The Weblog Review

When you’re trying to get a website up and running for the first time, the jargon used by people in the industry can make it difficult to understand exactly what you’re buying. One of the most common acronyms you’ll encounter when looking for hosting services for any kind of website will be VPS. That stands for Virtual Private Server. Let’s take a look at what the term means, and what a VPS can mean for you and your website.

VPS Replaced Many Onsite Servers

In the early days of web hosting, many individuals and companies that wanted to keep total control over their data used dedicated servers that they kept on their own premises. A dedicated server refers to hardware that is set aside for hosting one website, and nothing else. When web traffic was much smaller than it is now, and websites were simply a few pages of HTML and thumbnail pictures, that worked fine. Those days are long gone.

Hosting companies began building server farms that could serve the needs of hundreds, and then thousands of customers. Compared to operating your own dedicated server, the cost of renting out server space from a hosting company was very low, and the performance was much better. There were problems for some users that moved to this shared hosting service setup, however.

Shared Hosting Can Suffer From Performance Problems

Many companies needed to keep sensitive data on their servers, or needed them to be set up in a very specific way. They wanted to make sure that the server that their website was hosted on wasn’t shared with other sites. They paid extra for private hosting. They rented out an entire server, or multiple servers, to make sure that their data and traffic was separated from other websites.

That problem has been largely solved by VPS hosting plans. Server space is partitioned into virtualized independent operating systems. That means each virtualized operating system behaves as a dedicated server. A VPS can actually be affordable if you use a BlueHost coupon code or similar discount. This is because unlike truly dedicated servers, VPS allows you to pay for only amount of server space that your website requires, while not giving up the benefits of private hosting.

Benefits of VPS Hosting Plans

• Privacy – Your portion of the server is partitioned from all the other users, so it’s not possible for the data stored on your virtual server to be accessed from anyone else on the server
• Highly Customizable – Each VPS account can have its own operating system. No matter what server applications you want, you can use them without interference from anyone else on the server. You can customize your system, or even change it completely, without disruption of any other user installation
• Individual Control – Technically, a Virtual Private Server is a shared server, but because the different users are partitioned so effectively, you can schedule installations of server applications whenever you like, and restart only your virtual portion of the server whenever is convenient for you
• Reliable Resource Allocation – The random access memory and CPU capacity for the VPS server is allocated proportionally to all the users. With shared hosting, if your server has another site that’s a bandwidth hog, your website can suffer from long load times for your visitors. VPS hosting ensures you always get the RAM you paid for

When VPS Isn’t Enough

For most customers, the amount of data that a website contains is usually pretty small in comparison to the capacity of the server space they rent. The real problem is bandwidth. If your website gets a lot of traffic, you need to have your data delivered to users quickly no matter how many visitors try to access the site at the same time. Companies that worried about bottlenecks caused by too many websites being hosted on the same server also opt for private servers.

There are some configurations that call for true dedicated servers. If you have unusual hardware requirement, whether it be an ultra-fast CPU, extra RAM, or data transfer rates that would tax a conventional VPS setup, renting a dedicated server will allow you to get the setup you need. Hosting support teams will gladly tweak any hardware requirement you need for an additional fee, and you’ll have the precise setup you need for your unconventional setup without having to run it yourself. If you have an unusually large number of databases or other resource-hungry applications, you won’t affect anyone else on your server because you are the only client using it.

When someone who is sensitive and literate pours thoughtful commentary about their myriad interests into a blog, the reader is fortunate to encounter a website that can be every bit as multifaceted as the creator of the site. Friko’s Musings is just this sort of blog, and an example of how the blog form gives voice to people who, while possibly without having been published in the traditional sense, deserve a platform from which they might share their musings with the world. The world is a better place for it.t

Friko is especially interested in poetry and literature and the blog is sprinkled with short stories, character sketches and snippets of original poetry reflecting this. Human nature, history and gardening are also areas that favored by the author, and covered extensively on the site. Reading through the posts on the blog feels like a dialogue with a new friend whose interests lie in almost any subject under the sun. People such as this and conversations one has with them are often exhilarating simply for the broad range of subjects into which one might potentially delve on any given day. It’s a reason to bookmark Friko’s Musings or put it into your RSS feed reader.

Friko is originally from Germany but has lived in the UK for decades, and is apparently based in a gorgeous part of the English countryside. Another of the site’s high points are the photographs of her natural surroundings, and the glimpses of nature provide wonderful counterpoint to the wide scope of the blog posts.

Friko’s Musings is a blogspot blog, and if you have ever wondered just how personalized a site created with this popular, free blogging platform can be, take a look at this site. Friko’s blog is a clearly labor of love, and is proof that the more of yourself you pour into your site, the less relevant the software with which you choose to create is. If you enjoy commentary on poetry and literature in the context of well-written glimpses of life in rural England, you should give this blog a look. You might very well find a kindred spirit in Friko and for many people this site will be worthy of regular visits.

We are seeing more and more business websites move away from boring, static HTML formats that rely on nothing more than a couple of images to compel prospective customers to purchase products from the site. Today’s website review is about a business that has done an exemplary job of presenting its business and the products it sells-in this case crystal awards and crystal trophies-in such a way that is bound to increase conversions even from casual visitors to the website.

