Hosting

Webmail.us Adds 20 Resellers

Email hosting provider Webmail.us (webmail.us) announced on Monday that it has added twenty new partners to its private label reseller program in the last two months.

The company said its new reseller partners, who come from a range of industries, help it reach small, medium and geographically dispersed customers.

"We are very pleased with the growth and success of our reseller channel," says Patrick Matthews, chief executive officer at Webmail.us. "Our technology has been specifically designed to meet the email hosting needs of resellers and their business customers. Our channel program builds on this philosophy, making it possible for resellers to benefit from on-demand email hosting with little energy or expense on their part. We have been particularly pleased with the types of resellers that have partnered with us � as well as the addition of international partners."

Webmail.us initiated an expansion of its reseller program in October of last year.

Verizon Faces Lawsuit Over Blocking

A Philadelphia-based law firm has filed a lawsuit against Internet service provider Verizon (verizon.com) on behalf of a DSL subscriber and is inviting other Verizon customers to join a class action, according to a report by the Register.

The lawsuit stems from Verizon's stringent and all encompassing email filtering policies, which have blocked email originating from Europe. Email servers at Verizon have been reportedly set to refuse connections from Europe by default since December 22, 2004. The company said its blacklisting of email from Europe is part of its efforts to fight spam coming from the area. Verizon only unblocks domains after a complaint has been received from its customers.

A spokesperson for Verizon told the Register that the majority of its customers are happy with its spam and virus filtering policies. However, the Register also reported the complaints of irate Verizon customers who have had difficulty receiving email originating from Europe.

Verizon, according to reports, intends to continue with the practice.

Yahoo! Extends $4.98 Domain Offer

According to a report by research and analysis firm Netcraft (netcraft.com), Yahoo! has extended its $4.98 domain promotion, suggesting that the offer is generating business for the Internet portal and Web hosting provider.

Yahoo! recently extended its $4.98 domain offering through February 8, 2005, the third extension of the promotion that launched on December 10, 2004.

In an effort to keep up with dropping domain prices, Web hosting provider Go Daddy (godaddy.com) recently dropped its annual domain name price from $8.95 to $7.95 per year.

Yahoo! and Go Daddy's recent moves continue the trend of Web hosting companies dropping domain name prices, using domains as a loss leader to attract new customers. According to Netcraft, 1&1 Internet, EV1Servers, Hostway, Interland, Web.com and AIT are all offering domain names for less than $8 per year.

Comodo Acquires Positive Softwar

Internet security specialist Comodo (comodogroup.com) announced on Monday that it has acquired Web hosting automation software provider Positive Software Corporation (psoft.net), developer of the H-Sphere and CP+ Web hosting control panels. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Melih Abdulhayoglu, president and CEO of Comodo, said the merger is an ideal blend of corporate and technical philosophies.

"The addition of Positive Softare helps make Comodo unique among the competition in terms of scope, quality, and price points," says Abdulhayoglu. "We now offer a complete and totally integrated line of Internet business solutions, and furthermore we have the ability to fully accommodate our partner-resellers in the Web hosting industry with the kind of support they have come to expect from Comodo."

Igor Seletskiy will stay in his capacity as technical director of Positive Software Corporation.

VoIP Howto

Voice Over IP is a new communication means that let you telephone with Internet at almost null cost. How this is possible, what systems are used, what is the standard, all that is covered by this Howto.

DENIC Submits Bid for Management of .net Top Level Domain

Proven Technical Services, a Sound and Transparent Business Model, and a Commitment to the Needs of the International Internet Community Make DENIC a Strong Contender. nicollette sheridan

Proven technical services, a strong orientation toward the needs of the international Internet community, and a business model that invests surplus profits in infrastructure improvement: these are the foundational concepts of the proposal submitted to ICANN today by DENIC eG in the bidding race for the management of the .net Top Level Domain (TLD).angelina jolie

