Once setup, users can connect to the Sparkleshare server and edit/add/create files that are shared with collaborators, who can then do the same. Sparkleshare also has the potential of being used for simple cloud file storage like Dropbox or SpiderOak. The major difference is that Sparkleshare is free and open source, and you can install it on your own server.

Sparkleshare makes use of Git, a free and open source versioning control system. If you have git installed on your server, you can effortlessly keep your files in sync. If you do not have your own server or VPS, you can use Github or Gitorious to at least test the early version of Sparkleshare that is currently available.

Installation

To install Sparkleshare and get started, just follow these steps:

On Ubuntu 10.10 and derivative OSes, add the necessary repository and install.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuovodna/nuovodna-stuff
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sparkleshare

If you prefer not to add a third-party repository, you can also download the deb file directly in 32-bit or 64-bit.

To install from source on another distribution or OS, see the Sparkleshare README.

Configuration

If you are going to use Sparkleshare on your own server, you should follow the instructions on this tutorial. To try out Sparkleshare using GitHub, do the following:

1. Get a free GitHub account
2. Click “Dashboard” – “New Repository”
3. Give your project a name and (optional) description and click “Create Repository”
4. Start Sparkleshare on your computer
5. Enter your Name and email address and click “Next”

6. Open a file manager and go to ~/.config/sparkleshare
7. Edit a file called sparkleshare.username.key.pub  (username should be replaced with your username)
8. Copy the entire contents of this file.
9. Back on the GitHub account, go to “Account Settings -> SSH Public Keys -> Add another public key”
10. Give the key a title and paste the contents from your .pub file and click “Add key”
11. Go back to Sparkleshare, select GitHub as your remote folder, and for Folder Name, enter your GitHub username and repository folder name: “username/repository-name”

12. Click “Sync”, and it should sync successfully.

Note: If it says “something went wrong”, check your ssh key again. If you are sure you pasted it correctly, you may need to manually accept the connection. Open a terminal and type:

ssh github.com

It will ask, “Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?”

Type yes and press Enter. When you go back to Sparkleshare, it should now work.

The Sparkleshare folder icon should stay in your system tray when it is running. Clicking on it will show your available repositories. Anything you edit or save in that folder will be edited and saved on the server, and those changes will be visible for any collaborators.

Currently, there is no actual cloud service (paid or free) for Sparkleshare, and unless you want to pay for a GitHub account, your projects will be publicly visible. If, however, you use your own server, you can setup a private repository and enjoy secure, free, open source file syncing and collaboration.

At the moment, Ubuntu One for Windows public beta is invitation only. We are one of the few that are lucky to receive a download for testing. Here’s a quick review of what you’re going to see in the Windows version.

Installation

While you can install Ubuntu One in Windows, you will need .NET framework 4 for it to work.

The installation is a breeze. It is the same usual steps as installing any other applications.

Once the installation is done, you should see the icon in the system tray.

To get start, right click on the Ubuntu One tray icon and select “Add this computer”.

You will be prompted to enter your login credential.

Features of Ubuntu One for Windows

The user-interface is almost similar to the one in Ubuntu. When you click “Synchronize”, it will create an Ubuntu One folder in “My Document” and start to download all your files from the server. At the moment, it only syncs your files in the Ubuntu One folder. Your music (purchased from Ubuntu One Store), tomboys note etc will not be synced at the moment.

There is nothing much that you can configure in the Settings. The only obvious one is the scheduling of auto-sync.

As it is still in beta, there are plenty of things that are not working now. You can’t sync your purchased music, tomboy notes, calendar, contacts, folders outside the “Ubuntu One” folder and many other things. But not to worry, these features will be in place when the actual version is released.

At the moment, Ubuntu One for Windows open for invitation only. For those who are interested, you can submit your interest at the Ubuntu One Wiki and they will send you the download link in a few weeks time.

No news of OSX version as of today.

Glide OS 4.0 is a free cloud computing solution, which offers a wide range of web based applications under one umbrella.  Glide provides cross platform compatibility for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and a wide range of mobile devices which includes Android, iPhone etc.

