After wading through hundreds of entries we’ve finally narrowed down the winners. We assigned each entry a year representative of its style – one for each year we’ve been in business. Every DreamHost employee was then given a chance to vote for their favorites and the top performers for each decade are as follows:

1940s, Andrea:

1950s, Ken Grett:

1960s, Gabriel Mello:

1970s, Brian:

1980s, CSEID:

1990s, Jeffrey Dates:

2000s, Pushka Ben:

Every one of these entries has won their creators a lifetime of free hosting from DreamHost!

You can purchase any of these printed on a shirt (or mug…or apron…or mousepad) right now in our online store!

You can also purchase some of our other favorite entries from the contest that didn’t quite make the cut – and there are nearly 60 of them!

Because we were so impressed with all the entries we received, all of the runners-up (designs in the store that aren’t listed above) will be getting a free year of hosting!

We would have liked to announce the winners much sooner, but a lot of them aren’t big on the whole “answer important emails” thing, and it took some time to get everyone’s artwork and legal paperwork collected.

We’re still waiting to hear back from several of the winners, so you won’t be able to purchase everything you see in the store just yet. If YOUR artwork appears in the store with a “NOT FOR SALE” icon, now might be a good time to check your spam filters for the several messages I’ve sent you!

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest! Now…

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
tivocentral.info
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
ukevents.info
undiscoveredcotswolds.info
unfall.info
urlaub.info
usa.info
useless.info
usfilter.info
usopen.info
uspca.info
uss.info
vacation.info
valdaora.info
valencia.info
valgardena.info
valladolid.info
valleisarco.info
vand.info
vaporpatch.info
veintain.info
verbier.info
verden.info
vereinswest-bank.info
vikingbook.info
vikingbooks.info
vinschgau.info
vipiteno.info
viread.info
visionsystems.info
vitalimages.info
vitamine.info
vitra.info
vivelledot.info
vizcaya.info
voiceofsmallbusiness.info
vue.info
wagrain.info
wahl2006.info
wald.info
waldorf.info
wallytool.info
warrant.info
watsonwyatt.info
watson-wyatt.info
wavepc.info
waveradiocd.info
weather.info
webdesign.info
webhost.info
webmaster.info
webshop.info
weesingbook.info
weesingbooks.info
wein.info
weine.info
welcome.info
wema.info
wengen.info
wertpapier.info
westerland.info
what2buy.info
whisky.info
whistler.info
whitehouse.info
whitepages.info
wicca.info
wiesenhof.info
wildbirds.info
wildcat.info
windsor.info
windsorpubliclibrary.info
wine.info
wisconsindells.info
wm2006.info
woergl.info
wolz.info
woodworking.info
work.info
workandtravelbritain.info
workandtraveluk.info
workingdog.info
workusa.info
world.info
worldofwatches.info
worldwidepants.info
wow.info
wpn.info
wppinvestors.info
wppplc.info
wtn.info
wyethkorea.info
wyethnutrition.info
xrml.info
xtend.info
xtra.info
xxx.info
yachts.info
yaletech.info
yell.info
yellowglen.info
yes24.info
yha.info
yogreats.info
yosips.info
youngandtherestless.info
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zabix.info
zaditor.info
zaehne.info
zaragoza.info
zauchensee.info
zaxbys.info
zaxbyschicken.info
zaxbys-chicken.info
zellamsee.info
zemaphyte.info
zentralschweiz.info
zevalin.info
zitate.info
zwickau.info

We had our annual Halloween party this Saturday, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, famous from such movies as Pretty Woman, Beverly Hills Ninja, and Upscale Bangers 38.

Clearly, there were a lot of great costumes, none more betterer than the classic “Sunburned Surf Vampire”.

Well, there was one more betterer. We had a costume contest, and Javier’s ended up getting second place:

And first.

NOBODY else got a single vote!

(Please turn head to left to watch video.)

It had a cup holder!

Last week they set a date: October 26, 2009. One week from today!

This is your one-and-only reminder that DreamHost is offering two free years of hosting for GeoCities refugees. When the clock strikes midnight on the 26th, former GeoCities customers will lose access to their old accounts forever, and this offer from DreamHost will disappear for all eternity – buried at the bottom of the sea or melted in a nuclear apocalypse. (We haven’t decided yet.)

