So, heres a little project update to let you know where I’m at.

VPSSpeed
VPSSpeed is expanding at a phenomenal rate. In the last week we’ve filled 2 Core 2 Quad (8GB RAM) servers and taken in a lot of new customers. Unfortunately with these new customers came the fraudsters….you know the ones, those guys who signup, send 50,000+ spam emails, then dump the account. Because of this, an entire IP range got put onto the Spamhaus blacklist!

It forced me to take extra steps to prevent fraud orders. From using MaxMind fraud verification, to no longer allowing free email addresses such as Yahoo and Hotmail. Since doing this, we’ve not had any fraud orders get through.

I’ve got a great range of new features that will be added to VPSSpeed soon. These include:

• Updated website
• Advanced reseller program
• New OS Templates
• A company blog
• Twitter (Who’s not using it these days!?)
• Dedicated Servers
• DNS Hosting
• + more

There are quite a few other little bits and bobs that I’ll keep under wraps for now! We’re also looking at offering VPS hosting in other locations. Whilst our Dallas provider does a great job, we’re looking at offering a few alternate locations such as Atlanta, Tampa, New York, etc.

If you’re interested in a VPS server, then do check out VPSSpeed.com you can also get 25% off your first month with the coupon RMCOM.

WSDReg
WSDReg has taken a bit of a back seat at the moment. This month it is 3 years old and is still going strong with a customer base in the thousands, and domains in the tens of thousands. I’ll be working more with WSDReg in a few months time.

Unnamed top-secret hidden project
This one’s got me rather frustrated. Its something I’ve been working on for close to a year now and is coming very close to ready for use by it’s first customer. I cant go into much detail about it but I’ve mentioned it on my blog before!

There’s not a huge amount to say about this one at this time but I’ll be posting more details once it goes live!

Well that’s about all for now! I’ve only got about 5 weeks left at university (if that) then I’m off for 4 1/2 months, so will post more updates soon!

VPSSpeed has been in the pipeline for almost a year, as have several other web-hosting sites that we’ll be opening up in the near future. We opened up and saw an immediate surge in orders and this has continued since our launch. There seems to be no stopping the customers flocking to VPSSpeed!

I can’t blame them though, there are few VPS providers out there that can provide a 512MB VPS plan for under $15 /month and include a free control panel.

As VPSSpeed expands we’ve got loads of plans for it, including:
- Addition of Xen based VPS plans
- TUN Support (for stuff like OpenVPN)
- Pre-purchase reseller plans (i.e you can buy 2GB RAM, 500 GB HDD and 1TB bandwidth and allocate it out to your own VPS plans)
- Affiliate program to earn commission
- Updates Blog (to let people know about exciting new additions)
- A range of OS Templates to cover multiple versions of each supported OS.
- The addition of a Slackware template
- A pre-configured cPanel OS template
- A pre-configured DirectAdmin OS template
- A pre-configured Webmin Template
- A ‘hardened’ template (for those users without a control panel or who need a bit of help with server security!)

All these exciting features will be rolled out starting soon. Obviously not all at once, but we’ll get there!

VPSSpeed are currently running a special offer – get 10% off for life, plus an Unmetered 10mbps bandwidth connection (great for streaming!). Just use the coupon UNMETERED to claim the special offer! It expires on 15th March so be sure to get signed up soon!

www.VPSSpeed.com

So, whats been going on? Well the first thing, WebmasterStash had a refurb, and merged with another webmaster community, giving us a much larger array of content in the forums. I decided to close the main site as we simply didn’t have time to add new tutorials, templates and scripts due to work and life commitments. I think we tried biting off more than we could chew with WebmasterStash. Anyway, take a look at the new site (well, forums) and feel free to provide some feedback!

Next up, CLUBdb. This is still a fairly secretive project so I cant go into much detail at the moment. All I can say is that its being backed by a large club in the UK. CLUBdb is to fill a huge void in the market and provide some fantastic features. This probably makes no sense at all due to its secrecy…but don’t worry. It will make plenty of sense soon!

Mike has been working hard at a new Rike script. He started off working on a download manager, much like FMDeluxe (if anyone reading this can remember that far back! :p). However decided that his time would be better spent on a non open-source script, that way it could be marketed and licensed out to other companies. Mike is now working on an e-commerce based script with some fantastic new features that rival some of the best shopping carts out there!

The RikeMedia website will also be making a return soon with a new design and company blog. We will be issuning press releases and updates on projects, plus have sections showing what services and products are offered by the company.

Well I think thats about it for now. I’ll be launching the WSDReg Christmas promotion in the next few days and will be offering some fantastic offers! Be sure to keep your eyes on WSDReg.com for the full details!

We decided the best thing to do would be to flip sites. Make em’, sell em’ or buy em’, fix em’, sell em’! I’ve been watching the videos at SiteFlipAcademy and Justin has done a great job! He’s got some great information on his site, and in his videos. Anyone looking to become a ‘flipper’ should take a look at his site.

