Actually, it depends completely on which free website you choose. As I said in my earlier post, some providers prevent deep-linking by dynamically moving content around (sharing the load among several different servers).
Each link to an image is actually a link to another HTML file (I don't know how this works when the link says "/something.jpg"). It's very frustrating when you are trying to "Save Target As..." since you end up with an HTML file and inside is a link to a JPG that has already been moved. You have to basically load the HTML page and then right-click on the image itself to save it.
What's the problem with just linking to the HTML files? Well...that's where the frame+banner+ad trickery all happens. So yes...you could link to a bunch of images on free website providers as long you don't mind the fact that clicking on one of these links would spawns a new window or frame with some ad content.
Now...I don't like GeoCities because it spawns a new window. I find it is much more "polite" if they tuck the ad content in another frame. Why? Because I know the code to "break" the frame and just give me a plain, unadulterated, page that looks identical to part of my site.
If you'd like to see a GREAT example of how you can built a COMPLETE site out of nothing but free website providers (with hardly an ad anywhere!)check out...
http://mangaheaven.cjb.net/
(Naughty Anime alert). If it wasn't for the host name, you'd never know this entire collection of pages was run completely on the good graces of providers like Xoom and Tripod. Notice how the main page on cbj.net instantly hands off traffic to ten other websites so that if one site goes down, it only takes a day or two for the site owner to mirror the collection to a new host.
You might consider putting some of your content on any number of the free webpage providers like GeoCities or Xoom. It's not really classy enough for commercial sites, but they are great for defraying some traffic from your primary site. This may be just what a starving artist needs...?
Give basic information and/or samples on the free site and then if people are interested, they can click-through to your primary site. It's also a great way to tell people about mirrors (if Link A doesn't work, try Link B)
Generally speaking...unless you are reaching abuse levels with MB transferred...most webpage providers could even handle link attention of slashdot proportions.
Some providers like Tripod and Web1000 (porn banner alert) already spread your content over several servers to keep other people from "deep-linking" one particular file...handy if you want people to read your statement and not just download your images.
Whenever I see topics like this (um, history) I can't help but wonder what the History Channel will be doing specials on in like ten or twenty years...
"Rise and Fall of an Empire: The Microsoft Story"
"The Penguin Cronicles: Why the Inter(pla)net runs Linux"
Or mebbe I'll just be watching the SlashDot channel...
> Umm if you are selling it from an offshore site > the government can just charge tarrifs when it > enters the US.
A lot of industries work with middlemen that never ever touch the product. They simply take sales from a targetted group of customers. Like private label brands and such. The transaction could START in one country and END in another one so...tax or tariff? Which is more? That was my point...find a country with a favorable trade laws and import instead of buying local.
Hell...what could they do if I hosted my entire company off a boat floating in international waters or in waters belonging to a US territory? The fact that these situations even exist should be proof the concept is as impossible as taxing garage sales and out-of-state purchases.
But more important...a lot of things being sold on the Internet are digital in nature. Like software, MP3, and information in general...what is going to happen to these sites under a new Internet taxation structure?
I mean...ugh...goods are taxed. Fine. But what happens if you are talking about an MP3 being "produced" on the fly? It's like replicating cars out of thin air... is the government going to get a cut of every car sold?
WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO EARN THE MONEY? The private sector foots the bill for the entire system and still we are taxed? I don't get it...
So is the advent of web-based taxation going to mean that there will also be tax havens for Internet hosting of virual (not brick-and-mortar) companies? IE...run those fat fiber pipes to some island in the South Pacific and then run the tax-free company from there...?
What about the possibilty of escrow services where a larger for-profit company acts as the buying agent for a customer in a transaction? I believe eBay has something like this that allows any JoeShmoe seller to take credit card payments to make sure they don't get ripped off and to make the buyer feel safer. This is basically a person-to-person transaction, but because it is being conducted over a company website am I out the tax now in addition to the eBay fees?
Here's the biggest big question tho...what the hell does the goverment do that actually deserves my tax dollars? I mean...I pay taxes at my real-world company to help pay for the roads that bring me my customers, for the police that protect my property and so on. Before the government gets too tax happy...let's ask WHAT costs we are actually defraying?
