Diaspora, a new social networking site, is set to launch on September 15th. The launch is an important one not because it will add to the wealth of social networking sites already available, but because it could become a serious challenger to Facebook on the grounds that it is open source.

Unlike other social networking sites, Diaspora will allow users to download their software package in order to install it on their own personal websites. Although there may be a point where Diaspora hosts a parent site for users, the current plan is to allow clients to customize it to fit their personal websites, effectively littering itself over the internet from various locations.

How is this beneficial to web developers? Instead of creating a Facebook page entirely separate from your website, you will be able to have a page set aside on your own URL that connects you to other Diaspora users, giving you more control over the look, location, and usability of the network. Instead of feeling spread thinly across several different platforms through several different accounts, all your social media needs – status updates, news, events, forums, photo uploads, and whatever else you can think of – will be centralized.

Want to try Diaspora and keep all your other accounts? No problem. Diaspora will allow you to amass your content from other sites by aggregating your feeds from Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and any other site you may currently enjoy.

To learn more, visit PC World: The Anti-Facebook Arrives September 15: Will You Switch?

Tag: social networking open source diaspora web development twitter facebook

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September's Host Papa coupon is here!

If you want $10.00 off of a hosting plan, just use the code below between September 1, 2010 and October 4, 2010 when you sign up at Host Papa as a new customer.

Coupon Code: ADAD

This promotion is valid both on the Canadian (HostPapa.ca) and the US (HostPapa.com) Host Papa websites.

To find out what makes Host Papa a great web hosting provider and how they protect the environment by using GREEN energy, check out our Host Papa review.

Tag: host papa coupon canadian united states ·

As well as knowing what types of features and information to look for when browsing web hosting services that will improve your business, it is important to know what warning signs you should avoid.

Most people looking for a web hosting service are not familiar with what to expect and rely heavily on user reviews and online searches for their information. This short guide will aid you in how to critically evaluate a service before it's too late.

How do they handle billing and payments?

There are several things to consider on how a web hosting service handles billing and payments. The first is whether or not they offer adequate customer support: if the service is unwilling to provide support in the event of a problem or payment, you can guess that they're not holding a lot of respect for your time and money.

Other considerations play more into personal preference: do they have automated or manual billing and payment options? Do you have a preference in this regard? Do they provide notices when they're deducting payments from your account? Do they collect extra charges for unknown services without proper invoices? Be sure to check on their policies on these issues; each services differs in the way they handle billing and payments.

Server Down Time

Check user reviews to see how they've experienced down time, the duration, and the way in which the service handled the problem. Although most services report 99% up-time, services aren't always as honest as they should be. Furthermore, most services don't calculate scheduled maintenance downtime as part of general server downtime, so user reviews will give you a more accurate idea of what to expect.

Incompatibility

There is something to be said for web hosting service specialties – many services will specialize in hardware and software as well as the type of features, such as RAM, processing power, and disc space. So, for instance: if you're running on a Mac and the service specializes in Linux, it may be wise to search for a more compatible web hosting service. Likewise, if you're using the service to support a blog or ecommerce site, or anything with rich content, like videos or interactive content, you'll need more data space and RAM.

Usability

How easy is it to use the service? Is it meant for internet savvy web developers, or for someone with less experienced, and therefore requisite of more accessible features? And where do you fall on that scale? Do you need a beginner's platform, or something more advanced and customizable?

Illegitimate Charges

Many services offer basic plans with the possibility to upgrade and add features. Nevertheless, there are some services that take advantage of their client-base by charging for services that should really be free. For instance, SSH and FTP services are almost always free of charge for web hosts. This is because they are extremely simple to set up and maintain – and therefore regular, free features for most web hosting services. If you find a service that's trying to charge for these, or any other seemingly basic features, you may want to keep looking.

After You've Signed Up

Once you've already signed up, during the first few weeks, keep an eye on how things seem to be running. Check your website at various points of the day, particularly during peak hours, to note if and how well the server is running. Peak times are generally the most important and will really test the durability of a server.

If you happen to incur any problems, also take note of how well they handle the issue. Services that have 24/7 technical support, well trained technicians, and a compassionate ear are much easier to work with than those who don't. Poor technical support is a sign of disrespect that is intolerable in a market with so many options.

Tag: web hosting warning signs tech support usability billing downtime guide ·

Although shared and dedicated hosting services differ in many ways, the fundamental difference lay in whether or not the hosting service is dedicated to one specific client or if it is shared by many different clients, as their names suggest. Determining which is appropriate for you is dependent on many factors, as I will detail below.

Dedicated Hosting Services

A dedicated hosting service will allow you much more flexibility and complete control over its features. Shared hosting services are generally more limited, requiring the client to conform to its pre-written scripts and software rather than if you had total control. Dedicated hosting services will also offer more bandwidth and disk space since the server isn't shared with any other users. Furthermore, one's content and information is generally more secure as the server isn't shared with others and you can determine the levels of security for your own peace of mind.

