Starting out

Like most of the mass changes Google makes with their apps, they roll them out in batches. It took me a few days for my Google Docs to change over after I started to read about Google Drive. So if yours hasn’t made the switch yet, don’t worry, it’s on the way soon.

When you get the option to change your Google Docs to Google Drive, you should see a welcome screen, something like this asking you if you want to try Google Drive.There isn’t much you need to do online or on your Android to make the change, just click yes.

What changed

Once you have agreed to make the change, you will see some slight changes. The word Docs is now Drive and your Collections are now called, get ready for this…. folders. I was happy about that one.

Another change is Google added SlideRocket presentations. When you make a lot of presentations, the presentations Google Docs could make did leave a something to be desired. SlideRocket will pick up the slack in this department.

More than a name change

So far none of the changes I’ve talked about have been life altering. The part everyone has been waiting for is increased space and the desktop app. Let’s talk a little bit about that why these are so great.

The space increase

You now have 5GB of free storage space to store whatever you’d like. This is quite a bit more than what you had with Google Docs.

If you need more space, the rates are really reasonable. The 25GB upgrade is $2.49 a month. The cool part is, your Gmail inbox gets bumped from 10gb to 25gb also. If you need even more storage, there is a 100GB upgrade for $4.99 a month with the same bump to your Gmail account to 25GB.

Desktop sync

The desktop sync is the part you have been waiting for. You will need to initiate the download of the desktop app and log in with your Google credentials.

Once you are all logged in, you can choose the location of the folder or folders you want to keep in sync. If you use Box or Dropbox, the setup is really similar to those. Now when you place something in this folder, it is automatically synced with your Google Drive.

Google Drive for Android

Drive on your Android got a lot nicer. The layout of the document editing screen seems easier to use. Before the upgrade, editing a document was inconvenient because the interface made you select a line to edit almost like you would for a spreadsheet. Now editing is very similar to the web editing, just with less features.

You can now upload any kind of file right from your Android device. This means backing up music and pictures is an easy possibility. While there isn’t an automatic upload for your pictures like there is with Dropbox, most Android devices have the option to select several pictures at a time to upload or share.

Conclusion

I think with the large amount of Google Docs users that the change to Google Drive will bring on more users who are new to cloud storage. While the amount of free space could be more in comparison to some other services out there, the fee to increase the space is less than most. I for one am excited for Google Drive because now I don’t need to have an Internet connection all the time when I am typing something like this up. I can use something like Open Office and save it to the Google Drive sync folder. Trevor is a happy camper now.

Will you switch to Google Drive as your cloud storage?

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• How to Claim 25GB of SkyDrive Storage Space While It Lasts
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If you have not been active in the blogosphere these few days, the biggest news is the launch of the SkyDrive desktop app and the Google Drive. We are not going to discuss Google Drive today. For SkyDrive, the deal is that your original 25GB storage space (if you are already a SkyDrive user) is reduced to 7GB if you currently have less than 4GB of files in the account. To get more storage space, you will have to fork out money and pay for it. However, for a limited time, Microsoft allows you to upgrade your 7GB storage space to 25GB for… FREE. Here is how you do it. Grab it while it lasts!

1. Go to SkyDrive Live and login to your MSN account.

2. On the left pane, click the “Manage Storage” link.

3. Under the Storage Plans, you should see a “Free Upgrade” link. Click on it.

That’s it. Your SkyDrive storage space should return to 25GB now.

At the same time, do download the SkyDrive app for Windows or Mac too. It allows you to sync and access your SkyDrive folder directly from your desktop, much like the Dropbox-way.

via MSNBC

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Luckily, Box does support WebDav. This means that you still can connect to it from your Linux desktop, though the solution is not as elegant as the Dropbox sync.

Here is how you can connect to Box from Linux.

Note: This tutorial is based on Ubuntu, Gnome Shell and Nautilus.

1. Open Nautilus. Go to “File -> Connect to Server”.

2. Under the Type dropdown, select the option “Secure WebDav (HTTPS)”. Next, enter the URL “www.box.com/dav” in the server field (do not put https:// in front of the URL).

3. Enter your Box username and password.

4. Press “Connect”. You should be connected to your Box account now.

Auto mount Box when you login

When you use the above method, you will find that the connection does not persist. You will have to connect to the Box server every time you login. Here is one method where you can auto-mount your Box account. We will be using davfs. Here is what you need to do:

1. Open a terminal and install davfs:

sudo apt-get install davfs2

2. Add your Linux user account to the davfs2 group. Replace “your-username” with your Linux login username

sudo adduser your-username davfs2

3. Create a folder in your Home directory to mount your Box account. In addition, also create the .davfs folder to hold your configuration files.

mkdir ~/Box
mkdir ~/.davfs2

4. Next, copy the davfs configuration file over and add the “user_lock” command to it:

cp /etc/davfs2/davfs2.conf ~/.davfs2
echo "use_locks    0" >> ~/.davfs2/davfs2.conf

5. Open a text editor and paste the following, replacing “Box_username” and “Box_password with your Box account login username and password (make sure the quotes around the Box_password remain).

https://www.box.com/dav     Box_username    "Box_password"

Save the file as “secrets” (without the quotes and without any extension) in the .davfs2 folder.

