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Computer Architecture - A Quantitative Approach (Book Excerpt)

2009-01-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

Computer Architecture - A Quantitative Approach (Book Excerpt) by John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson

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I am very lucky to have studied computer architecture under Prof. David Patterson at U.C. Berkeley more than 20 years ago. I enjoyed the courses I took from him, in the early days of RISC architecture. Since leaving Berkeley to help found Sun Microsystems, I have used the ideas from his courses and many more that are described in this important book.

The good news today is that this book covers incredibly important and contemporary material. The further good news is that much exciting and challenging work remains to be done, and that working from Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach is a great way to start.

The most successful architectural projects that I have been involved in have always started from simple ideas, with advantages explainable using simple numerical models derived from hunches and rules of thumb. The continuing rapid advances in computing technology and new applications ensure that we will need new similarly simple models to understand what is possible in the future, and that new classes of applications will stress systems in different and interesting ways.

The quantitative approach introduced in Chapter 1 is essential to understanding these issues. In particular, we expect to see, in the near future, much more emphasis on minimizing power to meet the demands of a given application, across all sizes of systems; much remains to be learned in this area.

I have worked with many different instruction sets in my career. I first programmed a PDP-8, whose instruction set was so simple that a friend easily learned to disassemble programs just by glancing at the hole punches in paper tape! I wrote a lot of code in PDP-11 assembler, including an interpreter for the Pascal programming language and for the VAX (which was used as an example in the first edition of this book); the success of the VAX led to the widespread use of UNIX on the early Internet.

The PDP-11 and VAX were very conventional complex instruction set (CISC) computer architectures, with relatively compact instruction sets that proved nearly impossible to pipeline. For a number of years in public talks I used the performance of the VAX 11/780 as the baseline; its speed was extremely well known because faster implementations of the architecture were so long delayed. VAX performance stalled out just as the x86 and 680x0 CISC architectures were appearing in microprocessors; the strong economic advantages of microprocessors led to their overwhelming dominance. Then the simpler reduced instruction set (RISC) computer architectures—pioneered by John Cocke at IBM; promoted and named by Patterson and Hennessy; and commercialized in POWER PC, MIPS, and SPARC—were implemented as microprocessors and permitted highperformance pipeline implementations through the use of their simple registeroriented instruction sets. A downside of RISC was the larger code size of programs and resulting greater instruction fetch bandwidth, a cost that could be seen to be acceptable using the techniques of Chapter 1 and by believing in the future CMOS technology trends promoted in the now-classic views of Carver Mead. The kind of clear-thinking approach to the present problems and to the shape of future computing advances that led to RISC architecture is the focus of this book.

Chapter 2 (and various appendices) presents interesting examples of contemporary and important historical instruction set architecture. RISC architecture—the focus of so much work in the last twenty years—is by no means the final word here. I worked on the design of the SPARC architecture and several implementations for a decade, but more recently have worked on two different styles of processor: picoJava, which implemented most of the Java Virtual Machine instructions—a compact, high-level, bytecoded instruction set—and MAJC, a very simple and multithreaded VLIW for Java and media-intensive applications. These two architectures addressed different and new market needs: for lowpower chips to run embedded devices where space and power are at a premium, and for high performance for a given amount of power and cost where parallel applications are possible. While neither has achieved widespread commercial success, I expect that the future will see many opportunities for different ISAs, and an in-depth knowledge of history here often gives great guidance—the relationships between key factors, such as the program size, execution speed, and power consumption, returning to previous balances that led to great designs in the past.

Chapters 3 and 4 describe instruction-level parallelism (ILP): the ability to execute more than one instruction at a time. This has been aided greatly, in the last 20 years, by techniques such as RISC and VLIW (very long instruction word) computing. But as later chapters here point out, both RISC and especially VLIW as practiced in the Intel itanium architecture are very power intensive. In our attempts to extract more instruction-level parallelism, we are running up against the fact that the complexity of a design that attempts to execute N instructions simultaneously grows like N2: the number of transistors and number of watts to produce each result increases dramatically as we attempt to execute many instructions of arbitrary programs simultaneously. There is thus a clear countertrend emerging: using simpler pipelines with more realistic levels of ILP while exploiting other kinds of parallelism by running both multiple threads of execution per processor and, often, multiple processors on a single chip. The challenge for designers of high-performance systems of the future is to understand when simultaneous execution is possible, but then to use these techniques judiciously in combination with other, less granular techniques that are less power intensive and complex.

In graduate school I would often joke that cache memories were the only great idea in computer science. But truly, where you put things affects profoundly the design of computer systems. Chapter 5 describes the classical design of cache and main memory hierarchies and virtual memory. And now, new, higher-level programming languages like Java support much more reliable software because they insist on the use of garbage collection and array bounds checking, so that security breaches from "buffer overflow" and insidious bugs from false sharing of memory do not creep into large programs. It is only languages, such as Java, that insist on the use of automatic storage management that can implement true software components. But garbage collectors are notoriously hard on memory hierarchies, and the design of systems and language implementations to work well for such areas is an active area of research, where much good work has been done but much exciting work remains.

Java also strongly supports thread-level parallelism—a key to simple, powerefficient, and high-performance system implementations that avoids the N2 problem discussed earlier but brings challenges of its own. A good foundational understanding of these issues can be had in Chapter 6. Traditionally, each processor was a separate chip, and keeping the various processors synchronized was expensive, both because of its impact on the memory hierarchy and because the synchronization operations themselves were very expensive. The Java language is also trying to address these issues: we tried, in the Java Language Specification, which I coauthored, to write a description of the memory model implied by the language. While this description turned out to have (fixable) technical problems, it is increasingly clear that we need to think about the memory hierarchy in the design of languages that are intended to work well on the newer system platforms. We view the Java specification as a first step in much good work to be done in the future.

As Chapter 7 describes, storage has evolved from being connected to individual computers to being a separate network resource. This is reminiscent of computer graphics, where graphics processing that was previously done in a host processor often became a separate function as the importance of graphics increased. All this is likely to change radically in the coming years—massively parallel host processors are likely to be able to do graphics better than dedicated outboard graphics units, and new breakthroughs in storage technologies, such as memories made from molecular electronics and other atomic-level nanotechnologies, should greatly reduce both the cost of storage and the access time. The resulting dramatic decreases in storage cost and access time will strongly encourage the use of multiple copies of data stored on individual computing nodes, rather than shared over a network. The "wheel of reincarnation," familiar from graphics, will appear in storage.

Chapter 8 provides a great foundational description of computer interconnects and networks. My model of these comes from Andy Bechtolsheim, another of the cofounders of Sun, who famously said, "Ethernet always wins."More modestly stated: given the need for a new networking interconnect, and despite its shortcomings, adapted versions of the Ethernet protocols seem to have met with overwhelming success in the marketplace. Why? Factors such as the simplicity and familiarity of the protocols are obvious, but quite possibly the most likely reason is that the people who are adapting Ethernet can get on with the job at hand rather than arguing about details that, in the end, aren’t dispositive. This lesson can be generalized to apply to all the areas of computer architecture discussed in this book.

One of the things I remember Dave Patterson saying many years ago is that for each new project you only get so many "cleverness beans." That is, you can be very clever in a few areas of your design, but if you try to be clever in all of them, the design will probably fail to achieve its goals—or even fail to work or to be finished at all. The overriding lesson that I have learned in 20 plus years of working on these kinds of designs is that you must choose what is important and focus on that; true wisdom is to know what to leave out. A deep knowledge of what has gone before is key to this ability.

And you must also choose your assumptions carefully. Many years ago I attended a conference in Hawaii (yes, it was a boondoggle, but read on) where Maurice Wilkes, the legendary computer architect, gave a speech. What he said, paraphrased in my memory, is that good research often consists of assuming something that seems untrue or unlikely today will become true and investigating the consequences of that assumption. And if the unlikely assumption indeed then becomes true in the world, you will have done timely and sometimes, then, even great research! So, for example, the research group at Xerox PARC assumed that everyone would have access to a personal computer with a graphics display connected to others by an internetwork and the ability to print inexpensively using Xerography. How true all this became, and how seminally important their work was!

In our time, and in the field of computer architecture, I think there are a number of assumptions that will become true. Some are not controversial, such as that Moore’s Law is likely to continue for another decade or so and that the complexity of large chip designs is reaching practical limits, often beyond the point of positive returns for additional complexity. More controversially, perhaps, molecular electronics is likely to greatly reduce the cost of storage and probably logic elements as well, optical interconnects will greatly increase the bandwidth and reduce the error rates of interconnects, software will continue to be unreliable because it is so difficult, and security will continue to be important because its absence is so debilitating.

Taking advantage of the strong positive trends detailed in this book and using them to mitigate the negative ones will challenge the next generation of computer architects, to design a range of systems of many shapes and sizes.

Computer architecture design problems are becoming more varied and interesting. Now is an exciting time to be starting out or reacquainting yourself with the latest in this field, and this book is the best place to start. See you in the chips!

Computer technology has made incredible progress in the roughly 55 years since the first general-purpose electronic computer was created. Today, less than a thousand dollars will purchase a personal computer that has more performance, more main memory, and more disk storage than a computer bought in 1980 for 1 million dollars. This rapid rate of improvement has come both from advances in the technology used to build computers and from innovation in computer design.

Although technological improvements have been fairly steady, progress arising from better computer architectures has been much less consistent. During the first 25 years of electronic computers, both forces made a major contribution; but beginning in about 1970, computer designers became largely dependent upon integrated circuit technology. During the 1970s, performance continued to improve at about 25% to 30% per year for the mainframes and minicomputers that dominated the industry.

The late 1970s saw the emergence of the microprocessor. The ability of the microprocessor to ride the improvements in integrated circuit technology more closely than the less integrated mainframes and minicomputers led to a higher rate of improvement—roughly 35% growth per year in performance.

This growth rate, combined with the cost advantages of a mass-produced microprocessor, led to an increasing fraction of the computer business being based on microprocessors. In addition, two significant changes in the computer marketplace made it easier than ever before to be commercially successful with a new architecture. First, the virtual elimination of assembly language programming reduced the need for object-code compatibility. Second, the creation of standardized, vendor-independent operating systems, such as UNIX and its clone, Linux, lowered the cost and risk of bringing out a new architecture.

These changes made it possible to successfully develop a new set of architectures, called RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architectures, in the early 1980s. The RISC-based machines focused the attention of designers on two critical performance techniques, the exploitation of instruction-level parallelism (initially through pipelining and later through multiple instruction issue) and the use of caches (initially in simple forms and later using more sophisticated organizations and optimizations). The combination of architectural and organizational enhancements has led to 20 years of sustained growth in performance at an annual rate of over 50%.

The effect of this dramatic growth rate has been twofold. First, it has signifi- cantly enhanced the capability available to computer users. For many applications, the highest-performance microprocessors of today outperform the supercomputer of less than 10 years ago.

Second, this dramatic rate of improvement has led to the dominance of microprocessor-based computers across the entire range of the computer design. Workstations and PCs have emerged as major products in the computer industry. Minicomputers, which were traditionally made from off-the-shelf logic or from gate arrays, have been replaced by servers made using microprocessors. Mainframes have been almost completely replaced with multiprocessors consisting of small numbers of off-the-shelf microprocessors. Even high-end supercomputers are being built with collections of microprocessors.

Freedom from compatibility with old designs and the use of microprocessor technology led to a renaissance in computer design, which emphasized both architectural innovation and efficient use of technology improvements. This renaissance is responsible for the higher performance growth, a rate that is unprecedented in the computer industry. This rate of growth has compounded so that by 2001, the difference between the highestperformance microprocessors and what would have been obtained by relying solely on technology, including improved circuit design, was about a factor of 15.

Figure 1.1 Growth in microprocessor performance since the mid-1980s has been substantially higher than in earlier years as shown by plotting SPECint performance. This chart plots relative performance as measured by the SPECint benchmarks with base of one being a VAX 11/780. Since SPEC has changed over the years, performance of newer machines is estimated by a scaling factor that relates the performance for two different versions of SPEC (e.g., SPEC92 and SPEC95). Prior to the mid-1980s, microprocessor performance growth was largely technology driven and averaged about 35% per year. The increase in growth since then is attributable to more advanced architectural and organizational ideas. By 2001 this growth led to a difference in performance of about a factor of 15. Performance for floating-point-oriented calculations has increased even faster.

In the last few years, the tremendous improvement in integrated circuit capability has allowed older, less-streamlined architectures, such as the x86 (or IA-32) architecture, to adopt many of the innovations first pioneered in the RISC designs. As we will see, modern x86 processors basically consist of a front end that fetches and decodes x86 instructions and maps them into simple ALU, memory access, or branch operations that can be executed on a RISC-style pipelined processor. Beginning in the late 1990s, as transistor counts soared, the overhead (in transistors) of interpreting the more complex x86 architecture became negligible as a percentage of the total transistor count of a modern microprocessor.

This text is about the architectural ideas and accompanying compiler improvements that have made this incredible growth rate possible. At the center of this dramatic revolution has been the development of a quantitative approach to computer design and analysis that uses empirical observations of programs, experimentation, and simulation as its tools. It is this style and approach to computer design that is reflected in this text.

Sustaining the recent improvements in cost and performance will require continuing innovations in computer design, and we believe such innovations will be founded on this quantitative approach to computer design. Hence, this book has been written not only to document this design style, but also to stimulate you to contribute to this progress.

Chapter 5 - I/O And Consistency of Cached Data

Because of caches, data can be found in memory and in the cache. As long as the CPU is the sole device changing or reading the data and the cache stands between the CPU and memory, there is little danger in the CPU seeing the old or stale copy. I/O devices give the opportunity for other devices to cause copies to be inconsistent or for other devices to read the stale copies. Figure 5.46 illustrates the problem, generally referred to as the cache-coherency problem.

The question is this: Where does the I/O occur in the computer-between the I/O device and the cache or between the I/O device and main memory? If input puts data into the cache and output reads data from the cache, both I/O and the CPU see the same data, and the problem is solved. The difficulty in this approach is that it interferes with the CPU. I/O competing with the CPU for cache access will cause the CPU to stall for I/O. Input will also interfere with the cache by displacing some information with the new data that is unlikely to be accessed by the CPU soon. For example, on a page fault the CPU may need to access a few words in a page, but a program is not likely to access every word of the page if it were loaded into the cache. Given the integration of caches onto the same integrated circuit, it is also difficult for that interface to be visible.

The goal for the I/O system in a computer with a cache is to prevent the stale data problem while interfering with the CPU as little as possible. Many systems, therefore, prefer that I/O occur directly to main memory, with main memory

FIGURE 5.46 The cache-coherency problem. A' and B refer to the cached copiesof A and B in memory. (a) shows cache and main memory in a coherent state. In (b) we assume a write-back cache when the CPU writes 550 into A. Now A' has the value but the value in memory has the old, stale value of 100. If an output used the value of A from memory, it would get the stale data. In (c) the I/O system inputs 440 into the memory copy of B, so now B, in the cache has the old, stale data acting as an I/O buffer. If a write-through cache is used, then memory has an upto-date copy of the information, and there is no stale-data issue for output. (This is a reason many machines use write through.) Input requires some extra work. The software solution is to guarantee that no blocks of the I/O buffer designated for input are in the cache. In one approach, a buffer page is marked as noncachable; the operating system always inputs to such a page. In another approach, the operating system flushes the buffer addresses from the cache after the input occurs. A hardware solution is to check the I/O addresses on input to see if they are in the cache; to avoid slowing down the cache to check addresses, sometimes a duplicate set of tags are used to allow checking of I/O addresses in parallel with processor cache accesses. If there is a match of I/O addresses in the cache, the cache entries are invalidated to avoid stale data. All these approaches can also be used for output with write-back caches. More about this is found in Chapter 6.

The cache-coherency problem applies to multiprocessors as well as I/O. Unlike I/O, where multiple data copies are a rare event-one to be avoided whenever possible-a program running on multiple processors will want to have copies of the same data in several caches. Performance of a multiprocessor program depends on the performance of the system when sharing data. The protocols to maintain coherency for multiple processors are called cache-coherency protocols and are described in Chapter 8.

5.10 Putting It All Together the Alpha AXP 21064 Memory Hierarchy

Thus far we have given glimpses of the Alpha AXP 21064 memory hierarchy; this section unveils the full design and shows the performance of its components for the SPEC92 programs. Figure 5.47 gives the overall picture of this design.

Let's really start at the beginning, when the Alpha is turned on. Hardware on the chip loads the instruction cache from an external PROM. This initialization allows the 8-KB instruction cache to omit a valid bit, for there are always valid instructions in the cache; they just might not be the ones your program is interested in. The hardware does clear the valid bits in the data cache. The PC is set to the kseg segment so that the instruction addresses are not translated, thereby avoiding the TLB.

One of the first steps is to update the instruction TLB with valid page table entries (PTEs) for this process. Kernel code updates the TLB with the contents of the appropriate page table entry for each page to be mapped. The instruction TLB has eight entries for 8-KB pages and four for 4-MB pages. (The 4-MB pages are used by large programs such as the operating system or data bases that will likely touch most of their code.) A miss in the TLB invokes the Privileged Architecture Library (PAL code) software that updates the TLB. PAL code is simply machine language routines with some implementation-specific extensions to allow access to low-level hardware, such as the TLB. PAL code runs with exceptions disabled, and instruction accesses are not checked for memory management violations, allowing PAL code to fill the TLB.

Once the operating system is ready to begin executing a user process, it sets the PC to the appropriate address in segment segO. We are now ready to follow memory hierarchy in action: Figure 5.47 is labeled with the steps of this narrative. The page frame portion of this address is sent to the TLB (step 1), while the 8-bit index from the page offset is sent to the direct-mapped 8-KB (256 32-byte blocks) instruction cache (step 2). The fully associative TLB simultaneously searches all 12 entries to find a match between the address and a valid PTE (step 3). In addition to translating the address, the TLB checks to see if the PTE demands that this access result in an exception. An exception might occur if either this access violates the protection on the page or ifthe page is not in main memory. If there is no exception, and if the translated physical address matches the tag in the instruction cache (step 4), then the proper 8 bytes of the 32-byte block are furnished to the CPU using the lower bits of the page offset (step 5), and the instruction stream access is done.

A miss, on the other hand, simultaneously starts an access to the second-level cache (step 6) and checks the prefetch instruction stream buffer (step 7). If the desired instruction is found in the stream buffer (step 8), the critical 8 bytes are sent to the CPU, the full 32-byte block of the stream buffer is written into the instruction cache (step 9), and the request to the second-level cache is canceled. Steps 6 to 9 take just a single clock cycle.

If the instruction is not in the prefetch stream buffer, the second-level cache continues trying to fetch the block. The 21064 microprocessor is designed to work with direct-mapped second-level caches from 128 KB to 8 MB with a miss penalty between 3 and 16 clock cycles. For this section we use the memory system of the DEC 3000 model 800 Alpha AXP. It has a 2-MB (65,536 32-byte blocks) second-level cache, so the 29-bit block address is divided into a 13-bit tag and a 16-bit index (step 10). The cache reads the tag from that index and if it matches (step 11), the cache returns the critical 16 bytes in the first 5 clock cycles and the other 16 bytes in the next 5 clock cycles (step 12). The path between the first- and second-level cache is 128 bits wide (16 bytes). At the same time, a request is made for the next sequential 32-byte block, which is loaded into the instruction stream buffer in the next 10 clock cycles (step 13).

The instruction stream does not rely on the TLB for address translation. It simply increments the physical address of the miss by 32 bytes, checking to make sure that the new address is within the same page. If the incremented address crosses a page boundary, then the prefetch is suppressed.

If the instruction is not found in the secondary cache, the translated physical address is sent to memory (step 14). The DEC 3000 model 800 divides memory into four memory mother boards (MMB), each of which contains two to eight SIMMs (single inline memory modules). The SIMMs come with eight DRAMs for information plus two DRAMs for error protection per side, and the options are single- or double-sided SIMMs using I-Mbit, 4-Mbit, or 16-Mbit DRAMs. Hence the memory capacity of the model 800 is 8 MB (4 x 2 x 8 x I x 1/8) to 1024 MB (4 x 8 x 8 x 16 x 2/8), always organized 256 bits wide. The average time to transfer 32 bytes from memory to the secondary cache is 36 clock cycles after the processor makes the request. The second-level cache loads this data 16 bytes at a time.

Since the second-level cache is a write-back cache, any miss can lead to the old block being written back to memory. The 21064 places this "victim" block into a victim buffer to get out of the way of new data (step 15). The new data are loaded into the cache as soon as they arrive (step 16), and then the old data are written from the victim buffer (step 17). There is a single block in the victim buffer, so a second miss would need to stall until the victim buffer empties.

Suppose this initial instruction is a load. It will send the page frame of its data address to the data TLB (step 18) at the same time as the 8-bit index from the page offset is sent to the data cache (step 19). The data TLB is a fully associative cache containing 32 PTEs, each of which represents page sizes from 8 KB to 4 MB. A TLB miss will trap to PAL code to load the valid PTE for this address. In the worst case, the page is not in memory, and the operating system gets the page from disk (step 20). Since millions of instructions could execute during a page fault, the operating system will swap in another process if there is something waiting to run.

Assuming that we have a valid PTE in the data TLB (step 21), the cache tag and the physical page frame are compared (step 22), with a match sending the desired 8 bytes from the 32-byte block to the CPU (step 23). A miss goes to the second-level cache, which proceeds exactly like an instruction miss.

Suppose the instruction is a store instead of a load. The page frame portion of the data address is again sent to the data TLB and the data cache (steps 18 and 19), which checks for protection violations as well as translates the address. The physical address is then sent to the data cache (steps 21 and 22). Since the data cache uses write through, the store data are simultaneously sent to the write buffer (step 24) and the data cache (step 25). As explained on page 425, the 21064 pipelines write hits. The data address of this store is checked for a match, and at the same time the data from the previous write hit are written to the cache (step 26). If the address check was a hit, then the data from this store are placed in the write pipeline buffer. On a miss, the data are just sent to the write buffer since the data cache does not allocate on a write miss.

The write buffer takes over now. It has four entries, each containing a whole cache block. If the buffer is full, then the CPU must stall until a block is written to the second-level cache. If the buffer is not full, the CPU continues and the address of the word is presented to the write buffer (step 27). It checks to see if the word matches any block already in the buffer so that a sequence of writes can be stitched together into a full block, thereby optimizing use of the write bandwidth between the first- and second-level cache.

All writes are eventually passed on to the second-level cache. If a write is a hit, then the data are written to the cache (step 28). Since the second-level cache uses write back, it cannot pipeline writes: a full 32-byte block write takes 5 clock cycles to check the address and 10 clock cycles to write the data. A write of 16 bytes or less takes 5 clock cycles to check the address and 5 clock cycles to write the data. In either case the cache marks the block as dirty.

If the access to the second-level cache is a miss, the victim block is checked to see if it is dirty; if so, it is placed in the victim buffer as before (step 15). If the new data are a full block, then the data are simply written and marked dirty. A partial block write results in an access to main memory since the second-level cache policy is to allocate on a write miss...

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MySQL Developer's Library (Book Excerpt) by Paul DuBois

2008-12-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

MySQL Developer's Library (Book Excerpt) by Paul DuBois

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Introduction to MySQL and SQL: This chapter provides an introduction to the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and to the Structured Query Language (SQL) that MySQL understands. It lays out basic terms and concepts you should understand, describes the sample database we'll be using for examples throughout the book, and provides a tutorial that shows you how to use MySQL to create a database and interact with it.

Begin here if you are new to databases and perhaps uncertain whether or not you need one or can use one.You should also read the chapter if you don't know anything about MySQL or SQL and need an introductory guide to get started. Readers who have experience with MySQL or with database systems might want to skim through the material. However, everybody should read the section "A Sample Database" because it's best if you're familiar with the purpose and contents of the database that we'll be using repeatedly throughout the book.

How MySQL Can Help You: This section describes situations in which the MySQL database system is useful. This will give you an idea of the kinds of things MySQL can do and the ways in which it can help you. If you don't need to be convinced about the usefulness of a database system-perhaps because you've already got a problem in mind and just want to find out how to put MySQL to work helping you solve it-you can proceed to "A Sample Database."

A database system is essentially just a way to manage lists of information. The information can come from a variety of sources. For example, it can represent research data, business records, customer requests, sports statistics, sales reports, personal hobby information, personnel records, bug reports, or student grades. However, although database systems can deal with a wide range of information, you don't use such a system for its own sake. If a job is easy to do already, there's no reason to drag a database into it just to use one. A grocery list is a good example:You write down the items to get, cross them off as you do your shopping, and then throw the list away. It's highly unlikely that you'd use a database for this. Even if you have a palmtop computer, you'd probably use its notepad function for a grocery list, not its database capabilities.

The power of a database system comes in when the information you want to organize and manage becomes voluminous or complex so that your records become more burdensome than you care to deal with by hand. Databases can be used by large corporations processing millions of transactions a day, of course. But even small-scale operations involving a single person maintaining information of personal interest may require a database. It's not difficult to think of situations in which the use of a database can be beneficial because you needn't have huge amounts of information before that information becomes difficult to manage. Consider the following situations:

Your carpentry business has several employees.You need to maintain employee and payroll records so that you know who you've paid and when, and you must summarize those records so that you can report earnings statements to the government for tax purposes. You also need to keep track of the jobs your company has been hired to do and which employees you've scheduled to work on each job.

You run a network of automobile parts warehouses and need to be able to tell which ones have any given part in their inventory so that you can fill customer orders.

As a toy seller, you're particularly subject to fad-dependent demand for items that you carry.You want to know what the current sales trajectory is for certain items so that you can estimate whether to increase inventory (for an item that's becoming more popular) or decrease it (so you're not stuck with a lot of stock for something that's no longer selling well).

That pile of research data you've been collecting over the course of many years needs to be analyzed for publication, lest the dictum "publish or perish" become the epitaph for your career.You want to boil down large amounts of raw data to generate summary information, and to pull out selected subsets of observations for more detailed statistical analysis.

You're a popular speaker who travels the country to many types of assemblies, such as graduations, business meetings, civic organizations, and political conventions.You give so many addresses that it's difficult to remember what you've spoken on at each place you've been, so you'd like to maintain records of your past talks and use them to help you plan future engagements. If you return to a place at which you've spoken before, you don't want to give a talk similar to one you've already delivered there, and a record of each place you've been would help you avoid repeats.You'd also like to note how wen your talks are received. (Your address "Why I Love Cats" to the Metropolitan Kennel Club was something of a dud, and you don't want to make that mistake again the next time you're there.)

You're a teacher who needs to keep track of grades and attendance. Each time you give a quiz or a test, you record every student's grade. It's easy enough to write down scores in a gradebook, but using the scores later is a tedious chore. You'd rather avoid sorting the scores for each test to determine the grading curve, and you'd really rather not add up each student's scores when you determine final grades at the end of the grading period. Counting each student's absences is no fun, either.

The organization for which you are the secretary maintains a directory of members. (The organization could be anything-a professional society, a club, a repertory company, a symphony orchestra, or an athletic booster club.) You generate the directory in printed form each year for members, based on a word processor document that you edit as membership information changes.

You're tired of maintaining the directory that way because it limits what you can do with it. It's difficult to sort the entries in different ways, and you can't easily select just certain parts of each entry (such as a list consisting only of names and phone numbers). Nor can you easily find a subset of members, such as those who need to renew their memberships soon-if you could, it would eliminate the job of looking through the entries each month to find those members who need to be sent renewal notices.

Also, you'd really like to avoid doing all the directory editing yourself, but the society doesn't have much of a budget, and hiring someone is out of the question.You've heard about the "paperless office" that's supposed to result from electronic record-keeping, but you haven't seen any benefit from it. The membership records are electronic, but, ironically, aren't in a form that can be used easily for anything except generating paper by printing the directory!

These scenarios range from situations involving large amounts to relatively small amounts of information. They share the common characteristic of involving tasks that can be performed manually but that could be performed more efficiently by a database system.

What specific benefits should you expect to see from using a database system such as MySQL?

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The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging (Book Excerpt)

2008-12-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging (Book Excerpt) - The editors of the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington

Book price (Amazon.com)

What Is a Blog? A blog at its most fundamental level is simply a "web log." That is, a regularly updated account of events or ideas posted on the web.

But calling blogs mere updated web diaries is a bit like calling poetry a pleasant arrangement of words on a page. There is an art to this. Those of us who work at HuffPost believe we are fortunate enough to be present at the advent of a new form of human communication — one that is more interactive, more democratic, and just more fun than what has come before.

Blogs can bring down a Senate majority leader. They can show what a presidential candidate talks about in unguarded moments. They can provide stay-at-home parents with a little space to rant about the tragedy of colic (or maybe share updates on a local environmental issue — and Brad Pitt — during naps). They cut out the gatekeepers of information and shorten the news cycle. They give companies new ways to communicate with customers and shareholders — and give customers and shareholders new ways to make their voices heard. Blogging gives you a feeling of satisfaction that writing a letter to the editor, or a letter to the "customer care" department of a corporation, cannot match. The public nature of blogs means that any of the billion people on this planet who own or have access to a computer can read what any of the rest of us is saying. That's true even if what we're saying is about a niche (for instance, issues germane to the mini off-road buggy community) that in the past would have gotten us labeled as freaks. In fact, because the potential audience is so huge, there is space for just about every topic you can imagine.

It is this mix of the high and low, the personal and the political, that makes blogs so fascinating and so important in an open society. When we launched HuffPost in 2005, we knew we liked blogs, but even we underestimated how head over heels we'd fall. "Blogging is definitely the most interesting thing I've done as a writer, and I've been writing full-time since the late seventies," Carol Felsenthal, author of Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House and a HuffPost blogger, tells us. "I used to walk my dog, Henry, first thing in the morning. Now I'm often at my computer writing a post while Henry looks at me and wonders what happened to the good old days when his owner was compulsive but not hyper-compulsive."

It's the informality and the immediacy that make blogging addictive for many of us. No editor stands between us and the public. This leads to a lot of rumors and other fluff going up on the web. But it's also enormously liberating. You can put all kinds of ideas out there. "My thoughts don't all have to be fully baked," says Marci Alboher, who writes the "Shifting Careers" column and blog for The New York Times. She posts an idea and sees what her readers think. "They help me solve the problem and let me know if I'm going down the right path. It helps me figure out what the issues are very quickly."

It is this multidirectional conversation — giving all of us a platform, expanding the scope of news, and making it a shared enterprise between producers and consumers — that makes blogs so revolutionary. We have a lot of fun blogging. We're writing this book because we're pretty sure you will too.

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The Best Ways to Secure Your Business Information

2008-12-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

The Best Ways to Secure Your Business Information

Effective data security starts with assessing what information you have and identifying who has access to it. Understanding how personal information moves into, through, and out of your business and who has—or could have—access is essential to assessing security vulnerabilities. You can determine the best ways to secure the information only after you’ve traced how it flows.

