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Startup Joyent Sells BingoDisk and Strongspace

Om Malik — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:35:09 +0000

Joyent, a Sausalito, Calif.-based startup that began as a hosting service company with designs on web applications, has decided to sell off two of its services — BingoDisk and Strongspace — to ExpanDrive. Joyent is now transitioning towards becoming a “cloud services” provider focusing on web applications. “As Joyent has grown, we’ve been pulling back from pure consumer offerings to focus more on our infrastructure offerings,” the company said today on its blog.

The service migration is going to start Aug. 17. If you want to switch to the new storage provider, you don’t need to do anything: the switch will happen automagically. “We’re not scuttling these services – we’ve taken control and rebuilt them into a second version,” said Jeff Mancuso, CEO of Expandrive, a company that sells ExpanDrive software - an SFTP client for Mac and Windows and lets you mount the remote server as a network drive. “We’re turning this into an iDisk killer – it’s extremely fast and reliable. It feels like a USB key,”

If you don’t want to sign up with ExpanDrive, you have until Sept. 30 to download the data. Since I don’t know Expandrive very well, I am going to have to find an alternative. I have been using BingoDisk for so long that I have accumulated tens of gigabytes of data as backup. Downloading it and then re-backing it again doesn’t look like a fun exercise. Thank god for a big, fat broadband pipe — it might actually get done. The question is, where to keep it all? For syncing between computers I use Dropbox, but it doesn’t have a backup-only option. So maybe Jungle Disk?

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The Risks vs. Rewards of Cloud Computing

Aliza Sherman — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:00:40 +0000

I was listening to a story on NPR by Laura Sydell called Computing in the Cloud: Who Owns Your Files? The story brought back all of the fears I’ve had about working in the clouds but have suppressed because:

A. I want the convenience that cloud computing offers;

B. I recently experienced the Computer Crash of Doom and want to know I have reliable backups;

C. I want to get more work use out of my iPod Touch and cloud work is the way.

So what was the bottom line of the NPR piece?

Read the User Agreement. Yes, the gist of the story was that none of us are reading the user agreement with Google or Yahoo or any other company that is housing our emails, documents and files. We actually covered that subject last month, but hey, I’m one of those who never, ever reads the user agreement. Who has the time? Who has the brain capacity? Who likes sifting through pages and pages of legalese?

This is a problem, according to Harry Lewis, a computer science professor at Harvard. All someone has to do is accuse you of something – unproven – and the company hosting your files can simply cut you off, close your account, no questions asked, rather than entering into a legal battle.

There are no rules and more importantly – no laws – when it comes to hosting your files.

Ever since I went to Gmail in the clouds from Apple’s Mail on my computer, I’ve wondered “what would happen if Gmail went down…forever?” The entire record of my work over the last three years would be gone. I tried backing up all of my historical Gmails onto my computer once but it was a major undertaking and never became a habit.

If we aren’t reading the user agreements, how can we protect ourselves from major loss in the clouds?

1. Backups of backups? Does it make sense to have the copy on your harddrive along with the copy online? Lately, I’ve been composing my documents in Google Docs and only saving them back on my harddrive as needed. Should I do it as a rule?

2. Backups of backups of backups? Once I save my docs on my computer, my Time Capsule captures them every hour on the hour. But is there a way to get my Time Capsule to pull my cloud work into a backup drive? Or is that an app that is on the way because it is a critical process that is missing from cloud computing?

3. Distributed files. Does it make sense not to have all of your work and files on one system? Sure it seems convenient and integrated to use all of Google’s cloud working solutions, but should we put some of our work – or back up some of our work – on other sites? Like using Dropbox file storage as a repository for anything and everything from everywhere?

4. Being selective. Do we need to be more selective about what we are willing to put online, keep online, and work on in the clouds? Are we getting a little too careless and thoughtless about the ease of cloud computing or rushing to it without a security plan in place because it seems like the place we need to be?

No technology is failsafe or foolproof. When we are using technology for “convenience,” but have to back up that technology “just in case,” are we losing some of that convenience that we are craving? It seems that, as usual, nothing is ultimately free and everything comes with a price.

How much are you willing to spend – and risk – on cloud computing and how are you backing up your work?

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The Day a Bullet Got Through "Bullet-Proof"

Aliza Sherman — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:00:48 +0000

If you haven’t guessed already from my previous posts here, I’m a Mac user. Not just a Mac user, but a Mac disciple after many years journeying from WANG to DOS to Windows. I brag constantly about how I’ve never had a major crash on any Mac I’ve ever owned over the last 15 years – and I keep each one for at least 3-5 years which is eons for laptops. My Macs have been virtually bullet-proof.

