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October 2014 Newsletter

Introduction

Traveler!

I see you, Traveler! Come, sit by my fire.

I've rations enough for the both of us!

Come! I'm an old man, you see! I've no weapons but this staff, and my arms are weak and shriveled from the radiation. I'm no threat to you, Traveler.

It's just...it's been so long since I've seen anyone wandering this dusty, barren wasteland that wasn't from...you know. Up there. Above the clouds.

The creepers.

Ah yes, make yourself at home! These rations may be years old but they're still sealed. See, I came across an overturned big rig months ago full of 'em! Looked like it was part of a larger supply convoy, but those dang laser beams from the sky didn't leave anything else for salvage.

Between the beams and those creepers creepin' around I'd say you and I are right lucky to be alive.

Got plenty of water, too. Military T.R.A.P. filters help with the radiation but honestly that's like using a shot glass to bail out the Titanic, am I right? HA! HAHA! UH HUAHHHKK HUUAAAKKK. Ugh. Sorry friend. Lungs haven't worked too well since the attacks started, you know?

I see you've still got your sense of humor, Traveler. That's good. A man could go crazy out here if they ever stopped laughing. I came close a few times, that's for sure.

Say... You ever make your way out to Neo Vegas? I came across another traveler once, dressed up a bit like yourself. Said he came from Neo Vegas. Said they had some kind of "King" running the show over there. Some real whiz-bang computer guy.

The traveler told me this King of theirs managed to build a dome over the city - the entire city! - with something called "DreamCompute." Said this dome stops the beams AND the creepers from getting in. Can you imagine such a thing?

Now, I don't know how much of this story I believe, but if they've got a thing over there that can stop those alien bastards from sending down those beams and turning dust into more dust, then I'd say that's something worth fighting for.

I was headed that way myself before I set up camp for the night. See, this DreamCompute thing's got me interested. Back in my day I was all about the cloud. I was a pro. A real "DevOps thought leader". Hah! That's what they called me! Ridiculous.

But I was focused on the wrong things, you see. Proprietary hardware. Private clouds. Black box infrastructure. Closed source software. Sometimes I think that if I had been paying attention to important things like OpenStack back when I could have made a difference, none of this...would have happened.

I need to host my dreams in a sky full of clouds that aren't darkened by ships sending crackling beams of energy down to rattle my bones and shake the dust from every shattered tree limb at 7:52AM every. single. day.

So I'm headed toward Neo Vegas. I'm headed to DreamCompute; toward the promise of an open cloud, freedom from fear, and the chance to be a part of something that could save whatever's left of us from *them*.

You're welcome to join me, Traveler. But first, let's cuddle.

-Brett
@DreamHostBrett

Simon Says... (Written by CEO Simon Anderson!)

This week is a big milestone for individual developers worldwide! DreamCompute is now available to all with powerful, secure virtual servers running on our OpenStack cloud. If you haven't used a cloud server before, it's time to try DreamCompute with a free trial at as little as $19/mth for 2GB memory!

DreamHost team members will be working with over 1,400 developers on spec'ing out the next version of OpenStack called "Kilo" at the OpenStack Summit in Paris next week, so we can innovate fast and keep delivering the best open source applications and platforms for you, the makers of the web, to build your dream blog, web site or app.

Bon chance!

Best,
Simon
@DreamHostSimon

(Now back to Brett!)

NEW: DreamCompute Is Here!

In October we launched DREAMCOMPUTE!

DreamCompute

DreamCompute is, of course, our OpenStack-based public cloud computing service. DreamCompute is a computing and hosting environment that can scale up with the needs of your apps, your business, or *whatever* you run on the web!

"Instances" are what we call virtual servers. They're still servers, but instances divorce the concept of a "server" from the physical hardware on which it lives. You just tell us the specs that you're looking for and we'll create it virtually. And immediately!

In fact, I just spun up an Ubuntu instance and it was ready for me to login and start using with a fresh OS install in *less than 40 seconds!*

That's insane!

You can select from one of any number of virtual hardware configurations along with an OS of your choice, among them:

• Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr"
• Ubuntu 12.04 "Precise Pangolin"
• Fedora 20
• CentOS 6.5
• Debian 7.0 "Wheezy"

...and who knows what the future holds!

