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Skype recently completed beta group five-way video calling and apparently it went well as they have just released a new version of Skype 5.0 for windows that doubles group support. It now allows up to 10 video callers.

This Skype 5.0 beta two is available for download and includes 10-way video calls, automatic call recovery and a cleaner user interface. The update is also said to improve call quality and includes a number of bug fixes to make the overall experience much smoother.

The most exciting feature is of course the 10-way video calling which will make the service more appealing for large virtual team meetings or online family reunions. Although the 5.0 is still beta and therefore buggy it already has more positive buzz than the competing Gmail Voice Calling.

From current reporting there are issues with video quality once you start getting past 3 or 4 people. The quality will also be dependant on each participant having a fast internet connection and a powerful computer. It is also still limited to users with Windows.

hosting Industry insights, Windows

Domain name speculation is the art of determining the value of web domains and/or buying and selling domain names for profit. The domain speculation industry is rapidly growing as thousands of web sites are established every day. Thus, establishing a reliable domain speculation business can be an extremely profitable and lucrative endeavor. Most people do not know how to judge the value of a web site, and in order to set a fair selling price for their site they will hire the help of a domain speculation professional. Web domains are the hottest and most profitable form of real estate in existence at the moment, because every day the value of internet domains increases consistently. If you’d like to earn your share of this amazing industry then you may want to consider the following tips for aspiring domain speculation professionals.

Quantity vs Quality

Most amateur domain speculators have aspirations of making thousands of dollars from the sale of a single web site. While this is possible, it is not likely, especially if your are simply selling the domain name without an established web site. There is a lot of work involved with building profitable web sites and selling them, and there is no guarantee that the site is going to generate a profit. Therefore, it is better to focus on many domains at once, rather than putting all of your efforts into a single project. In the domain speculation industry it is more common for someone to make about $20-$100 profit from each domain than $1000 + from a single site.

Avoid Competitive Lawsuits

The domain speculation industry is highly competitive, and legal disputes are actually quite common. In fact, copyright issues and DMCA claims are often filed against webmasters that are infringing intellectual property rights online. Unfortunately, there is a fine line between what is legal and what is considered copyright infringement. If you are unsure about the legality of your decision then your best bet is to consult with a lawyer, or avoid any conflict whatsoever. Most of the legal disputes involve domain names being purchased that include copy written terms. For example, a domain name with the term “Coca-Cola” in it could be sued by the Coca-Cola company for using their branded name in the domain name.

Acquiring Expiring Domains

One of the best ways to generate a profit in the domain name industry is through the acquisition of domain names shortly after they expire. Using this technique it is possible to purchase a domain name that still has a lot of page rank and/or valid backlinks. Some recently expired domains will also retain their age statistics in the search engines, making them very profitable for domain speculators. If you want to get a head start and make as much money as possible with domain name speculation then you should strongly consider the benefits of purchasing expired domain names that still retain many of their desirable qualities.

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Search engine optimization is the best way to get consistent traffic to your web site without having to continuously invest money in advertising and other forms of marketing and promotion. By optimizing your web sites properly you can bring in a steady flow of traffic and forget about marketing and other annoying and repetitive aspects of online business. In fact, many webmasters spend the majority of their time trying to find more ways to increase their search engine ranking and traffic. Unfortunately, many webmasters don’t realize they’ve already hurt their chances of being as successful online by choosing the wrong web hosting plan. Contrary to popular belief, there is a solid connection between web hosting and search engine optimization.

IP Addresses and SEO

For the advanced SEO expert that routinely does link building through various web 2.0 properties, the most obvious aspect of a web hosting plan that has an impact on SEO is the amount of IP addresses given to each webmaster. When search engines index web pages they do so with automated crawlers that index every aspect of the page and site, including the web site’s IP address. If you own a network of web sites and you would like to build a link network using these sites, then you will need to have a separate IP address for each web site. Fortunately, IP addresses are not a major factor for webmasters that don’t own a lot of web sites that are interlinking in the same niche.

Hosting Reliability and Features

Most people don’t realize that an unreliable hosting network can have a negative impact on a web site’s search engine ranking and site indexing. When your web site is down (as it often may be with unreliable web hosting) search engine robots will be unable to index your new pages. This may have a very negative impact on the amount of pages that are indexed for your site, and how often updated pages are indexed in the search engine results.