For a list of web hosting providers which offers this type of service, check out our Dedicated Hosting Services category.

Shared Hosting Services

The benefit of using a shared hosting services lays primarily in its affordability. Although dedicated hosting services may have more to offer, they also come with a higher price tag inappropriate for smaller budget projects. Many smaller businesses turn to shared hosting services specifically for this reason; by sacrificing some bandwidth and disk space, they are still left with plenty of tools in which to create their websites. The basic premise is that shared hosting services will provide fewer options and flexibility, but are ultimately more affordable.

For a list of web hosting providers which offers this type of service, check out our Shared Hosting Services category.

There are several issues that remain consistent among all hosting sites: when choosing your service, you should consider what level of technical support is provided, how often these services are available, the level of complexity the service operates on, if the server incurs frequent downtime, what, if any, hardware requirements are requested by the service, and any other particularities that may or may not appeal to your needs.

Tag: web hosting shared dedicated ·

Affordable web hosting services are more important now than ever and the market has definitely picked up on it – more and more web hosting services are popping up all over the internet with bigger and better deals – including entirely free services. But what dangers are there in free web hosting?

The biggest concern one might have when considering a free web hosting service are the breadth of its resources. The cost of running a service needs to come from somewhere and it's important to make sure that you aren't getting a bad deal in the process. For instance, in order to balance costs, a free service may instead bombard you with annoying unsolicited advertising.

Other things to consider are: How reliable is the service? Does the server incur a lot of downtime? Does the server offer any technical support? Is it likely that the web hosting service will disappear completely, leaving your website in the dust? (If so, make sufficient backups!) What kind of bandwidth are they offering?

Ultimately, the biggest concern with free web hosting services is if they will run properly.

If your concern is affordability, the better route may often lay in using a shared web hosting service instead. They're much cheaper than setting up a dedicated hosting service on your own server and more generally more reliable than free hosting services.

In fact, Web Wire is predicting that given that premium service has become the base minimum in web hosting services, it is likely that companies will begin looking to lower costs in order to gain an edge on their competitors. They interviewed web hosting expert Michael Royston, who said:

"The traditional benchmarks for standing out from the crowd in the web hosting industry used to be features such as unlimited bandwidth and disk space, exceptional 24/7 technical support and 99.99% uptime guarantees. Today these are the industry standard minimum and so providers have to find other ways to entice and excite new customers and the only thing left for them is price which is why we predict you will start to see more and more 1¢ deals.”

To aid you in your search for budget-friendly hosting services, here are some recent deals around the web:

If you do choose to go the free route, you might want to consider taking a lot at Host1Plus.com, who just opened a new free service at Host1Free.com. Since the site is backed by an already established web hosting service with a great reputation, the probability that it will just flat out disappear is unlikely and they will be able to offer more resources than stand-alone free hosting services. The free service currently offers a free website builder, free webFTP client, free sub domain name, and strong technical support. And if you decide at some point that you want to upgrade, users can easily switch and upgrade without starting over completely at a new service.

Web Hosting Deals and Offers is a great resource for those looking to save a few bucks with daily deals and offers.

Core Link is still in the midst of its “Summer Sizzle” promotion, offering pre-packaged bundles at 25% off on a year-long contract. Offer good through September 15, 2010.

Shark Space consistently offers low registration prices and allows you to transfer domains for just a dollar.

Tag: web hosting offers deals free shared web wire ·

It seems as though Amazon web services may have plans to develop a greater presence on the web hosting market. Although plenty of users have been using Amazon web services to host their web sites for a while now, the company has never directly made an attempt to take on the market or provide URLs for users. The potential, however, is latent within the makeup of the services they already offer.

Because of the breadth and the simplicity of the services already offered through Amazon web services, companies have been flocking to them without any real encouragement. Amazon's trajectory into the world of web services truly began with cloud computing; the company also offers storage services, database services, and advanced cloud networking. None of these services were necessarily created specifically for web hosting, but people have found ways to use them to their advance anyway, making Amazon an unexpected competitor on the scene.

In fact, Venture Beat is reporting that Amazon web services will see $500 million in revenue this year, mostly with the help of social gaming, such as Farmville on Facebook.

Although these services have been around for a while, many people are just now starting to pick up on just how flexible and creative these services can be, allowing many applications and media to interact with each other based on cloud computing.

Who has already benefiting from Amazon? Newsweek, PBC, Digitaria, Razorfish, and Netflix have all been using Amazon web services for at least over a year now.

So what could really push Amazon directly into the forefront of the web hosting market? Just adding a simple URL would allow people to continue doing what they already are – building solid web sites based in Amazon services. Amazon could potentially become a massive force in the web hosting market by embracing how their users are already using their services. Their influence would affect not only the users by providing the service more directly, but also by influencing the way in which we conceive of web hosting in terms of cloud computing.

Tag: amazon web hosting cloud computing web services ·