I was just reading on Mike Muise’s Blog about the ruling that came down today from ICANN that opens the door for anyone with a little financial backing to apply for their own domain extension, example: .com, .net, .org, etc. 

I caught the tail end of this report on CNN today but didn’t quite get the entire story, Mike has some good info on his blog here about the ruling and how it’s going to take shape.  If you are even remotely involved with the web at all, this ruling is going to be something that you are going to want to pay particular attention to, it’s kind of crazy if you ask me, I can’t get my mind around what it’s going to look like, here’s a quote from Mike…

If you thought the domain world was a little over complicated as it was with all the various extensions already available, you are not going to like latest news to come out of ICANN meetings taking place in Paris. It appears as early as next year, anyone with a little financial backing will be able to apply to have their own extension created. I am sure some will go to good use, but I lay more on the side of skepticism here. Not only do I think some bad ideas will come out of this, I think this will just cause a nightmare for organizations looking to protect their brand names online.

Source: http://blog.dropthemike.com/2008/06/26/chaos-confusion-on-the-way/

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After beating the drum and getting all hopped up for the launch of Firefox 3 this week, I am just now getting around to downloading and installing it on my Dev2 machine.  I am going to test out my plugins and everything for a little while before I update all of my other machines, here’s a note about the recent Mozilla website outage…

An outage affected the Mozilla.com website on the day the organisation launched its Guinness World Record attempt for downloads of the new Firefox 3 browser. The mozilla.com site was unreachable from around the world, occasionally responding with the message, “Http/1.1 Service Unavailable”.

Melissa Shapiro posted a statement on the Mozilla blog to say that their servers were feeling the burn and should be back to normal shortly. An earlier post stated that the record attempt would begin today at 5pm UTC, but Shapiro announced after this time that the 24 hour period in which the downloads will be counted will begin once the site goes live.

Netcraft was able to access the Firefox 3 download page again shortly after 7pm UTC, but the Service Unavailable message was still seen occasionally. For some period before this, the page was still offering version 2 downloads, yet a Mozilla press release confirmed that Firefox 3 had indeed already been released.

A follow-up post on the Mozilla blog officially announced that the 24 hour period had begun, with Guinness counting all complete downloads of Firefox 3 before 18:16 UTC tomorrow.

The outages also affected the www.spreadfirefox.com website. Realtime performance graphs of the Mozilla website are available here.

Source: Netcraft

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I am just now getting around to updating my PHPRunner Software on my Dev1 Machine (have been really behind the times lately) and was surprised to find that they have added quite a few new features that are very handy one click type of things, here’s a list:

• Dynamic permissions
• Import data from CSV and Excel files
• Resize images on upload and iBox support
• Auto-update fields. Automatically insert a value into field every time record is updated (UpdateBy, UpdateTime, IP address of user etc)
• Visual SQL Editor
• Add new item to dropdown box as a fully-featured add page in popup
• Only allow complex passwords (mixed cases, non-alphanumeric characters)
• Registration confirmation via email
• CAPTCHA

Probably the first one on the list, Dynamic Permissions, is the one that I have most anxiously been awaiting. I can see how this is going to be very nice. I have been running 4.2 on my notebook pc for a little while now getting acclimated and it operates great, the new enhancements to the visual sql editor are most welcomed!

I know that I have a few folks that hit my blog from time to time that are also hardcore PHPR users, I would be interested in hearing from any of you and your take on the software as well. Just email me or drop me a comment / trackback to your blog on here…

Source: PHPRunner 4.2 released - Forums

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I was looking for some resources online to help me get up to speed with Expression and stumbled across Eric Meyer’s CSS Layout Generator software that works as an add-on for Microsoft Expression.  This is a no-brainer, wonderful idea.  I am a huge fan of code generators and anything else that will help me save time while styling layouts.  The cost of the software is very nice also, it retails for $100 I think but they are running a promotion right now where you can get it for half price.   I didn’t see a demo download but did find a feature tour and a solution recipe section with some pretty interesting things. 