A powerful hosting plan will also be able to handle more software installations and tasks, which can be especially useful if you are using automated software for link building or to perform  other mundane tasks involved with SEO.

Robots.txt

The robots.txt file is another overlooked connection between your web hosting plan and your SEO efforts. The robots.txt file is a file that is located on your web server, which dictates how robots (particularly search engine bots) interact with your web site. If the robot.txt file is set to dis-allow all robots then your site will not be able to get ranked by any search engine, leaving you without any form of SEO traffic. Most hosting companies leave this file blank or do not include, so it is important to verify whether or not the robots.txt file is present in the web server that hosts your web site.

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POP3 emails utilize email readers in order to transfer and properly display the message. Common email readers include Netscape Messenger, Pegasys, Eudora, Juno, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, and AOL Mail. Most internet browsers come bundled with email readers for ease of use.

There are numerous free, open source, commercial email readers available as shareware to be used with all different types of operating systems. The process is quite simple, when you want to check your email just click the application to open. Once open, the program will download new emails to the client and display them on the screen.

Creating an email is just as simple. Once logged in, Reply, Forward and New Message are commonly available on the toolbar. Whichever method is selected, you must click the send button once finalized in order to transfer the message to the appropriate party.

There area many advantages to using the POP3 email system. These include:

• No need to log into the internet
• No advertising
• Opening and adding attachments is quick
• No size limit to sent and received messages
• No maximum mailbox size

The primary advantages of a POP3 email system is there is no need to log onto the internet to send, view or forward email messages. Instead, the messages remain in a hold folder which saves the message until accessed. This folder allows the user to add priorities to the message or schedule a date and time for when you would like the message to be posted.

Another major advantage is the lack of advertising in POP3 email. Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail all have annoying advertisements around your inbox and within messages. Also, opening and adding attachments to messages is much quicker than uploading them through an internet system because they are already local to your PC.

Furthermore, there is no size limit to sent and received messages. This makes it much easier to send large files as opposed to breaking them down into smaller pieces and sending or compressing them. Finally, with POP3 systems, there is no maximum mailbox size; all files are stored locally on your computer. The only limitation is the size of your hard drive.

POP3 clients have many advantages that help improve productivity within a business and easy navigation for personal use. Microsoft Outlook is an example of excellent POP3 email software and they continue to improve the program due to customer feedback.

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Colocation web hosting is very different from every other hosting service, primarily because it is not a service in which web servers are leased. Instead, colocation hosting is a web server storage service in which adequate server storage space is provided in a state-of-the-art data center that is equipped with highly trained staff and maximum security 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

In essence, you are simply paying for storage space so that you can store your dedicated server without problems such as hardware damage and theft occurring. While this may seem as if it is a great service that everyone should use, only a small percentage of webmasters will ever need colocation hosting. If you are not sure whether or not your business needs access to a colocation hosting service then you may want to consider the following information.

Do You Own a Web Server?

If you do not own a web server then you should know that you will need to purchase one before a colocation hosting service will be of any use to you. Web servers can cost anywhere from $1500-$10,000, depending upon the model and its capabilities. If you can afford to invest that much money in to a web server, and you are ready to pay for the monthly cost of colocation hosting, then it may be within your budget ton purchase a colocation hosting plan. However, if you are like the majority of webmasters, then you will not be able to afford or justify such a purchase.

What Kind of Sites Do You Own?

If you own a single medium sized web site then you may not have a need for a dedicated server at all. Dedicated web servers are ideal for people that have dozens of web sites or a single corporate web site that needs to be maintained professionally and kept at peak performance. With the availability of cheap and powerful web hosting you should be able to find a plan that will accommodate your needs with ease. Dedicated servers and colocation hosting is only recommended for corporations and enterprises, or people that own hundreds of sites.

How Technically Skilled Are You?

As mentioned, a colocation hosting service is simply a web server storage service, which means that most colocation hosting plans do not come with technical support. As such, you will need to provide your own technical support for server maintenance and administration. Most administrative duties can be done remotely, however this requires an advanced level of knowledge in the way web servers work. If you do not have a decent amount of experience in dealing with web servers then you may want to consider a colocation hosting solution that includes technical support.

Unfortunately, in order to have full technical support included with your colocation hosting plan you will need to pay an extra fee each month. When you add this fee to the mountain of other expenses associated with colocation hosting, it becomes clear that this type of hosting solution should only be utilize by highly successful online businesses.