Currently I’m working on getting our new RikeMedia site done, which will run on WordPress, but not be an actual blog. I like wordpress and the way it deals with content…there’s no reason why it cant be used purely as a content manager!

I’m currently integrating the design. After that I will re-write all the content and such as well as insert a portfolio for all the sites we make/sell.

Mikes working on a custom CMS which we will use on some of the sites we make to sell. I’ve not seen it yet but it sounds pretty fancy….custom licensing system, modules, template engine, all the cool little features you’ll ever need. Oh, and complete integration with vB 3.7.

We are thinking about licensing it out (I.E selling licenses) as it will match if not beat the features and functionality of many premium scripts out there.

For the sites that don’t need a CMS we’ll probably just hand code them. There will be a few as not all site needs/wants a complex system.

Our first site up for sale is WebmasterStash. We simply lost the will to keep this going. Its a lot harder than you think, especially when you don’t get a return. It took us over 6 months to make WebmasterStash, before opening in December. Its gotten us nowhere!

Anyway, I’ll post another update about Rike once its up and running.

In other news, next week is my FINAL week of college…it feels really weird, and will feel even more weird when we go downstairs in the lift for the final time. We decided that we would all go to the pub on Tuesday, along with all our tutors (which could be interesting!). A final laugh all together, before we all bugger off to Uni’s all over the country!

Right….thats all for now folks!

Once the new layouts completed I will post it up for download should anyone wish to use it! I did think about moving away from WordPress. A guy I met on the VPSLink forums, Kelvin recently did the same and taught himself Python. His site is now running a totally custom system, and looks fantastic. I was thinking about doing the same, however I really don’t want to learn another language until I’ve sorted some more important things out (I.E WSDReg, Sites, etc). I may still do it, however not until at least next year.

I also was talking to my friend Mike about something I wanted to do. I am planning on creating myself my own management area. Basically with all the sites I have, if I want to check the emails I end up having to jump around all over the place to get to the accounts. So I decided I would make my own mail client (in php) which would allow me to add additional accounts to it from multiple sites, thus providing me with a single interface to manage the accounts with!

At the same time I also want to make myself a code library with reusable code, so I thought why not make it a complete “localhost” system to manage all my web related projects! I’ve not started the mail part, but the code library is getting there.I *may* give the system out when its completed, however I’m not 100% sure if I wish to do that yet.

I will also be moving RickyMills.com to a better host soon. I’ve been with VPSLink for a long time, however my VPS has stated rebooting, and the LXAdmin control panel is god awful to use…the amount of times I’ve had to reboot the server because it ends up hanging on a command or tells me the “back-end is being rebooted” is unbelievable!

VPSLink are really great, but LXAdmin sucks something terrible! So I’ll be getting a decent shared host that I can get a good deal with. Not sure who yet however it wont be until I finish college (about 3 weeks time).

I think that’s it for now!

I am now however finally starting to get back into it, in the last week or so especially. I have a development server, which was replaced by my fantastic insurance company when my last one was ruined in a flood (the server was running in our garage because it was hot and noisy). So the insurance company said I had XXX to spend on the parts, and I would be putting it together…this is about 6-8 months ago.

The server has been working fine, however its big, heavy, noisy and gets very warm (the RAM more than anything!).

So I decided I would try getting something a little smaller, cooler and quieter…then it hit me….a Mac Mini! These little things are tiny, silent and can run headless (I.E without a screen, keyboard and mouse).I looked around the web and found some really great articles on setting up a Mac Mini as a server. One guy has even taken 2 mac minis and put them into a single 1u server…giving him 2 top speed servers!

Anyway, my Mac Mini is due to arrive today, so I’m currently waiting patiently :p I got a pretty great deal, Intel C2D 1.68Ghz with 1GB RAM and a 100GB HDD for £250 (the current cheapest Mac Mini is £399, or £350 with astudent discount). I also happened to sell my old iPod Touch at the same time so ended up paying £150! Very good deal!!

Once its all setup, I’m going to start setting up and selling sites once more, and will also do a bit of flipping (buy, fix, sell). I’ve not done it in a few months (well, I did do FotoRazor however that was a bit of a failure in the end!).

I also hope to get myself a large library of small sites that will generate a small Adsense income to keep my account ticking over. Plus I will be making a page with sites for sale to go on my site.

I’m making another post after this one with more info as I don’t want to overwhelm you all in a single post!

So far I’ve spoken with .NET, Web Designer and Linux User however will be speaking with several others soon. I want WSDReg to expand into the UK market, mainly because most current UK registrars really do rip people off, they have stupidly high prices (2-400% higher than the rrp!) and people buy at these prices!

I also (finally) updated my “About Me” page. Its basically the same as the one on the old site, but just slightly updated to reflect recent events.

I decided not to post a “Look back at April” as I’ve not had time to work on much recently due to college work (and GTA IV coming out!) however I am going to revise my goals for 2008 once I’ve finished college, and will start expanding my portfolio of websites. I’m still confident that by the end of the year, I will own websites taking in $500+ a month.

Anyway….thats it for now. Cya later!

