Anthony Feint
Welcome to WhoDoYouUse. This site is partly inspired by UsesThis.com, a great voyeuristic look at what a number of influential tech peeps are using. I wanted to create this site to showcase some of the services people use as opposed to gadgets and hardware.
I’ve always been interested in how other startups and entrepreneurs host their apps and websites. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be interviewing many entrepreneurs with the same questions below. I’ve started things off with myself.
Who Do You Use as a Host?
I’m a bit all over the place. My blog is hosted on the Mediatemple grid as well as a number of small apps such as shot.fm and my URL shortner fnt.im. Task.fm, my primary startup, used to be on a Mediatemple DV server but now sits over on Rackspace Cloud Servers. I also have an old hosting account from ResellerZoom which is just a cheap shared hosting account I use for random sites.
Who Do You Use for Domains?
Most of my domain names are registered with GoDaddy. They have an interface that makes you want to punch yourself every time you use it, but you can’t beat them for price. Recently I came across IWantMyName, which has a stunning interface. They also offer a greater variety of extensions. I’ve started to use IWantMyName for all my new domain purchases and will eventually move over my existing domains.
Do You Use a CDN or Cloud Storage?
Yes. Both Rackspace Cloud Files which uses the Limelight CDN and MaxCDN. Rackspace Cloudfiles is currently missing a killer feature (cnames), which makes it pretty much useless for many applications. That’s why I’ve started using MaxCDN. MaxCDN seem like a great company but I’ve been having a couple of technical hiccups.
Who Do You Use to Blog?
Wordpress. I’ve always used Wordpress. I’m only just starting to figure out its true potential. Its definitely more of a cms than a blogging platform now. I’m sure I could move to a more lightweight platform (custom coded) that would serve my needs fine, but using Wordpress cuts development time right down. I also use Tumblr (for this blog and few random other ones). Tumblr has always frustrated me a little because I could never get things looking how I wanted them.
Who Do You Use for Email?
Google Apps for the domain powers my feint.me email addresses. There really is no other competing service that offers the same ease of use, spam protection and price (free).
Any Other Services We Should Now About?
I get asked pretty much every week what sms platform we use at Task.fm to send out SMS reminders. Currently it uses Twillio but in about 24 hours it will have been moved to Tropo (the move is happening as I speak). Tropo has better coverage and some pretty neat features that I’m looking forward to developing on.
