Starting August 1, 2012 Go Daddy is finally removing older versions of PHP from their Linux and Windows servers and replacing them with the newer version of PHP 5.3. These older versions of PHP are no longer supported, and have become outdated. PHP 5.3 is more stable, and certainly more secure.

Most websites using older versions of PHP will still function properly using PHP 5.3. When Go-Daddy announced the changes last month they stated that they want clients to have the opportunity to update their version of PHP and check sites for any issues before the permanent changes on the servers.

Go-Daddy does provide steps to update PHP versions. You can still find all of the details here.

Although most existing PHP code should work without changes, there are some backward incompatible changes that might impact your site when updating PHP versions. If you see any issues during this upgrade process, you should reach out to your site developer, or contact Go-Daddy support.

Some users have questioned why Go-Daddy isn't providing php4 as a fallback for people with old applications that still demand the old versions.. so in case you missed it

"These older versions of PHP are no longer supported, and have become outdated. PHP 5.3 is more stable, and certainly more secure." 

 

A group said to be associated with Anonymous convincingly demonstrated the complete lack of security and the inability of some companies to be trusted with properly protecting the information which would be stored under the Australian Federal Government's data retention draft policies. The group stated that they would not release any user details contained in the stolen data or name the victim telco, divulging only that the telco was "one of Australia's largest" along with a few clues about a 40Gb database backup that was accessed through an unpatched Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability. Soon after telco AAPT announced that that there had been a "security incident" where hackers gained "unauthorised access to some AAPT business customer data" which was being stored on servers at web hosting provider Melbourne IT. The compromised data is suspected to be a 40 GB backup of an Adobe Cold Fusion database, accessed through a well-known vulnerability.

The press and talking heads quickly ramp up the rhetoric.

The CEO of AAPT issued a statement saying: 

It was brought to our attention by our service provider Melbourne IT, at approximately 9:30PM last night that there had been a security incident and unauthorised access to some AAPT business customer data stored on servers at Melbourne IT. 

AAPT immediately instructed Melbourne IT to shut down the servers when we were notified of the incident. 

Preliminary findings suggest it was two files that were compromised and the data is historic, with limited personal customer information. Further, the servers on which the files were stored have not been used or connected to AAPT for at least 12 months. 

We are undertaking a thorough investigation into the incident with Melbourne IT and the relevant authorities to establish exactly the type and extent of data that has been compromised, how the security incident happened and what further measures are required to prevent any future incidents. 

AAPT is extremely concerned about this incident and is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness. AAPT will be contacting any impacted customers as soon as possible. 

IT security experts chimed in claiming the proposed changes to the data retention laws would make ISP storage centres enormous targets for hacktivists, evil state governments, and cyber criminals types.

A spokesperson for Cert, (What ever Cert is ... where I come from, Cert is a type of candy breath mint)...  Australia's national computer emergency response team says: 

The Federal Government takes the issue of cyber security very seriously. Reports such as this highlight the need for all Australian Internet users, businesses and government agencies to protect their data and systems.The Government has invested significantly over a number of years to ensure that we have appropriate arrangements in place to deal with cyber security threats. 

One media outlet quoted someone saying that “it has since confirmed an older version of AAPT's business website ran on Cold Fusion. Newer pages do not appear to be based on the same systems.”

Then there are the statements attributed to Tony Smith, corporate communications general manager at Melbourne IT... 

The company first become aware of the vulnerability after the site defacements late on Tuesday and had patched the issue "within the hour" 

- Smith said the vulnerability was cleared from the "handful of servers" it was found on 

- company's engineers were still investigating the issue and scanning the hosting provider's remaining servers for the potential Cold Fusion vulnerability. 

- Smith would not confirm whether the Australian Federal Police had become involved in the issue 

Abbreviated media quotes may convey only a partial context of the statement attributed to an individual. Whether these individuals “gets it” is open to debate.  “Anonymous” intent was to demonstrate the complete lack of security and the inability of some companies to be trusted with properly protecting the information which would be stored under the Australian Federal Government's data retention draft policies. Whether you agree or not with their tatics, they succeeded in accomplishing the task with unbelievable ease...

With Unbelievable Ease!

Who should worry

Melbourne IT states that its complete portfolio of Internet-based technology services drives more than 350,000 customers around the world. From helping small businesses build an online presence through to managing the complex technology environments of large enterprises and governments - including Internet domain name services, critical web hosting, online brand protection and promotion, video content delivery, managed IT services and more. Melbourne IT features and benefits include:

• Peace of mind
• Round-the-clock monitoring and intrusion detection
• Security
• Triple data backups for data integrity 

These 350K customers on 28,000 plus websites are the people that need to be concerned right now!
Melbourne IT was running servers (see Tony Smith’s "handful of servers") which had known vulnerabilities for … not four days , nor 4 weeks.. not even 4 months. This vulnerability in Cold Fusion was publicly known and in the wild since 2008.

Tony Smith is quoted as saying Melbourne IT patched the issue "within the hour".. Even if the quote was truncated...it was 4 years late!

Unbelievably Inept

List of alternative Australian web hosting providers

This partial list is provided in no particular order! Use keywords like "Australia" with the HostJury search function for a complete listing of Aussie companies... or if you have a particular favorite just add the company in the comments!

Host Networks

SmartyHost

Netregistry

Relentless Hosting

Layered Networks

Dynomesh

Sliced Tech

SpeedySparrow

HORIZON HOSTING

Ceaser Hosting

TPP Wholesale

The only thing certain in life is death and taxes so despite your web host 100% uptime guarantee, I can say with 100% certainty that every web hosting company will suffer downtime. Some web host are textbook examples of how to excel and build customer relationships. Others have dropped the ball while trying to “slip one past ” their clients finding that only works if the client doesn’t notice their website down. Then there are the others. The webhost that not only redefines “suffering downtime”, but takes it to a whole new level.

So where does PowerVps fit... read on.

 

July 10

”Kish” started a WHT thread stating his VPS hosted with PowerVPS (now Virtacore) had been down since Friday evening (6 July).  It was his understanding that a couple of nodes had failed and had to be rebuilt. Kish stated that since the evening of 7 July, PowerVPS support staff were trying to restore from an R1Soft backup, which was apparently taking forever.

Kish’s concerns on July 10th were that PowerVPS was not able to tell him an ETA on his sites being restored, what contingency plans if any PowerVPS had to get back online quickly. “Support keep repeating the same boilerplate messages - we're working on it" and "we're monitoring the situation", Kish says. Still after hosting with PowerVPS for almost 7 years without any serious issues in the past Kish waits. PowerVPS status page goes offline but PowerVPS states that its unrelated...

 

July 12

Kish updated the thread.. approaching 6 days offline now. The restore is still in progress and actually getting slower.

 

July 14

Ken, another user having four servers hosted with PowerVPS, two of which were affected by the failed node, shares his thoughts on almost 8 days of downtime.

“We had a little over 200 websites on those two servers. Luckily, we keep nightly cpanel account backups and were able to get another VPS provider to provision a server last Sunday after PowerVPS support said it would be at least another 72 hours before the servers were back up. PowerVPS refused to provision replacements” Ken stated.

