For some reason .info is the only TLD besides .com/net/org that we offer for registration (of course you can host any domain) at DreamHost.

They were just one of the first “new” TLDs I suppose. Back before we got burnt out on them all.

Of course, there were a few people who got burnt by .info domains themselves… by the .info sunrise period, more specifically. The .info registry themselves!

I just got an email this morning that Afilias (the .info registry) will be reallocating a bunch of .info domains (see the end of this post for the full list) that were somehow “incorrectly” registered during their sunrise period many years ago.

I don’t know what comprises “incorrectly” .. maybe they just mean “squattedly” but the upshot is you can now submit an application to get one or more of the domains by filling out this form and emailing it as a PDF as well as mailing a paper copy with a check for $250 to

Attn: Sunrise Reallocation RFP
Afilias Limited
c/o Afilias USA, Inc.
300 Welsh Road, Bldg 3, Ste. 105
Horsham, PA 19044
USA

by December 22nd.

You’ve got to put on the application why want the domain(s) you’re going after, and I guess they’re just going to pick whomever is most “deserving”. Or their cousin.

I just thought this was kind of interesting because Afilias is opening themselves up to a whole lotta sour grapes from all the cyber squatters who don’t get the domains they wanted. And in the end all that changes is Afilias makes a lot of $250 application fees and new and different cyber squatters get the domains!

The only way I can think of to make this fair is to just randomly assign the domains among all applications. Or, if they really want to hold editorial control over who gets them, the criteria should be that the requester already be running an active website on a similar domain, that they then agree to relinquish over to Afilias in return for the .info domain they will start using in its stead.

Then I could swap information.la for losangeles.info!