Back to the terminal, change the permission of the secrets file so it can only be read/write by you.

chmod 600 ~/.davfs2/secrets

6. Next, open the davfs2.conf file (in the .davfs2 folder) with a text editor. Scroll down the list until you find the entry (at around line 24):

ignore_home       kernoops,distccd  # system wide config file only

Insert a “#” so it becomes:

#ignore_home       kernoops,distccd  # system wide config file only

Next, scroll down further until you find the entry (at around line 35):

# secrets         ~/.davfs2/secrets # user config file only

Remove the “#” so it becomes:

secrets         ~/.davfs2/secrets # user config file only

Save and close the file.

7. Now, we are going to add a new entry to your /etc/fstab file:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line to the end of the file (paste using the shortcut key “Ctrl + Shift + v”). Replace “your-username” with your Linux login username.

https://www.box.com/dav /home/your-username/Box         davfs rw,user,noauto 0 0

Save (using “Ctrl + o”) and exit (using “Ctrl + x”). Open Nautilus. You should see a Box entry at the filesystem column (the entry appears, but it is unmounted at the moment, so you won’t be able to access it)

8. To test if the mounting works, type in the terminal:

mount ~/Box

If everything goes fine, your Box account should be mounted and show up in your Nautilus. If not, check your Box username and password in the “secrets” file.

Update: Some of you might see the user permission error when mounting it. If so, change the davfs2 user permission:

sudo chmod u+s /sbin/mount.davfs

Thanks to StoyanDeckoff for the tips.

9. Lastly, open up your Startup Applications and add a new item with the command:

mount ~/Box

That’s it. Your Box account should be mounted whenever you login to your desktop.

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In addition to being all web-based, uploading is drag and drop making it that much easier. Below, is how to upload, what browsers Hopper works with and how the search feature works. Take a look-see and let us know what you think in the comments.

Getting started with Hopper

The signup is one of the simplest of any app I have signed up for. It only asks for an email address and a password. That’s it… no, really, that’s is.

Uploading files to Hopper

When you are logged in, you are ready to start uploading. There is a square on the screen. If you are using Chrome or Firefox, drag the file you’d like to upload into this square.

Searching for a file on Hopper

There is a text bar at the top of the page. When you enter part of the file name, the date of the upload or file type a list of matching files will pull up. As you are typing, the files start to filter out all of the possibilities.

Downloading Files from Hopper

Downloading a file is almost as simple as uploading one. To the left of the file names, there is a spot where you click to download. In the screen grab, you can also see the short URL if you want to share the file with someone else. When they click on the link, the file is downloaded to their machine.

When you click on a text file, Hopper has a built in text reader so the file is opened and readable right on the screen. You can’t edit the document in Hopper, you need to download it then upload it again.

How Hopper different than the other cloud storage option

I think Hopper sets itself apart from the rest with its simplicity. They didn’t try to add in a lot of features. Hopper is simple to upload and simple to search for your files.

Easy sharing of files via a short link is great for anytime you need to send a file to anyone. Copy the link and send it how ever works best for you. Other services offer this too, but with some cloud storage web-apps, it is more difficult to share files this way. They want the person receiving the file to be a user too.

Conclusion

I found Hopper to work better in Firefox than with Chrome. I didn’t see any extensions that would interfere, but for some reason in Chrome, the short links didn’t show up. Other than that one thing, Hopper worked great for me. I like how easy it is to upload and share files with other people. This is a feature I use a lot with Dropbox from my android, but seems to be lacking from the web version of Dropbox.

What cloud storage service do you use and why?

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• 4 Ways To Make Good Use Of Dropbox For Android
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• A Comparison Guide Of The Various Cloud Storage Services

Download and install Wuala on your computer. On the first run, it will prompt you to create an account (or sign in to your existing account if you have one).

Once you are logged in, you will see your dashboard with several folders (Document, Music, Photos, Videos). Unlike Dropbox, Wuala does not integrate with your filesystem. Instead, it mounts itself as a drive in your system.

You can get it to sync with any folder in your computer. To do so, click on the “New -> Sync” option and select the local folder that you want to sync.

It also works the other way – syncing your Wuala document to your local computer. You just have to select the folder and go to “File -> Synchronize with this computer“.

There are several sharing options in Wuala. By default, all your files and folders are marked as Private. No one, other than you, can view your files. You can, however, change the file permission to Share or Public. For Share option, you can share your files with your contacts, either via email or web link. For Public option, the file/folder is publicly available for everyone.