Ken also shared that a PowerVPS support tech told him via email that the backup they needed to restore was only 1.1TB. There is a clear failure on PowerVPS to have a reasonable restoration process, and communication has been equally poor. The only communication I've had with them is when I initiate it. The web link given out for updates stopped working last Sunday and they haven't bothered to fix it, he said.

 

July 15

Ken again chimed in that the servers are still down. It now has been 9 days since the node failed and 7 days since PowerVPS started the restore process.

An email sent to PowerVPS asked how they planned to compensate downtime and brought the following response: 

Firstly, our sincere apologies for the downtime involved.
I'll escalate this ticket to our support manager for further assistance. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you.
Best Regards,
Prasad S
Technical Support Analyst
Virtacore Systems/PowerVPS Support  

July 16 2012

PowerVPS brought Ken’s repaired node back online. Total downtime was approx. 9 days, 20 hours.

An email to Ken from PowerVPS explained the series of events that lead to the failure.

First I wanted to say Thank You regarding your patience regarding the full restore process of your vps container. We had a complete raid failure several days ago and all data was lost and due to the nature of the force containers there was a sheer amount of data that needed restored hence why it took several days for a complete restore process. What we did to resolve the issue was replaced the hw node raid controller to eliminate another hardware failure and we are also are going to be looking into other backup solutions other than r1 to ensure backups complete in a more faster timetable than what we saw.

Again we apologize for the inconvenience and we appreciate your continued support. Any questions regarding this matter please email us support@powervps 

Still on the 16th, Jawany from Nebraska posted “I thought i'm alone! it's been 10 days now. Anyone get their websites online? Ewelin chimed in a couple of hours later "Our node is still down"

 

July 18  

Jawany stated... I had a Cpanel backups on the same vps and they restored it for me, and the website are online now.

 

July 20

Kish, who started the thread was restored on July 20th. His sites went down on the 6th July 2012. Kish was downloading individual cpanel backups for his own peace of mind... a long job with hundreds of websites to go through.

 

July 21

Hostingvince posted that the same issue was happening now on another node that he was on...

Down 24 hours due to RAID failure - again - and apparently restoring 'metal to metal' as it's faster but will still take 3 more days! Not looking forward to my clients anger

trinivps also vented his frustration stating:

I also have a couple servers with Powervps. This delay in restoring is completely unacceptable. Would other providers have this same problem if they have a RAID failure? I also have separate servers with site5 and I will ask them what their procedure is like if there is a RAID failure. Something is off with this entire scenario.

I am also very disappointed that they (powervps) cannot give me access to my backups. It seems my clients' sites will be down for the entire coming week.

Same day Sordell Media posted

Same issues here, including the lacklustre responses from support. Already got an account with another host, conveniently my PowerVPS package is due for renewal at the end of the week.... just hope their 'metal' restore is done before then so I can get my data and cut my losses.

Ignoring downtime may work when nobody notices the sites down. And also with companies that just rebrand when they've trashed their own reputation!

But minimizing over a week of downtime with a weak apology, after years of essentially flawless service is just inexcuseable. HostJury has contacted PowerVPS for comment.

 

About PowerVPS/Virtacore Systems

PowerVPS is a wholly owned brand of Virtacore Systems, Inc and is an industry-leading privately owned, profitable Web infrastructure service provider based in Ashburn, Virginia. We are hosting experts focused on virtualization and cloud hosting solutions for start-up companies, web hosting resellers, and others looking to build an online web presence. With over eight years of virtualization experience and 10,000 virtual servers deployed, we have the background and expertise to do what it takes to provide the fastest, most stable, and secure environment possible for our customers.

Virtacore Systems is a leading provider of hybrid cloud services, offering public & private cloud to the middle market through the company’s VMware-based unified platform. Virtacore enables customers to virtualize and move their IT infrastructure into the cloud, reducing capital and operating expenses, and improving data security, network availability, application performance and scalability.
Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, Virtacore was founded in 2000 and acquired in 2009 by IKANO Communications – an enabler of Internet services backed by Insight Venture Partners, a leading private equity and venture capital firm with over $9 billion under management. As part of IKANO, Virtacore recently expanded its cloud offerings to include Google Apps services and support for businesses and organizations.

 

While not disclosing the exact date service will cease, BT has announced the closure of is free BT Web Hosting service "sometime in the next few months". The service offered BT personal customers 50 MB of free web space to create their own website, and was originally part of the BT Openworld e-mail service before BT joined forces with Yahoo! BT says it has not supported the service since 2004, although it has allowed customers to continue with their websites. BT is citing increased costs and a declining user base as factors in its decision to close the service. BT also states the move will allow it to focus on other services that will benefit more customers.

BT is telling clients they can move their sites to BT’s paid hosting services saying that "while it has the same name as the free service we're stopping, it has more features".

• a really easy-to-use site builder tool
• your own .co.uk domain name
• 24/7 telephone support
• 5GB of web space
• more than 300 templates to help you build a website for business or personal use

And all this for... “from just £5 per month”. (editor’s note “from”.. are they serious!)

The BT announcement does include one nugget of advice for existing clients .. 

Once you've downloaded your files and images, you should be able to recreate your site with another web hosting provider. They should be able to help you upload your site files and images to your new account. 

Good advice indeed! There are numerous UK and Irish web hosts offering web hosting packages with features that rival the BT £15 per month plan but for a £5 price . Use the HostJury search function with keywords such as UK or Irish web hosts.

 

HostOnce was “featured” along with a number of other companies, in a Hostjury post titled “Horrible web hosting providers reviewed”. The list garnered almost as much attention for web hosts not included, as for those that were. It appears many people felt that “their web hosting provider ” should surely also be endowed with such dubious honors and distinction as those presented!

HostOnce -- Not twice

HostOnce Reviews

In 2007, HostJury endeavored to present balance, focusing not only on HostOnce seemingly inept client support ratings, but also drawing attention that HostOnce was one of the few companies at that time, publicly offering 'charity' programs to allow you to pay your hosting while helping those with eating disorders. It appears that HostOnce continues to promote similar causes today, and again we say kudos to their efforts!

Recently, Jonathan reviewed HostOnce stating: 

Hostonce mail servers have been down for 2-3 weeks now and support has vanished. Not only do my e-mail addresses not work, none of their own e-mail addresses work (including support, info, billing, or any others) and there is no phone number to reach anyone. 

Things like this happen every year. 

One step in venting the validity of any web host review includes looking at the actual content written regarding the web host. I sent an email to sales@hostonce and a short while later I received notice that delivery was delayed... then delayed again, and again until finally it failed.

The HostOnce site allows a person to register a user name which I did as a zealous spam filter may have delegated my email to some basement level folder that is never accessed. More emails to sales, and billing.. more fail. I am unable to proceed beyond the status page in the support portal. It would appear that Jonathan was speaking from experience!

In 2007, HostOnce Review Score: 20%

Today, HostOnce gets an 8 for both uptime and support (from a possible 100.. not a 10). HostOnce does not actually make an appearance along with the bottom dwellers of reviewed hosts despite have lower average rating than some of the hosts that populate this list.

As the list is automated and based on reviews, possibly a carefully crafted and devised plan was hatched to drive away noisy and troublesome clients that write web hosting reviews. If true, it may have succeeded except for the requisite of more scrutiny with Jonathan's review!

