Choose the Right Web Host for You

Finding out which provider is better for what you want can be hard until you’ve done some research. That can be very time consuming, right? I know I spent a lot of time thinking about switching from GoDaddy to another provider and wasn’t sure if I wanted to go with HostRocket because I didn’t really have issues with GoDaddy, just that I wanted more.

I just found out about Web Hosting Choice, which seems to help with your web hosting choice. I did notice that they recommend Host Gator, throughout the site. Makes me feel like it’s an advertisement, but I don’t know if it really is.

I love the Quick Web Host Search box on the front page. Enter in the maximum monthly cost, maximum setup fee, minimum disk space and bandwidth that you are looking for. Click Search for Hosts and browse the results of the available web hosting providers.

Most of my searches resulted in mostly just Host Gator hosting plans. I’m sure it’s because they have a variety of plans at affordable prices.

The site also has a great Learning Center to help you learn what you need to know about web hosting. For example, what is PHP or Perl? There is also a page that talks about scams that you may run into when looking for a web host. One of the scams is about providers offering unlimited bandwidth/space. My provider actually does offer me unlimited bandwidth (which, yes, I’m sure there is a limit at some point, but it doesn’t mean it’s a scam, in my opinion).

I like that it lets me select specific features that I may be looking for, example: ASP. Or select a specific web hosting provider and see the plans each one offers. Warning: the directory of providers is very long! This must have taken Web Hosting Choice a long time to build.

If I need to look for another web hosting provider, I will most likely check out Web Hosting Choice in the future, because it could save a lot of time! I only wish I knew about it when I was looking earlier last year.

Check them out if you’re looking for a new place to host your website. Hopefully it will help you in your search.

Sponsored by Web Hosting Choice

Public Release of Pownce Brings New Features

Pownce was opened to the public as of midnight. I wasn’t able to stay awake when this happened, but when I woke up this morning I wanted to see what new features Pownce brought. There are a few features that I have been waiting for.

Read replies and reply directly from the Pownce desktop client. In previous versions this wasn’t possible. The biggest complaint I’ve seen so far (myself included) is not being able to minimize to the tray. A tray icon was added for Pownce, but its only function is to tell you when there are new messages. Pownce still minimizes to the taskbar. Hopefully there will be a fix for this in the next version. Until then, check out PownceTray.

You may notice that if you use PownceTray with the newer version of the client, that there will be two icons in the system tray. If you hide Pownce’s icon in the notification settings, only PownceTray’s icon will be displayed. This is a temporary fix.

Finding old and new friends is now easier. Choose to import your friends from other network sites and e-mail accounts, such as Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo and more. You can also search for people or look through the Featured Powncers list and find some worthy Powncers.

Others that are talking about the public release of Pownce:

• Pownce Opens to Public Tonight at Midnight; Early Screen Shots of New Features
• Pownce Opened Up
• Pownce Pounces on the Public at Midnight Tonight
• File Sharing/Micro-Blogging Site Pownce Now in Public Beta

What features do you like the most and what features would you like to see?

Write or Draw on Your Desktop Using Your Cursor

I was just thinking how great it could be, instead of having a Vista note gadget on my desktop, if I could just write on the desktop with the cursor. I had never heard of any application that allowed this, so I tried searching in Google and came across two of them. They aren’t exactly what I’m looking for.

The first one is called Desk Marker and it’s not that easy to use because in order to draw on the desktop, you have to use hotkeys and while holding the hotkeys you move the cursor. In order to make separate lines, you would have to release the hotkeys, move the cursor where you want it and then hold the hotkeys down while moving the cursor again. It’s more of a pain, but not too bad if you just want to leave short notes. The note also disappears after opening other programs. Not sure if this is a bug or if it’s a bug since I’m not sure about the compatibility with Vista.

The other one is called Virtual Board and is much easier to use except that the notes on the desktop disappear when you hide the Virtual Board’s toolbar and reappear when you show the toolbar again. I really don’t like the toolbar because it’s really big and I don’t need something taking up more space than a note gadget does. But, Virtual Board has more options than Desk Marker does.

In the image, you will not see the toolbar as it didn’t seem to capture it in the screenshot.

If anyone knows of an application that does what I would like, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. I just want something like a transparent application that covers the entire desktop so I can still see the wallpaper and gadgets, but allows me to write small notes anywhere on the wallpaper using the cursor, without the need for hotkeys (unless it’s sticky). Also, it should have an eraser that only erases what I want to erase from the desktop, not everything.

Note: Both Desk Marker and Virtual Board are free for private use.

Minimize Pownce to the Tray

I don’t know if anyone else is annoyed by always open applications sitting in the taskbar, but I like using the system tray. I don’t like filling up the taskbar with applications that I don’t always use, but like to keep open.

Pownce is one of those applications that just sits open with nowhere to go. I’m sure with a newer version, the feature might be added like it is with Snitter (for Twitter), but until then, I wanted a solution now.

I didn’t know there was a way to minimize Pownce, but I looked through Google and came across one solution. It’s a tiny little app called PownceTray that you have to run in order to minimize Pownce to the system tray. It places the Pownce icon in the tray. Double-click to reopen and minimize to send it to the tray again.

One feature I think Pownce needs is notification of new messages like how Snitter has. Even a flashing icon in the tray would do. For now, I’m happy that I can minimize Pownce to the tray!

Getting Started With Google Reader

I talked about how it has been hard to move from Google Reader to another feed reader. This is partly because I’m so used to Google Reader now, but also because of the features Google Reader offers.

This 10-minute video is a great video if you have never used Google Reader before or maybe you want to learn how to use it better. If you’re someone who has never used a feed reader, this video helps you learn why you should use one instead of using your browser to manually visit websites to read content.

I recommend Google Reader to anyone who wants an easy to use feed reader.

Video by CaptureTheConversation.com