WEB HOSTING REVIEWS

Reviews and advice on Web hosting, Web hosting providers, and reseller hosting will be posted soon.......


If you are seriously engaged in blogging, it is always recommended to have your own domain and preferably Wordpress hosted on it.Many Internet friends and some blogging professionals recommended me to have my own domain.Webtalks is making enough bucks for me to buy hosting and a domain for it.I'm a big WP fan and I too want to join the self hosted Wordpress community.Still there are few reasons that restrict me

• Domain Age.With the blast of links everyday towards this blog (say thanks to templates), I believe Google will put this blog in the Sandbox.Since I'm currently on Blogger, Google counts the domain age of blogspot.com which well is a pretty old one(1999).
  
• Time.As a student it isn't easy to come online everyday.Which leaves me with two alternatives.Either sell off my blog like Rishi did or keep the posts on blogger till I pass out.I'm not comfortable selling this blog as this is connected to my Google Account.So keeping it live on Blogger is the only option(Don't say that I can also delete the blog).
  
• Hosting.Though many web hosting providers promise 0% downtime, still there is a risk.On blogger, I haven't yet encountered any downtime for this blog.Blogger currently gives undisclosed bandwidth to its blogs, so no problems how much traffic I receive when I'm absent

Top 10 of High Quality Web Hosting with Free Domain and Setup.

We have selected 10 major web hosting companies by pricing, reliability and support.
At affordable rates they offer fast and reliable web hosting with lot of options included.
You will find that you can save a lot of money by choosing a quality company from this
Hosting Top 10. These companies offer hosting plans with free domains and no setup fees.

Reviews and advice on Web hosting, Web hosting providers, and reseller hosting will be posted soon.......

Top 10 Web Hosting Providers - Best Web Hosts 2008


1. BlueHost Host Unlimited Domains in 1 account
Web hosting reviews of web hosting provider offering Unlimited Disk Space, Unlimited Data Transfer, 2500 POP3 Email Resources, 100 MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, SSL, Stats, CGI, PHP, Perl, Frontpage, FREE Setup & 24/7 Support - $6.95/month! BlueHost

2. IPOWER Host Unlimited Domains in 1 account
Host giving 1500 GB Disk Space, 15000 GB Bandwidth, 2500 POP3 Email Resources, 25 MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, CGI, PHP, Perl, Frontpage, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days money back - $4.95/month! IPOWER Hosting

3. HostMonster Host Unlimited Domains in 1 account
Host providing 50 GB Storage, 999 GB Traffic, unlimited POP3 Email Resources, unlimited MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, CGI, PHP, Frontpage, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days money back - $5.95/month! HostMonster

4. iPowerWeb Host 6 Domains in 1 account
Web hosting company giving 10 GB Disk Space, 250 GB Data Transfer, 2500 POP3 Email Accounts, MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, CGI, PHP, Frontpage, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days money back - $7.95/month! PowWeb Affordable Hosting

5. WebHostingPad Host Unlimited Domains in 1 account
Web host offering Unlimited Disk Space, unlimited Traffic, unlimited POP3 Emails, unlimited MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, CGI, PHP, Perl, Frontpage, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days money back - $6.95/month! WebHostingPad Hosting

6. IX Hosting Host 2 Domains in 1 account
Host giving 10 GB Space, 100 GB Bandwidth, 2500 POP3/IMAP Email Resources, MySQL, FREE Domain, 2 Dedicated IPs, CGI, PHP, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days 100% + Any-time money back - $4.95/month! IX Hosting

7. HostDime Host Unlimited Domains in 1 account
Web hosting service offering 200 GB Disk Storage, 2000 GB Data Transfer, unlimited POP3 Email Accounts, unlimited MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, CGI, PHP, Perl, Frontpage, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 90 Days money back - $8.25/month! HostDime Hosting

8. 1and1 UK
Host providing 1.5 GB Storage, 20 GB Data Transfer, 400 1GB POP3/IMAP Emails, FREE co.uk Domain, FREE Setup & 60 Days money back - £4.99/month! 1and1 UK

9. PowWeb Host Unlimited Domains in 1 account
Host featuring 20 GB Disk Storage, 400 GB Data Transfer, unlimited POP3 Emails, 5 MySQL, FREE Domain, Ecommerce, Easy Website Builder, 24/7 web hosting provider Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days money back - $7.77/month! PowWeb Hosting

10. EasyCGI
Windows web hosting provider offering 350 GB Storage, 3500 GB Data Transfer, 500 POP3 Email Accounts, 50 MySQL, PERL, PHP, Frontpage, Microsoft Access, 24/7 Support, FREE Setup & 30 Days money back - $7.96/month!