Wuala Preferences

The Preferences section of Wuala is pretty comprehensive, covering everything from your account detail, connection speed, cache size, filesystem integration, notification and many more options.

Trading of local storage in exchange for online storage

When you sign up for a free account, you will receive 1Gb of storage space. To many of us, this is too little. If you need a lot of online storage space, and at the same time, you have plenty of free space in your local hard drive, you can trade your local space in exchange for online space.

It works like this: you need to first specify the amount of hard disk space you are willing to trade (say 100GB). Depending on the amount of time you are online (for example, you are connected to Wuala 70% of the time), you will be given a free online storage space equivalent to the product of the hard drive space you are trading and the time you spent online. In this case, you will have access to 70Gb (70% * 100Gb) of online storage space.

Alternatively, you can refer your friends to use Wuala and earn up to 3Gb of storage space. Lastly, there is always the premium plans that allow you to buy storage space for a annual fee.

Conclusion

Wuala comes with plenty of features and it is really an enjoyment to use it. Personally, I like its security feature and the ability to choose the folders that you want to sync. The only gripe is the 1Gb storage space. Most online storage services offer 2Gb (some offer up to 5Gb) for their free account. Upon comparison, Wuala’s 1Gb storage space is really pathetic and unattractive. With competitors like SpiderOak and Ubuntu One, this could really make a lot of differences.

Wuala is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android.

Related Posts:

• A Comparison Guide Of The Various Cloud Storage Services
• InSync + Google Docs = Cheaper And Better Dropbox?
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Selecting a device will subsequently display all files stored from that particular machine. It should be mentioned that the Android application is particularly fast when it comes to browsing saved files. Although you can view your files from the SpiderOak website, the Android app still proves to be faster when handling higher volumes of files. Despite the fact that the application looks pretty sparse, it does have one important feature: file sharing.

The application allows you to share files from your phone that actually reside on a remote machine! Long pressing on an item from the list will give you the option to share or download the particular file. Pressing share will provide you with a temporary download link that you can send out via email or text message. It should be mentioned that this application does not tightly integrate with the other communication features on your device. SpiderOak as a file backup system is designed around privacy, therefore limiting its interactions with other applications and services.

In order to share your private files, download the SpiderOak application from the Android Market.

Sign on using your SpiderOak user name and password. In order to do this launch the application and select Settings. After this, select sign in settings. Enter the appropriate login credentials to sign into SpideroOak.

After this, select a device from the presented list of options.

Lastly, long press an item to open a further options menu. From this menu select share.

A temporary link will be generated. Select copy to clipboard and then paste the link in either a text message or email. You have now succesfully shared a totally private file from your handset.

SpiderOak for Android (market link)

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Overview

First, let’s explain a little bit about exactly what Cloud Player can do. The free service gives you 5GB of storage space as part of the Amazon Cloud Drive. Cloud Drive alone is all you need to just store files, and it’s Cloud Player which makes it worth the effort for music. You’ve got your choice between a web-based player or an Android app. This article will focus on the web based portion, as it applies to all readers.

To get your 5GB claimed, just head over to Amazon and log in/sign up (as of this post, the signing up is available for US customers only).

Adding Music

For starters, you’re a little bit limited in what will work with the Cloud Player. It’ll work with DRM-free MP3 or AAC files, no Vorbis, FLAC, etc. If you’ve got DRMed music, you’re out of luck. But then again, you probably already know that.

The “proper” way to work with this service is to use the Amazon MP3 Uploader, which is an Adobe Air application. It’s not the only way, however, which we’ll cover in a moment. For those who wish to use the uploader, you’ll be asked to install it when setting up your Cloud Player account.

It will scan your computer for music on startup, but you do have the option to stop the scan and manually select the music of your choice, or optionally import from software such as iTunes. Unfortunately, it will attempt to scan your drive again the next time you launch the uploader. And the next. And the next…

If you can’t or won’t use the MP3 Uploader, there’s always the plain old Cloud Drive uploader. Just log into the Amazon Cloud Drive just as you would the Cloud Player. Upload the files to your music folder or subfolder of your choice.

And they’ll be available in the Cloud Player web interface. Speaking of which…

Cloud Player Web Interface

Now that you’ve got you music up, its time to do something with it. On the left you’ve got a navigation panel similar to many local music player applications where you can view your collection by Artist, Genre, etc. Cloud Player even handles the fetching of album art (if it can).

Playlists are fully supported as well, and items are added to the playlist by dragging them from any browsing view and dropping onto the playlist name.

The Non-Free Experience

If you wish to go beyond the free service, you can purchase new tunes from the MP3 Store or some additional capacity to hold it all. Amazon worked in some pretty tempting bonuses as well. For example, if you purchase any MP3 album from their web store, the album is automatically added to your Cloud Drive and your drive capacity is expanded to 20GB for free (for a year).