You can spin instances up and kill them off at a moment's notice. Don't worry about making any extra work for us - or even having to talk to a sales guy just to place an order. It's all automated!

DreamCompute starts at just $19 per month and includes a free 30-day trial - that includes up to 2 instances, up to 4vCPUs, up to 2GB of RAM, up to 25 GB of block storage, and one floating IP address!

We've even got pricing that lets you scale up all the way up to *18* instances to tackle the most intense Brettcoin-mining operations that you can possibly imagine.

If it feels like we've been talking about DreamCompute forever, it's because we have. We've been working so super duper hard on making DreamCompute happen for the last two years. We're even more super duper excited to finally announce that anyone, anywhere, can now sign up:

DreamCompute

The handsome gent that you see there is Luke, standing in front of some networking hardware in our Virginia datacenter - where he works!

If you've got any questions about DreamCompute, we'll be hosting a live Q&A session on Wednesday, November 12th at 10AM Pacific Time. You can sign up for that now!

DreamUp: DreamCompute Q&A

DreamCompute is here! I just want to say it again. Feels good.

Now let's cuddle.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has nothing to do with web hosting or cloud services.

Nothing.

...which is probably why we throw a giant Halloween party for friends and family every year!

This year our party took place at No Vacancy, a unique venue that gets a shout-out for being one of the coolest spots we've ever found in Los Angeles to throw a party:

No Vacancy

Even if you didn't know someone who knew someone to get in, you can relive the evening by perusing our Flickr gallery:

DreamHost on Flickr: Halloween 2014

There were so many great costumes this year and the DreamHost robots even made their public debut! Wheee-ooo!

You know...you could have come to this party, and you could come to all future parties, if you worked here.

We are hiring like cuh-razy right now. You don't even need to be in Southern California if you've got the skills to pay the bills.

Open Positions at DreamHost

Apply today!

Oh hey, can we cuddle? I don't actually know - I'm asking. If you apply for a job, cuddling is probably not allowed. I'll check with HR.

After we cuddle.

DreamHost WTF: Multifactor Authentication!

What's That Feature? It's Multifactor Authentication!

It sounds scary. It sounds confusing! Good news - it's neither.

Multifactor Authentication allows you to restrict access to your DreamHost control panel with more than just a password.

It allows you to use...TWO passwords!

No, that's not dumb. It's actually very clever! Hear me out!

One of those passwords never changes unless you want it to.

The other password changes every 30 seconds and is something that you'll need to look up using a dedicated smartphone or web app.

Do you see the cleverness!? By combining something that you KNOW (your password) and something that you HAVE (your smartphone or computer) you're going NEXT LEVEL with your commitment to account security.

No smartphone? No problem. We also support the YubiKey, a USB dongle that lives on your keychain and also works to fulfill that "something you have" requirement.

YubiKeys at YubiCo

Setting up Multifactor Authentication is free, it's easy, and like all optional security enhancements, it comes highly recommended!

DreamHost Wiki: Enabling Multifactor Authentication

The apps are free, YubiKeys are cheap, and you have to admit - this is a pretty clever way to lock down anything!

Now how about we lock down a quick cuddle?

DreamHost Site Of The Month

The DreamHost Site Of The Month is a truly special thing. Each month YOU submit your sites for consideration and WE (the royal we) pick our favorite.

It's completely arbitrary, super unfair, and reeks of high school popularity contests. I LOVE IT.

This month's site of the month iiiiiis....

Rediscover The '80s with Jason Gross
"Rediscoverthe80s.Com was created October 1, 2011 as my personal blog about rediscovering and remembering pop culture from my childhood in the 80s."

http://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/

How great is this! I feel like it's 1985 and I'm 7 years old again.

Last month's winner was a 90s flashback site. This month it's the 80s! I'm sensing a pattern!

Congratulations, @SockOfFleagulls!

If you'd like your site to be considered as a site of the month, just TWEET your site's URL(s) with the #DreamHostSOTM hashtag and we'll take it from there.

We'll search through all the entries at the end of the month and assign a winner to the one site that tickles our fancies the most.

Cuddling has been known to sway opinions, too...

 

See ya next month!
Brett D!
@DreamHostBrett

P.S. - You could stay here and we could cuddle before we head out for Neo Vegas, or you could take your chances out there on your own and unsubscribe from this newsletter:

https://panel.dreamhost.com/id/?tab=contact