114.info
24seven.info
3bo.info
401k.info
4-best.info
4flow.info
4runner.info
88edibleoil.info
aar.info
aar-treuhand.info
abenteuer.info
abfs.info
accessgroup.info
acousticwavemusicsystem.info
acousticwavemusicsystem.info
adata.info
adizesgraduateschool.info
adizesinstitute.info
adizesusa.info
aegonassetmanagement.info
aei.info
airline.info
airzone.info
alava.info
albacete.info
alicante.info
all.info
allergy.info
allianz-arena.info
allinfo.info
almeria.info
alte-leipziger-bauspar.info
alte-leipziger-holding.info
alte-leipziger-institut.info
amade.info
ameda.info
america.info
americantower.info
americantown.info
americantowns.info
amtrack.info
anchorage.info
andalucia.info
aniscastellana.info
anis-castellana.info
antalya.info
antiquitaeten.info
apartments.info
aqua.info
aquaculture.info
aragon.info
arthritis.info
arucana.info
asbestos.info
askamd.info
askthedude.info
asn.info
aspen.info
assetweb.info
asturias.info
athlon.info
athritis.info
auction.info
australien.info
auto.info
autoengineer.info
automation.info
autorouter.info
autos.info
aveny.info
aviation.info
avila.info
avnetexpress.info
avondale.info
ayurveda.info
a-z.info
baaworldpoints.info
bachelor.info
badajoz.info
badgirls.info
badwesternkotten.info
bahn.info
bairstow.info
baleares.info
baltimoresun.info
balve.info
bambinchen.info
bamboo.info
banff.info
bangkok.info
bank.info
bankshot.info
bargain.info
bargains.info
baseball.info
basell.info
bassfishing.info
bauernherbst.info
baukosten.info
bauzirkel.info
bdiu.info
beauty.info
beavercreek.info
bedandbreakfast.info
bedding.info
beer.info
beinhart.info
benetone.info
bettersex.info
bible.info
bier.info
big.info
bikehotels.info
bilbao.info
bisex.info
bit.info
blick.info
blinddater.info
blinds.info
blinds2go.info
bluetooth.info
boat.info
body.info
bollywood.info
bolsa.info
bonds.info
books.info
boot.info
bosecorporation.info
boston.info
boxoffice.info
branchenbuch.info
brauerei.info
braunschweig.info
bravoscreenfun.info
bregenzerwald.info
bremen.info
briefmarken.info
brigitte.info
britishamericantabacco.info
brixen.info
broadway.info
brotherhoodmutual.info
browser.info
brustkrebs.info
buchner.info
buffalo.info
buffaloboots.info
buffalo-boots.info
buildermarts.info
bunactravelservices.info
burgos.info
buydomain.info
buymine.info
byte.info
byteburg.info
caceres.info
cadiz.info
calciwise.info
caldaro.info
calence.info
calendar.info
california.info
camelotgroup.info
camelot-group.info
campingtirol.info
can.info
canarias.info
cancer.info
cargo.info
carpediem.info
cartagena.info
cas.info
casilan.info
casinos.info
castellon.info
catalunya.info
catelli.info
cbt.info
cellatlas.info
cellularphone.info
cerebys.info
certainteed-design.info
ceuta.info
charcol.info
charity.info
chat.info
chatrooms.info
cheapnights.info
chef.info
chemnitz.info
chemotherapie.info
chicagosports.info
chienes.info
childrensplace.info
chocolate.info
cholanhmb.info
cholan-hmb.info
cholesterol.info
christ.info
city.info
clearwindow.info
click4.info
click411.info
clinicaltrials.info
closs.info
clpcrowntechnicalservices.info
cms.info
coating.info
coburg.info
cocoapro.info
coins.info
cold.info
coldfusion.info
colfosco.info
colorado.info
colorcases.info
combipatch.info
comfortedgetechnology.info
comfortline.info
comfortpro.info
companyguru.info
companyinsight.info
computer.info
concrete.info
consulting.info
contender.info
copenhagen.info
cornwall.info
corp.info
corvara.info
costablanca.info
costabrava.info
costadelsol.info
craft.info
crbliss.info
creditcards.info
crown.info
crowntechnical.info
crowntechnicalservices.info
cruise.info
csi.info
cuenca.info
cyberdog.info
cyclotran.info
cygate.info
dachdecker.info
dagehtsmirgut.info
dairylicious.info
datadepot.info
dataflux.info
dateline.info
datingagency.info
dealdesk.info
deal-desk.info
deltaview.info
dental.info
denver.info
depression.info
depressionen.info
desenexmax.info
devies.info
dial-a-tech.info
diet.info
digital.info
digitaltimes.info
digitalvideo.info
directimagingcenter.info
direct-imaging-center.info
direktmarketing.info
dis.info
discounts.info
distancelearning.info
dobbiaco.info
doccontrol.info
doctor.info
doctors.info
dolcevita.info
dolomiten.info
dolomiti.info
door.info
dortmund.info
dotweb.info
dowagro.info
dowagrosciences.info
dowchemical.info
dowchemicalcompany.info
driveweb.info
druckmaschinen.info
dsl.info
dsv-saaten.info
duplium.info
durasolv.info
ear.info
earlydefense.info
earth.info
easytrade.info
ebank.info
ebia.info
ecitizen.info
economic.info
economics.info
ecopower.info
ediligence.info
edisonelectricinst.info
e-epoxy.info
e-fficiency.info
e-flood.info
eggdesign.info
egger.info
eggerwirt.info
egggroup.info
egginteractive.info
eisacktal.info
ejgallo.info
elearning.info
election.info
electric-blue.info
elevator.info
e-mail.info
energie.info
enews.info
eng.info
engineering.info
envigor.info
enviroment.info
envision.info
epilepsyaction.info
epoxy.info
equicareanddesign.info
erci.info
erektion.info
eres.info
ergo.info
eroski.info
escorts.info
etickets.info
etop.info
eucaris.info
eurekaconnection.info
eva.info
event.info
everlux.info
everything.info
e-watch.info
excact.info
exhibitions.info
exiban30.info
eyeclinic.info
eyewitness.info
fact.info
family.info
farmacia.info
farmbureauconnection.info
fashion.info
fedcup.info
feesten.info
fengshui.info
ferienwohnungen.info
ferrum.info
finance.info
financialadvisor.info
financialservices.info
findlaw.info
fineliving.info
fingersnackers.info
fish4cars.info
fish4jobs.info
fishing.info
flashlight.info
flexiblelogic.info
flexible-logic.info
flight.info
flkeys.info
floodwise.info
florida.info
flowers.info
flualert.info
flute.info
fmb.info
focalpoint.info
focuscomfortchallenge.info
focuscomforttrial.info
focusdayplus.info
focuseveryday.info
focusevery-day.info
focusexpress.info
foodinaminute.info
foodtv.info
foremost.info
forestbank.info
formentera.info
forsale.info
fostercare.info
franchise.info
frankfurt.info
frechdachs.info
freerider.info
freshfieldsbruckhaus.info
freshfields-bruckhaus-deringer.info
freshfieldsinternational.info
frijo.info
fristampumps.info
fuelcell.info
fuerteventura.info
fuerteventura.info
funday-times.info
furniture.info
fuschlamsee.info
fussball.info
futbol.info
futurephoto.info
galaxy.info
gamble.info
gambler.info
gambling.info
game.info
games.info
gapyear.info
gardengigglers.info
gazoline.info
gbg.info
gems.info
general.info
generika.info
genetics.info
genimap.info
gentleflex.info
geologie.info
geriatrie.info
getpacking.info
getsmartgetnextel.info
ghostgum.info
giancarlofisichella.info
giebel.info
gifts.info
gilead.info
girona.info
glen-elgin.info
global.info
gloss.info
glucon-d.info
glycemet.info
glycerine.info
go2orlando.info
gochina.info
god.info
godwad.info
goforit.info
gold.info
goldcard.info
goldegg.info
goldlinecoins.info
goldlineinternational.info
goldschmuck.info
golf.info
golf-alpin.info
goodidea.info
goodluck.info
goodwear.info
government.info
grancanaria.info
gravisand.info
graz.info
green.info
greenfingers.info
grossarl.info
guadalajara.info
guipuzcoa.info
gutachter.info
haas.info
hairloss.info
halbleiter.info
halfar.info
handibites.info
handi-bites.info
handicrafts.info
hangseng.info
hangsengbank.info
hardrive.info
hartfordcourant.info
haug.info
haut.info
hautecouture.info
haute-couture.info
headache.info
health.info
healthcare.info
healthhouse.info
heartshape.info
hechtl.info
heindl.info
heinzezsquirt.info
heinzwatties.info
heitersheim.info
helios.info
hema.info
hennesmauritz.info
hepatitis.info
herpes.info
highfly.info
high-fly.info
hints.info
hiv.info
hjheinz.info
holeinone.info
holidayclub.info
home.info
homecheck.info
home-check.info
homedecorating.info
homeoffice.info
home-office.info
homesales.info
homewinemaking.info
hondaracing.info
hophing.info
hophingedibleoil.info
hophinggroup.info
horse.info
hosting.info
hotels.info
hotsex.info
howbusinessgetsdone.info
huelva.info
huesca.info
humana.info
husten.info
hypnosis.info
ibexusersgroup.info
ibill.info
ichfreumichdrauf.info
ideas.info
idem.info
ils.info
ilxsystems.info
image.info
imanet.info
imc.info
immigration.info
immo.info
immobilien.info
immobilier.info
impactrecover.info
impotence.info
inc500.info
independentliving.info
indianapolis.info
industrialvision.info
indy.info
infanthealth.info
infochoice.info
infodienst.info
information-systems-control-association.info
inharmonywitheducation.info
inkasso.info
inkassoverband.info
inkasso-verband.info
innovation.info
innovations.info
inspiration.info
instant.info
internetsolutions.info