If you’re interested in expanding your storage space without necessarily buying an album, the prices are as follows (as of the time of this writing)

5 GB FREE
20 GB $20.00 / year
50 GB $50.00 / year
100 GB $100.00 / year
200 GB $200.00 / year
500 GB $500.00 / year
1000 GB $1,000.00 / year

Conclusion

Until Google and Apple launch their theoretical competitors, there’s little basis for comparison for the combined Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. This author is still getting used to the idea of Amazon as a leading edge tech company instead of just an online retailer, but to date their cloud offerings have been generally well received. These two new services are certainly impressive in their simplicity, and both do precisely the job they were designed for and seem to do it well. It would be nice to see some external APIs become available to allow things like local client integration or drive mapping, but that may be in the works. For now, Cloud Player seems to be an extremely simple and capable tool. Often when writing software reviews, we try the application, write about it, and move on. This time, I think I’ll really use this in my daily life. At least until something better comes along.

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Of course the safest option would be to avoid transmitting private data such as passwords, PINs, and bank account numbers over the internet; but there are times of urgency when sharing this information online cannot be avoided. For these times, CloudSafe is the best tool to use.

Introduction

CloudSafe is a brilliant web service that helps share sensitive data online. The site lets you upload any type of file and encrypts it using AES 256. You can then optionally grant your contacts access to your encrypted files. The way CloudSafe executes this process is what sets it apart from similar websites.

Functioning and Usage

To put it succinctly, CloudSafe creates virtual safes in the cloud i.e. on the internet. As a CloudSafe user you can create virtual safes that hold the encrypted files you upload. These safes have variable levels of access that give you a great control over how and with whom the safe’s contents are shared.

For each new safe you create, you can enter a name, description, and brief note. In the same stage that you enter this information, you can upload files from your computer to the safe. To ensure no additional files are mistakenly uploaded, the site does not support batch-uploads.

With your virtual safe created you can specify the type of access your contacts have to the safe. The different types of access include the ability to read and write data, a dual-permission procedure that requires 2 people to have each other’s permission to view the data, and a confirmation procedure that lets a person access the safe only after obtaining permission from another person.

These variable levels of access ensure that you have full control over the safe’s contents. They let you be precise when it comes to deciding who you share the data with and to what extent.

The people you share your safes with must be CloudSafe users. In case they are not CloudSafe users, an invitation email is sent to them. The notification of sharing your safe can be accompanied by a custom message that you choose to elaborate what you are sharing.

CloudSafe users to whom you have granted access, can view the safe and easily access its contents.

Your contacts can also view the level of access they have for your safes.

The contents are displayed in a user-friendly manner with the size and date of each file displayed. Users can download a file simply by clicking on its title.

Other ways of sharing your safe’s contents are by setting an access code or by enabling a feature called “WebDAV.” With WebDAV you can temporarily allow people not on CloudSafe to access your safe’s contents. WebDAV provides a URL to your safe along with a secure username and password to access the contained files.

People not on CloudSafe will be able to view your safe’s contents only after you share the public URL along with the WebDAV username and password. You can disable WebDAV anytime and revoke the access you had granted.

Pricing

The free account offered by CloudSafe allows a maximum of 3 safes with a total storage capacity of 1 GB. If at any time you require more safes or a greater storage, you can opt for the site’s premium services.

Conclusion

CloudSafe provides a valuable service to all of its users. Previously you had to avoid transmitting sensitive data online; but with CloudSafe you can save a ton of time by sharing files securely through encryption. Whether you need to share sensitive files for personal or business use, CloudSafe will serve perfectly.

You can visit CloudSafe over here.

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What’s new

The overall feel of Gladinet has changed – it is a lot easier to navigate through now. There is now a desktop console for you to manage everything. The shiny new interface takes the place of using Windows Explorer to navigate through your documents.

I like the addition of the tabs at the top of the desktop application window. Coupled with the onscreen instructions, the setup for everything went a lot smoother than with the previous version.

There are 3 main sections: Cloud Storage Drive, Cloud Sync Folder and Cloud Backup.

Cloud Storage Drive

When you connect Gladinet with the various cloud services (Amazon S3, Skydrive, Box.net, Google Docs and many more), it will mount the cloud storage as a network drive in your system. You can then drag and drop files to the cloud storage just like how you do it in local drive.

Cloud Backups

With Gladinet 3.0 Desktop, you can easily schedule backups. There is an easy to follow backup wizard that walks you through the steps. What’s nice about the setup wizard is there are a few easy steps and not a lot of choices in the drop downs, making it a fast process to create several custom backups.

You have a mirrored backup option. This acts in much the same way as if you use Mozy or Dropbox. When you save a copy of a file, the file is replaced with the new version. This means, no matter where you access the file from, you will see the most recent version.