Inventory all computers, laptops, flash drives, disks, home computers, and other equipment to find out where your company stores sensitive data. Also inventory the information you have by type and location. Your file cabinets and computer systems are a start, but remember: your business receives personal information in a number of ways—through Web sites, from contractors, from call centers, and the like. What about information saved on laptops, employees’ home computers, flash drives, and cell phones? No inventory is complete until you check everywhere sensitive data might be stored.

Track personal information through your business by talking with your sales department, information technology staff, human resources office, accounting personnel, and outside service providers. Get a complete picture of:

Who sends sensitive personal information to your business. Do you get it from customers? Credit card companies? Banks or other financial institutions? Credit bureaus? Other businesses?

How your business receives personal information. Does it come to your business through a Web site? By e-mail? Through the mail? Is it transmitted through cash registers in stores?

What kind of information you collect at each entry point. Do you get credit card information online? Does your accounting department keep information about customers’ checking accounts?

Where you keep the information you collect at each entry point. Is it in a central computer database? On individual laptops? On disks or tapes? In file cabinets? In branch offices? Do employees have files at home?

Who has—or could have—access to the information. Which of your employees has permission to access the information? Could anyone else get a hold of it? What about vendors who supply and update software you use to process credit card transactions? Contractors operating your call center?

Different types of information present varying risks. Pay particular attention to how you keep personally identifying information: Social Security numbers, credit card or financial information, and other sensitive data. That’s what thieves use most often to commit fraud or identity theft.

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Commercial Web Hosting and P2P Bandwidth

2008-11-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

Commercial Web Hosting and P2P Bandwidth

In the commercial web hosting, since the hosting corporation usually owns all the servers that host the content and the network links between them, the bandwidth required to duplicate the web content and the storage overhead needed to hold the webpages are usually not the primary concerns. This is also true for certain restrictive web hosting applications, such as YouServ, which is a solution to share files and web pages of individual users through standard web protocols on the intranet of a corporation. Existing research on distributive web hosting usually focuses on improving the response time of the server, such as the server placement strategy and direction of the web request to the proper server.

However, this is not the case with a consumer P2P network, where both the network bandwidth and the storage capacity is at a premium for the peers, and the P2P web hosting application is competing with other applications for such resources. Therefore, it is necessary to develop technologies that may improve the webhosting reliability and serving bandwidth while reducing the network bandwidth used to host the web site.

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iBrain - Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan (Book Excerpt)

2008-11-16T16:43:00.000-08:00

iBrain - Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan (Book Excerpt)

Book price (Amazon)

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. - Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple

You're on a plane packed with other business people, reading your electronic version of the Wall Street Journal on your laptop while downloading files to your BlackBerry and organizing your PowerPoint presentation for your first meeting when you reach New York. You relish the perfect symmetry of your schedule, to-do lists, and phone book as you notice a woman in the next row entering little written notes into her leather-bound daily planner book. You remember having one of those . . . What? Like a zillion years ago? Hey lady! Wake up and smell the computer age.

You're outside the airport now, waiting impatiently for a cab along with a hundred other people. It's finally your turn, and as you reach for the taxi door a large man pushes in front of you, practically knocking you over. Your briefcase goes flying, and your laptop and BlackBerry splatter into pieces on the pavement. As you frantically gather up the remnants of your once perfectly scheduled life, the woman with the daily planner book gracefully steps into a cab and glides away.

The current explosion of digital technology not only is changing the way we live and communicate but is rapidly and profoundly altering our brains. Daily exposure to high technology—computers, smart phones, video games, search engines like Google and Yahoo—stimulates brain cell alteration and neurotransmitter release, gradually strengthening new neuralpathways in our brains while weakening old ones. Because of the current technological revolution, our brains are evolving right now—at a speed like never before.

Besides influencing how we think, digital technology is altering how we feel, how we behave, and the way in which our brains function. Although we are unaware of these changes in our neural circuitry or brain wiring, these alterations can become permanent with repetition. This evolutionary brain process has rapidly emerged over a single generation and may represent one of the most unexpected yet pivotal advances in human history. Perhaps not since Early Man first discovered how to use a tool has the human brain been affected so quickly and so dramatically.

Television had a fundamental impact on our lives in the past century, and today the average person's brain continues to have extensive daily exposure to TV. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, recently found that on average Americans spend nearly three hours each day watching television or movies, or much more time spent than on all leisure physical activities combined. But in the current digital environment, the Internet is replacing television as the prime source of brain stimulation. Seven out of ten American homes are wired for high-speed Internet. We rely on the Internet and digital technology for entertainment, political discussion, and even social reform as well as communication with friends and co-workers.

As the brain evolves and shifts its focus toward new technological skills, it drifts away from fundamental social skills, such as reading facial expressions during conversation or grasping the emotional context of a subtle gesture. A Stanford University study found that for every hour we spend on our computers, traditional face-to-face interaction time with other people drops by nearly thirty minutes. With the weakening of the brain's neural circuitry controlling human contact, our social interactions may become awkward, and we tend to misinterpret, and even miss subtle, nonverbal messages. Imagine how the continued slipping of social skills might affect an international summit meeting ten years from now when a misread facial cue or a misunderstood gesture could make the difference between escalating military conflict or peace.

The high-tech revolution is redefining not only how we communicate but how we reach and influence people, exert political and social change, and even glimpse into the private lives of co-workers, neighbors, celebrities, and politicians. An unknown innovator can become an overnight media magnet as news of his discovery speeds across the Internet. A cell phone video camera can capture a momentary misstep of a public figure, and in minutes it becomes the most downloaded video on YouTube. Internet social networks like MySpace and Facebook have exceeded a hundred million users, emerging as the new marketing giants of the digital age and dwarfing traditional outlets such as newspapers and magazines.

Young minds tend to be the most exposed, as well as the most sensitive, to the impact of digital technology. Today's young people in their teens and twenties, who have been dubbed Digital Natives, have never known a world without computers, twenty-four-hour TV news, Internet, and cell phones—with their video, music, cameras, and text messaging. Many of these Natives rarely enter a library, let alone look something up in a traditional encyclopedia; they use Google, Yahoo, and other online search engines. The neural networks in the brains of these Digital Natives differ dramatically from those of Digital Immigrants: people—including all baby boomers—who came to the digital/computer age as adults but whose basic brain wiring was laid down during a time when direct social interaction was the norm. The extent of their early technological communication and entertainment involved the radio, telephone, and TV.

As a consequence of this overwhelming and early high-tech stimulation of the Digital Native's brain, we are witnessing the beginning of a deeply divided brain gap between younger and older minds—in just one generation. What used to be simply a generation gap that separated young people's values, music, and habits from those of their parents has now become a huge divide resulting in two separate cultures. The brains of the younger generation are digitally hardwired from toddlerhood, often at the expense of neural circuitry that controls one-on-one people skills. Individuals of the older generation face a world in which their brains must adapt to high technology, or they'll be left behind— politically, socially, and economically.

Young people have created their own digital social networks, including a shorthand type of language for text messaging, and studies show that fewer young adults read books for pleasure now than in any generation before them. Since 1982, literary reading has declined by 28 percent in eighteen- to thirty-four-year-olds. Professor Thomas Patterson and colleagues at Harvard University reported that only 16 percent of adults age eighteen to thirty read a daily newspaper, compared with 35 percent of those thirty-six and older. Patterson predicts that the future of news will be in the electronic digital media rather than the traditional print or television forms.

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Things You Should Know About Shared Hosting

2008-11-05T13:45:00.000-08:00

Things You Should Know About Shared Hosting
by Daren Albom

People who are building a website will always come to a point where he or she needs to get a web hosting service to host the website. Confusions strike in when they find out there are different type of hosting including shared hosting, dedicated hosting and reseller hosting. People confuse wondering which type of hosting should they go with. This article will tell you more about shared hosting and its specialty in order to give you a better idea in your decision making.

For your information, shared hosting like what the name speaks is shared among subscribers. For example when two people sign up for a shared hosting, they will host in the same physical server sharing the same IP address however their accounts are separated using software. Each of them will not be able to access the other account. So it looks like the account is independent. The service providers have kind of partitioned the storage space into two slots for two different accounts. Same theory applies when the same server has 1,000 subscribers.

You will wonder how the computer identify the correct website when internet users want to access the website hosted in shared hosting since there is only one IP address. When a user requests a website by typing the web address in to browser, it will send the request to the server through IP address and the catch is hostname of the website will be sent together as part of the request too. Therefore with IP address and the hostname the browser can determine which website you want to access. Shared hosting definitely has its strength and weakness.

Strength: shared hosting has very strong stand in pricing. As many people are sharing the same physical server the cost has been distributed evenly. The monthly subscription fee can be as low as $4.95/month and this price is easily available everywhere. This definitely fulfills the cost effectiveness of a website. Although shared hosting is cheaper than other type of hosting that does not mean it has low quality. Instead it is an ideal hosting for many webmasters. They build websites on shared hosting to run their business. Of cause the quality still rely on the proper management of hosting providers. As discussed in most of the articles, the reputation of a hosting provider is very important in this case. Thus I always go with big hosting companies like Hostgator, Lunarpages and Bluehost. Their organized management is powerful enough to maintain the quality of their shared hosting.

Weaknesses: users share the server among themselves. Sharing is still sharing. When there is irresponsible user in the sharing group, the way the fellow uses the hosting will jeopardize other accounts too. For example if a website that has very big traffic volume is hosted, the access of other website in the same server might be affected because that particular website has drawn most of the resources of the server. Although you do not know which website or account that is causing the problem, the negative effect is still visible. Therefore in this case a good hosting company will kick in and warn the users on the usage. Shared hosting has no dedicated IP for your website too. Therefore if the Domain Name Server is down (your domain name is not functional due to whatever reasons) you will not be able to access your website using just IP address like http://127.0.0.1 because the server will confused not knowing which website to show up. Also it is not possible to have dedicated SSL to your website because SSL works on IP. Since your IP is shared, the same SSL scripting will be shared among other subscribers too. However SSL sharing does not mean it will degrade the security of SSL but instead you have less control on the script.

Despite the weaknesses of shared hosting, it remains the most common hosting among webmasters. I believe this is mostly because the economic price of shared hosting. It makes web hosting affordable and is able to host decent websites. In fact shared hosting has not much difference from a dedicated hosting (dedicated hosting uses dedicated server to host your website with dedicated IP) except for the dedicated IP, dedicated server and an expensive price (could be $100+/month). So in order to host a website or a blog or even a business website, if you are not targeting a website as big as Wikipedia or YouTube, shared hosting is recommended.

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Web Site Design: Six Simple Rules

2008-10-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

Web Site Design: Six Simple Rules
by Pat Turman

When designing a web site you sometimes only have one chance to keep the internet visitor from clicking the back button on their web browser. Whether you are selling a product or offering a service, remember your web site design represents your business.

For years, we have been told that when going to an interview you have ten seconds to make a lasting first impression. There is no difference when designing your web site than making the first impression in an interview. You are making a first impression with the internet visitor who has searched for what you are offering in your web site design every time. The first impression can make the difference between in a paying customer or just a visitor to your web site.

Here are just five simple rules to keep in mind when designing your web site:

1) Limit the use or do not use flashy banners and advertisements at the beginning of you web site. There is a time and place for the banners and advertisement.

There is nothing more annoying then clicking on a web site to see cartoon characters, advertisements for other products flashing in front of your face. This can be too much for your potential customer. Your customer is there for a purpose and if the blatant advertisements or flashing banners turn them off they may just hit the back button before they find what they are looking for.

The only exception to this rule is determined by the purpose of you web site.

2) Make sure your web site design make it easy for the visitor to find the navigation buttons. If a customer has to search for a navigation button to find information about the company or the navigation buttons are not working, the visitor may get frustrated and leave you web site.

A rule of thumb for your navigation buttons are on the left side of your web page because the majority of people read from left to right. Think about reading a newspaper or a book. You look at the headlines then you read from the left to the right.

3) When visitors are browsing your site, have a clear indication for the visitor of where they are on your web site and how to get to other parts.

You may want to put a link on each page that the visitor clicks to take them to the home page or another page relating to the information currently viewing. In other words do not confuse your visitor or you visitor may just click off the web site totally.

4) When designing your web site pay close attention to loading time. The time it takes your web pages to load. You can reduce loading time by reducing graphics on each page. A good web site design should load under twenty seconds.

The longer it takes the pages to load the more frustrating it can be to the internet visitor. People want it yesterday not today and definitely not tomorrow.

5) Use a font that is common to all web browsers and easy to read. You have to think of your market. If you are selling a product or service that is used by older individuals you may want to increase the font.

Most of us are not going to get younger and with age, we find our eye sights are not what they use to be.

In addition, different web browsers display fonts differently. Therefore, you want to use a universal font compatible to the popular web browser for better viewing.

6) Make sure the information on your web site is up to date, and relevant to what you are offering. If your web site is selling 32", LCD Flat Screen TV's you should not be offering products to repair your driveway. I know that is extreme but people want to know they are visiting a web site that has up to date information and is relevant to what they are searching for.

These are just a few rules of web site design. There are many other things to adhere to when designing your web site for optimal visitors.

When designing your web site look at it from the customers or internet visitors standpoint. Would you want to visit this web site? Would you want to purchase a product from this web site? If you answer "no" then correct the problems.

If you deal with customer service, you need to do as they do. Get out from behind the counter and see what the customers see from where they stand. If you go "ugh", that is not good and you need to make some changes.

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Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E

2008-10-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E

The Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E is a complete yet flexible hardware and software NAS solution that instantly adds storage capacity to small business, and the small office and home office. Powered by software from EMC, the worldwide leader in information management, the Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E offers an intuitive user interface and easy 4-step setup process. Out-of-the-box RAID and Retrospect backup software together deliver the necessary security to protect irreplaceable digital data such as accounting records, financial data, customer information, email, sales records, product info, databases—everything a small business relies on to keep their business running. With four USB 2.0 ports and two SATA ports, the Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E can be connected to most digital devices as well as additional storage devices to form the core of a shared, centralized data access system.

Warranty: 3 years

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Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2

2008-10-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2

The Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2 is a flexible hardware platform that can be coupled with one of a number of different industry software solutions to create an application server with internal storage (DAS) or used as a dedicated network storage appliance (NAS or SAN). Built to support Intel dual-core and quad-core CPU technologies, the SSR212MC2 offers performance and flexibility. The SSR212MC2 is a 2U rackmount storage server that supports 12 enterprise-class Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) or high-capacity Serial ATA (SATA) HDDs. This PCI Express-based platform supports up to 32 GB of fully buffered DIMMs and up to two high-performance dual-core or quad-core Intel Xeon processors. Flexible network connectivity will include quad port Gb Ethernet, 10 Gb Ethernet, Fibre Channel, or Infiniband via add-in cards.

Businesses today are being inundated with digital data, from the growth in existing applications like e-mail and databases to emerging rich-media applications such as digital video. New government regulatory requirements, corporate business continuity, and corporate disaster recovery plans are adding to the explosive growth of storage needs. All of these factors contribute to an ever-increasing need for storage in small and medium business as well as larger enterprises. The Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2 addresses this growing storage demand by supporting up to 12 enterprise-class SAS or high-capacity SATA hard drives. It features hardware support for RAID levels 0, 1, 5,10, and 50, making data more reliable and faster to access.

The Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2 features support for high-capacity, 7,200 RPM SATA hard disk drives (HDD), which are less expensive than Fibre Channel or SCSI drives and simplify cabling. Additionally, SATA drives offer software transparency and scalability to help lower upgrade costs. The SSR212MC2 also supports SAS HDDs, which offer enterprise-class reliability. With spindle speeds of 10,000 RPM and 15,000 RPM, and an architecture that enables a point-to-point connection and full-duplex, or bi-directional, data transfers, SAS HDDs offer performance and reliability similar to SCSI or Fibre Channel HDDs.

Intel has engaged with storage software providers to ensure the availability of a variety of software solutions. These include applications that allow the Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2 to be configured as a SAN or a NAS system.

Intel is enabling a robust set of hardware options to provide high bandwidth storage and server connectivity. Dual- and quad-port Intel PRO server adapters provide an option for increased bandwidth through bonding of ports, or reliability via failover. Additional options will include, 10 Gb Ethernet, 4 Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity, and 20 Gbps Infiniband connectivity.

Environments ranging from high-performance computing to the growing compute, networking, and storage needs of small and medium businesses can all benefit from the flexible network connectivity options available, via add-in cards, with the SSR212MC2.

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Database System: MySQL and PostgreSQL

2008-09-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

Database System: MySQL and PostgreSQL
by dbConcert

MySQL
The MySQL database has become the world's most popular open source database because of its consistent fast performance, high reliability and ease of use. It's used in more than six million installations ranging from large corporations to specialized embedded applications on every continent in the world. It's also become the database of choice for a new generation of applications built on the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python.) MySQL runs on more than twenty platforms including Linux, Windows, OS/X, HP-UX, AIX, Netware, giving you the kind of flexibility that puts you in control.

PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source relational database system. It has more than 15 years of active development and a proven architecture that has earned it a strong reputation for reliability, data integrity, and correctness. It runs on all major operating systems and boasts sophisticated features such as Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC), point in time recovery, tablespaces, asynchronous replication, nested transactions (savepoints), online/hot backups, a sophisticated query planner/optimizer, and write ahead logging for fault tolerance. It is highly scalable both in the sheer quantity of data it can manage and in the number of concurrent users it can accommodate. There are active PostgreSQL systems in production environments that manage in excess of four terabytes of data.

What it Takes to Become a Quality Web Hosting Provider

2008-09-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

What it Takes to Become a Quality Web Hosting Provider
by Bob Willis

The demand for quality web hosting service has reached dizzying heights and web-hosting companies are constantly vying for the top spots and higher search engine rankings in order to acquire a larger customer base. Since every website that is created, requires a web host to create a web presence, web hosting is an indispensable aspect and this led to mushrooming of web hosting companies. In a bid to lure customers, certain companies are offering dearth cheap deals and prices and while some people may want to grab these, there are people who would view these quite warily. That being said, there is no fixed formula as even affordable web hosting can offer quality services and the expensive ones might not live up to the customers' expectations. It is therefore imperative to perform a thorough research on the background, history and reliability of the company before buying their hosing packages. There are a number of aspects that factor into what exactly constitutes a top web hosting company.

Firstly, it is important that the web-hosting provider has certain recognition in the hosting industry, as that would reflect its credibility. Also take into account the number of years the company has been in the business of web hosting. This is to save yourself from the fly-by-night companies and thereby minimize the risk factor. The web hosting market is fiercely competitive and therefore a company that is offering value-added features and services, speed and reliability should be given a preference value. It is therefore advisable to give priority to a web hosting company that has been around for a while.

Secondly, any top hosting company would offer dependability of servers, maximum uptime (minimum being 99%), speed and reliability as well as validity of their claims. In order to find out these things, one has to perform an independent research by reading customer reviews posted on unbiased websites rather than the seemingly promotional reviews. It is fairly simple to tell a promotional review from a real review, as a promotional review would only highlight the positive aspects of the provider's services. Hence, dependability of the hosting service and its servers becomes paramount and is an important aspect that must be considered to determine the supremacy of the web hosting company.

A company that offers quality customer support and technical support can be also be considered a reliable web-hosting provider. In fact, customers weigh this as a prime factor during the selection process and this is what it takes to become a top web-hosting provider.

Web hosting providers should be able to offer all the essentials that the website requires for its smooth functionality and ensure that no hidden costs are involved. Do not get lured into cheap deals and look for affordability coupled with quality services, tools, features and application support.

A company that values its customers, offers affordability, quality services and most importantly employs high-end techniques and expertise can be considered among the top web hosting providers in the industry.

Books - Excerpt: Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz, Galvin, Gagne

2008-09-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

Books - Excerpt: Operating System Concepts by Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin, Greg Gagne

Book: Operating System Concepts

Implementation

Although the virtual machine concept is useful, it is difficult to implement. Much effort is required to provide an exact duplicate of the underlying machine. Remember that the underlying machine has two modes: user mode and monitor mode. The virtual-machine software can run in monitor mode, since it is the operating system. The virtual machine itself can execute in only user mode. Just as the physical machine has two modes, however, so must the virtual machine. Consequently, we must have a virtual user mode and a virtual monitor mode, both of which run in a physical user mode. Those actions that cause a transfer from user mode to monitor mode on a real machine (such as a system call or an attempt to execute a privileged instruction) must also cause a transfer from virtual user mode to virtual monitor mode on a virtual machine.

This transfer can generally be done fairly easily. When a system call, for example, is made by a program running on a virtual machine, in virtual user mode, it will cause a transfer to the virtual-machine monitor in the real machine. When the virtual-machine monitor gains control, it can change the register contents and program counter for the virtual machine to simulate the effect of the system call. It can then restart the virtual machine, noting that it is now in virtual monitor mode. If the virtual machine then tries, for example, to read from its virtual card reader, it will execute a privileged I/O instruction. Because the virtual machine is running in physical user mode, this instruction will trap to the virtual-machine monitor. The virtual-machine monitor must then simulate the effect of the I/O instruction. First, it finds the spooled file that implements the virtual card reader. Then, it translates the read of the virtual card reader into a read on the spooled disk file, and transfers the next virtual "card image" into the virtual memory of the virtual machine. Finally, it can restart the virtual machine. The state of the virtual machine has been modified exactly as though the I/O instruction had been executed with a real card reader for a real machine executing in a real monitor mode.

The major difference is, of course, time. Whereas the real I/O might have taken 100 milliseconds, the virtual I/O might take less time (because it is spooled) or more (because it is interpreted). In addition, the CPU is being multiprogrammed among many virtual machines, further slowing down the virtual machines in unpredictable ways. In the extreme case, it may be necessary to simulate all instructions to provide a true virtual machine. VM works for IBM machines because normal instructions for the virtual machines can execute directly on the hardware. Only the privileged instructions (needed mainly for I/O) must be simulated and hence execute more slowly.

Benefits

The virtual-machine concept has several advantages. Notice that in this environment there is complete protection of the various system resources. Each virtual machine is completely isolated from all other virtual machines, so there are no security problems. On the other hand, there is no direct sharing of resources. To provide sharing, two approaches have been implemented. First, it is possible to share a minidisk. This scheme is modeled after a physical shared disk, but is implemented by software. With this technique, files can be shared. Second, it is possible to define a network of virtual machines, each of which can send information over the virtual communications network. Again, the network is modeled after physical communication networks, but is implemented in software.

Such a virtual-machine system is a perfect vehicle for operating-systems research and development. Normally, changing an operating system is a difficult task. Because operating systems are large and complex programs, it is difficult to be sure that a change in one point will not cause obscure bugs in some other part. This situation can be particularly dangerous because of the power of the operating system. Because the operating system executes in monitor mode, a wrong change in a pointer could cause an error that would destroy the entire file system. Thus, it is necessary to test all changes to the operating system carefully.

The operating system, however, runs on and controls the entire machine. Therefore, the current system must be stopped and taken out of use while changes are made and tested. This period is commonly called system-development time. Since it makes the system unavailable to users, system-development time is often scheduled late at night or on weekends, when system load is low.

A virtual-machine system can eliminate much of this problem. System programmers are given their own virtual machine, and system development is done on the virtual machine, instead of on a physical machine. Normal system operation seldom needs to be disrupted for system development.

Virtual machines are coming back into fashion as a means of solving system compatibility problems. For instance, there are thousands of programs available for MS-DOS on Intel CPU-based systems. Computer vendors like Sun Microsystems and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) use other, faster processors, but would like their customers to be able to run these MS-DOS programs. The solution is to create a virtual Intel machine on top of the native processor. An MS-DOS program is run in this environment, and its Intel instructions are translated into the native instruction set. MS-DOS is also run in this virtual machine, so the program can make its system calls as usual. The net result is a program which appears to be running on an Intel-based system but is really executing on a very different processor. If the processor is sufficiently fast, the MS-DOS program will run quickly even though every instruction is being translated into several native instructions for execution. Similarly, the PowerPC-based Apple Macintosh includes a Motorola 68000 virtual machine to allow execution of binaries that were written for the older 68000-based Macintosh.

Java

Another example of the continued utility of virtual machines involves the Java language. Java is a very popular language designed by Sun Microsystems. Java is implemented by a compiler that generates bytecode output. These bytecodes are the instructions that run on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). For Java programs to run on a platform, that platform must have a JVM running on it. The JVM runs on many types of computer, including IBM-Compatible PC, Macintosh, Unix workstation and server, and IBM minicomputer and mainframe. The JVM is also implemented within web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator. These browsers, in turn, run on top of varying hardware and operating systems. The JVM is also implemented on the small JavaOS, which implements the JVM directly on hardware to avoid the overhead imposed by running Java on general-purpose operating systems. Finally, single-purpose devices such as cellular phones can be implemented via Java through the use of microprocessors that execute Java bytecodes as native instructions.

The Java Virtual Machine implements a stack-based instruction set that includes the expected arithmetic, logical, data movement, and flow control instructions. Because it is a virtual machine, it can also implement instructions that are too complex to be built in hardware, including object creation, manipulation, and method invocation instructions. Java compilers can simply emit these bytecode instructions, and the JVM must implement the necessary functionality on each platform.

The design of Java takes advantage of the complete environment that a virtual machine implements. For instance, the bytecodes are checked for instructions that could compromise the security or reliability of the underlying machine. The Java program is not allowed to run if it fails this check. Through the implementation of Java as a language that executes on a virtual machine, Sun has created an efficient, dynamic, secure, and portable object-oriented facility. Although Java programs are not as fast as programs that compile to the native hardware instruction set, they nevertheless are more efficient than interpreted programs and have several advantages over native-compilation languages such as C.

System Design and Implementation

In this section, we discuss the problems of designing and implementing a system. There are, of course, no complete solutions to the design problems, but there are approaches that have been successful.

Why Use Geographical Information Systems?

2008-08-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Why Use Geographical Information Systems?
by Georgio Galveston

GIS have become a focal point and a saviour for many businesses and organizations where geographical images and maps are a main component of their everyday lives. Geographical Information Systems is a technology which allows users to create, analyze, edit, customize and render geographical data such as maps. GIS's have numerous uses across a varied range of industries. It used to be very expensive to run Geographical Information Systems, but now with GIS hosting and map hosting technologies becoming more common and easier to implement, alongside the development of open source applications, it has become relatively cheap to run GIS, here are some of the most common uses for it:

Create Maps
Geographical Information Systems is an essential tool for people who are looking to create and make geographical maps public or private on the internet. It deals with the data and renders it in many ways to make it accessible and suitable for online publication. An example application would be Google Maps which is very popular software available worldwide.

Teaching
Studies have found having visual aids in teaching classes holds the attention of student more than just talking, in classes such as geography, the teacher can use Geographical Information Systems to show maps on a projector to help them with getting their points across and teaching specific areas of knowledge.

Crisis management
Crisis management officers can use special awareness aspect of GIS systems to plan procedures if a crisis happens in a certain town or city, it can lead to a more effective decision making process as they have the geographical data in front of them.

Other uses of Geographical Information Systems include pollution analysis and control and human resource management. The possibilities are endless. When choosing to implement GIS, it is important to choose a suitable GIS hosting package, make sure the host have the capabilities to handle the advanced technological abilities a Geographical Information Systems possesses.

Web Hosting Servers: Windows or Linux

2008-07-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting Servers: Windows or Linux
by Arvind Sharma

Once a web site is ready, the next confusing thing is the server on which the website goes on. Deciding on a website hosting service is something that might get anybody perplexed. There are mainly two types of web hosting services - Windows and Linux. If the business is small then you can even try out the Shared Linux and Windows hosting service. Windows as well as Linux website host services have different benefits and limitations.

Linux hosting is one of the most common and significant hosting service on the net. The main reason for this webhosting is that many companies which are using it are open sources and quite affordable compared to Windows. Linux is much easier to manage as the business grows online. Windows hosting supports all operational functions of Windows system. It maintains programming frameworks such as ColdFusion and ASP.net. It also backs SQL servers which is extremely useful when creating a website regarding a searchable list. Windows hosting service is apt for people who are used to Microsoft based technologies or equipments.

The biggest difference between these two hosting services is the cost factor. Linux services are much low-priced in comparison to Windows. Money does play an important in website hosting especially when new web owners are starting off. But, the main reason for Windows hosting service costs to be higher is the fact that many Windows technologies are licensed. Windows also scores over Linux in the programming department; there are many Windows softwares which are not supported on Linux operating systems.

After drafting out your needs, you can also consult professionals in the website hosting field on which is a better option. But, it is always advisable to weigh the pros and cons before making that choice, so that you do not regret in any possible where. There are many hosting companies that can help you with the right webhosting solution which will take away all your tension and your entire job will be done within moments. But, make sure to do a reference check before hiring any company's service.

What is PHP Hypertext Preprocessor Scripting Language?

2008-07-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

What is PHP Hypertext Preprocessor Scripting Language?

PHP refers to PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is a widely-used open source general-purpose computer scripting language created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995, and is especially suited for Internet development and can be embedded into HTML.

You can create dynamic web pages with the PHP scripting language. You can embed PHP commands within a standard HTML page. PHP's syntax is similar to that of C and Perl, making it easy to learn for anyone with basic programming skills.

A dynamic PHP Web page interacts with the user, so that each user visiting the page sees customized information. PHP can also be used to create dynamic web pages that are generated from information accessed from a MySQL database.

PHP offers connectivity to most of the common databases, although currently only MySQL is supported on the central webservers. PHP has hundreds of base functions and thousands more from extensions. PHP offers integration with various external libraries, which allow the developer to do anything from generating PDF documents to parsing XML.

As of April 2007, over 20,000,000 Internet websites were hosted on web servers with PHP scripting language installed.

ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870: The First Teraflops Graphics Chips

2008-07-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870: The First Teraflops Graphics Chips

The ATI Radeon 4800 series represents a 2X performance jump over the ATI Radeon HD 3800 GPU, the biggest generational increase since the game-changing launch of the Radeon 9700 in 2002. The ATI Radeon 4800 series sets a new industry standard in key metrics such as performance-per-watt, performance-per-mm2 of chip die size, and performance-per-dollar.

In performance, the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 just blew past competing cards at their respective price levels. Each draws less power and produces less fan noise for this level of performance as well. To cap it off, the driver support is solid. The ATI Radeon HD 4800 series represents a huge leap forward for AMD.

With that kind of performance and the addition of visual enhancements made possible by DirectX 10.1 and tessellation, gamers can now achieve cinema-quality realism. It’s an incredible step forward in gaming and Alienware is looking forward to introducing the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series in the near future.

Industry excitement for the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series is evidenced in one dozen AIB (Add-In-Board) companies offering custom designs of the products, a record number for AMD. Building high-performance versions of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series are VisionTek, ASUS, PowerColor, MSI, GIGABYTE, GECUBE, Force3D, SAPPHIRE Technology, Diamond Multimedia, Club 3D, HIS (Hightech Information Systems) and Palit Multimedia.

