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Engadget giveaway: win an iPhone 6 and 5TB of cloud storage courtesy of MediaFire!
Finding enough space to house your worldly possessions in a place like New York City can be a bit pricey, but unlike a hulking vinyl collection, stashing digital files is more affordable than ever. MediaFire currently offers a free cloud storage option (15GB) and its Pro (1TB) and Business (up to 100TB) accounts are currently 50-percent off, making it a simple and affordable way to organize your digital self. Those files are readily accessible through the MediaFire website or its dedicated desktop and mobile apps. You get unlimited downloads as part of the service, too, so you can share files to your heart's content. The company wants to get two lucky Engadget readers started right away, so it's provided an iPhone 6 and a 5TB (for life!) MediaFire account for each of them. Plus, five additional winners will each get a Pro account with one full year of cloud storage. Just make your way to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of Apple's latest and some online acreage for all your digital stuff. Winners: congratulations to Rick T. of Portland OR. and Greg N. of Dickinson, ND.!
MediaFire slashes cloud sharing prices
The war for your cloud hosting business just heated up, as major player MediaFire has cut prices to generate more business. MediaFire is a Mac and iOS friendly cloud service that allows you to store and share files. Users can get 10 GB storage for free (ad-supported downloads) and 1 TB of space is now US$2.49 a month. Hyper-needy users can get up to 100 TB for $24.99 a month. "With the launch of our new storage plans, we are looking to provide everyday users with a secure and affordable way to share and store all of their music, photos, videos, and files with the people that matter most," said Derek Labian, CEO and Founder of MediaFire, "Over the next few months, we will be launching several new and exciting products, including new and updated applications for iPad and Android." Individual file size limits have increased to 20 GB, and folders can be easily uploaded and shared. The company provides an app for Mac that includes a menu bar icon you can drag and drop files on and then monitor the upload as it goes. Uploaders can send a URL link to people who are not subscribers so they can click and start a download. MediaFire uses the desktop app to monitor your cloud storage and manage space, with the controls appearing in your menu bar. The app syncs with any other computer, and of course your iOS devices. The company says it is on the verge of offering updated and more powerful iOS versions of its apps. The natural competition for MediaFire includes Google, DropBox and Microsoft OneDrive. One of the most popular services for Mac and iOS users is Dropbox. That company offers 2 GB of free space, with 500 GB priced at $49.99 a month -- considerably higher than what MediaFire is charging. Apple, Amazon and Microsoft offer between 5 and 7 GB for free. Amazon and Microsoft charge roughly $0.50 per GB, while Google costs $0.25 per GB between storage ranges of 20 and 100 GB. Apple's cloud services are very Mac-centric, and I mourn the loss of iDisk, which was a quick and easy cross-platform service. All these price adjustments are terrific for people who have the need to share, transfer and collaborate.
MediaFire brings cloud storage integration to Windows and Mac
Up until now, you'd have to access MediaFire's web interface if you want to use its cloud storage service on your computer. While the browser-based UI isn't anything complex, the company's new OS X and Windows apps make storing files in the cloud comparably easier. Similar to Dropbox and Google Drive, MediaFire's desktop clients integrate your cloud-based folders with OS X Finder or Windows Explorer. Both versions automatically sync across devices whenever you upload, and they let you share files straight from your desktop with social media contacts. As a bonus, you can use their camera icons to take screen snapshots, which you can then annotate (à la Skitch) before sharing with friends. The apps are now available for download, but as they're still in beta, they might come with some performance hiccups. If you're an early adopter who wouldn't mind 50GB of free storage space (higher capacities come at a price), though, click through the source below.
