#google server hosting costs

[best-develpoment-company]

Unraveling the Power of Managed Cloud Server Hosting: A Step-by-Step Guide?

In today's digital era, businesses are increasingly turning to "cloud server management solutions" to enhance efficiency, scalability, and security. One of the most sought-after options in this realm is fully managed cloud server hosting. This comprehensive guide will take you through the ins and outs of managed cloud server hosting, providing a step-by-step understanding of its benefits, implementation, and best practices.

Understanding Managed Cloud Server Hosting Managed cloud server hosting refers to the outsourcing of server management tasks to a third-party service provider. This includes server setup, configuration, maintenance, security, updates, and troubleshooting. By "opting for managed cloud hosting", businesses can focus on their core activities while leaving the technical aspects to experienced professionals.

Benefits of Managed Cloud Server Hosting Enhanced Security: Managed cloud server hosting offers robust security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, data encryption, and regular security audits to protect sensitive data and applications.

Scalability: With managed cloud hosting, businesses can easily scale their resources up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency.

Cost Savings: By outsourcing server management, businesses can save costs on hiring dedicated IT staff, infrastructure maintenance, and upgrades.

24/7 Monitoring and Support: Managed cloud hosting providers offer round-the-clock monitoring and support, ensuring quick resolution of issues and minimal downtime.

Step-by-Step Implementation of Managed Cloud Server Hosting

Step 1: Assess Your Hosting Needs Determine your storage, processing power, bandwidth, and security requirements. Identify the type of applications (e.g., web hosting, databases, e-commerce) you'll be hosting on the cloud server.

Step 2: Choose a Managed Cloud Hosting Provider Research and compare different managed cloud hosting providers based on their offerings, pricing, reputation, and customer reviews. Consider factors such as server uptime guarantees, security protocols, scalability options, and support services.

Step 3: Select the Right Cloud Server Configuration Choose the appropriate cloud server configuration (e.g., CPU cores, RAM, storage) based on your hosting needs and budget. Opt for features like automatic backups, disaster recovery, and SSL certificates for enhanced security and reliability.

Step 4: Server Setup and Configuration Work with your "managed cloud hosting provider" to set up and configure your cloud server according to your specifications. Ensure that all necessary software, applications, and security protocols are installed and activated.

Step 5: Data Migration and Deployment If migrating from an existing hosting environment, plan and execute a seamless data migration to the "managed cloud server". Test the deployment to ensure that all applications and services are functioning correctly on the new cloud server.

Step 6: Ongoing Management and Optimization Regularly monitor server performance, security, and resource utilization to identify potential issues and optimize performance. Work closely with your "managed cloud hosting provider" to implement updates, patches, and security enhancements as needed.

Step 7: Backup and Disaster Recovery Planning Set up automated backups and disaster recovery mechanisms to protect data against hardware failures, cyber threats, and data loss incidents. Regularly test backup and recovery processes to ensure their effectiveness in real-world scenarios.

Best Practices for Managed Cloud Server Hosting Regular Security Audits: Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to identify and mitigate potential security risks. Performance Monitoring: Continuously monitor server performance metrics such as CPU usage, memory utilization, disk I/O, and network traffic to optimize resource allocation.

Backup and Restore Testing: Test backup and restore procedures periodically to ensure data integrity and recovery readiness. Compliance and Regulations: Stay compliant with industry regulations and data protection laws relevant to your business operations. Disaster Recovery Planning: Develop and implement a comprehensive disaster recovery plan with predefined procedures for data restoration and business continuity.

In conclusion, "managed cloud server hosting" offers a myriad of benefits for businesses seeking reliable, scalable, and secure hosting solutions. By following the step-by-step guide outlined above and adhering to best practices, businesses can leverage the power of "managed cloud hosting" to streamline operations, reduce costs, and drive business growth in the digital landscape.

[dedalvs]

Couple of advertise-y things. First, I've got a wiki where I and a group of volunteers document my various languages on a wiki that's designed to be like Wiktionary. So, for example, if you type in a form like sen, you get a page that has that word as it's used in every language I've ever created:

Then the entries themselves are kind of cool and have some info to read through:

Basically, it's Wiktionary, but only with languages I've created.

Anyway, it costs like $325 a year to keep running, because of its size (if it were smaller, it would be free, i.e. included with the hosting plan I was already paying for, but since it's so massive, I had to pay for a dedicated database just for the wiki). If you'd like to contribute a little bit to support keeping it up, I would appreciate it, but it's under no threat of being taken down at the moment. I plan to keep it up indefinitely. Mostly this is just to let you know that it's there. We had to disable web crawlers due to it overwhelming the server, so you can't google for it and find it. It's a cool resource, though, if you're interested in any of the languages I've done.

[bitternest]

/rubs eyes it's seven am who gets up at 7am

People who get dinged repeatedly about Tumblr shutting down apparently.

Christ on a bike. Okay, long post inbound. On Tumblr's fate, enshittification and navigating the post-web2.0 world.

So I've been meaning to make a post like this for a while now, but because tech is literally my job I... haven't.

First off, Tumblr isn't being shut down. It's being put on legacy support. Maybe one day it will be shut down, but Automattic seems to have the costs dialed in and don't seem to want to nuke it. Yay.

This day was always going to come for one simple reason - social media websites are fundamentally impossible to fund. The cost of that much image and video hosting and bandwidth is not scalable without passing that cost over to the user. In most cases, this is done by making the user the product. But this is non-sustainable. As Tumblr discovered, as Twitter is discovering and as Google Has Ordained, that social media will inevitably be censored and restricted at the whim of the people actually paying - advertisers. And then your users stop caring. Some sites get around this by also robbing you of your dopamine production as well as your privacy - i.e. getting you engaged with their Algorithm.

So, enough with the reasoning, what can you do about this. Well, you can try the next big thing. For many people, that's bluesky. I don't know about you, but I don't think highly of Twitter 2.0 - from the dude who couldn't make Twitter profitable the first time around. And to be clear, its sole goal is to be profitable. It's a corporation. That's... it's purpose. It's purpose is to extract wealth.

For me, the only two vaguely viable options are cohost and the fediverse. Cohost because haha palette-swapped Tumblr but also because the core ideas the founders had are neat and resonate with me.

And the fediverse because that's the only technologically viable way forward for what we've come to expect social networks to be. It is a network in the real sense, an interconnected sprawl of self-hosted servers that individuals or communities are responsible for and the best way to deal with the costs of social media - distributing them. Mastodon is the most famous service in this space, but there are others. Explaining the fediverse outside of "a network of social networks" is beyond the scope of this post and is a real issue with adoption because, no, it's not necessarily easy.

