Author Archives: Sarah Georges

Tucows Inc., Hover’s parent company, is one of the worlds most respected domain registrars. We were among the first group of thirty-four registrars to be accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1999. With over 180 employees around the world (including offices in Toronto, Amsterdam and Starkville), Tucows has quite the unique culture. With so many different nationalities and personalities, there’s never a dull moment. Ever wondered what it’s like to work here?

Well, at Tucows…

…you never really know what to expect…

…every day is a little different than the last…

…there’s no shortage of personality…

…we have standing desks. ‘Nuff said…

…you can find a pair of these at every desk (two cows, get it?)…

…and these in the front lobby (catching on to the trend here?)…

…you can count on fresh fruit in the lunchroom at 2pm every day (must get there early for bananas)…

…we take our hot beverages very seriously…

…maybe a bit too seriously…

…staff events are anything but boring…

…we appreciate the fine arts..

…even our dogs are committed to the brand…

…and we’re always hard at work to make the customer experience better.

Cool office furniture aside, Tucows is a great company to work for. It’s great to be a part of a company genuinely committed to making the internet better.

What’s awesome about your place of work? What makes it unique? Let us know in the comments section, post a picture or link to a blog post. We’ll be picking a winner at random who’ll receive a free Hover domain name or one year renewal.

Oh, and if you think you’ve got what it takes to join the ‘herd’, head on over to our career page for current openings. :)

We think email is serious business. Chances are, if you own small business you think so too. Control over the management of your mailboxes is more important than ever for small businesses – and we’ve taken notice.

That’s why we at Hover aim to provide the best solution to your everyday needs: Business Class Email. Now you’ve got even more control than ever before. Here are some of the new features designed to make your life a little easier:

• Use your mailboxes on any domain you own
• Purchase mailboxes in bulk quantities of 50, 100, and 150
• Secure mailbox backup and simple restore.
• Easier than ever to create and provision a new mailbox on the system.
• No delete mailbox re-provisioning: change you@yourdomainname.com to yourpartner@yourdomainname.com without deleting the mailbox and the messages it contains.
• Multiple domain sharing – share your 50 email inboxes and 50 forward-only email addresses across all your Hover domain names.
• Up to 10 gigabytes of storage per mailbox on your domain.
• Choose to pay yearly or monthly, whichever you prefer.
• New email inbox organization designed with your business in mind.
• Multi-user administration gives multiples users the ability to create inboxes for new team members, delete email addresses, create forwards and much more.
• If you have your own spam filtering software or policies, you can turn Hover spam rejection off.

What all this means is you’re in the driver’s seat when it comes to your business’ mail. You can now either upgrade your current mailbox plan or simply purchase a separate business plan; whatever works for you and your business!

Get a better handle on your business email with Hover’s new Small Business Mail. See the steps below to upgrade your email account:

1. Sign in to your Hover account
2. Under the Email tab, choose the mail package that best suits your needs (In this case, ‘Business’)

3. Select the number of mailboxes, term, and payment that works for your business.
4. Select Purchase

As always, if you run into any issues, give us a call at 1-866-731-6556 Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm EST and we’d be happy to help! You can also email us at help@hover.com.

Many people use their Hover domains to forward to a personal blog. Blogs are great if you want to keep loved ones up to date, share photos of a vacation, display hobbies or really anything else you can think of. Generally speaking, blogs are an inexpensive or free method of expressing yourself or getting your opinion across.

What blogging platform is the best for you? Here are some popular choices and what we like about them:

Tumblr

Tumblr is great for those who want to show off a lot of pictures accompanied by short text posts. Think of it as a Twitter feed but with a more visual content. Perhaps you’re an aspiring photographer or want to document a trip without feeling the need to write long, formal posts. The Tumblr blogging platform is great for people on the go or with little time to spend online.
Price: Free

Squarespace

Squarespace is great for the blogging newbies out there who may not be as familiar with design and coding techniques. The best part is you can use their themes but customize them to your own liking. The modular user interface means creating your own blog is as easy as choosing the pieces you want and putting them together.
Price: $8-$50 per month

WordPress

A WordPress blog isn’t the simplest to set up. In fact, if you’re not familiar with finding and uploading themes, customizing plugins and creating a navigation structure, you may become overwhelmed and want to opt for a simpler platform. However, what it lacks in simplicity it makes up for in customizability. Once you get the hang of it, WordPress has a crazy amount of features, plugins and options that allow the user to fully tailor each aspect of their blog.
Price: Free hosting is available from WordPress.com. WordPress can also be installed and hosted on your own server space (hosting fees vary).

