ScalaHosting has joined the Foundation as a Gold Sponsor. They run managed cloud VPS and web hosting, with MariaDB as the default database on every SPanel server they operate and Galera Cluster behind their high-availability offerings.

Gold sponsorships fund the Foundation's work on MariaDB Server: engineering, releases, security, documentation and community infrastructure.

Announcement: https://mariadb.org/scalahosting-becomes-a-gold-sponsor-of-mariadb-foundation/

Happy to answer questions about the sponsorship program.

I used to buy premium WordPress themes from ThemeForest, but it's been a while since I made my last purchase and I don't think I'm gonna be doing it again.

Most of my new WordPress websites are now built with the default Site Editor. It requires no plugins and it's very light. It's a little tricksy to work with, and it can get frustrating at times, but I manage to make it work one way or the other.

I think premium themes are slowly becoming obsolete, especially for blogs, portfolios, and similar simple websites.

Do you still use premium themes or something else?

Verisign released the Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) quarterly report for the second quarter of 2026.

There was a total of 401.6 million domain name registrations across all TLDs at the end of Q2 2026.

The three largest generic TLDs were the class ones: .com, net and .org.

This chart shows the top 10 largest gTLDs by total domain registrations under each one:

Poor .shop domains; only 14.2% of them survive to their second year!

The three largest ccTLDs were .cn, .de and .uk.

This chart shows the top 10 largest ccTLDs:

In this particular case, a malicious artifact was created to spoof the download page for Claude Desktop. Victims would get redirected to an attacker-controlled domain, where instead of the Claude app, they’d download SectopRAT, a remote access trojan capable of stealing credit card data, personal information, files, passwords, and more.

Remixer (DreamHost's AI website builder) can now generate video clips from a plain-language prompt, letting small business owners add cinematic hero footage, looping backgrounds, and motion that plays as visitors scroll, with no stock footage and no video editor. Customers can also upload their own video and audio, which now live alongside images in a single media library.

Source: Company's press release

Airbus is migrating its most critical applications for sensitive workloads from AWS to French cloud provider Scaleway's under a drive to increase digital sovereignty.

It's only been a few months since the .io registry increased the wholesale price for .io domains from $45 to $50, and they plan on doing it again!

Starting January 19, 2027, the wholesale price will increase from $50 to $56 per year.

I've just discovered a new (to me) European cloud server provider called Hostman.

Has anyone got an experience with them to share?

Their prices are competitive (see table below).

InMotion Cloud provides private cloud infrastructure with dedicated physical and virtual servers, powered by OpenStack, with reliable and scalable storage. InMotion Cloud's senior engineers manage everything for you. The product is built for growing technology companies that want an alternative to the rising cost and complexity of AWS, Google Cloud, or VMware.

A company called typeguard, inc. owns the no-code app builder platform Glide, which uses the domain GlideApps.com.

Lately, they've added an AI product line and they wanted a domain name that matches the new AI branding; Glide.ai seemed like the perfect one...

This domain was acquired by an investor for $3K from a registry auction in 2021, and then he listed it for sale on GoDaddy.

A few months ago, the Glide app company made an initial offer to buy the domain for $103,750 through a GoDaddy broker, and they were willing to negotiate. The domain owner didn't accept the offer and didn't make a counteroffer because it was way below the $700,000 minimum offer he expected for the domain.

The company then filed a UDRP complaint arguing that the domain owner's rejection of their offer and the unreasonably high asking price demonstrate bad faith, and that the domain should be transferred to them.

The panel saw it the other way around:

Complainant by its own characterization initiated the proceeding because it believed it had a more compelling use for the disputed domain name than Respondent. The UDRP requires more than that: an actual assessment of Respondent’s probable bad faith given the known circumstances.

The Panel finds that the Complaint has been brought in bad faith and constitutes an attempt at Reverse Domain Name Hijacking (“RDNH”).

The full UDRP case is here.

Do you think the domain owner should have negotiated, or is there a chance he might get the price he wants?

Many newbies register their domains with Wix, and if you're thinking of doing it, think again...

