Commodore64
Front-end Web Dev by trade, tinkerer by nature. I have a passion for HTML and CSS, and most of all bridging the gap between computer and human.
Homepage: http://www.doodlerblog.com
Posts by Commodore64
Ask The Admin Reviews: Host Gator
Feb 5th
Hey Kiddies, Commodore 64 here to bring another tidbit of good advice from all of us to all of you. Along with this tasty piece of techie goodness is a brief admin-ography of the history of AskTheAdmin.com. We’ve come a long way folks, and we think we’ve finally found the true nexus point of our platform needs.
HostGator!
If you’ve been following us throughout the years, you’ve probably experienced the growing pains we’ve had moving from platform to platform, host to host. Our humble beginnings on Blogger dealing with all the limitations and WYSIWYG inconsistencies, then our HUGE fiasco getting our posts, media, and comments migrated, exported, and sometimes even re-written from scratch and re-imported one by tedious one.
Following the imports to our now defunct web host, Bansal-Inc, we were plagued with outages, server errors, php errors, unexpected reboots, files disappearing (wtf?) and older versions re-appearing (seriously now, WTFluck). It was like something out of The Twilight Zone with the title of “Ghost in the Machine.” It was utter chaos.
On top of all the server-side issues, I’d like to spend a minute to mention how far WordPress has come as a platform as well as an all around user experience from front to back.
Back then, around version 2.5 or 2.6, the WYSIWYG was HORRIBLE. Having already spent many years in the field of front-end web development, the amount of “code rewriting” and “automatic formatting” that went on was horrible. Mixed into that was the advent of Windows Livewriter, which in my opinion, was too good of an editing tool to be justifiably paired with a crappy, built-in, wordpress wysiwyg from back then.
Essentially what would end up happening is that in a writers role, it wasn’t half bad. You said your peace, did a little formatting and published. But from an editor’s perspective – re-opening a post and simply switching from HTML view to Visual view would change the code drastically: replacing massive amounts of tags and flucking up all bullet points and various other elements. Aside from editing issues, plugins we were utilizing were crashing the site here and there. I remember there being a lot of fear associated with running a well-trafficked site in our situation, as it was.
Reaching out to tech support, especially when it’s overseas, was painful at best. Response times, even when they were responding, took days sometimes. We ended having to fish through our emails and find the email address of the company owner. It was only then we could get something done.
Just when we thought our problems were over… the company got sold to a web hosting service then called Inspirit Networks. We had a decent run with Inspirit. At first they were eager to please. But as time went on (we’re talking months, not years) the servers and support’s response times were getting worse and more unresponsive with each passing week. Ultimately we suffered major outages for days at a time which also seemed to strangely roll back our files to older versions. This was the last straw.
After major shopping around and considerations we decided on HostGator. The reviews were all good, and after testing their US based voice support lines, as well as chat lines we were thoroughly impressed.
Enter HostGator…
So far I’ve been personally using them for about a year now with no issues, and so far %100 uptime. Utilizing a free service called aremysitesup.com, I’ve been able to see that we have had NO DOWNTIME. The cpanel has all the options I’ve ever needed or wanted in a LAMP hosting account. We are currently running 8 different well trafficked blogs on one hosting account and see no slowdown and no issues. Truthfully, I’ve never been accustomed to being this fear-free and comfortable with my web server.
These days we can spend our time concentrating on publishing quality content rather than keeping our sites running and healthy.
Edit: We now have our own coupon discount code at Gator, which means we can pass along a savings of $9.94 off of your initial purchase with Gatorhost.
Use discount code “asktheadmin” to get your discount today!
This is commodore64 signing off.
Let us know what your web hosting experiences were in the comments below…
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Be Afraid! Chinese Hackers CAN and HAVE Exploited Google and YOU.
Feb 3rd
Chinese Hackers
Hello Kiddies,
Do you remember the good old days when hacking was done for fun? Back in those days anybody that knew Linux or Unix was considered a Hacker. One would think that since then, antivirus companies would have actually become effective. But what one company can compete with a whole country? To make matters worse, who can compete with multiple countries full of young hot heads venturing forth for the almighty dollar? That’s a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Since a hacker doesn’t technically require a whole lot of bandwidth to do what he/she does, internet access of any kind
Here at Ask The Admin we are committed to being sure every one of our readers is in the know. And while we cant really offer much in the way of a sure-fire killer app that can protect you from anything, we can offer you these few points of advice.
- Keep your antivirus software up to date
- Use a well known anti virus software, and do some research before purchasing
- Be well versed with all the functions of your antivirus software, so no surprises come your way
- Though it does slow you down, schedule full system scans as frequently as daily
- Leave your computer turned off if you can
- Lastly, try to use an OS other than Wind Blows (as we like to call Windows around here). If your a hacker its only more logical and profitable to target the statistically dominant OS, which is Microsoft’s unfortunately.