Bring us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…hosting.

I was doing some digging in the DreamHost Archives and came across an old steamer trunk full of promotional materials dating back to the late 40s. There was a fair amount of water damage to the contents of the trunk, so much of what was in there has been lost to the elements. The good news is that I was able to salvage a few old photographs that hearken back to a simpler time.

The man with the glasses is one of my predecessors – the great James P. Abernathy III – DreamHost’s first marketing manager. He popularized the use of bumper stickers as promotional materials and is credited with making DreamHost the household name that it is today.

He died of venereal disease in 1953.

Early in our company’s history we realized the importance of buddying-up with famous people. Decades before the T-Mobile tent made its first appearance on the Academy Awards red carpet, the DreamHost milk truck was out in force delivering ice cold milk and promotional t-shirts to Hollywood’s elite.

It occurred to me that our company’s rich history need not spend an eternity buried in a steamer trunk, forever hidden from the prying eyes of the world. So we’re throwing a little contest to bring back the glory days of DreamHost.

Create your own retro-styled DreamHost t-shirt design to recapture the early days of web hosting as we know it. If we like yours enough we’ll turn it into actual t-shirts. Our employees will get them, people on the Internet will be able to buy them, and YOU’LL get a yearlifetime of free hosting! And mayyyyyybe even some copies of your own shirt! What the heck!

You don’t need to be a current customer to win. Just post a link to your entry (or entries) in the comments of this post. If you’re a winner you’ll need to be able to provide your artwork to us as a 200-300 dpi PNG file at a maximum size of 13.5″ x 16.5″. (Don’t forget the alpha channel data for any transparent areas.) File sizes must be no larger than 10 megs. Post an email address with your submission so that we can contact you if you’ve won and award you your prize!

Remember, this isn’t just a t-shirt design contest – this is a retro t-shirt design contest. Walk through a thrift store if you need inspiration. Ask anyone wearing a polo shirt what they think of your design – If they hate it, you’re probably on the right track!

The submission deadline is 11:59PM PST, Sunday October 11th. We’ll announce winners the following week – probably one from each “decade” (the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s). Feel free to take large liberties with the logo, taglines, etc. Good luck!

* Just kidding. We’re 12 today.

UPDATE: The winners have been announced!

Oh, I’ve been around.

And not just the block, and not just the bend.

I’ve been to like, 49 U.S. states. And like, 38 countries. And I know cause like, I’ve got a spreadsheet.

And I’ve seen some crazy crapola on those travels.

I’ve seen it rain for three days straight in Riyadh and sunny for three minutes straight on Mount Wai’ale’ale. I’ve seen an entire baseball stadium of Japanese people pack out their trash, and I’ve had my balls grabbed by a Chinese guy in a panda suit.

But there’s one thing I’ve never seen, not once in this whole wide, wild world.

An International Domain Name (IDN)

Not once.

Apparently, at some registrars you can register things like お元気ですか.com … and they’ll actually work in web browsers! Maybe even some email clients?

Silly-ly, the way it works is kind of silly… it actually just translates お元気ですか.com into a regular ascii domain like xn--t8jc5b1c114xnw7a.com … and that is what actually shows up in the browser bar (at least in most browsers)!

Anyway, we always thought that was so silly that we never bothered offering IDN registration at DreamHost. We do of course allow hosting IDN domains with us (you just enter the domain into our panel as xn--t8jc5b1c114xnw7a.com or whatever), and currently host over 4,000 of them.

We just thought actually registering them was a lot of work for not a lot of gain.

A lot of work?

What’s so hard about it? Shouldn’t we be able to register xn--t8jc5b1c114xnw7a.com just like any other .com domain? What extra set up is there?

You’d think that! In fact, I’d think that too!

But no, the registries all require us registrars to specifically activate the ability to register IDNs … and when submitting them we also have to submit what language they’re in!

Why this matters is beyond me. In fact, when you register .com and .net domains, you have a choice of over 100 languages, and they don’t seem to really care what you pick most of the time. However, when you register .org and .info domains you have a choice of only 10 languages, and they’re an odd selection, and they do care.

Those ten languages are: Danish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Spanish, and Swedish.

