Over 800 people attended the conference in Orem, Utah, where Bluehost team members gave more than 12 presentations, many of which were standing room only. Bluehost also supplied conference volunteers, turned out in force to support Perl, MySQL, OpenStack, Women in Technology WordPress and Learning Python for Kids events, and sponsored dinners for the Utah PHP Users Group and the Utah Perl Mongers.

Bluehost presenters included:

• The How and Why of Hash Switches and Back Mapping - Jason Van Patten
• Selenium for Automation and Testing - Daniel Fackrell
• Using Software Collections to Install Newer Perls on EL5/EL6 - Doran Barton
• An intro to API development with Mojolicious - Matt Monsen
• Practical Slow Query Log Analysis using Perl - Rob Van Dam
• Linux on ARM — the next big thing? - Jared Smith
• Using OpenStack In A Traditional Hosting Environment - Jun Park, Mike Wilson
• Getting Started with Drupal - Jared Smith
• Using Shorewall For Robust Linux Firewall - Doran Barton
• The Current State of Gaming In Linux - Timothy Longwell
• A Brief History of Open Source - Doran Barton
• Child themes and post format support - Mike Hanseng

Click here for local press coverage about the conference: http://bluho.st/kStmI 

Bluehost’s official statement on CISPA is as follows:

“Bluehost appreciates and supports the need for cybersecurity.  However, Bluehost also believes that respect for privacy rights is critical to a free and open society.  As a provider of web solutions, our customers have entrusted Bluehost with their personal and business information.  Bluehost takes its responsibility for the security of this information seriously.  In its current form, CISPA would make it very difficult for Bluehost to establish clear guidelines as to when information must be shared with the government.  This is deeply troubling for both Internet companies like Bluehost and the customers they serve.  Legislation around cybersecurity and the Internet should be crafted through a multi-stakeholder process that more appropriately balances security with the right to privacy.  For these reasons, Bluehost opposes CISPA and urges Congressional leaders to include all stakeholders in the cybersecurity dialogue.”

We encourage our customers to do their own research on CISPA and participate in discussions at their discretion. If you have any questions about Bluehost’s stance on CISPA, feel free to email us.

Since the beginning, Bluehost has been built with open source technology. You could say it’s in our blood. So to expand our products and to support our customers with the best hosting services possible, we have been pioneering implementation of new, cutting edge OpenStack technology.

Recently, several members of our admin team attended the 2013 OpenStack Summit in Portland. While there, two of our senior systems architects, Jun Park (Ph.D) and Mike Wilson, presented on how we’ve been pioneering the use of OpenStack to power and revolutionize our hosting platform. The presentation was a hit so we’ve uploaded the slides here for anyone interested in reviewing the information. We’ll upload a video recording of the presentation soon. Enjoy!

**UPDATE: The video of the presentation is now available! Check it out:

 http://www.slideshare.net/junparkearth/blue-host-openstacksummit2013

As they announced in February, Posterous has been acquired by Twitter and as of April 30, 2013, the platform will shut down. To accommodate Posterous users that are looking for a new place for their content, Bluehost’s expert WordPress developers have created an import tool for Posterous users to transfer all of their content from Posterous to WordPress on Bluehost without a hitch. And to make the transition even smoother, Bluehost is offering all previous Posterous users a special hosting price of $3.95/month if they transfer to Bluehost before April 30.

Using the Bluehost import tool is easy. Follow these steps and you’ll be ready to go on WordPress in no time.

Instructions for using the Posterous-to-Bluehost importer: 

1. Request your backup from posterous.com.

   

    

   

    

2. Install WordPress on your Bluehost account using Simple Scripts with the following steps:

3. - First register for a Bluehost account here for a special price of $3.95/month. 
   - Then using the credentials emailed to you from Bluehost, log into your control panel.
   - Find the icon under site builders that shows WordPress and click.
   - You will then be taken to a SimpleScripts page.
   - Find WordPress and click the icon.
   - When you reach the next screen select “Install” not import(you will need the plugin mentioned later for that).
   - You will then reach a screen with some options, select any of the options you would like.
   - check the terms and conditions checkbox
   - click “Complete”
   - You can then use the login credentials to your WordPress admin to login and install the importer.