If anything...my ISP is doing all the work and I'm probably already paying "taxes" to them for the bandwidth I chew. Larger pipes are run by backbone providers which are also privately owned. I don't think the government has spent one thin time on the Internet in the last seven or so years...
The government can pretend they are losing money thanks to web-based commerce but that is a crock of steaming manure. The increase in e-commerce has produced a ten-fold growth in ISPs, web hosts, backbone providers, hardware companies like Cisco and 3Com...all of which is taxed, taxed, taxed. So I don't buy the idea that the Internet is going to make the government broke.
...considering there are dozens of sites like http://mp3.lycos.com/ that make a living off the advertising revenue from pages that do the exact same thing?
I mean...why the hell doesn't the "Swedish disk industry" (thanks, BabelFish!) go after the major targets with 1) more money 2) more accountability and 3) a broader audience ?
Yes I know...Lycos is an American company and I suppose the Swede was local. So what then if he had used XOOM or GeoCities to post the links? Would then he have gone completely unnoticed?
I can't possibly imaging any judge stupid enough to buy into the "accomplice" mentality. I mean, there is no way that linking to information could be considered helping the crime any more than pointing out the nearest pawn shop makes you party to the sale of stolen property.
Here's the scary part...what if he had linked to a page that had links to illegal MP3s? What if he had linked to a page that had a link to a page that had illegal MP3s?
As we just learned...chances are that every site on the Internet is less than 19 links away from stolen or illegal content so...who gets to decide where to draw the line that primary links are illegal but secondary or tertiary are less so?
Fah...someone get this kid a good lawyer. The poor "Swedish tea rodent" (again, BabelFish) needs to win this one or we are all screwed...
Slashdot Mirror
For information on the Visor that many of the above posts have mentioned please read:
3 30104,00.html?chkpt=hpqs014
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2
Expect the Handspring home page (www.handspring.com) to finally have pictures and real information when the Visor is formally released tomorrow.
Also, perhaps a partial explanation for the split is that 3Com is backing a wireless project that seems to fly in the face of the existing PalmVII:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/307945.asp
Letting Palm Computing fend for itself would allow 3Com to focus on wireless networking for all PalmOS devices.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Actually, it depends completely on which free website you choose. As I said in my earlier post, some providers prevent deep-linking by dynamically moving content around (sharing the load among several different servers).
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Each link to an image is actually a link to another HTML file (I don't know how this works when the link says "/something.jpg"). It's very frustrating when you are trying to "Save Target As..." since you end up with an HTML file and inside is a link to a JPG that has already been moved. You have to basically load the HTML page and then right-click on the image itself to save it.
What's the problem with just linking to the HTML files? Well...that's where the frame+banner+ad trickery all happens. So yes...you could link to a bunch of images on free website providers as long you don't mind the fact that clicking on one of these links would spawns a new window or frame with some ad content.
Now...I don't like GeoCities because it spawns a new window. I find it is much more "polite" if they tuck the ad content in another frame. Why? Because I know the code to "break" the frame and just give me a plain, unadulterated, page that looks identical to part of my site.
If you'd like to see a GREAT example of how you can built a COMPLETE site out of nothing but free website providers (with hardly an ad anywhere!)check out...
http://mangaheaven.cjb.net/
(Naughty Anime alert). If it wasn't for the host name, you'd never know this entire collection of pages was run completely on the good graces of providers like Xoom and Tripod. Notice how the main page on cbj.net instantly hands off traffic to ten other websites so that if one site goes down, it only takes a day or two for the site owner to mirror the collection to a new host.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
...or "How to Cluster for Free"
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
You might consider putting some of your content on any number of the free webpage providers like GeoCities or Xoom. It's not really classy enough for commercial sites, but they are great for defraying some traffic from your primary site. This may be just what a starving artist needs...?
Give basic information and/or samples on the free site and then if people are interested, they can click-through to your primary site. It's also a great way to tell people about mirrors (if Link A doesn't work, try Link B)
Generally speaking...unless you are reaching abuse levels with MB transferred...most webpage providers could even handle link attention of slashdot proportions.
