Services
Web Hosting
After twelve years, I decided it was time for a change to something more modern and reliable after Media Temple was acquired by GoDaddy. We’re very happily using DataPacket. DataPacket offers next-level customer-centric support, and excellent uptime. The perfect choice for a digital-first business. As well as Previous Magazine and Split An Atom, my personal website that you are currently viewing this on is also hosted on DataPacket.
My site runs on a WordPress instance, running several plugins I’ve written, including Cookie Dunker. I administer our WordPress sites via SpinupWP.
CDN & Security
I’ve used CloudFlare since 2010 for all of my own projects and that of clients. Aside from a few vulns in the software stack, I’ve largely not had to worry about the security of websites or web apps since.
Syndication
I follow the POSSE strategy and syndicate my content elsewhere throughout the fediverse via the ActivityPub plugin. To make life easier when sharing out content, I use a piece of software called Mixpost, which is an open source social media management tool that you can self-host. It allows me to share out to all of my social media platforms from one place. It also allows me to organize accounts by workspace, and collaborate with others through them on content. Really takes the pain out of social media!
I run my own URL shortener on ham.my via Bitly.
Local Server
I run Unraid for my local server, which handles all of my Docker containers and data. For my needs, Unraid is the right choice, though in a corporate environment, you may find something better-suited to your requirements.
File Sharing
Whilst not perfect, I’m a big fan of Nextcloud. The performance has come a long way since I started using it. I use this to sync files between my devices, that of family, friends, and of course also clients. Clients don’t even need to download anything, as with any major cloud storage provider, you just send the a client a URL, giving them whatever permissions you feel necessary, and it’s as simple as that.
Password Manager
I use Vaultwarden, which is a server for Bitwarden, which despite being unofficial, is compatible. The main appeal is that it is written in Rust, and thus uses very little in the way of resources compared to Bitwarden.
Communication
I only have one messaging app installed on any of my devices, and that’s Element, which is my favourite Matrix protocol client, it’s also FOSS.
I use a Docker container running Synapse, a Matrix server. I append bridges to Synapse, bringing in third-party services such as Facebook Messenger. I also bring in my external SIP accounts into it since Android’s Phone app dropped SIP accounts. The end result is what’s effectively a unified messenger, less mental fatigue juggling a dozen apps, and excellent battery life on my devices.
Media
I like to use Jellyfin to show clients, family and friends what I’ve been working on in terms of documentaries, TV, film and music. YouTube, SoundCloud et al just decimate the quality.