On a more serious note, with the sales email not functioning there is little potential for new clients. The billing email down will complicate a meaningful conversation should a question, or dispute arise. And then there is support. If the reviews from cira 2007 are any indication, clients of HostOnce should have little noticeable change..

Draw your own conclusions!

 

 

 

Kim Dotcom of MegaUpload fame has taken to twitter seeking recommendations for web hosts in Europe, Asia, and South America. His tweets clearly state by suppressing innovation the US government and Hollywood will cost US based web hosting companies cash.  It now appears that Apple actions may have a similar chilling effect.

Last month Wired covered the emergence of businesses selling access to iOS developer betas prior to their official launch. Apple offers these developer betas to registered iOS developers who pay the annual registration fee of $99. Some enterprising individuals have turned around and started selling their 100 possible device slots to users looking to install the iOS betas prior to their official launch.

Apple allows registered iOS developers to activate up to 100 unique device IDs (or UDIDs) for their account, an essential tool for testing apps on multiple devices. Once registered with Apple, the activated device is also able to run pre-release versions of iOS, though developers are forbidden from sharing pre-release software outside their own team.

Ignoring these warnings, activation services charge a small fee to add a customer’s device to their developer accounts. When they hit the 100-device limit, they just register a new account with Apple.

As the Wired story noted, it’s gone on for a few years with no intervention from Apple. That nonchalant attitude has dissipated however.

Within the last month Apple has issued DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to numerous companies, including takedown notices to Fused, a Seattle-based web hosting company, in relation to activation websites it hosts, according to Fused CEO David McKendrick.

The DMCA takedown notice is a formal demand from a copyright holder to demand removal of allegedly infringing content from the Internet.

Apple claims in the notices that they breached its developer agreement or facilitated copyright infringement. "This is definitely a new move on Apple's part," McKendrick was quoted as saying by the BBC.

Apple clearly prohibits developers from providing pre-release software: 

Within their Developer Program License Agreement, and on its Developer Portal, that membership can be terminated if a developer provides pre-release Apple Software to anyone other than registered employees, contractors, or others with a demonstrable need to know or use the software to build and test applications. 

Apple adds that unauthorized distribution is prohibited, and may be subject to both civil and criminal liability. 

On a somewhat unrelated but similar note, last week the European Union published a judgement stating that software vendors cannot prevent customers from selling the licenses to software they no longer wish to use, even if the licence agreement prohibits it. In part  the directive states: 

Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and  thus exhausts his exclusive  distribution right. Such  a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy. 

 

Wired also mentions a number of websites in its story:

Domain:ACTIVATEMYIOS.COM
Status: Unavailable
Name Server: NS1.SIRIHUB.NET
Name Server: NS2.SIRIHUB.NET
Updated Date: 15-jun-2012

iOS UDID Registrations is being redirected to:
Domain Name: REACHHIGHERTUTORING.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: NS1.IPAGE.COM
Name Server: NS2.IPAGE.COM
Updated Date: 20-may-2012
Creation Date: 20-may-2012

Domain Name: ACTIVATEMYUDID.COM
Status: Unavailable
Name Server: NS1.MEDIATEMPLE.NET
Name Server: NS2.MEDIATEMPLE.NET
Updated Date: 13-apr-2012

Domain Name: UDIDREGISTRATION.COM
Status: Unavailable
Name Server: NS11.JUSTHOSTME.NET
Name Server: NS12.JUSTHOSTME.NET
Updated Date: 16-apr-2012

Domain Name: INSTANTUDIDACTIVATION.COM
Status: Unavailable
Name Server: NS1.HOSTABLE.US
Name Server: NS2.HOSTABLE.US
Updated Date: 01-jul-2012

A quick Google produces some others!

Domain Name: IOS6ACTIVATION.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: DAVE.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
Name Server: GINA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
Updated Date: 22-may-2012
Creation Date: 08-feb-2012
Expiration Date: 08-feb-2013

Domain Name: IOS5UDID.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: NS1.FULLTHROTTLEHOST.COM
Name Server: NS2.FULLTHROTTLEHOST.COM
Updated Date: 09-jul-2012
Creation Date: 18-jun-2011

Domain Name: ICRACKR.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: NS20.ALIBABAHOST.COM
Name Server: NS21.ALIBABAHOST.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 02-jul-2012
Creation Date: 06-dec-2011
Expiration Date: 06-dec-2014

Domain Name: IOSUDIDS.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: NS77.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS78.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Updated Date: 09-jun-2012
Creation Date: 11-jun-2011
Expiration Date: 11-jun-2013

Domain Name:UDIDREGISTRATION.ORG
Status: ok
Name Server: ns1.kellyswesternwear.com
Name Server: ns2.kellyswesternwear.com
Created On:11-Jun-2011
Last Updated On:14-Jun-2012
Expiration Date:11-Jun-2013

Domain Name: ACTIVATIONIOS.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: DNS19.OVH.NET
Name Server: NS19.OVH.NET
Updated Date: 06-jun-2012
Creation Date: 07-jun-2011
Expiration Date: 07-jun-2013

Sites offering activation software have a lot to defend against. PayPal & various other financial payment systems have often demonstrated itself as a willing accomplice to quickly freeze payment accounts of any websites alleged to be involved with infringing content.

Despite everything against them, there are even more examples of the web’s ability to evade the will of the powers that be. David from Fused (@DavidAndGoliath) added that Apple's action were not likely to be effective, as many of the sites in question were in the process of moving to hosting firms based outside the US. "Apple is definitely fighting a losing battle on this one. Unless they go directly after the developer accounts abusing the process, they have little chance of scrubbing these sites off the web".

Apple has declined to comment: though their actions speak louder than words. 

HostJury compiles discount web hosting coupons and special offerings by various hosts and as always, HostJury makes no recommendation or endorsement of any of the listed providers and they are presented in no particular order.... So if you need a domain, why not save a few cents!

The discounts normally apply for the first year only and will renew at the "regular price"

Some Hot Deals on Domain Names!  

 

Domain.com

Millions of great .ME domains are still available, and Domain.com has one of the lowest prices on the web - now just $9.95 for the first year!
Limited Time Only - .ME domains just $9.95 for the first year!*

 

Netfirms

 

Cheap Domain Names from Netfirms - $6.95/year - Limited Time Offer Coupon
$6.95 Domain Offer .com .net .org

 

Network Solutions 

 

$1.50 Domains at Network Solutions®! Upon expiration, all domains will be renewed at the then current price. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Discount applied in shopping cart. 

 

Register.com 

Free Business Email with Domain Name Purchase $9.99 from Register.com

 

UK2.NET 

 

Get 12% off .co.uk and .com when you buy both with UK2.NET

 

123-reg 

123-reg has great prices on all domains... they’ve registered over 3 million!

BigRock

 

 

 

Easyspace 

Easyspace isn’t being left out in the cold on a hot July day and are offering some domain discounts of their own!

Expired.. we'll add another shortly.

Easyspace standard .com price for 1 year is £12.80 - this code reduces the price down to only £5.89 Use Promocode COM589 at checkout
Easyspace is discounting our usual rates for .co.uk from the usual £9.50 for a 2 year domain registration to just £5.98! Use Promocode COUK598 at checkout
Easyspace is also discounting the usual rates for .org.uk of £9.50 for a 2 year domain registration to just £5.98! 