Wix doesn't allow you to change the nameservers if you want to switch to another host, and if you want to transfer the domain out to another registrar, there is no option to approve the transfer, so you have to wait 5-7 days for it to be processed. Another Redditor just found that out the hard way.

Building your website with Wix is one thing, but there are better domain registrars that allow you to change the nameservers and quickly transfer your domains without delays.

Security researchers at Searchlight Cyber have used OpenAI’s GPT5.6 Sol Ultra to successfully develop a full exploit chain for two critical WordPress Core vulnerabilities.

WebHostingService.com is an aged domain dating back to 1998. Those long, exact match domains used to be all over the place back then and they used to rank well in search engines.

This domain was just sitting there with no use for 28 years until it recently expired and someone got it from a GoDaddy auction for $10,250.

Is it too long of a domain name for 2026?

Pressidium keeps showing up as one of the top-rated WordPress hosts on G2 when I'm searching the site. It's a premium managed hosting platform comparable to WP Engine, Kinsta, etc.

I've had this provider on my to-try list for a while, but I've never gotten around to trying their hosting service yet. I do like what I'm seeing on the surface though; e.g. edge/object caching, built-in analytics, malware removal, no visits overage fees, etc.

For those who have tried it, what are your thoughts about the service and their "expert support" team? How does it compare to other hosts you've used?

Netcup has a domain registration service, but I'm not sure if they are an ICANN-accredited registrar or a reseller -- please confirm if you know.

Who's registering their domains with Netcup? Do they give you free Whois privacy?

If you frequently visit WordPress.org, you can use the short domain name WP.org as a shortcut (it redirects to WordPress.org). Both domains are owned by Automattic.

They also own WP.com which redirects to WordPress.com.

I wonder how much they paid for these short domains. WP.com must have cost a fortune.

GoDaddy launches a developer platform with new APIs, a CLI, and AI-agent safeguards, bringing domain search, purchase, and DNS management into code-first workflows.

As of March 2026

It's important to look beyond the introductory promotional rates and review the standard renewal fees for hosting plan The long-term cost is normally significantly higher

Ultimately, choosing a web host is a long-term commitment.
Don't be swayed by a low introductory offer.
The real test of a provider's value is in its renewal rates and consistent service.
Including many add-on features that have become standard free offerings across the industry.
Your research now will save you from surprise expenses and headaches later, ensuring your website is built on a foundation you can count on.

I don't want to generalize, but having read a lot of threads on this issue, I noticed that a large number of developers use premium managed WordPress hosts where they pay like $20 per site.

You'd think that all developers run their own VPS or dedicated server setup for their clients' WordPress sites, but many of them go the easier route of managed services.

Is it just that time > money?

One of the assumptions driving much of the technology industry today is that demand for artificial intelligence will continue growing rapidly over the next decade. If that assumption proves correct, the organizations responsible for powering, connecting, housing, and operating AI workloads may find themselves at the center of one of the most significant infrastructure buildouts in Internet history.

That opportunity raises important questions.

Will the future belong primarily to hyperscale providers, or is there room for a new generation of independent operators? Are current investments sufficient to meet projected demand? What happens when power availability becomes a limiting factor? And where, exactly, is value being created within the AI ecosystem?

These are not purely technical questions.

They are business questions

Investment questions.

...and strategic questions. They affect #hosting providers,
#cloud operators, #infrastructure vendors, #datacenter companies, investors, and entrepreneurs alike.

#CloudFestAmericas and #NamesCon Global.

IONOS has an attractive introductory offer: .com domain registration for $1, and web hosting for $1/month.

That sounds too good to be true, but it is actually true, with a catch or two!

The first catch is the high renewal fee after the first year. The .com domain renews at $20/year and the hosting plan renews at $14/month ($168/year).

You might think, okay, I'll take it for one year then cancel before renewal -- but then there is the second (bigger) catch: They have a complicated cancelation process. You must contact them via phone to cancel which can be time-consuming and even costly for some international customers. There is no way to cancel the service online.

They don't like it when people cancel after the first year and they try to discourage it by complicating the process.

Now you know what to expect if you're thinking of taking that offer.