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As a sales rep, I regularly get asked by clients for a cost estimate of moving their in house datacenter into a real datacenter like one of ours.  Sometimes we can save a customer a lot of money with the move, sometimes the break even, and sometimes they spend a little more.  Ultimately, anyone that moves usually ends up with a better IT solution for their dollar, even if they’re spending a little more to do it.  Here’s a few bullet points to consider:

1) Power - You’re likely paying for power at your office and with average nationwide power pricing, you can expect to spend $35 per server per month just to keep them powered on 24/7/365.  With a server farm of 10 servers, you’re looking at about $4,200/year on your power bill.  It’s something a lot of offices never think to consider, but if you don’t really like that $4,200, you can PayPal it to me.  Oh? Now you like it? That’s what I thought.

2) Redundancy – Is your office prepared to handle a power outage?  Can you operate with your servers down?  Do you have redundant air conditioning?  If you’re in a pretty standard office complex, you probably don’t have favorable answers to any of those questions.  Datacenters are traditionally placed with access to two or more power grids.  Should power fail, all of our datacenters are on a battery backup.  While the battery is going and if power is not immediately restored, a generator kicks on and several days of fuel is already on site (plus fuel companies are on contract to refill the generator tanks before the fuel runs out.)  Your office definitely doesn’t have that.  Does your office air conditioning go out every once in a while?  If it does, you risk having to shut down your servers or power them down to protect them from heat damage.  Our datacenters all have redundant cooling – and no just so we’re up if one fails, but so we’re up if one needs to be repaired.

3) Connectivity - This touches a bit on redundancy, but do you have two connections to your office from two different bandwidth providers?  How often does your business grade connection go down?  If you’re anything like a typical office, it’s a few times a year that you’ll lose internet connectivity.  If that takes down your website, your phone system, your email system, etc. it’s costing you business, productivity, or both.  How much is that internet connection costing to the office?  I had a client paying $600/month for business grade DSL and business grade cable internet (for redundancy.)  When he moved in with us, he had full redundancy from 4 providers instead of 2 and he was paying less than $100/month.

There are a whole host of other reasons to outsource your datacenter needs to a real datacenter, such as support (someone can watch your servers 24/7/365 for you cheaper than you can hire someone to do it), capital reduction (we can rent you servers cheaper than you can buy them), and expandability (really? you’re going to put another rack in that already hot server closet at the office?)

So next time you’re looking at your IT budget, consider all of the hidden costs of hosting your services in house.  Even if it’s a break even move, get out of there so you save yourself a headache!

hosting Random Bin

There are many difficult and daunting tasks to creating and managing a website, especially when doing it alone. As the site grows, the tasks become more complex and there will be more of them. At this point, having a group of employees to assist with the day-to-day functions can be a blessing. Most large sites are crafted and maintained by a group of people, not just one.

These large-scale sites cannot be implemented properly without a content management system on the backend. There are three primary areas where content management systems can help you manage the whole site (including your employees). These include:

• Control employee access
• Upload content
• Delegating work

For a group of workers, they will need a way to access the website with special permissions due to their role with the company. It is always a good idea to limit various employees’ power so they don’t have too much access. This can easily become a security risk. With a quality CMS you can enter permissions, assign tasks and create restrictions which improves organization, security and limits micromanaging allowing for a more productive worker.

Although employees will have limited access, it is in your best interest to let them upload unique and original content as they create it. Uploading the content yourself all at once can be an extremely daunting and time-consuming task. By allowing team members to complete this task, you can save several hours each day. This time could be allocated towards completing more important tasks.

Utilizing your employees to their maximum ability by keeping them busy is important for the proper functioning of any website and to maximize productivity. Telecommunication delays can be filled by a content management system. Many systems allow the administrator to communicate with their team members through a private messaging system. This gives the webmaster complete control and instant communication during a project.

Controlling employee access, allowing employees to upload content and delegating work is three of the most important aspects of running a large, successful website. There is so much work to complete that cannot be done by a single webmaster. As a result content management systems have great support and overall features.

The development and ease of content management systems has been a blessing for many administrators. As technology improves, administrators will have an easier time managing their site and employees.

hosting CMS, content management system, delegating work, upload content

CoreLink Data Centers, an industry-leader in providing colocation hosting and management services, recently announced a major move of their headquarters from Phoenix, Arizona to Mount Prospect, an area outside of Chicago. In addition, the operations of their newest data center, also located in the Chicagoland area, are fully functional.