Remember, HostJury compiles the discount web hosting coupons and special offerings but makes no recommendation or endorsement of the listed providers or web hosts. 

 

 

As with any industry, business failure is a given.. and a natural mortality rate is to be expected. As the dreams of grandeur and easy money have faded and new directions are sought, for many now defunct web hosts all that remains is a quiet and less than dignified burial in the HostJury deadpool.

Not all defunct web hosts can be accused of the “take the money and run” operandus. Many conscientious web hosts notify their clients of impending changes in a responsible manner. Others make an arrangement that allows for the orderly transfer of clients to another web hosting company. The former, the ones that take their clients into a Hades like place get special attention and usually get have their obituaries written in a separate post! These hosts appear to have just quietly slipped away!

So without further adieu, the most recent additions to the deadpool...

It was hard to search for the first domain.. the search returned about 6,060,000 results! So this domain may not be loading now but I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of it.

Unlimited Linux Web Hosting

Domain Name: UNLIMITEDLINUXWEBHOSTING.COM
Registrar: INDIALINKS WEB HOSTING PVT.LTD.
Name Server: CONGO-NS1.REALVALUEHOSTING.COM
Name Server: CONGO-NS2.REALVALUEHOSTING.COM
Updated Date: 08-jul-2012
Creation Date: 20-jul-2010

Expiration Date: 20-jul-2013

Nixism web hosting

NixIsm.com is for sale (Nix Ism)
Special price of only …  Buy NixIsm.com for $1,295

Domain Name: NIXISM.COM
Registrar: NAMETURN LLC
Name Server: NSG1.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
Name Server: NSG2.NAMEBRIGHTDNS.COM
Updated Date: 22-jun-2012

 

Profithost.net

status: page does not load
Domain Name: PROFITHOST.NET
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Name Server: NS1.PROFITHOST.NET
Name Server: NS2.PROFITHOST.NET
Updated Date: 30-nov-2011
Creation Date: 30-nov-2005
Expiration Date: 30-nov-2012

Administrative Contact:
Jacob Lageveen
spaanderbank 40
lemmer,  LZ,  NL

Using a quick search,(note quick does not necessarily equate with thorough), there does not appear to be any rants against Profithost.net

But then there is also a similar domain...

Profithost.com

Domain Name: PROFITHOST.COM
Registrar: ALPINE DOMAINS INC.
Name Server: NS1.LIGHTNINGHOST.COM
Name Server: NS2.LIGHTNINGHOST.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 06-jan-2012
Creation Date: 04-feb-2004
Expiration Date: 04-feb-2013

Profithost.com does appears to have accumalated some rants. But it appears to be a different owner, different nameservers, different continent, and the domain is for sale... if you’re interested!  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but when choosing a name for your hosting company a little due diligence may alleviate some brand confusion in the future. At the very least, use care in the brand you choose to emulate

 

Server-Logix

status: page does not load
Domain Name: SERVER-LOGIX.COM
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Name Server: NS1.XNOC.COM
Name Server: NS2.XNOC.COM
Updated Date: 26-dec-2011
Creation Date: 27-dec-2006
Expiration Date: 27-dec-2012

 

TacVPS

status:unavailable
Domain Name: TACVPS.NET
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Name Server: NS1.XFUSESOLUTIONS.NET
Name Server: NS2.XFUSESOLUTIONS.NET
Updated Date: 04-jul-2012
Creation Date: 24-apr-2011
Expiration Date: 24-apr-2013

 

That Hosting

The domain redirects to a message that says it all...

Welcome to thathosting.com This domain was recently registered at namecheap.com. Following is a message from the owner of this domain.
THAT HOSTING HAS WENT OUT OF BUSINESS

 

 

Total Internet Hosting

For those learned academic types that may scoff at the idea of reading “pictures”, it says “This domain has been captured by. Com name”

 

TotalwebHQ

Advertisement Holding page for domain.

 

Precision-Media

status:unavailable
Domain Name: PRECISION-MEDIA.NET
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Name Server: NS1.ALFAHOST.CC
Name Server: NS2.ALFAHOST.CC
Updated Date: 08-jul-2011

Creation Date: 23-jul-2006 

 

An extension granted in March for the DNS servers run by the Internet Systems Consortium for victims of the DNS Changer malware expires in less than a week. After the FBI disconnected the ESThost/Rove Digital “rogue” DNS infrastructure in New York and Chicago as part of operation “ghostclick”, ISC has acted under a custodial court order to install and maintain legitimate DNS servers for affected users. The contract to maintain these clean DNS servers is set to expires on July 9.

The DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG) estimates that more than 350,000 users are still affected by DNS changer virus. Unlike the previous shutdown date in March – which was put off by a federal court – there will be no extension this time. There are various checkup sites as well as one by Google where you can check to see if your computer is infected.

Users who ignore these warnings face being cut off from the entire Internet once the court order expires on July 9.

Six Estonians (editor's pun.. living in Estonia does not make you Estonian), were using an ostensibly legitimate front company to organize a sophisticated system of false DNS servers. These servers then sometimes redirected the web browsers of computers infected with the “DNSChanger” virus to sites of the hackers' own choosing. (more pun..Ever wonder how you landed at that Apple store in China)

Rove Digital is accused of making money from the infected computers by receiving 'per-click' revenue from advertisers, the normally legal method that rewards sites that refer users to sites being advertised, according to the official New York indictment and the FBI. The scheme was estimated to have netted nearly $20 million over four years for those behind the virus.

Only those who have been caught say “Crime doesn’t pay”

 

 

Hello Fellow Gators,

There have been rumors flying around the web and the office about HostGator being sold for many years now. I'd like to address these rumors and put many of your fears to rest. I still own 100% of HostGator and haven't collected a single penny towards any buyouts at this time.

The latest rumor is the first that actually has some truth behind it. I have indeed agreed to sell HostGator to Endurance International Group, which is why you're hearing stories about Endurance International Group raising financing to purchase us. We are currently under contract and if everything goes according to plan, Endurance International Group will be purchasing HostGator in the next 3-4 weeks. 

This is the first time in HostGator's history that we have ever reached an agreement on the terms needed to complete a deal.

In the last few months, I've spent countless hours getting to know Endurance International Group  CEO Hari Ravichandran, and I can honestly say that he is one of the most trustworthy and knowledgeable people that I've ever met. In other deals we've looked at, the potential buyers have only seen HostGator as a slot machine and that's not true of Hari. He clearly understands that HostGator is the 800 pound gorilla that it is today thanks to all of you who provide the legendary support that HostGator is known for.

It's only natural for all of you to be apprehensive towards change and the fear of possibly losing your job. I can write whatever I want in order to cover for Endurance International Group, but I would rather let the facts speak for themselves:

When I first heard about Endurance International Group purchasing Bluehost in November 2010, I was extremely ecstatic. The first thoughts that came to mind were that Endurance International Group was going to destroy the company, resulting in one of our biggest competitors going the way of the dodo. However, rather than plunder and pillage, they've hired and flourished. Bluehost was at 280 employees when the sale closed and they have 450 today. Their management team has stayed the same and the culture has stayed the same. Now, the Bluehost culture, employees, and philosophy have taken hold to become the new status quo of EIG.