What is nice about these backups is you have a choice of how you choose what you want to back up. You can either choose a folder to backup or you can choose a particular file type (like pictures or documents). Within the segment of pictures, you can choose the file types you want Gladinet to scan for (e.g. jpg, bmp, png…)

There is also a Snapshot backup (requires additional Cloud Backup license) that can run scheduled backup and create multiple snapshots with version control.

Cloud Sync

A Cloud Sync Folder allows you to automatically sync files across multiple computers. This is a great replacement for your “My Documents” folder.

Files placed in the designated folder are synchronized to your other computers you use with the same Cloud Sync folders enabled.

Free Giveaway

Thanks to Gladinet, we have 5 copies of Gladinet Cloud Desktop to give away to our readers, and that is all of you. To participate:

Step 1

Be our Facebook fan or follow us in Twitter :

(If you have already done this, skip to step 2)

STEP 2

Fill up the form below. This is to make sure that we can contact you when you win the license. We promise that we won’t spam you.

Update: This giveaway contest has ended.

STEP 3
Share this post either in Facebook or Twitter, or leave a comment below.

This giveaway begins now and ends Wednesday, 2nd Mar at 2359hrs Eastern Time. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email.

Share and enjoy!

Related Posts:

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1. Dropbox

Needless to say, our favorite app – Dropbox tops the list. The free account comes with a 2GB space, but you can gain extra storage space (up to 8GB) by referring friends to use the service, or to get connected via any social means. The good thing about Dropbox is that it is available in among all platforms so you can easily drop a file in any of the computer and access it immediately in your mobile phone.

In the Android app, it doesn’t download and sync all the files like it does on the computer. It only shows a list of the files you have in the cloud and download the necessary file only when you need it. Similarly, you can upload files from the Dropbox app. One caveat though, it does not automatically sync the files/folders that you placed in the Dropbox folder.

One additional feature of the Dropbox app is that you can create files (Picture, Video, Audio, Text file, Folder) from your phone. This means that you can quickly take a photo and sync it to the Dropbox folder.

Market link

2. Zumo Drive

If you are unwilling to shell out money for online storage, then ZumoDrive will not be very attractive to you. The free account of ZumoDrive comes only with 1GB of storage space. (Update: Zumodrive comes with 2GB of free storage space as well.) Nevertheless, ZumoDrive does have several tricks up its sleeves. First of all, ZumoDrive supports multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android and Palm Pre. This make managing your files much easier. Secondly, it comes with an inbuilt music player so you can play/stream your music directly from your ZumoDrive account. It saves you space in your SD card and allows you to listen to your music at the same time. Cool.

Market link

3. SugarSync

SugarSync offers 5GB for its free account, so it is a waste if you don’t sign up for it. Regular SugarSync will find the Android version familiar, as it comes with the usual Magic Briefcase and all connected devices.

When it first launches, it will scan your photo gallery and prompt you to backup all your photos to SugarSync. Unless you select “Yes” or “Never”, you will receive the prompt everytime you run the SugarSync app. Selecting “Yes” wil upload your photos in the background.

In my opinion, SugarSync is functionally similar to Dropbox, except that it provides 5GB of free storage space (3GB more than Dropbox). Both of them support multiple platforms, but Dropbox has the slight advantage with Linux support, while SugarSync don’t.

Market link

4. Box.net

If you are looking for a no-frill app with simple interface, then Box.net is the one for you. The Android version of Box.net is just a simple implementation of its web interface. After you have login to the app, you can access or upload files to your web folder.

Similar to the Dropbox app, you can create media content from within the app. Tap on “Menu -> Create” and you can choose to create either audio, video, or image file. Selecting the audio content will launch a voice recorder while the video content will activate your camera in video mode.

The free version comes with 5GB of storage space.

Market link

5. Sorami

Of all the cloud based storage services, Microsoft’s Skydrive is the most general, giving you a whopping 25GB free storage space. The bad thing is, it is purely web based and doesn’t offer any tool for its users to access it from the desktop (or phone). Sorami is an implementation of Skydrive by third party developer. It allows you to access your Skydrive folder and download/upload files to it. This app is still in beta, so there are many unpolished areas, such as slow uploading, doesn’t support simultaneous upload of multiple files etc. Nevertheless, this is your only choice if you are an active Skydrive user.

Market link

Just the above apps can give you an extra 38GB of storage space. What other ways do you use to gain extra storage space for your mobile device?

Related Posts:

• Share Your Private Files With SpiderOak On Android
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• 4 Other Online Storage Options That Are NOT Dropbox
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Poll results and this week’s poll after the jump.

As the time we spent online increases, the amount of data that we placed online also increased. From your emails in Gmail, your friends information in Facebook, your confidential files in Dropbox, your credit card detail in Paypal, we almost throw our whole life onto the Web. The problem is – is it safe to do so?