investigation.info
investment.info
investments.info
iowahealth.info
islam.info
islamicity.info
istanbul.info
itgovernanceinstitute.info
ixl.info
jaen.info
jagdhof.info
jaipur.info
jesus.info
jiffymailers.info
job.info
jobs.info
jokes.info
jovebook.info
jovebooks.info
joy.info
jungle.info
jura.info
kaltern.info
kamind.info
kamp.info
kaprun.info
karneval.info
katschberg.info
keen.info
keystonedevice.info
keystonelight.info
kids.info
kidtrition.info
kiens.info
kimchi.info
kinder.info
kings.info
kino.info
kirchberg.info
kirchbergintirol.info
kirche.info
kleinwalsertal.info
klopeinersee.info
k-market.info
koenigsallee.info
koenigsleiten.info
kontio.info
kopfschmerz.info
krankenkassen.info
krankenversicherung.info
krebs.info
kronplatz.info
kuchl.info
kufstein.info
kunstgalerie.info
labsafteycom.info
laketahoe.info
lana.info
land.info
landsales.info
langen.info
lanzarote.info
lapalma.info
larioja.info
last-minute-reisen.info
lasvardet.info
lasvegas.info
latelier.info
latimes.info
latsch.info
laval.info
lawfund.info
laxenburg.info
lecordonbleuinternational.info
lega.info
legal.info
legendofzelda.info
leisureliving.info
leitner.info
lemond.info
leogang.info
leon.info
leukaemie.info
lidpro.info
linksorganic.info
lippstadt.info
literotica.info
loan.info
loans.info
locks.info
locksmith.info
lofer.info
logistinet.info
logiweb.info
london.info
losangeles.info
lottery.info
lotteryextra.info
lottery-extra.info
louvre.info
ltd.info
ludwigsburg.info
luescher.info
lugo.info
lungau.info
lup.info
macromedia.info
macway.info
madrid.info
makelifeeasier.info
makeup.info
maktab.info
malaga.info
maps.info
mariazell.info
marketplace.info
marketresearch.info
masterbond.info
masterfoods.info
masterfoodservices.info
match.info
matrix.info
mccabesguitar.info
mdi.info
medi.info
media.info
media-vision.info
medical.info
medicaltravel.info
medizin.info
melt.info
memorable.info
memorycard.info
merida.info
merseytv.info
mesa.info
mgcorp.info
miami.info
miamibeach.info
michael.info
micheal.info
michelobamberrock.info
migraine.info
milenniumclub.info
millenniumhotel.info
minidisco.info
miniglobe.info
ministryfirst.info
mir.info
modelaircraft.info
momentous.info
momentus.info
mondsee.info
montana.info
montecarlo.info
monte-carlo.info
moodright.info
more.info
mortgage.info
mortgages.info
motgage.info
movies.info
mp3.info
mpeg.info
mto.info
multiple-sklerose.info
murcia.info
music.info
musik.info
musique.info
mutualofamerica.info
myfavourite.info
myhouse.info
nachrichten.info
nadnet.info
nano.info
national-lottery.info
natuerlichstein.info
natureconservancy.info
naturesgoodness.info
naturno.info
navarra.info
nebo.info
neca.info
negocios.info
netapps.info
netgifts.info
netis.info
netnation.info
netzgang.info
neuschwanstein.info
new.info
news.info
newsco.info
newsouthwales.info
newyorkcity.info
nexic.info
nextelhowbusinessgetsdone.info
nextelonline.info
nordenham.info
northyorkshiremoors.info
north-yorkshire-moors.info
northyorksmoors.info
norwalkadvocate.info
nrgdirect.info
nsw.info
ntx.info
numbernames.info
nursinghome.info
nutrilose.info
nycil.info
nynewsday.info
nzi.info
oberbayern.info
oberstdorf.info
obertauern.info
oberwart.info
office.info
oha.info
oil.info
olmetec.info
oneandonly.info
onlinecasino.info
onlineshop.info
only.info
optician.info
optilose.info
optometry.info
orlando.info
orlandosentinel.info
ourense.info
overseaspracticaltraining.info
oxygen.info
pain.info
painting.info
palencia.info
palmsprings.info
pamplona.info
panoramakamera.info
papawheelie.info
paris.info
partnershipadvantage.info
passivhaus.info
passporttoministry.info
pateacoller.info
patent.info
pcb.info
peacock.info
pebblebeach.info
pediatrician.info
penguinputnam.info
penguinputnaminc.info
pension.info
pensionen.info
personeelscentrum.info
pestcontrol.info
pharmacy.info
pharoridanddesign.info
philately.info
phoenix.info
photomodell.info
physik.info
planet.info
platespin.info
player.info
playstation3.info
playstationcom.info
plescia.info
pneumo-star.info
polarbears.info
pollen.info
polyethylene.info
polyurethane.info
pontevedra.info
pontis.info
porno.info
power2learn.info
prague.info
praha.info
printmediaacademy.info
privatvermieter.info
privilege.info
prize.info
prof.info
profume.info
progirls.info
project.info
property.info
pro-same.info
protection.info
pspsi.info
psthree.info
qosfs.info
qsc.info
quietcomfort.info
quote.info
race.info
racines.info
rackmaster.info
radsport.info
radstadt.info
radtouren.info
raj.info
rajasthan.info
rap.info
rasen.info
ratgeber.info
ratschings.info
rauch.info
raumfahrt.info
rcn.info
rdw.info
reality.info
realtv.info
rechtsanwalt.info
redcross.info
refractories.info
reignyourdomain.info
reindeergames.info
reindeer-games.info
reise.info
relocation.info
rendite.info
reno.info
renon.info
resin.info
resources.info
restaurant.info
retirement.info
revshare.info
rheumatism.info
riesterrente.info
riester-rente.info
ringier.info
rioja.info
ritten.info
ritz.info
riverheadbook.info
riverheadbooks.info
robitussin.info
rock.info
roplene.info
rosicrucian.info
rotenburg.info
rottenburg.info
rugby.info
s26materna.info
s-26materna.info
s26progress.info
s-26progress.info
saalbach.info
saalfelden.info
sachsen.info
saeugling.info
safe.info
salamanca.info
salonbiz.info
salzburgerland.info
salzkammergut.info
sansebastian.info
santorini.info
schach.info
schlaf.info
schmitten.info
schmittenhoehe.info
schneeberger.info
schnupfen.info
schools.info
schwaben.info
scl55.info
scotland.info
scubabiz.info
scusa.info
sdsu.info
secretshop.info
secretshoppercompany.info
securities.info
seep.info
seghorn.info
segovia.info
sesto.info
sevilla.info
sexbet.info
sex-bet.info
sexe.info
sexo.info
sexshop.info
sexten.info
shipping.info
shocktales.info
shop.info
shops.info
siam.info
sierragateway.info
signaturebrands.info
signatures-catalog.info
signetbook.info
signetbooks.info
silicon.info
simpad.info
skireport.info
smallbusiness.info
smhi.info
snapnstore.info
soccer.info
soccer.info
social.info
societe.info
solution.info
somnu-star.info
somnu-starph.info
sonja.info
soria.info
sound.info
southcarolina.info
southgeorgia.info
spabiz.info
space.info
spacecenterinc.info
spangenberg.info
specialist.info
specialists.info
sperti.info
spielkasino.info
sportbetting.info
sportsbet.info
sportsbetting.info
sports-betting.info
sportsbook.info
sprachkurs.info
spreewald.info
springbreak.info
springfield.info
stadtplan.info
stamfordadvocate.info
stamps.info
starcrestofcalifornia.info
starpower.info
stationery.info
staycalm.info
std.info
stefan.info
stemcells.info
stern.info
sterzing.info
stlatwork.info
stlouisatwork.info
stltoday.info
st-martin.info
stocks.info
storage.info
strafrecht.info
stressless.info
strideguard.info
stroke.info
stubaiergletscher.info
studenthomes.info
stuttering.info
stveit.info
suckit.info
sulden.info
summercampusa.info
sunar.info
susq.info
swiss.info
sybex.info
tahoe.info
tajmahal.info
talentbuilder.info
talkers.info
tanqueray-no-ten.info
tarragona.info
tauchen.info
tax.info
taxes.info
taxoffice.info
tcfbank.info
tcfexpress.info
tcfmortgage.info
tcmgroup.info
tech.info
technicalsupport.info
telecount.info
telefonbuch.info
tenderharvest.info
tenerife.info
terento.info
terlano.info
termeno.info
terminal4.info
teruel.info
test.info
textile.info
thai.info
thaichef.info
thatcorp.info
thatcorporation.info
thebathplace.info
thechristiansciencequarterly.info
thechristiansciencesentinel.info
thedowchemicalcompany.info
thenewsoftheworld.info
the-news-of-the-world.info
think.info
thirdfoods.info
ticketmedia.info
tickets.info
tigrisconsulting.info
timeshare.info
tinkerbell.info
tir.info
tirol.info
tivo.info
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tivolution.info
toblach.info
tokyoelectron.info
toledo.info
tom.info
toomuch.info
topjobs.info
torrevieja.info
torusdevice.info
totalpowersolutions.info
total-power-solutions.info
toucan.info
touringbycar.info
tourist.info
traditionscatalog.info
traditions-catalog.info
tramin.info
transtec.info
traveling.info
travelling.info
travelpoint.info
treatment.info
trekbicycles.info
trekbike.info
trekbikes.info
triflur.info
trip.info
trucks.info
tuev-berlin.info
tuevdotcom.info
tuevdotcomservice.info
tuev-rheinland.info
tuv-berlin.info
tuvdotcom.info
ukevent.info
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Way back in March, one of our sysadmins Terri attended the Australian linux conference to give a talk about sysadminning at DreamHost as well as the open source distributed file system Sage’s been working on called Ceph!