I'm confident the same will happen once again with the best of HostGator culture, ideas, people, and leadership coming together at EIG to create a more powerful hosting company than the world has ever seen. In fact, I've heard that Endurance International Group with HostGator will be even bigger than GoDaddy.

Once this deal is complete, I will continue to own all of the HostGator occupied buildings through Oxley Leasing. Endurance International Group and I will soon have a leasing deal in place that will not only include all of the current occupied space leased, but will also expand Austin by 30,000 square feet as well as Houston by another 10,000-20,000 square feet. Hari has also told me that one of his first acts of business will be to do a major renovation of the Houston office. If Endurance International Group planned on downsizing, they wouldn't be signing such huge expansions in both Houston and Austin.

HostGator will be EIG's largest acquisition to date and with that it's going to create countless opportunities for each and every person. Not only at HostGator, but also at other Endurance International Group brands. I can't stress enough how instrumental it will be for Endurance International Group to replicate HostGator's strengths across all of their brands, and to do that, they will need HostGator leaders and know how.

There are many of you who are going to call me crazy for deciding to sell during a time in which HostGator has experienced unprecedented growth and success. I'll do my best below to share a few of the many reasons behind my decision:

- I want to travel the world before my wife and I have kids.

- I've been doing HostGator since I was 18, and I'm looking for a new challenge.

- I'm extremely worried about the financial path our country is headed down.

- Taxes will be going up significantly in 2013, making it more difficult for business owners.

- I've failed more times than I can count to launch software that would allow us to compete as a registrar.

- We have tried and failed to develop a billing system that has automated and can integrate with our key systems such as chat, phone, affiliates, and tickets. I think we are finally on the right track, but unfortunately I no longer have the patience to wait for it to all come together. Thankfully Endurance International Group has tackled a lot of these challenges already.

- I have practically 100% of my chips in HostGator and if something should ever happen to the company, I'd more than likely be bankrupt ina matter of a few months.

I could stick with HostGator for a few more years and turn it into a multi-billion dollar business, but I think now is the right time for me to move on and to let the company continue to grow and succeed under Endurance International Group.

If any of you have any questions, feel free to email me and I'll do my best to get them answered. The key thing to remember is that this deal isn't complete yet, and if and when it completes, Adam Farrar and the rest of management won't be going anywhere.

Sincerely,

Brent Oxley

 

Greenpeace recently launched nestespoil.com, a protest site against Finnish oil company Neste Oil that highlights how their practices lead to deforestation and increased carbon emissions. Neste Oil, not amused, launched an action of their own, but not against Greenpeace, rather towards their web host Loopia.

Neste Oil filed the lawsuit in the district court of Västmanland in Sweden, where Loopia is based, and also filed a complaint with WIPO, demanding the transfer of the domain nestespoil.com from Greenpeace to the oil company Neste Oil.

Domain Name: NESTESPOIL.COM
Name Server: NS1.LOOPIA.SE
Name Server: NS2.LOOPIA.SE
Updated Date: 27-apr-2012
Creation Date: 19-mar-2012

 

Neste spoil returns 

Swedish Web Host Binero, a Loopia competitor  is hosting a new GreenPeace domain and website “Nestespoilreturns.com.”

Binero considers the EU E-commerce directive 2000/31/EG and the consequent local laws to be absurd and that all sites must be allowed to have their legality tried by authorities. Current laws put web hosts, ISPs and other middle men at risk of being sued for damages unless they immediately shut down sites in unclear cases. Large corporations can stop sites simply by threatening middle men and we believe this is a threat to free speech says Bineros CEO and founder Anders Aleborg. We believe that our customers have the right to be judged by the courts, and that its not the web hosts responsibility for determining whether a website is legal or not.

The web host has previously refused to answer inquiries about the customer thepiratebay.se - It was natural for us to invite Greenpeace. Oil companies should not be able to stop the parodies, free expression of opinion without commercial purposes only by threatening a middleman, says Aleborg.

Domain Name: NESTESPOILRETURNS.COM
Name Server: NS3.BINERO.SE
Name Server: NS4.BINERO.SE
Name Server: NS5.BINERO.SE
Name Server: NS6.BINERO.SE
Name Server: NS7.BINERO.SE
Updated Date: 29-may-2012
Creation Date: 29-may-2012
Expiration Date: 29-may-2013

Typically companies in North America are served with a DMCA takedown notice when allegations of copyright violations exist. The rules allow the site owner to protest the takedown as well as create penalties, at least in theory for a false takedown.

It is being reported that Endurance International Group is raising $225M with proceeds from the transaction backing the website hosting company's acquisition of Houston-based Hostgator.

This isn't the first acquisition for Endurance International Group as they have actually amassed  an increasing share of the web hosting market with companies like:

iPowerWeb.

AccountSupport
BizLand
BizHostNet
BlueDomino
BlueHost
Dot5
DomainHost
EasyCGI
eHost
EntryHost
FastDomain
FatCow
FreeYellow
HostCentric
HostClear
HostYourSite
HyperMart
HostMonster
ImOutDoors
iPowerWeb
iPage
JustHost
NetFirms
NetWorksHosting
PowWeb
PureHost
ReadyHost
Startlogic
SuperGreen Hosting
USAnetHosting
VirtualAve
Xeran

And now HostGator.. pending

 

Charles Carreon’s latest cyberspace shenanigans is akin to calling the kettle black. Let’s face it. Carreon has essentially declared war on the web without coming clean on his own bizarre networking strategies. Indeed in the past, Carreon has resorted to using extreme “shock humor” to convey his own twisted view of current affairs!

For those who live with their heads in the sand and not yet aware of the growing global Oatmeal saga, here is the latest scoop, complete with links. On Friday, June 15, 2012, Attorney Charles Carreon passed from his prior “mundane short-term internet notoriety into a sort of legal cartoon-supervillainy.” Indeed, he transcended typical internet infamy when he filed a federal lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland. Carreon’s lawsuit is considered legendary. His legacy ensured the moment he filed the lawsuit against Matthew Inman, proprietor of The Oatmeal, and IndieGoGo Inc., the company that hosted Inman's ridiculously effective fundraiser for the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society.

Need more Yet.. where do you live!  Some previous coverage of Charles Carreon's bizarre and contemptible behavior on behalf of his client, FunnyJunk can be found on Popehat,  Part I, Part II, and Part III!

Charles Carreon’s server is hosted at the Level 3 Data Center in Gilbert Arizona (Cox nameservers, ip 98.174.248.229) and shows 46 domains pointing at numerous websites including CharlesCarreon.com, the Ralph Nader Library, and the Ashland Free Press.  Ironically,  Carreon’s domains direct potential audiences to ethicslawyers.com and  freespeechlawyer.com.

But free speech and ethics advocate, Carreon is not. And neither is Carreon a victim. Indeed, if contrived dehumanizing is the name of the game, then audiences of american-buddha.com, the website run by Carreon and his wife have come to expect Carreon to regularly indulge in his own idealized version of creative art. Over the years, Carreon’s antics have included a series of poorly photoshopped cartoons depicting George W Bush and Condoleeza Rice having sex, among other equally contrived online activities.