DreamHost Web Hosting Servers can be used for File Backup

Most web hosting providers do not allow customers to use server space for storing file backups and there have been instances where personal files were deleted from the server without any warnings.

Dreamhost, the company the hosts this site, was no different (see #6) but have recently changed policies and now allow customers to use their web servers for online backup.

Now to save your personal files like music, photos or videos on Dreamhost servers, you’ll need to create a new FTP user that is only to be used as an off-site backup - you cannot have websites associated with this ‘backup’ user.

Dreamhost gives 50 GB of disk space for your personal files and in case you exceed that limit, the cost is about 10¢ per GB per month.

Something important here - Dreamhost won’t keep a backup of your backup so please do not consider this option as a replacement of say, Mozy, Carbonite or Amazon S3. It’s just another safe-house for your files and sort of a guarantee that your web host won’t delete the personal files.

Windows 7 name is final for the next windows OS

Microsoft settled for Windows 7 as the final name for the next windows OS code named Windows 7, Mike Nash announced on Windows Vista blog. Microsoft will share pre-beta releases of windows 7 with developers at PDC and WinHEC conferences.

Windows 7 name is finalized because it is the seventh release of windows, and Microsoft doesn’t want to come with an “aspirational” name like XP and Vista for the OS.

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or “aspirational” monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new “aspirational” name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.

Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore “Windows 7″ just makes sense.

Microsoft Updates WGA Notifications for Windows

Microsoft is rolling out new Windows Genuine Advantage notifications for Windows XP. According to Microsoft along with the usual validation of Windows XP OS to detect stolen or fake product keys, this release will also include significant updates to detect pirated copies of Windows OS.

Looks like Windows XP Pro is the most pirated version of windows and it will effect the users of this OS. These update notifications will works like the ones implemented in Windows Vista.

After installing this version of WGA notifications, XP users whose OS failed to validate will discover on their next logon the their desktop has changed to plain background. Users can revert to their background image but the black background will reappear after 60 minutes, this will continue until users get the genuine windows OS. Also users will see notifications on their desktop system tray, you can’t click on it or do anything to it. Via ZD Net

Firefox 3.1 beta 1 is available for download

Firefox 3.1 beta 1 is available for download for testing from Mozilla. It brings some new features along with the features it supported since 3.1 alpha 2 release.

The new release brings some standards improvements to the Gecko layout engine, support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties. Now Ctrl+Tab tab switching shows thumbnails of the opened tabs. There are some shortcuts available to use “awesome bar” (i really hate this thing). While using awesome bar you can use shortcuts like * for restricting search to your bookmarks or ^ for searching history. To make the keywords you type match the url use @ and for title or tags use #.

Geode which i mentioned few days back is available in this release, the TraceMonkey Javascript engine is disabled by default but you can enable it using about:config command. The private browsing mode is not yet available in this release.

Check out release notes, download Firefox 3.1 beta 1.

Stumbleupon for Opera, Chrome, Safari and other browsers

Stumbleupon finally decided to support other browsers like Safari, Opera and Google Chrome apart from IE and Firefox. You can stumble sites in any other browser with out any tool bar.

Now any one can stumble sites with stumbleupon new interface, you don’t need to register also for stumbling sites but if you want rate sites or review then you need to register for a free account.

Visit the stumbleupon home page and start stumbling the sites displayed there, if you prefer to see sites related to a category, select a category from the top menu and go on stumbling. If you like the page you can click the stumble button, there is no ‘dislike’ button at this moment in this version. If you want a review you can click on ‘Rating Stars’ to revies and you can save the site to your favorites using save button.

If you are already a registered user, join this beta group to get the new stubleupon interface and features. Once you join this groups you can access all the new features.

The profile pages of stumblers have changed, now the links to your favorites are aligned just below the main menu. On the right sidebar now profiles have quick stats regarding the stumber. These include subscribers, no of faves, reviews etc. This is gives a quick information about the stumbler you are visiting.