But now we get to the real crux of my post:

The resilient things aren't easy. If you want to build and participate in something lasting, you need to do some hard things. Sometimes that's learning what the fuck @bitternest@mastodon.me.world is supposed to mean. Sometimes it's learning how to read an RSS feed. For artists it can mean learning to set up your own website, with zero code and for free even! (sorry @varethane, i'll get the post up eventually) For tech people it means finding an IRC (what, you think Slack is gonna survive its own enshittification?).

Frequently, it's learning how to back up your posts. Because no matter the site, the day will come when hosting 20 billion jpegs overtakes the cash flow of shiny rainbow crabs.

It is a requirement of the post-web2.0 world that you become more tech-savvy. As we tire of corporate horseshit, we must become more capable of forging our own way. If you want to stay connected, you need to learn how to make and maintain those connections, both social and technological.

And to not end this post on a somber and self-important note, that mastodon id isn't me - I never joined because no server ever appealed to me. If anyone's got suggestions I'm listening. I'm bitternest on cohost as well. Mutuals can DM me for my Discord.

Miss me with those bluesky invites tho

[rohirric-hunter]

I made an @ellipsus-writes account yesterday and with one day under my belt here are my first impressions.

It's basically Google Docs, but without being associated with Google. You're able to edit documents from any device with a web browser, which is a lot more convenient than the WebDav server I'm currently using.

Things that are less than ideal:

There aren't a lot of customization options. You can switch between light and dark mode, but I would like to be able to set my document backgrounds to a color. Also it would be better if you could change your view layout. Right now it looks like this:

and I would prefer to have these documents in a list, rather than these big bubbles. The bubbles might be cool if you could change their color or add an image background to them, but as is they're just boring white and taking up a lot of space. I have only 12 documents in this folder and it's a bit silly that I can't see them all at once.

2. You might also notice that these documents appear to be in a completely random order. They're actually in the order I last edited them in. I prefer my documents to be in alphabetical order, and this is an option that exists, but a) when switching to this view it for some reason defaults to reverse alphabetical order and I then have to manually select regular alphabetical order, and b) this setting will not be remembered between sessions.

3. I can't seem to get rid of the, "Need help? Chat with us" popup at the bottom of the page. It takes up an annoying amount of space, and I wish it was collapsible.

Things that worry me:

Instead of having a password system, Ellipsus sends you an email link every time you go to log in. There's nothing wrong with doing it this way I guess, since you can access the link from the same device you're accessing the website from, but it kind of just smacks of being different for the sake of being different. Makes me worry about security. Not that I write anything worth stealing.

Instead of having a normal profile system, Ellipsus uses Gravatar, which is some "universal internet account" nonsense that I will absolutely not be using. This probably won't be a huge issue, though, as I don't really plan on using the collaboration tools, so I won't need to make a profile. I wish I could change my email address, though, as I accidentally used the wrong one to make the account. I might make a new account.

I don't understand how all this is being paid for. There are no ads, the account is free, but the hosting is all done by Ellipsus. While text does not take up a ton of space to host, it does take up some space, and that costs money. Are the creators doing it out of their own pockets? Do they have a donor? Will there be donation drives to support it later? Or will they adopt advertisements in the future or introduce a "premium" option where you can pay for additional features? The last one normally wouldn't worry me, but since it is currently so bare-bones I'm a bit antsy. What if you have to pay for the option to have your documents in alphabetical order by default?

Their advertising is. Vague. I put this off for a long time because looking around on their website there was a lot of talk about how you're a writer and super creative and also they'll never steal your data to train AIs, but it was really hard to find a place where it outright said what the product was. This concerns me because it makes me feel like the company has something to hide.

Good things:

It's a platform that does the same thing as Google Docs without actually being Google Docs. This is a powerful pro. I'll probably keep using it for now.

Oh yeah and they don't have an app. A few years ago this would have gone in the less-than-ideal section for me but these days with the way app stores are about user generated content it's probably best to avoid the whole thing. I followed their suggestion to set a link on my homescreen (through Firefox) and it works very well. I was worried it might be laggy (Tumblr was laggy when I used it through Firefox) but it's been very responsive. No server access if you're not connected to the internet, but if you have the document already open then you can keep typing into it and it will update when you reconnect. This is the same way I used Google Docs back in the day and perfectly serviceable in my opinion.

[dragonagefanevents]

What is a Zine?

"Zine" (zeen) is short for magazine, and they have a rich history both inside and outside of fandom. In fandom, they are most often magazines put together by groups of fan creators over the course of many months, and published publicly for free or for purchase.

Fandom zines create some of the most beautiful art and fic - and merchandise! - you can find about the series. By virtue of how they are run, copies of the zine and the extra merch that may go with it are rare and hard to find once the event is over, making them treasures.

If you want to learn more about fandom zines and how you can find them, or participate, read on below.

What kind of events are there?

Whether zines are small or large is simply limited by imagination. Technically, a zine could be little more than a hand-written pamphlet of collages from art and words that is photocopied and distributed en masse. Most often, fandom zines are digital PDFs of curated art and writing arranged by someone with semi-professional publishing/layout experience.

Zines can be digital (PDF only), digital with digital merchandise/extras (such as bookmarks or desktop backgrounds), or physical (printed softcover books, with or without physical merchandise such as bookmarks, enamel pins, stickers, keychains, etc).

Zines can be art-only, writing-only, or a combination of the two.

Zines can be collaborative, where each artist is paired with a writing contributor and they create related works. Or, zines can simply be curated collections, where artists and writers make works that are connected only by the overarching theme of the zine.

Zines can have broad or narrow themes, ranging from a single character, a single ship, a whole class of characters, a whole region, or an abstract concept. See the bottom of this post for examples.

Zines can be profitable, where artists and writers and mods get paid a cut of the money collected in zine sales. Zines are often for charity, where creators and mods are unpaid and all profit (barring printing costs, etc.) go to a chosen charity. Zines can be free and for no reason at all.

Zines may or may not have an (unofficial) connection to the creators of the IP the zine is a fandom for - this can range from a forward written by one of the IP writers, or a print copy signed by a voice actor, etc.

Zines are often NOT annual, but rather one-time events. New zines are organized all the time under different names.

Where are events hosted?

Zines are often advertised on twitter and tumblr.

Interest checks are often run through Google Forms.

Zine creation is often coordinated via Discord servers specifically created for the event.

Zines are often sold via BigCartel, gumroad, itch.io, or another of the (many, many) e-sale sites for this purpose.

What does participation in the event look like?

