Top Ten: Free Cloud Services

Cloud Providers

Cloud computing is being pushed heavily by today's software vendors. However, cloud computing and Iinternet-based services really aren't new. In fact, there are many different cloud services and web applications available today that are completely free. In this column, I'll tell you about ten free cloud services that you can begin using right away.

1. Amazon Web Services—To prompt you to get started using its web services, Amazon offers a free version of its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) web service, which is good for one year. This free service is the EC2 Micro Instance, which includes 750 hours of EC2, 10GB of Amazon Elastic Block Storage, 5GB of Amazon S3 storage, 30GB of Internet data transfer, and 25 Amazon SimpleDB hours. You can find out more about Amazon's free web services usage tier at aws.amazon.com/free.

2. Google Apps—One of the most well-known set of cloud-based applications is Google Apps. The free version of Google Apps includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Sites, and Google Docs. As its name suggests, Google Calendar is a shared online calendar that lets you schedule and share appointments. Google Docs is a Microsoft Office competitor that lets you create documents, spreadsheets, drawings, and presentations, and Google Sites lets you build websites and wikis. You can find Google Apps at www.google.com/apps.

3. Windows Live SkyDrive—Without a doubt, the cloud service I use most often is Microsoft's SkyDrive. SkyDrive is a super handy cloud-based storage service that lets you store up to 25GB of data for free. SkyDrive provides an easy-to-use web interface that lets you create folders for storage as well as providing drag-and-drop file uploading. The only requirement for using SkyDrive is that you have a Windows Live account. You can find SkyDrive at www.skydrive.com. I should note that there are other free web storage sites, but I've been perfectly happy with SkyDrive

4. Sysinternals—It seems I can't write a guide to free tools without mentioning Sysinternals. Sysinternals is well-known for its locally installed administrative tools. However, the majority of the Sysinternals tools can be run directly off the Sysinternals website as cloud services: There's no need to install them locally. These tools provide all sorts of useful file, disk, networking, and system process utilities. You can find the cloud-based versions of the Sysinternals suite atlive.sysinternals.com.

5. icloud—icloud is a different type of cloud service than any of the other products mentioned here. It essentially offers a free online computer with a virtual desktop. The desktop gives you online storage and a variety of utility applications, including a word processor, calendar, web browser, and an application development environment. You can learn more about icloud at www.icloud.com.

6. Windows Live Sync—Windows Live Sync enables you to synchronize directories between multiple computer systems. This service is especially useful for syncing your desktop and laptop when you travel. Unlike most of the other services mentioned in this column, Windows Live Sync requires you to install a component on your desktop. You can take advantage of Windows Live Sync by going to www.foldershare.com.

7. LastPass—Trying to keep track of all your online passwords is a daunting task. LastPass is a web application that securely stores your various Internet passwords and can automatically enter them on website logon forms. You can find LastPass at lastpass.com.

8.YouSendIt—YouSendIt is a website that lets you send files that are too big to send as email attachments. The free Lite version lets you send files as large as 100MB. The recipient gets an email notification with a link when the file is available for download. If you need to send larger files, there's a Pro edition that allows files up to 2GB. You can find YouSendIt at www.yousendit.com.

9. Windows Live Messenger—A part of Microsoft's Windows Live suite, Windows Live Messenger lets you perform both text-based chatting through IM as well as one-to-one video chats if your computer has an attached webcam. You can get it at from the Microsoft Download Center. Windows Live Messenger requires a Windows Live account.

10. Hotmail and Gmail—Who doesn't take advantage of one of these super useful services? Both Microsoft's Hotmail and Google's Gmail accomplish essentially the same thing: They provide free web-based email. Hotmail allows up to 10GB attachments; Gmail allows up to 20GB attachments. You can sign up for Hotmail at www.hotmail.com, or you can pick Gmail at www.gmail.com.

What is DNS :An Introduction

You type a web address – say www.facebook.com – in the web browser, your computer queries a DNS server to find the corresponding IP address where that site is located and once it has that information, it routes your browser to the correct website.

That is a simplified definition of DNS but, behind the scenes, several parties could get involved as soon as your computer asks for the IP address of a domain name. There’s the Resolving Name Server, the Root Name Server, the TLD Name Server and finally the Authoritative Name Server.