Systems integrators launching ATI Radeon HD 4800 series include ABS, Alienware, AMAX, Canada Computers, CyberPower, Extreme PC Corporation, Falcon-Northwest, iBUYPOWER, Maingear, Systemax, Ultra Gaming and Velocity Micro.

Web Hosting: PHP and MySQL

2008-07-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting: PHP and MySQL
by Helen Cox

Both PHP and MySQL are popular web hosting applications. It is safe to say that both PHP and MySQL are essential components when it comes to running the popular Content Management Systems. A prime example of the popularity and the essentialness of PHP and MySQL can be seen within Wikipedia. This is because wiki runs on what is known as Mediawiki software; this software is wrote using PHP script and uses a MySQL database.

So what exactly is PHP and MySQL?
PHP (a recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Pre-processor) is a form of computer scripting language, which was originally designed for the production of dynamic web pages. It is a widely used general purpose scripting language, which is especially suited for web development as it can easily be embedded into HTML and generally runs on a web server, taking PHP code as its input and creating web pages as output. It can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. So far it is safe to say that PHP is installed on more than 20 million websites as well as one million web servers. PHP is also the most popular Apache module among computers using Apache as a web server. Apache is primarily used to serve both static content and dynamic Web pages on the World Wide Web. Many web applications are designed expecting the environment and features that Apache provides.

Recently, on May 1st 2008 the most major release of PHP came out, which is version 5.2.6. This version, as with previous versions can be developed on most web servers as well as many operating systems and platforms; it can also be used with many relational database management systems. Also the PHP Group provides the complete source code, which allows users to build and customise as well as extend it to fit their own use.

PHP's programming syntax is very similar to that of a programme called Perl and due to the elegant design used, PHP makes it possible for anyone to learn how to use it. Also, unlike other scripting languages, PHP supports the most common databases like Oracle, Sybase and MySQL. It is also possible to integrate external libraries to generate PDF documents or parsing XML. PHP is an open-source language and is supported by a large group of developers.

MySQL
MySQL is a database management system. MySQL is what is known as an Open Source SQL database, SQL is a standard interactive and programming language for querying and modifying data and managing databases. MySQL is very fast, reliable, and easy to use. It also has a very practical set of features developed in very close cooperation with its users. When MySQL was originally developed it was done so as a way of handling very large databases, which are much faster than existing solutions and have been successfully used in highly demanding production environments for many years. MySQL is also one programme that is under constant development and today MySQL offers a rich and very useful set of functions. The connectivity, speed and security that are brought to you by MySQL makes it highly suited for accessing databases on the Internet. It has more than 11 million installations and runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases.

Intel Server Systems SR1560SF and SR1560SFHS

2008-07-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

Intel Server Systems SR1560SF and SR1560SFHS

Rack-Optimized, Highly Integrated Server Systems Designed for High Performance Computing and High-Density Data Centers

The Intel Server Systems SR1560SF and SR1560SFHS represent Intel's latest generation of rack-optimized server solutions. These systems deliver a large memory footprint, fast system bus, and high I/O bandwidth-critical features for High Performance Computing (HPC) applications as well as data centers and general purpose enterprise-class computing needs.

Both solutions are designed for space-constrained environments:

Intel Server System SR1560SF—1U fixed drive system supports two 3.5" SATA drives in quick release drive carriers.

Intel Server System SR1560SFHS—1U hot swap drive system supports three 3.5" SATA drives with the optional passive backplane or three 3.5" SAS/SATA drives with the optional active backplane.

Features and benefits

Support for dual-core and quad-core processors
Significantly increased server performance without an increase in power consumption.

Dual independent bus architecture
Enables dedicated data flow to each processor, maximizing system performance.

Fully buffered DIMM memory
Increases capacity and memory bandwidth to keep pace with the processor and I/O performance enhancements.

Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel EM64T)
Extends the amount of available server memory.

Intel I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel I/OAT)
A platform innovation that helps get network data to and from server applications faster, while consuming far fewer CPU cycles.

Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT)
Turns a physical server into multiple systems (virtual machines) allowing multiple operating systems and applications to run inside a single platform.

Execute Disable Bit
Reduces exposure to viruses and prevents harmful software from executing on the server or network.

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
Allows processors to adjust their operating speeds to meet varying performance needs, while balancing power consumption.

Specifications

Processors
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5400 sequence and Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 5200 sequence.

Memory capacity
Sixteen Fully Buffered DIMM (FBDIMM) sockets for up to 64 GB of registered ECC DDR2 667MHz memory.

Integrated management
IPMI 2.0-compliant onboard platform instrumentation.

Software
Intel Server Essentials software.

System BIOS
8Mb Flash EEPROM with EFI BIOS, Multiboot BBS (BIOS Boot Specification) 1.4-compliant.

Special features
Plug and play, IDE drive auto-configure, SMBIOS 2.3, ECC/parity support, multilingual support, enabled for rolling/online BIOS updates.

Intel G965 Express Chipset Features

2008-06-24T02:05:00.000-07:00

Intel G965 Express Chipset Features

Features:
Supports Intel® Core™2 Processor with Viiv™ Technology
Get ready for a new kind of consumer entertainment PC that will change the way you enjoy entertainment at home. With a system based on the Intel® G965 Express Chipset, control the music, movies, games, and photos you want to enjoy both from your personal entertainment collections and endless entertainment options from a wide range of Intel® Core™2 processor with Viiv™ technology verified service providers delivered right to your living room.

1066/800/533 MHz System Bus
Supports the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor with Intel® Virtualization Technology, Intel® Pentium® D processor 900, Intel® Pentium® 4 processor with Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology and all other Intel® processors using the LGA775 socket.

PCI Express Interface
The PCI Express x16 graphics interface supports the latest high-performance graphics cards. The PCI Express x1 I/O ports offer up to 3.5X the bandwidth over traditional PCI architecture, delivering faster access to peripheral I/O devices.

Intel® Fast Memory Access (Intel® FMA)
Updated Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) backbone architecture that improves system performance by optimizing the use of available memory bandwidth and reducing the latency of the memory accesses.

Dual-Channel DDR2 Memory Support
Delivers up to 12.8 GB/s of bandwidth and 8GB memory addressability for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing.

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000
3D enhancements enable greater game compatibility with support for Hardware T&L, and improved realism with support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3.0, OpenGL 1.5, and floating point operations. Intel graphics technology also support the highest levels of the Microsoft Vista Aero experience.

Intel® Clear Video Technology
Video processing hardware and software delivers enhanced high-definition video playback, sharper images with advanced de-interlacing, and advanced ProcAmp color controls.

Support for High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
HDMI delivers uncompressed HD video and uncompressed multi-channel audio in a single High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable, supporting all HD formats including 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

Intel® High Definition Audio (Intel® HD Audio)
Integrated audio support enables premium digital sound and delivers advanced features, such as multiple audio streams and jack re-tasking. The Dolby PC Entertainment Experience 5 is available exclusively on systems with Intel High Definition Audio.

Intel® Matrix Storage Technology
With a second hard drive added, provides quicker access to digital photo, video and data files with RAID 0, 5, and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1, 5, and 10. Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s.

Serial ATA (SATA)
3 Gbp/s High-speed storage interface supports faster transfer rate for improved data access.

USB Port Disable
Enables individual USB ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through USB ports.

Intel® Quiet System Technology (Intel® QST)
Intelligent system fan speed control algorithms use operating temperature ranges more efficiently to reduce perceived system noise by minimizing fan speed changes.

Supercomputing: AMD Processor Breaks 1 Teraflop Barrier

2008-06-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

Supercomputing: AMD Processor Breaks 1 Teraflop Barrier

At the International Supercomputing Conference, AMD introduced its next-generation stream processor, the AMD FireStream 9250, specifically designed to accelerate critical algorithms in high-performance computing (HPC), mainstream and consumer applications. Leveraging the GPU design expertise of AMD’s Graphics Product Group, AMD FireStream 9250 breaks the one teraflop barrier for single precision performance. It occupies a single PCI slot, for unmatched density and with power consumption of less than 150 watts, the AMD FireStream 9250 delivers an unprecedented rate of performance per watt efficiency with up to eight gigaflops per watt.

Customers can leverage AMD’s latest FireStream offering to run critical workloads such as financial analysis or seismic processing dramatically faster than with CPU alone, helping them to address more complex problems and achieve faster results. For example, developers are reporting up to a 55x performance increase on financial analysis codes as compared to processing on the CPU alone, which supports their efforts to make better and faster decisions. Additionally, the use of flexible GPU technology rather than custom accelerators assists those creating application-specific systems to enhance and maintain their solutions easily.

The AMD FireStream 9250 stream processor includes a second-generation double-precision floating point hardware implementation delivering more than 200 gigaflops, building on the capabilities of the earlier AMD FireStream 9170, the industry’s first GP-GPU with double-precision floating point support. The AMD FireStream 9250’s compact size makes it ideal for small 1U servers as well as most desktop systems, workstations, and larger servers and it features 1GB of GDDR3 memory, enabling developers to handle large, complex problems.

Driving broad consumer adoption with open systems
AMD enables development of the FireStream family of processors with its AMD Stream SDK, designed to help developers create accelerated applications for AMD FireStream, ATI FireGL™ and ATI Radeon™ GPUs. AMD takes an open-systems approach to its stream computing development environment to ensure that developers can access and build on the tools at any level. AMD offers published interfaces for its high-level language API, intermediate language, and instruction set architecture; and the AMD Stream SDK’s Brook+ front-end is available as open source code.

In keeping with its open systems philosophy, AMD has also joined the Khronos Compute Working Group. This working group’s goals include developing industry standards for data parallel programming and working with proposed specifications like OpenCL. The OpenCL specification can help provide developers with an easy path to development across multiple platforms.

“An open industry standard programming specification will help drive broad-based support for stream computing technology in mainstream applications,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Product Group, AMD. “We believe that OpenCL is a step in the right direction and we fully support this effort. AMD intends to ensure that the AMD Stream SDK rapidly evolves to comply with open industry standards as they emerge.”

Accelerating industry adoption
The growth of the stream computing market has accelerated over the past few years with Fortune 1000 companies, leading software developers and academic institutions utilizing stream technology to achieve tremendous performance gains across a variety of applications.

“Stream computing is increasingly important for mainstream and consumer applications and is no longer limited to just the academic or engineering industries. Today we are truly seeing a fundamental shift in emerging system architectures,” said Jon Peddie, president, Jon Peddie Research. “As the industry’s only provider of both high-performance discrete GPUs and x86-compatible CPUs, AMD is uniquely well-suited to developing these architectures.”

AMD customers, including ACCIT, Centre de Physique de Particules de Marseille, Neurala and Telanetix are using the AMD Stream SDK and current AMD FireStream, ATI FireGL or ATI Radeon boards to achieve dramatic performance gains on critical algorithms in HPC, workstation and consumer applications. Currently, Neurala reports that it is achieving 10-200x speedups over the CPU alone on biologically inspired neural models, applicable to finance, image processing and other applications.

AMD is also working closely with world class application and solution providers to ensure customers can achieve optimum performance results. Stream computing application and solution providers include CAPS entreprise, Mercury Computer Systems, RapidMind, RogueWave and VizExperts. Mercury Computer Systems provides high-performance computing systems and software designed for complex image, sensor, and signal processing applications. Its algorithm team reports that it has achieved 174 GFLOPS performance for large 1D complex single-precision floating point FFTs on the AMD FireStream 9250.

Pricing and availability
AMD plans to deliver the FireStream 9250 and the supporting SDK in Q3 2008 at an MSRP of $999 USD. AMD FireStream 9170, the industry’s first double-precision floating point stream processor, is currently available for purchase and is competitively priced at $1,999 USD.

Website: Optimizing Photos and Graphics

2008-06-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Website: Optimizing Photos and Graphics
by Michelle Roberts

The average web user will only wait up to 8 seconds for a page to display. With the optimum web page size being less than 100k, if you're in an industry where images are your business, optimizing those images for your web site can be crucial.

Optimizing web graphics correctly involves finding the right balance between image quality and image size. As each image should certainly be no more than 30k in size, following these three steps will optimize your images and make your page load faster.

Resize the Image

Using a photo or image editing software package, you can re-size or crop your image or photograph to the correct dimensions that it will need to be for the website space. This is a better method than resizing the image within your html WYSIWYG editor, as despite the change in appearance, the image file size will remain unchanged.

Decrease the number of colours

Reducing the amount of colours used in an image file will also reduce the file size. Again, within your image editing software, you can reduce the amount of colours that an image is using, ensuring that little necessary detail or quality is lost. For example if you have a black and red logo saved as a .gif file, there should be no significant loss of quality to limit the colours from 256 colours to 4-8 colours which will notably reduce the file size. If your image uses gradients and you are finding that you are getting colour blocks across the gradient areas, simply add some dithering to your optimized file. Dithering will increase the file size so you may have to get the balance between colours and dithering right for optimum size. You should however still find the image size significantly reduced despite the use of dithering.

State the height and width of your image

Whenever you use an image on your website, you should always try to include both the image height and width attributes in your html. This will allow the browser to quickly identify the size of the image, and move on to loading the rest of the page without having to wait for the image to load, thus increasing your load speed.

Choosing the correct file format

An important way to reduce image sizes is to use the appropriate file type suitable for an image. There are two common file types used for websites graphics, Gif and JPEG.

GIFs
Most of your web images should really be saved as a gif file. A general rule of which file type to use, would be that most images except photographs should be a .gif file. This includes, simple line drawings, shapes, small icons, anything that isn't too complex.

GIF files are loss-less compressed image files, which means that the image files can be compressed with no loss of data. However, gif files are limited to 256 colors or less, which is why they are generally not suitable for images. Gif files will also allow you to use transparent backgrounds, so that you can display your images on coloured or pattern backgrounds.

JPEGs
Jpegs should only ever be used for photographs or more complex images that use a large amount of gradients. Image sizes are larger than gif files, however, image size can be compressed by reducing the image quality. You will need to experiment to find the right balance between quality and size. You should try to bring down the image quality as much as is possible before losing too much definition of the image. This will generally be about 50% reduction, although further reductions may be possible if necessary.

Utilizing the browser cache

A final way to reduce the speed loading times on your website is to wherever possible, use the same images throughout the site.

A browser's Cache is an area on the local hard drive that stores recently used images. When a browser views a page with image files, the browser will download the file and display that file within your browser. If you move to another page with the same image, the browser is able to identify the image and display it directly from the cache, without having to re-download the image once again. Which means that if you can use common images throughout your website, the loading times will be faster as the images will be ready and available for quick display.

Using this guide to optimize your images for your website, can significantly reduce your html document size, which will increase your page load speed. Beware, it can become addictive, and you can optimize too much. Don't sacrifice quality too much for the sake of speed. Nobody wants to view ugly websites with grainy, pixilated images.

Microsoft Releases Dynamics AX 2009

2008-06-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Releases Dynamics AX 2009

Microsoft announced the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, an adaptable business management solution that offers powerful new capabilities to help growing multisite organizations streamline processes, reduce operational costs, manage compliance and drive informed decision-making.

As businesses expand globally, so does the complexity of managing accurate business insights and standardizing operations across multiple locations. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 offers new multisite and shared services capabilities, enabling customers to manage complex financial and supply chain processes more easily. For example, the new software can run multiple legal entities on a central installation and provide a single, integrated view of financial and supply chain information from facilities around the world, helping organizations simplify global planning. Advanced planning and reporting scenarios, such as consolidation and budgeting, are offered through integration with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server.

“With its innovative role-based user experience, improved reporting and BI capabilities, and improving platform harmonization, Microsoft Dynamics products should be on ERP selection shortlists for a variety of SMBs, particularly those that use Microsoft’s server-based products,” wrote R “Ray” Wang of Forrester Research Inc. in the firm’s report “Microsoft Dynamics Gets Renewed Focus” in April 2008. “Multisite companies should consider Dynamics AX.”

Another business challenge that growing companies face is the increasing pressure to meet global and local regulatory compliance, a complex and costly problem that has been a top priority for chief executive officers and chief financial officers. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 delivers core features to help companies limit these risks and lower total cost of compliance, including the following:

A compliance center that provides one central, integrated view of internal controls, key performance indicators (KPIs) and other compliance data
Embedded workflows that automate business processes, enforcing standard operating procedures to limit organizational risks while still enabling organizations to quickly respond to changing market needs
Country-specific functionality to help customers more easily comply with local regulations in 36 countries

“Managing risk is an integral part of my job, and Microsoft Dynamics AX makes my job easier,” said John Elmer, vice president, information systems, and controller, the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. “I can access critical company information from within the Executive Role Center and see a 360-degree view of our global IT and finance operations, ranging from compliance risks to how the company is tracking against forecasts.” The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, based in New York, represents a wide variety of entertainment copyrights for more than 200 writers, including Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, through its theatrical, concert and music publishing divisions.

In a fast-paced world, people need software that helps them do their jobs more effectively and with minimal training. To increase productivity and foster more confident decision-making, the RoleTailored design of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 gives employees access to critical business data through the following new features:

A Role Center that prioritizes tasks and real-time information for a majority of business functions
A user interface that looks and feels like familiar Microsoft Office software to help employees ramp up quickly, resulting in higher user productivity and more consistent adherence to business processes
Self-service business intelligence tools using Microsoft Business Intelligence technologies to deliver standard KPIs by role and simplify end-user reporting, which results in more informed decision-making and integrity of information across the organization. Preconfigured KPIs and reports enable customers to start immediately.

“Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 signals a new chapter in enterprise resource planning (ERP) user productivity,” said Mogens Elsberg, general manager for Microsoft Dynamics ERP. “Employees using traditional ERP systems have had to wade through inefficient, time-intensive steps — enter transactional data, run reports, analyze reports — before they can do their jobs effectively. Through Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009’s Role Center, employees from the executive suite to the warehouse have access to role-relevant business intelligence to help them make decision more efficiently. The Role Center provides a centralized view of each person’s prioritized work lists based on their organization’s configurable business processes and clearly identifies specific steps to take, thereby optimizing productivity.”

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 integrates with other leading Microsoft technologies, maximizing the benefits of any company’s overall IT investment. Benefits include the following:

Enhanced security, reliability and scalability though integration with Microsoft SQL Server 2008. For example, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, through Microsoft SQL Server 2008, can compress the database size by 40 percent to 60 percent, which can lead to lower hardware and data maintenance costs.
Reduced operational complexity and IT management overhead with improved control through interoperability with Windows Essential Business Server 2008
Improved ability to manage and administer projects through integration with Microsoft Office Project Server
Easy communication with remote employees, customers and trading partners through integration with Microsoft unified communications

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 is available in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. It will be available in additional countries at a later date.

Internet Security: 10 Tips You Need to Know

2008-05-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

Internet Security: 10 Tips You Need to Know
by Diane Ledo

Just a few simple things can keep all of that sensitive personal information on your laptop away from the prying eyes of others. It really does not take a lot of time or effort and failure to do so is just asking for trouble. Hoping that no one will ever try to access your data will not work, but with some security measures which can be implemented in a matter of minutes you can be far more secure.

01. Your first step should be to set up a firewall. Especially if you use your laptop on the road, doubly so in public WiFi hot spots, you need a firewall installed and running. These access points are not secure, so everyone has to take action to protect themselves.

02. Very important is to disable Ad-hoc mode on your Wi-Fi card. You should use only connections which you have set up using your own, or XP's built in tools. An instant network you've never heard of may very well be bad news. Definitely disable Ad-hoc mode before entering a hot spot, there may be networks present, most of which you do not want to access and you most certainly do not want accessing your computer.

03. Disabling all file and printer sharing when you are not in the home or office is an important security measure. You should get into this habit; otherwise when you're connected in a hot spot, you are leaving your laptop open to all users in the area. It only takes a few seconds to turn off file and printer sharing - you can turn it back on when you need it and this step will keep a lot of potential trouble from ever happening.

04. You can further protect personal information my making the folders which contain them private. This also takes only a moment and gives you an extra layer of security. Your information is still there of course, but is now far more difficult for others to look at.

05. Password protection is another good idea. You can even password protect individual files. There's plenty of software available which can take care of this task. The password can be the same for each file you want to password protect, or each can have a unique password. Again, this is a good security measure to undertake before connecting in a hot spot.

06. You should also take steps to ensure the security of your laptop at home. This entails a security cable to lock your laptop down to a strong, stable surface. Lock up your laptop whenever you are not using it - this will make it quite difficult for anyone to steal it, even if your home is burglarized.

07. Some newer laptops have hardware-level security measures built in, such as encryption. Your data becomes almost impossible for others to gain access to - all of your files are protected by a layer of encryption before any hacker can even get to the operating system. Laptops with this level of security include the newer models of ThinkPad and the Toshiba Protégé. These models also have fingerprint readers, which are stronger than passwords; of course, no one ever forgets their fingerprints.

08. Disable the Guest Account on your system. Windows 2000 and later systems disable this by default, but it is always a good idea to make sure that this account is indeed disabled. You can further protect yourself by assigning a password to this account and restrict it from logging on.

09. Rename your Administrator account. Now this will not necessarily stop a hacker, but will add an extra step. Some hackers may simply move on to an easier target. Don't rename the account to anything with "Admin" in the name, this is far too obvious. Choose a name that sounds less important.

10. You can also create a dummy Administrator account on your system. Give this account a difficult password and give that account no login privileges or access to anything. Enable auditing if you do this so that you can know if and when anyone tries to hack this account.

Bonus: Configure your computer's Crtl+Alt+Del behavior to prevent displaying the username of the last login. This will make things easier for hackers; they have an easier time with any password guessing attack this way.

If you have an Infrared Port on your laptop, disable it. It is extremely likely that you need or even use this feature on your computer, but it can be used to access your files by other computers nearby. You can disable this port via the BIOS settings, or failing that, cover it up with a piece of electrical tape.

If you are running Windows NT or later (2000, XP), use the far more secure NTFS file system instead of the older FAT32 file system. FAT file systems don't support file-level security, which is like putting out a welcome mat for hackers.

Making certain that your laptop is protected is critical; the reality is that important personal information can be stolen from any computer without precautions. Stealing the information from a laptop is much easier since the computer is moving around and can quickly create a huge disaster.

Web Hosting: PHP, MySQL and ASP.NET

2008-05-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting: PHP, MySQL and ASP.NET
by Arundhati Mahanata

Choosing between LINUX web hosting and Windows hosting is a daunting task. You should know the language of your website, before determining which platform or which type of server you need. Linux hosting is best suitable for a simple HTML site or an ecommerce site or a site with any other programming-database feature created in php-MySql. If your site is in ASP, or ASP.NET, then you need to be on Windows servers.

Now what exactly are ASP.NET, PHP and MySQL web hosting? Let us delve further into these terms.

ASP.NET web hosting: Marketed by Microsoft, ASP.NET is a division of Microsoft's .NET platform and a successor of Active Server Pages (ASP) technology. ASP.NET is a set of Web application development technologies that programmers can use to build dynamic applications, Web sites, and XML Web services.

ASP.NET web hosting cuts down the number of codes and makes building web application much easier. It gives more flexibility to the choice of language by supporting multiple .NET languages. In ASP.NET web hosting, as the source code and HTML are together, the pages are easy to write and maintain. Because of the built-in configuration information, registration of components is not necessary. ASP.NET application is faster and can face a large number of users with a consistency of performance.

PHP web hosting: PHP is a recursive initialism for PHP : Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is a reflective programming language or a general-purpose server-side scripting language used for web development, i.e. creating dynamic and interactive websites. It can be planted into HTML code. PHP is frequently used together with APACHE on various operating systems mostly LINUX.

PHP acts more like a filter, running on a web server, taking inputs from a stream or file containing text and PHP instructions and displays a different stream of data. PHP is deployable in most operating systems, servers and platforms free of cost.

MySQL web hosting: MySQL is a multi-user, multithreaded computer language designed for management and retrieval of data, database object access control management and database schema creation and modification. It is a SQL database management system with 10 million installations. It is popular for web application, for open-source bug tracking tools and acts as the database component of WAMP, MAMP and LAMP. MySQL is closely related to PHP and Ruby on Rails. Most of the well known sites like Wordpress run on a combination of PHP and MySQL.

Now that you are more familiar with ASP.NET web hosting, PHP and MySQL web hosting, it may prove fruitful in your selection of server type.

How Speedy is Your Website?

2008-05-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

How Speedy is Your Website?
by Mayank Agarwal

Internet users aren't known for their patience. If you make them wait - for information, for downloads, for anything, in fact, they will click away from your website. If you have a company website and you hope to boost your business online, the tiny attention span of many Internet users must be a key concern for you. In order to make sure that viewers like your website and visit often, you will want to build your website for speed. In order to do this, you will have to:

1. Reduce graphics, Flash and scripts. All of these significantly increase file size and slow your download time down. If you are working with a web design firm - and if you want professional results, you must be - make sure that your design team understands that you want simpler design and fast download speeds. If you are having trouble scaling down, go back over every graphic, Flash, and script and ask yourself whether it contributes to your business goals. If the answer is no, be ruthless in removing the offending item from your website.

2. Optimize your HTML and script code. Unwanted tags and unused scripts add nothing to your site and slow down the speed at which your page downloads. Ask your website design professionals to remove unused scripts and unwanted tags and you must notice a speed difference right away.

3. Consider different computers. Sure, your website downloads fast on your state-of-the-art company computers, but check out your site at the local Internet café or library, where older computers are the name of the game. Can someone with an older computer and slower Internet connection access your site easily?

4. Use Server Side Include (SSI) files where you can. SSI files reside in the web server cache after they are accessed the first time. This means that your website downloads faster for repeat visitors.

5. Don't overlook organization. Your website may download quickly, but if website users cannot find the information they want quickly, you will still be trying their patience. Organize your navigation system so that it is easy for viewers to find the information they want, and include a site map for easy navigation as well. Divide your matter into manageable chunks and use headlines and sub-heads with keywords to permits viewers to quickly scan pages to find the information they want. If your site is matter-heavy, work on your matter so that it is split up into manageable pieces that are not too large - and not too small. No one wants to wade through hundreds of pages to find information, but having to go to a new page every paragraph is annoying, too.

+ Learn PHP and Website Design By Examples

Law: Do You Legally Own Your Website?

2008-05-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

Law: Do You Legally Own Your Website?
by Jon Fischer

You may be surprised to learn that the firm that did the development work for you may actually be the copyright owner of your web site. If you retained an independent development company or individual to create your site, ownership of your site may be at risk unless you properly contracted with the developer to assign the copyright to you. In short, you may have paid a lot of money to have your site developed, only to find in the end that the developer, and not you, is the copyright owner. If you are in charge of having the web site developed within your company and ownership of the web site later becomes an issue, this may be very difficult to explain to your manager or the board of directors.

Copyright Laws Specify Who Is The Author
The two legal factors involved will be the United States Copyright Act and the contract that you may ot may not have entered with the developer. It is fairly clear under the Copyright Act that the developer would be considered to be the "author" of the web site if the developer was an independent contractor and not a bona fide employee. It is the "author" of the work that has the rights that the copyright act provides.

Works Made For Hire
For a website developed in house by an employee, the company would be considered the owner of the copyright. This is because works created by employees are considered to be "works for hire." With a "work for hire," the employer has the right to copyright the work and to assert all of the rights of a copyright owner.

There are cases where an independent contractor can be considered to have made a "work for hire" that vests rights in the company that contracted for the work, but the conditions for this would be very difficult to meet in the case of a web site developed by an outside firm or individual. There are 3 requirements in order for a work created by an independent contractor to be considered a "work for hire."

The first requirement is that the work be specially ordered or commissioned by you. In most cases, this test will be met if you have contracted the web developer to create your web site from scratch and not based upon a site that the developer has previously created.

The second test is more difficult to meet. The work has to fit within one of the narrow statutory categories which will rarely apply in the case of outsourced web development work. The third requirement is a written agreement that includes a clear agreement between the parties that the work would be considered to be a work made for hire. This requires very specific wording.

Reliance On Work for Hire Status Is Not Enough
One common mistake is to assume that simply placing "work for hire" language in the contract will preserve the copyright in the party contracting for the work. This language alone is not enough. All three requirements must be met and in the usual web development relationship these conditions do not exist. So many people believe that they have the copyright to their work because they used a "work for hire" clause in their contract only to find out later that this clause does not protect their copyright.

Uncertain Ownership Can Devastate Your Business
It is no surprise that this issue of copyright ownership can have devastating impacts on your business. Without properly addressing the issue, the developer and not you would not have the right to file for copyright protection. These rights include the right to control derivative works (modifications) and the right to control publication of the work (posting on the Internet) among other rights.

Practical Solutions To Uncertain Ownership
These potential problems are best solved at the time you enter the contract with the web developer. Most developer provided contracts will be relatively silent on these issues. Silence actually benefits the developer who would usually then be the author of the work under Copyright Laws. This does not benefit the client though.

So what should the client do about this potential problem? Ideally, the original agreement with the developer should require that the developer assign all copyrights in the work to you. The contract should contain language making this assignment and it is also a good idea to require in the contract that the developer provide you with a stand-alone assignment of copyright in a form that is satisfactory to you.

From the developer's standpoint, web developers often use templates of work that they have done for other clients when taking on new project. You can always satisfy the developer's concerns by licensing back to the developer certain portions of the work that would permit the developer to use the basic structure of your project as a template for a subsequent project. In doing this, you may be able to negotiate on the pricing aspects of the project and it could work to your benefit. Just be careful not to give too much back to the developer so that the developer can just change the logo and some colors and use your unique layout for another client. You might also consider prohibiting the developer from using your template in connection with a business that competes or otherwise is in a position to take business away from you.

The last alternative that can be used is to have the development company retain the copyright and license the use of the content to the client. This is clearly not the preferred course for the client, but is a method often proposed as a compromise by the developer.

Regardless of the method that you use, be certain that when you pay for development work that you are contractually given the right to use, and preferable exclusively control the content that you have developed.

Artificial Intelligence: How It Will Affect Our Lives In The Next 10 Years?