One of Carreon’s accusations allege that Oatmeal instigated his legions of followers to conduct a cyber war against Carreon’s law site (Editor’s note: Carreon never alleged, he stated this publicly on his website which appears to have disappeared but the web never forgets!) even though Carreon himself invites users to interact on the site:

Leave a reply for Charles Carreon

I would love to hear from you! If you have a comment or thought regarding internet law or a specific comment related to this entry at charlescarreon.com, please feel free to post it below!

You must be logged in to charlescarreon.com to post a comment.

This is why Carreon’s law suit is so out of character. As a lawyer, Carreon knows firsthand the rules of free speech and what is fair game. In a recent interview with Nick Nafpllotis, Carreon wants potential audiences (and clients) to believe that serving justice and freedom of speech are his primary motivations. Yet in the same interview, Carreon makes inflamatory comments like “This is like a man with his dick in a hornets' nest throwing his balls in it.”  (presumably referring to Matt Inman @ Oatmeal)

Carreon might do well reading a post from Maria’s blog (another domain hosted on Carreon’s own server). That is:

 

The coverage of Charlie Sheen’s antics has been over-the-top, to say the least. No one can sit around beating the same story like a drum circle the way the American media can. We are the best in the world when it comes to exploiting petty drama and relishing the lurid details of other peoples’ lives for pure schadenfreude. And no one, really, no one, can get on the internet and spew vitriol and ignorance the way Americans can. Jesus. It’s embarrassing. You want the freedom to express your opinion, and everyone loves the comment feature available on so many sites these days, but it’s practically impossible to read anything on the internet that hasn’t been commented upon by truly insane people. I mean that. Truly insane. Insane or ignorant. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which...

 

Carreon has filed suit. That's action. And it calls for action in return. So act.  

Now just what is Charlie Sheen up to these days anyway?

 

Three websites that adopted the names of Calgary public school trustees have been taken down after BlueHost was served with a cease and desist letter. The unauthorized sites “patcochrane.com, joyboweneyre. ca and pamking.ca” linked news stories and noted quotes made by Calgary Board of Education chairwoman Pat Cochrane and fellow trustees Joy Bowen-Eyre and Pamela King.

Some have also speculated the timing of the websites, which were created in December, is linked to a contentious discussion over board meeting procedures taking place during the same period. The trustees hired a lawyer on their own dime and said a letter was sent to Bluehost which complied with the takedown notice. BlueHost would send a copy of the notice to the site owner(s) who can contest the takedown.

The individual that registered the domains has been publicly concealed in the who-is information.

The president of the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils saying he doesn't understand what the big deal is. Robert Hurdman has admitted he knows who registered the domains, but continued to refuse to identify the person.  "Having looked at the content, I don't believe that they're harmful or hurtful in any way," he said. Hurdman argues the sites are a "none issue," and simply provide "a public record of public statements by public officials."

While the trustees could technically argue successfully that the websites could be construed as real, it has been said there are numerous different suffixes that you can put on the end of any domain. There is no way of fully protecting yourself. The law also generally views the use of these extension with latitude and protected under freedom of speech rules.

Robert Hurdman points out that by publicizing their complaints, the trustees may have inadvertently prompted more people to search out the websites. On the web its called the Streisand effect

And for now those domains point...

• patcochrane.com redirects to a wide eyed picture of Pat Cochrane in the Calgary Sun.

• joyboweneyre. ca goes to a search page

• pamking.ca redirects to a media story “Calgary school trustees pass controversial changes to meeting rules”

Another that they possibly missed..

• patcochrane.ca directs to a shining editorial that is headlined “ Shunning the public earns trustees an F”

Trustees may be learning something else about the internet. Its called “wack the mole”

It would appear that Amazon Web Services is not so willing to give up its share of the hosting market. After earlier announcements this month by Oracle and Microsoft regarding improvements and upgrades to their cloud platforms, Amazon has announced some changes to its own support plans!

"Amazon has been passionate about customer service since we started the company 17 years ago,” said Brent Jaye, General Manager of AWS Support. “Putting customers first is part of our DNA.”

So now Amazon will offer expanded free support for all AWS customers, reduced pricing on premium support plans and multiple new features to help customers better interact with and improve their use of AWS. These upgrades will including chat functionality and proactive alerts when opportunities exist to save money, improve system performance, or close security gaps.

 

The New Plan(s)

Basic AWS plan

Will include “Basic” support for free. Added features in this tier include immediate, around-the-clock access to customer service by email or phone for billing and account issues, and technical support for system health issues. Customers continue to have access to technical FAQs, best practices guides, the AWS Service Health Dashboard, and the AWS Developer Forums, which are monitored and responded to by AWS support engineers.

(editors note: If you get immediate around-the-clock access to customer service in the basic plan.. why would anyone opt for Developer plan with its 12 hour response time?)

Developer ($49/month and 1:1 customer support):

Previously called the Bronze tier, the Developer tier includes all components of the Basic tier, plus the following: 12-hour response time to support cases submitted, 1:1 customer support for any AWS-related question, and access to AWS Technical Support Engineers via email through the AWS online support center during local business hours to help configure, operate, and maintain core AWS services and features.

Business:  

Previously called the Gold tier, the Business tier includes all components of the Basic and Developer tiers, plus the following: one-hour response time to support cases submitted and support engineers available 24/7 via phone, chat or email. In addition to chat capabilities, new features include access to AWS Trusted Advisor, a program that monitors AWS infrastructure services, identifies customers’ usage patterns, and notifies customers when opportunities exist to save money, improve system performance, or close security gaps. Customers also receive support for the most common third-party software running on AWS. The Business tier minimum pricing has been reduced from $400 to $100 per month and a 3% usage-based pricing tier has been added to the existing pricing tiers of 10%, 7%, and 5%.

(editors note: that sounds like the marketing spin from some phone companies I’ve used in the past!)

The press release goes on with some marketing hype from big name companies like Earth Networks, NetFlix, and the SuperBowl’s Shazam App.. It appears none of these guys use the plans listed above but have opted instead to use the Enterprise Plan (New pricing based on usage vs. flat fee), previously called the Platinum tier. (fifteen minute response times.. similar to what many of the better web hosts reviewed on HostJury have always offered!)

So while a few followers of HostJury may have a need for the Enterprise/Platinum tier, it is more likely that a larger segment will just need to settle for aspirations, and slightly longer support responses!

You snooze, You Lose.. This one is expired!

HostJury compiles discount web hosting coupons and special offerings by various hosts. As always we recommend that while price may be a consideration when choosing a web host for your "baby", it should only be one of the many factors considered in your research. Page load speeds, additional features, good communication, and a fast knowledgeable support team will always top saving a few cents per day.

yola is offering an exclusive, short term deal that can't be beat - 30% off 1 year Yola Silver! This special offer is only available June 12th - 14th

 

Yola Silver with coupon code:Expired

• Gain trust with domain name pointing
• Look professional with unlimited premium styles
• Free ad credits on Google and Facebook
• Plus much more!

 

HostJury compiles discount web hosting coupons and special offerings by various hosts. As always we recommend that while price may be a consideration when choosing a web host for your "baby", it should only be one of the many factors considered in your research. Page load speeds, additional features, good communication, and a fast knowledgeable support team will always top saving a few cents per day.

“We don't have to sacrifice a strong economy for a healthy environment"

So what are you waiting for... The web by its nature means less.. quality over quantity! HostJury encourages you to take advantage of  discounts if available.  You will find coupons on the respective host review pages!

