Aside from being a company with a name that's dangerously close to copyright infringement, Macminicolo has long been dedicated to creating hosting solutions for Mac users. In fact, they only host - you guessed it - Mac minis. It's a pretty nice service. Just send them your mini and they host it for you and give you full access (it's all yours, not shared). If you've thought about colocation but shuddered at the cost, this could be your chance. Right now, Macminicolo is running a contest to find the greatest answer to the question: "What would you do with a remote mini?" Start up a new business? Create a non-profit?
The contestant who submits the best answer will receive a year's free hosting, a Mac mini and a MacBook Air. As Jeff Probst would say, "Worth playing for?" Yes, Jeff, it is.
You can get the details here. Good luck!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-05-2008 @ 8:01AM
Viper007Bond said...
Anyone else think that's a rather retarded hosting solution? You could lease a box with similar power and storage for about the same $/mo they charge you, all without having to part with a Mac Mini.
Okay, so it won't be the Mac OS, but personally, I think that's a good thing when it comes to webservers.
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3-05-2008 @ 8:14AM
Michael said...
Actually, they are much faster than most shared hosting services out there and having full control over your server is really nice! Plus you have to think outside the box here, you can do things with it that you can't do with other web hosting providers, like run FileMaker Pro servers, Asterisk (VoIP), iChat server, etc. Or just connect to it with AFP or SMB.
*Disclosure: I'm a new customer of macminicolo.net and after trying 3 different shared hosting solutions (ixwebhosting.com, dreamhost.com, & bluehost.com). This was the first time anyone has claimed my web sites were "fast".
3-05-2008 @ 8:24AM
jus10 said...
Well, I think it is the "cool" factor of having your own server and if you're a Mac zealot, running your site on OS X is a + in the cool department. Is it economical?, not really. Cool? Absolutely.
I mean come on: http://www.macminicolo.net/facility.html
Although I have to confess, I really want to flip that giant switch on the generator to see what that does :).
3-05-2008 @ 9:37AM
Greenie said...
Viper, I think you're brushing aside the most important part...Mac OS X. For instance, I have a Daylite database I'd love to run from a data center so I have better/faster access to it. This sounds like the place to do that.
3-05-2008 @ 8:50PM
Viper007Bond said...
Michael: Oh I know, I'm quite aware of the advantages of a non-shared hosting solution. I run all of my sites off a colo'ed beast of a box (8 core, 16GB RAM, etc.). ;)
3-05-2008 @ 8:15AM
Luigi193 said...
I want the air... i'd sell it (to get a pro), but I want it.
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3-05-2008 @ 8:32AM
Jake said...
Over the years I've done work at many a colo. This is the single most secure, well run, and well thought-out facility I have ever seen. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but it really is amazing to see all those Macs glowing away in the cage in person- almost surreal...
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3-05-2008 @ 8:52AM
Alex said...
I would love any of these
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3-05-2008 @ 8:58AM
iGO said...
I'd use it to stamp out world hunger and bring peace & love to all mankind.
thanguverimush
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3-05-2008 @ 9:37AM
Greenie said...
I guess Apple doesn't mind the name too much. Afterall, they link to this company straight from the official Mac mini page on Apple.com.
http://www.apple.com/macmini/
Anyway, I remember talking to these guys at their Macworld booth. Seem like cool guys.
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3-05-2008 @ 10:56AM
Peter said...
I just saw this company mentioned the other day on Jailbreakme.com. It turns out they host that site and the installer.app community from a Mac mini.
Who would have thought?
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3-05-2008 @ 4:06PM
Patrick said...
oh most definitely. hook that mess up.
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3-05-2008 @ 5:36PM
Joshua Parker said...
This is truly far out. I can't wait to enter.
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3-05-2008 @ 6:50PM
Nicholas 'drudge' Penree said...
I run Conceited Software and all of our servers are hosted with macminicolo.net If you think my repository is faster now I owe it all to them. They are great.
//drudge
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3-05-2008 @ 6:51PM
fishbr900 said...
i would make a system where everyone interested in amature filmmakers can get togather and sahre movie making techniques, not like youtue, but here we can share ideas, methods, product reviews and so on...
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3-06-2008 @ 8:33AM
krye said...
So I guess when Apple kills the mini, these guys go out of business?
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3-06-2008 @ 10:46AM
Ian Littman said...
Other than the fact that Macminicolo incredibly expensive for what you get in terms of bandwidth usage, it does seem like a novel, and good, idea. I won't be paying that much per month to stick a Mac mini in their server cage any time soon (I'd probably go over my bandwidth!) but sure is interesting.
One thing they did leave out about their facility is how much network capacity they actually have. Mac minis now come with gigabit ethernet, but I'm assuming you get a 10/100 port in the facility. But what does that hook up to? How many gigabits to they have leading to the outside world?
I'm asking these questions because I've had a little experience with dedicated servers, namely helping Ste (yes, that Ste) get a high-powered system for distributing the iPhone repo. ANY website running on dedicated equipment will run maybe an order of magnitude faster than what you'd get on shared hosting, which is awesome. But you don't need to pay $55 per month plus a Mini to do it...there are several companies out there who have dedicated (managed or unmanaged, even) servers for $100 per month, the same price as buying a Mac mini plus a year of Macminicolo, except you get MUCH more bandwidth with the other servers, in terms of what you can chew up.
If you do want a Mac server though, and can live with using one that has a notebook hard drive built in, and aren't using the darn thing as a backup server (unless you don't have much data at all and don't mind paying a bucket of money to do so) then yep, macminicolo is a sweet idea. The contest makes it that much cooler.
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3-07-2008 @ 4:55PM
will said...
the name is possibly trademark infringing -- not copyright.
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3-11-2008 @ 3:41PM
Ryan said...
Ok, my thought on using macminicolo...
I live in a relatively crime-ridden area on the first floor of an apartment building. There have been quite a few robberies and I am always worried about my computer being stolen (I currently own a mini). What attracts me to this option is that I don't have to worry about my hardware being stolen. I don't own much else in my house that anyone would want to steal besides a big ole TV. Then I would only have to worry about a laptop.
I would more than likely host two to act as fileservers and one to act as my web host. Most of my clients just want sites where they can post an update once or twice a month so server load would not be a real issue and I would have full access to customize my webserver as I see fit. If space really became and issue I could always just use Amazon S3 for data storage.
Dreamhost is my current hosting solution and recently they have not been fulfilling their end of our deal and have grown quite dissatisfied with their servers. This option would give control over my own server and I would be the only one to blame for downtime (Unless the colo burned down or lost electricity). At this point my client base is solid enough that I could pay for more expensive hosting.
In the end, I think this venture is a great idea. A mini is fairly inexpensive and I can opt out whenever I choose, in case I ever just want to house the servers myself. I own the server, and when I need to move if I have to I can take my own hardware with me. I don't have to reconfigure the damn thing either if I do have to migrate.
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