Over the past few weeks and months, we have seen several high profile companies got hacked. Gawker, Mozilla, Trapster, to name a few. Million of usernames and passwords were leaked to the public. This is only the beginning and I am sure we bound to see more of such things happen.

So for this week poll, “Do You Still Feel Safe Storing Your Files/Information Online?”

Let’s the voting begin.

Related Posts:

• Play Your Music Anywhere with Amazon’s Brand New Cloud Player
• Share Sensitive Information Online With CloudSafe
• Gladinet Cloud Desktop 3 Review + Free Giveaway
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With this latest quanp Office addin, you will be able to download, edit, upload and share your document directly from your Office.

Installation

The installation of the quanp addin is pretty straightforward. Simply download the exe file and double click to install it. If you have opened your Microsoft Office, you will need to close it for the installation to proceed.

When the installation is done, you will find the quanp icon in the ribbon of your office.

Usage

To use quanp, you must first register for a quanp account. This quanp account is also an online storage service and comes with 10GB of free space. This is also where your documents will be stored.

To register for a quanp account, you can either visit the sign up page or simply click on the quanp icon and select Download. It will prompt you to log in to your account or to register a new account.

Once you have signed up for a quanp account, you will be able to download, upload, or share file with your friends.

Download

As the name implies, this allows you to download files from your quanp account and edit it in Word, Excel or Power Point.

You can select the file to download as well as the location to save the file.

Upload

To upload a file, you must first save the file. You will not be able to upload any unsaved work.

When uploading files, you can specify tags and description for the file so that it can be retrieved easily in the future.

Send file

The Send File function is rather misleading, because it doesn’t send really your file to your friends. What it does is to upload your file to your quanp account and email your friends the link to download it.

You can include up to 20 recipients in the mailing list and you can also customize the email subject and body message. The recipients will receive email something like the screenshot below:

Conclusion

Quanp addon is not the only addon for Microsoft Office to store your document in the cloud, and it is lacking collaborative feature and online editing function (just like Google docs). It works great if you just want to backup your document online, but that’s all.

What do you think? What features would you expect from such an online storage tool?

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This is because a 260 GB hard disk is not enough anymore. You need more and more space and most importantly, you want to access those files from any computer you want.

With an online file hosting service, you can sync all your computers and mobile devices with ease. One of the very popular services is Dropbox. The free plan of Dropbox allows you to store up to 2 GB of data in the cloud and the pro plan costs $9.99 a month for 50 GB while $19.99 for 100 GB of space.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative of Dropbox, here is another web service called iDriveSync, which offers considerate plans with more space.

What makes IDriveSync better than Dropbox?

IDriveSync offers a similar free plan for general users, which allows you to store 2 GB of data and sync them across multiple computers. What makes the service a strong Dropbox alternative is the Pro plan – with only $4.95 a month, you get unlimited sync space !

This is surely a great option for power users who work with a lot of data and want more storage space with cheaper pricing.

IDriveSync supports sharing files with anyone via email address, allows web access to your files, apart from synching them across multiple devices. It has all the features of Dropbox, so if you want a pro backup service with unlimited space, IDriveSync is the way to go.

The only downside of IDriveSync is that it is available only for Windows and not for OSX or Linux.

Using IDriveSync to Sync Files Between Multiple Computers

1. First you have to sign up for an account here. After you have signed up, download the IDriveSync client here.

2. After successfully installing the client on your system, you will see the following screen:

3. If you have already signed up for an account, click” I already have an account”. Otherwise sign up for an account by filling in the necessary credentials, e.g name, email address, password and so on.

4. After the sign up is complete, login to the IdriveSync desktop client.

5. In the next screen, choose use “Default Encryption key”. Please note that sharing files and folders with other users is not permitted if you choose a “private encryption key”.

Important: If you lose the private encryption key, you will not be able to recover the data stored in your IDriveSync account.

6. Next, you will be shown the main interface of IDrivesync. It’s advised to perform a bandwidth test from the options, this will allow you to check your internet connections upload and download speed.

7. Go to program preferences from tools and select a local folder in your computer. This folder is your IDriveSync folder and will be used to sync files from your computer to the IDriveSync account.

8. You are done with the settings. Now simply drag and drop files and folders in the IDrivesync main window and it will be synced with your online IDriveSync storage.

9. Sharing individual files or folders is easily achieved, just right click the file from the program window and choose “Share”.

This will open a pop up window where you can specify the email address of the person with whom you want to share the file or folder. Your friend does not need an IDriveSync account to download the shared file.

The best part about IDriveSync is that it allows you to choose between “Read” and “Read and Write” permissions so that the collaborators may either download or use the file, or they can update the older version with a newer one ( having write access).

The web interface of IDrivesync allows you to view, download or share your files and folders. Here is how it looks:

Overall, I am really impressed with IDriveSync service and the fact that it allows unlimited sync space for only $4.95 a month, it is undoubtedly a strong competitor of Dropbox.