▸Interest Check

A zine profile (tumblr or twitter or both) will put out a google form for anyone to fill out. These will often inquire about:

the theme of the zine, sometimes with many options/focuses

the content (would you like to see art, prose, poetry)

the extras (what kind of merch/extra content would you be interested in, besides the magazine)

the format (digital vs physical)

the cost (how much would you be willing to pay for each format/bundle)

are you interested in being a contributor/buyer

▸ Moderator Applications

Can happen simultaneously with the interest check. Usually a zine is started by an individual or small group of individuals with gumption (or experience), but they often are looking for additional:

Social Media Mod(s)

Art (Organization) Mods

Writing (Organization) Mods

Graphics Mods

Printing/Shipping Mods

Merch Mods

Editor Mods

Treasurer Mods

The form and requirements of each moderator application vary greatly depending on the person organizing the event.

▸ Contributor Applications

In addition to contact information, contributors will be asked to provide examples of their previous works as a portfolio.

Sometimes creators will be asked to provide "prompts" or "pitches" - their ideas for what their contribution may be, very specifically.

Artists

⤷ Portfolios may be looking for google drive galleries, dedicated art blogs, dedicated social media account/thread/hashtag, etc.

⤷ In addition to a portfolio, may be asked to share a few specific, additional works, that highlight their strengths/interests and what they specifically will bring to the zine.

⤷ May be asked whether applying for cover art, page art, or merch art.

⤷ Merch artists may be asked to show actual physical merch you've made before, to show you know how to get things printed.

⤷ May be asked what kind of merch you would like to make.

Writers

⤷ Longform (2500 word is usually standard) or shortform (write short fics, usually multiple up to 1000 words each)

⤷ Mods may look at your overall writing portfolio

⤷ In addition to a portfolio, may be asked to share a few writing samples with min and max word counts - excerpts that showcase writing strengths.

▸ Creation Period

Contributors will be given a date to get a final pitch approved by the mods. After they can be approved, the contributors can get started.

How many check-ins/WIPs mods require from contributors will vary from one, to many. These are collected through google forms or emailed directly to the moderators.

Typically required that contributors proof and edit their own works to the highest degree possible and deliver the level of product they promised. Betas/editors/screening may or may not be provided by volunteers.

Artists will typically be provided with a template that shows the gutter/bleeds. It will typically be specified to work in CMYK, a specific file type, and file/page size.

Contributors work on their pieces.

Merch artists tend to work most closely with the mods, compared to other contributors, throughout the production process. Merch artists usually have an expedited schedule with earlier deadlines.

Cover artists may also have an expedited schedule with earlier deadlines.

▸ Production Period

Contributors will likely be able to share snippets/previews of their work - either a cropped image, or a paragraph+ excerpt of written work - as a way of drumming up further interest for the zine's sales. Snippets may be posted to the official event socials, or contributors may post them to their own socials and get re-shared by the official event socials, depending on the organizer's preference. This may overlap with the creation period.

Works are turned in.

▸ Sales & Sharing Period

The zine is available for purchase/download/ordering.

After orders close, for physical zines, moderators will place the order for printing (and merch, if applicable).

Usually when distributing only physical zines, the orders go directly from the printer to the customer.

If physical merchandise is bundled: typically, the zines and merch are shipped to a moderator's home where they are physically bundled together, then shipped from the moderator to the customer.

There may be a period of time sales closed and shipping is concluded where any extra goods may be offered for sale again, as supplies last.

⤷ OFTEN, when physical copies are offered, contributors may be gifted physical bundles of the zines (including merch). This is not always true but often happens as thanks for contribution.

Please, be discerning.

Because the commitment is very high for zines, a lot can go wrong. In addition to the usual risk of poor communication and delays (which can happen even with the best intentions).

Moderators may or may not be reputable characters and you may run into poor communication and organization - or even theft.

Whenever money is involved, or physical shipping is offered, be very wary of giving away your personal information!!!

Zines can be organized as a way for "moderators" to get free art; if money is not handled transparently, moderators can abscond with the funds. Sometimes contributors will be told that they will be paid, but then moderators will say that you will not be paid actually.

Zines can fail for a variety of reasons and never reach the publication stage. Zines can recruit contributors with the promise of the quality of the zine production/design but fail to deliver.

While these are some of the worst-case scenarios, keep in mind that fandom zines are not professional and run by volunteers. Moderators are often the most passionate and hardest working people involved in the events, doing their absolute best based on their resources and experiences.

Examples of Zines

Solamancy Zine (Archived)

The Keeper's Codex (Archived)

TheDragonAgeZine

Lotus and Root (Archived)

[untilyouremember]

Where can I read and request manga?

My mission with my tumblr is to help you find official resources to consume manga; doing it these ways will help the mangaka who work to bring you content and it encourages English publishers to bring over more series.

Check under the cut for legal websites, apps and retailers with detailed information. At the bottom you'll find surveys and ways to contact publishers with requests.

You can use regular retailers to buy digital and print: Amazon/Kindle, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Bookwalker, Google Play, Apple Books, Nook

There are apps available for buying volumes, chapters, using ticket systems to access free content, or with subscriptions.

Mangamo - $4.99/mo for 200+ titles; titles available for purchases with in-app library

Viz manga - $1.99/mo; titles available to purchase with in-app library (carries titles from Viz, but not their SJ series)

Shonen Jump - $2.99/mo; titles available to purchase with in-app library (carries specifically SJ titles, which are often popular shounen)

Comikey - uses a key system; ability to read for free with ads and patience

Kmanga - app maintained by Kodansha; chapters are often available to read for free through a ticket system and able to purchase

Kodansha - a website where you can create a free reading account. They offer 3 free chapters on all their manga, occasionally feature several free volumes, and run sales on their content somewhat regularly.

MangaPlus - $1.99 or $4.99 for a subscription; will allow a free read of their simulpub series.

MangaPlaza - 7 day free trial; $6.99/mo; [info incoming, seems to have more mature licenses]

INKR - 3 ways to access content; free, coins & 'Extra Membership'. Extra can cost $4.99/mo or $44.99/year and gives you access to content, extra savings and "free ink" that can be traded for their coin system. (Used to be Manga Rock and that was a fun read from them)

MangaPlanet - $1.99/week -> $47.99/year depending on which tier you pay for.

MangaUP - 1 month free trial, $4.99/mo; you can browse their 'vault' to see if things you like are included

Renta! - point system; 1 point = 1 cent; regular bonus points for higher purchases

Mangacat - [currently researching; seems to allow people to independently upload and set prices for viewing; people can also do translations for work. Acts as somewhat of a 'by fans for fans' site. Coin system where 20 coins=1$ with no discounts for larger purchases]

Irodori Comics - hosts 18+, specializes in doujinshi, more info incoming

ComiXology - $4.99/month; a service through amazon that allows you access to comics, manga and graphic novels. Specifically boasts {2400} manga titles.

