Geek Day Deserves a Geeky Deal!

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Jake Neeley

Did you know the uber-intelligent race from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy used a VPS.NET cloud server to build their computer, called Deep Thought, to find the answer to life!? Ok, that’s not really true; but if it was, I suppose we’d know the actual question that lead to Deep Thought’s answer of 42.

Regardless of how they did or didn’t build their computer, we’re still seeking the question that will lead us to understand the meaning of life, the universe; everything… this time, however, let’s band together and create a VPS.NET powered Deep Thought!

… or we could just party for GEEK DAY!

As you might assume, there is a whole lotta GEEK between the chair and the keyboard of VPS.NET desks so, to celebrate geekiness throughout the world and to further its domination, we’re giving a $42 credit on any new cloud purchase now through Monday.

Use the code GEEKDAY and, thanks to our geeks, you’ll have an extra $42 credit after you get started to use on next month’s renewal or new services.

Let’s stop reading, get our towels, watch a little Star Wars, and find the question to life.

Geek on.

Spotlight: The Aims and Objectives of the Fedora Linux Design Team

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Tim

The Fedora Project is one of the best-known partnerships in the world of free software. Sponsored by Red Hat, the Fedora Project is made up from members of the global free software community. Various teams are involved in the Fedora Project, with each team tackling a specific area. The Fedora Design Team is a partnership of volunteers who use their art and design skills to develop graphics and designs for the Fedora Project. The Fedora Design Team is also involved in free software advocacy and the promotion of the Fedora Project worldwide.

The Fedora Design Team: Mission and Core Activities

The Fedora Design Team's main role within the broader Fedora Project community is to function as an in-house design firm. The team support the free open source software (FOSS) ethos by delivering tutorials, graphics, guidance and other art assets, as well as by encouraging and promoting the use of FOSS tools for design. A crucial part of the team's mission is to use their work as a showcase for quality FOSS packages.

The team are also actively involved in finding ways to attract and support people from outside the Fedora Project who wish to contribute creative materials. The team sets targets - for example, they might aim to attract one new 'creative contributor' every three months.

Services and Solutions

The Fedora Design Team delivers a range of services to the Fedora Project. These include:

- Documentation Illustration: the design team facilitates FOSS adoption by providing visual aids for use in documentation.

-Web Graphic Design (Interaction Design): interactive graphical solutions to enhance the Fedora Project's online presence

- Marketing Collateral Design: this includes designs for stickers, buttons, CD or DVD labels, T-shirt designs, etc.

- 'Hackergotchi': a play on Tamagotchi, this refers to stylized portraits that the team produce for use as author avatars.

Sub-Teams

The Fedora Design Team is further grouped into sub-teams. These include:

- Wallpaper Wranglers: this team designs desktop wallpaper for various platforms, focusing on FOSS and Fedora Project-related themes.

- Events Ninjas: This team is tasked with handling design requests and organizing the development of designs for Fedora events.

Examples

Physical examples of the Fedora Design Team's work include various T-shirt designs, either expressing general FOSS principles or themed around a specific event. Another example would be the quirky 'desk flags' introduced in 2010; these fabric banners advertised the presence of a Fedora Project member with eye-catching logos.

Open Source Mailing Lists – Why You Should Sign Up

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Tim

If you've got a website, an application or a server doing just about anything, chances are you're running some open source software on it, be it a web server like Apache, or an MTA like Courier.

You've been told that these pieces of crucial software are open source and have community support, and community driven development. You look around for this 'community' and find some really old, poorly designed websites, documentation that hasn't been touched in years, and 'news' posts that don't have a lick of CSS used.
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Re-imagining Fiber Optics With Orbital Angular Momentum Chips and Laser Beams!

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Tim

Developed by researchers in China and the United Kingdom, a new type of microchip has the ability to send out laser beams. These beams have the unusual property of Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), or orbital angular momentum. The new chips have implications for the future of optical communications technology.
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Refer a Friend & Save at VPS.NET

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Terry Myers

Today we’re announcing our all new refer a friend special. Starting today share your coupon code with a friend, and you’ll receive $40 in free service credits, which can be used towards any of our services. Best of all, your friends will benefit too, as they’ll also receive $40! Together we’re giving away $80 in total service credits.

There is some fine print – first, we’ve capped the number of referrals at 5 for the month of May. Additionally, to prevent abuse, the credits will be applied 70 days after the signup date. Both accounts must remain active for the full 70-day period.

Not sure where to start? We’ve written a pre-written tweet for you, with your client ID in the control panel at http://control.vps.net/.

Take me to the Cloud, Scotty!

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Terry Myers

Our office has been buzzing with excitement about Star Trek Into the Darkness premiering this Thursday. I'm pretty certain that there are even a few employees who have already bought their tickets to make it to the premier showing. We wanted to have fun with our customers for the movie, so what better way than to make it part of our Social Media Monday contest? It's time to embrace your inner Spock, and take your favorite Star Trek quote and turn it into something VPS.NET or Cloud Related. Internally we've come up with, "Take me to the Cloud, Scotty!"

To enter the contest just direct a tweet to @vpsnet or respond to our Facebook status update with your quote, and we'll pick our 5 favorites. The contest will end Thursday May 16th at 11:59 PM EDT.

The first place winner will receive a Star Wars Enterprise Plush Toy & a Mini Star Trek Phaser gun. We'll be giving the runner ups a Mini Star Trek Phaser gun and a Star Trek Enterprise Mug. Cool, right?

Get those tweets and status updates in!

PHP Built In Web Server [Developer Tips]

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Tim

If you're a web developer and deal with any type of server side platform like PHP, you know the amount of overhead that goes into just getting your code to run, let alone develop. In the past with PHP, you'd have to install a web server, set up some sort of virtual hosts, add a new DNS entry for each project and make sure the web server had some way to transfer and receive data from the PHP interpreter. Only then would you be able to actually run your code in a browser. Well, those days are over.
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Top 5 Benefits of Using a Gentoo Linux Operating System

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Tim

Do you get adrenaline rush by just being on the bleeding edge of programming or computing? Is your dream computer experience filled with images of you customizing every aspect of your operating system? If so, Gentoo Linux operating system is the ideal distribution for you.

Gentoo Linux is a free and open source operating system that allows the user to compile the source code depending on the selected configurations. This feature greatly improves overall system efficiency since the computer is not overburdened with unnecessary programs, and executable programs are optimized to suit the user's exact needs. However, because of the long hours needed to compile the source codes, this operating system is not suited for programming greenhorns.
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Prevent Slowdowns on your WordPress Site

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Tim

Bloggers, both novice and advanced, usually use one blogging platform or another to make their website work efficiently. Among the many blogging platforms is WordPress, an impressive blogging platform with over 40 million posts a month, one that is used around the world, with support in over 120 languages. Just a few of the major players using WordPress as their preferred blogging platform are: UPS, CNN, CBS Radio, TechCrunch, NBC Sports and TED.
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