Cloud Computing vs Dedicated Server

Seems like the cloud computing bandwagon is really accelerating. The quesion is, is the cloud better than good old fashioned, inexpensive shared hosting or just renting a dedicated server? The answer is, "buyer beware." Here's why: there are two kinds of clouds:

Application platform clouds where you write your website's code to the cloud's API. These types of clouds offer the best performance and scale easily. The challenge here is vendor lock in (there are no common APIs) and learning the clouds application programming interface and language.

Virtual machine (VM) based clouds. These types of clouds often run Windows or Linux and use the same tools you've been using for years. Convenient, yes, but a good deal? The jury is way out there on this one. Here's why:

First, if you are working on a low traffic (that means less than 50,000 visits per day), then the answer is the cloud is overkill and can't compete with $5/month shared hosting.

Here's where the VM cloud starts to loose it's luster: when compared to a dedicated server, you often are getting a virtual machine. That would be the same kind of setup as a virtual private server. When are on a virtual machine, you may be sharing time with ten to fifteen other users on the same server. When you are on a dedicated server, you just don't have to share. So, until you would need four or five cloud VMs, the dedicated server may substantially outperform the cloud.

Here's another trick with VM based clouds: you are not necessarily getting multi-site redundancy or for that matter, all your cloud vms may be in the same server. That's not very cloudy. In fact, many cloud computing providers are little more than a fancy control panel to very traditional "Virtual Private Servers."

If you were itching to put your next application in the cloud, you may want to hold off on that move. In some cases it makes sense to start your application in the cloud, but in most cases it doesn’t. --Erik Howard» Cloud Computing vs Dedicated Server | Erik Howard

Get a Real (mobile) Browser

OK, pet pevee #1 for so-called smartphones: the browser is dumb as a box of rocks. That thing that lurks in Windows Mobile? Terrible.  The abomination that passes for a web browser on a Blackberry? Ugh.  Palm? HA.  Why is it that my phone has more computing power than my desktop had in 2001 and I can't surf like it's 1999?  I'm not sure what the answer is... but...

Here's the deal: most smartphones come with stupid browsers.
Here's the solution: Opera Mobile.

Here's what web pages look like with Opera Mobile:


Just like the big computer, right?  Here's the current asking price: $0 (at least for the beta, which is better than the browser built in to your phone)

GetOpera Mobile

Fix Your Home Network With Open DNS

Ok, so you are tired of Comcast's absolutely awful DNS. You also have kids and would like to at least protect them a little from the red light side of the internet. If you believe all the ads, then you need a bunch of security software, ad blockers, and anti-spyware software right? Wrong. Try OpenDNS out.

Here's how it works: it replaces the domain name server (DNS) your ISP provides. DNS is the "white pages" for the internet - when you look up an address, like google.com, your DNS gives your compter the actual address (a bunch of numbers separated by periods). Open DNS gives you control of what kinds of websites you can access, and what you can't without a bunch of extra software. One really nice feature is that OpenDNS will help block sites distributing malware or phishing for logins to your accounts. Plus OpenDNS refreshes faster than the local cable company so you are more likely to get a website and less likely to get a 404 not found error.

Oh, and OpenDNS is pretty much free and it's used even by big companies:

OpenDNS, provider of the award-winning service that makes the Internet safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, today announced healthcare organizations across the country are switching to OpenDNS in masses for all Web content filtering and DNS infrastructure needs.

OpenDNS > About Us > Healthcare Organizations Across the U.S. Switch to OpenDNS, Get Safer, More Reliable Internet and Save Thousands Per Year

Four Killer Open Source Applications You Don't Know About

Ok, so you've probably heard a little about Open Source. Chances are most of the websites you see are served using the Apache Webserver. You've also probably used the Firefox browser, used OpenOffice and maybe even have played around with Linux. Here are four incredible open source applications you can download and use for free. There's no strings, and if you want to get source code to the applications, you can.

Marble
Marble is a shockingly good "desktop globe" that includes lots of maps that works on Linux, Windows, Mac and eve Windows CE. Need a map you don't have? Click Open Map and you'll find some Want a quick map to see how to get to the local Tweetup? Use the OpenStreetMap Map. Tweetup on Venus? No problem, switch to Marble's Venus map. Want to plan a bike tour? Use the Bicycling Map. Want to see how hot it is on average in Buenos Aires? Use the average Temperature map. Marble is like having a complete collection of globes, a street map and even an old historical globe. Marble has been great for helping my daughters with geography and science.



Price: Free. As in free beer.
Linux: install the marble package for your distribution. Debian & Ubuntu - sudo apt-get install marble
Windows & Mac: Download Marble Here

Songbird
Want an easy to use, totally web enabled and customizable music player? Ok, look no further than Songbird. Unlike iTunes, Windows Media Player and Linux uberplayer Amarok, Songbird is built on top of the Mozilla Firefox web browser - so it makes using sites like Last.fm, Shoutcast and Amazon.com a snap. Songbird is shaping up to be one of the best music players around... and it works on everything.

Price: Free. As in free beer.
Linux, Windows & Mac: Get Songbird Here

Scribus
Want to work up a newsletter or print brochure? Don't want to shell our $1,000 for software? Look no further than Scirbus, an open source Desktop Publisher. Scribus isn't a toy - it's actually a professional grade page layout program that lets you design print shop ready publications - newsletters, brochures, magazines, whatever. This is one seriously powerful program, and it's free.



Price: Free. As in free beer.
Linux, Windows & Mac: Get Scribus Here

Kompozer
Want a nice web page editor that lets you edit exactly as your page will look in a browser? Well, a few years ago there was a program called Nvu that did that - but the company that funded development gave up on it. Then one day a programmer named Kompozer is a very easy to use web page editor. It's free, and for straight HTML, it's almost unbeatable.

Price: Free. As in free beer.
Linux, Windows & Mac: Get Kompozer Here