Blah blah blah, on to the IMPORTANT stuff.

Apparently there’s some country or island or state or something next to Australia called “Tasmania”. And just like Australia, they’ve got totally fake animals and plants growing all over. The place is just lousy with them.

ALSO apparently, one of those crazy fauna known as the “Tasmanian Devil” has started getting FACE CANCER and is now totally endangered!

When Linus Torvlads heard about this, he was so ENRAGED he decided to do something about it. In linux-speak, that means he shaved the beard off some nerd.

He also irrationally and temporarily changed the linux logo from tux to “tuz” for kernel release

This had the unintended and unfortunate side-effect of raising awareness for the SAVE THE TASMANIAN DEVIL fund.

Not to be outdone, Terri and another one of our resident nerds, Jeremy, decided to show their RAGE as well; by getting “tuz” tattoos.

They also forced me to make this blog post about it as well as change the charity that we match donations to to be that same SAVE THE TASMANIAN DEVIL fund.

I said fine, but I’m waiting a couple months so it’s not so topical. And to see if those tattoos really are permanent.

They were. So far. So, they also made me make a special sale where anybody who signs up with the promo code SAVETHEDEVIL gets $50 off PLUS we donate another $50 to save these disgusting little beasties!

I’m enraged.

Well, that’s it. Yahoo! is finally shutting down GeoCities.

This is a sad moment for the Internet in general, and it’s especially sad for us. I’ve always felt a sort of special connection with GeoCities.. lemme ’splain you.

GeoCities was one of the first web hosts on the Internet, being started as “Beverly Hills Internet” in 1994. About four months before we started New Dream Network, in December of 1995, they became “GeoCities” and started offering FREE hosting.

By the time I had heard of them, we were already offering some PAID hosting, and I remember thinking something along the lines of “Damn it! They’re cheating!”

How could a bunch of (completely) broke college kids afford to compete with somebody just giving away hosting? At the time, I figured it could never last.

I was right.

15 years and $3.57 BILLION later.

But that’s not the only reason GeoCities has a special place in our heart.

The main reason is WebRing!

WebRing was a free service for people with related sites to automatically trade links, written by co-founder Sage (it’s not just me and Dallas around here!) back in 1994, while he was still in high school!

A couple of years later when he ended up at our college and we conned him into our play-company, we helped him run WebRing on our server(s).

WebRing itself never officially became a part of New Dream Network, since Sage had started it on his own years before. What we got out of it was Sage wrote DreamBook for NDN and put links to it all over WebRing!

In 1997, WebRing was starting to grow too big for us full-time college students to handle, especially with our newest little project taking off.

So, Sage got Starseed, Inc. to take it over for him. A friend of his from high school worked there and they made a deal where Sage got a percentage of Starseed, an annual “consulting” stipend, and certain creative controls, and they took over everything to do with WebRing.

It didn’t take long for Charley, the head of Starseed, to figure out that the best chance to make the most money off of WebRing was to sell it and sell it fast!

Greetings Geocities

And, sell it he did… to GeoCities!

I believe originally the offer they were going to accept was around $1 million.

However, irrational exuberance was on Charley’s side, and the timing couldn’t have been better for everything that happened next.

At the last minute, another bidder came to the table.. GeoCities however, decided they simply must have WebRing, and closed the deal at around $3.5 million!

Of course, this was all for GCTY stock options, and I’m sure they (rightly) figured that it wasn’t real money anyway.

Now the Starseed team (plus Sage) just had to wait and see which came first, the vesting of their options or the popping of the bubble…

The Vesting

Well, while everybody was nervously holding onto their approximately 1% ownership of GCTY, a funny thing happened. In January 1999, Yahoo! bought GeoCities for $3.57 billion, putting GCTY at more than ten times what it was when they did their deal!

And so, Sage’s options in GCTY were now converted over to YHOO. He still had another year before he could cash them all in though. And things were already a teeeeeensy bit over-valued.

Luckily, by the time Sage was able to cash out (and he did) in early 2000, Yahoo! had tripled yet again… meaning that Yahoo! had effectively purchased little old WebRing for about $100,000,000!

The Downfall

So, Yahoo set a team onto merging WebRing into their system.

By 2001 they were done, and everybody hated it.

Users were dropping faster than YHOO stock, and in 2002 an engineer from GeoCities bought WebRing back from Yahoo for an undisclosed sum (rumored to be around $10,000!)

Since then, I don’t really have any inside information on what’s gone on with WebRing. Just from the Internet Archive history, it looks like he more or less kept the Yahoo look and ran it “respectably” until around 2005:

… when they started to really pimp it out for ads!

Then in 2007.. Social Networking!

And today… Web 2.0!

Reminiscing

WebRing’s been around just about as long as the Web, and now that I ponder it, has been a sort of microcosm of the Web the whole time.

It went from a tiny ad-free community service, to hyper-growth, to showing ads, to being acquired for an INSANE price, to being forsaken, to doing anything to survive, to “social networking”, to “web 2.0″, to today!

Back in 1998, who would have thought WebRing would outlast GeoCities? Who would have thought DreamHost would outlast GeoCities?

DreamHost acquires Geocities

Well, not really. The thought sort of crossed my mind, “If they sold WebRing to that one guy, maybe they’d sell GeoCities to us!”

But then I realized.. Yahoo understands the only real value in GeoCities left is those millions of potential upgrades to PAID hosting.

If you go to GeoCities right now, Yahoo! has a big ad for their ($12/month) hosting.. with the first three months half off!

Whoop dee do.

“In honor of WebRing” or something, we are now offering to the first 1000 GeoCities users who sign up TWO YEARS of a completely free DreamHost account (including domain registration)!

No strings attached.

All you have to do is verify you are an existing GeoCities customer by creating a page on your GeoCities account (or editing an existing page) to have the phrase “I’m off to DreamHost!” on it!

Then when you signup for us, simply put the full url to that page as your “promotional code” and you’ll get a 2 year plan (normally $214.80) free!

And we promise to never shut down.

After my freshman year in college I went back home for the summer and had a strange job at a little two-man pre-press graphics shop in Vienna, Virginia called “Color Graphics Network” (not the inspiration for New Dream Network – parent company of DreamHost).

The guy who owned it was named Ricky Dee (awesome name), and I vaguely knew his son Howie Dee (awesome name) from high school. It was a pretty cushy job compared to my previous one.

What CGN did was take large (dozens of MB!) graphic files from publishers, and turn them into high-resolution negatives suitable for printing presses. This was in 1995, and the files would come on SyQuest drives via courier. By the end of the summer, some people were starting to send zip disks!

After a few weeks, I was sort of thinking everybody could probably distribute this content a little better, maybe via a series of tubes or something. But really, with the slowness of dial-up, the size of these files, and the publication deadlines they needed to meet, this was the only way to go at the time.

Not that I’ve kept in touch, but I imagine that these days there’s a lot less padded envelope use over at CGN. I’m sure Mr. Sneakernet has finally been usurped by Mr. Internet!

Yep, Mr. Internet has gotten a bit faster in the last 14 years. Way fast. More than fast enough for whatever kind of multi-GB files Ricky Dee (or maybe it’s Howie now!) must be dealing with today.

And yet, still not fast enough for everybody.

Hence the rise of the CDN (“Content Delivery Network”). Although you can pretty much get between any two points on the Internet in under .3 seconds, sometimes that’s a little too slow. After 14 years of the web, people are really sick of waiting. Even a second. Even a third of a second.

In fact, there are a bunch of studies that show things like “There’s a 10% drop in conversions for each 1 second increase in load time.” and “Google lost 20% of their ad clicks when their page results took .9 seconds to load as opposed to .4.”

Fortunately, a decade ago Akamai discovered (I think it was them!) that putting multiple copies of the same content all over the Internet could cut that .3 second access time down to .03 seconds… and that some people would pay for it!

Today there are dozens of companies offering CDNs, not the least of whom is Amazon, who four months ago launched “CloudFront” as part of their Amazon Web Services.

The cool thing about CloudFront (besides, like DreamHost, it being in CamelCaps), is like all of the Amazon Web Services, it’s completely pay-as-you-go, and completely accessible via an API.

The downside of CloudFront is, just like with all APIs… you have to be a programmer to be able to use it!

Until now!!?!

We just added a new Amazon CloudFront area to our panel (under “Goodies”)!

Now all you have to do to take advantage of a world-wide pay-as-you-go content delivery network run by Amazon is click a few buttons!

Or, more specifically:

1. Sign up with AWS.
2. Go to our panel and let us know what domain (maybe something like “static.domain.com”) you’d like to use and what path we should upload the content to Amazon from!

And for this amazing convenience, what do we want from you?

I would say nothing, but the truth is just $3.95/month on top of whatever Amazon bills you! No matter how many CDNs you set up!