Confused? You don’t have to be as here’s an informative short video that explains the entire DNS workflow in simple English.



Even if you know the basics of DNS, do watch this video and you might end up learning a couple of new concepts around DNS and how it works. The video is courtesy learnDNS.com.

Speaking of DNS, do check our previous tutorials on setting up OpenDNS, Google DNS, learn how to compare two DNS services and know about scenarios when you should not change your DNS server and let it point to your ISP’s default DNS server.

Tip: Find the Name Servers of a Web Domain
If you would like to know about the Authoritative Name Server of any web domain, the one that will most definitely know the location of the IP address of that domain, follow these steps.

Open the command prompt windows by typing CMD in the Windows Run box.
On the command prompt, type NSLOOKUP and hit Enter.
Now type set querytype=soa without the quotes and hit Enter. Sentence case matters and there should be no extra spaces.
Finally type any domain name and in the results, the primary name server is the authoritative name server of that domain.

What is HTML5 :An introduction

HTML5 is a language for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web, and is a core technology of the Internet originally proposed by Opera Software.It is the fifth revision of the HTML standard (created in 1990 and standardized as HTML4 as of 1997)and as of March 2012 is still under development. Its core aims have been to improve the language with support for the latest multimedia while keeping it easily readable by humans and consistently understood by computers and devices (web browsers, parsers, etc.). HTML5 is intended to subsume not only HTML 4, but XHTML 1 and DOM Level 2 HTML as well.
The remaining doubts can be cleared by this image what new things HTML5 has to offer.

LastPass easy to use Password Manager

Many of you might be registered on many websites and remembering their passwords of the sites be a tedious task.For all internet users here is solution is LASTPASS available for Firefox, Internet Explorer,chrome and Safari.It is a very easy to use password manager as well as form filler for all those lazy outta here who doesn't remember the passwords of their various accounts.

Create HTML 5, CS5, CS4, Web 2.0 Style Logo & Icons with Icon Generator Pro

I was searching on internet found out this internet site and i wanted to create logo anew project i was working on.Getting decent logo design is not only difficult task but also expensive affair, added to this is most services offers limited numbers of revisions or design concept. But if you are looking some cheap logo or icon design similar to HTML 5 and Photoshop CS5 icon then here must have utility, Icon Generator Pro & Lite.

As the name suggests, Icon Generator Pro lets you to quickly generate logo and icons of different size based on HTML5, CS5, CS4 or star badge. Each icon or logo has its own different options like adjusting background color, changing text, adding custom image, adjusting contrast or glare etc.

Once you have customized icon design you can save the icon in different sizes such as 128x128px, 48x48px 32x32px or 16x16px of favicon size. If you don’t want to download this tool then you can also generate icons online by accessing developer website http://icon-generator.net.

2011 will be a sad year for India as lot of prominent people, who made a mark on our lives, left us this year. R.I.P.

Post A Status On Facebook Via Blackberry, Android Without Installing Any App or Create your customized Status

You can post status on your facebook wall from a device like Blackberry, IPhone, Android without owning it and installing any app on facebook, just follow the steps below:
1. Login to your account and enter the name of the device in the search field from which you want to post on your wall (e.g. Blackberry, Android, Iphone5). To post using ‘Motorola Milestone’, enter “Motorola Milestone” in search field.
2. Now instead of clicking on the app, click on ‘See more results from for Motorola Milestone’.
3. Now in search filters on the left side select ‘Apps’.
4. Now instead of clicking ‘Go to App’, click on the ‘Motorola Milestone’ to open the page of Motorola Milestone, which is http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=171695282841526
5. Now copy the application id which is ‘171695282841526’ in this case and put after the ‘api_key=’ in the following URL:
http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=
Now the resulting URL will be:
http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=171695282841526
Now open the URL and you will be able to post on your wall via ‘Motorola Milestone’ without owning it.
Here are some more:
1. LG Optimus 2X: http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=219025804780612
2. Iphone 5: http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=241614112527830
3. Android: http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=5849629380
4. Android Client: http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=117829661563986
5. DELL Venue Pro: http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=138984386182169
Or you can make your own application to publish status as i have made mine:
1. Being Ghanu: https://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_feed.php?api_key=161498103959181