4. Download the Posterous importer here.
5. Install the plugin using the upload method.
6. Activate the plugin.
7. Goto Tools-> Import and select Posterous from the list.
8. Select a user to assign the posts to. (If you need to create a new user do so first)
9. Select the .zip file you got from Posterous
10. Click Start Import.

Note: if your export from Posterous is too large you will need to follow the Advance import instructions.

Advanced Import Instructions:

1. Request your backup from posterous.com.
2. Install WordPress on your Bluehost account using Simple Scripts.
3. Download the Posterous importer here.
4. Install the plugin using the upload method.
5. Activate the plugin.
6. Goto Tools-> Import and select Posterous from the list.
7. Click “Goto Advanced Form”
8. Upload your UNZIPPED export from Posterous to the posterous folder in the current month (ex: wp-content/2013/04/posterous) using your FTP program.
9. Select a user to assign the posts to
10. Click Start Import.

Note: the “Start Import” button will be disabled unless the folder is detected.

And if you have any trouble, just give our support team a call at (888) 401-4678 any time 24/7 and we’ll be there to help you.

Click on the image to view the full infographic and visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to let us know what you think. Stay tuned to find out exactly when you can expect VPS and dedicated hosting by Bluehost!

Click on the image to view the full infographic and visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to let us know what you think!

This shift in the consumer psyche is partially due to the increase in available information and guidance, and partially a result of a difficult economy. Consumers are driven to attempt new feats that they’d never otherwise consider, all in the hope of saving a few bucks.  In the realm of web hosting in particular, the DIY mentality shows no signs of slowing down. There’s no question that as these new webmasters become more capable and aware of the possibilities that come with building their own website, they will also become more dependent on their web hosting companies.  And this dependence is – perhaps surprisingly – not a bad thing.

Here are some reasons why:

1. The more people attempt to build their own websites, the more web hosts will develop their services to meet the growing needs of their customers.  There’s no question that as individuals become consumers of the web hosting industry and don’t leave these decisions to professionals, there will be a shift in the desires of web hosting consumers. Top web hosts will continue to show expanded features and services to meet these evolving needs.
2. Those building websites for the first time depend on their web hosts to make the endeavor as simple as possible. The continued growth of this trend will prompt web hosts to simplify their web hosting services in new and innovative ways. This will be a significant advantage for consumers at all skill levels.  Though many web hosts entice consumers by offering the latest technologies such as PHP 5 and PostgreSQL databases, novice website builders are looking for the simplest technologies. The more new website builders rely on their web hosts, the more hosts will simplify and adapt their platforms accordingly.
3. Web hosting is evolving from a strictly technical field to one that comprises a lot of design elements, and consumers at all levels depend on their hosts to provide these services.  Whether via a drag-and-drop website builder or a wide array of website templates, web hosts have begun to help their clients build not only reliable websites, but beautiful sites – and this is a trend that is certain to extend into the future.

One More Thing to Consider

It’s also important to consider that while DIY endeavors are becoming more popular, we are also living in an age where people are overstimulated and over-scheduled. They can only make time for things that are truly critical.  Some web hosting providers have already begun to offer mobile platforms through which webmasters can update their sites on-the-go. All of the top web hosts provide automatic site backups to protect their clients’ information, without placing this burden on the webmaster.

Moving forward, webmasters will likely find it even more difficult to balance the burden of building and maintaining their websites while tending to their family, business or other obligations.  In turn, they will rely on their web hosts even more to provide support services, reliable uptime and easy access – things which can always be improved.  Though this situation may seem paradoxical, it is certainly one that will have long term benefits for webmasters worldwide.