2008-05-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Artificial Intelligence: How It Will Affect Our Lives In The Next 10 Years?
by Sam Harnett

John McCarthy first coined the term artificial intelligence in 1956 at Dartmouth College. At this time electronic computers, the obvious platform for such a technology were still less than thirty years old, the size of lecture halls and had storage systems and processing systems that were too slow to do the concept justice. It wasn't until the digital boom of the 80's and 90's that the hardware to build the systems on began to gain ground on the ambitions of the AI theorists and the field really started to pick up. If artificial intelligence can match the advances made last decade in the decade to come it is set to be as common a part of our daily lives as computers have in our lifetimes. Artificial intelligence has had many different descriptions put to it since its birth and the most important shift it's made in its history so far is in how it has defined its aims. When AI was young its aims were limited to replicating the function of the human mind, as the research developed new intelligent things to replicate such as insects or genetic material became apparent. The limitations of the field were also becoming clear and out of this AI as we understand it today emerged. The first AI systems followed a purely symbolic approach. Classic AI's approach was to build intelligences on a set of symbols and rules for manipulating them. One of the main problems with such a system is that of symbol grounding. If every bit of knowledge in a system is represented by a set of symbol and a particular set of symbols ("Dog" for example) has a definition made up of a set of symbols ("Canine mammal") then the definition needs a definition ("mammal: creature with four limbs, and a constant internal temperature") and this definition needs a definition and so on. When does this symbolically represented knowledge get described in a manner that doesn't need further definition to be complete? These symbols need to be defined outside of the symbolic world to avoid an eternal recursion of definitions. The way the human mind does this is to link symbols with stimulation. For example when we think dog we don't think canine mammal, we remember what a dog looks like, smells like, feels like etc. This is known as sensorimotor categorization. By allowing an AI system access to senses beyond a typed message it could ground the knowledge it has in sensory input in the same manner we do. That's not to say that classic AI was a completely flawed strategy as it turned out to be successful for a lot of its applications. Chess playing algorithms can beat grand masters, expert systems can diagnose diseases with greater accuracy than doctors in controlled situations and guidance systems can fly planes better than pilots. This model of AI developed in a time when the understanding of the brain wasn't as complete as it is today. Early AI theorists believed that the classic AI approach could achieve the goals set out in AI because computational theory supported it. Computation is largely based on symbol manipulation, and according to the Church/Turing thesis computation can potentially simulate anything symbolically. However, classic AI's methods don't scale up well to more complex tasks. Turing also proposed a test to judge the worth of an artificial intelligent system known as the Turing test. In the Turing test two rooms with terminals capable of communicating with each other are set up. The person judging the test sits in one room. In the second room there is either another person or an AI system designed to emulate a person. The judge communicates with the person or system in the second room and if he eventually cannot distinguish between the person and the system then the test has been passed. However, this test isn't broad enough (or is too broad...) to be applied to modern AI systems. The philosopher Searle made the Chinese room argument in 1980 stating that if a computer system passed the Turing test for speaking and understanding Chinese this doesn't necessarily mean that it understands Chinese because Searle himself could execute the same program thus giving the impression that he understand Chinese, he wouldn't actually be understanding the language, just manipulating symbols in a system. If he could give the impression that he understood Chinese while not actually understanding a single word then the true test of intelligence must go beyond what this test lays out.

Today artificial intelligence is already a major part of our lives. For example there are several separate AI based systems just in Microsoft Word. The little paper clip that advises us on how to use office tools is built on a Bayesian belief network and the red and green squiggles that tell us when we've misspelled a word or poorly phrased a sentence grew out of research into natural language. However, you could argue that this hasn't made a positive difference to our lives, such tools have just replaced good spelling and grammar with a labour saving device that results in the same outcome. For example I compulsively spell the word 'successfully' and a number of other word with multiple double letters wrong every time I type them, this doesn't matter of course because the software I use automatically corrects my work for me thus taking the pressure off me to improve. The end result is that these tools have damaged rather than improved my written English skills. Speech recognition is another product that has emerged from natural language research that has had a much more dramatic effect on people's lives. The progress made in the accuracy of speech recognition software has allowed a friend of mine with an incredible mind who two years ago lost her sight and limbs to septicaemia to go to Cambridge University. Speech recognition had a very poor start, as the success rate when using it was too poor to be useful unless you have perfect and predictable spoken English, but now its progressed to the point where its possible to do on the fly language translation. The system in development now is a telephone system with real time English to Japanese translation. These AI systems are successful because they don't try to emulate the entire human mind the way a system that might undergo the Turing test does. They instead emulate very specific parts of our intelligence. Microsoft Words grammar systems emulate the part of our intelligence that judges the grammatical correctness of a sentence. It doesn't know the meaning of the words, as this is not necessary to make a judgement. The voice recognition system emulates another distinct subset of our intelligence, the ability to deduce the symbolic meaning of speech. And the 'on the fly translator' extends voice recognitions systems with voice synthesis. This shows that by being more accurate with the function of an artificially intelligent system it can be more accurate in its operation.

Artificial intelligence has reached the point now where it can provide invaluable assistance in speeding up tasks still performed by people such as the rule based AI systems used in accounting and tax software, enhance automated tasks such as searching algorithms and enhance mechanical systems such as braking and fuel injection in a car. Curiously the most successful examples of artificial intelligent systems are those that are almost invisible to the people using them. Very few people thank AI for saving their lives when they narrowly avoid crashing their car because of the computer controlled braking system.

One of the main issues in modern AI is how to simulate the common sense people pick up in their early years. There is a project currently underway that was started in 1990 called the CYC project. The aim of the project is to provide a common sense database that AI systems can query to allow them to make more human sense of the data they hold. Search engines such as Google are already starting to make use of the information compiled in this project to improve their service. For example consider the word mouse or string, a mouse could be either a computer input device or a rodent and string could mean an array of ASCII characters or a length of string. In the sort of search facilities we're used to if you typed in either of these words you would be presented with a list of links to every document found with the specified search term in them. By using artificially intelligent system with access to the CYC common sense database when the search engine is given the word 'mouse' it could then ask you whether you mean the electronic or furry variety. It could then filter out any search result that contains the word outside of the desired context. Such a common sense database would also be invaluable in helping an AI pass the Turing test.

So far I have only discussed artificial systems that interact with a very closed world. A search engine always gets its search terms as a list of characters, grammatical parsers only have to deal with strings of characters that form sentences in one language and voice recognition systems customise themselves for the voice and language their user speaks in. This is because in order for current artificial intelligence methods to be successful the function and the environment have to be carefully defined. In the future AI systems will to be able to operate without knowing their environment first. For example you can now use Google search to search for pictures by inputting text. Imagine if you could search for anything using any means of search description, you could instead go to Google and give it a picture of a cat, if could recognise that its been given a picture and try to assess what it's a picture of, it would isolate the focus of the picture and recognise that it's a cat, look at what it knows about cats and recognise that it's a Persian cat. It could then separate the search results into categories relevant to Persian cats such as grooming, where to buy them, pictures etc. This is just an example and I don't know if there is currently any research being done in this direction, what I am trying to emphasise in it is that the future of AI lies in the merging existing techniques and methods of representing knowledge in order to make use of the strengths of each idea. The example I gave would require image analysis in order to recognise the cat, intelligent data classification in order to choose the right categories to sub divide the search results into and a strong element of common sense such as that which is offered by the CYC database. It would also have to deal with data from a lot of separate databases which different methods of representing the knowledge they contain. By 'representing the knowledge' I mean the data structure used to map the knowledge. Each method of representing knowledge has different strengths and weaknesses for different applications. Logical mapping is an ideal choice for applications such as expert systems to assist doctors or accountants where there is a clearly defined set of rules, but it is often too inflexible in areas such as the robotic navigation performed by the Mars Pathfinder probe. For this application a neural network might be more suitable as it could be trained across a range of terrains before landing on Mars. However for other applications such as voice recognition or on the fly language translation neural networks would be too inflexible, as they require all the knowledge they contain to be broken down into numbers and sums. Other methods of representing knowledge include semantic networks, formal logic, statistics, qualitative reasoning or fuzzy logic to name a few. Any one of these methods might be more suitable for a particular AI application depending on how precise the effects of the system have to be, how much is already known about the operating environment and the range of different inputs the system is likely to have to deal with.

In recent times there has also been a marked increase in investment for research in AI. This is because business is realising the time and labour saving potential of these tools. AI can make existing applications easier to use, more intuitive to user behaviour and more aware of changes in the environment they run in. In the early day of AI research the field failed to meet its goals as quickly as investors believed it would, and this led to a slump in new capital. However, it is beyond doubt that AI has more than paid back its thirty years of investment in saved labour hours and more efficient software. AI is now a top investment priority, with benefactors from the military, commercial and government worlds. The pentagon has recently invested $29m in an AI based system to assist officers in the same way as a personal assistant normally would.

Since AI's birth in the fifties it has expanded out of maths and physics into evolutionary biology, psychology and cognitive studies in the hope of getting a more complete understanding of what makes a system, whether it be organic or electronic, an intelligent system. AI has already made a big difference to our lives in leisure pursuits, communications, transportation, sciences and space exploration. It can be used as a tool to make more efficient use of our time in designing complex things such as microprocessors or even other AI's. In the near future it is set to become as big a part of our lives as computer and automobiles did before it and may well begin to replace people in the same way the automation of steel mills did in the 60's and 70's. Many of its applications sound incredible, robot toys that help children to learn, intelligent pill boxes that nag you when you forget to take your medication, alarm clocks that learn your sleeping habits or personal assistants that can constantly learn via the internet. However many of its applications sound like they could lead to something terrible. The pentagon is one of the largest investors in artificial intelligence research worldwide. There is currently much progressed research into AI soldier robots that look like small tanks and assess their targets automatically without human intervention. Such a device could also be re-applied as cheap domestic policing. Fortunately the dark future of AI is still a Hollywood fantasy and the most we need to worry about for the near future is being beaten at chess by a children's toy.

6 Tips To Help You Set Up A Sitemap

2008-04-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

6 Tips To Help You Set Up A Sitemap
by Kevin Sinclair

Just like a book has a page showing its contents, a website has a map of what's on its site and this is called a sitemap. It lists all of the pages within the website, and acts as a guide for visitors to navigate to where they want to be and search engine robots to find particular pages of the website. Having a sitemap optimizes the site with the search engines and also helps to persuade visitors to return at a future date.

There are three main kinds of sitemaps:

1. An indexed sitemap - as the name would suggest, this is an alphabetical listing or directory. The relationship between the pages is not indicated.

2. A full categorical sitemap - this sitemap shows all links which are classified into categories. This is a popular kind of sitemap as it makes searching for certain topics easier and simplifies things between categories.

3. A restricted categorical - this sitemap displays all links in a selected category at one time; but it will not show all the links of a website, as the full categorical type does. The sitemap limits the list of links within specific categories making viewing easier and reducing eye strain.

With any of the above mentioned kinds of sitemap there are techniques which can be used to set up a superior sitemap and here are six tips to help you do this.

1. Link the sitemap to your homepage only. This ensures that the search engine robot begins searching from your homepage down through all the pages listed in your sitemap and no page will remain unvisited by the robot.

2. Restrict your sitemap to 30 pages. If you have more than this, the search engines may mistake your sitemap as a link farm, and this will result in you being penalized. Limiting the number of pages also stops overcrowding of links and will make viewing less tiresome.

3. Check all the links in your sitemap for error messages. It really puts visitors off it they click on a link and only get a 404 error message or the page requested cannot be found. Sometimes they may click a link and get shown a page which has nothing to do with what they were looking for, so it pays to keep on regular check on your links and make sure your visitors are being directed to where they want to go.

4. Giving keyword-rich titles to your sitemaps helps with optimization of your website. Search engine robots will search your website correctly under the right category.

5. Supply a short description for the link enabling your visitors to know what to expect to find by clicking on a link. It will save them time when surfing your website.

6. Make sure the design of your sitemap is consistent with those of other pages of your website. Use the same HTML template for all pages within your site including the sitemap. This will build character and establish the identity of your website.

If you follow the tips above, your website will look professional, your visitors will be encouraged to make return visits and the search engine robots will crawl through all the pages in your site, increasing your ranking in the search engines.

Do I Need Certifications To Work In Computers?

2008-04-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Do I Need Certifications To Work In Computers?
by Fred Roe

I got started in computers back in the mid 90's when computer certifications were just gaining prominence. I can remember when the Microsoft certifications first came out. I got my first MCSE back in 1996. And back then you could write a check with a certification. Just having the certification was a ticket to going from $40,000 or so a year to $70-80,000 a year. I know when I posted my MCSE on monster.com my phone was going crazy.

Today however the certification craze has died down. While still important it isn't the guarantee of instant earnings like it was at one time. There are still a few instances when having a certification can definitely help.

If you're just getting started in the field, it can definitely help to get a certification. For instance someone who is looking to get into work as a computer technician will be well served by getting their A+ certification prior to getting a job. It's just a way of showing that you are serious about the profession, not someone just idly looking for a new job.

Secondly I believe people that are transitioning into more senior positions can be well served by certifications. A programmer with 2-4 years of experience would have a better shot at senior level positions with a programming certification like MCSD. With solid work experience and the effort to get certified it makes recruiters take note of your ability to grow into the field.

Lastly consultants can usually use their certifications to achieve a higher hourly rate. When I got my MCSD about two years ago, my hourly rate shot up $10 an hour. Having multiple certifications and a very solid work experience can add up to a very lucrative and rewarding consulting career.

So, while you don't strictly need any certifications to work in computers there are certain situations which are greatly aided by having certifications. With all of the resources available now, getting certifications is much easier than it ever has been and shouldn't be a hindrance to moving ahead in your career.

Ruby On Rails Programming Language

2008-04-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Ruby On Rails Programming Language
by Rakhee Chowdhary

Do not roll up your sleeves before having sound knowledge about OOPs (Object Oriented Programming Language). Ruby on Rails is a proven tool and architecture for the fastest growing business solutions and investors are scaling up in developing nations with low cost resources, minimal investment and maximum throughput.

Ruby is an object oriented programming language that makes programming easy and interesting. It is amalgamation of Smalltalk's concept, Python's ease of use and learning concepts, Perl's pragmatism. Ruby on rails, RoR, Rails all these terms are used interchangeably. Rails has revolutionized the web with its sagacity and provided programmers with tools to meliorate by effacing long coding techniques and augmenting ruby programming.

Rails is a full-stack, free, web application, open source ruby web framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern that is optimized for sustainable productivity. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server. RoR uses Ruby programming language and Model view programming paradigm (multi-paradigm).

It follows principle of least surprise (POLS) and has lowered the barrier in entry to programming. Rails provides scaffolding programming (software application is built that is well supported by database and programmer has the flexibility to write about application database using model view controller framework) which helps to quickly and easily construct model views. Its effects are not confined to rails community but have also affected other communities globally.

Why Rails?? Every developer wants to speed up the development process at the same reducing error occurrence. Rails provide fast and easy development with quality results. If quality is retained but the speed is increased multifold you don't need to think over it but just go for it, here comes RoR. With Ruby programming language you need to write few lines of code in comparison to other programming language to reach the same result. 'Convention over configuration' is the RoR mantra i.e. with less software usage or consumption you generate more codes efficiently. The aim is to speed up development of web applications and database driven websites by providing programming convention and eliminating verbose xml configuration files.

System Requirement - Ruby and Rail Framework software; Database (e.g. MySQL, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server GUI client for Windows OS, differ for Linux, Macintosh); Joyent is the official RoR host; Web Server - Apache is most common.

Ruby on Rails CMS is also becoming popular these days admin section can be focused to target design sites, it is easy to define new page elements - RSS, Atom, Tag clouds, overlay, file management, API are very common features. RoR CMS provides very flexible solutions, final output depends on user choice no pre-format is mandatory, image cropping, resizing, multi-language support, excellent usability, sort able tree-based admin interface, layout editor, scaffold template is created. Rails applications are Tailor made to perfection for an individual or an enterprise and best fit for all kind of web application. Rails architecture is used and most preferred for development of cms, e-commerce, portals, collaboration, and community.

Let's obliterate local boundaries and create world community by congregating Rails and other communities with smearing RoR, escalated web development solutions. Offshore outsourcing business model has helped SMEs to keep pace in spirit of the IT advancement and day to day competition. Growing online communities are stronger driving workforce as they get going by sharing their knowledge and are most privilege to be a contributing member of the community and share a common direction; they are traveling on the thrust of each other.

With India as an offshore development centre RoR development companies are mushrooming and the rise of regional blogs, social networking websites has created a common linking hub for everyone. Standing on the front wave of ubiquitous connectivity, I can say that RoR will dominate the web application development web world with its killer instinct. Indian Rails developers are harnessing existing and emerging opportunities and creating vast investment potentials for Indians to walk hand in hand with giant players. With landing of Indian Economy and globalization more offshore and big companies are setting up their development centers in India and outsource their software development, ruby on rails development to India. Outsourcing has become indispensable part of offshoring trades.

Why Use PHP?

2008-04-07T14:16:00.001-07:00

Why Use PHP?
by Don Cole

If you are involved in web design at all you have probably heard of and may even be familiar with PHP. Many people use Java Script, Java, and Perl as their scripting languages and these options work fine for a large number of people, but many people are seeking something a bit different from their web design efforts and those people may find that using PHP suits their needs better. If you want to embed dynamic text into your static site, you will likely find that PHP is just what you are looking for. This is what PHP was actually designed for, and it is very efficient and effective for those that use it. Many people also find that PHP works well when integrating web pages with a database.

PHP is Different but Effective

The reason that PHP often works better for a lot of people when it comes to their web design is because it is what is called a server side scripting language. What this means is that everything is done on the server, and this is different than Java because this runs on the client. Basically, using PHP will give you access to all of the information that the server has and because of this you can always trust that your PHP is doing exactly what you told it to do. Trusting that your PHP is doing what you tell it to do is important, because it can affect your server. There are some things that you cannot do when you have PHP but those looking to add that dynamic text to their web design will definitely find that it is very advantageous.

Many people have rediscovered PHP over the last few years because it does have many benefits. Some of the benefits of using PHP include that it is very easy to begin using and another advantage is that this scripting language was specifically designed for creating web pages, which is not true of all of the scripting languages that you will find out there. Because of this, you will find that when you use PHP as your scripting language you can build dynamic websites in relatively little time, and this is a good thing!

Many people like to use PHP because it works with just about any operating system and will also support a wide variety of databases as well as communication between protocols such as POP3, HTTP, COM, IMAP, SNMP, and LDAP. As a result of all of the benefits and ease of use, those that use PHP will find that they can have a very interactive website that will incorporate many different types of files without visitors to the site having to download or install any software. For example, when you use PHP you will be able to output HTML, PDF files, XHTML, and Flash movies with ease and this isn't always the case when you use other scripting languages.

How to Start a Podcast

2008-04-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

How to Start a Podcast
by Elizabeth Ashe

Podcasting, a term and concept that is indeed growing in popularity is a by which to distribute audio or video files. Podcasting actually came from the words broadcast and Ipod. The Ipod, a popular MP3 player has really helped to launch the popularity of the podcast.

Podcast are actually quite simple to begin and can very easily be dispensed over the Internet. Creating a podcast is as simple as recording a digital audio via your computer using an inexpensive microphone. Recording software is another tool that you will find useful in recording and editing your podcast. There are free versions such as Audacity available for download online.

After recording and editing your podcast you will need to make sure that you have enough space on your current hosting package to hold audios, but if not you can also purchase audio hosting from places online such as Audio Acrobat for a nominal fee.

Once you have your podcast online either on your own server or through a host, you will be able to broadcast it to the masses. Simply provide a player for the podcast on your website or a download link where others can download the file to their computer and listen to it right there on their computer or transfer it to a MP3 player such as an Ipod.

You can also make your podcast feed available through an RSS feed, which can be subscribed to and even added to the Itunes directory where others can easily locate your podcast and it will be automatically downloaded to their computer once made available.

Do not feel like you have to be an expert to start a podcast. If you are passionate about your business, something related to it or even a hobby or interest you can probably create a podcast about it.

A good way to see if you have enough knowledge and information for a podcast is to sit down and create a list of topics that you would like to cover via your podcast whether it be by talking about the topic yourself or finding an expert or other person to interview. The possibilities with a podcast are virtually endless.

There are podcasts out there on just about anything you can imagine, so do not be afraid to try your idea and gain the exposure that a podcast gives you.

Programming: Java vs ASP.Net

2008-03-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Programming: Java vs ASP.Net
by Joanna Gadel

We are going to talk about two major standard programming languages which are used vastly nowadays. There are several contract programmers who are using both of them individually but the supporters of these two programming languages continue the battle with their own vision and no clear conclusion.

Recently Java used in web applications but naturally it is solely used for software development. As a language Java can be used in multiple sectors and only for this reason nowadays Java is going to grab the software industry in a quick manner. Where as, ASP is used for developing dynamic database oriented websites and as a Microsoft product, ASP always prefers Microsoft product mostly.

Active Server Pages (ASP) is used in Internet Information Server (IIS) which runs in another Microsoft sponsored server. As a programming language it is entirely used in web applications and it provides maximum security to its users than other cheap languages.

To do the freelance programmer jobs both of this two programming languages are used satisfactorily but the main difference is just in their cost, platform independence, security, multiple usability, authenticity etc.

If you are thinking to create desktop applications you are searching for classy language then the suggestion going for the ASP (.net) direction. By using visual studio, you can accurately establish a functioning desktop application within few time periods by easily dragging components and dropping them as per your wish. By doing this process you can assemble maximum time for designing your back end and your application looks alike with several windows applications.

User Interface programming with java is not so simple like ASP, thus its takes minimum couple of weeks to happily accomplish. Now it can be easily calculated that several wee web applications is done by ASP very successfully apart using Java.

In case of software application you felt maximum hazards while using ASP programming language. Where as if you want to develop a software which is really sufficient in multiple user environment and which is accessible form different access levels (both internet and extranet) with strong database back ground then the advice goes for java programming.

In case of database compatibility, java is much flexible than ASP language. Database compatibility is really too luxurious for ASP because it only accessible by MS-SQL which is a Microsoft product, where as we can say that java is a database independent programming language.

When your thinking stuck into graphic then nowadays ASP (.net) is more effectively chosen than Java by contract programmers. The visual part of ASP is much appealing, much presentable and clear than java, thus in case of web application ASP programming is getting hype over Java. Both this two languages are safe by security point of view with their own levels, but in case of expenditure ASP (.net) is slightly reasonable than Java.

Web Designing Basics

2008-03-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Web Designing Basics
by Vijay Raj Singh

In this current cut throat competition in the market it becomes very essential for the business houses to expand their way to market the products or services to maximize the profit. Business is now flourishing even over the web. All the businesses are now realizing that they should have an online presence besides their physical existence. And thus the importance & needs for the efficient and professional web designers are increasing day by day.

To start the design for the websites you must keep some important things. The first thing that you should always keep in mind that web design differs from print design. So, you must plan on "WHAT TO INCLUDE" and "WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE" on your website.

So how do you build up a great website that sells? Let's find it out.

The Foundation

Before building a house, it is necessary to build a proper foundation. Likewise, before designing a website you should keep in mind these basic things.

a) Remember that you are designing your site for the impatient online reader. They do not have the patience to read the whole contents. Instead they scan through .So you should learn to apply features and techniques that catch the attention of the viewers.
b) Uniformity is also important, while designing a web site. You should use features to which people are accustomed.
c) The web site should be user friendly. It should use web-optimized graphics.

The Superstructure

Now we move on to the super structure that is the house itself or the website concerned. Just remember these tips and go on to create a great website.

a) The web site should load quickly and be easy to scan. These are the essential prerequisites of web designing.

b) While designing a web site, you should keep in mind the needs of the potential customers. People visit the web site with a specific purpose, to get a solution to their problems. So you should focus on providing people with the specific information. You should also ensure that no information is more than a few click away.

c) The graphics should be so styled as to fit the content and not vice-versa. Often web designers complain that the content is not suitable to the web design. But you should remember that it is also important for people to read the content. The content provides information about the services and products. So attention must not be diverted from the content at any cost.

d) You should choose a font style and color that can be easily read. Frequent use of bold fonts makes the page difficult to read. The background color should also be kept light. Otherwise the viewers will have difficulty in viewing the pages.

e) You should use customized graphics to make your website attractive. But the graphics should not divert the attention of the readers from the content. The graphics should serve as an appendage to the content, which should be the primary focus.

f) Blinking images are to be avoided. They distract the attention of the readers from the content. Some viewers also consider them to be a nuisance and cover up these flashing images in order to concentrate on the content.

g) Avoid broken links. Make sure that they do not occur on your website. Concentrate on the link architecture.

h) Use contrasting elements on your web site. Placing contrasting elements side by side will easily attract the attention of the visitors. It is in fact one of the basic elements of web designing.

i) You should remember that the content should be aesthetically pleasing. Yet it should have powerful functionality at the same time. The website should be capable of giving out the relevant information in the least possible time. That is what readers are most interested in.

j) Don't concentrate all your attention on attractive graphics. Give an equal focus on page layout, error handling and structure.

k) Don't repeat your titles and page headings. Page headings are instrumental in focusing viewer's attention. Using the same headings will make them think that the information being provided is the same. This will decrease viewer retention.

l) You should make sure that the content and the page headings are grammatically correct. Incorrect grammar and syntax will reflect badly on the web site.

m) Lay stress on the keywords. Use of keywords help viewer's to ascertain whether the site is important to them or not. Most visitors flick through a website. So infrequent use of keywords will make visitors skip over a web site, even though it might contain relevant information. Here the needs of Web design with proper search engine optimization grows up and up.

n) Pay attention to your homepage. That is what the viewers will first see. The home page should be attractive and provide useful information. If it doesn't satisfy the mentioned criteria then the readers will move on.

You must remember that the primary aim of web designing services is to focus on visitor's needs. Design your web site in such a way as to direct the eye towards the important features. The less important ones should recede into the background. Web page designing is extremely challenging. Viewers take only a fraction of a second to decide whether a particular site will be useful to them or not. So you should hit the nail on the head immediately. The web site should be attractive, easy to read and easy to navigate. Adhering to the above guidelines will help you to build up a website that sells.

Design a web site means you must make a convincing presentation. You should not include too many graphics, pop-ups, and flashing gifs in your web design. These take a lot of time to load. Your website should be easy to navigate. You must remember that the attention span of the average viewer is very low. You have to grab the attention of the viewer immediately otherwise they will wander to other sites.

Building a Site Like Digg or MySpace: Slow Down Cowboy!

2008-03-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

Building a Site Like Digg or MySpace: Slow Down Cowboy!
by Brandon Cornett

I volunteer at the advice forum AllExperts.com, and advice-giving forum and part of the About.com network. My specialty is Internet marketing for small businesses. Recently, I was asked how to go about building a website such as DontDateHimGirl.com.

First off, I think the website mentioned above is sexist and mean-spirited, but that's another article entirely.

I would classify the "Don't Date Him" website as part of the social revolution known as Web 2.0. Specifically, it is a user-driven website where the site visitors create the content and fuel the interaction. In that regard, it's similar to MySpace, Digg, YouTube, and a variety of similar sites.

Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of books that talk about building those kinds of websites. The reason is that they're a relatively new development, and the traditional publishing cycle takes months or years to produce a new book. Of course, you can find some e-books here and there, but even those are scarce.

Personally, if I were looking for inspiration and education on how to create a user-driven site, I would look online.

But learning about this kind of website is only a small first step. Building the site and attracting and audience is another step entirely. Many people who get the urge to create one of these sites have no idea as to the amount of work involved. I'm not trying to be negative here ... just realistic.

With that said, if you're still serious about creating the next MySpace or Flickr, here are three primary ingredients you'll need.

1. You Need a Big Idea

This is perhaps the most important ingredient for a Web 2.0 site. The big idea! All of the social, user-driven websites mentioned above are built around a big idea.

Examples: Create a profile and network with others (MySpace). Post and rate news items by popularity (Digg). Put your videos online and have them ranked by popularity (YouTube). Etc.

The big idea is what gets people talking about these websites, visiting these websites, and sticking with these websites. Without a useful and unique idea, a user-driven website will be doomed to fail from the start. The idea is the seed from which everything grows.

2. You Need a Talented Web Team

Another thing most of these sites have in common is that they're all easy to use. The developers have worked hard to create a highly usable experience for visitors. They are designed for simplicity and function, with complex database-driven "engines" that do what they're supposed to, when they're supposed to.

So if you don't have this kind of talent yourself, you'll need to hook up with a talented web developer, as well as a designer who understands usability.

3. You Need a Buzz Machine

Once your website has been built, tested, and is ready to meet the world, you'll need a way to make that happen. You could promote your new site in a number of ways, such as press releases and other announcement channels.

But what you REALLY want to do is get the bloggers talking about it. Nothing spreads faster online than blogger-driven buzz. This ties back to ingredient #1, the big idea. If your website is truly unique and useful, you'll have a much easier time building the buzz. People are more inclined to remark on things that are … well, remarkable.

So there you go. A big idea. A talented web team. A buzz machine. Once you have those three things, the rest is just hard work. Lots and lots of hard work. If you were looking for an "easy button," I'm sorry to disappoint.

Learn PHP and Website Design By Examples

2008-03-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Learn PHP and Website Design By Examples
by Don Cole

Learn Website and Webpage Design by Doing It

Just about everywhere you go today you hear about the Internet or something that is related to the Internet. When you go to the store you may see a web address posted, your friends may have their own website, and you may even do your fair share of shopping online. The Internet is the way that a good deal of things get done today and that is because it is quite economical for most people and it's more convenient. We live in a fast paced world and the Internet allows for us to do things in our own time and even in our own space. The involvement of the Internet in just about everything we do today has left a lot of us wanting to learn more about web design. Website and webpage design is easier than you may have ever thought, which will allow you to build your own websites or even build them for others.

Creating Your Own Internet Presence

Would you like to create your very own personal website? A lot of people are doing this today to keep in touch with family members, to share pictures, and more. If you are interested in doing this you don't have to pay anyone else to put it all together for you. You can look into PHP learning and create your own website and webpage design. What is PHP? It's an acronym that is short for hypertext preprocessor. Wondering what that means? Basically, PHP is a server side scripting language that allows for one to make logic driven websites. A lot of what you see on the websites that you visit every day uses PHP such as the contact us form, the image upload tool, and more. Many of the interactive tools that websites offer that make them more fun to use or more convenient are only available through the use of PHP, so it really is a handy to learn this scripting language.

With a big name such as hypertext preprocessor you may be thinking that you cannot learn this stuff on your own, but the fact of the matter is that you can. Just visit the PHP Learn It website and you will have access to a wealth of information, including step by step instructions of how you can implement this technology to create your own website. It's a process that is best learned by doing, which is how the vast majority of us learn best. Simply set some time aside and before you know it you may have put together your own highly functional website as well as learned some tools that you can market for your own benefit.

PHP Learning Takes Time

A lot of people take on PHP learning and they assume that it will just come natural and within a week they will be professionals. This simply is not the case. PHP is something that most people can learn, especially if you learn through a hands on approach, but it does take time. You may constantly have to play around with different concepts to get things just right. Through a process of trial and error you can become quite good at website and webpage design and the PHP learning process will be well worth it. If you get hung up somewhere along the way, don't give up, just keep on plugging along, backtracking if you have to, to see where things went wrong.

Using Your New Knowledge to Your Advantage

So, you've followed the step by step instructions on how to use PHP and you have created an awesome personal website that allows for you to share pictures and information with friends and family with ease. Now what? Well, you can continue to update and change your website continually to keep friends and family coming back for more and to hone your PHP website and webpage design skills, which will be fun as well as challenging. PHP learning is a process and for a lot of people it becomes somewhat of a personal hobby that they do for themselves.

