Cloud Services

Last updated on September 10, 2009

Below are my go to cloud services that I use on a regular basis in my workflow - whether it's to connect with others, assist in building things, to learn or just for entertainment.

The list below is auto-generated from my Wakoopa profile. It is a social network that installs a tracker on my machine and captures, in real-time, usage statistics on the software and cloud services that I'm using.

Connecting Services

	Geni - geni.com
	crowdsource the building of your family tree
	This is truly the 21st century way to build your family tree. I would recommend everyone out there setup an account and begin building your tree. I signed up for this service and sent an invite to my parents and sister. Now, my family tree is over 500 strong and building.
	Twitter - twitter.com
	micro messaging social network
	Twitter is the main mechanism (was FriendFeed - sad to see it go away) I use to connect with those who share my passion in the web and in social media. I think Twitter is a truly revolutionary platform that is going to be around for a while and have long lasting impact and shape the way information is distributed.
	Facebook - facebook.com
	connecting with friends
	Facebook was the first social network that I joined out of the one's that I list here. It is where I connect with "real world" friends - although it has becoming less about that as more time passes. I think Facebook is going to evolve quite a bit in the coming years. Facebook connect was the first indication of the shift from Facebook simply being a website to becoming a platform.
	LinkedIn - linkedin.com
	connecting with business colleagues
	A great spot where I can connect with Professional colleagues. To be completely honest, I haven't been that active since I joined. However, I am going to try to spend a little bit more time on the site since I do believe it can be an extremely valuable tool.

Website Services

	Google - google.com
	mail server, web analytics, Google Voice
	I use Google for all of my personal email accounts as well as for all of my custom domains. I am a HUGE fan of their business services which I use personally and have setup for a variety of companies. In addition, their website analytics tools as well as Google Voice are some of the other Google Apps that I use often.
	GoDaddy - godaddy.com
	domain registrar
	This is my registrar of choice. I generally don't host anything there but it is where I keep all my domain registrations. They have great customer service and have satisfied all of my needs since day one.
	Squarespace - squarespace.com
	website/blog publishing platform
	I can't say how enthusiastic I am about this service and the platform. It is what I built this site on. It is a revolutionary new way to think about web design. The best way I can describe them is if Apple came out with a web design/blog publishing platform then this would be it.
	Vimeo - vimeo.com
	video hosting and syndication
	Vimeo is my favorite video sharing site on the web. I've had a YouTube account forever but moved to Vimeo because the video quality is much better, the UI is cleaner and the community is not filled with spammers. I don't upload video too often but if I do this is where I go.
	Apture - apture.com
	rich contextual pop-up menus
	I have always HATED contextual pop-up menus on websites. I always found them annoying and offering little value. However, I must say that I have fallen in love with Apture. They are the first company I've seen to really do pop-ups right. That is why you see them throughout my site.
	Disqus - disqus.com
	comment engine
	Disqus is a great service I use to power this site's comments. It allows you to authenticate via a variety of services including Twitter, Facebook and OpenID. The other major player in the space is JS Kit's Echo.

Design Services

	Lynda - lynda.com
	online streaming video tutorials for learning software
	A truly amazing service. I do a lot of graphic design work but was never formally trained. Lynda has been a great resource to learn and pickup new skills. I have the $25/month subscription and have been a pay subscriber for a couple years. I highly recommend anyone in graphic design or web development to check their service out.
	iStockphoto - istockphoto.com
	stock photography and other graphic files
	This is my stock photography/vector site of choice. Although perhaps slightly more expensive than some of the alternatives out there, I think they have the widest selection and best searching capabilities out of any service. I have been using them for a couple of years.
	Fonts - fonts.com
	online vendor of fonts
	This is my go to place for buying fonts. I don't buy fonts that often but if I do for a freelance client or for personal use then this is where I turn. As an FYI, dafont is probably my favorite site for finding free fonts.

Entertainment Services

	Netflix - netflix.com
	online rental and movie streaming service
	Netflix truly gets it! I love their service. When I first signed up I was a traditional DVD in the mail person. Now, most of my Netflix usage comes via online streaming through the web or through my devices that have Netflix integration.
	Pandora - pandora.com
	online streaming music powered by the Music Genome Project
	I have tried numerous music based social networks including blip.fm and last.fm but none have stuck. In May of '09, I upgraded to the Pandora One account which offer a variety of additional features. In addition, I use PandoraJam to control the stream from Pandora on my computer.
	Rhapsody - rhapsody.com
	on-demand music streaming service of over 6 million tracks
	When I discover a new artist I typically want to listen to their entire music catalogue. Rhapsody is the perfect service to give me that ability. If I hear I song I like on Pandora or get a recommendation from a friend I will head over to Rhapsody to listen to all of their music.

Financial Services

	Mint - mint.com
	online financial management
	Quicken = old school paradigm and Mint = new school paradigm (although Quicken is now offering online product as well). Mint is truly the way to manage your money and budget your money. All of my online accounts are tied to my Mint account so no more arcane downloading of financial files and importing into a locally run management software like Quicken. Mint also has a great iPhone app.
	Paypal - paypal.com
	financial payment service
	Most online vendors these days offer Paypal as a payment option. If available as a payment option, I always use it. It's faster and it also is more secure as you don't have to give you billing information to every site you buy from online. I love the service.

Business Services

	WebEx - webex.com
	online presentations
	There are some great free alternatives out there but WebEx is truly a great service for hosting interactive online presentations. I use the service on a fairly regular basis and enjoy the capabilities that it offers.
	Hoovers - hoovers.com
	company research
	Hoovers is a great research tool that I currently have a subscription to via my day job. It's a great tool to get background information on companies before heading into meetings with them. The company competitor lists are also quite useful.
	Salesforce - salesforce.com
	crm
	I don't have much experience using other CRM's as this is the only one I have used but I do like what Salesforce has to offer. I am not in Sales directly so I mainly use it as a mechanism to track certain emails as well as keep tabs on conversations I have with Partners of the company I currently work for.
	BusinessWire - businesswire.com
	press releases
	I think that press releases are pretty much a dead - at least in the traditional sense as they have been known to exist. With that said, I still syndicate news using BusinessWire as a standard procedure when anything noteworthy needs to be distributed.

Storage Services

	Backblaze - backblaze.com
	online backup
	This is a great online backup tool. I've tried some of the other major players including Carbonite and Mozy but settled on Backblaze a while back. It's extremely easy to use and also very affordable - it's only $50 a year for unlimited storage.
	Evernote - evernote.com
	information capture and retrieval
	It's kind of hard to describe what Evernote because it is so versatile. It advertises itself as "your extra brain" and it truly is. I use the premium version of this service and am in love with it. I use it daily to retrieve and capture information while at my computer or on the go using the iPhone app.
	MobileMe - apple.com
	online suite of services
	I have had a MobileMe account for about 5 years. It has consistently added more and more functionality of the years. The most recent updates allow me to remotely locate and also wipe my iPhone should I lose it. That feature alone is well worth the $99 a year I pay for it.
	Dropbox - getdropbox.com
	online file backup and sharing
	I'm really glad Dropbox came around and killed off all of those horrific free large file transfer tools that were security risks, plagued with spyware and generally just terrible. Dropbox is a dead-simple cross platform tool I use often to share large files with other individuals. I don't really use it as a backup as other people do.
	Instapaper - instapaper.com
	bookmarking tool
	Instapaper is a really simple but amazingly useful app that does one thing but does it perfectly. It allows you with one click in your browser to mark something to read later. The article is saved to your account which you can access in your browser or through the iPhone app - both on or offline.