Animeplanet - has a library of completely free comics and anime through partnerships; seems to host less manga styled comics but free is free.

Manta, Comicle, Webtoon, Tappytoon, Tapas, WebComics, Bilibili will be looked into but they host mostly webtoon style comics

Seven seas has a (mostly) monthly survey that is linked on their homepage at all times. {They will pull from any publisher, including digital only simulpubs}

If you have a bookwalker account, I found a Google doc that you fill out requests and they send them to publishers.

To send suggestions to Viz, use this survey that is listed through their Contact Us page (you select the "Series Suggestion" and will be redirected) {they mostly pull from shogakukan and shueisha titles}

To send suggestions to Kodansha, go to their contact us page and there are 2 useful drop downs; suggest reprints and suggest series, suggest series is also useful to request a print of anything they've licensed digital only. {They pull almost exclusively from Kodansha Japan}

TokyoPop has a discord server where they look at your suggestions in the channel #licensesuggestion

If you are able, in any way, support official English releases. It shows it is a lucrative business decision to continue the manga. Nothing is worse than starting something and being unable to finish it because it stopped getting translated and published.

I will update this post as needed, enjoy your manga! ♡

[0ystercatcher]

going to start self hosting photo backup storage i think bc even though i seriously considered it for a bit i ended up doing the maths on how much money id spend long term to get google to backup my photos v how much itd cost me to build a little home server in case i really do need extra constantly online storage. and it made me laugh. maybe this is the next nice project

[lunarsilkscreen]

HTML, RichText, and BB_Markup

Back in the day "RichText" or text that can be stylized like you would in Microsoft Word, or an E-Mail, wasn't often available in social media platforms.

And there's still some social media platforms who don't allow it at all.

This has multiple reasons, the processing is done in script at the browser level, and so there used to be performance reasons not to allow it. Or most of your users would experience a slow down just to view the text, why bother with it?

As browsers started getting more comfortable and fast enough to deliver HTML pages, with the markup allowed in HTML, HTML became the default. But as JavaScript grew in popularity, scope and use. HTML itself became a way for people to inject scripts directly into the page.

And instead of just, cleaning script tags and other injection vulnerabilities, websites took HTML away from users all together. This was a problem, in Part, directly influenced by the W3C {World-wide web consortium}, and big-browser (Microsoft, Netscape, and Mozilla, and later Google, Apple, and Opera) who all implemented HTML/CSS/JS differently.

Nobody knows why they did this, they just did. (Actually, there's a bunch of different reasons, but as you look deeper into the rabbit hole, the more absurd it gets.)

After that, forum and social media designers came up with *BB_Markup* I think BB means blackboard, but who knows for sure anymore.

BB was basically a shorthand HTML markup that used square-brackets instead of triangle-brackets, and at a server level, that markup got turned into *safe* HTML markup--to avoid user-level injection attacks.

We also get a bunch of other short hand that may or may not be used in certain platforms (like reddit) to this day. Wrapping text in asterisks to italicize a word, or tildes or the little wavey dash (~) which denote bolding under lining or strike through depending on what you're used to.

All sorts of things that some people who were netizens of the 90s and early-00s might still be in the habit of using.

Today, there's little reason for browsers to even allow <script> or script-referencing mark-up at that particular level anymore. Which would solve A LOT of early security issues. But they don't change it back because a lot of websites still use tricks like that, because that's what developers do.

Even though advertising still allows injection and browser-hijacking at a "user-level" just like in the olden days. Yep, if you host ads, there's a good chance you're allowing those ads to deliver malware to your users.

Looking at you YouTube and websites that say "Please stop using ad-block". They don't use them to prevent you from getting paid, they use them to stop you from injecting their device with malware.

You big dummys.

That's part of the reason why I'm an advocate of "ad-reform". Advertising companies are leveraging their ad-platforms for more than simply delivering ads.

There's a drive to put internet tools only in the hands of companies, taking net freedoms a lot of early-adopters take for granted, not like ad-block, more like not having to worry about malware being delivered to you while you're powerless to stop it.

I'm not even talking about internet surveillance, I'm talking about advertising companies delivering malware to office equipment. You know those hacks that seemingly target large databases everyday?

Paid Advertising.

Since a lot of, too many even, Internet users these days even know the basics of HTML/CSS/JS, they don't even get to see what it feels like to have the inspection tools be taken away from you so you can see how it is these websites are f* you.

I can't even [view source] on my phone anymore. *That's considered* a bigger security risk than ad-delivery hijacking *your* phone.

How much does ad delivery cost these days, and you can see, that's the price of delivering malware to the user. Not just advertising products.

[spnfanficpond]

Weekly Pond Newsletter

It's a holiday weekend in the US, celebrating Labor Day. We seem to be having a year where we are exercising the power of those who do the labor in our world, so Labor Day is extra special. Strikes are happening everywhere in increasing numbers and industries. We here at the Pond support all unions as they fight for fair wages and working conditions! If you're lucky enough to actually have time off for this holiday, we hope you get to relax and enjoy it!

Old Business:

The New Member Spotlight for August - The post is up and you can go check it out and maybe find a new friend! Click here to see the whole list.

The Monthly Prompt for September - Click here for the link to the post! The prompt this month is APPLE PICKING!

Angel Fish Awards are now open to everyone! - In the past, AFA's were only available to Pond members, but this has now changed! You can now nominate ANY fic (SPN or The Winchesters) for an Angel Fish Award! Spread the love far and wide, everyone!!

SPN weekend at the @fanficocean - This weekend is Fishing For Treasures weekend at the Ocean, and they're celebrating SPN fics! Head on over there to get your fill of fantastic fics! In two weeks, the Pond will be celebrating fics from all fandoms EXCEPT Supernatural and The Winchesters! Send us links to your favorite fics from other fandoms via ask or submission to the blog, or dropping a link in the #fishing-for-treasures channel in the discord server. We accept links for EVERYONE, whether you are a member or not, for fics written by ANYONE, member or not! There is no limit!!

Blog updates - Admin Michelle is still working behind the scenes on new versions of the navigation posts. A couple have already gone up, but the majority have not. In the meantime, if you see any links that are broken or anything that looks wrong, please send a message to @mrswhozeewhatsis!!

Last week's #TweetFicTues prompts -

New Business:

Angel Fish Award celebration - To celebrate that we're now accepting Angel Fish Award nominations from anyone for fics written by anyone, we're giving away THE ENTIRE PRIZE POOL. (Well, we're going to try.) Everyone gets a prize!!! We've only gotten a handful of nominations so far, so pretty much everything in the pool is still up for grabs!! (Shipping is covered, so there is no cost to you, even internationally!) Click here for more details!

