Virtual Hosting or VPS --- that is the question

We're doing web hosting through HostGator, which moves the hassle of managing the server to someone else, but I'm wondering if we might get more bang for our buck by going with a VPS instead.  This way I can setup and configure the server as I want, with any OS I want, and have more control.  Granted it moves the security management to me, but I don't think that'll be a huge deal.

Below are some VPS services I'm checking out:
ARP Networking - http://www.arpnetworks.com/vps
Linode - http://www.linode.com/
BlueMile - http://bluemilecloud.com/hosting/xen-vps-servers/
HostGator - http://www.hostgator.com/vps-hosting/
ChunkHost - http://chunkhost.com/
Site Valley - http://www.sitevalley.com/vps-hosting/
MyHosting - http://myhosting.com/virtual-server-hosting/
LunarPages - http://www.lunarpages.com/vpsorder/

The iMac has arrived!

I've been checking the FedEx tracking number all day and finally right when I was about to head back to work from lunch I saw the iMac had been delivered to the FedEx store.  I picked it up, headed to work, and me and two co-workers played with it for about an hour.

Quite simply...  It's beautiful! 

DroidX Getting Ginerbread End of This Week

UnwiredReview.com announced today that DroidX will get Gingerbread, or Android OS 3.1, on May 13th which is four days away.  From the Android Developer site it looks like there are some nice improvements to the UI along with functionality with Gingerbread, so I'm anxious to see how it plays on my DroidX.

So May 13th should be a fun day on our home front with the new iMac plus the Android Update.

Microsoft to buy Skype? I didn't see that coming

Wow, what news.  I'm a huge fan of Skype, but the thought of it being under Microsoft is indeed scary.  Microsoft says they'll continue to maintain the non-MS platforms, but I'll keep my fingers crossed they stay true to that since we only run OSX and Linux at home.

More Info:
Microsoft Press Release
Ballmer's Letter to Employees

Building CMS from the ground up

I've been looking at using WordPress when doing freelance web work, but honestly I'm looking more and more at just rolling our own CMS.  Doing this will allow us to better theme it plus I can integrate new content into a custom framework MUCH simpler then trying to learn the in's and out's of WordPress, Joomla, or other canned content management systems.

While at Hillcrest I built a from scratch CMS using ColdFusion around 2001, and it was used until about two years ago when they outsourced the site where the outsource company moved it to Joomla.  So with this plus working with WordPress and Joomla I'm confident I can build a pretty good CMS that meets our needs, but it'll take some time to build since I plan on taking full advantage of OOP and PHP for the framework plus jQuery and jQuery UI for the aesthetics and CKEditor for the actual page editing.

May 13th... I'm counting the days

I got confirmation from Apple this weekend that our iMac has shipped, and according to FedEx we should get it on May 13th.  NICE!

So five more days... 

FTW! Just ordered a 27" iMac for the house!

The new line of iMacs were released today, and since Flip and I have been looking at getting a desktop system for the house we decided to splurge some of our income tax return on an iMac.  Well it's done... I just clicked Submit on this baby:

27-inch iMac

• Ships: 2 - 4 Business days
• Delivers: May 11 - May 13 by Standard Shipping
• Part number: Z0M6

Configuration

• 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
• 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
• 1TB Serial ATA Drive
• AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB GDDR5

• Magic Trackpad
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
• Apple Remote
• Accessory Kit

I really debated between the 21.5" with a Core i7 or a 27" with a Core i5, but honestly I think I'll use the screen real estate more than I'll use the extra seconds of processing time.  Most benchmark comparisons between the i5 and i7 weren't huge.  Yes, an i7 can rip a DVD and render video maybe 5% faster, but having that massive screen I think will be more beneficial given I'll probably be using it more with XCode, Eclipse, and NetBeans plus using the standards like iTunes, iPhoto, etc. 

So I'm pretty excited...  New Toy!

Buying an iMac soon... Yay!

For years Flip and I have used laptops as our primary systems, hers a Mac and mine Linux, but we've been talking more and more lately about getting a desktop computer.  So we're checking out the iMacs.  I was about ready to pull the trigger on my order when one of Flip's co-workers suggested we hold off until next week when hopefully the new line if iMacs will be released which I confirmed on a few Mac rumor websites.

But for the time being here's what I have spec'ed out:

• iMac 27"
• 3.20GHz Intel Core i3
• 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
• 1TB Serial ATA Drive
• ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
• Magic Mouse + Magic Trackpad
• AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll

This comes to $1922 and probably in a few months I'll add 8 Gigs of Ram from Newegg for $90 (Apple wants $180 to add 4 Gigs) plus I'd like to add one if not two external 1TB drives for about $70 each also from Newegg (Apple wants $180 to add another 1TB of drive space).  I am sticking with the stock Core i3 processor but I'm upgrading the Video card from 512 Megs to 1Gig.

All and all this looks like a sweet system, so I'm curious to see what they change next week.  They're talking about adding Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge, but I'm not sure I'll get much out of either of those but it'll be nice to have I guess.

Wordpress, How I Love Thee...

I've been working more with WordPress and learning how to create Plugins and Widgets, and the more I use it the more I'm lovin' it!  I've used WordPress for a number of years, but nothing beyond the basic canned options and themes.  We're working on a site that needs some heavy customization, and I'm finding the customization options in WP to be most excellent!