Do you use any other online sync service ? What do you think about IDriveSync ? Please share your ideas through a comment.

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quanp is an online storage service created by Japanese copier giant – Ricoh and quanp send is their latest product that integrates the sending of big files with the online storage service. When you sign up for quanp (currently in beta), you will receive a 10GB storage space for free (most online storage services only offer 2GB for free, so 10GB is a lot of space), and you can make use of this account to store and send large files to your friends.

quanp send usage

quanp send is available in Adobe Air format, so it is compatible with Windows and Mac. I have tried it in Linux too, but can’t get it to work.

Once you have installed quand send, you will see a widget on your desktop. The widget is 3D animated and you can choose between different interfaces: Mail, Wing, Parcel, Teleporter, or  Globe.

At any point of time, you can drag and drop the files (up to 500MB) you want to send to the widget. A window will open to prompt you for the recipient’s detail.

All your files will be uploaded and saved to your quanp online storage account. You can also click on the Advanced button to add tags and descriptions for the files.

Once you are done, simply click the Confirm setting button and the work is done.

Conclusion

The ability to send up to 500MB of files and a 10GB free online storage space is too good an offer to resist. What’s more, the desktop widget is easy to use and is compatible with both Windows and Mac make it even a better deal. If you are looking for ways to send big files online, I would strongly recommend quanp send.

Try it out and let us know what you think.

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This was good news for many mobile Ubuntu users who needed the flexibility that online storage space affords them. Unfortunately, KDE users, those who use Kubuntu, were left out of the initial release. In order to use Ubuntu One, they would have to install the Gnome client or use only the web-based interface.

Now, all of that has changed with the development of Ubuntu One KDE Client.  It is easy to download, setup, and install, and MTE will take you through the entire process.

Sign up for Ubuntu One

The process is the same as it would be if you were registering from within Gnome.

1. Visit one.ubuntu.com

2. Click “Subscribe”

3. Choose the free 2GB plan or the $10 per month 50GB plan

4. Sign in with your existing Launchpad account or create a new one

Once you are subscribed, you can see the web interface. All that is left is connecting your desktop interface to your account.

Download Ubuntu One KDE Client

You can download and install the client from launchpad.net or install it through the PPA using the following method:

1. Open Konsole (or your terminal app of choice)

2. Type the following string:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apachelogger/ubuntuone-kde

It should add the repository and fetch the PPA’s key.

3. One the repository has been added, update your apt-get list:

sudo apt-get update

4. Install Ubuntu One KDE Client:

sudo apt-get install ubuntuone-kde

Note: You can also add the repository and install the client using KPackageKit or another graphical interface.

Getting Started

Now that you have the client installed, start it and make sure the installation worked.

1. Press Alt-F2 (or right click the desktop and click “Run Command”)

2. Type ubuntuone-kde and press Enter

3. An icon shaped like a hard drive with a cloud on it will appear. Right click it.

4. Click “Open Folder”

You should now have your local Ubuntu One folder open, and it should have automatically added a link to it in your “Places” bookmarks in Dolphin.  The path for the folder is /home/username/Ubuntu One.

5. Right click the icon again and click “Connect” to make sure it is connected.

6. Now, to test it, right click inside the Dolphin window of the Ubuntu One folder and click “Create New” and “Text file”

7. Name the file “test” and click OK.

Finally, open your web browser and return to the one.ubuntu.com web interface. Your test file should now appear under “My Files”.  With that you have successfully setup your Ubuntu One account within KDE.  Because the folder itself is on your local computer, you can link to it and even create a Folder View just as you normally would with any KDE folder. Just always keep in mind that Ubuntu One is an online service, so always keep local copies of any files you share on it. It is also still in BETA, so be extra careful. Now Kubuntu users can enjoy the benefits of Ubuntu One and share with their Ubuntu associates.

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If you are looking to access your Skydrive account from your desktop, Gladinet is the application for you.

Gladinet Cloud Desktop is an application that allows you to mount cloud storage services as local folders and integrates online applications with the local desktop. It supports services such as Amazon S3,  Google docs, Picasa, Adrive, and of course Skydrive.

Download Gladinet Starter edition (FREE)

Start the installer. At the end of the installation, it will prompt you to do some initial configuration.

Select a drive letter for Gladinet to mount to. Make sure that the drive letter does not conflict with any existing drive. Click OK to continue.

In the next window, click on the Mount Disk Storage

Under the service provider, select Windows Live Skydrive from the dropdown bar. Of course, if you are using other storage services, you can also configure them the same way here.

Enter your login credential.

You can now access your Skydrive right from the desktop.

The advantage of using Gladinet is that it mount the online storage as a network drive in your system (and it does not do a sync), so even if you computer has less than 25GB of space, you can still mount it and access all your data (you will need an Internet connection though). In addition, the ability to mount several online storage services mean that you won’t ever face the problem of insufficient storage space again.