How does it work?

I was always a little confused, technically, about how CDNs worked. After all, there must be at least one centralized service that figures out where to send people, right?!

Well, while testing out CloudFront, I figured it out… that one centralized service is DNS!

The DNS servers for a CDN are dynamic and tricky… and it’s they who figure out which “edge” of the CDN is closest to you, based on your IP.

So for example, if I (in Los Angeles) do a ping on images.groo.com, my results are:

ping images.groo.com

PING d2onuwnge3cit8.lax1.cloudfront.net (216.137.45.27) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from server-216-137-45-27.lax1.cloudfront.net (216.137.45.27): icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=1.29 ms
64 bytes from server-216-137-45-27.lax1.cloudfront.net (216.137.45.27): icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=1.21 ms
64 bytes from server-216-137-45-27.lax1.cloudfront.net (216.137.45.27): icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=1.31 ms
64 bytes from server-216-137-45-27.lax1.cloudfront.net (216.137.45.27): icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=1.18 ms
64 bytes from server-216-137-45-27.lax1.cloudfront.net (216.137.45.27): icmp_seq=5 ttl=56 time=1.32 ms

Now you give it a shot and check out what cloudfront.net server you get for “images.groo.com” .. and how the ping time it is! Maybe even post your results in the comments?

I’m not sure how old Ricky Dee is going to compete.

I’m sure you’ve seen them. Wikipedia calls them gripe sites. They’re usually set up by disgruntled customers and then typically disappear a few weeks later once the creator has had time to cool down.

Oh yeah, they’re out there. NoDaddy.com, for example…but in their case it turns out they may actually be on to something!

Thanks to some great investigative journalism by Andrew Allemann over at Domain Name Wire, you can now read in great detail the lengths that GoDaddy has gone to to conceal its involvement in its own domain name warehousing operation.

Standard Tactics, LLC: How GoDaddy Profits from Expired Domains

The Go Daddy Group allegedly uses a complicated web of subsidiaries and anonymized whois records to hide its involvement in its domain warehousing/auctioning scheme.

Check it out. It’s a great read to get you into the Christmas spirit. If you’re the Grinch.

I guess when you’ve got a $2 million Christmas party to throw and a $3 million Super Bowl commercial to put on, that money’s gotta come from somewhere!

As the resident WordPress nerd around these parts, I get to spend a lot of my time at DreamHost solving super interesting blog problems.  Knowing about security holes, plugins that don’t play nicely with our environment, working around weird quirks and staying on top of the bleeding edge is all in a day’s work for me.  Sometimes, dealing with the really hard issues are kind of a hassle — but mostly I’m just happy that someone’s paying me to mess around with blog software.  After all, making a living doing something you love is pretty freaking sweet.

Seriously.  Try it if you ever get the chance.

Anyhow, since I’m sort of a big geek, I’m actually getting pretty psyched for WordCamp San Francisco this weekend.  Not only will the road trip up from Los Angeles give me a chance to make another lip dub or two — but I’ll also get to hang out with the likes of Matt Mullenweg, Tantek Çelik, Om Malik and the SEO Rapper.

It’s the last one on the list that I’m a little more excited about. I mean, I’ve met and talked with Matt at the last two WordCamps and see Tantek down in LA every now and then — but the SEO Rapper is on YouTube! That makes him internet famous enough that my mom might have heard of him!

Just in case I get too star struck, we’ll have a couple other DreamHosters there to pull me away and calm me down.  If you see one of us (pictured above) in the hall, feel free to come up and say hi, okay?

There’s something I’ve always hated about the web hosting business.

No, it’s not the cut-throat competition, the crazy customers, or the California climate.

And NO, it’s not the 5-hour work week NOR the oodles of money either… those are fine.

It’s the domain names.

(And, by extension, ICANN.)

The problem with ICANN, as I may have mentioned before, is that they are an organization created to serve a need that just doesn’t need serving.

They do get things right once a decade though, like finally fixing the “domain tasting” problem.

But do they really need meetings in Fiji, Geneva, South Africa, etc…, along with a $20 MILLION annual budget to finally do what registrars had been telling them to since the Clinton presidency?

And now, ICANN’s made a bold new move that they claim results in “a massive increase in the ‘real estate’ of the Internet.”… the open creation of new TLDs (top-level domains).

So… what does this “open creation of new TLDs” actually mean.

Well, what it DOESN’T mean is that you’ll be able to go to any registrar and just register joshisawesome.believeit. Which is too bad, because if that were the case, everybody would finally have to belive it.

Nope. Instead, all that’s happening is now “anybody” can apply to start a new TLD… as long as they explain to ICANN how it will be used, prove to ICANN they have the technical prowess to run a registry, and pay ICANN an estimated $100,000 to $500,000.

Call me crazy cuckoo, but I believe that’s exactly how the new TLD creation process works now!

You know .info, .biz, .coop, .asia and all those other new TLDs? Pretty sure those went through a process exactly like ICANN is describing now for future TLDs.

In the announcement they did say that people aren’t going to be able to register trademarks (like .pepsi), nor offensive words (like .dreamhost), nor I assume TLDs less than 3 letters (like .i).

What exactly is changing here?

As far as I can tell, the only thing ICANN is saying is that they’re finally standardizing the process for applying for new TLDs. The goal I guess being to make it faster and easier to add more and more TLDs in the future…

Which is to whose benefit?

Have you ever met a person (or company) not involved in the domain name industry suggest the need for a new TLD? Ever? I haven’t!

There is honestly no demand for new TLDs (besides that for newly created countries, which are known as ccTLDs, and are not what we’re talking about here) from anybody who doesn’t stand to make money from the registration of domain names.

And that is because there’s only one thing that makes a particular domain name desirable for legitimate use: clarity.

That’s it. That’s why brand names and generic word domains are valuable, that’s why short domains are valuable, and that’s why no matter how many new TLDs are created, everybody still wants .com.

It is a huge obstacle for any TLD to offer a domain that is clearer overall for its intended use than some still available .com. Blame it on consumer ignorance, but I know I’d still rather have jjflowerslosangeles.com than flowers.la.

(And who types URLs anyway these days?)

Again I must ask, all these new TLDs are to whose benefit?

As far as I can see, the only possible beneficiaries are those actually in the domain name monetization industry.

More possible TLDs means more possible typos, more defensive registrations by trademark holders, and possibly some money to be made from the few suckers who don’t realize that flowers.la is not a clear domain.

What new TLDs will be made?

Hmm… we’re not going to be seeing company-based TLDs (e.g. .ibm, .coke) anytime soon; I doubt IBM is that interested in switching over from ibm.com. And since ICANN announced people can’t register trademark infringing TLDs, IBM won’t have to do it defensively either.

I guess I could see a case being made for TLDs that better categorize the type of site being visited, perhaps things like .blog, .wiki, .forum, .shop. Except, we’ve already got sub-domains for that!

In fact, www.blah.blog is exactly the same number of characters at blog.blah.com; all we’d be doing is switching a .com for a www. (And don’t try to say people would just use http://blah.blog/… that’d be even less clear!)

Not to mention, where you once had just one domain name to manage (and pay for), you’ve now got dozens… all with different registries, different rules, and probably different expiration dates.

Maybe there’s a case for making more location-based TLDs, perhaps things like .nyc, .sf, .miami, .toledo. But again, we’ve already got the country-code TLDs, and besides, isn’t the Internet supposed to be international? Just use local search to find local stuff.

