Do you know how to register a domain, sort of your own dot com (and other TLDs too)? It's pretty easy actually, provided that you have your own credit card or other online currency accounts such as PayPal, Moneybookers, etc. Registering a domain with a domain registrar is as easy as signing up for a free email account. Of course, you also have to have money in your online currency accounts before you can purchase and register domain names under your name.

It is essential to choose good domain registrars, you don't want to have trouble registering, renewing or transferring your domains later on. Some good domain registrars are GoDaddy, NameCheap, Domain.com and Name.com. You might want to google them, read up on them and check their reputations before dealing with them.

Well actually Name.com is not that famous. However I have been using them for a few months, I have registered 3 domains with them and their support so far has been excellent. So I can personally testify to the excellence of their service, experienced or newbie webmasters alike should really try them out.

Why do I recommend them so much?

I'm glad you asked. There are a few reasons actually, I will present them in point form, it will be easier to read that way:

1. Affordable price. The new domain registration on Name.com is one of the most affordable, even without any discount coupons. For a new dot com, the fee is only $5.99, subsequent renewals are $9.99 per year per domain, which is pretty standard among all domain registrars. Now, try to beat this price!
2. Domain registration comes with free WHOIS protection. Some webmasters need to protect their personal information with WHOIS protection, otherwise anyone on the internet can easily find out his or her home address. WHOIS protection can easily cost up to a few dollars each year with other domain registrars, while some offer it for free for 1 year. Name.com actually offers WHOIS protection for free every year (please correct me, I might be wrong here...)
3. Free Google Apps. Google apps are provided for free for new domain registration on Name.com. A total of 6GB email space is given in this package together with other useful tools such as organiser, web space, calendar, etc. If you do not have a web hosting, but still wish to have a personalized email, something like name@familyname.com, you could easily have that by registering a domain with Name.com, only $5.99 for the first year and $9.99 for the subsequent years! Up to 200 email addresses (each 300MB) can be created for each domain name.
4. They have excellent support team. I have emailed them multiple times, not because their service is unstable or anything, I just needed some guides to configure the name servers and DNS settings. Each time I emailed the support, they would reply back to me within 12 hours maximum, I did not really keep track of the time they took to reply, it was an estimation but I am really impressed with their support team. Moreover, they do not simply point me to more help files when I ask them questions, they actually read through my questions and advised me the best solutions available. Kudos to Name.com's support!
   

Well, that's about all I could say about Name.com. Note that I am not affiliated with them in any way, I am just one of their customers, a very satisfied one.

If you have $5.99 to spare and wish to register a domain now, why don't you try them out? If you are unsatisfied with their services, you can easily transfer your domain name over to other domain registrars, but I bet you, you won't be unsatisfied :)

Would you like to be a part of history? Would you like to help set a Guinness world record of the most downloaded software in 24 hours' time?

I am already part of the history in making, there are nearly 5,000,000 million completed downloads as I am writing this post.

Mozilla Firefox is the world's most popular browser and Firefox 3 final is the latest version just recently available for download. The new version has many new features, various add-ons, improved security and productivity.

In appreciation of users' participation in the download day mission, users can download their own personalized Firefox 3 Download Day certificates, like the one above. How long has it been since the last time you were awarded with a certificate? Now, you can be a part of history, you can download the certificate, leave it to rot (together with your harddisk), or you can print it and even frame it!

However, before you start installing Firefox 3, be warned that older versions of add-ons, extensions and integration modules from other softwares may not be 100% compatible with it. I have several add-ons which are not compatible with Firefox 3 and also my download manager integration module is also disabled due to incompatibility issue. There are also some minor changes with Firefox as a whole (big ugly icons in the address bar, bigger browsing area, etc), which might take some time for us to adapt to.

So, my advice, if you are highly dependent on Firefox add-ons and enjoying your surfing experience with older versions of Firefox right now, you should proceed to download Firefox 3 (just to help set the world record!) and only install it when you are sure that the add-ons and integration modules have updated versions as well which are compatible with Firefox 3.

Have a happy day downloading and (not) using Firefox 3!

Now I am not an experienced webmaster or blogger. I have only been blogging for like 6 months. In my quest to have my own domain and hosting, I have read many reviews, recommendations and advices regarding choice of web hosts and features to look out for. I shall offer my thoughts about shared hosting here.