Green Geeks offer green web hosting starting at $4.95 per month .. Sign up and be entered for a chance to win an I-Pad

On a daily basis, HostJury deletes defunct web hosts that have accumulated over the years from the directory. As with any industry, business failure is a given. While no recognized in-depth studies have not been conducted to date, at least not any that I am aware of, the low cost entry barriers into the web hosting field appears to increase the likelihood of failure among at least early entrants to the marketplace.

In recent weeks, the number of web hosts closing their doors or modifying their business plan to move away from web hosting has perceptively increased.  Not all defunct web hosts can be accused of the “take the money and run” operandus. Many conscientious web hosts notify their clients of impending changes in a responsible manner. Others make an arrangement that allows for the orderly transfer of clients to another web hosting company.

Still, as seen in the last weeks with dotnet-host, the hacked server(s) appear to have been left on the rack while clients scrambled to retrieve their data. Fortunately, some did have back-ups but it still does not negate the fact that many dotnet-host clients were unable to manage or transfer their domains. While Domain registrar Enom is working with the affected clients to provide access to the domains, the frustration felt by many individuals could easily have been averted with even minimal communication from dotnet-host management.

Deep end of the Dead Pool.

Managed 101

"It appears dead Jim" (okay my browser shows it everytime my tweetdeck dies!)

HostJury sent an email which bounced a short while later:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed: sales AT managed101.com

Domain Name: MANAGED101.COM
Name Server: NS1.ONTRACKIT.COM
Updated Date: 09-mar-2012
Creation Date: 27-jul-2007
Expiration Date: 27-jul-2012
No recent forum activity
No Tweets on Twitter

It appear the domain was updated on March 9th.  Regardless, it’s a pretty good indicator that once a web host shuts down sales, there is change forthcoming. There does not appear to be any angry clients. Kudo’s to Managed 101.  Some in the past have chosen to shut off support while the cash register kept churning!

 

ManobanWeb

Page to nowhere!

Irish web host Manoban homepage now redirect to a page showing a countdown image for merging with Radical Solutions (radical.ie). Both domains appear controlled by Adam Hoban
HostJury has sent an email to the domain administrative contact:  adam hoban (adam@manobanweb.com)

Awaiting a response so this one may yet live!

Domain Name: MANOBANWEB.COM
Name Server: NS1.MYGOODSERVER.INFO
Name Server: NS2.MYGOODSERVER.INFO
Updated Date: 04-jan-2012
Creation Date: 04-aug-2007
Expiration Date: 04-aug-2013

A search appears to reveal very little activity after mid 2011. There was a number of special offers available at this time. Regardless, there does not appears to be any major complaints either before the host went quiet, or afterward.

 

Millenium Data

Domain is for sale. Going once ... Going Twice.. anyone! 

Toronto web host Millenium Data made a noisy entrance into the web hosting industry a number of years ago.

Looking at the details of the domain Whois, creation date, update of the name servers, and an owner in Florida suggests that the domain expired and was scooped up for its residual value.

Domain Name: MILLENNIUMDATA.COM
Registrar: DYNADOT, LLC
Name Server: NS1.FABULOUS.COM
Name Server: NS2.FABULOUS.COM
Updated Date: 12-feb-2012
Creation Date: 12-feb-2012
Expiration Date: 12-feb-2013

So while the Millenium Data domain may be for sale, HostMDS continues operations and is not affected by the change. HostMDS appears to be controlled by MS Transactions using the domain mstransactions.com.

 

NCisp Web Hosting

Domain is pending renewal or deletion. Never a good thing!

Last known activity January 9, 2012

NCISP opened for business as an ISP in North Carolina in 1998. Providing dialup, web hosting, web design, and collocated servers. We experienced rapid growth, doubling in size and office space yearly. When DSL became available, we were one of the first in our area to deploy it, becoming well known in our area as alternate to behemoth and bloated phone companies. Recently, we have spread our DSL and T1 service nationwide. Many of our customers have been with us for 9 or 10 years, and we are proud to have been a part of their growth and success.

Domain Name: NCISP.NET
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Name Server: NS1.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM
Name Server: NS2.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM
Updated Date: 19-may-2012
Creation Date: 17-may-1999
Expiration Date: 17-may-2013

Fused, a company highly rated for its service orientation among web hosting providers has announced plans to provide “unmetered bandwith” to its clients. Hearing the announcement, HostJury decided to find out whether this was some marketing gimmick or a moment of temporary insanity by those in charge. Since there are already numerous web hosting companies offering Unlimited Everything, our skepticism should come as no surprise.

The quick and brief announcement regarding the change to services states:

As mentioned in past emails, unmetered bandwidth was being considered behind the scenes as our network topology got up to par to allow it. Today's that day. We've gone ahead and adjusted all hosting services to reflect the changes, and will begin ignoring bandwidth restrictions on all packages beginning tomorrow.

What this means is that all accounts that had been billed extra for bandwidth previously have had those 'extra' services terminated. You will still note a 'bandwidth limit' in control panels until later this week but our systems will ignoring the upper limits until we're able to set everyone to unmetered/unlimited.

We had personally always considered them an impediment to our services, and easily the most frustrating aspect of our services over the years -- for both us, and users alike.

In an email to the David McKendrick, the CEO of Fused, HostJury asked how this offering differed from the unlimited offered by most web host. Isn’t Fused just slow getting on the bandwagon?

Not quite, I like to see it as merely adjusting to the needs of our clients. The truth is bandwidth has consistently been one of our lowest costs since our launch in comparison to any other overhead we have.

Could you elaborate on the statement “considered them an impediment to our services, and easily the most frustrating aspect of our services over the years”

There was far more manpower being spent answering questions regarding bandwidth limits & adjusting them on behalf of users, and worrying about billing than there was in simply concentrating on scaling our services. Despite instantly vaporizing $20,000+ in annual revenue on bandwidth fees to clients, in the long-run we'll still save by making things unmetered as far as transfer is concerned.

Many veterans of the web hosting industry would state that there is no such thing as “Unlimited”. How does Fused hope to accomplish what, as many review will attest, has been unsustainable by many of the web hosts?

Unmetered and unlimited are far different beasts: unlimited infers (to end-users) that one can wield as much as they'd like without regard for anyone else. Unmetered simply means we don't keep track of bandwidth usage beyond basic statistic collection, as it's irrelevant unless one user impedes on another's ability to get solid performance & service.

One of my greatest long-term fears with the industry pushing towards the unlimited side of things is the effort required in translating other limitations into real terms for users. e.g. if there's no bandwidth restrictions, suddenly there is one less gauge for users to have to see where they're at in regards to usage.

We'll continue to do our best in translating the technology to make it more transparent to end-users, including giving them other methods where they can see what capacity they're using in comparison to the accounts they're on. CPU & memory usage will play a larger role, while transfer limitations will essentially cease to exist.

I suspect the same will begin to apply to many other players in the industry inevitably, especially as particular costs continue to drop substantially.

Certainly, if one looks at Fused reviews on HostJury, it’s clear that some comments suggest that Fused has been selective with their client base, preferring to target a more knowledgeable clientele in their operations, such as web developers. Can HostJury expect some reviews from disgruntled “new but former”  clients of Fused in the coming months?