If you want to do more with your PHP learning, you can. In fact, if you are able to market yourself and your skills well you may be able to look into website and webpage design as a business. The very things that you wanted to create for your personal website you could do to create a business website that will other people to inquire for your website and webpage design skills, and you can charge them for your time and effort! This could be a lot of fun if you enjoy using website and webpage design and you'll find that it also pays very well if you are creative and willing to try new things and offer designs and abilities that other website and webpage professionals do not offer or are not all that proficient at. There are a lot of people out there today who are willing to pay top dollar for PHP services, so if you enjoy the PHP learning process and you feel that you are adept enough at it, why not make it work for you?

Building On PHP Learning

When you have taken on PHP learning and you have been successful with it, you may have a great looking personal or professional looking webpage, but if you would like to, you can use this as a jumping off point, meaning you can get into bigger and better things. Website and webpage design are really in demand today and if you can use what you have learned in the PHP learning process you can build on that knowledge and offer the biggest and the best that the world of web design has to offer. You can truly make a career of these talents because not everyone is willing to sit down and learn these things on their own, and others just don't have an interest so they would rather pay people like you! Why not parlay these skills and make them work financially for you in the future? As you can see, PHP learning could ultimately benefit you in more ways than just giving you a great looking Internet space for personal or business use, it could open up a whole new world of opportunities to you.

Programming: Fundamentals of ASP.Net vs. PHP

2008-03-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

Programming: Fundamentals of ASP.Net vs. PHP
by Joanna Gadel

Hyper text preprocessor (PHP) and Active-server-pages (ASP) are the two standard programming languages for website application development and more significantly when it comes to produce database-driven websites to interrelating hugely with databases. PHP is an open-source programming language which is derived from lots of different languages. On the other hand ASP is such kind of programming languages which preferring Microsoft product mostly.

Both programming languages PHP and ASP are used to develop dynamic database oriented websites. Active Server Pages (ASP) is normally from Microsoft and is used only with Internet Information Server (I.I.S.) that runs on Microsoft Servers also. But on the other hand you can say PHP is platform independent programming languages and can connect with several kinds of databases.

There are a lot of differences between ASP and PHP.

Expenditure
To run ASP.net programs first need to install I.I.S. on a Windows server platform, this is not a free package. PHP programs can run on Linux, which is free package. Even the database connectivity is expensive for ASP, because it require ms-S.Q.L product of Microsoft that needs to be acquired. Same time on the other hand PHP generally uses My-S.Q.L for database connectivity, which is freely accessible.

The Simplicity in Coding
PHP codes itself are very light in weight, a contract programmer who begins his career into PHP, does not felt any pressure to look the source code to understand. Whereas In ASP codes are not so easy to quick understand.

Database Compatibility
PHP generally being extremely flexible as it uses My-S.Q.L for database connectivity, which is freely accessible. Same time on the other hand Database compatibility is expensive for ASP, because it require MS-S.Q.L product of Microsoft that needs to be acquired.

General Run Time
If we evaluate the running speed of PHP and ASP then PHP should gets the upper hand. Normally it is viewed that PHP code runs quicker than ASP code. Due to COM based architecture, ASP uses server space to run while PHP code runs on its own inbuilt memory space.

Background Language Support
ASP has a similar like Visual Basic type of syntax that also linked to Microsoft products as well. On the other hand PHP codes are based on generally C++ language and the syntax, which is used in PHP, is quite similar to C/C++ syntax. C/C++ is still considered by maximum software programmer is the finest programming language and people who love C++ language would certainly feel more relaxed with the PHP syntax.

Running Platform Connectivity
PHP codes can run on different platforms like UNIX, Linux, and Windows whereas ASP codes are mostly linked with Windows platforms. Though, ASP programs can run on a Linux platform with the help of ASP-Apache installed on the server.

Further Tools Cost
Several tools used in PHP are mostly free of cost in the market and as PHP is open source a lot of codes can be available in open source forums and blogs. PHP has inbuilt attributes like ftp, encryption methods, even email also from a web page but in ASP such attributes are not obtainable and for this reason only some more features are required which are not free that increase the total cost as well.

Larger Applications Support
PHP is just as protected as ASP from coding level. The main difference is only for private data like "social security numbers"; "PIN numbers" etc. ASP is more practicable option. Organizations like government firms normally don't have much stipulated commercial budgets and looking for required security, they really helpful ASP.net.

At the end, we can make a conclusion that both programming languages have their advantages and disadvantages specific to user requirement. It can be said that both the programming languages have their own significance depending upon the users requirements and budgets. It is viewed that in any discussion board, ASP.net is similarly capable but many of them suggesting PHP for small business owners those who have a fixed budget and does not required superb security support. PHP cannot provide e-commerce application development, only for them ASP.net will be the best choice.

Ajax Applications Development

2008-03-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

Ajax Applications Development
by Rakhee Chowdhary

AJAX has not only sprouted but has got root hold in developing dynamic web applications, that reflects changes in micro seconds thereby saving reloading time, improving usability, providing faster accessibility, to more web pages in lesser time. AJAX, acronym for Asynchronous Javascript And XML is the term whispered from almost every software developer mind and its waves are touching the network boundaries.

Ajax Applications Development has provided breakthrough in web application development. AJAX is a new way to define technology shifting web pages from HTML static pages to advance Java script and CSS enabled dynamic pages. AJAX is also called a free framework for fast creation of interactive cross-platform web experiences. This application has transformed the look, feel of web and has solved the major problem of web application of reloading.

Conglomeration of many technologies to form a more useful, dynamic, stronger technology - AJAX has accelerated the web world. Ajax incorporates standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS; dynamic display and interaction using Document Object Model; data interaction and manipulation using XML; asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest and Java Script binding together everything. AJAX uses Java script technology, HTML pages make asynchronous call to the server from which it fetches information that may be formatted as HTML, plain text, XML or Java Script Object Notation (JSON). To modify the Document Object Model (DOM) of the HTML page java script uses this content. Load of content on demand for various complex web applications has improved bandwidth usage by cutting down bandwidth consumption for complex functionalities.

AJAX is based on different server side architecture to support interaction model. Intermediate application layer, an Ajax engine (written in java script), is added in between user and server that allows asynchronous user’s interaction with application. This new approach has many benefits over static web applications, main features of AJAX include: Real-time form validation with server-side validation of codes. Auto-completion of form fields, better interaction and control with the use of advanced controls available. Content mix from third party application with your application is easily possible. Google Maps, Flickr, Orkut, Google Suggest are examples of AJAX application development.

Inspite of its myriad benefits, ajax application development is facing few major challenges: in-depth knowledge is required to understand upgrading Ajax functionality as it is not easy to develop Ajax that involves running complex java script code on client. Another challenge is that XMLHttpRequest object is not part of Java script technology specification, so it makes adaptablity difficult for older browsers. Even though browser add-ons have made debugging easy, processing logic embedded in client and on server makes application debugging difficult. Easy data access have provided easy way to plagiarism, except for restricted sections. Identifying particular state of application is difficult, this creates problem for user to bookmark specific application state. Also, iframe element used to populate browser history is not recommended by W3C. Websites using Ajax applications are generally not search engine friendly. Ajax has java script code that has compatibility problems with different browsers. Web analytics tracked records get cluttered with websites using Ajax technology as every event is tracked by analytics.

Careful consideration is required before implementing Ajax technology for your website to overcome few of its fallback.

The Difference Uses of Asp and PHP Language

2008-02-17T09:23:00.000-08:00

The Difference Uses of Asp and PHP Language
by Joseph Dickinson

Active-server-pages (ASP) and Hyper-text-pre-processor (PHP) are the two standards for web application development and more importantly when it comes to interacting heavily with databases and create database-driven websites. Throughout my 6+ years of developing websites and databases for the web, I've primarily worked with PHP. Php is an open-source programming language derived from many other languages.

Asp on the other hand, is Microsoft's way of interacting with SQL databases; PHP interacts with a similar database system called mySQL (my-sequel). By writing this article only knowing php, my comments about ASP are from a business standpoint rather than a technical standpoint (since I wouldn't know that). First let's recognize how each php and asp are used and what their target markets are:

Php: Php is open-source software, thus making it free to run.

The simplicity - The code itself is lightweight, a beginning developer who wants to learn PHP does not have to look too far into the source code to understand.

Well documented - When I began developing over 6 years ago, PHP became a viable option for me to be able to learn PHP, because many sites like Pixel2life and W3schools that offered stellar tutorials. From what I've seen there is support for ASP, just not as much. This is one of the reasons I chose PHP over ASP.

Easy, but still strong - Php code itself is often a very natural feeling for a programmer; it is a very well thought out language. While at the same time, this simplicity associated with PHP does not degrade the code's strength like some newbies may believe.

Larger applications support, just less security need - Php is just as secure as Asp from a code-level. The difference is for private data like social security numbers, asp is a more feasible option.

Now if you feel I'm trying to push everything over the php way here goes to Asp...

Asp: which stands for Active-server-pages is created and widely distributed to large businesses and corporations. Asp is often used primarily on Windows-based servers, not unix. The reason Asp is not used as much in small and medium sized businesses is because whether you want to admit it or not; Windows has created the idea in many individual's minds that it's the only reason out.

Therefore, many large corporations do not want to test their water's with other options, but would rather spend numerous amount of money on a Windows Server Operating System which usually requires a lot more assistance after initial setup. The reason Windows servers need more support is because hackers like to hack stuff that would affect a larger proportion of computer users; unfortunately that's where Windows lacks.

Large applications - Asp is good for gigantic database projects that essentially offer more levels of protection for privacy of databases. For examples, Social security numbers are just one thing that need to be secure. While Php is just as secure, Asp offers more levels of protection.

No strict budgets - Corporations like government agencies typically don't have a very strict budget and are able to do what they please without financial strains. They typically will not go open-source, because it is almost like a foreign language to them (no pun intended).

Choosing the correct path to go for web development typically controls whether you go with a Linux Distro. like Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian or a Windows Distribution like Windows Server 2003. The operating system you choose will dictate the technology you use. If you take anything from this article, learn that Php is typically keen for small to medium business who are on a slim or zero budget that need to make anything dynamic you can think of. Asp on the otherhand, is a pristine solution for private data that would need extra layers of protection that are in someways stronger than some Php security. Enjoy and good luck!

Joseph Dickinson, owner and creator of JDFreelance and JDFreelance Blog. Currently, I'm a college student studying Computer Information Systems at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I work for the U.S. Navy in Philadelphia, PA as a database adminstrator full-time during the summers working with PHP, mySQL backend databases, XHtml, and Css. I follow and adhere to today's up-to-date standards. All of my webpages pass CSS standards to make sure that your websites look identical on all platforms, at any resolution, and at any moment in time.

PHP - One Of The Most Advantageous Scripting Languages

2008-02-16T03:27:00.000-08:00

PHP - One Of The Most Advantageous Scripting Languages
by Neha Shah

PHP or Hyper Text Preprocessor is a server side scripting language used for creating dynamic websites. The script which is initially possessed by the server is then transferred to buyer via HTML files. The language is even used for command-line scripting and client-side GUI applications. More importantly, the back-end tool for PHP is My SQL, the interfacing property of My SQL, an online database, which matches with PHP. So webmasters, who want to make their web sites automated, can zero in on My SQL and PHP, to build dynamic websites.

Benefits of PHP

PHP has been breaking new ground in the outsourcing world, with over 1,000,000 websites currently lapping up the benefits PHP language. Shaking off traditional static image of the websites, the language apparently endows the site with certain level of vibrancy.

PHP's written scripts are pretty instrumental in keeping track of the visitor's activities on your site. Sending out emails to the subscribers, aiding users upload files or images to the site, and driving content on your site dynamically, using databases.

Small business sites, can utilize PHP to obtain feed back from users on their products and services. The script even aids in creating a form which will allow customers in sending emails to you directly.

Being a free open source language, the users need not shell out thousands of dollars in licensing fee to acquire PHP. Cost-savings has made PHP the much preferred language over competitors like Microsoft's ASP.NET and Visual Basic.net and Sun Microsystems' Java.

Easy in installation. Moreover, PHP Programs have their base in C & C++ and finds similarity with C++ and C syntax and so it is even easy to learn.

PHP does not put a load on servers. The code is optimized to make the server's job easier.

As much of the processing is moved to the server, collection and use of data becomes more convenient with PHP. Data can be easily stored in databases and used in new ways. Users have access to this centralized data. Web sites can be created by making use of the central reserve much more efficiently.

PHP gives developers much more freedom to create light, feature rich web sites that reuse common elements while still being connected to extended data sources.

One of PHP's primary benefits is a lack of dependence on external programs to run the code. Media files like sound, video and flash require plug-ins to function. Some browsers have the necessary plug-ins pre-installed, but many of the browsers need to download the necessary software to view components of websites. PHP is executed exclusively by the server and therefore requires nothing from the end-user.

Rightway Solution is one of the leading offshore outsourcing companies in India, Trusted by software and technology enabled enterprises to deliver cutting edge technology solution. We offer software application development, web application development, open source customization, Portal development, e-commerce site development and hire dedicated services to enterprises world-wide.

Server vs. Client Sides of Web

2008-02-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

Server vs. Client Sides of Web
by Donald A. Miller, PhD

Things which exist on one's personal computer are referred to as "client side", and on the web host as "server side". The average internet user might have first heard "client" in the context of applications installed on the personal computer, such as "email client". Those mail systems which can be used from anywhere are "web mail", and exist on the server side.

In practical terms, all your office suite programs, media players, programs to edit images, most games, and so forth, are probably client side, although "utility" type functions are evolving on the server side. For example, users can now share data on server side spreadsheets and word processors.

Most browser function is defined on the client side, perhaps with some JavaScript add-ons for interaction, calendars, multi-level menus, animated graphics, et cetera.

Business enterprise level content management, databases, store systems, and much more are on the server side. Server side programming can range from simple CGI scripts ("Common Gateway Interface") written in a variety of languages, such as Perl. Large databases can be built in the popular open-source MySQL, and accessed through interfaces programmed in PHP.

First embodiments of such CGI functions started a new copy of the executing module for each command request. To avoid server shutdown from excessive workload, host programmers have evolved better ways, but these need not concern us ordinary mortals.

Fortunately for this author, a web site builder does not need to be an expert in all those server side tools in order to use them. Most hosting companies now offer access to pre-installed modules. Persons wanting better features can purchase modules from third parties to upload and install, such as shopping carts, which are backed by support staff, user, or similar.

If the site builder lacks a very fast connection to the server, s/he can install client side copies of operating systems for SQL, PHP, other... to emulate behavior on the host. Sometimes the emulation is less than perfect, such as with different release generations, so adjustments may be needed after upload.

Why would anyone bother to do this? One reason is that PHP can take over parts of HTML coding, such as with "include files" which represent often used sections of header, footer, body, or serve more robustly than JavaScript for interactivity and utility functions.

If the connection is fast, however, present day "shared hosting" and "virtual private/dedicated servers" make it very difficult for one domain owner to break the system for other users. And only privileged employees have access to the power switch. VPS allows power users to get more behind the scenes than can the SH customer.

Caveat: Whether your HTML writing is done directly on host account or on personal computer for upload, keep an off-site copy against the day your hosting company drops or back levels your content. It will happen.

What ever the approach a person uses for working on the internet, all these elements are examples of "distributed processing", a concept which some large mainframe computer manufacturers had hoped would never be realized. Now that the small guys and gals have forced the issue, by using ever more powerful personal computers in place of dumb terminals, the big dogs have learned to love and profit from it.

Author's http://WriteAid.us web site offers tips for making web sites friendly to users, especially seniors and color blind.

The Beginners Guide to PHP Language

2008-02-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

The Beginners Guide to PHP Language
by Mark Wallenheimo

What Is PHP?

The full form of PHP is Hypertext PreProcessor and is a server-side scripting language. The PHP code can be combined with regular HTML tags and parsed on the server. The creator of PHP, Rasmus Lerdorf first displayed the language in the form of a Perl script. In 1997 it was adapted by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski to use a C-written compiler. They completely reconstructed the original PHP into the web language that we know and use today.

Uses of PHP

It is used in the creation of dynamic web pages. Web developers like it because of its fast parsing and flexibility and versatility. PHP is a popular tool for managing a form's data after it is submitted and comes built in with many different interfaces and API's. It has database capability built into the language, the most common database being MySQL. Typically the PHP can connect to any SQL enabled database.

The Syntax of PHP is similar in structure to Perl and C where curly braces { } define blocks of code and semi-colons specify the end of a statement PHP is as easy to learn as Perl. It maintains all the traditional loops, if/else, and subroutines that are expected in a programming language. One difference between the two is that the code'?' is embedded in with the HTML; you could however, use a separate file. The PHP code is different from HTML code by use of the opening and closing tags. When it finds a PHP file, it tells the server to scan through for these tags, and execute the code in between them. The server recognizes a PHP enabled file by its extension, .php. These are essentially HTML files with PHP codes in them.

Getting Started

To start PHP requires a server with PHP installed and a simple ASCII text editor such as Notepad or VI, eMacs, Kate, etc. for a UNIX/Linux machine.

What are the problems faced by PHP?

It is case sensitive. For example if you name a variable $MyVar, you cannot call it as $myvar or $mYvAr. In case you forget to close your curly brackets, then it helps to indent lines inside the curly braces so that any missing braces can be spotted easily.

Mark Wallenheimo write articles for a web hosting guide when he is not actively following the hosting industry. He is a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) expert and he knows pretty much everything about linux web hosting and related topics.

Checklist for Selecting a Reliable Web Hosting Company

2008-02-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

Checklist for Selecting a Reliable Web Hosting Company
by Karen Nierlich

A good analogy for a website is a library book. The skew number is like the domain name, it's the address that locates the website. The shelf where the book sits is like the hosting service. The hosting service provides the server where your website sits.

If you are working with a web designer, you can expect them to set up the service for you. If you wish to set it up yourself or have the psychic ability to second-guess your web designer, use this checklist to select a service.

1. Ask at least 3 colleagues to recommend a web hosting service.

2. Check the reliability and customer service of the 2-3 web hosting companies that come recommended.

The most important qualities in a hosting service are reliability and customer service. That means that website are almost always up (online), and that they have 24/7 customer service with a live operator.

2a. Do a search on their name, to see what kind of comments come up. If there are complaints, keep in mind that disgruntled customers are more likely to post comments. It's probably OK if there are a few complaints. But if one company has lots of negative comments, select another.

2b. Make sure they have a direct phone number on their site that is available 24/7. An 800 number is ideal. It's also good if they offer "live chat." That way if you have a quick question, and the phone line is busy, you can use the live chat line.

3. Look at packages and special features

While most hosting services offer similar packages, there are a variety features to consider.

3a. If your website host is also your email host (and that's almost always the case), be sure they offer spam reduction tools on your email accounts.

3b. If you plan to post a lot of large media (audio or video) files, you should look for a package that offers a lot of disk space, as well as one that is easily upgraded when needed.

3c. If you are going to be posting an online store, be sure your service includes support for a secure server ("SSL" or "https" might be included in the list of features) as you'll need a secure server to accept credit card payments.

3d. Some hosting services offer an extensive set of easy-to-install features, such as online bulletin boards, search functions, "blog" tools, etc., this can save a lot of time (or money) if you want to include such features to your site.

4. Finally, pick a Unix or Linux based web hosting service over one that uses Windows servers. Our company has had many good experiences with Windows servers, but the only times I've experienced strange or difficult-to-solve problems with a server, it has been a Windows machine. Don't worry - most hosting services use a Unix variant or Linux so they won't always mention it. They will almost always list Windows if they use Windows servers.

It's worth your time to check up on any web hosting company before buying. If you can't get through to your hosting company for small changes, you may waste needless hours on the phone. If your site is down frequently, you'll lose money because your site in unavailable. Follow these steps, and you won't regret your hosting choice.

Web entrepreneur Karen Nierlich, publishes the celebrated "Web Strategies" weekly email newsletter. If you are ready to boost your marketing with a website and want honest web advice for non-techies, get your FREE tips now at http://www.AlmostEverythingWEB.com

Web Hosting: Ruby on Rails Framework for Java Developers

2008-02-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting: Ruby on Rails Framework for Java Developers
by Pratik Shah

Ruby on Rails is a framework for quickly building web applications. Rails takes advantage of many of the lessons learned over the past decade of web development. Rails uses Model/View/Controller (MVC), view templates, sessions, cookies, and many other abstractions that developers in any web framework will find familiar.

But Rails improves on the past as well. With convention over configuration, you use configuration only where necessary, so simple applications do not require hundreds of lines of boilerplate XML.

Rails is so powerful, and why other frameworks are racing to emulate Rails' best features. Best of all, Ruby and Java technology are growing together. With JRuby, you can run your Rails apps on a Java technology-based VM, and continue to access the enormous base of useful Java libraries. You will see how easy it is to get an application started with JRuby on Rails.

Ruby on Rails has taken the web application community by storm. The Ruby programming language fuses ideas from dynamic, scripting languages with a strong object-oriented framework. Based on the popular Model-View-Controller (MVC) paradigm, Ruby on Rails, also called RoR and just Rails, is a web programming application framework written in Ruby. Rails leverages Ruby's extensive support for metaprogramming, from which it derives much of its elegance and ease of development. Additionally, Rails makes extensive use of code generation features, making it easy to start a complete application and promoting agile programming techniques.

The key design features that make Rails unique in the web application world are "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY) and "Convention over Configuration". The DRY principle means that settings, such as database column names, only need to be specified in one place. Rails ensures that these definitions are visible to all the other web components that need them. Similarly, the Convention over Configuration principle means that web developers only need to make explicit the aspects of their web application that are different from others; Rails (and programmers, too) can infer similar aspects from conventions, e.g., naming conventions. This greatly reduces the need to specify meta data aobut your web application in configuration files, largely eliminating the XML metadata bloat that is common in other web frameworks.

Servers: The Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7300 series

2008-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Servers: The Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7300 series

The Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7300 series, based on the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, offers leading scalable performance and best-in-class virtualization for server consolidation.

Experience up to 2x greater scalable performance¹ 2.5x greater virtualization performance², and 3x performance per watt³ than the industry-leading Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor in the same power envelope. These quad-core-based servers enable you to be more productive and reduce data center space, power and administration/operation costs by consolidating your data center onto fewer servers.

80-watt Intel Xeon processors set new standards in energy efficiency. The E7340, E7330, E7320 processors provide 15 percent up to 47 percent decreases in power.◊ For ultradense deployments the 50-watt Intel Xeon processor L7345 provides 47 percent up to 67 percent decrease in power§ from Intel® dual-core 95- and 150-watt processors.

Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7300 series

Up to 2x greater scalable performance¹, 2.5x greater virtualization performance², and 3x performance per watt³ compared to previous generation dual-core
Up to 1.9x scalable performance improvement over two socket Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series-based serversº
Dedicated High Speed Interconnects running at 1066 MHz, increasing the memory bandwidth by more than 2x over previous generation multiprocessor platformsº
64MB Snoop Filter can significantly reduce data traffic on the Dedicated High Speed Interconnects, providing lower latencies and greater available bandwidth
Fully Buffered DIMM Technology, providing 4x memory capacity increase up to 256GB, and a memory speed increase of 1066 MT/secondº
Intel® I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel® I/OAT) with next generation improvements maximize the throughput of server data traffic and achieve faster, scalable, and more reliable I/O
64-bit quad-core computing, supporting 32-bit applications and enabling migration to 64-bit computing
Supporting systems up to 32 processors, 128 cores

Up to 8 MB, shared, on-die, L2 cache

Keeps more needed data closer to the cores for access faster than off-chip memory

Intel® Core™ Microarchitecture

Provides more computing power and performance without increasing footprint and power demands
Enabling energy efficient processors at 130-, 80- and 50-watt for ultradense deployments

Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT)±

Processor enhancements supporting virtualization, enabling consolidation of more applications to virtual environments
Enables 64-bit OSs and applications to run with today's popular virtualization software
Enables running Linux* over Windows* and Windows over Xen*
Developed with virtualization software providers to enable greater capabilities compared to non-hardware-assisted virtual environments

Intel® 64 architectureΦ

Enables extended memory addressability for server applications

Enhanced reliability and manageability

Many memory controller features, together with PCI Express RAS features combine for outstanding platform reliability
Features include Error Correcting Code (ECC) system bus, new memory mirroring and I/O hot-plug

¹ Performance measured using the SPECint*_rate_base2006 benchmark. Intel internal, early platform measurements (September 2007) comparing system configurations of four Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X7350 Series, 2.93GHz, 2x4MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz system bus, with four Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7140M, 3.40 GHz with 16M L3 Cache.

² Performance measured using the vConsolidate benchmark result published on Virtual Iron 4.0 software. Intel internal, early platform measurements comparing system configurations of four Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor X7350 Series, 2.93GHz, 8MB L2 Cache, Clarksboro Chipset with four Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 7140M, 3.40 GHz with 16M L3 Cache, 800 MHz system bus, Intel E8500 Chipset.

³ Performance measured using the SPECint*_rate_base2006 performance/watt benchmark. Intel internal, early platform measurements (September 2007) comparing system configurations of four Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E7340 Series, 2.4GHz, 2x4MB L2 Cache, with four Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 7140M, 3.40 GHz with 16M L3 Cache, 800 MHz system bus.

◊ Intel internal performance measured comparing system configurations of Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor L7345, 50W to Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7110 and 7120 95W.

§ Intel internal performance measured comparing system configurations of Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7300 series 80W to Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 7110 and 7120 95W.

º Performance measured using the TPC-C* benchmark. Intel internal, early platform measurements (June 2007) comparing system configurations of four Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz, with 2x4M L2 Cache, 1066 MHz system bus, Clarksboro Chipset with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor X5355, 2.66 GHz with 2x4M L2 Cache, 1333 MHz system bus, Blackford Chipset.

± Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT), Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT), and Intel® 64 architecture require a computer system with a processor, chipset, BIOS, enabling software and/or operating system, device drivers and applications designed for these features. Performance will vary depending on your configuration.

Φ 64-bit computing on Intel® architecture requires a computer system with a processor, chipset, BIOS, operating system, device drivers and applications enabled for Intel® 64 architecture. Processors will not operate (including 32-bit operation) without an Intel® 64 architecture-enabled BIOS. Performance will vary depending on your hardware and software configurations.

PHP, MySQL and ASP NET in Web Hosting

2008-01-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

PHP, MySQL and ASP NET in Web Hosting
by Keshav Kaushik

Choosing between LINUX web hosting and Windows hosting is a daunting task. You should know the language of your website, before determining which platform or which type of server you need. Linux hosting is best suitable for a simple HTML site or an ecommerce site or a site with any other programming-database feature created in php-MySql. If your site is in ASP, or ASP.NET, then you need to be on Windows servers.

Now what exactly are ASP.NET, PHP and MySQL web hosting? Let us delve further into these terms.

ASP.NET web hosting: Marketed by Microsoft, ASP.NET is a division of Microsoft's .NET platform and a successor of Active Server Pages (ASP) technology. ASP.NET is a set of Web application development technologies that programmers can use to build dynamic applications, Web sites, and XML Web services.

ASP.NET web hosting cuts down the number of codes and makes building web application much easier. It gives more flexibility to the choice of language by supporting multiple .NET languages. In ASP.NET web hosting, as the source code and HTML are together, the pages are easy to write and maintain. Because of the built-in configuration information, registration of components is not necessary. ASP.NET application is faster and can face a large number of users with a consistency of performance.

PHP web hosting: PHP is a recursive initialism for PHP : Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is a reflective programming language or a general-purpose server-side scripting language used for web development, i.e. creating dynamic and interactive websites. It can be planted into HTML code. PHP is frequently used together with APACHE on various operating systems mostly LINUX.

PHP acts more like a filter, running on a web server, taking inputs from a stream or file containing text and PHP instructions and displays a different stream of data. PHP is deployable in most operating systems, servers and platforms free of cost.

MySQL web hosting: MySQL is a multi-user, multithreaded computer language designed for management and retrieval of data, database object access control management and database schema creation and modification. It is a SQL database management system with 10 million installations. It is popular for web application, for open-source bug tracking tools and acts as the database component of WAMP, MAMP and LAMP. MySQL is closely related to PHP and Ruby on Rails. Most of the well known sites like Wordpress run on a combination of PHP and MySQL.

Now that you are more familiar with ASP.NET web hosting, PHP and MySQL web hosting, it may prove fruitful in your selection of server type.

Web Hosting: Avoid Troubles When You Are Going To Change Your Webhosting Company

2008-01-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting: Avoid Troubles When You Are Going To Change Your Webhosting Company
by Bedrich Omacka

If you chose a wrong web hosting company when you intended to promote your business with the help of a site and now troubles occurred, you have to change the service. The usual reason why site owners change their web hosting company is because their site needs expansion. In these conditions, if the web hosting company does not provide a high technical support and does not provide you with enough disk space and transfer and bandwidth allowance then you will need to move to a new web hosting company. There are some information you have to know when moving your website to a new web hosting company so that the transfer would be made properly.

The first thing that must be done when you need to change your web hosting company is to have copies for anything concerning your website and to check whether the archives to the content on your website are well done. Archiving you website's content is not a task that should be completed only when you move to a new web hosting company. This must be done every once in a while because that way you will avoid losing the information in case problems like hardware failure occur. This is a simple solution to maintain the integrity of your website and will make it easier for you to change your actual web hosting company.

After these tasks are completed you can start searching for a new web hosting company. The most important thing when you do that is to make sure that the new company can offer you web hosting packages that are at least as good as the ones provided by the old web hosting company. You do not need to move to a service that offers you less than what you already have. Then, search for something to suit your new needs that the old web hosting company could not anymore. You can use different search utilities to see whether a web service can offer you the support that you need and if it can fulfill your new requirements.

After you pick a new web hosting company you have to upload the files as was described above. When all the content is transferred to the new service they will provide you a new IP address and then you have to transfer you domain name to the new web hosting company. This transfer requires a period of time between 1-2 days. This is why you should still keep your old site in this period. In all this time you have to do different experiments to verify if the site works as needed. This means that you must keep both your old service and the new web hosting for a few days.

The moment when you leave your old company should be the moment when you stop receiving e-mails on the old account. Until that moment you have to verify all the e-mails that come to both your old and your new account. As you can see, transferring your domains to a new web hosting company does not imply too many troubles if you consider each step. If you wait and see how your new site is during the transfer and perform some tests you will move it to a new web hosting company without having troubles.

Author is a writer for a web hosting company offering Geeklog hosting - Marblehost.com

Shared Web Hosting: Good or Bad?