(Can you really see people just guessing the URL “www.taxi.chicago” directly on their iPhone 4G. Ha, it is to laugh!)

What about price?

I don’t know if ICANN is going to just charge just a flat fee per TLD, or if they’re going to keep charging a per-domain fee like they do now. If it’s the status quo, then there is really no hope for interesting new uses of TLDs.

If, however, there is no incremental fee to ICANN for more domain names… welcome to the dawning of the age of domainius! Free domainius, that is.

Of course, any free TLDs would have to be tied to some particular application, otherwise squatters would immediately register every possible domain and put them up for auction.

I can see a free email provider getting .mail, a free blog host .blog, a free photo site .pics.

(There’s not that much of a benefit in having josh.blog as opposed to say, josh.blogger.com … but I guess since you’re going to be the 10,000,000th result on Google, you might as well go for the shorter URL!)

Auctions Smauctions

Did you see recently that the guy in charge of domain auctions at GoDaddy was discovered bidding up their own auctions?! That is some real bush league crap; to be totally expected throughout the entire domain name industry.

In fact, in case this blog post isn’t loooooooooong enough for you, let me now take a moment to relate a personal anecdote of mine about a domain auction.

Back in January, my wife was starting a floral design business, and had decided upon a name for it. Unfortunately, the obviously best domain name for her website was already taken, and being used by a squatter on sedo.com. Rather than dealing with them, she just registered a slightly longer variation that was still available.

Well, her birthday was coming up, so I decided to see what it’d cost to get that “best” domain. I went to the site, clicked the link to “make an offer”, and entered $100.

Immediately my bid was rejected!

It said the minimum offer the owner of this domain would accept was $777! Highway robbery!

After thinking about it for a little while, I figured, what the hey, it’s a birthday present, and I want to see how this thing works, so I made a (completely insane) bid for $777.

Automatically the system responded saying the owner had made a “counter-offer” back… $7770!!!

(How iiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting… sedo has a completely automated system for domain owners to counter-bid on domains.)

Well, harrumph. I raised my offer to $800. Immediately I got a “response” from the seller staying firm at $7770, and that was their final offer!

At this point I was curious… would they lower their price at all? So, I countered back with what I pretty much figured was the most I’d spend for this (completely of no value to anybody but my wife) domain, $1150.

What happened next really surprised me… I got another automated message stating that I had surpassed some secret minimum offer the seller had set at which they were, no not willing to actually sell the domain for, but at which they were okay with automatically putting it up for a seven-day auction on the front page of sedo.com… and my offer was the starting “bid”!

Gee thanks!

That explained why there are so many domains on that page with just one bid yet really high prices!

Well, at that point I figured I’d just sit and wait… nobody else was going to be bidding more than $1150 for this obscure domain name! And, the auction was ending the day before my wife’s birthday anyway, so the timing worked out.

I waited the whole week, and of course, nothing happened. The auction was going to end at 8:04 AM on a Saturday, but I didn’t even plan on waking up to watch the end.

Whoops. When I did wake up, at 8:12 AM, I (sneakily) immediately checked on the auction… only to find that somebody else had won; with a bid of $1175 at 7:56 AM!

I wasn’t horribly upset; after all $1150 was an order of magnitude more than I’d intended to pay. But I just knew in my gut of guts (I have four) that the winning bidder was either the original seller, somebody working for sedo.com, or somebody who figured I’d pay even more to buy it from them later! One thing I knew it wasn’t was anybody intending to actually use the domain.

You’re still here?

That, in a large ostrich nutshell, is why I hate domain names. The secondary domain name industry exists purely to squeeze profit from consumer confusion, artificial scarcity, and literal extortion. No actual value has been added to the universe, just a redistribution of money from people who have a valid use for a clear domain to people who registered that clear domain first.

And this is not, I repeat not, sour grapes of wrath by me, just because back in 1994 (when I first discovered whois) I checked all these big public company domain names like honda.com, toyota.com, and mcdonalds.com, (I wasn’t too creative back then) and found them all to be AVAILABLE.

I thought to myself, “Whoa. These companies would probably pay hundreds of dollars for their domains in a year or two!” To top it off, way back then domain names were completely free… you only had to apply for them with Network Solutions.

But, I decided against it, entirely because I thought it’d be sleazy. I swear it was not because I was afraid of getting sued, nor because I didn’t actually know exactly how to apply for a domain.

Nope, it was solely due to my irreproachable morals and incredible dignity.

You see, I decided to take the noble path and start DreamHost Web Hosting, where we earn our money fair and square: through over-selling, over-charging, and, every once in a long while, even over-blogging.

So, what with all this mobile spam and iPhone 3G talk, I spur-of-the-day decided last week to check out Sprint and AT+T’s current wireless data offerings.

Well, mostly spur-of-the-day. It was also because my current laptop is starting to die (just like my last three VAIOs, something comes loose somewhere deep inside its soul, and it begins to just randomly turn off), dammit. So, since I’m pretty sure my next laptop is not going to have a PCMCIA slot to fit my current Verizon EVDO modem, I need to get a USB dongle one anyway.

I also kinda wanted to check out how the coverage and speed was on AT+T’s 3G network, just in case I need to switch over to it come July 11th. I’m sorry T-Mobile, it’s been great, but you still ain’t got no high-speed Internets!

While at Radio Shack I also decided to get the USB modem Sprint makes and try it out. Despite the 2-year contract you need to sign to get $60/month (for only 5GB of transfer now!) and the $150 off the devices, both providers have a trial period so I figured might as well. And, Sprint has their new “Compass 597″ USB modem which is not only itty-bitty, but has a microSD card slot AND GPS.

A few things I noticed right at the store: Sprint’s rebate (at least at Radio Shack) was mail-in and left the price of the modem at $50, whereas AT+T’s was instant and made the modem free. But, as if to make up for that, AT+T did a sleazy thing where they automatically add one month of “free” roadside assistance to your account. You cannot opt out of it, and if you don’t call to cancel they’ll start charging you $3 a month for something probably all your credit cards already provide you for free. Boo!

The Tests

To test each card, I first did a bunch of pings to google.com, and recorded the dropped packets, minimum, maximum, and average ping times. Then, to measure the download speed I downloaded iTunes (56MB) from apple.com, and to measure the upload speed I then uploaded it right back to a DreamHost server via FTP…

At Home

At home, I have pretty close to perfect coverage for Verizon, Sprint, and AT+T. Under these ideal conditions I found:

Wow.. DreamHost is the bandwidth king! Ha!

Ha, well, I just threw in my home cable modem connection and DreamHost’s data center for comparison purposes… AT+T seems to be the current wireless bandwidth king! Sprint looks a bit better in the latency department, but only by a hair, and all three were fast enough to not even notice a lag in a remote shell window.

The Road

For my next test, I rode the bus to work like I do, down the 10 freeway in Los Angeles. Along the way, all three have great coverage; except actually Verizon’s EVDO Rev. A (”Broadband Access”) drops down to 1xRTT (”National Access”) a couple of times. 1xRTT, like everybody’s “2G” technologies, is slowwwwwwwww and suuuuuuuuuuucks. And, annoyingly Verizon’s “VZAccess Manager” software seems (at least for me) to never be able to jump back up to EVDO once it’s dropped down to 1XRTT without manually disconnecting and reconnecting.

At 60 MPH, both Sprint and AT+T’s download speeds were cut in about half, to 60 KB/s and 130 KB/s, respectively. Good scientist that I am, I, um, forgot to do the upload test (or test Verizon), but even if Verizon performed exactly the same as it did at home, it would have still been slower!