Notice any missing? Let’s see, here are the world’s ten most “popular” languages, by native-speaking population:

1. Mandarin Chinese – 882 million (nope)
2. Spanish – 325 million
3. English – 312-380 million (N/A)
4. Arabic – 206-422 million (nope)
5. Hindi – 181 million (nope)
6. Portuguese – 178 million (nope)
7. Bengali – 173 million (nope)
8. Russian – 146 million (nope)
9. Japanese – 128 million (nope)
10. German – 96 million

For crying out loud, they don’t even have FRENCH! Not that I blame them, nyuk nyuk!!

What The Heck

Despite all these short-comings and dubious benefits, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and start registering IDNs anyway!

So go crazy… simply visit our registrations area and enter whatever crazy (utf-8 encoded) characters you want … followed by .com (or .net/.org/.info)!

Of course, you still can’t register domains with spaces in them, REALLY weird utf-8 characters, or mix between left-to-right languages and right-to-left languages. And as I mentioned before, .org and .info are practically useless.

So what I mean to say is, taking into consideration those caveats, go crazy!!

And watch out for Chinese guys in panda suits.

It’s so popular in fact that it’s increasingly become the target of security exploits.  Fortunately for all of us, the Wordpress coders have done a good job patching up security holes quickly once they’ve been discovered.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter one bit if you don’t update the copy of Wordpress running your website.

If you are a lucky DreamHost customer, installing and updating Wordpress is very easy.  You really have no excuse for not updating.

We provide a one-click installer and upgrader for Wordpress (and several other popular web applications) making it as simple as clicking a button in our web panel.  We even let you request that we email you whenever a new release is available so you don’t have to keep track of it yourself.

If that is still too much effort and you are willing to give up some flexibility, we also provide what we call an easy one-click installer, which is really just a fully managed and hosted version of Wordpress that we update and maintain for you.  Even better, you can get this service from us absolutely free from DreamHost Apps (which also includes a bunch of other popular web apps for the same $0 price tag).

Why Not?

The only reason I can think of to not upgrade Wordpress as soon as it is released is the worry that it will break some plugin you’re using.  While that is a very valid concern, you should really consider how much those pesky plugins are worth to your website.  Are they worth the days of time it might take you to clean up a hacked website?  Are they worth the shame you would feel if your hacked website is used as a base to infect hundreds or thousands of other websites?  These are very real risks.  If you are using a plugin that prevents you from easily upgrading your Wordpress install, please consider abandoning it or finding a replacement that’s more robust and compatible.

Do It!

So, long story short:  UPDATE YOUR WORDPRESS RIGHT NOW. There is a major Wordpress hack going around targeting older versions of Wordpress.  The latest version is unaffected so if you have been a good upgrader you are safe!  A couple of big name bloggers (here and here) got hit recently, and it can also happen to you.  In fact, it might have happened already!  Check this post from Lorelle on Wordpress with lots of gorey details about the hack and to find out if you may be a victim.

Whoops, there hasn’t been a blog post in a while.

It’s not that we haven’t been doing anything interesting in the last month, it’s just how could I top the ping pong one?

And, I guess we haven’t really done anything SUPER interesting in the last month… just a lot of little SUB interesting things.

So strap on your spurs, get your lassos out, and clean the poop off your face, it’s time for a good old fashioned July DreamHost Feature round-up!

ROOT on PS

You’d have to venture prettttttttty far out on the prairie to find a single lonesome complaint about DreamHost PS (our VPS service). But let’s say you were out in Peoria, IL .. what complaint would you hear, whispered on the wind?

“Why don’t I get root (e.g. super-user e.g. administrator access) on DreamHost PS!”

And if you listened to that wind one second more, you’d likely hear, “Because you’ll come crying to us when you break everything!”

We are not here to help you with your problems. We’re not. Until now.

We’ve just added a new Manage Admin Users area to our web panel, whereby you can create users with FULL ROOT ACCESS to your private server(s)!

Of course, to add one, you do have to agree to some rather onerous terms:

I understand that the power of an Admin User is mighty and if wielded incorrectly it can cause major damage to my Private Server. I also understand that if I damage my own server through incorrect use of my Admin User power DreamHost’s Happy Tech Support Team may be unable to assist me in repairing the damage, and that I may be forced to reset my Private Server back to its DreamHost-approved configuration via the Reset My Server function of the DreamHost Web Panel.