If you have missed the earlier article, we recommend reading it first and then read this one which discusses the following points:

• Syncing files from multiple computers to online operating system
• Managing folders in Online glide OS.
• Using Glide applications for various computing jobs
• Customizing the Glide desktop.

Syncing Files From Multiple Computers to Glide OS

1. First, go to the downloads page and download the Glide desktop client for Windows, MAC or Linux. You have to install this client on each computer you want to sync with your Glide OS account.

All the files which is synced from different computers will be kept at a central location; you can further create multiple containers and sync each container with a specific device, as described later in the article. Glide supports over 250 file formats and the files synced to Glide are automatically converted into compatible previews for a broad range of devices.

2. Install the desktop client by following the instructions of the installation wizard.

3. Start the client and go to “Settings -> Accounts” and enter your Glide account credentials, as shown:

4. Go the “Sync” tab and specify a folder which you want to sync with your Glide OS account. This folder can be anywhere on your computer and you can further choose multiple folders or drives to sync, at a later point of time.

You can choose to sync the Glide folders automatically, every hour, every day or week or choose to manually sync, as shown below:

Syncing files is easy, just dump everything to the Glide Sync folder and everything will automatically be uploaded to your Glide OS account. You can further create subfolders and organize the files – the same directory structure will be preserved in Glide OS as well.

Here is the local folder in my Windows computer that is synced with Glide:

I added all of them in the Glide desktop client, as shown below:

After the sync is complete, just log in to your Glide OS account from a browser and you will be able to view or download any file or folder. Here is a view of my Glide Desktop:

Very Important: Every sync activity is followed by a time stamp, so you should be very careful with file syncing. Suppose you have synced a folder from your desktop one day ago. After a week, you log into Glide OS from the browser, find the folder and delete it (thinking that the folder is already present in your computer).

Now the next time, you run the Glide desktop client, the application will check for the last timestamp of the sync activity. It will see that the last timestamp was when you deleted the folder from online Glide OS. Hence, running the sync activity will delete the folder from your local computer as well.

How Do I Ensure that Data is never lost

Keep two things in mind:

• Do not delete anything from Glide OS, delete from the local computer first.
• If you must delete from the Glide OS, do not run Sync activity from each local computer. First back up the deleted files or folders from the Glide folder to another drive and then run the sync activity.

Managing Files and Folders in Glide OS

Managing files and folders (read containers) in Glide OS is very easy, just select the file or folder and you have different options to choose from:

• You can download the folder or upload more files to the specific folder by using the “Download” and “upload” buttons.
• Move the folder to another container by dragging and dropping.
• Create sub folders within the same folder and organize your files or documents.

It’s very basic and works the same way as if you are working in windows explorer.

Using Glide Applications

Using Glide applications is also very easy, just log into your Glide desktop and you will have a lot of applications at your disposal. You can create documents, images, presentations and other files using these applications and save them in your Glide OS account. I am not going into using these applications because they are pretty straightforward and self explanatory.

Here are some application previews:

Image Editor

Word processor

Presentation

Address Book

Calculator

Paintbrush

Email Account (Optional)

Meetings and Scheduling

Calendar And Event Management

Do you need anything else? Despite of all the above apps, there are a lot more apps which you can use.

Customizing Your Glide Desktop

Customizing the Glide desktop is also easily achieved, just click “Customize” at the Glide Taskbar and you can pick a theme for your Glide desktop. You can not create a theme from scratch, but there are a wide variety of themes to choose from :

After picking a theme, you can rearrange items, show specific folders on the desktop or create shortcuts to applications. It’s exactly the same in Windows and novice users will feel at home using the Glide desktop. Here is a view of my Glide desktop:

Conclusion

Without any doubt, Glide OS is the best web based operating system I have ever seen or used. It’s not just file syncing, there are wide range of applications all at one place, you will never need any other website or tool to create documents, manage photos, schedule meetings and  so on.

What’s your take on Glide OS? Do you use any web based operating system? Please share your ideas in the comments section.