I think any company has a responsibility to be selective with their clients in order to keep team members content. I've been involved in web hosting for just shy of a decade and have a fairly good eye as to the clients we prefer to work with.

The truth is no single entity can satisfy everyone 100% of the time, and inevitably someone will take something the wrong way. The truth is we're simply doing our best to satisfy the clients we do have and are largely uninterested in growth for growth's sake.

Now that Fused is offering unmetered bandwidth, some might ask if unlimited everything is the next logical step. “Don’t hold your breath,” said McKendrick, “Sadly, until we win the lottery all other resource restrictions will remain in effect.”

About Fused:

Fused continues to be a leading provider of web hosting throughout the world. Since 2001, Fused (formerly known as Fused Network), has offered first class support, uptime & time sensitive performance for personal and business clients in over 65 countries. During this time, Fused is proud knowing that it still retains the hosting firm’s very first client. Although over the years, Fused offerings and team members have changed slightly, Fused continues to provide exceptional service to its customers. Fused goal for the future is to partner with clients as though each one has a vested interest and personal investment in Fused.

The Federal Court of Appeal has released its decision in the case of Jodhan v. Attorney General of Canada. In this case, the Court considered whether the Federal Government had denied Donna Jodhan, a person with a vision disability, her rights to equal benefit and equal access to government information and services in violation of Section 15 of the Charter.  Ms. Jodhan had attempted to apply for jobs and access government information through various federal websites. She was not able to access this information when she used her screen reading technology.

ARCH Disability Law Centre lawyers Karen R. Spector and Laurie Letheren represented the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) as an intervener before the Court.

The Government of Canada had argued that the Charter rights of people with vision disabilities were not violated because they could still get the information or apply for jobs in person or by phone or fax. The Court rejected this argument and agreed with Ms. Jodhan that “forcing her to rely on sighted assistance is demeaning and propagates the point of view that [people with vision disabilities] are less capable and less worthy”.

AEBC emphasized that the internet is a very important tool for achieving substantive equality for people with vision disabilities by eliminating many of the barriers that exist in daily life.  As Cindy Ferguson, AEBC National Secretary, has stated, “With proper technology people with vision disabilities now experience information overload in the same way as everyone else”. The Court described the internet as “one of the most, if not the most important tools ever designed for accessing not only government information and services, but all types of information and services”.

AEBC and ARCH applaud the Court’s recognition that the government’s failure to provide its online information and services in accessible formats not only impacted the equality rights of Ms. Jodhan but the right to substantive equality for all Canadians with vision disabilities. The Court found that “there were very serious problems of accessibility… throughout the government apparatus” which justified the ordering of a systemic remedy. Karen R. Spector, counsel for AEBC, anticipates that the finding that a systemic remedy was justified in this case will have far reaching impact on future cases for people with disabilities.

John Rae, AEBC past president, states, “It is now time for the government to stop fighting against the Blind community and comply with their obligations to make all of its websites fully accessible.”

We've written about this before. The Ontario Gov passed Accessibility Standards Law then failed to follow it and also on the UK Institute of Blind Suit against an airline.

Sometimes the path of least resistance (just get it fixed already) is a wiser course of action!

HostJury is compiling discount web hosting coupons and special offerings by various hosts. As always we recommend that while price may be a consideration when choosing a web host for your "baby", it should only be one of the many factors considered in your research. Page load speeds, additional features, good communication, and a fast knowledgeable support team will always top saving a few cents per day.

“Money earned with pains should be spent on pleasure"   Unknown
So what are you waiting for... Indulge yourself!  HostJury encourages you to take advantage of  discounts if available.  You will find coupons on the respective host review pages!

Acquire that (dot) ME Registration you've always secretly yearned for! Only $9.95* with a coupon from MyDomain.com

 * first year only

HostJury is compiling discount web hosting coupons and special offerings by various hosts. As always we recommend that while price may be a consideration when choosing a web host for your "baby", it should only be one of the many factors considered in your research. Page load speeds, additional features, good communication, and a fast knowledgeable support team will always top saving a few cents per day.

“I want to be financially independent. I want to work (if I decide to work) on what I enjoy the most, not on what pays me the most.” ~ Jose Anes

So what are you waiting for...  HostJury encourages you to take advantage of  discounts if available.  You will find coupons on the respective host review pages!

Special Offer! 20% off New 12+mo Hosting plans from Go Daddy!  From C$5.09/month  From C$4.24 /month

The application process of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for new generic top-level domain name has now closed. ICANN will publish a complete list of all the applied for strings in June but some,including Google,have jumped the gun by announcing some of the extensions applied for. Among these are (dot)google and (dot)youtube. Also applied for are some domain extensions the company "thinks have interesting and creative potential,” like (dot) lol.

Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) like these will soon become a reality along with the 28 TLDs presently utilized. like .com, .org, .net .me, and more obscure ones like .jobs and .aero. The initiative is expected to create between 300 and 1,000 new gTLDs per year. As HostJury wrote in an earlier post, applicants have to pay a $185,000 evaluation fee just to apply, as well as approximately $25K in additional annual fees if their applications is accepted.

There had been a lot of controversy around establishing new TLD. Many large corporations and non-profit organizations have argued that this process would force them to spend more money than necessary on securing their trademarks. An even greater burden is faced by smaller companies who already spend a small fortune acquiring every conceivable variation of their domain in an effort to thwart imagination deprived newbs entering the marketplace with a cloned domain.

Here are some of the domains Google has applied for (and the company’s reasoning behind applying for them):

• The trademarks, like .google
• Domains related to their core business, like .docs
• Domains that will improve user experience, such as .youtube, which can increase the ease with which YouTube channels and genres can be identified
• Domains they think have interesting and creative potential, such as .lol

Google says it’s “just beginning to explore this potential source of innovation on the web, and are curious to see how these proposed new TLDs will fare in the existing TLD environment. By opening up more choices for Internet domain names, they hope people will find options for more diverse and perhaps shorter signposts in cyberspace.”

Besides Google, a number of other companies announced the gTLDs they’ve applied for. Web.com, says it applied for (dot)web. CloudNames applied for .cloud and .global and Radix applied for 31 gTLDs, including law, music, movie, baby, blog, bank, and app. (do the math, thats $30M plus in TLD applications from just one company!)

Nobody could argue that there isn’t many exciting possibilities, and benefits attached to refining TLD. Still without implementation of some safeguards, we will likely have to wait for June 13 to find the full extent of the blood letting. Along with the domain squatters who are rubbing their hands in glee.. but thats another post!

Another Q still unanswered.. who is going to get .amazon - the Internet retailer or Brazil.

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“I will just create, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, I’ll create something else. I don’t have any limitations on what I think I could do or be.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

So what are you waiting for...  HostJury encourages you to take advantage of  discounts if available.  You will find coupons on the respective host review pages!

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HostJury is compiling discount web hosting coupons and special offerings by various hosts. As always we recommend that while price may be a consideration when choosing a web host for your "baby", it should only be one of the many factors considered in your research. Page load speeds, additional features, good communication, and a fast knowledgeable support team will always top saving a few cents per day.

“Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.” – Elise Boulding

So keep a little more...  HostJury encourages you to take advantage of  discounts if available.  You will find coupons on the respective host review pages!

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