Category Archives: Fun Stuff

23rd Anniversary of Tim Berners-Lee’s Announcement of the WWW on Usenet

Today is an important date in the history of both usenet and the world-wide-web. On August 6, 1991 Tim Berners-Lee (while working at CERN in Switzerland) announced his idea for the WorldWideWeb on the usenet group alt.hypertext. The post was one of the most important steps in bringing the modern communication age into existence.

Usenet for File Backups

We’ve had a few users ask about using usenet for personal file backups (the process is known as uBackup) over the past year, so we thought it would be a good idea to provide a bit of an intro. It’s a different use for usenet, but one that works and should be considered if you need to backup your personal data. Uploading files to usenet doesn’t count against your monthly usage (at least with NewsgroupDirect), so it’s free and unlimited. Plus, with retention now effectively infinite you don’t have to worry about every losing your data.

Black Friday 2011! Great Deals on Usenet Access

Everyone’s favorite shopping day of the year is almost here! We’re locked and loaded with some great deals for you this year. Head on over to our Black Friday page to see what we’ve got going. We’re going to have deals on every type of plan that we offer, so check back often to see what’s currently on sale.

Usenet Goes Mobile

Like most everything else now, usenet has gone mobile. There are various usenet mobile apps available depending on what type of mobile device you have. Mobile devices are usually only fast enough to handle text newsgroups at this point, so the functionality is still somewhat limited compared to your home computer, but it’s a start.…Continue reading →

Looking for Guest Bloggers

We’ve decided to open up our blog to a few guest bloggers. If you are interested in doing some writing and are a usenet user then we’d love to hear from you. Just contact us and tell us what you’d like to write about.

NewsgroupDirect Helps Your Find Your Roots

One of most best kept secrets of online network resources is the Alexandrian Library of genealogy newsgroups. Everything from African to Icelandic blood lines are discussed and described in some form in the newsgroup postings. We?re talking 500 megabytes a day of information being exchanged and more than 15,000 topic-specific newsgroups, including at least 20 devoted exclusively to genealogy and dozens more related. In fact the most popular genealogy newsgroups receive hundreds of articles a day, with articles posted going to a potential audience of more than three million readers.