As you all know, iPhone and Linux are never a good pair. iPhone needs iTunes to sync, and iTunes is not available for Linux. Well, with the new Ubuntu One Contact [iTunes link] iPhone app, it is easy to sync your iPhone (contact) with your Ubuntu machine.

Configuring the iPhone-Ubuntu One synchronization

Before you install the iPhone app and start the synchronization, you will need to register for a phone synchronization account.

1. Go to http://one.ubuntu.com and login into your Ubuntu One account. If you do not have an Ubuntu One account, this is also the time to sign up for one.

2. Once you are logged in, go to https://one.ubuntu.com/phones/.

Choose Apple as the manufacturers and iPhone as the model. Click Choose.

3. You will be issued an username and password. Record it down. You will need this info to login to the mobile app later on.

4. Next, install Ubuntu One Contact from the app store on your iPhone/iPod Touch.

5. Activate the app. When prompted, enter your Ubuntu One Phone account login credential.

6. Back to the app main screen, tap on the big Sync Contacts icon to start the synchronization (you will need to connect to the Web for the synchronization to start).

The synchronization will now take place. You won’t see the synced contact in your Ubuntu One folder. Instead, log in to the web-based dashboard and click on the Contact tab, you should be able to see your contact list.

If you decided that you don’t want to do any more synchronization, you can remove the phone from your Ubuntu One account via the Edit Phone Setting link.

One way or two way sync?

In the Settings pane within the app, there are several preferences that you can set. The more important one is the ability to specify whether a one-way sync or two way sync should be made. You can specify to do a two way sync, or just phone -> Server, or vice-versa.

Currently, the Ubuntu One Contact app only syncs your iPhone contact, but I believe that in the future, it could extend its service to your Notes, emails, SMS or even your call log.

What do you like to sync most with this Ubuntu One mobile app?

What if you can get the tabs/session to restore automatically on a Firefox browser in another computer? Just imagine, you can do your work in the office, close the browser (with all the tabs) when it’s time to knock off and restore it again when you open the browser from your home PC. Isn’t it great?

Well, you can do it now with the help of Firefox Sync extension.

The Firefox Sync extension backup your info to the server and restore it on any computers that you have installed the extension. Other than tabs, it also backup and sync your settings, passwords, bookmarks, and other customizations.

Install the Firefox sync extension . Restart your Firefox.

After the restart, the Firefox Sync extension will prompt you to set up a sync account. Click on the option “I’ve never used Sync before“.

In the next screen, create an account with the Firefox server. Alternatively, if you have your own custom server, you can use it to store the sync data too.

Enter a secret phrase. This secret phrase is used to encrypt your data and it must be at least 12 characters long.

Next, Firefox Sync will ask if you want to sync everything. By everything, it means your bookmarks, history, preferences and tabs. Alternatively, you can configure your own setting what to sync and what not to sync.

That’s it. You have completed the configuration and it will start to sync your Firefox immediately. At any point of time, you can easily disconnect the sync by going to Tools -> Sync -> Disconnect.

On the other computer, also install the Firefox Sync extension. This time, select “I’m already using Sync on another computer”.

Enter your account credential. It will then prompt if you want to merge the online sync data with this current computer or replace your existing local settings with the online sync data.

Done.

The extension will now sync all your settings across all your computers running Firefox.

What other ways do you used to sync your Firefox?

1. Remotely launch Bittorrent downloads.

I like to keep my various Linux distributions up-to-date and one of the ways I manage this is to ensure that as soon as the latest “iso” file of that distribution is made available I immediately start torrenting it. The first thing you will need is a torrent client that supports the “watch folder” feature. I personally use uTorrent. (Note: Transmission also has the ability to “watch” a folder for new torrent.)

To set up a “watched folder” in uTorrent click on Options on the top toolbar and then select Preferences from the drop-down menu.

Next, navigate to Directories from the left-hand column. This will open up a set of options on the right side of the panel. First, check “Automatically load .torrents from:”, then select “…” and using the file browser navigate to your “My Dropbox” folder and create a folder here called “Torrents”. Then select Select Folder. When the settings in the Preferences are completed hit OK.