Ping times more or less stayed constant.

The Office

Our new office is way up there, and cell phone coverage of all kinds is a bit spotty. What I learned at the office was you do not want to use any of these in a location where they drop back to their “2G” speeds.

At 700 feet, all three of them are in the 10-30% packet loss with 400 ms ping times range… along with download speeds around 10 KB/s and upload speeds around 5 KB/s! I did learn that it seems like both Sprint and AT+T are better at automatically noticing when they can switch back to EVDO/HSDPA than Verizon was, and it’s nice not having to re-connect things yourself.

The Software

Something nobody seems to ever mention in reviews of these wireless data services is what the client software you have to install is like. Well, nobody bar me!

Sprint’s is garbage, Verizon’s is fine, AT+T’s seems good.

Sprint’s software took the longest to start each time (AT+T was a little slower than Verizon, but both were still twice as fast as Sprint), couldn’t minimize to the system tray, and, worst of all, doesn’t work with a VPN! At least not mine! If you connect to the VPN while connected to Sprint, about three seconds later you’re disconnected. Then, if you tried to re-connect, the Sprint software gives an error about being connected to another network device! DEAL BREAKER!

Also, the MicroSD slot is useless for me, and the built-in GPS I guess is interesting but I couldn’t figure out how to make it do anything besides give me my current latitude and longitude.. in degrees! Are you supposed to cut and paste it into google maps or something? Anyway, if I’ve got an Internet connection, I generally don’t need GPS.

As for Verizon’s software, the one thing I always wish they added was a signal-strength meter in the system tray when minimized. AT+T’s software does this, yay! Other than that, both are pretty much fine. They’re simple, don’t get in the way, and work with my VPN. (Er, I think.. I think I need to do a little more testing with AT+T…)

The Device

It’s true, Sprint’s modem is the smallest. However, it also sticks out the furthest from your laptop, like a USB stick. The AT+T one is about as big as one of those old Nokia brick phones, but at least it has a hinge so it is aligned veritcally. The Verizon one actually has the smallest form factor outside the laptop, just because the PCMCIA part is so big. But, my next laptop probably isn’t going to have a PCMCIA port, dammit!

ATT BFF

So, I guess it’s probable pretty clear by now, I’m going to go ahead and stick with the AT+T 3G device. It does have the biggest physical footprint, but I’ve already devised a plan to deal with that! Stay tuned for how that turns out…

I guess I’m sort of glad my laptop started dying, dammit.

(My mobile broadband is now four times faster!)

Can you believe it’s already that time of the year again…?
Apple iPhone rumor time-of-the-year that is!

I’m sure you remember back in early 2007 when I predicted Apple was about to announce the iTunes Mega Store, the iPod Crumple, and the iTV (which actually did get announced as Apple TV, but was missing the video games part).

Well, to not risk my perfect 0-3 record, this time I’m NOT making any predictions (after all, everybody already knows it’s just going to be the same phone but with 3G, GPS, more memory, 3rd-party apps, thicker, more expensive, and pretty colors). No, instead I’m just going to make a standard run-of-the-mill wish list.

After giving away an iPhone last year, I eventually got (a used 4GB unlocked/jailbroken) one for myself. And I gotta admit, it’s pretty durn good. I generally hate Apple, OS X, their stores, their ads, their employees, their employees shirts, Steve Jobs, and everything he stands for, but it seems like their design “mantra” just works for a portable device. Perfectly.

Except for three things. Well, four. Well, really zero.

The phone is just fine how it is.. but I just think it could be slightly better if it could only….

1. Control iTunes!

If your iPhone is on a wi-fi network and sees an iTunes share, then the iPod app should show a little select box at the top and let you toggle between music on your actual iPhone and music on the iTunes share. Plus, if your iPhone sees any remote speakers connected to Airport Expresses on that same wifi network, it should give you another select box to choose beetween outputting the music to your headset, the remote speakers, or both!

It’s stuff they already do with iTunes on a computer; if they just added it to the iPhone (and iPod Touch), they’d have a pretty dope competitor to the Sonos Digital Music System that everybody raves about.

2. Print!

Yeah, I know.. who prints anymore? I don’t that much.. but when I do it’s always an email attachment somebody wants me to sign and fax back to them.. and the office printer/fax is kinda far from my office.

Just this week there were forty-six times when I’ve gotten all the way to the printer, only to realize that I somehow missed printing the eighth attachment! Or even worse, got a PC LOAD LETTER! Of course, from there I can still VIEW the attachment right there on my iPhone, but I sure as toner can’t print it.

But forget me, if Apple allowed printing directly from an iPhone (again, by seeing a bonjour-enabled printer on the wireless, perhaps via an Airport Express), the iPhone could become a complete computer replacement for millions of parents and grand-parents world-wide!

Think about it… what do people over 55 use a computer for (if they use one at all) these days? Email, web browsing, photos, to do lists, maps… that’s pretty much it. The iPhone is honestly a completely passable way to handle these things, especially in the low quantities required by The Greatest Generation.

The only thing missing is, these people love to print. LOVE IT. L. O. V. E. I. T.
Web pages, email attachments, notes, maps, calendars, photos, whatever… if it deserves to be seen, then it deserves to be printed.

If all you had to buy your dad for Father’s Day was an iPhone, an Airport Express, a printer and some speakers for your folks to have a painless “Internet and Digital Music Experience”, I think that’d be a pretty solid value proposition. Especially with gas prices how they are these days. Or something.

3. Support UMA!

Unlicensed Mobile Access is the thing T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home uses… it’s the technology that allows for “seamless” switching between free VOIP calls (when you’re on wi-fi) to regular cell network calls (when you’re not), all at the same phone number! I had it before my iPhone, and I loved it… since it meant I had great (not to mention unlimited free) reception in my house, office, and datacenters; all of which normally do not.

Unfortuantely, the iPhone was too awesome, and I dropped the HotSpot @Home service. But now when I’m in the office (where reception is spotty) I’m forced to set up call-forwarding to a Skype-in number that rings on my computer. Which is almost as annoying as it is stupid.

So hey, Apple… add UMA support to the iPhone! I know AT+T doesn’t support it, but think of the millions of people who’ve unlocked their iPhone and use it on a network that does. This feature alone would probably mean the switching of our entire admin team over to iPhones, since they all need “smart phone”-type devices and spend a lot of time in underground data centers where there’s wi-fi but no cell reception.

IN FACT.

I hereby officially offer a $10,000 bounty, (payable by DreamHost) to anybody who releases a UMA application (it can be an official app or only work with jailbroken phones) for the iPhone! The only requirement is that it work with T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home service as well as any other UMA phone does. Ideally, once installed it’d just seamlessly run in the background, and if you’re on wi-fi it would just change your little “T-Mobile” carrier name in the top to the name of the 802.11 network you were on.

If you make this UMA app, feel free to charge whatever you’d like for it, but for the $10,000 BOOTY, DreamHost gets an unlimited license to use it for all their employees. Deal?

(4. Be a Universal Remote!)

Okay, this isn’t really something I expect Apple themselves to add, but it’s an app I think somebody should make. Or if somebody already has, please let me know in the comments.

I want to completely control my home entertainment system from my iPhone. I barely dare imagine it… no more six remotes sitting on the coffee table in the living room, just the one iPhone I already have in my pocket!

The system would have a single wi-fi/IR receiver/transmitter that hooks up to all your entertainment components. You would program that with all your current remotes, then throw them in the attic until their day on eBay comes. That base station thing would then serve a web page at some IP (which it’d show on an lcd screen) where you’d go to customize the interface and commands for your particular system.