Overall the profile pages look better, the most interesting feature is that you can use any of your favorite browser to stumble sites. The new stumble bar is not full featured as browser addon but it lets you use stumbleupon on other browsers. There is no way to switch categories, or stumble sites like wikipedia and Flickr. Via Cybernet, Stumble Blog

T-Mobile Lifts Bandwidth Cap for Google Phone

T-Mobile raised some eyebrows Tuesday when it disclosed that buyers of its highly touted new Internet phone, the HTC G1 that uses Google’s Android software, would face restrictions if they exceeded 1 gigabyte of cellular data a month.

That’s no problem for people who simply check their e-mail. But heavy users of photos and online video — just the sort of thing that the super fancy G1 is meant for — might find that limit a problem.

On Tuesday afternoon, (and possible limits to openness) , I asked T-Mobile about that cap. They finally got back to me at 7 p.m. Wednesday, saying they have removed the cap. They plan other restrictions to manage their network, but they haven’t decided on them yet.

Here is their statement:

Our goal, when the T-Mobile G1 becomes available in October, is to provide affordable, high-speed data service allowing customers to experience the full data capabilities of the device and our 3G network. At the same time, we have a responsibility to provide the best network experience for all of our customers so we reserve the right to temporarily reduce data throughput for a small fraction of our customers who have excessive or disproportionate usage that interferes with our network performance or our ability to provide quality service to all of our customers.

We removed the 1GB soft limit from our policy statement, and we are confident that T-Mobile G1 customers will enjoy the high speed of data access over our 3G network. The specific terms for our new data plans are still being reviewed and once they are final we will be certain to share this broadly with current customers and potential new customers.

I asked the T-Mobile spokesman to explain the fast change of heart. We’ll see how long it takes to come back this time. But I suspect that they don’t want to offend the sort of early adopters who make up one target market for the G1.

Google and Yahoo Agree to Delay Ad Deal

“The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice,” Yahoo said in a statement. “We have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement.”

In its statement, Google said: “As we are still in conversation with the Department of Justice, we have agreed to a brief delay in implementing the agreement while those discussions continue.”

The companies have been saying that they would go ahead with their plans in early October, regardless of whether the Justice Department had completed its review. Under the partnership, Google would place ads alongside some of Yahoo’s search results.

“Time is money in our business,” Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said in a meeting with reporters last month.

Google and Yahoo announced the deal in June and said they would voluntarily delay its implementation for about 100 days to give regulators time to review it. But the companies refused to publicly set a date for the start of the partnership.

Last month, the Justice Department hired a top antitrust lawyer to consider whether to block the agreement. Several major advertising groups and agencies have opposed the deal, saying it would further cement Google’s dominance of the search advertising market and could lead to higher prices.

Bloomberg News first reported the companies’ decision to delay the start of the ad partnership.

Try Gmail in Google Chrome

• A browser built for speed: Google Chrome features a new JavaScript engine, V8, that has been designed for performance from the ground up, so web applications like Gmail that use the browser to its fullest run lightning fast.


• More room for your stuff, less browser window: We've removed all the unnecessary clutter from the browser window to give you more room for your favorite applications and websites. If you use an application shortcut (below), you can launch Gmail in its own streamlined window that gives you as much working room as possible, without the URL box or browser toolbar.
  
  


• Application shortcuts: You can create an application shortcut to access Gmail straight from your desktop. Simply go to Gmail while you're using Google Chrome, click the page menu and select 'create application shortcuts.' When you double-click a shortcut icon, it opens in a streamlined window.


• Crash control: Every tab you use is run independently in Google Chrome, so if one tab crashes, it won't take the tab with your inbox down with it.

Ready to try it out? Download Google Chrome and let us know what you think. (Chrome is currently available for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later and Windows Vista. Mac and Linux versions are being developed, so stay tuned.)

New in Labs: 3 experiments with labels

Since launching our first batch of 13 Gmail Labs features, we've received a lot of suggestions for more experimental features you'd like to see -- plus, we've had some of our own ideas. Today, there's a new batch of labs features to play with. If you like using Labels, we hope you like these.