If you are looking to get your first domain and hosting, I recommend that you buy a shared hosting. The prices of shared hosting may range from a few dollars to over $100 per year. You will want to choose a company with good reputations, I can easily name more than 5 hosting companies which you can trust the fate of your websites to: Hostgator, DreamHost, LunarHosting, HostMonster, IXWebHosting and BlueHost.

There are many things to consider before getting a hosting account, such as:

• how many domains are allowed (usually 1 main domain, several add-on domains)
• stability of the host (all hosts I mentioned above have close to 99.9% uptime, I think)
• bandwidth (different people may have different needs, depends also on type of sites)
• support (most top hosts now have live chat support, phone support, support ticketing sytem)

So far I only have experience with normal website hosting, I think most hosting companies would offer separate package for other types of hosting such as file hosting, image hosting, proxy hosting, etc. As for normal website hosting, the features that you should expect to have on a shared hosting account are:

• cPanel (most popular control panel for hosting account)
  
• PHP
• MySQL
• Fantastico
• Stats
  

I have personally purchased a shared hosting account from Hostgator. It is not the most affordable hosts around, but it has received many positive reviews in recent months. I can testify to its promise of 99.9% uptime and good support (there is a live chat support available). I have not tried other hosting companies but I have read enough reviews about them that I am confident to list them as my personal top 10 choice of web hostings.

Finally, if you can afford it, do seriously consider the hostings which I have mentioned above. Paying slightly more to ensure the stability of your sites is a good investment. I will also let you in on a secret, I mentioned those hosting companies not only because their prices are affordable, their hostings are stable and their supports are excellent. I mentioned them because they leave an impression on me, some of them have great sign-up offers to attract customers such as free domain, free advertising credits (Google AdWord and others), free setup and other free gifts. So, shop wisely, take your time to evaluate your options, ask for advices from more experienced folks and select the best shared hosting package for yourself. Good luck buying your own hosting :)

Fancy another freebie eh people? Yes, there is indeed another giveaway and this time it is a free ebook called "Get Started Blogging".

Unfortunately, this ebook is not written by me, as much as I would like to claim so. This ebook is written by Germz, you can actually get it free by subscribing to his newsletter.

I have actually read through his ebook, it is good, there is solid information in it and is definitely useful for bloggers who are just starting out.

A big part of the ebook concentrates on the Wordpress blogging platform which is widely used by blogs all around the world. However this book includes other general blogging topics as well, which are:

• niche (what it is, on choosing a niche)
• obtaining a blog (what it is, Blogger and WordPress)
• installing Wordpress (with screenshots)
  
• optimizing your blog (plugins, themes, SEO)
• content of your blog (different kinds of content)
  
• monetizing your blog (affiliate marketing, private ad sales)
  
• advertising your blog (sort of marketing your site)
  

Are you interested in the ebook? You should get it now, there is nothing to lose, it is free after all! OK, I know not every free thing is good, but this ebook is definitely worth getting, you can check other people's testimonials to the ebook before downloading it.

Free things are just great, aren't they? Free ebook with useful information is even better. I figure I should also write a few ebooks, but I may give them away for free like Germz, or I may decide to sell them. What do you think? Should I write ebooks? If you were given the chance to choose the subject of an ebook to be written, what subject would you like it to be?

The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks and Techniques is available for download for free on SitePoint. The book is originally sold for $29.95 and is not one of those hastily assembled sub-standard ebooks on the internet.

Authored by Corrie Haffly, this book is intended for web designers and anyone who wishes to acquire a passing knowledge about graphic manipulations. I have not gone through the book yet, but looking at its Table of Contents, it is quite a good book for learning Photoshop and other graphic manipulation programs (most programs have similar features and functionality).

If you have tried to learn Photoshop on your own to no avail and are reluctant to fork out money upfront to buy a proper book, then consider getting this free book which is available for download as a PDF file. You would need a PDF reader to view the book, you can use yet another freebie, the Foxit Reader to view PDF files. Even for those who are already quite familiar with Photoshop, you might still learn a thing or two from this book, or you could just keep it on your hard-drive for future reference or pass it along to interested friends or relatives (you are probably not allowed to distribute it online as a free download though, do check with SitePoint or the author regarding your distribution rights).

You will do well to quickly download the book now because the free offer does not last forever, this giveaway only lasts for 7 more days (ending June 13th, 2008). Get it now!