2008-01-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

Shared Web Hosting: Good or Bad?
by David Butler

Most new webmasters choose web hosting packages based on how cheap they are. Some of the cheapest out there are shared web hosting services. Of course, there are a number of "pros" for using shared web hosting:

Inexpensive

Why does shared web hosting save you and your small business or church money? Simply because you are also splitting the expenses of the shared web hosting server with many other sites. The bottom line is shared web hosting is a lot more affordable than the alternatives, which would be a dedicated or virtual dedicated or private server.

Fully Managed

This means your shared web hosting company will keep up the maintenance and updates, and provide technical support for its users. This is a huge benefit for those who do not have the time, knowledge or resources (like many small businesses I know) to do this. In this sense it makes huge sense to go with shared web hosting. The average cost of a reliable shared web hosting package is less than $7.00 per month. You will be paying at least ten times that amount for a dedicated server.

Use of a Control Panel

A shared web hosting control panel may come under different names such as cPanel, Plesk, H-sphere or some other name. Even if you know very little about web design and upkeep, you can do some cool stuff through control panels with a mere click of the mouse. For example, this site uses Wordpress as the way I set up this site. How did I do this? I simply went into my control panel and (through Fantastico) uploaded Wordpress right to my server with one click of the mouse. No mess or hassles. No technical know-how was needed. See the advantage of using shared web hosting with a control panel?

Overall, these are just some of the reasons for choosing shared web hosting.

David Butler, the author of this article, is a Christian businessman, and has a web site, Affordable Web Hosting 4U, with reliable web hosting tips for small business and churches.

Web Hosting: The Easy Way and The Hard Way To Create Your Web Page

2008-01-22T12:22:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting: The Easy Way and The Hard Way To Create Your Web Page
by Ray Johnson

You are ready to start your sales page layout. You have your sales letter written so now all you need to do is lay out the page and the rest of the site. You have two options, you can do it the easy way or you can do it the hard way.

Here is the hard way. First, you have to decide on the overall layout. Do you want a header or not. Most sites you have seen have headers but how do you create one. You open Photoshop and start to play with some shapes, colors, find some clip-art and when you are all done you have something that doesn't really look very professional, and it took you all day to create.

Now you have to think about the rest of the layout. You know you need a headline, but how big should you make it? What color should you make it? How big should your sub-headline be? What color should that be? You spend about three hours playing back and forth with sizes and colors and you finally think you have it.

Now you look at your other text. Your bullet points listing the benefits don't really have the impact you want. But you don't know how to add those big check marks that you see on other sites. You know your testimonials should be segregated in boxes with different backgrounds but you aren't sure how that works. You think it has something to do with tables but they don't seem to work right when you try to insert them. You look at the HTML code to see if the answer lies there, but you realize you may be in over your head.

That's the hard way, here is the easy way. Find a reputable graphic design shop that knows how to put a sales page together. Tell them what you want and how much you want to spend, they design the page, and you are done. While they were doing that, you spend all the time you would have spent trying to design your site, working on your marketing plans so that when your site goes live you are ready to drive traffic to it and generate sales.

If you choose the easy way, there are some things you should look for when hiring a graphic design group to do your work. There are lots of graphic designers that will create wonderful looking pages for you. The problem is, those wonderful pages won't sell anything. You need to find graphics professionals who are also sales professionals. That is much harder to do.

You want a graphics company that knows internet marketing. You want to find graphic designers that know how important headlines are, the importance of a good header, how sub-headlines work through the sales letter, how testimonials should be used and how they should be formatted. The graphic designers should know the flow of the sales page process from the attention grabbing headline all the way down to the prominent guarantee with the large guarantee badge to make sure the viewer doesn't miss it.

You also want a graphics group that won't cost you an arm and a leg. You don't want to mortgage your house just to have a website designed. Good graphic design groups should have some reasonable cost packages that you can use without breaking the bank. Sales page templates are a good example of a value priced solution. A good firm will be able to provide you with templates, optimized as sales pages, that you only have to cut and paste your text into.

You have two choices when it comes time to put your sales page together. You can spend a lot of time and effort on your own, get frustrated and end up with a less than professional looking site, or you can do it the easy way. Hire a good graphics group with internet marketing knowledge, and let them do it. Spend your time on marketing, which is how you make money and let someone else take care of the mechanics.

To find out how you can utilize graphics and design templates to enhance your online business, and get profitable advice to making money online, talk with Ray Johnson - Google.com No.1 Ranked eSeller: http://www.ray-johnson-online-design.com

Web Hosting: 10 Must Have Features For Your Website

2008-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting: 10 Must Have Features For Your Website
by Andy Macdonald

You can put any number of snazzy features on your website. If you ever meet with a web design firm, your sure to hear about all the cool scripts, animations and other interactive add-ons that can go on your pages. Some pizzazz isn't a bad thing, especially if you're just starting out and need to set yourself apart from the competition. Interactive features and a well designed website give you an air of competence and experience, even if your online business is brand new.

But the website features that count toward your bottom line are the ones that attract and retain customers and entice them back to you regularly. Along with the bells and whistles, your business home on the web needs to have some basic must-haves that shoppers expect. Make sure that your site meets the minimum daily requirements: it needs to be easy to find, loaded with content, include content and background information about you, and include features that make shopping (if that's what you do) easy and secure. This article describes ten specific features that help you achieve these objectives.

Secure East-to-Remember URLs

Names are critical to the success of any business. A name becomes identified with a business, and people associate the name with its products and its level of customer service. When a small company developed a software product called Lindows, giant Microsoft sued initially, but eventually paid $20 million to stop the infringement on its well-known trademarked product Windows.

Write down five or six names that are short and easy to remember and that would represent your business if included in an URL. Do a domain name search and try to find the one you want. Try to keep your site's potential name as short and as free of elements like hyphens as possible. A single four-to ten-character name between the www. and the .com or .co.uk sections of the URL is easy to remember.

Provide a Convenient Payment Method

Shoppers go online for many reasons, but those reasons don't include a desire for things to be complex and time consuming. No matter how technically complex it may be to get one's computer on the internet, shoppers still want things to be quick and seamless. At the top of the list of seamless processes is the ability to pay for merchandise purchased online.

You don't have to get a merchant account from a bank to process your own credit-card payments. You don't need to get point-of-sale hardware, either. The other day, Greg paid for a heater from a company that sent him to PayPal's website. PayPal began as an independent company, but it became so popular among members of the auction site eBay that eBay eventually purchased it. Chances are that many of your prospective customers already have accounts with PayPal if they use eBay. Greg did, so his purchase process was completed in less than a minute. Set yourself up as a seller with PayPal and accept money orders & personal cheques. If you can take the additional step of getting a eCommerce website and a credit-card payment system, so much the better.

Promote Security, Privacy, and Trust

Even shoppers who have been making purchases online for years at a time still feel uncertainty when they type their credit-card number and click a button labelled Pay Now, Purchase or Submit to a commercial website. We're speaking from personal experience. What promotes trust? Information and communication. Shoppers online love getting information that goes beyond what they can find in a printed catalogue. Be sure to include one or more of the following details that can make shoppers feel good about pressing your Buy Now buttons:

* An endorsement from an organization that is supposed to promote good business practices, such as investors in people, business in the community, or by your own customers.

* A privacy statement that explains how you're going to handle customers' personal information.

* Detailed product descriptions that show you're knowledgeable about a product.

Another good thing that promotes trust is information about who you are and why you love what you do, as described in the 'Blow Your Own Trumpet' section, later in this chapter.

Choose Goods & Services That Buyers Want

Every merchant would love to be able to read the minds of his or her prospective customers. On the internet, you have as much chance of reading someone's mind as you have of meeting that person face to face. Nevertheless, the internet does give potential buyers several ways to tell you what they want:

* Come right out and ask them. On your website, invite requests for merchandise of one sort or another.

* After a purchase, ask customers for suggestions about other items they'd like to buy from you.

* Visit message boards, newsgroups, and websites related to the item you want to sell.

* Make a weekly (remember that Saturdays & Sundays are the best days for auctions to end) search of eBay's completed auctions to see what has sold, and which types of items have fetched the highest prices.

Have a Regular Influx of New Products

With a printed catalogue, changes to sales items can be major. The biggest problem is the need to physically reprint the catalogue with inventory changes. One of the biggest advantages associated with having an online sales catalogue is the ability to alter your product line in a matter of minutes, without sending artwork to a printer. You can easily post new sales items online each day, as soon as you get new sales figures.

One reason to keep changing your products on a regular basis is that your larger competitors are doing so. Lands' End, which has a well-designed and popular online sales catalogue, puts out new products on a regular basis and announces them in an email newsletter to which loyal customers can subscribe.

Be Current with Upkeep & Improvements

Do you have a favourite blog, comic strip, or newspaper columnist that you like to visit each day? We certainly do. If these content providers don't come up with new material on a regular basis, you get discouraged. Your loyal customers will hopefully feel the same way about your website, eBay shop or other sales venue.

We know what you're thinking: You've got so many things to do that you can't possibly be revisiting your website every day and changing headings or putting new sales online. You have to get the kids off to school, pack up merchandise, run to the post office, clean the house - the list goes on and on. You can't be in two places at once. But two people can. Hire a student or friend to run your site and suggest new content for you. In a five-minute phone conversation, you can tell your assistant what to do that day, and you can go on to the rest of your many responsibilities.

Personally Interact with Your Customers

The fact that personal touch counts for so much in internet communication is a paradox. With rare exceptions, you never meet face to face with the people with whom you exchange messages. Maybe it's the lack of body language and visual clues that make shoppers and other web surfers so hungry for attention. But the fact is that impersonal, mass email marketing messages are reviled while quick responses with courteous thank-you's are eagerly welcomed.

You can't send too many personal email messages to your customers, even when they're only making and enquiry and not a purchase. Not long ago, Greg asked some questions about a heater he was thinking of buying online. He filled out the form on the company's website and submitted his questions. The representative of the company got right back to him.

'First of all, let me thank you for your interest in our product,' the letter began. She proceeded to answer his questions and then finished with another thank-you and 'if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.' Greg didn't hesitate: 'He asked more questions, she answered and again said, 'Don't hesitate to ask' at the end. It's possible it was all 'form letter' material, added to the beginning and end of every enquiry, but it makes a difference. Greg eventually purchased the item.

Post Advertisements in the Right Places

When most people think about advertising on the internet, they automatically think about banner advertisements placed on someone else's web page. A banner advertisement is only one kind of online ad, and possibly the least effective. Make use of all the advertising options going online brings you, including the following:

* Use word of mouth: Bloggers use this method all the time: one person mentions something in another blog, that blogger mentions it to someone else, and so on.

* Exchange links: 'You link to my website, and ill link to yours', in other words. This option is especially effective if you're linking to a business whose products and services complement your own.

* Multiply Websites: if you have two websites, you immediately have two sites linking to each one of yours. Your ability to exchange links with other websites triples, too.

* Get listed in search engines: Make sure that your site is listed in the databases maintained by Google and the other search engines.

Blow Your Own Trumpet

Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart, and the Walton family still runs it, but 99 percent of the shoppers who flock to megastores every day don't know or care about that fact. Wal-Mart is a well-established brand with a physical Presence. Your fledgling online business has neither of those advantages. You need to use your website to provide essential background information about yourself, why you started your business, and what your goals are.

Your immediate aim is to answer the question that naturally arises when a consumer visits your online business: 'Who are these people?' or 'who is this guy?' The indirect goal is to answer a question that the shopper doesn't necessarily ask consciously, but that is present nonetheless: 'Why should I trust this place?' Be sure to list your experience, your background, your family, or your hobbies - anything to reassure online shoppers that you're a reputable person who is looking out for their interests.

Create a Well-Organized Website

A well-organised website isn't quite as essential as it used to be, because you can establish a regular income on eBay without having any website at all. But even if you become a well-established eBay seller, you're going to want a website at some point or another. How do you make your site well organised? Make sure that your site incorporates these essential features:

* Navigation buttons: consumers who are in a hurry expect to see a row of navigation buttons along the top or one of the sides of your homepage. Don't make them hunt; put them there.

* A Site Map: A page that leads visitors to all areas of your site can prevent them from going elsewhere if they got lost.

* Links that actually work: Nothing is more frustrating than clicking a link that's supposed to lead to a photo and/or a bit of information that you really want, and to come up with a generic page not found error message

* Links that indicate where you are on the site: such links are helpful because, like a trail of breadcrumbs, they show how the customer got to a particular page. Heres an example:

Clothing > Men's > Sportswear > Shoes > Running

When your site grows to contain dozens of pages and several main categories, links that look like this can help people move up to a main category and find more subcategories.

So there I have given you information on the 10 must-have features for your website, follow these simple rules and you will have a website which customers will love, and a website which over-time will grow and achieve the goals you set out to achieve. good luck with your web site's and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave me a comment.

Andy MacDonald owns and runs his own website design company called Swift Media UK which also incorporates logo design & reliable web hosting. Also checkout our SEO Blog which is updated regularly with posts to help you achieve a top search engine ranking.

Web Hosting Companies: How to Choose the Right One

2008-01-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting Companies: How to Choose the Right One

There are many web hosting companies available on the internet and it can be difficult to choose. You will first need to decide which features are important to you such as the number of e-mail accounts included and the type of site builder available with the program (especially if you have limited experience in building websites). Website builders often include templates of sites that you can customize. Some allow you to change colors and positions of text and graphics, others only allow you to add your text in specific locations on the preformatted site. This may or may not be a factor to you, but it is something you should decide before you sign on to a provider.

You also need to determine if domain registration is included in your monthly fee, and if so, how many domains are included. Some hosts give you one domain with several sub domains, some will give you 5 domains, while others provide none and you will need to register your domain separately. Whoever your domain is registered with, you will want to be sure they allow domain forwarding. This allows you to keep your domain name at that site and forward it to a site you build elsewhere. You should note that domain transfers (transferring your domain registration to another company) generally must wait until 90 days after the initial domain registration. Therefore, if you are not happy with your web hosting provider for some reason, you want to be able to forward that domain elsewhere. Otherwise you will have to use a different domain for your site if you switch providers.

Other factors to consider are the monthly fee and whether or not they have a start-up fee. You will need to compare the total costs overall, including any separate domain registration fee. While considering cost, you should be certain the company provides free image and file storage. You will also want to note whether or not ads will be shown on your site. Some of the less expensive hosting plans are less expensive because the host company will place ads for other sites onto your site.

A major consideration is the availability of live support. Some sites only have FAQ pages or a searchable index. A site with at least e-mail support and preferably also phone support would certainly be more desirable. It is inevitable that you will need support at some point and there is nothing more frustrating than having no one to contact!

You may also want to consider the availability of other features such as blog building tools, photo album building tools, and newsletter tools. Depending on your needs, these may or may not be important to you. A final factor to consider is the bandwidth and disk space. Bandwidth is the amount of data that is used to deliver your web page to a viewer. Disk space indicates how much room you have to store your files. Compare these figures between plans to determine what will best suit your needs. If your site is heavy on graphics, you will need more storage.

This provides a brief overview of what to look at when choosing a web hosting company. There are always going to be other factors to consider, especially as technology continues to change but with a bit of research and comparison you will find a host that fits your needs.

Source: HostingPedia

10 Things I Love about Bluehost Webhost

2008-01-15T19:33:00.001-08:00

10 Things I Love about Bluehost Webhost
By Aaron Brooks

Web hosting is a fiercely competitive business and Bluehost offers users affordable, reliable web hosting solutions for as little as USD 6.95 a month. They are the “one-stop” web hosting solution for businesses as well as individuals who need the convenience of website, the functionality of technology, and more on a small budget.

The site offers reliability, a 24 /7 customer service, quality technology, security, maximum guaranteed up-time, and functional tools. They are known to deliver what they promise.

As a small business owner and one who depends on the World Wide Web to a great extent I can truthfully say that I love and stick with Bluehost because:

1. They give me value for money.

2. They offer instant tech support. So, I never have to tear my hair out.

3. They stay one step ahead as far as new services or features are concerned.

4. They have a blog where you can get answers to just about anything.

5. They never come apart even with heavy loads and stand by me even in times of stress.

6. My e-commerce has been successful due to the support offered by Bluehost. They offer me PHP, POP and more at competitive rates.

7. They behave like my virtual caretakers and keep track of space, overloads, and so many technical things.

8. They hardly ever behave like they are doing me a favor and answer every query with seriousness

9. The auto installs are great and I am thrilled by things like blogs, scripting language and so on.

10. I just can’t count my blessings my site, e-mail, files, and more all function without any stress, screaming or shouting, and so on. Once I decided on Bluehost I have had nothing to worry over. They are helpful and don’t look down on me because I am not tech savvy.

Bluehost makes you feel wanted and special. The forum covers the whole gamut from registering to cookies; they have email notifications, tags, code buttons, clickable smiles, private messaging and more.

From Matt Heaton’s blog one gets a glimpse of how Bluehost thinks and functions. He on July 27th expressed, “...Learn to give value for your customer’s dollar. They work hard for their money and when they choose to spend it with you they are trusting your company. That trust is easily lost, but hard to earn. If you do right by your customers they will continue to spend with you and help your company to go right along with their own.”

Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for http://www.1866webhosting.com, the premier website to find Web Hosting including topics on web hosting provider, cheap web hosting, business web hosting, web hosting company, small business web hosting, business web site hosting, web hosting solution and more. He also freelances for the premier Voip site: http://www.1866voip.com.

Web Hosting Overselling - The Power of Statistics

2008-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting Overselling - The Power of Statistics
By Bogdan Enache

Statistics are used especially when you don't know something for sure, but you're willing to accept a prediction for that thing with a percent of confidence. The higher the percent (e.g 95%, 99%, etc.), the better the prediction is. Business applied statistics help the producers better understand consumer behaviour, so they can predict the quantity of products to sell, the price for the product and so on. So, what does this have to do with web hosting? In the last two years we have noticed a trend of web hosting overselling, especially in the hosting plans offered by the big web hosts in the market. And this overselling is related to business applied statistics.

The idea of overselling is simple. Let's say a company has a hosting plan that offers 250GB disk space. They have a server that has a 500GB hard drive, so they should be able to host two accounts on it. But instead of advertising and selling two accounts, they decide to advertise and sell five. "Fraud!" some of you might shout. Well, not necessarily. If the company has statistical data that points to the fact that only 25% of their customers are using the whole disk space available and the rest of 75% are only using up to 10 GB of disk space, a simple mathematical equation shows us that the prediction for the disk space used by the five customers equals 290GB (1*250 + 4*10), which is less than the 500GB limit. In our example, the sample of five customers is a very low number, and the error of the prediction can be quite big in case two or three of the customers are big disk space "spenders", but with samples of hundreds of thousands of customers, the variation of the error will be very small.

The web hosting overselling trend was somehow expected, because most of the players in the hosting services market have now at least 5-6 years of experience, meaning 5-6 years of valuable statistical data, enough to make a prediction with a high level of confidence. The hosting companies noticed that most of the accounts do not use more than about 0.1GB of disk space or more than 1GB of monthly bandwidth, so why do they offer 600GB of disk space? Or 5000GB of monthly bandwidth? The answer is quite simple: because it makes their offer stand out as a good deal, exceptional value for money. It's all about marketing the product!

Overselling - bad or good?

The advantage of overselling for the host is that they don't need servers and bandwidth to cover all the "advertised" disk space and bandwidth. They make more money off each server than they would normally do. As long as part of the extra profit "translates" into cheaper hosting plans, more features or better customer support, their clients are also in advantage.

For this win-win situation to actually work, the web host has to take into consideration the followings:

- Do not be greedy. If the web host gets too greedy and ends up selling much more than they could possibly provide, it will affect the quality of their service and their credibility.

- Avoid downtimes. Be prepared for small variations in the percentage of clients that actually use the whole space and bandwidth advertised. Be able to handle the sudden increase in demand without downtimes related to adding new hard drives, buying extra bandwidth, etc.

- Monitor servers' usage. The web hosts usually have well-defined Terms of Service that prevent users from abusing the resources (spam, illegal websites, CPU consuming scripts, etc.) These "rules of engagement" can help the web host better manage the accounts and the infrastructure.

So, as long as the hosting company monitors its server usage and manages its resources and infrastructure so that the quality of the service is not affected, overselling is not a bad thing!

The author is the webmaster of HostingProfs.com, a website dedicated to providing free information about web hosting, hosting terminology and guidelines to follow before, when and after choosing a web hosting package.

WebHosting: Choosing a Web Host - The Price Factor

2008-01-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

WebHosting: Choosing a Web Host - The Price Factor
By Bogdan Enache

Because money makes the world go round, it all comes down to the price. Depending on your budget you can choose from three types of hosting: free, shared or dedicated/collocated.

Free or cheap hosting
Yes, there are companies that offer disk space for free or for very small prices (e.g. $0.99/month). They usually create a sub domain of their own domain (e.g. yourdomain.freehosting.org) but some web hosts even let you use your own domain name. In exchange for the free space, they will put advertisements on the top or the on other areas of your web pages. Besides advertisements, they don't usually offer a control panel for your hosting account, database server access, PHP scripting or other scripts installed. But, if you have a small, simple site and you don't care too much about reliability or performance, free web hosting might be right for you. Why pay for a limousine when you only need a small car to get from point A to point B?

Shared hosting
It's the most common type of hosting package and it's the best choice for most of the future webmasters. You rent some space and bandwidth on a server and for a low price you get a lot of features and technical support. The offer is rich, starting from very low cost plans (around $5-6 per month). More expensive plans ($15-25) usually offer more space and more bandwidth.

Dedicated/Collocated hosting
If your website is a critical business then it's worth spending some money on a dedicated server. The biggest advantage offered by dedicated servers is that you will not have reliability problems that might occur with shared hosting if your site stays on a "crowded" server. Also, you can configure and install the dedicated server to your liking. Of course, all this comes with a price: dedicated servers usually start at around $100 per month. With Collocated hosting you'll actually buy the hardware on which the website is hosted, not just rent it.

The author is the webmaster of HostingProfs.com, a website dedicated to providing free information about web hosting, hosting terminology and guidelines to follow when choosing a web hosting package.

Guide to Self Managed Dedicated Hosting for Your Business Web Site

2008-01-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Guide to Self Managed Dedicated Hosting for Your Business Web Site
By Chris Robertson

If your business has outgrown its shared server and you need to expand, or if you are starting a new business web site that will require its own server from the start, self managed dedicated hosting might be the right hosting solution for you.

What is Self Managed Dedicated Hosting?

Self managed dedicated hosting, which is also called unmanaged hosting, is a type of hosting in which you lease your own server that will be kept in an off-site data center. The server is for your use only, meaning it is not shared with other websites or companies. With self managed dedicated hosting, you'll be required to have some technical experience with web servers so you can perform your own management and administrative tasks. If you don't have technical experience, consider hiring a technical person to handle these tasks if you feel the self managed server is what your business needs.

What about Managed Dedicated Hosting?

Self managed dedicated hosting is not to be confused with managed dedicated hosting. With managed hosting, a hosting provider gives technical support and basic system helps. You will still have complete control over your server, and the server is dedicated entirely to your business web site as with self managed hosting. You'll also be offered optional managed services such as upgrades, security patching, firewalls, and backup systems.

With both types of hosting, you can choose between two operating systems, Windows and Linux. Also with both, you'll have control over the hardware, bandwidth capacity, and processor so you can expand your site as needed.

Which Type of Hosting is Right for You?

Choosing which type of hosting, self managed or managed, is easy once you know what your specific needs are for a website. If you're not sure, talk with a programmer or web developer to determine what you will need. Be sure to outline all the features and capabilities needed for your site to be operational and to grow in the future.

Types of sites range from small business informational sites to blogs, gaming, and a variety of e-commerce sites. Also, determine the type of programming you'll need to accomplish your goals - PHP, ASP, and so forth.

You should also consider your budget for webhosting. The self managed dedicated hosting is more affordable than managed because the administrative and technical services are not offered. But if you need technical assistance, you might want to invest a little more for the managed server. Other features to consider with any website hosting service include domain name registration, web design capabilities (Front Page design or other programs), and the type of services or amount of web space offered for your investment.

Whether buying a self managed dedicated server or a managed server, explore all your options before making a commitment. Use online resources to research various hosting companies and find out what each offers. When choosing a provider, go for quality of service and trust rather than price so you can enjoy years of prosperity with your new business web site.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Guide to Self Managed Hosting or Majon's Internet directory.

The Domain Name - Web Hosting Relation

2008-01-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

The Domain Name - Web Hosting Relation
By Bogdan Enache

So, what has the domain name to do with hosting a website? Well, there is a close relationship between your domain name and your web host (the computer where you'll host the website). The domain name is in fact a "label" that will redirect the visitors to the IP address of the computer where the site is hosted, so these two work in pairs. We use this system because it's easier to remember a name rather than an IP address which is a group of 4 numbers, each number between 0 and 255 (e.g. 67.72.123.201). The pair domain name - IP address is then recorded by a DNS (Domain Name Server). But, although they are related, the website/domain name and the hosting server are two different things, so one should not confuse the domain name of a website with the hosting for that website.

Here's an analogy with real life to better understand the concept. Let's say you want to call your friends, the Smiths, to invite them over for dinner. You ask your wife to do it, as you are a little busy at the moment. She doesn't know the number by heart so she goes and searches the number in the phone book and calls them.

This example almost replicates the way domain names and hosting works. The Smiths are the equivalent of the domain name. You didn't ask your wife to call a number; you just said call the Smiths. Of course, the Smiths have a telephone number associated with their name, that's how you can actually reach them by phone. The telephone number is the equivalent of the IP address of the computer where the site is hosted. The role of the phone book is also an important one. It helps you find the match: name - phone number. The phone book role is played by the DNS servers. They are a network of "phone books" that know every association domain name - IP address, so when you write a website address in your browser, you get the content of the site that is associated to that name and not the content of another site (or empty content).

To change hosting, you simply redirect the domain name to another IP and modify the DNS servers of your domain name. Of course you also need to actually move the files to the new hosting server. It's like the Smiths getting a new phone number. The name stays the same, but they can be reached by calling a different number.

In conclusion, when you're buying a domain name, you're buying in fact the right to redirect that URL to a web server of your choice, where your website is hosted.

The author is the webmaster of HostingProfs.com, a website dedicated to providing free information about web hosting, hosting terminology and guidelines to follow when choosing a web hosting package.

Web Hosting: 5 Vital Features Of Best Rated Web Hosting

2008-01-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting: 5 Vital Features Of Best Rated Web Hosting
by Hooshmand Moslemi

Every day you see a new service offering a hot package with an incredible price. Also, you might have read and heard lots of stories about some scam companies, but you can´t really find out the reasons. Well, the point is that you don´t need to know about every single hosting provider out there. You should discover the vital features of a best rated web hosting. Then, it will be much easier for you to find the desired service.

So, before ordering any package, try to learn the main benefits of a top rated company. The following features may help you get the whole picture in this case.

5 Vital Features Of a Best Rated Web Hosting:

Actually, these benefits are the most important ones. If you find a provider that offers these features, then it will be much easier for you to make a better decision. Of course, there might be some other points, as well. Take them into account, too!

01. Domain:

Maybe the most important feature of a best rated host service is the ability of hosting unlimited domain names. Always, check if the company allows you to host unlimited domain names on your account! It would be both easier and cheaper for you. Do you think it would be a great idea to pay a monthly fee for hosting every single domain name? I don´t think so!

Besides, some companies offer one FREE domain name for life meaning that you can register and host your desired domain name forever without paying the domain price. So, hosting unlimited domains and getting a FREE domain name for life are the most vital features of a top-rated plan.

02. Space:

The second benefit of a best web hosting plan is the high disk storage and transfer/bandwidth. You don´t need to know everything about disk space and bandwidth issues. It is too specific. You only need to know some figures. Simply, try to get a hosting account that offers high disk space storage! The more space you have on your hosting account, the more files you will be able to upload on your server. Basically, the disk space depends on your actual needs, but normally, it should be more than 500 GB (Gigabytes) at the moment.

Moreover, the transfer or monthly bandwidth should also be high meaning that you will have higher capacity of the amount of traffic that is allowed to occur between your website and the rest of the Internet. It also depends on your future website traffic, but normally, it should be more than 5,000 GB of monthly bandwidth.

03. Setup:

A reliable plan offers FREE setup meaning that you don´t need to pay any extra or hidden fees to install and activate your hosting account. It is too ridiculous if a company charges you for setting up your web hosting package. The plan should also include the most important features of software, script and e-commerce features such as CGI-BIN, PHP 4 & 5 Support, Perl Support, MySQL Database, PayPal Support and so on.

04. Support:

A top rated hosting service should offer FREE 24/7 support. No matter you can reach them by phone or e-mail; the point is that they should be available round the clock for giving you the needed support. Some hosting companies are always unavailable or don´t offer FREE support. Take it into account; because you will definitely need some help if you get stuck with your hosting issues. So, don´t underestimate it!

05. Guarantee:

Basically, there are 2 types of guarantees that many best rated web hosting companies offer. One of them is the Uptime Guarantee and it is about 99.9% in most cases. The other one is the Money-Back Guarantee and it is usually applicable within 30 days. 99.9% Uptime Guarantee means that the provider will strive to achieve that level of uptime and if your site downtime is more than the determined amount, the company will compensate you. Normally, most of companies offer this feature; but it is still important to know.

A 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee is another vital feature of a reliable service. If you are not satisfied with that hosting plan, you will have the right to request a refund and get all your money back. So, don´t overlook this feature. The low-quality or scam services never offer this feature!

Next time, before ordering any web hosting account, consider the above-mentioned features! It is brilliant if the service offer other extra features such as FREE Site Builders, FREE Promotional Coupons, etc. But first of all, check if that hosting package includes the vital features or not! A best rated company always tries to offer the mentioned features to its customers.
Today, Everyone is Offering a Web Hosting Plan. But, You Should Order a Package That Includes Web Hosting and FREE Domain From a Best Rated Web Hosting Company.

Web Hosting: Introduction To Web Hosting

2008-01-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

Web Hosting: Introduction To Web Hosting
By William Robert Wood

You'll need to find a company that offers Web hosting so that you'll have an online presence. You need to find a company that is going to be able to provide you with the following things:

• Technical support that is available when you need it (24/7).

• A good "uptime" or "availability" history so that you know your Web site will be available to potential customers (Web site availability should be in excess of 99 percent); you will also need this to ensure that when you make changes to your Web site, the changes will go into effect as soon as possible.

• A fast and reliable Internet connection (forget about dial-up service-go with high-speed broadband cable, DSL, or satellite).

• Technicians and staff that understand all aspects of e-commerce, including shopping carts and SSL certification.

• Compatibility with other providers of e-commerce on the Internet.

• Compatibility with your selected shopping cart product. This is critical as many companies invest in expensive shopping cart software that is rendered useless by companies that don't support essential features, such as Web scripting, executable files, or other dynamic content.