Now, whenever you upload a .torrent file into your “Torrents” folder on Dropbox it will automatically launch in uTorrent, provided your computer is switched on and uTorrent is running. This is a great way to remotely launch torrents.

2. Access Dropbox from Multiple Devices

There are a number of ways of accessing Dropbox from a device other than your primary computer. You can log into the web interface which allows you to download any of your files or upload something new. You can also install Dropbox on a new computer and log in with your same account. Finally, Dropbox is now available as a download from the iTunes App Store as well as the Android marketplace.

[Image credit: alex.priest]

3. Share files with the world

It is easy to share a folder with your friends in Dropbox, but it requires both parties (you and your friends) to have Dropbox accounts. In some cases you do not want to take the hassle of having the other party install Dropbox and you merely want to share a single file with them. In these cases you can share an individual file by creating a “public link”.

All files that are placed in the “Public” folder in your “My Dropbox” folder can be made “Public” by copying the public link and sharing it with the world.

Once you have copied a file into the Dropbox public folder, you can generate a public link either through the file explorer or through the web interface. In your file explorer, simply right-click on the file you want to share, select Dropbox and select Copy Public Link.

4. Sync your To-Do List

Although there are numerous online to-do lists such as RememberTheMilk, Evernote, and even Google’s Tasks application, most people (including me) are still fans of the old fashioned text-file.

To create a to-do list text file and access it everywhere, simply save your to do list in the Dropbox folder. This way you can access it from anywhere and make changes and re-upload.

5. Backup Saved Game Files

I often find that I am in a friends house and I want to show them the “magical” new weapon my character found in a game. Unfortunately, because my saved file from the game is at home I am unable to launch the game from the position I left off.

To get around this you can add your “saved game” files to your My Dropbox folder and make it accesible from anywhere.

As of now, most of my saved game files are saved in the “Documents” folder and since I demonstrated how to keep your “Documents” folder in sync in the first part of this guide, there is no need to do anything further to backup your saved game files. However, if your saved game file is in some other folder then you will need to create a junction into your “My Dropbox” folder. Just keep in mind that unlike before you do not want to move the entire saved game folder into your “My Dropbox” folder, rather you want to right-click on the folder containing your saved game file, select “Pick Link source”, then navigate to your “My Dropbox” folder and right-click on any blank area and select “Drop As…” and select “Junction”.

This will ensure that your saved game files are backed up to Dropbox.

6. Access your Instant Messaging Logs from Anywhere

If you are using multiple computers, chances are, you have also installed multiple IM accounts on each computer. While you are able to connect to your IM network easily, your chat log will be split among different computers. To keep them unified, you can easily create a junction (or symlink) and sync your chat log across different computers with Dropbox.

There are thousands and one things that you can do with Dropbox and I have only covered the tip of the iceberg. If you have found any other novel uses for Dropbox, let us know in the comments.

Image credit: claustchi

In this first article, I will explain the basics of installing Dropbox and using its more common features. In the next article I will outline some of the more unique uses of Dropbox.

1. Installation

First, visit www.dropbox.com and download the Dropbox client. After installing and creating an account, you will get a choice to keep the Dropbox folder location as default or move it somewhere else. At this point if you wish to make your entire “My Documents” folder as your “My Dropbox” folder you have that option. I personally prefer to keep it as a separate folder in my “Users” folder.

2. Increase your Dropbox Limit for FREE

While the 2GB that Dropbox provides for free is adequate for documents, once you decide to start syncing photos or music you will soon require more space. If you are willing to pay, you can upgrade to 50GB for $9.99/month or 100GB for $19.99/month. However, with a small amount of work, it is also possible to increase your allocation of free space by 8.2GB to a total of 10.2GB.

The first thing you must do is click on the “Getting Started” link on your Dropbox home page. Immediately after the tutorial completes you will notice that 250MB has been added to your total limit.