One of the cool things about this software is that it allows you to easily use one of the predefined layouts that comes with the package and then “tweak it as needed”.  It looks pretty intuitive from what I have seen also.  I am not 100$ sure what kind of code it throws in but w/ it being from Eric Meyer it has to be pretty clean and validatable code.  One of the other cool features about this software that I have found is that it allows you to generate not only your main stylesheet but it also generates a print stylesheet also.

Here are some of the features I pulled from the website:

Totally simplifies CSS-based layouts

Modern Web design requires Web standards compliant CSS-based layouts. CSS Sculptor meets that requirement with flexibility, expertise and ease-of-use. Select a core layout, personalize it however you’d like and then output it, ready for your content and cross-browser compatible.

Integrates background images into your layouts

Background images are one of the true artist tools available to the CSS designer. With CSS Sculptor, you can easily incorporate background images into any part of your page, including the body tag or any individual layout div. Add faux columns, watermarks or repeating gradients with no hassle.

Saves and restores layout designs

Build your own collection of preset layouts with CSS Sculptor. Save any modified layout as a new design, which you can easily re-use or further modify. Export your presets to use in another system or share with others—and just as easily import preset designs.

Puts CSS expert Eric Meyer to work for you

Eric Meyer is recognized world-wide as a leading authority on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Eric is the author of numerous definitive books, articles and posts on CSS. Eric worked side-by-side with WebAssist to ensure that CSS Sculptor met the demanding needs of today’s Web professional.

Combines screen and print style sheet design

Make your Web pages hard copy compatible with CSS Sculptor’s easy to use Print features. CSS Sculptor converts your screen layout to a format more compatible with the printed page with just a few mouse clicks. Easily convert your page to black and white and hide any selected layout element.

Controls your CSS output from top to bottom

Store your CSS Sculptor-generated styles wherever you’d like—embedded in the of your Web page or in a new or existing style sheet. Specify the amount of placeholder content: full, minimal or none. Turn CSS comments on or off. Create your page your way with Eric Meyer’s CSS Sculptor.

Source: WebAssist Professional - Eric Meyer’s CSS Layout Generator for Microsoft Expression Web

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My absolute favorite Web Browser! Mozilla, is getting ready to release their new web browser this next week and they are getting ready for the “demand” for their popular browser.  The release is set to hit on the 17th (which is also my wife’s birthday!).  They are trying to set a Guinness World Record for Software Downloads.  To help promote the “download day” they are even having a free BBQ at the Mozilla headquarters in Mountain View, CA.  I was just curious who the previous record holder was for software downloads but according to WHIR there isn’t a “previous” record holder, so this should be a sure thing, just like Mozilla Firefox!  Be sure to stop what you are doing and set your Outlook Reminders now to update Firefox next Tuesday!

There is a little more information about the release on WHIR’s website, see source below.  Also, the download link for the software when it becomes available can be found on Mozilla’s website: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/

Source: Web Host Industry News | Mozilla Readies Download Day

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I just found out this morning that one of the Keynote Speakers at this years HostingCon is going to be Sergeui Beloussov.  Serqeui is the CEO of Parallels, formerly known as SWSoft, Inc.  SWSoft is one of my favorite companies in the hosting industry and having seen Sergeui speak a few times I have to say he is one of my favorite speakers also, he is brilliant and funny as all get out!

June 10, 2008 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Technology tradeshows and conference producer Interjuncture (interjuncture.com) announced on Tuesday that Sergeui Beloussov, chairman and CEO of web hosting software provider Parallels (parallels.com) will deliver the opening keynote address at the upcoming HostingCon 2008 (hostingcon.com/2008) tradeshow and conference. HostingCon 2008 will be held July 28 to 30, 2008 at the Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois.

Source: Web Host Industry News | Parallels CEO to Keynote HostingCon

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