping back, and looking before leaping.  The BlackBerry line right now could go either way.

This outage was a clear failure.  We’ll probably need to watch throughout the rest of 2011 to know for certain whether or not this was a critical failure.

Top 6 Web Hosts Who are Riding the Cloud

We’ve focused a lot in this column about how popular cloud hosting is becoming.  We haven’t yet talked much about where you might want to go if you are interested in a good cloud host.  It’s about time we attended to this oversight.  Below are some of the best cloud-based hosts that we were able to find.

A bit of explanation regarding our methodology is in order.  Back in the good old days when we wanted to make a web host comparison it wasn’t that hard.  Look at disk space, bandwidth, price, speed and customer service, and you were more or less golden.

Cloud computing, though, has made everything complicated.  Trying to measure how effective a host is at using these new ideas is far more complex than just plugging amounts into a formula.  So, in our list below, we’re letting instinct be our guide.  The numbers are still important, no doubt.  Just as important, though, are intangibles like how secure and developed their network feels, how much confidence we have in their expertise, how thought out their offerings seem to be, and so forth.  This is still a young technology, so reading between the lines is key.

Taking it all into account, this is where our noses lead us:

TerreMark

The one problem that you could have in registering a cloud hosting account with TerreMark is that you might need to whip out your calculator.  Their vCloud Express services are charged on a basis of services used per hour.  This is actually becoming more common in the hosting industry.  As they pull from a communal set of resources, the needs of cloud users can fluctuate wildly.  Still, you shouldn’t feel dumb if you can’t determine off the top of your head whether you need a single VPU with 1.5GB of memory at $0.108 per hour or a double VPU at $0.126 per hour.

Let’s get past the algebra problem, though, to see that this means that they are extremely customizable.  If that doesn’t prove it, the fact that their accounts offer an unbelievable 450 different operating system variants should.  We just get a really good feeling looking at these guys.  Their services look powerful and feel just inexpensive enough to be real.

Rackspace

When we talked above about how we are taking the host’s reputation into account, this is an example of what we meant.  Rackspace is a long-established, well-respected web host.  They automatically get a little benefit of the doubt when introducing new services.

In this case it seems well earned.  Rackspace uses multiple cloud technologies to offer hosting, file storage and load balancing.  Keeping to the article topic and focusing on the first item, they also bill most services hourly, but at least are kind enough to include a pricing app on their web site.  Among their features are the ability to maintain your cloud easily using iToys of all kinds, a bootable rescue mode and pay-per-use utility pricing.

Joyent

Advertising their services as “100% uptime reliability, Any App, Any OS, Any Time” can make one rightly suspicious that they might just be stretching it a bit. They have the studies to back them up, though.  Just about everyone is taking on Amazon’s EC2 cloud technology.  Joyent does so with a slam dunk, posting detailed surveys showing that their services are 2 to 14 times faster than EC2 depending on the operating system and service being measured.  It should be noted that among their operating systems supported is SmartOS, a rare distribution of the almost-as-rare Solaris kernel.

Joyent offers a few software packages that indicate that they are playing to the expert webmaster.  If you are one, then you might be interested in their support of Percona, an optimized MySQL variant, and Zeus SmartMachine, an application delivery controller that performs a number of efficiency fixes on software without any need for custom coding.

StratoGen

For a lot of the above hosts we’ve focused on pricing.  It may seem strange, then, that for this recommendation we are going with a host that will quote you a price for their services upon application.  Whereas in many industries that might be the sign of a sham, we don’t feel that at all from StratoGen.

This company explains in great detail the technical benefits of their use of VMware vSphere 4.1 cloud hosting technology.  They offer four levels of hosting from fully unmanaged to fully managed.  Just about everything that a host can make redundant they have, with multiple data centers, off site replication targets and RAID-based data storage.  They go all in with their uptime guarantee as well: 100% or your money back.

GoGrid

There’s no service we found that had so many cloud hosting services to offer and yet made them so easy to understand.  Even their hybrid hosting accounts, where they combine features of traditional hosting with cloud add-ons of the user’s specification, were easy to comb through, with example configurations listed.  They also offer preset packages if you don’t feel like doing math, though they have a huge array of add-ons for all accounts types.

We normally arch an eyebrow if the host’s presentation of their services is too flashy, but in all areas in which we went through their offerings, GoGrid put real thought into how to create customizable solutions on just about all levels, right up to 16-core CPU clouds.  Given that they have the guts to post a comparison chart against both Amazon and Rackspace’s offerings, it’s hard to not to suggest that they’re worth a look.

ReliaCloud

If even that seems a bit much, though, and you just want to start with something that’s as simple to choose as possible, it doesn’t get much more so than ReliaCloud.  It’ll take about 10 seconds to fill out their form in which you specify your operating system, bandwidth needed and a few other items, and are given a monthly rate.  After ordering, your cloud server is online in under a minute.  Their services don’t seem to suffer from this simplicity, with free load balancing, hardware-based firewall and an easy-to-use web portal.

Their support section includes video tutorials for those who need real hand holding.  Again, don’t feel bad if you do.  With the cloud, quite a lot of us are discovering that we have more education ahead.