The server hosting Stashbox and Shup was down overnight. It was a nightmarish time in which I dreamt of all forms of ghouls and goblins causing trouble inside the server. Luckily it was just a power outage and now we are back in full glory.

However, our colo (a makeshift collection of shatalysts and cat-5, along with a server or two) is in need of love. The backup power situation there is dire and it is up to those with servers at the colo to fix the problem! So of course I’m pawning it off to all of you.

I haven’t asked for donations before, but we could really use a new UPS (uninterruptable power supply) to help ensure the server stays on even when the powery is out. So, if you’re feeling kind, use the button below to donate. We appreciate it! (Sorry that it uses PayPal, I know it sucks.)

Yes, you read the title correctly. We have finally added to Shup support for Stashbox (and derivative sites’) user accounts, so now all of your lovely shups can go straight to your own special little slice of the Internet.

Stashbox itself also received a small upgrade, in the form of a Forgot Password page. You’ll have to add an email address to your Stashbox account for this to be of use, but it is handy when you forget your password. =)

Additionally, we now also have a Shup Firefox extension which provides some useful functionality, like capturing entire pages or single images and uploading them (with Shup if you have it installed, without if not).

Three good reasons to get both Shup and a Stashbox account if you’re one of that most minimal few who remain without!

Download Shup v0.23 here.

Download the Shup Firefox extension here.

PS - Check out this cool Shup / Word Press integration

Just a quick note tonight to say that I released Shup v0.19 tonight. The main change in this version is the addition of web browser autocropping, which removes browser chrome from four major browsers (Firefox, IE, Opera, Netscape). Aside from that, there are a couple of bug fixes and tweaks that should make Shup run a little bit more nicely.

Download Shup v0.19 here.

I also moved the beta version of Stashbox into the main site, so get to using all those hot new features!

Today I updated shup.com by adding an image gallery of paintings made with Shup. Hopefully this page will stay updated with the latest and greatest Shup art. Feel free to email it to me (dan at this domain).

On both stashbox.org and shup.com I decided to get rid of the AdBrite ads. They were a pretty big eyesore and didn’t make jack for the site, so screw em. Plus, now the banners for our friends will show up all the time =)

Stashbox also saw the addition of a file request Google Maps thing. This page places pins on a map of the earth in locations from which Stashbox file requests originate. So if you download a file, you’ll show up on the map (anonymously, of course). Nothing too fancy but I threw this together in like 20 minutes the other day. Maybe sometime I’ll even get around to making it show the requests “live” instead of just simulating it!

Shup got a decent review! Click here to read it, or go buy the October 2007 issue of COMPUTER POWER USER magazine.

Finally, in server news, we still have yet to do our reinstall so expect that in the coming week or two.

Lately you’ve probably noticed our server has been down a lot; this is due to us a) moving the server to a new host, b) losing our sysadmin, c) struggling to de-cruft all the server configuration stuff, etc.

I think today I have fixed the problem that was causing the server to slowly suffocate, requiring a weekly reboot. But we’re not 100% sure if today’s fix will actually be the fix, so think positive thoughts and soon we’ll have the server in top form.

Thank you for your patience and sorry for the loss of service.

Sorry for the downtime, we had to move the server.  But of course our old host decided to cut us off like three days early, so that was fun.

Anyway, enjoy the new bandwidth and look for Shup 0.15 in the near future!

Both stashbox.org and shup.com will be down this weekend as I drive our server to live in SF (thanks Justin)!  I hope to have everything back up by Monday, so try to live without Stashbox until then

After ignoring the site for a while, I decided to dive in and update a bunch of things tonight.

For example, since the launch of this version of the site, I found it brutishly irksome that files downloaded from Stashbox didn’t cache. This means that if you’re viewing a thread on a forum full of images hosted on Stashbox, every time you load that page, the images would re-download; I knew there had to be a better way. So from now on, things will be much more responsive and less bandwidth will be wasted. Woot!

Problem number two was pointed out by Sensei Tim. In a semi recent conversation, he put forth that once one had left the Stashbox homepage, there was no clear way to upload another file. Thus the addition of the upload form to every page (right under the header) is justified and people will be able to upload with more efficiency.

Updating the search engine began as a simple menu change: I wanted to change/add menu items and this required me to jump into the search engine code. Once there, I decided to enhance it a bit. Move your mouse over the “Search Uploads” link on the right side of the page for more information!

A few CSS and other layout changes later, and I am ready to take a break. Oh, and I updated the stats page a few days ago; it’s niftier now.

Adios!

After a month or two or three (who can keep track?), we are finally back with a new release.  Josh and I (mostly Josh) have been slaving day and night to get it out to you.  What has taken so long, you might ask?  How about the Ignite collaboration network!  Think of it like multiplayer Shup =)

We’ve also added support for uploading to your own web server, so check out Shup v0.14 now!

And if you’ve got time, we also have a new Shup website.  I think it’s pretty sweet.

Tonight I launched a few architecture changes to the site, designed to improve responsiveness and reduce page generation time. Our server went from 60 req/sec to 750 req/sec, so not bad for a night’s work =) If you find a problem with the site, please don’t hesitate to create a thread in our support forums.

Shup v0.14 is nearly out the door, so keep an eye open for it!