Competitive Writing Sprints with Manta Ray Dean - On Thursday, Manta Ray Dean will be hosting some competitive writing sprints in the discord server. Add words to your WIP and earn prizes for it! Be on the lookout for more details closer to the day!

Admin Marie in the discord server - On Friday (Saturday for some), Admin Marie be will hanging out in the discord server, ready to chat about anything and everything. This is a chance to talk to an experienced writer, as well as an admin here at the Pond, to ask questions about writing, Tumblr, or anything Pond-related. The exact time will be announced closer to the day!

Static view of the Pond calendar - We've created a static view of our calendar so you don't have to add it to your Google calendar to see upcoming events. Click here to check it out. The downside to this view is that it can only be viewed in Eastern US/Canada time. You can, however, click on an event and add it to your own Google calendar if you want to! Hopefully, this will enable more people to see everything that's happening in the Pond!

(Divider by @glygriffe!)

That's all for this week! To see all Pond events, and also other SPN-related things like conventions and online concerts, check out our Google calendar! We try to keep it as up to date as possible. If there's something you want to see on the calendar that's not there (maybe a convention we missed, or cast birthdays, or something similar), send us an ASK and let us know!

Hope you have a great week! - From your Admins and Manta Rays, @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @princessmisery666, @thoughtslikeaminefield, @katbratsupernaturalwhore and @heavenssexiestangel!

[faggotgamzee]

observations on the future of social media in regards to P2P and Blockchains and decentralized protocols in general ie nostr/iris, bluesky etc, what it means in Threads, Tumblr and Twitter/X's case and what it means to us as users

prefacing this with I'm just a person with access to google and a hefty amount of curiosity and a layman's understanding of the subjects so I will most likely be wrong about a couple things but I just wanted to write this to get a discussion going in a public space about what these social medias mean for the future of the internet and what I think their goals are and also to just get my thoughts in order

P2P in the simplest of terms is how torrenting works, it is peer 2 peer sharing of information ie computer 2 computer, so for example if you download something sent to you by a person from google drive its person > google servers > you, however if you torrent somethings its person > you (well in actuality its Multiple people> you and that's what seeding is but I am keeping it simple for my own sake) So in my quest to find a way to p2p stream things directly from a computer to another computer not on the same network on github, I've found that a huge amount of research has been done in general on P2P implementation beyond just media sharing in the last couple of years

and subsequently I fell down a rabbit hole of P2P social media, so what that means is imagine a social media without a middle man or a direct company. Twitter right now works as such, person tweets > passes through twitter servers > you access their tweet as shown to you through the twitter servers this mode of information sharing requires physical servers to store this data on, most companies don't own their own servers but instead rent them, usually from amazon or google, and twitter is the same, in fact almost everything on the internet is hosted through amazon servers and they have intense monopoly worldwide (x) (x)

this is partially how countries can exert their laws on these social media companies

P2P makes all of this obsolete, reduces the overhead cost of servers and takes them out of the equation, the sharing of information will be pingponged through multiple computers instead of passed through one large middle man that can be prosecuted and contacted for hosting/platforming this data. personally I am very excited about the development of P2P technology however, this form of decentralized social media isn't new people have been experimenting with it since 2012 and the early internet ran on p2p (IRC), but the biggest difference now is that people have combined it with blockchains (bitcoin) (W3C ie Web.3 consortium pretentious name I know) and this brings me to the current Big Fish battle that is happening right now between IRIS(NOSTR)/Blusky and Threads, Twitter

So starting with IRIS, most people have probably not heard of IRIS but what IRIS is, is a p2p social media running on a protocol called NOSTR, ELI5 protocols are just Ways of doing things/sharing information/guidelines, ie emails are just a protocol called SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) that companies can build things around ex: gmail, runs on SMTP protocol I stumbled on the ex CEO of twitter Jack Dorsey on IRIS and a couple things struck me first scrolling through the site and his account. first even though Jack Dorsey is on the board of directors for bluesky and helped in its development he more so wants NOSTR protocol and IRIS to succeed and seems to be pushing them more heavily even on his twitter secondly the little dollar amount tied to every post he makes,

this literary banger is apparently worth a dollar and a half in "Zap Coins" this leads me to speculate on the future of bluesky because to me it seems like IRIS is being used as a testing ground for bluesky, bluesky currently DOESNT have bitcoin tied to its posts like nostr does but it does have the groundworks laid in in its protocol! I offhandedly mentioned previously that social medias are combining P2P and blockchain this time around and thats exactly what is happening in IRIS and what bluesky seems to be working towards, now what does this mean in IRIS's case? well from my understanding is that creating accounts on IRIS is exactly like creating a crypto wallet, in that your account will have its own unique generated hash encrypted number and every post you make is like making a transaction in the blockchain ie it has its own hash attached to it hence every post you make has a monetary value pros > makes you hard to find, posts are decentralized and spread over multiple computers worldwide and encrypted >can make as many accounts as you want no need for verification you just need to remember the unique hash attached to them >no servers hosting your information governments and companies have less control cons (to me anyways lol) >monetized posts >the power balance gets shifted from companies and goverments to ISP's and their abilities to connect you to other computers worldwide >nothing can ever actually be deleted its all recorded, you can orphan posts from your account I think? but they will still be findable

what does this mean in Blue sky's case?

Well starting with the differences, Bluesky is NOT p2p it is running on its own self made "decentralized" protocol called ATP (@ protocol) it is very theoretical and doesn't have any actual implementation anywhere as opposed to NOSTR and other protocols that twitter and tumblr run on I read through it and looked up some things but I genuinely don't understand how its supposed to be decentralized especially with how it seems to be implemented in actuality, so currently bluesky has frequent outages and is slow to use, if it were decentralized these things shouldn't be affecting everyone? so from my understanding it says that everyone has their own server PDS (personal direct server) that will host their posts and that it all PDS will be connected via a crawler which will siphon that information to an app, which I GUESS is decentralized but what does PDS mean in this case? signing up to bluesky is most definitely not hosting your own server with your own posts, you are putting these posts on a server somewhere, but who is it owned by? I read some articles saying that bluesky is starting out by hosting their own servers for you in that case they've just invented twitter 2 but with more flexibility in regards to third party implementation anyways rant aside, the similarities, while iris isnt the same as bluesky, bluesky's philosophy seems to be in a similar vain to iris and blue sky is following iris' steps closely, while iris isn't owned by one single entity, blue sky board of directors want to make some cash money and I assume thats why they didnt fully lean into p2p

like I mentioned before Blue Sky's protocol has the capabilities for bitcoin integration baked into it (x) I dont know if they will try to monetize the posts in the same way directly in bluesky as is done in IRIS but the ATP is very flexible and what that means is that they can create a different monetary based app that you don't even need to sign up for you'd just use your bluesky credentials and you'd have a crypto wallet tied to your blue sky account because your ID isn't tied to just blue sky, its tied to anything running the ATP protocol

sound familiar? this is what Elon musk is trying to do with Twitter rn and this is basically where he got the idea, he wants to make twitter the one stop shop app for everything, but this isn't a fantasy unattainable idea this is coming directly from the protocols IRIS and Bluesky use, and I will not be surprised if in the near future we see him attempt to integrate bitcoin into twitter