But last week, my 10-month old MacBook crashed. And died. And now I’m slowly uncovering the depth and breadth of my arrogance. Because, my dear readers, I had not backed up my computer for 10 months. And the only reason I had a 10-month old backup of my data is because it occurred as I was getting my files from my old G4 laptop to my MacBook last Fall.

This is a cautionary tale for anyone out there who is still finding every excuse in the book not to back up their computer. And I had many.

My biggest excuse for not backing up was that I just couldn’t wrap my head around how to get it set up and how to make it happen. I think I also had a secret fear that I would set it up incorrectly and somehow save my files in the wrong place causing the disappearance of everything on my computer. I’m not sure how I got it into my head that backing up was going to be hard, but I avoided it like the Plague.

Today, less than a week after the Big Computer Meltdown (and my own tearful personal meltdown), I am assessing the business impact of lost data. My tears last week weren’t actually about my work files but about losing 10 months worth of photos and videos of my 2-year-old daughter. This week, I can’t muster up tears, but can see some dollars spinning down the drain as I have to:

rewrite half a dozen proposals that I was readying to send out to new and existing clients.
rewrite a new book proposal that was almost ready to send to my agent to shop around.
do a salvage expedition through my Gmail Sent Box to find any documents I sent to clients so I still have some semblance of a business record.
upload any documents I can find to Google Docs – the only other place where I had put some critical documents as part of my “experiment” with using Google Docs.
rewrite my long list of sites that I use to market my various projects and client projects that took me over a year to compile.

And for backups?

I left my local Mac store last week with red eyes from crying, a black MacBook, and an Apple Time Capsule. I charged the owner of the store to make sure I walked out with everything I needed to be up and working immediately as well as to be able to back up my files without any effort or thought on my part.

Now, every hour on the hour, when I am within range of my wifi connection (via the Time Capsule), my files are backed up (the Time Capsule has 500 GB of space). I don’t have to do anything more since configuring it. I don’t have to think about it. And I don’t have to wait until the end of the day or the weekend to do it. It happens behind-the-scenes while I’m still getting my work done.

My list of important files I have lost continues to grow. Each item I add to that list means another 1-3 hours of rewriting, recompiling, recreating. That is lost time. Lost income. I think if I had thought of backing up my computer in pure business terms – in dollars – I may have been motivated to do something sooner. For now, I just have to bite the bullet.

When was the last time you backed up your computer? And what is your backup set up like? Please share so anyone out there who is still making excuses can potentially find a solution that is right for them.

NOTE: I also blogged about the more “personal” side of this topic at Entrepreneur Mom on WorkItMom.

(photo by Apple; bullethole courtesy of clipart)

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Vista Themed iPhone

Jethro Jones — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:16:25 +0000

When you buy the new iPhone, are you going to jailbreak it? Are you really a closet Windows fanboy? If you answered yes to each of these questions, then the VistaPerfection 2.0 iPhone Theme by Spec Works was created just for you.

It is very customizable with:

Over 90 icons
Dock
WiFi icon
Boot and restore images
Sliders
Edge icon
Vista login/logoff (unlock/lock) sound scheme

You can download it through installer and it is even available for the iPod Touch as well. Alternatively, you can download it here. VistaPerfection 2.0 is free but donations are happily accepted.

Even though I am happy with Mac OS X, Vista does look a lot better than XP, and almost looks at home on the iPhone ;).

[Via Just Another iPhone Blog]

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Vodpod Turns 1 with New Widgets

Chris Albrecht — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:00:55 +0000

Online video collection application provider Vodpod marks its first year today, and to celebrate, the company released new widgets and made improvements to its video search and discovery tools.

Users of the service have four new widgets in different shapes and sizes to embed video collections on their site or blog. If you don’t like the options presented, you can create your own using the company’s new API.

The site has also improved its search and discovery features, so users can find new videos to put in those shiny new widgets.

Vodpod now has 225,000 registered users (up from 50,000 in July), and the site received two million unique visitors this month (up from one million in July).

Full disclosure: Vodpod is funded by True Ventures, which also funds GigaOM. The company also powers the “What We’re Watching” video bar feature at the top of NewTeeVee.

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Verizon BlackBerry 8830 GPS update #2

James Kendrick — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:12:00 +0000

I have written a few times about the situation with the integrated GPS and the Verizon BlackBerry 8830. Originally Verizon released the 8830 with the GPS totally disabled and a brouhaha ensued, naturally. Then Verizon stated to me that in November the GPS would be enabled with a firmware upgrade and would work with "some" third party applications and not just their own VZ Navigator service which costs $10 per month. Last week Verizon quietly released a firmware upgrade for the 8830 which claimed to enable the GPS for the VZ Navigator system. I installed the upgrade along with the VZ Navigator application and had the service activated.