Posterous

Posterous is so easy to use that you don’t even have to create an account to start posting. All you have to do to set up your blog is send your first post to post@posterous.com, and they’ll create YourName.Posterous.com for you! While it isn’t for anyone, Posterous email updating is perfect for those who want to blog on the go, or have little to no coding knowledge.
Price: Free

Twitter

If you don’t have time to write full blog posts, let alone design a blog, Twitter may be for you. You can tweet from anywhere and instantly share content from the web to your followers. The only drawback is you must keep your posts at 140 characters or less.
Price: Free

Nothing says Canadian like .CA!

.CA is the ccTLD for Canada introduced in 1987 and managed by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). There are currently nearly 2 million .CA domain names registered.

Why .CA?

1. .CA domains are safe, secure and trusted. In fact, .CA domains are kept in an independent national registry.
2. Canadian internet users prefer a .CA for banking, education, shopping and current events.
3. This extension is reserved for Canadians only, so it is an excellent way for a Canadian individual or company to stand out among the mass of .COMs.

Who can register a .CA?

Any c\Canadian citizens, permanent residents in Canada, legal representative of a citizen or permanent resident or Canadian corporation under Canadian law can register a .CA domain name.

A .CA domain from Hover is only $15/year, including WHOIS privacy, unlimited domain forwarding, powerful domain editing and advanced DNS management!

With all of life’s distractions, it becomes easy to get a little bit side tracked. Simple, easy to use tools are key when it comes to efficiency and productivity.

Here are our top 5 iPad apps that will simply help you get things done, no frills added.

iA Writer

We love iA writer because of it’s clean and easy to use design for word processing. The app allows you to concentrate on your text and nothing but your text. With zero background distractions such as format tools, this app is perfect for focussing on the content of your writing rather than getting distracted with styling. A great feature of the app is ‘Focus Mode’ which blurs out everything ecept the lines of text your working on, allowing you to channel your concentration to the most important part. 4
Price: $0.99

Wunderlist

We know Wunderlist is good because we use it here at our offices! Wunderlist is an excellent collaboration tool for getting projects done and assigning tasks. It’s multi-platform and you can cloud sync on nearly every device. Collaborate on different things with colleagues and set due dates with ease. This is an app we’ll be using for a long time!
Price: Free

Planner Plus

Keeping your thoughts, to-do’s and events organized has never been this simple. Planner Plus allows you to sync events with your iOS calendars, create infinite amounts of notes and to-dos, all with the elegant design of a paper-bound planner. What’s great about this app is you can see all of this in one glance without having to flip through a bunch of tabs.
Price: $4.99

Air Display 1.2

Easily turn your iPad into an external monitor, while being able to use the touch screen functionality that a monitor doesn’t have. The Air Display allows you to spread your work onto more real estate with this handy app, and switch between tasks more efficiently. The app runs in both portrait or landscape mode.
Price: $9.99

1Password

How many times have you forgotten or misplaced your password, only to waste time and energy resetting it? Have you ever thought of how much time you spend simply entering your password? Seriously, somebody needs to create a bar graph for those stats!
1Password solves this problem by by storing your passwords and logging you in automatically to websites without compromising your security by saving the password in the browser.
Price: $14.99

.TV is an interesting ccTLD. Originally, it was the extension for the country of Tuvalu. If you’re thinking: where in the world is Tuvalu? It sounds like its a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean or something... you’re pretty much dead-on. Tuvalu is a Polynesian island nation located about midway between Australia and Hawaii and has a population of roughly 10,500.
Unfortunately for the island of Tuvalu, the .TV domain is more widely used these days for sites with video or other rich media like animation, audio or streaming content. This ccTLD is now operated by Verisign and anyone can register one.

Why Register a .TV?

A .TV domain name provides:

1. Instant association with video and rich media content.
2. greater chance of securing the domain name of your choice.
3. A distinct, memorable web address.
4. The perfect complement to a .com or .net web site.

.TV domains are just $40/year with Hover and registration is open to everyone!

The Jetpack plug-in for WordPress is hands down one of the best plug-ins for adding tons of features to your WordPress site. It combines the features of previously separate plug-ins into one crazy awesome plug-in that’s sure to make your WordPress experience a little bit easier.