Once you’ve created an admin user, if you’d like you can tell us to stop managing various aspects of your PS! And, as alluded to in the text above, you can even reset everything to our default configuration (user’s home directories will be untouched)!

Search the Panel

In simpler news, there’s now a search field at the top of the panel. It’s still beta, but not only will it do a Google search of all DreamHost-related sites, it also acts as something of a “command line” to our panel.

Try phrases like “renew domain” or just start typing in the name of any domain/user/email/database on your account!

It’s still “beta” .. we “plan” on making it way “smarter” and “faster” soon, but in the meantime it seemed “good enough” for you yokels.

Rearrange the Panel

In slightly more complicated news, did you notice you can now customize your navigation toolbox?

Just go back to our panel and drag and drop any menu items in the left to the toolbox at the top.. they’ll move!

And stay!

I swear to gopher.

Google AdWords Credit

I’m proud to say we finally caved in and now do what it seems like every other web host on the planet does: outsource our tech support to Wyoming!

AND offer free Google AdWords credits to new and existing DreamHost customers!

To find out what the deal is, and how much credit you get, just visit the Google AdWords area of our panel.

Get along little doggies!

Kill FTP Connections

Like some kind of undead e-tumbleweed, sometimes FTP connections you leave open never die.

If that happens too much, your entire server can become a virtual ghost town, completely choked with zombie FTP processes… potentially putting your user over the max connection limit!

Save yourself the hassle of writing in to support: kill those processes yourself with the new button for just that purpose over at our panel’s Manage Users section.

API Rate Limiting

Remember our sweety-pants application programing interface? Well, even after the original gold rush, its popularity has just been growing and growing.. so much so that we’ve had to impose a limit for run-away apps:

No more than 1000 API calls in an hour and no more than 5000 API calls in a day per key!

Don’t worry, that’s more calls than fort knox.

Wait A Second

I just realized something… the July newsletter is going to just be a link to this post!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee-haw.

Hey!

Big props to the dozen or so DreamHosters who showed up and got $61 of credit to their DreamHost account.. I scored 29 points total, Micah 32!

Unfortunately, Micah didn’t get to move on to the next round, tomorrow at 11am in the Venetian (ballroom C).

BUT I DID.

All thanks to my mad 17 point handicap (in a game to 21) against two guys in my round-robin! BOO YAH. And the other guy dropping out because he “hurt his shoulder”. Pshaw.

So, if you missed the first round, here’s your (last) chance to get some more credit.. come root Josh on tomorrow (Saturday) and get $2 a point scored!!

To wrap things up, here’s a pic of the big mac I got on our drive to Vegas:

What, was it their first day?!

You may remember Dream Machine from such sports as basketball, basketball, softball, and basketball.

But what you may NOT remember is that we got in trouble with our building when they saw our elevator lobby table tennis shenanigans.

And what you couldn’t possibly remember, is that Micah and I have been working on our game since then and now are officially USATT rated (771 and 720 respectively).

Which is why I’m pleased to introduce for the first time… Dream Machine Table Tennis!

What’s it to you?

Well, we’re headed to the $100,000 Hard Bat Classic this weekend in Vegas, and anybody who shows up to cheer (either of) us on will get $1 in DreamHost credit for every point each of us score.. THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT!

That could very well end up being THOUSANDS of dollars of DreamHost credit .. or very well end up being TENS of dollars of DreamHost credit!

To illustrate, I will now relay to you a little story of the LAST tournament we went to, less than a month ago…

The California State Open

The way USATT tournaments generally work is that everybody is grouped into four person round-robin contests, where everybody plays everybody else, and only the one winner advances to the “playoff” bracket.

When I showed up for my under-1100-rating tournament, I found my bracket on the board… and things didn’t look too good:

Jones, Josh 725

Lee, Kenneth 927

Liao, Hung Ju (Andrew) 844

Lu, David 958

Hmm, Jones vs. Lee, Liao, and Lu. Not to be prejudiced, but I was nervous.

And in fact, it wasn’t good… I ended up losing all three matches, although I did win one game at least vs. Ken.

Overall, it was still a lot of fun and afterwards I got everybody from our round robin together to take a picture to commemorate their victories:

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See you tomorrow at the Venetian!