Take your time when you're looking for a company. Keep in mind that you are going to be entrusting a large part of the success of your Web site to this company. One of the most costly things that you'll be paying for when you do business on the Internet is your service. You want to make sure that you choose a company that is reliable and reputable.

When you're looking for a company, there are several features you should also consider:

• Guarantee. Many good Web hosting companies will offer you a money-back guarantee that shows confidence in their ability to host your Web site at a high reliability percentage.

• Web hosting space. Choose a host that offers you a large amount of hard drive space for your Web site so that you have room to grow. Most sites use a minimum of up to 10MB of hard drive space; however, large e-commerce-enabled sites may grow to more than 100MB in size.

• Data transfer. Most Web hosting companies will allow you a certain amount of traffic to your site before they start charging you for any extra traffic. This is because the more traffic that you have to your Web site, the more their servers will have to work. Look for companies that have a low cost for high traffic to your Web site.

• Security. If you need to have a secure (encrypted) server space, you will have to pay an additional cost for the secure server certificate. If you are going to process personal data or credit card information on your Web site, you will need a secure certificate. A digital certificate is used to protect any communication that you have with your customers that contains private information. You'll need to have a digital certificate installed on your Web server so that you can take credit card orders in a safe and secure manner. You want to make sure that no one but you, your customer, and the bank receives your customers' financial and personal information. A digital certificate is going to ensure this privacy and security.

• Web site upload. Find out what method is used for you to hosting companies use FTP (file transfer protocol) for this upload. You'll want to make sure that if the company that you're using uses FTP, you have a good FTP program for your computers. Most Web hosting companies provide a free FTP application.

• Software. Find out what software or built-in scripts the Web host offers when you sign up with them. Some companies won't offer you any software tools, while others will have several free tools that can help you to operate your Web site easily and efficiently. Some of the software that you might be offered includes auto-responders to send e-mail to your customers, search engines so that visitors can find your business Web site, forms (guestbook, order forms, and questionnaires), bulletin boards and chat room access, file backup and recovery, an e-commerce shopping cart, and Web site management software. Microsoft FrontPage-hosted sites offer many advantages with built-in e-mail forms handlers, allowing you to create forms on the fly that will e-mail data result sets to pre-specified recipients. You do need to make sure that your hosting company offers and supports Microsoft FrontPage extensions, which enable most of these features.

Essex web design company Synaxis Solutions offers you a full suite of web design and development services. Whether you're looking for a simple site build or a comprehensive online business strategy, we're ready and willing to lend a hand.

Free Web Hosting Service

2007-12-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

Free Web Hosting Service

A free web hosting service is a web hosting service that is free, usually advertisement-supported and of limited functionality. Free web hosts will either provide a subdomain (yoursite.example.com) or a directory (www.example.com/~yourname). In contrast, paid web hosts will usually provide a Second-level domain along with the hosting (www.yourname.com). Some free hosts do allow use of separately-purchased domains. Rarely, a free host may also operate as a domain name registrar, but their registry services are usually more expensive than others.

The majority of the the hosting companies use free hosting to introduce their services, and as an entry point to their more expensive offerings. Generally they recoup their costs in one of two ways:

Advertising - Selling online advertising on the customer sites is generally considered a fair trade - the reasoning is that high traffic sites are more expensive to host, but the additional traffic allows for additional ad impressions therefore covering the cost. For the web master, it can be a good trade if the advertising is of good quality and non-competitive. This is one of the main reasons that businesses do not use free hosting for their website. The majority of free hosting companies use this method.

Referrals - Using a simple form of viral marketing, these providers rely on the users to spread the offer. The ratio of free to paid accounts is known, and by having each free user refer a number of friends, the hosting provider is able to get enough paid accounts to cover the cost.

Some hosting companies are using hybrid approaches that mix both tactics.

All About Dedicated Servers Hosting

2007-12-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

All About Dedicated Servers Hosting
By Mark Clinton

Dedicated servers could be quite costly, so individuals and companies who opt to make use of them would have to maximize their functionality. Through the optimum utilization of dedicated web servers, business owners would be able to run and manage their company successfully. Here are some of the great features that are characteristic of a web server.

1. Security and Control

The best thing about dedicated servers is that users do not have to share it with any other user of the hosting company. These are also able to provide added third party security to the users' sites and emails. Complete access is also given to the user or the website owner so that he would be able to freely configure, optimize and also install the necessary software for his website.

2. Functionality and Power

In case of dedicated servers, users would be able to get around 50 to 100 gigabytes of hard drive when using a web server. Users would also be able to have about 1,000 gigabytes of data and file transfer. The user would be able to customize these based on his own website requirements. With the utilization of a dedicated web server, the dependency of the user on the web hosting provider decreases and time delays due to slow downloading are avoided.

3. Reputation

Particularly if you have a relatively popular website, it would be much better to have a dedicated web server for it so that visitors would be able to download your website quickly and easily compared to a website that downloads very slowly.

Web hosting plays an important role in your online success. Make sure you buy your dedicated servers from a popular hosting company such as hostgator or bluehost. You can also find some good dedicated server deals if you search the hosting coupons blog.

Managed Web Hosting: A Guide to Managed Hosting

2007-11-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

Managed Web Hosting: A Guide to Managed Hosting
By Alet Viegas

Managed web hosting is a fresh trend in the Web Hosting industry, and is to some extent different from dedicated web hosting. Though dedicated web hosting has been around for a while now, it has its share of disadvantages that are overcome in managed web hosting. There are a few technicalities that are difficult to operate in dedicated web hosting and the demand for additional services by web hosts has increased. These additional services are available in managed web hosting, and the services provided are managed load balancing, monitoring and reporting, managed security, managed databases and managed storage. Companies that own a dedicated web server and looking to contract out their IT-hosting requirements or businesses should consider opting for managed web hosting.

Managed web hosting includes a lot of services, so it is not possible to give it a proper definition since web host providers can include almost any service when hosting. However it is basically seen as a hosting solution that has an outsourced technical workforce and website monitoring. The difference in managed hosting and standard dedicated hosting is that the web host provider provides it customers with extra services that help them improve productivity in their online efforts. Web host companies that provide managed hosting services offer a variety of hosting associated applications that include private networking, server security products, database administration etc. This indirectly results in a successful business since managed web hosting provides a holistic approach when it comes to server needs and other requirements from manpower to maintenance.

The concept is so innovative those web host companies that provided dedicated and shared hosting solutions are now providing managed services. Web host directories and search engines are excellent places to look for managed hosting services, by performing a simple search you will get a list of providers. Contacting hosts that already provide dedicated hosting solutions and asking them if they can provide managed web hosting is another place to find a solution.

Hosting per item and pre-configured plans are the two offers that managed hosting companies allow their customers to choose from. When opting for a Hosting per item plan, the services you require can be selected while a pre-configured plan as the name suggests has the services offered with the dedicated server and at a monthly charge. There are several advantages for a company that chooses managed dedicated solutions; the first one is that the company has a tax-advantageous accounting condition because the capital costs are borne by the service provider. The website has a maximum server uptime since the web host company diligently monitors the servers and provides massive technical support that ensures an uptime guarantee. The websites functionality and expansion options are tremendous since using a managed server improves flexibility.

The administration of servers, technical support, back ups etc are taken care of by the plans in managed web hosting, this leads to the company to save drastically on expenses of hiring new employees. Though the features seen in managed web hosting appear to be similar to those of dedicated web hosting, it is important to note that the services and products are actually upgraded to better standards.

We are a team of experienced writers, editors, SEO experts and quality control personnel who work in close association to produce quality, keyword-rich content. We have worked on web content, press releases, ebooks, blogs, travel guides as well as articles on a myriad of topics. Our endeavor is to provide you long term support in your content development efforts. CNS Zone... We Build on Words!

+ Best Reviews Web Hosting

Budget Website Hosting And Customer Service

2007-10-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Budget Website Hosting And Customer Service
By Dan Thompson

If you are going to a use low priced web hosting service, or budget web hosting, there is one service you should check out thoroughly first. If you get locked into a contract with a hosting service that does not provide the tech/customer service you need to run your business, you will be paying monthly fees for nothing.

Absolutely the most important service to check before you wave your credit card is Customer Service. This is all about tech service. If you are considering a budget hosting service, make sure that their tech support is 24/7. If not, consider what you are risking. Your business runs online 24/7. Your customers go to your site (24/7) to find information they need or to buy your products. They definitely expect to do this whenever they want to do it.

A good number of the budget hosting services have 6 or 8 or 12 hour delays before responding to your dilemma, but not all of them. You have to put in the time to find the good ones. Again, what are you risking if this hosting service has less than what you need to run a professional business online?

One way to check out any hosting service is to ask to their customer service department several questions. Call them during their published business hours, using the help numbers listed on their website. If you can't find phone numbers in plain site, try their "About Us" or "Contact Us" links. Not there either? Start thinking about checking out other hosting services for what you need.

One last thing to try, if you still aren't convinced about the level of customer service provided by the service you are checking out, is good old email. Formulate two or three questions about their hosting service and send it off. If they cannot be contacted by email, run...don't walk! If you do not get a rapid reply with satisfactory answers, run faster.

If you ignore this advice, then you can expect no support when your site goes down or starts acting like it's obsessed. If you think about it, monthly hosting service fees for a few dollars do not have enough of a budget to have a large tech department, if any.
Dan Thompson is a veteran website designer and has used numerous webhosts in his time. Dan specialises in writing web host reviews, his latest article is a Hostmonster Review

You can view Dan's latest web hosting review at http://www.hostmonster-the-review.com

How to choose a server

2007-10-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

How to choose a server

When to consider a server

Servers are everywhere these days. They can help you manage files and printers, host a mail server, better secure your company network, and generally do more for you than a desktop can. However, knowing that you need a server and actually getting the right one are two different things. This how-to guide will help you understand what a server is, how to decide if you need one, and how to go about finding the right server to meet your needs.

You read business technology articles and you talk with savvy IT professionals. The message from both is that key business systems are built on servers, but what exactly does that mean? "Server" is a broad term that may quickly bring a host of questions -- and good ones at that -- immediately to mind:
• How is a server different from a desktop system and can you use a high-end desktop in place of a server?
• What are storage area networks?
• How do you know when you need a server?
• Do you need more than one server?
• How much memory and disk space will it need?
• Will you have to replace it in six months?
• And of course, how much will it all cost?

How is a server different from a desktop?

The answer to this key question is more straightforward than you might imagine. A server is a system specifically designed to hold, manage, send, and process data. The technology behind servers:
• Makes them more reliable than desktop systems
• Helps them process data faster and more efficiently
• Can be extended to support data backup and security
• Reduces data bottlenecks so information flows more freely and quickly
• Is designed to scale as your needs scale

In short, a server is much more than a supercharged desktop system, and can't be replaced by one. Desktop systems are optimized to run user-friendly operating systems, desktop applications, and facilitate other "desktop" tasks. Even if a desktop sports the same processor speed, memory, and hard disk space as a server, they aren't the same because the technologies behind them are engineered for different usage.

Do you need a server?

Server technology and benefits notwithstanding, you don't want to make technology purchases that won't benefit your bottom line, facilitate key business processes, or otherwise make your life easier. While there is no single litmus test that you can use to determine if you need a server, some general guidelines do apply.

If your office only has three or four staff members who share files across networked computers, surf the Web, or send e-mail, you may not need a server at all. However, once you have five or more employees working together on a network, a server can provide a central location for your important files, shared applications, and other resources you regularly use, like project documents and even an image library. In addition, if you want to implement any of the following systems or applications you'll need a server:
• File and print server
• Microsoft Exchange system or other e-mail server
• Firewall or other security system
• Web site or company intranet
• Database
• ERP or CRM solution
• E-commerce solution

And these are just the tip of the iceberg. In general, if you need to put a computer system in place that processes, shares, or otherwise manages data, you'll need a server.

The right server for you

The questions of how a server differs from a desktop and when a server is the right hardware solution are easy to answer. But the answers to the remaining questions -- how much server you need to buy, what kind of configuration you need, and of course, how much it will all cost you in the end -- are based entirely on what you plan to use the server for. One of the significant benefits of servers is that you can customize their configurations to meet your very specific needs, so you can concentrate your money in those areas where you need it most.

It probably won't surprise you to find out that a server typically costs more than a desktop, but then again, a server is designed to do more than a desktop. It might, however, surprise you to find out a solid entry-level server doesn't cost that much more than a high-end desktop, and may fit more comfortably into your technology budget than you might have imagined. As you'll see in the Do it section, many file/print and Web servers (two of the most common uses for servers in small and medium businesses) come well equipped for a reasonable price.

The most important thing you can do to ensure that your server meets your needs and fits your budget is to devote a bit of time and energy to assessing those needs. Until you have a good understanding of exactly what you want to use your server for, you run the risk of not buying enough server power, or spending too much of your valuable budget on features you simply don't need. A little planning in the beginning can make for significant savings and proper equipment sizing in the end.

Planning to meet your server needs is an assessment activity that requires a bit of investigation on your part. Ultimately, you are trying to answer a number of "how much" and "what kind" questions:
• How many employees do you have?
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• What kind of software do you need for the number of people you have?
• How fast does the server need to process data (i.e., processor speed)?
• How many processors do you need? Some solutions require two or more.
• How much memory (RAM) do you need?
• How much hard disk space does data require, now and in the future?
• What kind of hard disk controller (SATA, SCSI, or SAS) do you need?
• Do you want a rack mount server or a tower?
• How many network interface cards do you need?
• Do you plan to attach additional backup and storage drives (tape or optical, for example) to your system?
• What level of RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) do you want to support?
• What kind of server management tools do you need?
• Do you want help getting your server set up?
• What level of maintenance and support do you need?

Assessing your needs

If you don't have answers for the list of questions above, how do you go about assessing your solutions needs? You have to evaluate several different aspects of the solution to get a complete picture you can use to find the right server to support it:
• The solution itself
• Software
• Data
• Users

Your solution

While you probably have a good idea of what kind of solution you are planning to create, the more details you can define for it, the easier it will be to choose the right hardware. For example, if you are building a file and print server you might ask:
• How many employees are in your company?
• How many and what kind of printers do you need to support?
• How much data do you have now?

If you are setting up a Microsoft Exchange server or other e-mail system, you might ask:
• What services do you need to support: e-mail, instant messaging, contact management?
• Do you plan to support mobile access to your e-mail?

In addition to defining how your solution will behave when it first goes into action, you need to consider any additions or changes you plan to make in the next few months or even a year. While your print server may only need to manage one or two printers initially, you may intend to grow it to support eight to twenty printers of varying types, including multifunction printers, scanners, and other printing and imaging devices. When you choose to buy a server for your initial implementation that will support future expansion, you save both time and money.

The software

If you plan on running a particular set of software packages on your server, such as a Web server or database, you should gather all of the pertinent details about those packages before you go server shopping. Most have very specific requirements for the kind of systems they need, including the best processor speed as well as a minimum amount of memory and hard disk space.

While the documentation for each software package includes these basic requirements, consider asking the software manufacturer or reseller for their advice on what kind of system to buy. It is in their best interest for your solution to succeed, and they have a lot of experience putting their software to work on different servers. Most can quickly and easily tell you what kind of server best supports their software when it runs alone and even in conjunction with other software packages. Typically, this help is free, so take advantage of it.

The data

How much data you have now and how much you'll generate over the life of the server will directly dictate how much storage space your server should offer. While defining exactly how much data you have, or how much you will have, for that matter, is much like shooting a moving target, there are ways to calculate some approximate numbers based on past history.

For example, if you plan to build a file server to hold documents currently scattered among many different desktop systems, add up the amount of space they take up and divide that by how long it took you to create them (in months, preferably). You'll have a good idea of how much storage space you need immediately, and you can calculate the average amount of data you create per month. Multiply that average by 24 or 36 months, and you'll have a good idea of how much storage space you'll need on your server in two or three years.

If you are creating a more complicated solution like a database-driven Web site, rely on your programming staff or consultants to help you define how much data the system will generate. Also, don't forget that your actual data isn't the only information your server will store. Any software you install will take up disk space, as will the server's operating system, so you have to take all of that into account when you consider drive space. The good news is that a reseller or sales associate can help you pull this all together.

Users and performance

Finally, you need to have a good idea of how many people will be working with your solution and how well it needs to operate for them. Both of these factors affect the horsepower (both processor speed and memory) your server needs. If your file and print servers will only have eight or 10 users, you won't need as much power. However, if it will have to support 50 to100 users your power needs will be more significant.

If you are building an intranet or a Web site, you need to have a rough estimate of how many people will visit the site per day. In addition, if you are building a database solution, how many people will be accessing the database at once?

Also, don't just think about how many users your system needs to support when you launch it. As with data, consider how many users you expect to support in six months, a year, or two years. You want to be sure that your server is ready to support an increasing number of users.

Tip: Depending on the complexity of the solution, you may have to evaluate each of these different aspects yourself, or the IT professionals building the solution may do it for you. If you are putting the solution together yourself (for an office file and print server or a small intranet, for example) assess your needs as completely as possible but don't be afraid to rely on a reseller, consultant, or other expert for help reviewing your work. They don't have to build the solution from soup to nuts to give you the benefit of their expertise, and the few hundred dollars you spend up front to buy a few hours of a professional's time could save you thousands of dollars down the road.

Intel Quad-Core Multi-Processor Servers

2007-09-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Intel Quad-Core Multi-Processor Servers

Intel Corporation has unveiled the industry's first quad-core processors specifically designed for multi-processor (MP) servers running applications requiring uncompromised performance, reliability and scalability. Such applications are typically run in virtualized environments for server consolidation and database uses, enterprise resource planning and business intelligence.

The six new Quad-Core Xeon® 7300 series processors can deliver more than twice the performance and more than three times the performance per watt over the company's previous generation dual-core products. They complete the company's speedy transition to its innovative and energy-efficient Core™ microarchitecture in less than 15 months. This platform's energy-efficient performance, coupled with enhanced virtualization capabilities, will enable customers to significantly lower their total cost of ownership.

The energy-efficient 7300 series includes frequencies up to 2.93GHz at 130 watts, several 80-watt processors and a 50-watt version optimized for four socket blades and high-density rack form factors with a frequency of 1.86GHz. The Intel® 7300 chipset with Data Traffic Optimizations provides a balanced platform design with several new technologies that enhance data movement between the processors, memory and I/O connections. HP delivered a new blade world record for SAP® Sales and Distribution (SD) Benchmark with a result of 3,500 SD users on a HP ProLiant BL680c G5 blade server with four Quad-core Intel® Xeon® processor model E7340s running at 2.4 GHz.

"Intel Xeon-based multi-processor servers are the backbone of the enterprise," said Tom Kilroy, Intel vice president and co-general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group. "With the Xeon 7300 series, Intel is delivering new levels of performance and performance per watt, and driving the Intel Core microarchitecture into such innovative systems as four-socket, 16-core blades that use less energy than our older models. It's simply amazing."

New Levels of Virtualization and Scalability
By delivering the benefits of the Intel Core Microarchitecture with quad-core performance and Intel® Virtualization Technology to these high-end servers, Intel is providing customers with an ideal platform for virtualization and server consolidation.

In addition to twice the cores, the 7300 series and Intel 7300 chipset offer up to four times the memory capacity of Intel's previous MP platforms, enabling very large consolidation ratios that can reduce space, power and operation costs.

With the introduction of the Xeon 7300, users will now be able to pool all of their Intel Core microarchitecture based server resources, whether they are single-, dual- or multi-processor based, into a dynamic virtual server infrastructure that allows live virtual machine migration that can improve usage models like failover, load balancing, disaster recovery, or server maintenance. The previously announced Intel VT FlexMigration will assist the seamless addition of Intel's next generation 45nm Core microarchitecture-based platforms to such resource pools.

"VMware and Intel have worked together to optimize VMware ESX Server on the Xeon 7300, resulting in new levels of performance for our combined solution," said Brian Byun, VMware's vice president, Global Partners and Solutions. "With the introduction of the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon Processor 7300 Series, our partners and customers benefit from increased platform choice and increased performance headroom from the new quad-core four-socket server systems. These advances in the Intel platform, combined with our joint work on enhancing VMware VMotion compatibility, means increased customer ROI and investment protection for building out their VMware virtual infrastructure." Using the VMmark benchmark, which measures virtualization performance, an Intel 7300 series-based system achieved the highest single-server virtualization metric.

A simultaneous release of a 50-watt processor, or 12.5-watt per core, will drive the production of energy-efficient ultra-dense deployments such as four-socket blade servers and dense rack form factors. Intel is also improving business productivity by offering configurations with large memory footprints and up to 32-way scalability.

Building on the leadership established by the Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series, the new Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 7300 series sets new world records on key industry-standard benchmarks:

HP delivered several world record results on its HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server. On the TPC-C benchmark, which measures database performance, HP shattered the previous record with a score of 407,079 tpmC at $1.71/tpmC using the Microsoft SQL Server Database. Using the SAP-SD benchmark, which measures ERP performance, the company set a new record with a score of 3705 SD users. On the SPECweb2005 benchmark, which measures web server performance, HP achieved an all-time record score of 30,261.

A Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY RX600 S4 server running BEA JRockit JVM delivered a record-breaking SPECjbb2005 result of 437,412 BOPS, 101 percent better than previous- generation Intel Xeon processor based platforms.

An IBM System x3850 M2 server using the SPECint_rate_base2006 benchmark, which measures integer throughput, set a new world record with a score of 184.

A Lenovo R630 G7 server using the SPECint_rate2006 benchmark, which measures "peak" integer throughput, set a new world record with a score of 214.

The Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7300 Series-based servers demonstrate outstanding virtualization capability by delivering up to 167 percent performance improvement compared to the previous generation of Intel processors. This result was achieved with Virtual Iron 4.0 Software running the vConsolidate benchmark.

Starting today, servers based on the Xeon 7300 series processors are expected to be announced by more than 50 system manufacturers, including Dell, Egenera, Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hitachi, HP, IBM, NEC, Sun, Supermicro, and Unisys. For channel customers looking for complete platforms based on these new processors, Intel offers the Intel® S7000FC4UR server platform. The platform delivers strong, scalable performance, expansive capacity and proven enterprise-class reliability for virtualization and consolidation.

Many software vendors are also supporting Xeon 7300 based platforms with innovative solutions enabling virtualization and scalable performance. These include BEA, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and VMware. In addition, the Solaris Operating System and thousands of applications that operate on it can immediately take advantage of the performance leadership of Intel Xeon 7300-based platforms offering an enterprise-class, mission-critical UNIX OS for Intel Xeon processor-based servers.

Web Hosting: VPS - Virtual Private Server

2007-09-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting: VPS - Virtual Private Server

A virtual private server (VPS, also referred to as Virtual Dedicated Server or VDS) is a method of partitioning a physical server computer into multiple servers that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine. Each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and each server can be independently rebooted.

The practice of partitioning a single server so that it appears as multiple servers has long been common practice in mainframe computers, but has seen a resurgence lately with the development of virtualization software and technologies for other architectures.

The physical server boots normally. It then runs a program that boots each virtual server within a virtualization environment (similar to an emulator). The virtual servers have no direct access to hardware and are usually booted from a disk image.

There are 2 kinds of virtualizations: software based and hardware based. In a software based virtualization environment, the virtual machines share the same kernel and actually require the main node's resources. This kind of virtualization normally has many benefits in a web hosting environment because of quota incrementing and decrementing in real time with no need to restart the node. The main examples are Virtuozzo (a product of swsoft.com), HyperVM (a product of lxlabs.com), and openvz which is the core kernel of both virtuozzo and hypervm.

In a hardware based virtualization, the virtualization mechanism partitions the real hardware resources and no burst and/or realtime quota modification is possible. The limits are hard and only modified after a restart. This kind of environment is more secure and is useful in enterprise/commercial usages. Examples include Microsoft Virtual Server, VMWare, and Xen.

Source: WP

Dedicated Web Hosting Service

2007-09-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dedicated Web Hosting Service

A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting where the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have full control over the server(s), including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. Server administration can usually be provided by the hosting company as an add-on service. In some cases a dedicated server can offer less overhead and a larger return on investment. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities, providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to colocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.

Source: WP

Types of Web Hosting

2007-09-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Types of Web Hosting

Hosting services limited to the Web:

Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.

Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. A shared website may be hosted with a reseller.

Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains, under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a provider. Resellers' accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server.

Virtual Dedicated Server: slicing up a server into virtual servers. each user feels like they're on their own dedicated server, but they're actually sharing a server with many other users. The users may have root access to their own virtual space.

Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. Another type of Dedicated hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full administrative access to the box, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated box.

Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (root access for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The server is leased to the client.

Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and expensive type of the web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or changes.

Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization.

Some specific types of hosting provided by web host service providers:

File hosting service: hosts not web pages but files
Image hosting service
Video hosting service
Blog hosting service
One-click hosting
Shopping cart software

Web Hosting: BlueHost Features - Still Growing

2007-09-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting: BlueHost Features - Still Growing

FEATURES INCLUDED / ALL ACCOUNTS - INCLUDED

Disk Storage - 300 GB
Host UNLIMITED Domains
Free Drag and Drop Site Builder
Free Domain Name
Support International Domain Names
POP3/POP3 Secure Email Support - 2,500
IMAP/Secure IMAP Email Support - 2,500
2 Different Web Based Email Solutions
Forwarding Email Accounts - Unlimited
Email Autoresponder - Unlimited
Gigs of Site Transfer - 3,000 GB/mo
Add-on Domains - Unlimited
Parked Domains - Unlimited
Subdomains - Unlimited
Additional FTP Accounts - 1,000
MySQL Databases - 50
PostgreSQL Databases - 50
CGI-BIN
CGI Library
Server Side Includes
Frontpage 2000/2002/2003 Extensions
Account "Control Panel"
FTP Access
Shell Access (SSH)
Override .htaccess Support
Anonymous FTP
Webmail (Browser Based Email)
Log Files + Site Stats
Customizable Error Pages
Web File Manager
Custom Cronjobs
Hotlink Protection
Spam Assassin Protection
Fantastico Script Support

CGI / DATABASES - INCLUDED

PHP Version 4 or 5 (Your Choice)
Perl 5
Python
Ruby / Ruby On Rails
Support For Custom PHP.INI Files
MySQL 5 Database Server
PostgreSQL Database Server
Javascript/ DHTML
Flash / Shockwave

FREE WEBSITE PLUG-IN SCRIPTS - INCLUDED

Message Forum (PHPBB and More)
Form-mail Scripts
PHP Nuke / Post Nuke
Guestbook (Multiple Options)
Web Blogs / Wordpress / b2evolution
Mailing Lists
Image Galleries / Coppermine
Poll and Survey Software
Web Auction Software
Moodle
Tikiwiki
Mambo and Joomla
phpForm Generator
Help Center/Support Ticket
and many others

E-COMMERCE FEATURES - INCLUDED

SSL Secure Server
OS Commerce Shopping Cart
Agora Shopping Cart
Cube Cart Shopping Cart
Zen Cart Shopping Cart
Free Generated Certificate
Password Protected Directories
OpenPGP / GPG Encryption

MULTIMEDIA FEATURES - INCLUDED

Supports Streaming Video
Supports Streaming Audio
Real Audio & Video Support
Flash Support
Macromedia Shockwave
MIDI File Support
Add Own MIME Types

WORLD CLASS TECHNOLOGY - INCLUDED

Quad Processor Performance Servers
Denial of Service Protection (DDOS)
UPS Power Backup
Diesel Generator Backup Power
Customized Apache Web Server
24/7 Network Monitoring
Storage Backups*
OC-48 Backbone Connection

SITE PROMOTION - INCLUDED

Search Engine Submission - FREE
Search Keyword Analyzer - FREE
Search Engine Position Report - FREE

BlueHost
1215 N. Research Way, #Q3500 Orem, UT 84097

Important Factors To Consider When Getting A Web-Hosting Company?

2007-08-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Important Factors To Consider When Getting A Web-Hosting Company?
By Patrick Sia

So, you want to start up an internet business. You are now ready to approach a web-hosting company for hosting your website.

Be selective when choosing your web hosting company. Web Hosting is not like buying groceries. Why, because there are a lot of areas that you have to consider even for a simple and straight forward web page.

It would be helpful to you if you could consider the following areas when approaching your potential web hosting company I have also included some of the rational behind just for your knowledge.

Any sound customer support systems in place?
Nowadays, there are many web-hosting providers in the market. Some of them serve their customers promptly while some don't.

One of thing you could do here is to ask some pre-sales questions. Wait and see their response period. The industry standard calls for 24hrs respond time. If they do not respond within 24 hrs, you may likely do not have a good services in future if you subscribe to their host.

Knowing their Server systems, technology, Data Centers, and Back-up schedules. Web-hosting provider typically uses a server to host the websites which forms his basic infrastructure. Back-systems are scheduled to run automatically and these servers are backed-up as frequently as daily with some hosting providers.

Check out with your potential hosting company what kind of technology they use and whether they have any reliable back-up systems at traceable data-centers. You could also check out whether they are equipped technically and whether they have technical people on roll.

Understanding their company data, financial standing and profitability: You must be thinking what is it to do with the web-hosting provider's financial standing. This is just to make sure that you will not be talking to that fly-by-night operator.

Checking the scope of service provided
Of course, you must also know what type of services your potential web hosting company can offer to you. Do they have the range to suit your requirements with your allocated budgets?

If you intend to expand your internet business, you may like to check with them different application platforms such as forum, shopping carts, autoresponder, etc Some of the web hosting company may have difficulties providing autoresponder.

If you intend to add in video, audio clips, and those interactive contents into your webpage, you will need to more about the bandwidth that they will be providing.

Hosting reliability and up-time guarantee
This is the most important areas that you should be consider. What is Up-time? Up-time is the time (expressed in percentages) the host is available to access through the Internet.

You would have seen a lot of hosting providers mention a 99.9 % up-time guarantee. But then, you ought to realize that any hosting application environment calls for maintenance too. You should ask how the web-hosting provider manages to shuffle this time efficiently and how do they manage their maintenance.
Patrick Sia is the man behind Income-Internet-Business.com. He's a passionate believer in the power of technology to better the lives of everyone and his passion and drive are hallmarks of his attitude to doing business.

Check out more about him @ http://www.income-internet-business.com/blog and http://www.income-internet-business.com for his step-by-step guide to startup a successful internet business.

Source: Patrick Sia

Bluehost: What you should know

2007-08-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

BlueHost has been providing hosting solutions to thousands of business and personal web sites since 1996. BlueHost internet hosting package helps businesses and individuals get high-powered service at a fraction of the cost.

With BlueHost you can depend on:

Highest customer service
Quality equipment
Maximum guaranteed uptime
Highly functional tools for adminstration
The leading feature set available
Secure and reliable backups
Solid and honest business

They can provide you the highest level of support with a friendly and patient support staff waiting to address your needs. The veteran hosting team knows what it takes to be the best and how to help make your site a success.

BlueHost
1215 N. Research Way, #Q3500 Orem, UT 84097

Bluehost: Whats in a user interface?