The service still wouldn’t work and it wasn’t until yesterday that I had time to contact Verizon to make sure the VZ Navigator service was provisioned for my phone. I spent a half hour on the phone with a very nice tech support rep, Christine, and I am happy to report that the VZ Navigator service is now working fine on the 8830 and as near as I can tell is using the integrated GPS just fine. Some folks have told me that they think the VZ Navigator service is using cell towers to triangulate their position instead of the GPS but I believe mine is using the GPS OK. What we ended up doing was removing the VZ Navigator app I had installed last week and redownloading and installing it. Apparently they had a problem with the older version and it was fixed in the one currently available. This would be a happy ending except for the testing I have done with third party apps that use a GPS.

The first application I tested seriously after making sure the GPS was working was the TeleNav service. I had activated it last week to test it and last night I tried diligently to get it to work. I had no success as I get an error as soon as the program tries to access the GPS that indicates it is a "weak signal". According to the TeleNav support web site this usually means that the program cannot connect to the GPS. Nothing I did could get this to work which probably means that the Verizon update still has the GPS disabled for use with TeleNav. Maybe other programs would be able to use it.

The next application I tested, and the one I really wanted to get working since it’s preinstalled on the 8830 and is free, is the BlackBerry Maps program. It’s a full-feature navigation package that is installed as part of the RIM BlackBerry system and if any program should be able to work with the integrated GPS it would be BlackBerry’s own program. Nope. The Maps program still does not provide using the GPS as an option even after the Verizon upgrade which means that Verizon did not enable the Maps program to work on their network. What a major bummer!

I then tried to get Google Maps to work with the GPS but I get the same "weak signal" error message when it tries to access the GPS. The new Google Maps for Mobiles that uses tower triangulation for location is a great thing and will work fine on the 8830 but it’s a shame that the program cannot use a GPS that is sitting right in the phone. This sucks quite frankly and I am batting 0 for 3 in the third party app department after the upgrade. I haven’t found a single program that will work so it appears to me that the Verizon firmware upgrade to enable the GPS only enables it for their own VZ Navigator service. This is exactly opposite what I was told by Verizon and I am extremely disappointed to find myself in this situation. I will try to get clarification from Verizon as to which third party apps the 8830 can use with the GPS.

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i-mate axes most of Ultimate line

James Kendrick — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:17:58 +0000

Smartphone maker i-mate created quite a stir when they announced a new Ultimate line of PDA/ smartphones consisting of five devices that included the 7150 clamshell which looked to be a good competitor to the HTC Advantage. Word has come out today that i-mate is canceling all but two of the Ultimate line for reasons unknown. Unfortunately they are only moving forward with the 6150 and 8150, arguably the two most boring of the line. Let’s hope this information is proven to be false. The two Ultimates are expected to ship in October.

(via engadget mobile)

UPDATE: Crave is reporting that this is a rumor and untrue according to i-mate. I am so glad to hear that!

CNET Asia contacted i-mate Asia Pacific and the official word is thecompany still plans to launch all models, but will do so in a staggeredfashion starting with the 8150 and 6150.

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Moving Day & Moved… Club Om to open soon

Om Malik — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 00:11:00 +0000

I am dead tired. After coming from DEMO, all I have done is work, and pack. I am even dreaming of boxes and packing tape. Anyway today was the big moving day. The movers arrived promptly at 11.30 am, and since I was all packed and ready to go, well in an hour we moved. Into the new apartment – which is a stone’s throw from work – and well by 2.30 all the stuff was moved into the apartment. Mind you, the furniture is not going to show up for next few days, so I guess, I will be dealing with blogging while supine issues. I unpacked all the clothes, and shoes. The kitchen is functioning … I am sipping my first cup of coffee in my apartment. The bathroom is all set, and well, the only big task for me is to unpack three boxes and revive the digital lifestyle.

I am writing this and posting it over an AT&T UMTS connection, which is faster than most of the open WiFi connections in the building. Cannot really hook anything up right now because the network is not up – why? Waiting for the cable guy to show up and install everything. Then the toys will come out. Still, I feel elated. Love the new apartment and glad to be out of the old one. New beginnings!

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Comments etc

Om Malik — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:57:36 +0000

For past three days I have come under a severe comment spam attack, and this has forced me to do what I never wanted to do – go for moderated comments and only for registered users. I hate to do this, but the evil bastards who spam us bloggers are to blame. The scum that they are, they are ruining the whole weblog experience. I think it is time for weblog tool developers to step-up to the plate and come-up with more humane way to over come this problem.

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