Custom label colors, by Mark K


If the 24 standard color choices aren't your thing, enable this feature to create your own custom color combinations. Instead of choosing one of the standard colors from the label drop-down menu, click "Add custom colors," pick your palette, hit "Apply," and enjoy.









Go to label keyboard shortcut, by Bruce D

Never have to click on a label again. Instead, enable keyboard shortcuts and press "g" then "l" to display the "Go to label" pop-up. Start typing, and your labels will be filtered as you go. You can use the arrow keys to select a label and hit "Enter" to select one.


Powertip: The pop-up searches each word in your labels for a match, so if you have multiple labels with the same prefix, simply add a space, dash or slash after the prefix and search for the second word. For example, typing "labs" will display labels named "gmail labs," "gmail-labs," or "gmail/labs" but won't display "gmaillabs."


Navbar drag and drop, by Anatol P

If Labels are more important to you than your Contacts, you can switch them around with this Labs feature, which allows you to reorder the items in Gmail's lefthand navigation bar using drag and drop.



To turn on these Labs features and more, just go to the Labs tab under Settings. Keep posting feedback on the forums because we're reading what you have to say!

Social Bookmarking Sites: How To Decide Which One Is The Best

It is a known fact that social bookmarking websites are a great way to bring some traffic to your blog/website. They can also be a great place to discover new interesting articles. However, in the past few years, a lot of bookmarking sites have emerged, making it almost impossible to submit your articles or post to all of them. So out of all these sites, how do you decide which ones you should use to share your articles with others?

What are Social Bookmarking websites?
For those who know little about social bookmarking sites, they are a great place to share and discover articles. Whenever you write a new article, you can submit it to such sites and share it with others and at the same time discover some new articles by other members. All social bookmarking sites have some sort of voting system to rank the articles. If your article is interested and others like it then they will vote for it. The articles that get the most votes are displayed on the homepage and thus gain more exposure. Some of the most famous bookmarking websites are Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Sphinn etc.


Submitting articles to social bookmarking sites can bring you a lot of traffic in short amount of time and can also be beneficial in the long run. However, not all the bookmarking sites are as beneficial as others. Thus, you have to be careful about which ones you choose to submit your articles since that can save you a lot of time. I have complied a short list of some important factors that you should consider before submitting your article to social bookmarking sites.

1. Niche
Not all bookmarking sites are general. A lot of bookmarking sites are dedicated to a special niche or a group of topics. For example, Sphinn is only dedicated to sharing news related to internet marketing. Thus, it is important that you don't use it for celebrity gossips! You should use bookmarking sites that match your article's niche to get the best results.

2. PageRank
With so many outgoing links, having a backlink from social bookmarking sites with high PageRank does not hold a great value but is still important in the long run. Thus, you should consider checking the PageRank of social bookmarking sites to see which ones have the highest.

• Digg - PR 8
• Delicious - PR 9
  
• Furl - PR 7
  
• Stumble Upon - PR 8
  
• Sphinn - PR 7
• Reddit - PR 7

3. Users
Submitting articles to social bookmarking site with very few members is quite useless since your article will not be getting much exposure. You need to make sure that the bookmarking sites you use have a lot of members. If there are a lot of users then that means there are more chances of you blog/site will getting some good amount of traffic.

4. Community
Sometimes you need to consider the community before you submit your articles. Are the members respectful? Do they like your post? Bookmarking sites are SOCIAL sites so you need to build some kind of relationship with other members and become part of the community. Thus, it is important that social bookmarking sites have a good supportive community.

5. Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)
Digg submissions often appear in Google result pages and thus provide extra traffic to webmasters. Thus, it is important that you choose bookmarking sites that have good SERPs. You want your submission page to have good ranking! Take a look at the fourth result on this google seach page.

6. Traffic
The main reason for submitting to social bookmarking sites is probably to get traffic (permanent or temporary). Thus, you have to try some bookmarking sites yourself and see which sites work the best for you. You have to see which sites get you the most traffic. Some webmasters get tons of traffic from Stumble Upon while others struggle to get any.

I hope this list helped you decide which bookmarking sites you should use for your posts/articles. Remember, social bookmarking sites are great for getting traffic and building backlinks.

Now I am a little tired after writing this article so I am going to take some rest and watch some old episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. See you guys later!!