Cloud | Nerdlets

Multitasking Mondays: Access Files on Your iPhone

Computing, Multitasking Mondays No Responses »

Mar 022009

The best kind of multitasking system is the one available to you anytime and anywhere. In today’s electronic world, that often requires having access to your files. What articles do you need to read? Or maybe you have some sermons or lectures you’d like to listen to? Regardless of your specific needs, if for whatever reason you want access to certain files (documents, music, etc.) on the go, there are several options available to iPhone owners.

Drop.io

The excellent and free web service drop.io is frequently mentioned on this blog. It is an easy way to securely share larger files with friends and colleges. But it can also be an excellent capture tool for storing ideas and tasks (read my guide to that here).

Either way, drop.io is now available on the iPhone, which means its usefulness has dramatically increased (for those lucky enough to have an iPhone, which I am not). You can find the app on the iTunes store here.

ZumoDrive

ZumoDrive allows you to access on online storage drive just like you would a hard-drive on your computer. It’s fast and it doesn’t take up any space on your computer or on your iPhone, which means you can keep a whole lot of information there without worrying about filling up your iPhone’s hard-drive. ZumoDrive gives you 1gb for free, and charges $2.99/month for 10gb. For a full review, check out this article.

Soonr

Another web-based storage service, Soonr, allows you to view and edit your documents online. Check out the details here.

Conclusion

All in all there are a lot of options available to those who need access to important files on-the-go. Of course, the options listed here are only available to those with an iPhone. In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t have one, and so cannot comment on these based on personal experience. Perhaps the fabled Google Drive will bring mobile cloud storage to the rest of us, and there is always Dropbox (any OS) or Microsoft for (Windows only) if you usually have a notebook or netbook on your person. Regardless, this is the future of multitask computing, so if there is an option available to you, consider setting it up now! You won’t regret it!

Another Online Storage Service, from Microsoft

Webapps and Websites 1 Response »

Dec 212008

Ok, so here is a list of Microsoft provided online storage/sync solutions, all of which are free. Windows Live Mesh offers an alternative to Dropbox if you need more than 5 gb of storage space and don’t need Mac/Linux support. These are all good options.

Livedrive Offers Unlimited Online Storage

Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Dec 202008

It’s a good idea to have an online backup of your important files, provided the service that provides the online space is reliable and secure. There are many such services (I have previously recommended Dropbox and Mozy). Those who need lots of space (for pictures, for example, or to have your music available anywhere you go) might be interested in Livedrive, which unlike all other services allows you an unlimited amount of space. Check out Lifehacker’s take on the subject here.

The only problem at this point is lack of information. I have not been able to determine how my files are secured and protected, among other things, and I would also be interested to know how the service plans to make money (particularly since you have to give them your address and phone number to sign up). But still, unlimited space is pretty awesome, so if you have some large files that you want to store or share online, Livedrive might be worth a try. Just don’t rely on it as your only backup (at least not yet) or use it to store private information.

Update: After further poking and prodding it appears that Livedrive will not be free past the initial Beta period. I guess this proves the old addage: if it sounds to good to be true… Sorry for the hasty post, I should have done more research before publishing this.

Don’t Pay for Software

Software, Webapps and Websites 3 Responses »

Oct 062008

I am still a little surprised that people are willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on computer software when there are often dozens of free alternatives available. Most of us use computers for pretty basic tasks: emailing friends, browsing the internet, editing photos, listening to music, writing letters, and maintaining blogs. All of these tasks—and many others—can be performed using excellent free software that is easily installable and maintainable.

Why you should not be afraid of “Free”

Consumer Reports recently ran an article instructing its readers to be suspicious of free software. There reasons were sound, but only apply to a certain kind of “free.” There is certainly a lot of “free” stuff on the internet that can cost you in the end, but there are also a lot of excellent resources as well; the trick is being able to tell the difference.

I think the other reason people are afraid of free software is that they assume it’s “second class.” Since it’s free, it can’t be very good. Again, this applies to some software, but not the kind I’m talking about. Think about it this way: who would you rather buy a car from? Do you pick the used car dealer, primarily interested in his bottom line? Or do you pick the enthusiastic hobbyist, the guy (or girl) who refurbishes old cars because he loves it? All things being equal, the second individual is probably the more trustworthy.

So what do you mean be “free”?

There are three kinds of free. The first type of free software is “free” software—notice the quotation marks. This includes malware (software that pretends to be useful, but actually damages your computer), shareware (software that pretends to be free at first, but then cuts you off after a certain amount of time, or holds back on you until you pay its premium), and crapware (software that really is free, but sucks). Of these, shareware is the only one worth talking about, and even here you should be careful. While I don’t particularly care for the shareware model, there are some useful programs in this group.