The data center is 80,000 square feet and linked to the companies four other colocation data centers in Seattle, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The new data center is located on 5.4 acres of land and provides all of CoreLink’s solutions under one secure roof in control environments.

The center features the latest security and management technology. Some of these features include; diverse connections to the internet, redundant emergency power equipment, the best fire detection and suppression systems as well as biometric security scanners. Also, neutral connectivity, uninterruptible power supplies N+1 cooling and critical redundancy on all equipment.

The center will provide customers with extra expansion capacity, reliable and redundant access to the internet and high-density installation. This is the perfect addition to the area.

CoreLink has selected Chicago because it has become a booming business and technology epicenter. This will have a considerable impact on the local economy through investment in the community as well as job creation.

The biggest focus of the new data center is the scalability. Due to the size and server technology, it can accommodate all business needs as they continue to evolve and consume resources.

The primary highlights of the new data center include:

• Scale systems up
• Decrease labor expenses
• Lower capital costs
• Add redundant systems

The ability to scale information technology systems up or down is major draw to many large corporations as the needs of their business constantly change. Also, the new center will provide efficient facility management thus decreasing labor expenses. By outsourcing internal infrastructure, the company will save on overall capital costs.

Finally, the new data center provides redundant systems that do not contain a failure point and have a maintainable infrastructure that is capable of handling critical applications. These include; e-commerce, email systems and website connectivity.

Opening a new data center and relocating the headquarters is a major move for CoreLink. They will benefit from the numerous technology companies in the Chicago area while creating jobs and providing a boost to the local economy. In the end, all parties will benefit from this move.

hosting colocation hosting, CoreLink, data center, hosting security, redundant system, Web Hosting News

Exciting news for users of the online video community Vimeo who recently added HTML5 support to it’s video embeds. This means content can be viewed on devices like the iPad and iPhone.

The main Vimeo website is HTML5 but it’s embed codes have been Flash only, a frustration for content creators who want to be visible on as many devices as possible.

Vimeo’s main competition YouTube has offered iPhone and iPad support for its embedded content for quite some time, and recently rolled out an HTML5-friendly experimental new embed code for desktop browsers and mobile devices.

In addition to gaining HTML5 embed support; Vimeo will also be available to Roku customers. The most popular Vimeo HD content, chosen by Vimeo staff, will be viewable in the channel. Vimeo users can also link their accounts to view their own videos and their personalized inbox selections.

Vimeo’s commitment to non-commercial content has made it a favorite service for users and content creators alike and these additional services are sure to keep them popular.

hosting Industry insights

Running a business with your website causes many different types of scammers, phishers, hackers and other malicious attackers to come out of the woodwork. As a result, network security should be one of your top priorities. When managing network security, you must be proactive in revealing any potential threats that could or are emerging. This begins with a thorough assessment of your website and network.

Ensuring your network and website is secure can literally make or break your business. If your site is breached by a hacker and a customer is scammed, negative word of mouth experience travels great distances; far enough to put you out of business. Security also involves keeping the wireless network at your office or store secure.

Many issues can arise in an unsecured network. Users that do not adhere to the security policy often allow attackers compromise networks. There are many examples of high-profile, large companies falling victim to internet attackers and almost ruining their organization. A few examples include RSA Security, OpenBSD, NASDAQ, Playboy Enterprises and Cryptologic.

In these instances, attackers used the following methods:

• Compromising a poor configuration
• Utilizing traffic
• Attacking specific network component
• Abusing a network
• Accessing user account passwords

Attackers compromised a poor network configuration related to a target host by utilizing scripts and other publicly available exploits. Also, they compromised traffic by evading security measures and using network sniffing methods. Additionally, attackers targeted a specific network component utilizing customized malicious scripts

Furthermore, by abusing the network configuration or bypassing a shoddy firewall, they were able to access vital information from public folders. Finally, attackers accessed user account passwords to concede additional hosts where that user may have an account.

To fully protect your network, you need to ascertain the technical expertise or hire someone with that knowledge, adhere to a security policy and develop an incident response procedure. These will help you prevent most attacks as well as correctly respond to them when they do occur. Once again, it comes down to being proactive as opposed to reactive in these situations.

Network security is one of the most important areas to develop within your website. Having an air-tight security policy and procedures mixed with extensive technical knowledge is like having a tornado shelter at your home. You will be protected in the case of an incident by building a secure, air-tight entity.

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