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Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#11
IBM's Cloudant is pretty sweet. I used it last year to dev some apps I was working on using CouchDB and PouchDB. It saved me the hassle of installing CouchDB and gave me the chance to play with their APIs which have some pretty nice additional features.

https://cloudant.com

They give you $50 of service a month for free, which was way more than I ever approached.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#12
If you want to try screenwriting, Story Writer by Amazon is an excellent free-to-use service. Basic, yes, but after a couple years using it I can assert it does the trick. Perfect for those wanting to 'give writing a script a try' without forking over for the industry standard Final Draft.

https://storywriter.amazon.com/

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#13

Google offers $300 in credit that you can use on anything you like for one year as soon as you sign up right off the bat, and AWS has offered the Free Tier almost since inception. For startups, Google[1], Amazon[2], Microsoft BizSpark[3], OVH Digital Launch Pad[4], Digital Ocean[5], have startup programs that you can apply to with varying amounts of service credit (usually expiring afer one year). (Don't write off OV…

I really want to apply to Google. But unfortunately, my startup doesn't qualify due to not being in an approved VC fund, Accelerator, or Incubator.

Does anyone know of any program, that does not require me to give any equity? So that I may join and get the Google credits?

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#14
post #11

IBM's Cloudant is pretty sweet. I used it last year to dev some apps I was working on using CouchDB and PouchDB. It saved me the hassle of installing CouchDB and gave me the chance to play with their APIs which have some pretty nice additional features. https://cloudant.com They give you $50 of service a month for free, which was way more than I ever approached.

What advantages did you see comparing Cloudant to CouchDB?

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#15

If you want to try screenwriting, Story Writer by Amazon is an excellent free-to-use service. Basic, yes, but after a couple years using it I can assert it does the trick. Perfect for those wanting to 'give writing a script a try' without forking over for the industry standard Final Draft. https://storywriter.amazon.com/

How does this compare to writerduet?

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#16

Google offers $300 in credit that you can use on anything you like for one year as soon as you sign up right off the bat, and AWS has offered the Free Tier almost since inception. For startups, Google[1], Amazon[2], Microsoft BizSpark[3], OVH Digital Launch Pad[4], Digital Ocean[5], have startup programs that you can apply to with varying amounts of service credit (usually expiring afer one year). (Don't write off OV…

I really want to apply to Google. But unfortunately, my startup doesn't qualify due to not being in an approved VC fund, Accelerator, or Incubator. Does anyone know of any program, that does not require me to give any equity? So that I may join and get the Google credits?

If you know someone that works for Google they can internally recommend you as well.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#17
post #4

IBM Bluemix[0] has some good trial offerings, you can always contact them and say you're a hobbyist and they may be able to give you a longer trial. Their IoT platform is pretty cool and you have access to Watson. There is also a surprising amount of open source projects they put out[1][2]. Disclosure: I work at IBM in the Cloud Division. [0] https://console.ng.bluemix.net/ [1] https://github.com/ibm [2] https://gith…

I will say, I was interested in trying out Bluemix for sake of Watson but the 30 day trial was a huge, huge turn off. I signed up for an account to look around for a project I'm hoping to find time for next month...but my clock is ticking now despite not using ANYTHING. By the time I'm ready to develop, the trial will be expired.

It's a terrible approach IMO.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#18
post #6

If you have a MSDN subscription, perhaps from your employer, you get a free $50/mo -> $150/mo Azure credit. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/msdn...

Or likewise, Bizspark can get you the Azure credit too, along with basically an MSDN subscription.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#19

Google offers $300 in credit that you can use on anything you like for one year as soon as you sign up right off the bat, and AWS has offered the Free Tier almost since inception. For startups, Google[1], Amazon[2], Microsoft BizSpark[3], OVH Digital Launch Pad[4], Digital Ocean[5], have startup programs that you can apply to with varying amounts of service credit (usually expiring afer one year). (Don't write off OV…

I really want to apply to Google. But unfortunately, my startup doesn't qualify due to not being in an approved VC fund, Accelerator, or Incubator. Does anyone know of any program, that does not require me to give any equity? So that I may join and get the Google credits?

Also keep in mind that most of these credits usually expire after one year, so definitely have a solid plan to get profitable before they run out.

Re: Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?

#20

Google offers $300 in credit that you can use on anything you like for one year as soon as you sign up right off the bat, and AWS has offered the Free Tier almost since inception. For startups, Google[1], Amazon[2], Microsoft BizSpark[3], OVH Digital Launch Pad[4], Digital Ocean[5], have startup programs that you can apply to with varying amounts of service credit (usually expiring afer one year). (Don't write off OV…

I really want to apply to Google. But unfortunately, my startup doesn't qualify due to not being in an approved VC fund, Accelerator, or Incubator. Does anyone know of any program, that does not require me to give any equity? So that I may join and get the Google credits?

Startup School Founders Track, but the 1st session is already underway; there will certainly be many more.
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