MediaFire launches MediaFire Desktop cloud file-sharing client for OS X
Cloud storage company MediaFire has launched an open beta of its MediaFire Desktop client for OS X. With it, the company hopes to take on more well-known cloud file-sharing solutions like Dropbox. In a statement announcing the beta, the company says: Designed to complement MediaFire's online storage service, MediaFire Desktop keeps your online and locally stored files safe and in sync. From backing up your important work, to sharing your vacation photos, MediaFire Desktop lets you store and access all of your media, everywhere you go. And with up to 50 GB of free storage, MediaFire lets users keep all of their content in one place without the worry of running out of space. MediaFire Desktop works much like Dropbox does on OS X. After you've signed up for a free account online, simply download and install the beta of MediaFire Desktop. Its virtual cloud drive lives as a dedicated MediaFire folder in the Finder. Once there, any file you move into it will be uploaded to the cloud and shared across all your devices with a MediaFire client installed. Another nice feature of the MediaFire Desktop client is a notification window accessible from OS X's menu bar that allows you to see recently uploaded or shared files. There's also an automatic screen capture uploading tool (much like Dropbox now has), but with MediaFire Desktop's screen capture tool, you can also annotate your screen captures with text, arrows and boxes. MediaFire Desktop also has deep social sharing integration, so you can seamlessly share a link to your files via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, Bloggr and more. To start you out, MediaFire gives everyone a free 10 GB of storage (making Dropbox look cheap) and users can earn up to 50 GB of free storage. The company also sells storage plans of 100 GB for US$2.49 a month and also offers 1 TB-plus plans for business users.
MediaFire promises streaming of stored music and video on its iOS and Android apps
MediaFire says its cloud storage service now has 30 million users, but it seems that only a minority of those are using its Android or iOS interfaces -- so far, the former has seen less than 500,000 downloads. One extra feature that might boost the utility of these is the forthcoming addition of media streaming, to help MediaFire compete with likes of Amazon Cloud Player -- and with the added draw of 50GB free lifetime storage (or a time-limited offer of $24.99 annually for 100GB). There's no sign of the app update on either platform just yet, but it'll get there when it gets there.
Google Drive triples free storage to 15 GB
We were just talking about how Amazon is competing with Apple and other cloud services by offering 5 GB of storage for free. Now, that turns out to be old news, because today Google announced that free storage spanning several Google services like Gmail, Google+ and Google Drive is now going to come in the extra-large economy size -- a whopping 15 GB. Google says the changes will be rolling out over the next several weeks to all customers. All that space is shared, so if you are just using Google Drive Photo (for example), that 15 GB is shared with any other Google services that require storage. Still, 15 GB is a very competitive number since Apple and Amazon give you 5 GB with iCloud and Amazon Cloud Drive, respectively, and Dropbox provides a measly 2 GB free. A similar service from MediaFire offers 10 GB of free storage, but the free tier includes ads. All the services allow you to get more storage for an additional fee. It will be interesting to see if Apple and other services respond to Google's challenge or stand pat. With this move, Google has unified its storage system, a similar concept to the Apple pool of iCloud storage, although at this point Apple does not count image storage in Photo Stream against your 5 GB allotment. Google has a free iOS app so you can access this storage space, and it can also be managed through a web browser on any computer.
MediaFire updates design and features of its Mac and iOS friendly collaboration software
MediaFire has added some interesting features to its Mac- and iOS-friendly cloud storage and collaboration platform. A new file manager home screen and an online document editor with full support of Microsoft Office Word and Excel documents has been added to the available tools for users. For the Mac, MediaFire provides a menubar dropdown for uploading and managing files. MediaFire offers a variety of plans for users, including a 50 GB ad supported free plan that lets you upload, share and collaborate on documents. Other plans without ads start at $1.50 a month and ramp up to $24.50 a month for 1 TB of storage. The company also offers free apps for accessing your files from any iOS device. I've been using one of the basic plans for several months and find it really handy for sharing large files and images that don't work well with email. %Gallery-180051% MediaFire competes with firms such as Dropbox and SugarSync although MediaFire has more free online storage, but there are some limitations on individual file sizes and how long files are stored. When users upgrade from the free plan, longtime storage is forever. Competition is always good, and it's nice to see more and more options for people moving and sharing data to the cloud.