Some providers like Tripod and Web1000 (porn banner alert) already spread your content over several servers to keep other people from "deep-linking" one particular file...handy if you want people to read your statement and not just download your images.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Whenever I see topics like this (um, history) I can't help but wonder what the History Channel will be doing specials on in like ten or twenty years...
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Rise and Fall of an Empire: The Microsoft Story"
"The Penguin Cronicles: Why the Inter(pla)net runs Linux"
Or mebbe I'll just be watching the SlashDot channel...
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Umm if you are selling it from an offshore site
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> the government can just charge tarrifs when it
> enters the US.
A lot of industries work with middlemen that never ever touch the product. They simply take sales from a targetted group of customers. Like private label brands and such. The transaction could START in one country and END in another one so...tax or tariff? Which is more? That was my point...find a country with a favorable trade laws and import instead of buying local.
Hell...what could they do if I hosted my entire company off a boat floating in international waters or in waters belonging to a US territory? The fact that these situations even exist should be proof the concept is as impossible as taxing garage sales and out-of-state purchases.
But more important...a lot of things being sold on the Internet are digital in nature. Like software, MP3, and information in general...what is going to happen to these sites under a new Internet taxation structure?
I mean...ugh...goods are taxed. Fine. But what happens if you are talking about an MP3 being "produced" on the fly? It's like replicating cars out of thin air... is the government going to get a cut of every car sold?
WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO EARN THE MONEY? The private sector foots the bill for the entire system and still we are taxed? I don't get it...
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
So is the advent of web-based taxation going to mean that there will also be tax havens for Internet hosting of virual (not brick-and-mortar) companies? IE...run those fat fiber pipes to some island in the South Pacific and then run the tax-free company from there...?
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
What about the possibilty of escrow services where a larger for-profit company acts as the buying agent for a customer in a transaction? I believe eBay has something like this that allows any JoeShmoe seller to take credit card payments to make sure they don't get ripped off and to make the buyer feel safer. This is basically a person-to-person transaction, but because it is being conducted over a company website am I out the tax now in addition to the eBay fees?
Here's the biggest big question tho...what the hell does the goverment do that actually deserves my tax dollars? I mean...I pay taxes at my real-world company to help pay for the roads that bring me my customers, for the police that protect my property and so on. Before the government gets too tax happy...let's ask WHAT costs we are actually defraying?
If anything...my ISP is doing all the work and I'm probably already paying "taxes" to them for the bandwidth I chew. Larger pipes are run by backbone providers which are also privately owned. I don't think the government has spent one thin time on the Internet in the last seven or so years...
The government can pretend they are losing money thanks to web-based commerce but that is a crock of steaming manure. The increase in e-commerce has produced a ten-fold growth in ISPs, web hosts, backbone providers, hardware companies like Cisco and 3Com...all of which is taxed, taxed, taxed. So I don't buy the idea that the Internet is going to make the government broke.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
...considering there are dozens of sites like http://mp3.lycos.com/ that make a living off the advertising revenue from pages that do the exact same thing?
I mean...why the hell doesn't the "Swedish disk industry" (thanks, BabelFish!) go after the major targets with 1) more money 2) more accountability and 3) a broader audience ?
Yes I know...Lycos is an American company and I suppose the Swede was local. So what then if he had used XOOM or GeoCities to post the links? Would then he have gone completely unnoticed?
I can't possibly imaging any judge stupid enough to buy into the "accomplice" mentality. I mean, there is no way that linking to information could be considered helping the crime any more than pointing out the nearest pawn shop makes you party to the sale of stolen property.
Here's the scary part...what if he had linked to a page that had links to illegal MP3s? What if he had linked to a page that had a link to a page that had illegal MP3s?
As we just learned...chances are that every site on the Internet is less than 19 links away from stolen or illegal content so...who gets to decide where to draw the line that primary links are illegal but secondary or tertiary are less so?
Fah...someone get this kid a good lawyer. The poor "Swedish tea rodent" (again, BabelFish) needs to win this one or we are all screwed...
- JoeShmoe