Whether you are a business owner or an office manager, you’re well aware that giving employees periodic gifts in the form of desktop awards is a great way to increase overall employee morale and also improve worker productivity. Over the past few decades one of the most popular types of awards given to employees in office environments are gorgeous crystal trophies, and glass awards created from expertly cut, exquisitely shaped glass. If you’re looking for a company that sells exactly this form of office awards consider the range of first-rate crystal and glass awards offered by www.abletrophies.com.

Even if you are not sure what crystal trophies would be appropriate to purchase for your next employee award presentation or corporate/business recognition event, go take a look at the site and peruse the offerings of crystal awards, class awards, custom awards, globe awards, star shaped towards, eco-friendly awards, acrylic awards, marble awards and many more. You’re sure to find something appropriate and you’ll feel great giving a gorgeous crystal award to a deserving employee. And if you are looking for ideas as to presentation for your e-commerce site, you’re sure to find plenty of ideas too.

In the old days, I mean before the Internet, “education” meant formal education that you had to go somewhere to get, from a teacher whose interest and expertise in a subject and in teaching per se, might be limited. Education was restricted to those who lived in a country where it was either provided for free or affordable. Even if you did go to school, learning about a subject required that you have books on it.

Those days are over. Today I’ll share with you a website review that was a pleasure to do. Almost lost in the explosion of information about celebrities that you don’t really care about, and the ability to argue politics ad nauseum with people all over the world, is a breathtaking fundamental change in access to basic education. Khan Academy is a site that is a perfect example of how the Internet makes high-quality self-education possible, for free. Among other things, it’s a profound opportunity for individuals to empower themselves, and potentially change their lives.

Sal Khan has created a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to provide free education to everybody, everywhere. The concept couldn’t be simpler. The homepage consists of links to hundreds of short videos, hosted on YouTube, that are mostly mathematics- and science-related. Khan has a Masters in electrical engineering and computer science as well as a BS in math from MIT, in addition to an MBA from Harvard business school. In addition to this first-class educational pedigree though, he has a gift for clarity in his presentation of subjects that are often considered quite difficult.

One could start with basic arithmetic, move from pre-algebra to algebra, into statistics and trigonometry, pre-calculus , calculus and right into differential equations and linear algebra! I watched a video on his introduction to limits, and his style is conversational and very casually pedantic. The sections of the site devoted to chemistry, physics and biology are quite comprehensive as well, and there is also a section on economics, banking and finance.

It is hard to know how many young people in Western countries will break away from their video games long enough to immerse themselves in these videos, and after all they will encounter most of this knowledge as they go to school anyway. Oftentimes though, having an additional source of education beyond the teacher and textbook you are assigned in middle school and high school can be an invaluable way to “get” a subject with which you’re having trouble. Khan Academy is a perfect place to point a young person for a clear, short explanation of hundreds of concepts. In fact, part of the brilliance of this site is the way the lessons are broken into such short chunks. Rather than being overwhelmed by an hour of pre-calculus, one can know that they made progress in understanding a complex subject after a video tutorial that lasted less than 10 minutes.

On the subject of universal access to education, it is true that knowledge of English would be required to benefit from these wonderful educational videos (one wonders if offerings in other languages is coming), and obviously Internet access is also required. Still, it potentially opens the world of knowledge to people in places who do not have a teacher of these subjects near them, available at any time.

Even if differential equations and all the other subjects do not interest you at all, it is nice to know that there are young people in the world with a thirst for knowledge that can be quenched by a site like this, for free. Having an educated population pays profound dividends in the long run, and it’s exciting to think of the changes that people who might not have received much of an education may make in their own lives, and to improve their countries and the planet.

Jenny Reviews offers comprehensive reviews of an incredible range of products from all over the Internet, with emphasis on personal care products, home improvement needs, kitchen appliances and really almost everything under the sun.

I recommend paying a visit to this site if you’re looking for reviews outside of the usual Amazon.com style opinions, as many of reviews are longer and seem to me to be more detail oriented. The value of a site like this lies in the “one-stop shopping” nature of the information it offers. It certainly seems worth a bookmark for the value it will have in getting you a quick way to check products you’ll be interested in buying in the future.

If you would like to submit your own review for a product it’s quite easy to do so on Jenny Reviews, through the one-page free submit form that is very easy to navigate. This site now benefits from a long history of detailed reviews so that most items that a person would be interested in purchasing would probably have a review associated with them on this site.

Jenny Reviews is an example of the increasingly popular category of websites and blogs that utilize so-called “user generated content” to showcase a broad range of opinions on different subjects, in this case primarily retail products. It’s easy to imagine the value of dozens of reviews on particular e-cigarettes or an obscure kind of personal hair removal system; most likely it will be all the info you need on the product.

This site proves that an attractive, commercially effective website does not have to limit itself to a strict blog format using WordPress, that there is in fact still room for completely original web designs that are attractive and eye-catching.

If you are searching for reviews of niche retail products outside of the places you normally look, take a look at the Jenny Reviews website, for original opinions that will help you come to a decision as to whether spending your hard-earned cash on a product is a good idea.