(Personally, I’d just need a power button, volume up/down/mute, and an Xbox 360/Wii/cable toggle. If it was on cable tv, then there’d also be guide button, as well as fast-forward/rewind/pause, and a d-pad with a select button…)

I guess then your iPhone could just visit that web page to control the system, but it’d probably be a much slicker experience if there was an actual app that did it. Then you could do stuff like use the physical volume and mute buttons on the iPhone to control the TV! And change channels / navigate menus using motion gestures!

In Conclusion

If the iPhone could just do these four things, I would buy a mac. Well no not really, but I would control my TV, music, printer, as well as make free unlimited phone calls (with good reception) all from the same stupid device from the same stupid company that makes stupid macs.

Convergence, baby!

It’s what $200 stock prices are built on.

I have been to the future.

It’s a very well known future, one everybody knows is coming, and yet, it is still, frustratingly, not here.

It’s not the future of nano-bots, flying cars, and hamburger toothpaste that some predict. Nor is it the future of sex-bots, self-driving cars, and hamburger frosties that others believe in. As pleasing as those two possible futures are, they are not the universally accepted inevitability that this future is.

No, this is the future of ubiquitous wireless high-speed INTERNET! Everybody knows that day will eventually arrive, it’s just a matter of when, and through what vessel.

Whether it be an 802.11 mesh, cell phone technology, sattelites, wi-max, that new spectrum Google was bidding on, or some as-yet unknown future technology, I think it’s a pretty much a forgotten conclusion that by the Year 2000, everywhere you go will have wireless high-speed connectivity, and nobody’s going to pay for it.

And of course, everybody knows that’ll be pretty cool. I mean, everybody who’s already got EVDO service (*cough cough*) knows how great it is to have a fast usable Internet connection with you at all times. It’s great because it’s fast, portable, and reliable… but for most people it’s just not $80 a month great.

But, just as cell phones have supplanted landline phones, so will “cellular” Internet replace the “landline” Internet. Once it gets price-competitve (and FREE is very competitive) no long-term contracts or cancellation fees on the planet will be able to hold back the tsunami of people rushing to escape their local telco and cable company.

You see, apart from the reliability, portability, and convenience advantages that wide-area wireless internet provides, there’s one other pro… a little something I like to call “ZERO C”

I’m not talking about the temperature in Boston right now, either. I’m talking about Zero Configuration!

Currently, to get the Internet set up at your home or office, you’ve got to have a service man come and set things up.

Then, to share that internet throughout your multitude of computers, video game systems, slingboxes, iPhones, and refrigerators, you’ve got to set up a not-exactly-something-your-mom-can-do home network.

Then, whenever a friend comes over with their laptop, they never seem to be able to get on the net without your help.

Then, whenever the cable modem drops out in the middle of the final game of a Bomberman Live match, all Time Warner has to say is “everything looks okay on our side“.

Then, whenever you’ve been using your Airport Express for too long, the music cuts out and you’ve got to unplug it, wait fifteen seconds, and plug it back in.

Then, your wireless never seems to reach to the guest bedroom reliably.

Then, you’ve got ugly cat-5 ethernet everywhere.

Then, once every two months you’ve got to do a firmware upgrade on everything for “stability” and re-do the whole thing..

But now think… what if every device you ever bought was always reliably connected to the Internet at high-speed, no matter what, for free?

You’d never have to deal with Time Warner Cable or Verizon DSL again.

You wouldn’t have to set up or manage or worry about a home network.

Visitors would already be on the Internet everywhere they went, just like you are.

Your Xbox 360 would always be able to connect to Xbox Live.

Your airport express would always stream your music reliably, and you could control it from anywhere in the world.

Everything would still work in the guest bedroom.

You would have no cat-5 cables, anywhere.

Devices could automatically get firmware upgrades because the manufacturer would always know they’d be reliably on the net, since it was free and just automatically worked.

However, as I was saying in the beginning… I’ve already been to this future. And my vessle was..

The Amazon Kindle

That’s right, this humble, $400, sold-out e-reader, is our first baby-step to technology nirvana!

Because I wanted to check it out, I got my wife a Kindle for her birthday in January, and the coolest thing about it is its barely-mentioned “whisper net”.

Shhhhh… this “whisper net” is just Amazon hiding the fact that the Kindle comes with Sprint’s 3G EVDO service for free. I’m not sure what kind of deal Amazon made with Sprint, but …. THIS …. IS …. AWESOME.

Because it’s just ALWAYS on the Internet, everywhere, the thing is like magic… and super-easy for moms and (I assume) grandmoms to use. There’s no settings, no account to create, no monthly bill, no passwords, no nothing. Just a physical switch on the back to “turn the internet on” and you’re buying e-books and browsing the full Internet at a perfectly usable speed.

Once the Kindle costs $99 instead of $399 (and there’s no waiting list), it (or something like it) is going to mop the floor as a super-cheap “internet appliance” that “just works” for “people that are old”.

My hats off to Amazon for truly making the first device that is truly always on of the Internet. By making it free, they’ve guaranteed that as long as a Kindle is working, it’s on the net.

Just imagine the other ZERO C possibilities ubiquitous, free, high-speed Internet would bring!

How sweet would it be for your next digital camera to have? No more worrying about sd cards, usb cables, or emailing your pics… the moment you take a pic, it’s backed up to some picture hosting site, shared with the world and freed from your camera’s internal memory. As a bonus, all pics you’ve ever taken would be able to be called up and previewed right from your camera’s (not-so) little LCD screen.

How awesome would it be to have a free-EVDO skype handset? That’s it for paying for cell phone calls.. and it’d be so easy to get everybody to switch from the archaic POTS system to voip when there was finally a no-monthly-fee cell phone that worked everywhere their existing cell did.

How cowabunga would it be to have a Nintendo DS with this? Anytime you’re sitting around, riding on the bus, like I am now, but uninspired from writing any meandering blog posts, you could whip it out, do a couple Mario Kart races, and then when you realize you forgot your Dr. Mario cartridge at home, shortly thereafter remember that there are no cartridges anymore, every game is just streamed directly from your account on Nintendo’s servers!

Anyway, yep, that’d all be very awesomely cowabungifiededly sweet.. but it’s still a ways off. In the meantime, I hope this little ZERO C fix will hold you.

We’ve finally made a true one-click install process, which is the way I always envisioned our one-clicks would work from the beginning, several long years ago.

Just go to our panel’s one-click installer area, and click the new “easy” mode.

From there, you just choose the domain or sub-domain you want to use and give your new site a name, click the submit button, and in literally under five minutes, you’ll get an email when everything’s done.

Previously, you’d have to already have set-up the domain or sub-domain you wanted, and you’d have create or pick a database you wanted to use, and then when you got the email there’d be some more software package-specific installation steps for you to complete.

NO MORE!

This time, one click really means ONE CLICK!

When you get that email, you are done.

It is only available for WordPress now, but believe it or not, this new one-click process we have is actually easier to implement for future software packages than the old way, so it shouldn’t be long at all before we fill in the portfolio with lots of other yummy goodies.

The only downside is, the easy mode actually hosts all the software on a centralized, load-balanced service we’ve set up, rather than in your normal webspace. This means that any customizing that requires changing files won’t be doable. Fortunately, most software packages keep all the customization you’d want to do in the database these days, so this isn’t really that big of a restraint.

The upside is no maintenance (we handle all upgrades), hopefully better reliability and performance (as it’s now effectively a “hosted” service as opposed to a local install), and of course…

ZERO C!