DENIC, the German domain registry that currently manages more than eight million .de domains, holds a strong and unique position to win the bid for .net. "In addition to our proven and highly regarded technical and operational capabilities -- which have been consistently and reliably delivered over the past ten years without a single breakdown -- the fact that we are a European registry is an advantage," said DENIC Executive Board member Sabine Dolderer. "All of the current operators of generic TLDs are located in North America, and many members of the international Internet community are calling for an expanded international presence in domain management." Further, DENIC's not-for-profit status, which allows it to steer clear of potential commercial conflicts of interest and also to reinvest profits back into the infrastructure, makes it attractive as a new operator.Martin Luther King, Jr

ReadBrad Pitt

C I Host's Faulkner Discusses Internet Explorer Flaw

Experts have classified the flaw found in Internet Explorer "extremely critical," the highest rating given.

What: Experts have classified the flaw found in Internet Explorer "extremely critical," the highest rating given. The malicious code enables hackers to place and execute programs, unknown to the user, and doesn't require user interaction. Users are vulnerable by simply visiting a site.

Who: Industry expert Christopher Faulkner is prepared to discuss the Explorer flaw, security measures, what users should be aware of and how they can protect themselves. Faulkner is CEO and founder of C I Host, the largest privately held Web hosting firm, serving 215,000 clients in 190 countries.

Where: C I Host is centrally located and accessible to both coasts via the DFW Airport, just a few miles away. Faulkner is available for in-studio interviews given advance notice.

When: January 13, 2005. C I Host is on Central time, but Faulkner is prepared to work around the schedules of media producers, assignments editors and writers.

www.cihost.com (we are sorry for Tsunami victims.)

New optical disk offers huge storage

A Japanese electronics giant has developed an optical disk with a storage capacity of up to 510 gigabytes - or just more than half a terabyte.

With its huge storage capacity, Pioneer's 12cm thick silver platter will store the amount of data that would require 100 typical DVDs today. An ultraviolet laser will be used to write to the disk.

In order to attain such storage capacity, scientists had to develop a new laser technology, which emits shorter wavelengths raised than blue lasers, the type used today for the highest-capacity optical disks.

The new ultraviolet laser beam allows "data holes," which are used to store data on optical disks, to be separated by only 70 nanometres, about 20 times better than with blue lasers.

While such a high storage capacity sounds impressive today, it may leave users still wanting more when they find out that such a disk can only hold about 3.5 hours of high-definition television programming.

It is not yet clear when the new high-capacity disks, or the technology necessary to write to them, will be in stores.

Google Worm Defaces Web Sites

Kaspersky Labs, a Russian company that develops security software, said on Tuesday that it had discovered Net-Worm.Perl.Santy.a, a new worm that uses the Google search engine to find vulnerable systems, reports say.

The worm reportedly queries Google for Web sites running vulnerable versions of phpBB, a software for creating Internet forums using the PHP scripting language. It then connects to those sites and exploits a vulnerability to access the server running the bulletin board software. The worm, according to reports, then overwrites .htm, .php, .asp, .shtm, .jsp, and .phtm files with text that reads: "This site is defaced!!! This site is defaced!!! NeverEverNoSanity WebWorm generation."

Netcraft reported this week that the vulnerability in php can be used to steal database passwords. Recently, the PHP Group released fixes for versions 4.3.10 and 5.0.3 of PHP, closing vulnerabilities in the scripting language.

According to reports, Google did not comment on the issue.

OrderBox Available in 8 Languages

LogicBoxes (logicboxes.com), a software development and consulting company for domain registrars and Web hosting companies, announced on Wednesday that it has launched eight new language packs for OrderBox 4.2, its flagship domain registrar automation solution.

The eight languages are German, English, Spanish, Turkish, Russian, Dutch, Bulgarian, Belarusian and Indonesian. The company said 25 other language packs are currently in development.

"Given that over 48 percent of the Internet users are non-English speakers, offering any Web-based interface that caters to a global audience in multiple languages is a must," says Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of LogicBoxes. "As OrderBox operates a diverse set of Registrars across various countries, it is essential for us to cater to the language needs of these local markets."

LogixBoxes has a translation program in which registrars and resellers can volunteer to participate.