Gladinet comes with a Starter edition (free), Professional edition ($29.99) and a Premium edition that is due to be released soon. Personally, I have found that the Starter edition contains features more than I ever need and is sufficient for me. However, if you require more features, you can always upgrade to the Professional edition easily.

What other ways do you use to access Windows Live Skydrive?

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Syncplicity is an online storage service that aims to make backup, sync and sharing a breeze for its users. By installing the desktop client on your computer, you will be able to easily specified the folders to backup and get it sync quickly and automatically to the server and any other computers that have Syncplicity installed.

Revision control

Other than Dropbox, Syncplicity is the only online storage provider that does a revision control on all your files and data. This means that all the changes (to the files) are recorded and you can easily revert back to the previous version without any fuss. In the event that you’ve accidentally deleted the files, you can retrieve it from the Syncplicity’s Recylce Bin (unless you removed it permanently from the Recylce Bin).

File sharing

With the desktop client, you can easily share your folder(s) and its content with your friends. When you create a share folder, an email will be sent to your friends who you want to share the files with. Upon receiving that email, your friends will be able to view the files in their browsers, or if they are also Syncplicity users, the files will get sync to their computers.

Third parties integration

One thing that I like about Syncplicity is its tight integration with third-party apps like Facebook, Google Docs, Picnik, Scribd and Zoho.

Facebook

When you add a folder of photos to Syncplicity, it automatically creates an album on your Facebook account and uploads all the photos in the folder to the album. You don’t have to spend your time to upload the photo again. You just need to sync it and let Syncplicity do the job in the background.

Google Docs

By creating a sync between Syncplicity and Google Docs, you can now edit your document offline and have it synchronized back to the Google server without you knowing it. Similarly, if you edit the document online, it will sync back to your computer automatically.

Picnik

Syncplicity allows you to edit your photos with Picnik, even if you don’t have a Picnik account. Simply right-click on the image and select Edit in Picnik. The Picnik’s editor window will automatically load in your browser. Once you have completed your editing, the edited image will be automatically sync back to your server and desktop.

Conclusion

Overall, there are several great features in Syncplicity that distinguish itself from the rest of its competitor. The tight integration with the third-party apps have been an useful feature that have saved plenty of my time and effort.

If there is anything to complain, that must be the lack of support for Linux. It is currently available for Windows and they have also released a beta version for Mac. There is no news about any support for Linux for the time being.

A basic Syncplicity account is free and comes with a 2GB storage space. For heavy users, you can sign up for the premium account at $10 ($9.99 to be exact) per month for 50GB of space.

For those who wish to have a larger storage space, but are not willing to pay the monthly fee, you can get more space by inviting your friends to join Syncplicity. Any friends that sign up via your invitation will increase your storage space by 1GB (per signup), up to a maximum of 3GB.

If you have tried Syncplicity, I would love to hear your feedbacks in the comments.

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Previously available only in Windows and Mac, Dropbox has recently launched a new version for Linux.

In case you are wondering, Dropbox is an online storage site that allows you to back up and sync your files right from your desktop. It comes with a desktop application that you can install in your OS and backing up files is just a simple drag and drop to the Dropbox folder in your hard drive. Any files added/removed from the folder will be automatically sync with the online server as long as you are connected to the Internet.

Other than a handy desktop application, Dropbox also has the ability to perform revision control on all the files inside the folder. In the event that you deleted any files accidentally, you can load up the revision history and restore back the files.

When you sign up with Dropbox, you get a free basic account that comes with a 2GB storage space. 50 GB storage is also available with a premium account that costs $9.99/month, or $99.99/year.

Installing Dropbox in Ubuntu

The Dropbox team has make it very simple to install Dropbox in Ubuntu.

Download Dropbox for Ubuntu package http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/5143/nautilus-dropbox-packages/0.4.1/nautilus-dropbox_0.4.1-1_i386_ubuntu_8.04.deb. (If you are using Fedora or other Linux distro, you can find the source file here)

Double click on the downloaded deb file to start installing the Dropbox application.

Once the installation are done, log out of your desktop and log back in again. You will now see a Dropbox icon on your system tray at the top panel. In the background, Dropbox will now download the remaining files and complete the installation process.

When it is done, a window will appear to guide you through the setting up process.

If you are new to Dropbox, choose “I’m new to Dropbox”

Enter your login credential

Follow the tour to learn how to use Dropbox. It’s really simple.

End of the tour. It’s time to start using your Dropbox!

You can find the Dropbox folder in your Home, under Nautilus. A file/folder with a blue icon means that synchronization is in progress while a green tick icon means that synchronization is completed.

Note: The installation of Dropbox on Windows and Mac is exactly the same as installation in Ubuntu, except that the installer file is different.

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