To obtain the remainder of the bonus space, Dropbox requires you to refer a certain number of people to their service. To do this, click on the “Get Extra Space Free” link on the Dropbox home page and you will be taken to your referral page. From here you can either send the referral link to friends using their e-mail addresses or you can copy your referral link and entice others to sign-up to Dropbox using your referral link (by signing up using your referral link those new users will also get extra space for free).

Each referral gets you 250MB of bonus storage space, so it will take a total of 32 referrals for you to hit 8GB.

3. Backing Up

While Dropbox has robust syncing features, it is also handy as a simple backup tool. Simply place all the data you want backed up into your “My Dropbox” folder and no matter what happens to your physical storage, your data will remain safe in the cloud. The “undelete” option is what sets Dropbox apart as a backup service.

On the website, if you browse to any folder, you are met with the following interface:

Clicking on the “Show deleted files” button reveals, in grey, a number of previously deleted items.

From here you can select any folder or file and either permanently delete it or “undelete” the item.

It is also possible to launch the “undelete” function directly from any folder inside your “My Dropbox” folder by right-clicking, selecting “Dropbox” -> “Show Deleted Files…”.

If you have a free account this feature is limited to the past 30 days, so a file older than 30 days is permanently erased. If you buy a “Pro” account (i.e. 50GB or 100GB) you can ‘undelete” files forever.

In addition, to being able to restore deleted files, it is possible to revert back to older versions of any file by selecting a file and clicking on “previous versions”.

On the next page you can select the version you would like to roll back to.

4. Photos Folder

After installing Dropbox, the “My Dropbox” folder contains a “Photos” folder by default.

If you place a photo or a folder full of photos in this folder and then browse the folder in Dropbox, you have the ability to view the photos in a gallery view.

From here you even have the ability to share this particular gallery with anyone (even if they do not possess a Dropbox account). Simply send them the highlighted link.

Just remember, the gallery mode only works if the original folder is named “Photos” (e.g. “pictures” does not work).

5. Sync any Folder with Dropbox

Currently, the only way to sync data onto Dropbox is to physically place it in the “My Dropbox” folder. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem.

In Windows 7/Vista/XP download the program Link Shell Extension. Once you have installed the program, MOVE (not copy) the folder you would like to sync with Dropbox into your “My Dropbox” folder. Then right-click on the folder and select “Pick Link Source”.

Having “selected” the folder, navigate to the folder where this particular folder was originally located and select “Drop As… -> Junction”.

This will ensure that while the original folder actually resides in the “My Dropbox” folder, you can continue to interact with the folder as though it is in its original location. It is essential that you place your original folder inside Dropbox. If instead you create the junction inside Dropbox, leaving the folder in its original location, any changes inside the folder will not sync until you restart Dropbox (this is a bug with Windows junction points).

In my next article I will demonstrate some of the more advanced uses of Dropbox.

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, check out Syncless – a brilliant program for folder synchronization in Windows. Syncless works with the concept of tagging – you tag two or multiple folders with the same tag name. These folders can be present anywhere in your system, from your desktop to your My documents folder to a folder in your removable drive.

When you hit the “Sync” button, all the folders which are tagged with the same tag name are synched. This means, the contents of all the folders become the same and you get the same file and directory structure in all the folders. This is useful because you can use this application for routine backups, transferring and merging drives or may be creating a restore point for some of the important directories of your system.

How to Sync Folders in Windows using Syncless

Download Syncless

1. When you start the program for the first time, you should create the necessary tags. Tags can be named according to your needs or by using folder names. Here is how the interface of the program looks:

2. Hit the “Create Tag” button to create Tags. As you create the tags, the entire list will be shown in the right sidebar of the program window. You can assign multiple folders to a tag and multiple tags to a folder.

3. Tag the Source folder: Once the tag is in place, you have to add the folders you want to sync. For example: I chose a folder in my E Drive and a folder in my D Drive for synchronizing. The folder kept in the D Drive is empty while the folder in the E drive contains set up files of some software programs I use regularly.

To add a tag to a folder, simply click the “Tag” button and navigate to the location of the folder as shown below:

4. Tag the destination folder: Once the source folder has been added, follow the same procedure to tag the destination folder as well.

