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 A friend told me a story recently about a colleague who walked into her office, in a panic about backing up the organization's files: "When do you do backups? How long has it been? I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about this. I couldn't find a backup disk. What if the hard drive crashed? WHAT WOULD WE DO?"
You might remember from a posting a few months ago about a web service called Mozy that we use to back up files. For a small, monthly fee (less than 1 Starbuck's mocha/movie ticket) we have our files "on the cloud" . . . just in case. In case of hard drive implosion, theft, or a fire in the building. With that kind of security--knowing every thing is backed up somewhere on the cloud and still retrievable--I sleep peacefully.
Online file savers are secure and there are many, many options out there. I'll sort 'em out for ya here.
Box.Net
{Free - $20/mo}
This one popular. It simplifies file-sharing, and you and your team can collaborate with ease. No one needs to download an attachment or install any software. They will just click on a link that magically shows up in an email notification.
If you try it and don't think it's fast and easy to use, they'll give you a free upgrade for three months.
Gmail Space - Turns your Gmail into online storage.
This is specific for Firefox browser users.
This allows you to use your Gmail Space (4.1 GB and growing) for file storage. It acts as an online drive, so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them from every Internet capable system. The interface will make your Gmail account look like a FTP ("File Transfer Protocol" ) host.
It's great for storing/sharing files with your friends. Also very good to backup photos and music files (as you can view/listen to them from Gspace).
Office Live
Microsoft offers 5 G of free storage for Hotmail account users. Works with products you are already familiar with, such as Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files from your Web browser.
Mozy - 2 G if Free storage, Unlimited Storage - less than $5/month
Easy Share
Easy Share is one easy way to upload your files. You can upload files from your PC or from a remote server. Upload via FTP, web, software or web embedded widgets.
rarhost
rarhost is a unique new file hosting site, only for winrar .rar archives. They offer much more than just basic file hosting, their system has advanced information about each rar file, therefore they have decided to specialize in .rar files, for example you can see what the archive contains before you download, ensuring it contains the files you want.
upit.to
upit.to is an easy file hosting service that you can use in just one click to host your files. This service is absolutely free and you can upload up to 5 GB. I like the way you can do 5 simultaneous uploads.
DepositFiles
DepositFiles offers free storage of your files on their servers for any period of time. The largest possible size of stored file is 2Gb and the total size of the stored files is unlimited. You can also send free emails with downloading link for your file to all your addressees.
YouShare
YouShare enables you to upload up to 500 MB at a time without any registration. If you want to upload 1024 MB at a time and organize your files, you can register for free. You can add your friends and give them permission to upload to your albums.
File Savr - Free File Hosting
FileSavr.com makes file hosting easier with Web 2.0 technology and the use of Ajax and Flash. FileSavr has 10 GB upload size limit, currently the largest available on the internet. This allows users the flexibility to upload any large file of 10 GB or less.
File Dropper - Free File Hosting for MP3, Videos, Documents
FileDropper’s beauty is in its simplicity. It has one click file hosting where you simply click on the upload button and select your file. After the file is uploaded you are taken to the page where the file is hosted. If the file is an image, it shows the image directly on the page for easier sharing. Upload size is an impressive 5 GB.
File Factory - free and simple file hosting service
FileFactory lets you host files up to 300MB for free. You don’t have to register and there is nothing to download. Your files can be downloaded an unlimited number of times! One thing we found very annoying and spammy about FileFactory was the number of ads they have on the page.
FileDen - Free file hosting and online storage
With File Den’s free file hosting and online storage service it’s easy to share files across the internet with friends, family, work associates or anyone else. They allow our users to direct link to their files also giving you the opportunity to embed your files into your web pages, myspace or other social networking profiles.
Fileqube - Free Online Storage
When you upload a personal file it gives you a download link, a link to remove the file, and embed code to drop your file’s link on a website. The only downside is the 150MB file size, which is rather small with some of the other sites in comparison.
Sugar Sync
With SugarSync you'll get the best value along with the most comprehensive product offering around. After your initial trial ends, plans start as low as $4.99 a month.
Mobile Me: Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. All your stuff. Always in sync.
Maybe you have a Mac at home, a PC at work, and an iPhone. MobileMe uses push technology to keep them all up to date. Make a change on one, and the rest are automatically updated.
With MobileMe, you can create a beautiful web gallery of your photos in just a few clicks. Add new photos directly from your iPhone. And let your friends add photos of their own.
iDisk makes it easy to store and share files online, so you can access them anytime from any computer and, soon, from your iPhone, too. iDisk also lets you share files too big to email.
Don’t know where your iPhone is? Let MobileMe help you find it with the Find My iPhone feature. And soon, a free iDisk app for iPhone and iPod touch will let you access and share files wherever you are.
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Fall is upon us, the kids are back in school and the weather will be changing back to cooler temperatures. Those of you back East in USA get to see the leaves change. We in California get to see the sun change from yellow to no sun at all, that's our change of the season ;-)! This issue we delve into to saving files and working with files on the Internet (Cloud Computing). We then move into virtual answering services which also transcribe messages into emails! Lastly, we show you how to pull the broadband card from your cell phone and make your own wireless hot spot. There is NO monthly charge for doing this. AT&T and Verizon sell "mi-fi" units, but these cost $30-$50/month to use!
Since cell phones and services have gained popularity, public display of cell phones and accouterments have gained unpopularity. As much as we all carry disdain for the person two and a half feet away, screaming into a device about something horrendously boring, none of us can think of letting go of our toys.
Reading voicemail is much more convenient than listening to voicemail. If you don't believe me, think back to the last time someone left you a message with a phone number or address, and you tried to memorize it because you were driving.
The Western Frontier of broadband technology is all about how to get that same cellular service that keeps your phone in range onto your laptop computer. Purchasing a broadband card, such as that pocket-protector looking thing over there on the left, can maximize your connectivity in a snap. Viola!
It is a great substitute for the pocket protector: it's small enough for your shirt pocket, and much more useful. It has an external antenna port (WiPipe™ technology) to position for optimal signal strength. Built-in auto-failover keeps everyone online switching from wired to wireless broadband access in the event of a wired ISP failure. The CTR 500 can be used with Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Cingular, Alltel, or AT&T wireless service. The equipment sells for $200; the wireless "cell" service is around $50/month.