Twitter, Threads and Tumblr (triple T haha 3T if you will) are all going to try and compete with Bluesky and Iris because ~money~, but they are doing so with.... *drum rolls* Mastedon! the dark horse or more accurately the protocol that Mastedon uses which is called ActivityPUB, Activitypub is older than both NOSTR and ATP and has a history of a wide range of implementation, however if you've ever used Mastodon you'd know its very limited in its capabilities when it comes to social media

This is basically I theorize/speculate is one of the reasons tumblr changed its looks, they are trying to standardize social media between all 3 of them and basically build bridges between each other so as to combat IRIS and BlueSky This is not to say they will become like Mastedon however, in fact between Threads which has a huge amount of money to throw at inventing things and polishing the Activepub protocol and Automattic which owns tumblr and has owned wordpress for even longer who have a familiarity with blogging platforms and multi integration across multiple platforms I think they can be strong competitors

dont ask me what twitter is doing, I am not even certain it will integrate activitypub 100% I just think thats the easiest and fastest way to try and achieve elon's goals and threads and tumblr are combining

so what does it mean exactly when these sites say they will use ActivityPub?

it just means that they are trying to build bridges between each other, that is very vague and obscure of course because idk how they will go about it, the most basic way is post sharing between sites will change and become easier but its not limited to just that, IDK if they will even change the sites themselves instead of just building addons but tumblr's aesthetic change makes me think that they will

more importantly what does this mean for us Users?

well if you've read this far, I just want to emphasize that this isn't something to doom about, while I don't support crypto 100% I think the next wave of social media is headed in a good direction in that people are Finally focusing on decentralizations, social media that isn't under the thumb of one company or hosted on one single server (tumblr servers for example ALLEGEDLY were hosted on one amazon server without backup x) we are finally moving in a direction that is more open as I listed in the pros section above when it comes to IRIS I personally think those ones are worth the cons, however I want people to understand when they are joining bluesky, threads etc the conversation isn't about what these websites are good at NOW, you are NOT joining a twitter copy, all the social medias are gearing up to move away into a new era of internet, it may look the same but under the hood their goals are different, as far as I can tell every social media's goals are focused on 3 things currently >decentralization (lowering their costs in moderation, hosting etc) >getting money, alot of money as fast as possible (crypto integration, selling your data) >beating their competition and surviving as the big fish (protocols are duking it out iris/bluesky vs the world)

like I said at the start of this post I am just a layman with a keyboard, these are just observations I've made, and I could be wrong about multiple things here! but either way, curious about where we are headed

[guzsdaily]

[Re]starting my self-hosting journey, and why

Day 80 - Jan 24th, 12.024

Yesterday I "woke" up my old computer as a server [again], now the fun part starts. But, why am I self-hosting?

Why self-host?

The short answer: for me, it's fun.

The long answer: to start, if you don't know what self-hosting means, here's a small explanation from our good old Wikipedia:

Self-hosting is the practice of running and maintaining a website or service using a private web server, instead of using a service outside of someone's own control. Self-hosting allows users to have more control over their data, privacy, and computing infrastructure, as well as potentially saving costs and improving skills. Source: Self-hosting (web services) - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In summary, it's like if you used your computer to run something like YouTube, instead of connecting to the internet to use it. Self-hosting can be really advantageous if you care a lot about privacy, control of your data and how it's used, not only that, but if you're a developer, you know have a lot more power in customizing, tweaking and automating services and tools that you use. And because the data and code is on your own machine, you aren't locked-in into a cloud provider, website, yadda yadda. There are people who can explain this better than me, and nowadays self-hosting isn't that hard if you know a thing or two about computers.

Personally, I plan to use self-hosting for three reasons:

Privacy and data control, of course;

Network control, aka. Ad blockers in the hole home's network with something like Adguard Home and a private intranet with Tailscale;

And, the most useful, automation. I already talked about here and there, but I hope that I can automate my social medias, daily journal publications, and things like that using my home server, specifically with something like Gitea actions (or in my case, Forgejo actions).

Maybe something like federalization also, I don't know yet how hard it would be to self-host my own Mastodon or [insert another ActivityPub-compatible instance here] on my computer.

Something which I also plan to do is to run my own Invidious and other frontend-alternatives for myself, I already use public instances and pretty much de-googled my online life nowadays, so why not try self-hosting also? Maybe even open these instances to my friends? So they can also have more private alternatives? Or maybe I'm dreaming too much? Probably.

How to self-host?

If you're somehow interested about self-hosting after this amalgamation of an explanation, and do not know where to start, I would recommend taking a look at CasaOS or YunoHost, these give you an easy-to-use User Interface (UI) to manage your server and services. I tried both, CasaOS being what introduced me to self-hosting, alongside this video on how to install it on Linux and use it.

Nonetheless, this is my third try on self-hosting, because the two previous options didn't serve my current needs and also because I'm liking the idea of using NixOS, which is how I'm configuring my home-server now. And it is being kinda great to share common configuration and code between my desktop and home-server, without counting also the incomparable control of using it instead of the docker-based solutions I mentioned (but again, I wouldn't recommend using Nix in your first try of self-hosting, even less if you don't have any experience with it or programming in general).

I already have a Forgejo instance running now, and I hope that tomorrow I'm able to configure Adguard Home on it, since these are pretty much the two main reasons and purposes of this server. Also, Tailscale is also configured, pretty much just services.tailscale.enable = true, that's it.

I have to admit, I'm kinda loving NixOS more and more, and it's also making me love even more Linux in general. It's always great to learn and try something new. Hopefully in some days I will make a more detailed post about the hole system that I'm creating to myself, it's kinda scary and interesting the scale that this "productivity system" is taking.

---

Today's artists & creative things

Playlist: Braincell.exe has failed to load - A stimming playlist - by Aliven't

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Copyright (c) 2024-present Gustavo "Guz" L. de Mello <contact.guz013@gmail.com>

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) License

[ideahat-universe]

Youtube's insane war with Adblock

Anti Adblock has been the bane of any casual website viewing experience and any website I visits that had those banners is typically written off entirely, and now Youtube is one of them but they take it to a whole nother level. Apparently on the Ublock reddit. They have to routinely change up how they block the banner every couple of days and by extension, you will have to update your ublock every couple of days for it to work and may have to only use Ublock because it can conflict with other blockers.