5. You are all set for the synchronization process. There are two synchronization modes available -manual and seamless. If you want to manually sync the content of the two folders, choose “Manual” from the options button as shown below:

Once you hit the “Sync Now” button the content of both the folders will start synchronizing. All the contents of the two folders will be merged together and you will see the same file and directory structure in both the folders.

For example: Let us suppose the directory structure of Folder 1 and Folder 2 to be something as shown below:

Once the Synchronization is complete, you will have the following directory and file structure:

If one of the folders is empty and you perform the sync operation, the content of the another folder won’t be erased. In short, both the folders will be a mirror copy of each other. You will also see a system tray notification when the sync process is over.

The seamless integration method works automatically, as the program sits in the system tray and merges the content of tagged folders at regular intervals. You can use the application to sync your computers time as well.

Overall, Syncless is a very handy program for folder synchronization. It’s portable, thus requires no installation and can be used on multiple computers from a removable drive. Do you use any application to sync folders? Please share your ideas in the comments section.

Nokia advertises it as an “Internet Tablet” rather than a PDA, so perhaps they expect you to rely on cloud services, such as Google Calendar.  Very well, we will, but we will do it with style.  mCalendar is a small application for the Maemo operating system that allows you to have an appointment calendar on your tablet and also sync it with your Google Calendar.  It is finger-friendly and easy to use.  It is available for Maemo/Tablet OS2007 and OS2008 and should work on Nokia 770, N800, N810, and N810 WiMax models.

Installation

The easiest way to install mCalendar is to go to maemo.org and click the big green “Install” button next to mCalendar.  This will add the extras software repository and also install the application.  If you prefer to add the software repository yourself, simply open your Application Manager, open the menu, click on Tools and click “Application catalog…”.  Click the “New” button and add this repository:

Catalog name = maemo Extras
Web address = http://repository.maemo.org/extras/
Components = free non-free

Setup

1. Start mCalendar.

2. Open the menu and click “Preferences”.

3. Click on the “Google Syncronization” tab.

4. Enter your Google login (usually your email address) and password.

5. Click on the “General” tab.

6. Optional: You can select “google popup reminder” to receive notices of appointments and “auto sync” if you want to keep mCalendar automatically in sync with your Google calendar.

Start Syncing

You should test synchronization to make sure it works.

1. Add an appointment to your calendar and save it.

2. Open the menu and click “Synchro”.

3. Open a browser and login to Google Calendar.

4. Check the appointment to make sure that it is the right day and time.

5. Edit the appointment and re-sync to make sure two-way communication is working.

Alternatives

While mCalendar is quick and easy, it is hardly robust.  If you prefer a calendar with a few more options, such as GPE Calendar, you can use a third party application called Erminig to sync it with your Google calendar.

Erminig is in the maemo extras repository and is configured in roughly the same way as mCalendar’s sync function.  One advantage is that you can sync with a specific calender from  your Google account and a specific GPE calendar, if you have more than one.  You can then setup multiple entries and sync all of them at once.  Furthermore, it has a “read-only” feature, if you prefer not to make changes on the tablet side.

Beyond the tablet

Once you have your tablet synced with your Google calendar, you might also want to sync with your desktop calendar.  I have not found an easy way to sync directly from the Nokia internet tablet to the desktop.  Instead, you can sync it with your Google calendar and then sync Google with your desktop, using GCALDaemon.

KDE4′s data backend, Akonadi, currently only supports read-only functionality with Google Calendar.  If that is all you need, you will not need GCALDaemon.  There are plans to add read-write functionality in KDE 4.3

Now you have the ability to wirelessly sync your calendars on the move.  This certainly does not come close to full PIM synchronization, but you will at least have your important appointments in order.

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.

We all know that Apple is one of the companies which (in)famous for their hobby to constantly release mouth-watering products. Those fanboy whose will strength is not that strong would always be tempted to constantly replace their belongings with the latest breeds.

The problem is, when you switch your machine(s), you also have to move your datas along. And as surprisingly as it seems, most people don’t know how to migrate their datas – properly – from the old Mac to the new.