2007-08-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Bluehost: Whats in a user interface?

By Matt Heaton
President of Bluehost.com

With the release of the iPhone a couple of days ago I started thinking a lot about user interfaces and what makes them good or bad. The Iphone is an interesting example to evaluate because for the most part it doesn’t bring a single new technology to the cell phone/smart phone market. The reason everyone is so excited about it is because Apple is known for fantastic user interfaces and an uncompromising commitment to the customer experience. Are there phones available with more features than the Iphone for less money? Sure, but I don’t want to use most of them because while the features are great they are mostly a pain to use. This is bad news for companies like Microsoft, Palm, and Blackberry who rely on users lust for features to continue the relentless upsell of their latest products.

A good user interface opens up possibilities that previously were either too difficult or too cumbersome to do before. Microsoft should be thanking Apple for opening a market that they have been unable to bring to fruition themselves, the fusion of the cell phone and music player. There are many devices that do this now, but none have gained significant traction and most are a pain to use and/or the pricing structure is the equivalent of a slap in the face of the customer. Users that see how easy it is to do things that they previously hated to do (Like listen to voicemail) on their old phones will see how much better the experience can be when the user interface isn’t an afterthought for the company bringing a product to market.

So how does this affect Bluehost? It doesn’t really except to say that we realize that some of our user interfaces are good while others are terrible. We know our “Domain Manager” is in desperate need of a complete redesign (Already in the works), and a new control panel layout is already on the way and will be rolled out soon. It is always a hard decision to know what to show the customer and what to keep hidden, while still giving them control over all that they want to change. I hope we do a fairly good job in most respects, but feel free to comment and tell what what user interface changes need to happen sooner than later at Bluehost to keep you a happy customer.

BlueHost
1215 N. Research Way, #Q3500 Orem, UT 84097

Web Hosting - Don't Let It Make You Crazy

2007-08-19T08:26:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting - Don't Let It Make You Crazy
By C. Brown

So... it's time to build your first web site. You've used a software application to create a simple page, and now you're trying to figure out how to get the doggone thing online. Where do you go to do that, anyway?

It can be maddening to try to figure this process out when you're new to this game. But, as someone who's built close to 150 sites, let me share with you a little bit of my experience in the constantly evolving world of hosting.

Once upon a time, a web hosting account allowed you to put up a single web site, and everyone was really happy with this arrangement. But, as the web grew and folks wanted to put up more than just a single site, the idea of paying to host each individual site became much less attractive. The ability to host multple sites has been around for some time now...but it looks a bit different than it did even three years ago. There are three popular hosting models. The names may change, but the hosting packages most companies offer are identical to or slight variations of these three:

Shared Hosting: These accounts can be very affordable...starting at less than 5 dollars a month. There is one master domain...the one you sign up with originally...and then your "add-on" domains are actually located in subfolders inside this root site. That's not visible to the outside world...which is good, because who wants a web address like http://www.mymainsite.com/myothersite?

The upside to this type of package is the features and the price. The best hosting companies really load up on stuff (much of which you'll never use) to prove that they are the best.

The downside is that you are sharing resources with a TON of other people. So if you're on the same server with someone who is using a ton of bandwidth and processor power...the performance of your sites tend to suffer. With the better hosting companies...the ones who keep an eye on those who drain resources, this can be less of a problem. So a good shared hosting arrangement can be the very best option for some people.

Virtual Private Server: The VPS option is a step up from Shared Hosting. There are still multiple clients on the same server...but the boundaries between you are enhanced significantly. You have a certain amount of "protected memory" (set aside just for you) and the processor has the similar boundaries set up so that others can't steal all its power.

Upside: Higher guarantee of performance. Cheaper than dedicated hosting.

Downside: It can be pricey. Full-featured, high-capacity VPS hosting will easily slip into the $50-100 per month range.

Dedicated Hosting: This is when you lease an entire server for your purposes. There are two levels of dedicated servers...an unmanaged server or a managed server. If you know how to manage a server, you're probably not reading this article, because you know way more than I do already. But there are server administrators that you can hire to do that for you...although it will probably cost you at least $50-100 per month for that service. A managed server can become amazingly expensive...up to several hundred dollars a month. But those who are very serious about their online business sometimes find that it's necessary to be able to control virtually all eventualities.

Upside: Almost total control. And for the few things you can't do yourself (like pull the plug out of the back of the computer and plug it back in), there's usually someone on-site who can.

Downside: Price and complexity.

So...for the most part, you will want to begin with Shared Hosting. If you outgrow that, try a Virtual Private Server. And when you're making hand-over-fist...that's the time to look into managed servers.

Best of luck in your journey!

You can read more about web hosting companies here: Quality, Affordable Web Hosting? - My Experience, where I "name names" of the good and the not-so-great, based on my personal experience.

Chuck Brown is the father of two and husband of one and lives in the Central Ohio area. He makes his living primarily as a male voice talent. He also enjoys developing web sites on topics in which he has a personal interest. You can see many of those sites by visiting TornBread.com.

Source: C. Brown

Web Hosting - Don't Let It Make You Crazy

Platform Compatibility

2007-08-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Platform Compatibility
By Maneet Puri

'Platform Compatibility’, in literal terms means something which needs a platform to function and is able to function well on various platforms is called Platform Compatibility. Generally this term is used while talking about software applications, where the platform is the operating system installed on the computer on which the application will run. Windows, Linux, Unix, OS/2, IBM, Solaris, Mac etc are the platforms available for different configuration and types of computers. Of these Windows and Linux are commonly known and Mac also takes a good share of popularity.

What makes an application platform compatible? – The choice of tools opted for developing the application. To elaborate say I wish to deploy a web based application, which will be a CRM system to back my business. Now I say I will use PHP as scripting language and MySQL as the database server. The application developed is platform compatible for Windows as well as Linux because both these support PHP as well as MYSQL. But if I would have opted ASP.NET and MS SQL server for development then would have needed a Windows platform to host it, it can not run on Linux platform. Any programming language developed is done for a specific platform then it is enhanced to be supported on different Platforms. If we talk about PHP it was developed for Linux, but now there are compilers available for Windows as well, whereas .NET is developed for Windows platform and till date it does not have complier that can be installed on a Linux server.

Thus if an application is platform compatible or not will depend on language opted for development. With the change of platform definitely certain things do change but mostly it remains the same. When I say few things it means handling of environmental variables, accomplishment of database connectivity etc. Please do note that these examples may vary from language to language but I have mentioned this keeping PHP in mind. What is the reason for platform incompatibility? – The main reason for this is the kernel(core of the operating system) being used by different operating system is designed in a different manner. Since the kernel is different so it would need the compilers to be installed on it to function and work depending on it. And if there is a language that runs of different platforms it means that it has a different compiler for different platforms.

Since I am more associated with web based application, thus for its context I would say if you are looking to deploy a website that will have huge database with it then PHP as scripting language with MySQL as database server is the best option. The application that will be developed using this combination can run on Windows as well as Linux. In other words PHP with MySQL is the combination of choice when deploying a web based application and giving consideration to platform compatibility. While talking about websites some times the term platform compatibility also means that website being deployed functions properly on all browsers – Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, FireFox, Opera etc.

Maneet Puri - 10 years of industry experience has made him expert in all aspects of deploying a web based softwares or applications It could be web design, web development, SEO or SEM. This not just enables him to develop & promote any website rather also enables him to act as a consultant for his clients to convert their requirement into a workable solution. Now he is heading a Web Development company, based in India with roots from the UK

Source: Maneet Puri

Platform Compatibility

Top 10 - Web Hosting Service Providers

2007-08-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

Top 10 - Web Hosting Service Providers
By Vikram Grewal

These Ratings are determined on
1.How many people use this services and how happy they are with it.
2.The Rates and Services included
3.Server up time and Maintenance Problems
4.Reviews from websites such as top10webhosting.com, web-hosting-top.com, webhostinggeeks.com, top-10-web-hosting.com
5.The past Records of the service providers counts too
6.Free services like free domain name schemes to just sell the hosting are NOT counted

#1.Hostmonster
#2.BlueHost
#3.LunarPages
#4.Yahoo Web Hosting
#5.GoDaddy
#6.IX WebHosting
#7.StartLogic
#8.PowWeb
#9.Dot5Hosting
#10.HostGator

Note - We have selected / reviewed 10 best web hosting companies from some of the world top webhosting companies. All the hosting services we reviewed are reliable web hosting company supporting Apache, Python, PHP 4 or 5, MySQL 4, Microsoft FrontPage extension and email (including webmail). Most runs on Linux and Windows.

Web Hosting services is a very competitive industry, some hosts are giving very cheap web hosting rate (as low as $4.95! ), including reduced first year fee, free months, discount coupon, free fist year, rebate and etc. You can easily find a very cheap hosting from $4~$10 per month.

Listing below are the best web hosting services support PHP, MySQL, Python, FrontPage web hosting and almost all of it are linux web hosting. Web hosting companies has been selected based on popularity, performance, feature, support quality and price. Higher rating hosting are usually has better feature over price ratio. All hosting plan below can host any domain name including .com, .org, .net, .co.uk, .co.jp, .tv, .ws , .com.au, .com.sg, .it and etc. and etc.
More on Top 10 Ratings of everything at Top 10 Ratings

Source: Vikram Grewal

Top 10 - Web Hosting Service Providers

Web Hosting: Hosting Internet Provider Service - Discover What You Need To Know

2007-08-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting: Hosting Internet Provider Service - Discover What You Need To Know
By Doug E Churchill

Hosting your own website may be the beginning of a new business or even an expansion to your already growing one. That is why when it comes to choosing your hosting Internet provider service a lot of consideration and thought goes into choosing the best provider to host your website. Because of this I have created an easy formula to ease the process of sorting out the many different hosting Internet provider service available. The formula consists of first understanding what kind of hosting Internet provider service you are looking for then from that compare different providers with the service you are looking for by sorting them out by price, reliability, and benefits.

Let’s start off with understanding what exactly you need in a webpage in order to better sort out a price range. For example if you are looking for a hosting Internet provider service that will provide you with over 300 GB of web space and large amount of monthly transfer volume, you are facing costs of about 20 dollars per month. However if you are only looking for beginner work that does not require so much web space or transfer volume, you are looking at a price range of around 4 dollars a month. Nevertheless, if you need a hosting Internet provider service that will give you something in-between being a beginner or developer the price range will be of around 5 dollars to 10 dollars a month.

After understanding what type of website you want to create you may then go on to compare the different hosting Internet provider service companies. By this point you will only be comparing providers in the same cost range and only comparing what type features they may offer. For example some hosting Internet provider service may offer a package with more included domains, however offer less starting webs space, another package form a different provider may offer exactly the opposite. Many web hosting providers often offer large quantities of email accounts for each domain, majority of the time users only end up using maximum of 10 or 15 of the 4000 email accounts offered. Features like these are not really important and can help when deciding which hosting Internet provider service to choose.

As you may have noticed these are just a few tips one must take into consideration when choosing a hosting Internet provider service. There are many more different techniques to find the best hosting providers Nevertheless sticking to the basics of comparing your need, then obtaining your price range you can compare the different features for each hosting provider.
Doug Churchill is constantly trying to help you find the best internet service providers To find free reviews of different Internet service providers such as, Satellite Internet, Cable and DSL, visit http://www.lowcost-isps.com

Source: Doug E Churchill

Web Hosting: Hosting Internet Provider Service - Discover What You Need To Know

Deciding On The Best Web Hosting Company

2007-08-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

Deciding On The Best Web Hosting Company
By Colin Meunier

We hosting is provided to individuals by companies that have a server to hold much space for websites. Then host your webpages up there for a fee. These companies will usually rent you this space for a monthly fee.

Remember that not all web hosting companies are created equally either. Are you shopping on price or quality? You have heard it said before in other situations that you always get what you pay for. This is true when it comes to web hosting. Now I suppose it also depends on what you figure is expensive or not when it comes to hosting a website.

There are many things to consider when you want to choose the best web hosting company for your business website. Here are just a few of my highly recommended things to consider when you decide on the best web hosting company.

Support – is probably the very most important thing to consider in my books. If there ever happens to be a problem with your web hosting or website while being hosted on someone else server, then you are going to want to know there is going to be someone there to give you support. I prefer to have live online chat support or even by telephone, other than just an email conversation. I want to make sure I get my problems solved as soon as possible is something goes wrong.

Phone numbers – You want to make sure that you web hosting company does have a phone number that you can call if you need to talk to someone. If you need to talk to someone and you do not have Internet connection at the time or if their website happens to be down you are going to want a way to contact them.

Help Desk – you want to make sure that the web hosting company has a 24 hour help desk support system. This way you can know that your support ticket will get to them, as sometimes emails do not always go though.

Emergency pager – This is a feature that not many companies have. What this is is a way to contact your web hosting company if your website happens to be down or you been hacked or something that needs their attention right away and you do not want wait till the next day. The company that I use has a pager system and each employee will take turns with the pager and if it even happens to be 3:00am and you have a problem that needs attention then you know if will be solved in 5 minutes just by sending a page to them.

So these are just a few key things to consider when you want to choose the best web hosting company to host your business websites. When your website is for your business you do not want to mess around and get the best that you can possibly get.
Colin Meunier is a Successful Home Business Coach and Mentor! To learn more on how to start or become more successful in your home business online Visit: http://www.WhoIsColinMeunier.com & http://www.colinmeunier.com/blog

Source: Colin Meunier

Why Your Web Content Should Be Professionally Handled

2007-08-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

Why Your Web Content Should Be Professionally Handled
By Samantha Cummings

Do you own a business? Could your business use more money and more customers? Did you know that you may be losing potential customers because of your web content? When consumers click on the link that takes them to your site, that first page they see will make or break you. This is unfortunate, but how your website writing looks is what you are first judged on. The information on the page might be more valuable than gold, but if there are errors in your content, that potential customer will leave. It's true! Research has been done that shows that potential customers are less likely to trust you and your product or service if your writing is 'left wanting.'

If your web writing contains grammatical errors, or the layout is wrong, you could be losing valuable money. Consumers take one look at a site. The impression they get has almost everything to do with them leaving your site, or becoming a customer. That's where the help of a professional writer comes in.

A professional writer knows how to set up your content so that it draws the consumer's eye. Making your writing easier to read, and in an attractive layout will help you make more money. A professional writer can clean up any errors in grammar, and typos. This ensures that your customer trusts you and your expertise on the subject. The truth is, most business people just don't have time to go through every last letter to ensure perfection. This is a professional writer's thing, though.

Writers who are experienced in producing web content for businesses know what a customer is thinking. They know what works, and what will gain customers and money. The truth is, with a great writer, you have the potential of earning up to $50.00 for every $1.00 that you pay the professional! That is a huge return. That's why a professional writer is so valuable. Successful business people understand that a professional writer will help them make more money, and this is why business people rarely do their own writing anymore.

The great thing about hiring a professional writer is that this will free up your time, leaving you to focus on more important aspects of your work. If your toilet was spraying water from all sides, would you jump right in there and try to fix it? No way, you would call a plumber. The same goes for your web content writing. You are a smart and sharp business person, but the professional writer sells his or her writing for a living. They know exactly what a customer needs to see, and how to make sure that you will make more money. This is why the demand for writers is so high. Check one out today, and start making more money!
Samantha Cummings is a professional freelance writer, with experience in producing content for businesses. She is fast and great at what she does, and has helped many clients boost up their sales and customer bases. For more information, go to http://www.freewebs.com/writeforyou

Source: Samantha Cummings

A Practical Guide To Choose A Reliable Website Hosting Company

2007-08-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

A Practical Guide To Choose A Reliable Website Hosting Company
By Hernan Varela

As many of you know, my company sells e-business applications all over the world. Many times we found customers that, in addition to an e-business application, they need a hosting service. In order to give an end to end service, we offer our customers a hosting service based on resellers plans that we frequently purchase online. Other customers what to purchase their hosting plans themselves separately from our services, and so they asked us how to choose between the different available hosting companies.

Here is my practical guide to choose a reliable hosting company. I’ve to admit that, since using these techniques, we never have a problem with any of the hosting companies that we resell.

1. Select the server operative system you need.
Before you start choosing the best hosting company, you should know if you need a Windows hosting or a Linux one. This depends on the application that you’ll host there. Ask your programmers and designers which server type you need; they’ll probably help you with this subject. Even some Windows servers also support PHP and MySQL, if you really need a Linux plan, it’s better to get a Linux plan and not a Windows one that supports Linux extensions.

2. Determine the amount of space you need.
Nowadays, almost all hosting plan has a huge amount of disk space and data transfer. But still exists some MINI plans that both features are not too high. Perhaps you are planning to host a small application and you only need a great amount of data transfer; maybe you are planning to host lot of media (images, videos, etc) and you require extra space. Before start looking for a hosting company, you should estimate the amount of disk space and data transfer that you business will need, at least, for the next year. You can also get help for your programmers and designers.

3. Search for well known hosting companies.
Once you know the server system you need (Windows, Linux, etc), and the disk pace / data transfer require for your business, you can start searching the web for companies that provides the hosting services. Don’t get into panic. You’ll find thousand companies that can be your potential hosting providers, but be sure that only a few deserve that responsibility. The best way for searching companies, is by recommendation. Ask your colleagues, talk with other companies and let them tell you their experience with their hosting providers. At this point, I recommend you to open a spreadsheet and gather all the information you find for each company in order to help you taking the final decision. It’s very important to pay attention and see if the company offers a plan that fits your need.

4. Find hosting reviews.
Once you get a list of potential hosting providers, you can star looking how other people rated that hosting companies. There are many hosting reviews sites: FindmyHost.com, TopHosts.com, WebHostMagazine.com, RateMyHost.com, WHReviews.com, etc. You can find many good and bad comments over there. Some of them could be totally invented in order to position a company on the top; some of them are real costumers’ comments. Just check that reviews and see if how many good/bad comments that those companies have and make your appreciation.

5. Test their service.
Finally, here’s the most important task in the process of choosing a reliable hosting company. As you could see, all hosting companies say that they have a 24x7 support. But.., is that really true? Here’s what I used to do:

I tried to contact those companies in some special holidays, for instance, on December the 24th, near midnight, or the day after. I also contact them on December the 31st near midnight, or the day after. I also check where in the world the hosting datacenter is located and figure which holidays that country have. For instance, if the company is located in the US, I contact them on July the 4th. I used to talk to a representative, via chat, or phone and ask them some commercial doubts.

Just figure this: If a hosting company has a commercial people waiting for your call or chat during that special days (and pays for that, of course), probably they also have a support team in the same moment in order to attend any customer call or requirements. So, they seem to be really prepared for any inconvenience, anytime, 24x7. In the other hand, If a company does not pay a commercial representative to be online and ready for your call or chat during that special moments, we can not infer too much about their support area, but clearly they do not have all their critical (sales and support) staff 24x7.

This is the most important part of any decision process for a hosting company. Test their service, especially their commercial one, during those hours and days that you know that almost everyone are celebrating, or sleeping. If they can attend you it’s because there’s somebody that will listen to you anytime. I did a matrix decision with many hosting companies and I frequently updated it with this information. Many of them fail on the fifth evaluation point. In order to end this article, if you need my personal recommendation, maybe there are many other really good hosting companies, some of them cheaper, but, up today, we trusted our hosting in the following companies that have really good qualifications: WebHostingbuz.com, HostGator.com and Rexoy.net. If you are looking for a reliable hosting company, just follow this practical guide and do not base your decision only in the hosting price.

You can also find this article in www.goingebusiness.com
Hernan Varela is co-funder of Latinvia, a company that provides software as a service. He helps writing articles for http://www.GoingeBusiness.com

Source: Hernan Varela

Advice on Building Your Own Website

2007-08-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

Advice on Building Your Own Website
By Roger Theron

So you want to build your own website, but where do you start? Once you decide that your company will benefit by going online, you should know that building a website requires a lot of time, hard work and dedication. The most important part of building your website is the planning stage; only once you've put all your ideas on paper can you move forward with purpose.

The First Step, Choosing a Domain Name
Choosing a domain name for your website can be exciting but also exasperating. It is easy enough to find a domain name which is catchy and suits your company, but is it available? The best and most obvious domain names are often already taken, which leaves you back at square one. The best way to go about choosing a domain name is to brainstorm a few ideas; sometimes it's the most obvious or descriptive domain names that are available to register.

Now Register It
Once you've checked the availability of your chosen domain name you should register it to make sure that somebody else doesn't beat you to it. If you're aiming to receive South African traffic on your website you can register your domain name as a .co.za site and if you're aiming for global traffic you can register as a .com website. You may find that your domain name is available as a .co.za, but not as a .com or vice versa. Consider choosing a domain name that is available in both, so that if your website grows you have the option of transforming it into a .com site, also, if a visitor mistakes your URL they won't land on someone else's page.

You can register yourself or you can ask a web hosting company to do it on your behalf, provided that they register the domain in your name. This is crucial if you wish to switch service providers at a later stage. Site registration takes between 24 and 72 hours for the process to be completed after which your site will go live. Once it's live, everybody who navigates to your URL will be able to see your website.

Finding a Web Host
There are a lot of web hosting companies out there, so when searching for the ideal web host for your site, get quotes from a number of hosting companies. It's always better to get a second opinion - and even better if you get a third, fourth and fifth.

Some web hosting companies ask you to sign annual contracts which means that you won't be able to get rid of them if you're not happy with their service, so before you sign anything, check them out thoroughly. Support is typically the number one priority, so look into this aspect very carefully; call or e-mail the support team of a prospective host to see what the response is like.

Make sure that the host is established and that their business is stable. Look at the quality and locality of their data centres. If you don't know anything about data centres, ask an expert so that all the relevant questions can be asked. Make sure that their hardware and software packages are up to standard and that their network platform is reliable. You don't want constant crashes when your website is up and running, so do your homework well.

Adding Content to Your Site
Building a website is not a once off event; it is an ongoing business process, requiring a commitment to maintenance. The more time and effort you are willing to put in, the more reward you will get out. It is difficult to get a site to start off with a bang, so continue adding content if you want to see traffic increasing.

You have to please your target market, so naturally your content should be centred around what your target market wants to read. Do your research and find the topics that your prospective customers want to read about.

Steer clear of Flash, unless you know exactly what you are doing; the design of your site is typically not as important as the content. People would much rather pay attention to the type of articles you have posted on your site than images that move around the screen. Having said that, good design should not to be neglected, because you can have the best content on your website, but if the layout and overall look of your site is not appealing then the content won't look appealing either. A great website will have the balance of both; excellent content and a creative design.

Contact Details
When setting up a website you're going to need an email address so that your visitors can contact you. Registering your own domain name means you can use the name for email too. It is important that you use a company or business email in order to portray a professional image. These are just guidelines to get you started, but they are not set rules. It's not about following rules; it's about playing around with the web and finding a formula that works for you. Once your website is off the ground all you'll need is content and the World Wide Web's your oyster.
Hetzner is a South African web hosting company that takes pride in exceptional customer service. Consistently delivering the best service and web hosting packages, Hetzner has grown to become the largest specialised web hosting company in South Africa.

Source: Roger Theron

Top 10 Web Hosting Blunders and How to Avoid Them

2007-08-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Web Hosting Blunders and How to Avoid Them
By Michael Turner

Consider the following web hosting blunders and do not allow yourself to make these mistakes that can have a seriously negative impact on your website.

Blunder #1 - Contact Information

Make sure your web host has contact information available to you 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. This should be in the form of phone numbers as well as e-mail addresses that correspond to the web host domain name. Make sure you are dealing with a real company that is serious about both their business and yours.

Blunder #2 - Lots of Bandwidth

If you are using a free or cheap web host then more than likely you will not have a lot of bandwidth which could cause you problems with your website. Even if you have to pay a little bit more money, it is worth it to gain additional bandwidth. Make sure you ask about this before signing up with a web host.

Blunder #3 - Generous Disk Space

Many times people find a cheap or free web host and just sign up without ever checking for the amount of disk space. A questing to ask yourself, what happens when the diskspace is filled up? Make sure that the hosts you are considering provide generous amounts of diskspace, if it is limited you might consider using a web host that is larger and offers more services.

Blunder #4 - Web Host Domain Name

Make sure the company domain name matches the web host company name before giving out your credit card information or hosting your website with them. On the Internet it is up to you to decide whether a company is legitimate or not, check out the domain and company name to find a match to be sure.

Blunder #5 - Security

Regardless of the web host you use and your website design you must ensure that you have secure websites for purchases where people will enter the banking and or credit card information. If your site does not appear to be secure, customers will leave. You want to avoid this at all costs and go to all lengths to make customers feel secure and confident buying from your site.

Blunder #6 - Plan Ahead

Make sure you have a plan for the future and an idea of your websites growth. Without this you could run into some serious problems if you outgrow your website, shopping cart, or bandwidth too quickly and do not have a plan on how to handle things. Make a plan for slow, medium ,and fast growth so you will know what to do in every situation.

Blunder #7 - Slow Server

Make sure you web page loads within 10 seconds for a 56 k modem. If not, then people will leave your site before the page ever opens. The reason for this is people are looking for instant gratification on the Internet. If you cannot provide them with the information that they want in a timely fashion, they will leave. It's as simple as that.

Blunder #8 - Design

Make sure that whatever web host you use allows you to design your site for ultimate success. If there are any rules or regulations regarding your site design that will possibly impact your sales and the way customers perceive your site then find another host. There are plenty to choose from.

Blunder #9 - Checkout

Ensure the checkout process is clear, easy, and to the point. People want to buy their products without giving you a ton of personal information. Let them do that or simply make certain fields optional if you are trying to conduct market research.

Blunder # 10 - URL

You want your own personal URL that reflects your business and services. Do not use a free host that gives you some kind of space using their URL with some additional information at the end of the URL that directs it to you. Spend the money and get your own URL that is unique, easy to use, and says something about your company. It will be worthwhile.
Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Source: Michael Turner

MySQL Web Hosting Package - What To Look For

2007-07-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

MySQL Web Hosting Package - What To Look For
By Lee Brooker

So your branching out into a MySQL web hosting package and your wondering where to start and which package will best suit your business.

Most MySQL web hosting packages are coupled with PHP, this enables the web designer to create dynamic web sites as opposed to the normal standard text and image web sites you probably have seen every where.

Depending on how much you are willing to spend determines the amount of MySQL databases that you get. If you are just branching out into this area of web site creation then 1 or 2 MySQL databases are enough . Besides its always better to walk before you can run in this business.

If you do not already know then a MySQL is a vendor for the SQL system. SQL stands for Structured Query Language. There are many vendors for SQL like MS Windows, Oracle etc.. MySQL is the most popular open source database server in existence. On top of that, it is very commonly used in conjunction with PHP scripts to create dynamic and powerful server applications.

Remember though when purchasing a MySQL Web hosting package that you find out if the server your MySQL is on is either shared or dedicated.

A shared server limits you to what you can do, for example a MySQL web hosting package that is hosted on a shared server, (by shared I mean used by other web sites also) you may not be able to access your database from anywhere but your own pc.

So if you have the type of business that requires you to be on the move most of the time make sure you have a dedicated server for your MySQL web hosting package. Also a dedicated server means there is less likelihood of the system crashing when you need it most! And of course the extra bandwidth space which comes with your own server.

So make sure you get the right MySQL web hosting package for your business.
Find Out More About The VodaHost Experience Here http://hubpages.com/hub/reliable_web_hosting_service

Source: Lee Brooker

ASP Web Hosting

2007-07-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

ASP Web Hosting
By Kristy Annely

In any ASP Web Hosting plan, some standard features are provided depending on the type you opt for. You can compare the features that are provided for the different plans offered. Email, databases and other technological features have to be carefully scrutinized before you choose a plan.

An ASP Web hosting will provide you with a limited number of email accounts for the starter plans. For enterprise plans, you may get unlimited email accounts. The space allotted for your emails plays an important role in the amount of emails that you can retain in your server. If this is less space then expected, you have to use an email client that can download your emails from the server periodically.

A WebMail feature is provided by most of the ASP web hosts that enables you to check your email online using your browser. You can check the email forwarding, email aliasesand email auto response features. A ‘catch all e-mail’ feature is also provided by many ASP web host providers. Nowadays, with an increase in spam mail, you have to look for anti-spam filtering feature in your ASP Web Hosting plan. Anti-Virus protection is also one that cannot be neglected.

If you need your web application to have databases, so that you can create dynamic database driven websites, then you have to look for the type of database that is supported by ASP web hosting. By default, all the ASP web hosting providers give support to MS Access database. If you need a more robust database like the MS SQL Server, then you may have to pay an additional fee for that feature. You can ask for an Enterprise Manager or a Web-Based SQL Manager to manage the database on your own. mySQL is another commonly available free database that is used for web applications. For an ASP Web Hosting with a database, you can also look for ADO/ADO.Net, OLEDB, MDAC2.8, and ODBC.Net support.
ASP Hosting provides detailed information on ASP Hosting, Cheap ASP Hosting, Free ASP Hosting, ASP Web Hosting and more. ASP Hosting is affiliated with Web Server Hosting.

Source: Kristy Annely

Web Hosting on Shared Reseller Accounts

2007-07-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Web Hosting on Shared Reseller Accounts
By Ajeet Khurana

These days, everyone wants to build a website. Domain names are the latest craze when it comes to the virtual world. The story goes that one can make millions by just fidgeting on the computer. True or false, most people are ready to believe it. Everyone wants to make a quick buck, and if the Internet is the one making the offers, let us all just keep on lapping it up.

However, having a website is not all that easy. There are several things that one has to take care of. A successful website needs a lot of attention. After all, it is the online equivalent of any other business that you might have. You might be an online loan provider or you could be more interested in providing content. No matter what your motives, you are going to have to use the processes of the Internet world. And one of the first things that you are going to have to take care of is web hosting.

Now before you move off to actually finding a low priced hosting deal, decide what type of web hosting would suit you best. There are three basic types of hosting services. These are the free, shared, and reseller hosting services. Free web hosting should not be used if you want to have a very successful website. If you want services that offer you more facilities, you are going to have to pay for them.

A shared web hosting service uses the same server as several other sites. On the other hand, in reseller web hosting, the website owner himself can host his own sites. The web hosting service that you ultimately choose would come to depend entirely on your ability and resources.

When looking for a low priced web hosting service, look on the Internet for great deals. Fairly recently, I stumbled upon a site named Hostgator which provided web hosting services. While going through the site, I came across a lot of great deals which offered good discounts. I made sure that I checked out Hostgator shared hosting for I did feel that this was an option that required a lot less stress. Having done that, I also found myself studying the offers available at the Hostgator reseller hosting section.

Building a website is not child's play anymore. It is serious business. And if you want it to become profitable, you need to find the ideal web hosting service.
Get Hostgator Shared Hosting, Hostgator Reseller Hosting at Hostgator.

Source: Ajeet Khurana