How did we get here? Oh right, every multi million dollar corporation keeping the lights on with advertisements. Advertisements so bad the our governments actually consider it a good idea to have ad block on because advertisements are a hotbed for malware to speak nothing of deepfakes or outright scam ads that the FTC considers too small a problem to get rid of.

I mean ever since Ross from the game dungeon released his video where he said that Games as a Service are Scams I've been workshopping basically the same sentiment for advertisements.

Companies sell ad space with no expectation that customers will click on the ads, only that for all intents and purposes, they presented the ads to you and are thus owed money for providing that service.

Advertisers dump tens of thousands of dollars just so the advertisement can be clicked on with the possible chance of making a sale as that's the only way to actually get a return on the investment of the advertisement in the first place.

After all a really great product doesn't even need an advertising budget per se. Word of mouth is so powerful, hell, a 7-10 review of a product from a random youtuber generates more attention and sales than a million dollar super bowl advertisement. As long as you get the right Youtuber it's way more cost effective to not have traditional ad spaces.

Not that sponsors are free from guilt. Sponsors are often scams as well. There's been more than a couple sponsored products that were scams but unlike Youtube/Google which can sell ad space to con artists and never suffer an issue, one video from Scott Schafer can convince the youtube community to effectively deplatform a bad product or service.

I mean Raid Shadow Legends still falls through the cracks but it's better than nothing.

But I've been preparing for this, actually a few people have. Louis Rossman has been working on some Manhattan project called Grayjay that will bring multi platform streaming all under one app.

There are of course other streaming platforms with different, more affordable hosting methods as well as ways to monetize content that hopes to not make the same mistakes Youtube makes with budgeting.

There's my method which is downloading every video you think you'll ever want to watch more than once, putting it on a single hard drive and then using some server hosting service like Plex and you just stream your own content to yourself (which by the way is really affordable to do as long as you are okay with 1080p to 360p as higher resolutions on very long videos like streams will soak up a lot of space for what is just one video).

A third method is installing Linux on a machine and gain access to some linux exclusive apps like Freetube which removes the bad aspects of Youtube and only has the videos as well as sponsorblock with no ads to boot (you won't be able to block content though and there's no algorithm so you better know what you want to find because you are on your own for real).

The last method is Vanced. It was supposed to be dead but like a building that's closed 11 months in a year, it sprung to life one day and now lives although you will have to have a android device and learn the side loading method to get it really working.

I've been saying this about Youtube and Twitter X for awhile now but you really should consider a future where Youtube doesn't exist, companies are tightening their budgets across the board, once the advertising firm gets slashed basically everything dependent on it will evaporate. Not enough people will ever use Youtube Red to keep the lights on for Youtube as Youtube's budget is constantly scaling and impossible to price in.

The lost media Youtube will create when it shudders is beyond your comprehension.

[zimcommktg]

Internet Solutions: A Comprehensive Comparison of AWS, Azure, and Zimcom

When it comes to finding a managed cloud services provider, businesses often turn to the industry giants: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. These tech powerhouses offer highly adaptable platforms with a wide range of services. However, the question that frequently perplexes businesses is, "Which platform truly offers the best value for internet solutions Surprisingly, the answer may not lie with either of them. It is essential to recognize that AWS, Azure, and even Google are not the only options available for secure cloud hosting.

In this article, we will conduct a comprehensive comparison of AWS, Azure, and Zimcom, with a particular focus on pricing and support systems for internet solutions.

Pricing Structure: AWS vs. Azure for Internet Solutions

AWS for Internet Solutions: AWS is renowned for its complex pricing system, primarily due to the extensive range of services and pricing options it offers for internet solutions. Prices depend on the resources used, their types, and the operational region. For example, AWS's compute service, EC2, provides on-demand, reserved, and spot pricing models. Additionally, AWS offers a free tier that allows new customers to experiment with select services for a year. Despite its complexity, AWS's granular pricing model empowers businesses to tailor services precisely to their unique internet solution requirements.

Azure for Internet Solutions:

Microsoft Azure's pricing structure is generally considered more straightforward for internet solutions. Similar to AWS, it follows a pay-as-you-go model and charges based on resource consumption. However, Azure's pricing is closely integrated with Microsoft's software ecosystem, especially for businesses that extensively utilize Microsoft software.

For enterprise customers seeking internet solutions, Azure offers the Azure Hybrid Benefit, enabling the use of existing on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses on the Azure platform, resulting in significant cost savings. Azure also provides a cost management tool that assists users in budgeting and forecasting their cloud expenses.

Transparent Pricing with Zimcom’s Managed Cloud Services for Internet Solutions:

Do you fully understand your cloud bill from AWS or Azure when considering internet solutions? Hidden costs in their invoices might lead you to pay for unnecessary services.

At Zimcom, we prioritize transparent and straightforward billing practices for internet solutions. Our cloud migration and hosting services not only offer 30-50% more cost-efficiency for internet solutions but also outperform competing solutions.

In conclusion, while AWS and Azure hold prominent positions in the managed cloud services market for internet solutions, it is crucial to consider alternatives such as Zimcom. By comparing pricing structures and support systems for internet solutions, businesses can make well-informed decisions that align with their specific requirements. Zimcom stands out as a compelling choice for secure cloud hosting and internet solutions, thanks to its unwavering commitment to transparent pricing and cost-efficiency.

[how-to-work]

Blogspot for Business

In today's digital age, establishing a strong online presence is crucial for any business to thrive. A well-crafted blog can be an invaluable tool in your marketing arsenal. Blogspot, a popular blogging platform, offers businesses a user-friendly and cost-effective way to create and maintain a professional online presence. If you want to know about Getting Started with Blogspot, Visit My Article. Now we will explore the benefits of using Blogspot for business and discover how it can help build a dynamic and engaging online brand.

Easy Setup and Management

Blogspot provides a straightforward setup process, making it accessible to even those with limited technical knowledge. In a matter of minutes, businesses can create their blogs, select templates, and start publishing content. The user-friendly interface allows for hassle-free content management, enabling business owners to focus on their core operations without spending excessive time on website maintenance.

Cost-Effective Solution

Compared to other website hosting options, Blogspot offers a budget-friendly solution for businesses, especially startups and small enterprises. With a free domain hosted by Google's servers, you can showcase your products, services, and expertise without investing in an independent website. This low-cost entry point empowers businesses to allocate more resources to marketing, product development, or customer service.