Recently I got an opportunity to switch from my old iBook to a newer MacBook. And as one of those unfortunate soul who feel that they have to do everything on their own, I tried to find my way out of this problem. Here are my findings.

The easy way

The first time you start your Mac, you will have the opportunity to migrate your datas. Take it. This step and the help from the technical assistant at the Apple Store will make your life so much easier.

But just in case you missed the shot, you still can use the help from the Migration Assistant application (Applications->Utilities->Migration Assistant). Just open the app and follow the steps. Basically it will ask you where will you move your datas to/from (moving them to another Mac or getting them from another Mac or disk), then it will also ask how will you transfer your data, either through Firewire cable – which port is missing from the new MacBook, through wireless connection, or LAN.

If you have an external hard drive and Mac OS X 10.5 on both computer, the migration process will also be a snap. Just use the Time Machine (Applications->Time Machine) to back up the datas from the old machine to the external hard drive, and restore the datas using the new Mac.

The Manual Way

But if the easiest method failed, in my case because no matter what I do the old iBook won’t connect to the MacBook, there is still the manual way. Less comfortable, I know, but you have to do what you have to do.

So, beside the obvious – your documents and such (inside your Documents – Movies – Music – Pictures folder), you will want to move your Applications and Libraries folders because there lie all of your unseen datas – user accounts, all kinds of settings, and such. Be careful not to replace your newer apps with the olds as every Mac is preinstalled with loads of ready to use apps.

There are two Library folders. One is under your home folder (~/Library) and the other one is under your Hard Drive folder (/Library).

Please bear in mind that not every application and setting can be moved just by dragging and dropping. You’ll get more incompatibility if you move your datas between different version of Mac OS (Panther to Leopard for example). I found out that it would be better to use synchronization app to ‘back up’ your data to new location.

In my case, I also use external hard drive (a.k.a iPod classic) as a mediator since my old Mac kept its vow of silence and wouldn’t talk to the new. Maybe it’s jealous? :) So the process of moving my data looks like this: iBook –> external hard drive –> MacBook. It was not a smooth process and I only get about 70% right. But it still better than nothing.

Some applications need special attention and you have to actively looking for answer to your problem on the net. For example, you need to press T button when you open iPhoto for the first time in order to enable you to choose the photo library, or to use the ‘Consolidate Library’ command in iTunes for more or less the same goal. Read more about it here. You also have to authorize your new machine to be able to open your iTunes Music Store purchases.

Now my new Mac is mostly up and running (while still waiting for the updates download process to finish and trying to find out the way to fix some minor things). I hope this short rambling could help other unfortunate souls out there.

If you have other tips or stories you want to share about migrating your old Mac to new, use the comments below.

Unison is a simple tool that allows you to synchronize your files between two locations. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host), modified separately, and then brought up to date by propagating the changes in each replica to the other.

Some of the unique features in Unison include:

• It is compatible with both Unix and Windows, making it a versatile synchronization tool across all OS.
• Monitoring of the two replicas for updates. Changes make to any of the replica that are propagated to the other replica automatically. If there is any conflict detected, it will be displayed on the screen.
• Able to work with a local directory, SSH, RSH and Socket.
• It is resilient to failure. It is careful to leave the replicas and its own private structures in a sensible state at all times, even in case of abnormal termination or communication failures.

Install Unison in Ubuntu

Click here to install unison and unison-gtk.

Alternatively, in your terminal, type

sudo apt-get install unison unison-gtk

Go to Applications -> Accessories -> Unison

When Unison first start, it will prompt you to set up a new profile. Select the folder that you want to synchronize.

Next, select the folder that you want to back up to.

Click OK.

The first time you sync, Unison will show a warning message. After reading, click Ok to close it.

Unison will now start to scan the source and destination for error.

Once that is done, click the Go button to start the sync.

That’s it!

If you are intending to sync with another machine over ssh, first make sure that the destination machine already has unison and ssh installed.

When choosing the destination folder, enter the ssh information:

Unison will contact the server and ask you for password when successful.

Similarly, press Go to start the synchronization once the verification is completed.