The second kind of free software is free in the sense of “free beer.” Many programmers and organizations develop software for their own personal use, and while they want to maintain absolute control over their creation, they nevertheless offer it to others out of kindness (or self-promotion, or for some other non-monetary motivation). So this includes all software that is “closed” (the programmer does not release the source code) but does not require payment.

The third kind of free software is free in the sense of “free speech.” Free-speech software is (almost) always also free-beer software. The difference here is that in addition to being free to use, those who produce the software also publish the “source,” the internal nuts-and-bolts that determines how the software functions. This is useful for other programmers—anyone can improve or add functionality to the software, without having to ask permission or pay a fee. Firefox is a good example here; it is free to use and also free to modify, which means there are plugins that can do almost anything right in the comfort of your browser. This is the best kind of free because, in addition to keeping money in your wallet, you are not ultimately dependent on any one individual or organization, and so your software is less likely to go out of date or be unusable.

The Recommendations: Free Software you Should Download or Bookmark

Over the course of the next few weeks I will be posting about free software to get you started, organized by function. All the software will be at the very least “free beer” software (unless otherwise noted). Most of it will also be “free speech” (open-source) software. I will also include a number of web-apps, which are generally “free beer” services.

The following is a list of the types of software I will discuss in the forthcoming posts. You can check back here, as I will edit this page when new posts are available, or you can always subscribe to the blog and get updated automatically!

Planning/Productivity
Office
Music, Movies, and Media
Internet
Social
Utilities
Photos
Security.
Backup

Microsoft’s Answer to Linux?

Software, Tech/Gadgets 1 Response »

Oct 012008

This post describes an interesting development over at Redmond.

The new trend among tech-nerds are low-end computers (recently dubbed “netbooks”). The specifications may be “soooo 2006,” but laptop builders can make them super small, super efficient (all-day battery life), and super slick. Pack it full of extras like bluetooth support, wireless internet, and solid-state drives that don’t blink when you bounce them, and you have a fully-functional computer that can go anywhere you do. Oh, and they’re about half the price of a “normal” laptop. These work perfectly in a Web 2.0 world, a world in which most of your data is online anyway, and all you need is a internet connection to access and manipulate it. (If you’re in the market, check out these).

These low-end laptops have Microsoft a little nervous. Why? Because they’re increasingly popular but not really powerful enough to run something as bloated as Vista, and Microsoft wants to discontinue XP. The solution most computer manufacturers (the best for these little comps are Asus, Dell, and HP) have come up with is to use Linux. That makes me happy, since I love Linux, but it makes Microsoft sad.

So the release of a low-level OS designed to interface with webapps is a good move for Microsoft, though it might be too little too late.

There are other opinions about the future of Web 2.0 and cloud computing, however. Check them out here and here.

Google enters the Browser Wars with “Chrome”

Software 6 Responses »

Sep 012008

Google is entering the browser wars.

But true to its “Don’t be evil” slogan, Google is not really waging a war. In fact, just last week Google announced that they would continue their support of Mozilla’s Firefox browser until at least 2011.

So why launch a new web browser?

Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

What, more specifically, does Google think it can contribute?

Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

In other words, Google’s browser will apparently focus on web applications, rather than on the comparatively “simple” matter of web browsing. This reflects a more general trend towards “Web 2.0/3.0″ and, to bring in another buzz word, “Cloud Computing.” In short: Google anticipates that more and more of your interaction with the computer will actually be interaction with the web. The software you use, the files you store, and the Operating System you run will increasingly be web-based, not hardware-based (Microsoft agrees, by the way). To put the matter even more succinctly, in 10 years Google expects that your web browser will be your OS. I suspect that their release of this new browser is intended to reflect this prophecy, while at the same time assisting Google (in its real war against Microsoft) to fulfill its own prediction. A self-fulfilling prophecy, in browser form.

Will it work? We will see (I personally would like to see a hybrid system—I hope the “cloud” will be grounded in open-source-supported home-hardware). In the meantime, it is encouraging to again reiterate: Google is still supporting Mozilla, and in addition to this continued Firefox support, which serves Google’s own interest (for the time being), they have committed to an open-source model for their own offering:

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we’re committed to continuing on their path. We’ve used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others — and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

This is a good move (and the only legal one available to them, since Mozilla publishes Firefox ‘s code under an open-source license that requires open-source reciprocation).

So how can you get your hands on this technology?

Check in again tomorrow to try Google Chrome for yourself. We’ll post an update here as soon as it’s ready.

The only hurdle I can foresee here is the recent controversy Google has had over privacy issues (regarding ad-targetting in Gmail, the Viacom/YouTube controversy, and, of course, Google street-view concerns). But Google makes such good “products,” it’s hard not to trust them.

Read the whole story here.

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