I thought there would be some big compatibility problems what with all the changes made in 2.5 however it worked flawlessly! Why the new skin you ask? Why Not! I answer

Ok, so last month. I had a lot going on with college, meaning I didn’t have much time to work on anything. Despite this I managed to get the front-end of the webhostbutler.com script completed, and as for the backend I’ve decided to keep it simple and have a very basic backend.

I’ve also started work on the other project (home server). I’ve got big plans for this one.

Finally, I finished building/configuring my home server, its now running Fedora Linux ( core 8 ) and has a bunch of SATA drives slotted in everywhere I could fit them :p The only thing I’m disappointed about is the RAM. Its the hottest part of the entire system, and actually hurts to touch. Because of this its causing the entire room to become a sauna!

Theres not much I can do to fix this other than buy RAM fans (Which are very noisy due to their small form factor). I may try taking 2 of the 4 1gb sticks out to see if that helps. The CPU (Intel c2d 2.66Ghz) is pretty cold and is running on a stock Intel fan (I found this to be quieter and more effective than an Alaska fan purchased from eBuyer). The hard drives are warm to touch, but don’t give off huge amounts of heat like the RAM. The only other warm(ish) component is what looks to be a northbridge with a bronze heatsink built into the motherboard.

So far I’ve got Apache, PHP, MySQL setup for web development, plus SAMBA so I can access the server as if it was a folder on my own computer, I’m using this to have my itunes library stored on the server, which will free up a good 10GB of space on both my laptop and desktop computers. Its also acting as a media storage for any films / tv programs I’ve got.

I also purchased a usb freeview card and it can record TV directly to the server, which can then be watched from any computer/device connected to our home network! I think an upgrade to a 802.11n router will be needed soon. Our netgear 54g is on its way out at the moment. We get through routers like a fat man gets through mars bars! This time I may spend a bit extra and get a faster router and gradually upgrade the network. Especially if Virgin is going to be getting their customers broadband speeds upto 100mbps by years end! No point paying for 100mbps if your internal network is 54mbps

Anyway, this month I hope to get webhostbutler online, and continue work on the home server site. I dont expect to have this ready to launch for a good 2-3 months yet as I want this to be a well thought out project.

Thats about it for now I think!

I’ve decided to pull the plug on the site as its not worth the time to go and fix the problems. Its mainly my fault….thats the one site I forgot to update wordpress on.

Anyway, It now redirects to here.

Another little thing, yesterday I found this great book for freelancing….and it doesnt cover just web development freelancing.

For anyone interested in getting this, its avaliable via Lulu. I ordered mine yesterday so now I wait. Be sure to take a look at the free chapters and you’ll get an idea of what its all about!

Let me know if you buy it! I’ll post a review once I get it.

Ok, well because of college work, not a huge amount got done last month. I’m hoping after next week I can get back to work. If I get 2 distinctions and a merit on these units, I will have gotten myself onto the next level for UCAS points, meaning I’ll have 240, and I need 200 to get in…..I wanted to make sure I had plenty of points, just in case something came up that made me screw up one of the units.

Anyway…..last month! I bought a cheap turnkey site, WebHostButler.com which is currently still showing the same over-used, crappy turnkey layout….I’ve not even visited the site since it was moved to my server. Why you may ask? Well, I’m making a custom script for it. It has a new layout and will allow hosts to be listed in the directory within categories, they can then be reviewed and coupons can be posted for the listed hosts.

I am hoping once its finished, the script can be re-used on more domains by myself or sold on as a professional script solution. Why the quick turnaround? I had a GREAT idea for a site which I think will become rather popular soon. Think “Home Servers”…..then think “Talk”…..now do a whois on the two put together with a .com

I am trying to raise funds for that, as well as a major restructure of WSDReg. Currently for every domain registered, We get charged TWO, yes TWO PayPal fees as ResellerClub deduct the fee from your account! Meaning we pay 6.9% plus 0.60 of ever transaction. Over the last two years, we have lost over $400 in profit from this. We’re looking at migrating to an alternate provider, or accepting additional payment methods. I want WSDReg to eventually gain ICANN accreditation status, however I don’t expect this to be possible for at least another 4 years.

This year I want to get WSDReg on its own PHP based system, along side a privatized reseller brand created by ourselves. More info will be announced about this at a later date.

Anyway, I think thats about it for now….I’ll try updating sooner rather than later next month!

Oh wait…..theres one more thing! I’ve also purchased another site….well, more like a domain and a template. TurnkeyCity.com to be procise. Currently it does nothing, however I’ll be making this into another project in a month or so. Once I’ve got webhostbutler out the way, I’ll work on the Home server thing, and TurnkeyCity. I’m not really wanting to give away too much about these projects as I’m not 100% ready to work on them. I’ll announce more later this month.

Last little bit, I now own around 3 LLLL.coms which have jumped from being worth $8 up to around $250 each in the space of 2 months. Its estimated that in a year, they will be worth a few grand each! So, if you have any LLLL.com’s you know what to do…..give them to me :p

Right…..thats all for now, cya!