Cool features of Jetpack:

- simple site stats with no extra load to your server
- social networking enabled comment section
- email subscriptions for your site’s posts and comments AND mobile push notifications for new comments
- ‘After the Deadline’ – a wicked spelling, grammar and style editor
- Your readers can easily share your posts via email, Facebook, Twitter or other social networks (previously provided by the Sharedaddy WordPress plugin.
- A mobile theme that automatically streamlines your site on mobile devices.
- WP.me URL shortener
- Carousel – allows you to transform your standard image galleries into a full-screen experience.
- A CSS editor that lets you customize your site design without modifying your theme.

All featured of the Jetpack are free, except for the VaultPress feature, a monthly subscription service that will backup your site’s content, themes, and plugins in realtime, as well as perform regular security scans for common threats and attacks. Learn more on the VaultPress website.

Jetpack version 1.8.2 can be installed at Jetpack.me or, the easiest way, through WordPress itself. Head over to your dashboard, click on Plugins and click Add New then search for ‘Jetpack’. You’ll need the latest version of WordPress in order to download.

Chablis the Golden Retriever

Attention all pet owners! Hover’s Pet Photo contest is well under way and we’re still accepting entries. Post a picture of your cat, dog, iguana, etc on our Facebook page for your chance to win. The winner will be determined by the amount of ‘likes’ on their photo as of October 31st.

1st Place: $100 Hover credit, t-shirt
2nd Place: $50 Hover credit, t-shirt
3rd Place: t-shirt and one free domain
+ Hover staff pick: Our staff will pick their fav photo and the winner will receive a Hover t-shirt!

Tip: Share your entry on your Facebook page so your friends can easily like it.

Thanks to everyone who’s already submitted! If you’d like to submit your pet’s photo, head on over to our Facebook page and post it directly to our wall.

Good luck!

You may not know this (or you may already know, but humor us here) but Asia has over 60% of the world’s population. That equals approximately 4,243,200,000 people and counting! If you’re wondering if theres a domain extension that encompasses this very large and ever-expanding population, the answer to that question is yes.

The .ASIA domains are targeted towards companies, organizations, and individuals in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region. .ASIA is specifically focused on the Asia identity, but is versatile enough that it can be used by businesses, organizations, or individuals across the region. In addition to being popular for regional companies.it can also be adopted by international NGOs operating in Asia or global companies expanding into Asian markets.

“Legal entities” in the Pan-Asia and Asia-Pacific region can register for a .ASIA domain. A legal entity is considered an association, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, trust, or individual that has legal standing in the eyes of law.

.ASIA domains with Hover are just $20. Head on over to www.Hover.com. If you have any questions on the requirements to register a .ASIA domain, give us a call at 1-866-731-6556 or send us an email at help@hover.com

If you’re a small business owner it’s likely you’re always on the lookout for savvy tools that make your business – and life – run a little more smoothly. Hover realises that sometimes all you need is a simple app to help with planning, organization and communication. Here are our picks for the best apps that make day-to-day activities of small business a lot easier:

5. Shoeboxed
Price: Free
What it is: Shoebox is a receipt tracker and reader for iPhone and Android. Turn huge piles of receipts into digital files for expense reporting, accounting, bookkeeping, and tax preparation.
Why we like it: This app will save you hours of looking through paper receipts. Better yet, it’s great for tax season because all your information is ready for you.

4. Evernote
Price: Free (Premium for $45/year)
What it is: Never forget something on your to-do list ever again! Save all your ideas, to-do’s and notes across your devices. You can even upload photos and record voice reminders.
Why we like it: You can access your notes anywhere, from multiple devices. This makes it easy to add notes on your computer and then access them from your phone while on the road.

3. Mint
Price: Free
What it is: Mint organizes your spending into categories. You can see all of your spending in one convenient place on your computer or phone. Mint helps keep your budget on track with email and mobile alerts as well as bill reminders.
Why we like it: Mint not only helps you budget but also aids your business with its goals. By setting your financial goals, Mint will give you advice on how to get there, step-by-step.

2. TripIt
Price: Free
What it is: TripIt allows you to organize and share your business and personal travel. Just hit forward on your flight, hotel and rental car confirmation emails and TripIt turns that information into one convenient itinerary.
Why we like it: TripIt allows you to share your itinerary meaning your colleagues will always be in the loop. Admins can also create trip itineraries for other travellers!

1. Dropbox
Price: Free (Upgrade to Pro plan for $99.99/year for 100GB)
What it is: Take your documents with you with 2GB of free storage, right on your phone, tablet or computer! Any document you save to your Dropbox will automatically save on all of your devices, making it easy to share with your colleagues.
Why we like it: Because everything is saved to the cloud rather than to your devices, you can access your documents anywhere you have an Internet connection whether it be at the office or at home. Even if you lose your phone, you’ll know your stuff is secure.