Jessica Stewart is a researcher at Consumer-Rankings.com and specializes in covering the progress of the hosting industry.

Bluehost is committed to open source. From our data center to the programs our customers rely on every day, our business is built on it. So we’re always looking for ways to give back. This year we were privileged to be a diamond sponsor of the O’Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON), one of the world’s largest and most significant open source conferences.

We had a great week in Portland. We met a lot of great developers, learned a ton, and made a few BIG announcements. Here are some highlights!

Best Booth Ever

We wanted everyone at OSCON to know just how seriously we take our commitment to open source, so we built a massive Bluehost lounge front & center in the exhibit hall, complete with a comfy couch, super padded carpet, an awesome display showcasing live traffic to our website, and of course… a world-class Ping Pong table.

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Lots of people had a blast playing against our robot. Tim O’Reilly stopped by a few times to take on Alfred. Check out who won!

Awesome Prizes

Nexus 7 Raffle
The latest tablet, up for grabs. With hundreds of entries submitted, we held our raffle on Thursday at 4pm. The lucky winner? Fred T. Congrats Fred!

Ping Pong Tournament
We held a 16-person single-elimination tournament at 1pm on Thursday. The competition was fierce. Who knew so many OSCON attendees would be so good at Ping Pong? At the end of the day Martin pulled out the win. He walked away with the flat screen TV, significant bragging rights, and a title to defend.

Play Bluehost to Win
Conference participants were invited to stop by our lounge for a chance to win a free year of web hosting. All they had to do was beat a Bluehost player. Not many were able to equal our CEO Dan Handy or Affiliate Manager Alfred Najem, so we gave contestants a few point head start.

Ping Pong Table Giveaway
Instead of bringing our Ping Pong table back with us to Provo, we offered it as a prize in the OSCON raffle. Participants had to collect all the required trading cards to enter the drawing.

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Announcements

O’Reilly Radar Report
At Bluehost we work closely with both small businesses and open source developers, and we’ve noticed that all too often these two communities seem unaware of the impact they have on one another. To help bridge this gap we sponsored an O’Reilly report that examines the impact of open source on small business. We provided anonymous customers usage data and performed a survey to explore how open source helps small businesses. The paper made some startling discoveries. For example, it turns out the economic benefit of open source software to Bluehost customers alone amounts to over $12 billion dollars!

Watch the roundtable discussion with Tim O’Reilly, Bluehost CEO Dan Handy, EIG VP Technology John Mone, O’Reilly Media Director of Market Research Roger Magoulas, and O’Reilly AuthorMike Hendrickson.

BOSS
Bluehost has long supported open source. After all, we and our customers rely on great open source tools every day. To do even more we’ve launched the Bluehost Open Source Solutions program, or BOSS. It’s designed to make leveraging Bluehost resources in support of open source development easier than ever. Headed by our Director of Open Source Outreach, BOSS offers open source developers unprecedented resources to help them succeed. Learn more at bluehost.com/BOSS.

Bluehost.com/OpenSource
Bluehost is committed to open source, and now we have a centralized hub from which to base our efforts. From here we’ll make announcements, promote new initiatives and open source developments, share resources, communicate ways we can help, etc…

Keynote Address

John Mone, EVP Technology for our parent company (Endurance International Group), gave a keynote address highlighting the impact of open source on small business and the economy. Check it out!

Sponsored Sessions

Jared Smith, our Director of Open Source Outreach, spoke on Asterisk, a leading open source telecommunications platform. We weren’t able to get video, but people loved it. Bluehost Senior Developer Jason Hall expounded on the role of open source in supporting enterprise-level billing systems. We did manage to record his presentation and we uploaded it to our YouTube channel.

O’Reilly also posted several great videos on their channel, so check them out. OSCON 2012 was a blast. And make sure to save the date for next summer!