That’s all for today kiddies…
Has you or anyone you know been directly affected by this? Even if your just afraid and need a little encouragement, drop us a comment below.
This is Commodore64 signing off. Over and out.
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I-Pad disappoints and Asus Intrigues
Jan 29th
Apple's New I-pad Disappoints
With the release of Apple’s shiny new I-Pad many enthusiasts were left wondering “What’s it for?”
This inherent identity crisis on the part of Apple’s new toy might or might not break it, since the price point resembles that of the original I-Phone. We all know how that turned out…
It doesn’t quite measure up to other tablets in any major arena : processing power, hardware, upgradability, versatility, and the list goes on.
I can imagine the disappointment to be largely due to Apple’s strong history of unveiling devices that re-pave the way for particular gadgets we’ve all used and loved – the cellphone and the MP3 player.
The question here is “What is being innovated?”.
I’m not sure even Mr. Jobs completely understands the specific direction for this device
Asus will debut their new EEE Tablet PCImage courtesy: www.techticker.com
Enter Asus. Another example of a company that has positioned itself to be known for innovation, minification, and basically answering the call of the wild market. I’m sure this device will be everything the I-Pad is not, and because of the price point set forth by Apple, I’m positive this little gadget, once polished, will be just as affordable.
I for one, will definitely be in line to pick up one of these tablets.
Let us know which device you think will accomplish what the Apple didn’t. And to be fair, let us know what the I-PPad does actually accomplish, or what need you think this pretty gadget fills – In The comments!
Thanks for tuning in kiddies,
This is Commodore 64 signing out-
Commodore64 (The one you used to play Bruce Lee on)
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Commodore 64′s Funny Comic of the Month
Aug 1st
Seriously funny comic, courtesy http://www.jeffpalm.com
-enjoy
C64 ,8,1
Ask The Admin’s knock-out Father’s Day deal you just can’t miss!
Jun 5th
Hey kiddies,
Commodore 64 back again to bring you another absolutely INSANE deal of a bargain. Over the years, Ask The Admin has striven to bring you , our faithful readers, only the best in tech wheels and deals.
In recent months we have seen the emergence of the almighty Netbook. We’ve also been lucky enough to see the inevitable forces of Moore’s Law take their hold on the Netbook world and gave us some prices that are awesomely affordable. However, at Ask The Admin, we have access to some Moore’s Law action that is still pretty unreachable to most people. Moore’s Law states that as time goes by, computers, and their respective components, get stronger, faster and cheaper. We’ve taken it upon ourselves to make it our mission to take advantage of this trending and bring the savings straight to you.
Enter the Pearl White Asus EEE 900 Netbook PC. This ultra-portable little bad-boy touts a 8.9″ 1024×600 display, a 16GB SSD solid state drive, 1GB of RAM, a built-in 1.3MP web camera, and Windows XP Home pre-installed. It has everything you need to make all the connections you need to make while on the go. And it’s ultra-light, thin profile will make it a cinch to carry around. Best of all this exclusive, ATA only deal gets you FREE Shipping and $150 off the sticker price of $349 = you only pay $199! Click here to get in on this EXCLUSIVE Buy.com offer brought to you by AskTheAdmin.com.
Commodore 64 – The one you used to play Bruce Lee on ,8,1
AskTheAdmin’s Last-Minute Father’s Day Deals of the Month
May 22nd
Hey there Kiddies!
Commodore64 back again to bring you the best deals we’ve found by tirelessly scouring the web for the best savings around. Father’s Day is around the corner, and time is running out to get dad that perfect gift. It’s no surprise that we get the best deals around because we have access to some of the best coupons and savings links around. We’ve picked the best of the best, and rounded them up for you right here. Check them out:
This little monster in a box packs quite a punch! It sports an Intel Dual Core T2400 @ 1.83Ghz. On top of that there’s plenty of Hard Drive space with it’s 60Gb 7200 rpm internal drive. And the graphics are brilliant with it’s 14.1 inch display which rocks a Radeon X1400 128Mb Graphics Array. You can grab this awesome little machine for 50% OFF the retail price of $1000. That’s right, just $499 for this awesome machine.
Click here to grab it while it’s still available!
This awesome little memory keychain hold a whopping 4GB in its new, low-profile Generation 2 design. Originally costing $65, we get the best deals here at AskTheAdmin, so now you can grab it for 34% off the retail price for just $41.95! Click here to grab it!
This gorgeous, Piano Black Plasma TV is a whopping 42″ Wide Screen and supports up to 720p HDTV. The awesome technology built into this puppy allows for a 100,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio! This Beautiful flat screen TV retails for $1000, but we would never let our readers pay retail… Click this link to get over $300 off and grab this TV for $698 + FREE Budget Shipping! That’s insane!
These are some awesome deals that are just too good not to share with our lucky readers. Enjoy!
Commodore64 (The one you used to play Bruce Lee on ,8,1)