Search Engine Visibility and SEO

Blogspot, backed by Google, automatically enjoys certain search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. Google tends to rank Blogspot blogs relatively higher in search results, enhancing your visibility and attracting organic traffic to your website. By employing SEO best practices such as keyword research, backlink building, and high-quality content creation, your Blogspot blog can further improve its search engine rankings and increase its online visibility.

Content Marketing and Thought Leadership

A Blogspot blog offers a platform for businesses to showcase their expertise, share valuable insights, and establish thought leadership within their industry. Through regular blog posts, businesses can create engaging content that educates, entertains, and addresses the needs of their target audience. By providing valuable information, your business can build trust with potential customers and position itself as an authority in the market.

Brand Storytelling and Engagement

Effective branding is the cornerstone of a successful business, and Blogspot enables businesses to tell their brand story in a compelling manner. Through blog posts, businesses can share their journey, values, and unique selling propositions, fostering a deeper connection with their audience. Furthermore, the comment section allows for direct interaction with readers, encouraging engagement and building a loyal community around your brand.

Integration with Google Services

As part of the Google ecosystem, Blogspot seamlessly integrates with other Google services like Google Analytics, Google AdSense, and Google Search Console. This integration facilitates detailed website analysis, ad monetization opportunities, and performance tracking. Leveraging these tools, businesses can gain valuable insights into their blog's performance, audience behavior, and overall online impact.

[hotspotseo]

Optimizing Website Speed for Better SEO Performance 

In today's digital landscape, website speed has emerged as a critical factor that significantly impacts both search engine rankings and user experience.

A slow-loading website can not only hinder your chances of ranking high in search engine results but also frustrate visitors and lead to high bounce rates. To overcome these challenges, it is imperative to prioritize website speed optimization.

This blog post aims to provide valuable insights and practical techniques to enhance website speed, leading to improved SEO performance and a seamless user experience.

Importance of Website Speed 

Website speed is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, search engines, such as Google, consider website speed as a ranking factor. A faster website has a higher chance of ranking well in search engine results, increasing its visibility and attracting more organic traffic. Fast-loading websites give a competitive advantage in online visibility.

Secondly, user experience is directly impacted by website speed. Users have increasingly shorter attention spans and expect instant access to information. If a website takes too long to load, users are more likely to abandon it and seek alternatives. High bounce rates negatively impact user engagement, conversions, and overall website performance. On the other hand, a fast website provides a seamless browsing experience, keeping users engaged and satisfied.

Code Optimization 

One of the key factors influencing website speed is the efficiency of the website's code. Bloated or poorly optimized code can slow down page rendering and increase load times. Code optimization involves streamlining and optimizing the codebase, resulting in improved website speed.

Minification is a common practice that involves removing unnecessary characters, spaces, and comments from the code, reducing file size and improving load times. Combining and compressing CSS and JavaScript files can also minimize the number of requests made to the server, reducing load times.

Image Optimization 

Images are often a significant contributor to slow website speed. Optimizing images can significantly improve load times without compromising on visual quality. There are several techniques to optimize images for better website performance.

Resizing images to their display dimensions ensures that you are not unnecessarily loading large files. Using image compression tools or formats, such as JPEG or WebP, helps reduce file size without sacrificing image quality. Additionally, lazy loading can be implemented to defer the loading of off-screen images, reducing initial page load time.

Server and Hosting Optimization 

The performance of your website is greatly influenced by the server and hosting infrastructure. Choosing the right hosting provider and optimizing server settings can have a significant impact on website speed.

Selecting a reputable hosting provider that offers fast and reliable servers is crucial. Shared hosting may be cost-effective but can result in slower load times due to sharing resources with other websites. Consider upgrading to a dedicated or virtual private server (VPS) hosting for better performance.

Server optimization involves configuring caching mechanisms, such as HTTP caching and content delivery networks (CDNs), to store static files closer to the user's location. This reduces the distance data needs to travel, resulting in faster load times.

In addition to optimizing website speed, mastering mobile optimization is crucial for SEO success in today's mobile-dominated landscape. By prioritising website speed optimization, you can enhance your website's visibility, engage users effectively, and drive better business outcomes.

[uvation]

What is Cloud Computing? Everything You Need to Know.

Cloud computing is a paradigm in computing that involves the delivery of various computing resources over the internet. It provides on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources, such as servers, storage, networks, applications, and services. Instead of relying on local servers or personal devices, users can access and utilize these resources remotely through a network of servers hosted in data centers.

Here are some key aspects and components of cloud computing:

On-demand self-service: Cloud computing allows users to provision and deploy computing resources (such as virtual machines, storage, or applications) as needed, without requiring human intervention from the service provider. This flexibility enables users to scale their resources up or down based on demand.

Broad network access: Cloud services are accessible over the network, usually through standard internet protocols. Users can access cloud applications and data from various devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Resource pooling: Cloud providers pool computing resources to serve multiple users simultaneously. These resources are dynamically allocated based on demand, ensuring efficient utilization and optimization of hardware.

Rapid elasticity: Cloud computing enables users to scale their resources up or down quickly. This elasticity allows users to adapt to changing workloads and accommodate peak usage periods without requiring significant upfront investment in additional infrastructure.

Measured service: Cloud computing providers monitor and measure resource usage, enabling the billing and metering of services based on consumption. Users are charged for the actual resources utilized, such as storage, processing power, bandwidth, or active user accounts.

Service models: Cloud computing offers various service models, including:

a. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Provides virtualized computing resources, such as virtual machines, storage, and networks, allowing users to deploy and manage their applications within the cloud infrastructure.

b. Platform as a Service (PaaS): Offers a platform and environment for developing, testing, and deploying applications. Users can focus on application development without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

c. Software as a Service (SaaS): Delivers software applications over the internet on a subscription basis. Users can access and use these applications without the need for installation or management on their local devices.

Deployment models: Cloud computing can be deployed in different ways:

a. Public cloud: Computing resources are owned and operated by third-party service providers, and multiple users share these resources. Examples include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

b. Private cloud: Computing resources are dedicated to a single organization and are not shared with other users. They can be managed internally by the organization or by a third-party vendor.

c. Hybrid cloud: Combines both public and private cloud deployments, allowing organizations to leverage the benefits of both. It provides flexibility in choosing where to deploy workloads and enables seamless integration between the two environments.

d. Community cloud: Computing resources are shared by multiple organizations with common interests, such as specific industries or regulatory requirements.

Cloud computing has transformed the way businesses and individuals use and access computing resources. It offers scalability, cost-efficiency, flexibility, and ease of management, allowing organizations to focus on their core competencies without the burden of maintaining complex IT infrastructures.