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Aereo chief: We're fighting for consumers' rights to watch TV with an antenna and DVR
Big media may have thought its deep pockets and love of ceaseless litigation would break Aereo's bank and spirit, but the cloud-based DVR company is sticking to its guns. In a statement released just today, Aereo head Chet Kanojia said that his company wouldn't oppose a petition brought against the company by ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, setting the table for a case in the Supreme Court. Kanojia echoed much of what Cablevision itself expressed in a white paper earlier today, saying that he believes the end goal of this court battle could ultimately strike down a 2008 ruling in favor of Cablevision's cloud DVR tech, which laid the groundwork for many of the cloud-based services we enjoy today. Though Aereo and Cablevision are in different positions when it comes to retransmission fees, both parties argue that the broadcasters' suit, if successful, could slow or even reverse the trend of technological progress, innovation and consumer choice. For Aereo's part, a potential Supreme Court case could also provide a much-needed light at the end of the tunnel -- a final ruling in a recent string of lower court victories that would free up its resources and allow the company to pursue nationwide expansion unburdened. That's if the Supreme Court even decides to hear the case -- it declined to hear an appeal on Cablevision's remote storage DVR in 2009 -- as that decision won't come until sometime in 2014.
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.
Dropbox gets an iOS 7 makeover with AirDrop sharing
Dropbox may be late to the iOS 7 app update party, but it's making up for lost time with an abundance of new features in the just-launched version 3.0 release for Apple's platform. The refresh brings the expected iOS 7-friendly look and includes AirDrop, making it easy to share links or whole files with nearby friends. It's also easier to send files to other apps or save videos to the device library, and iPad owners can quickly open files in a full-screen view. If your cloud storage revolves around Dropbox, we'd strongly recommend swinging by the App Store for an upgrade.
SkyDrive gets camera backups on iOS, Facebook previews on the web (video)
Windows Phone owners have long had the option of backing up their photos to SkyDrive, but Microsoft hasn't extended that courtesy to other platforms so far. The company must be feeling a little more generous today, as it just introduced automatic camera backups to SkyDrive for iOS. The update lets snap-happy users preserve both pictures and video, while the bandwidth-conscious can limit connection types and image sizes. There are a few welcome improvements to the app whether or not you plan to safeguard your gallery, including an iOS 7-themed makeover and the choice of opening documents in either Office Mobile or OneNote. SkyDrive's web client is getting a smaller, Facebook-oriented tune-up at the same time. Sharers can now get a preview of what their photos will look like on the social network, upload to existing albums and set permissions before the transfer begins. While the web upgrade isn't quite as helpful as the new iOS app, it should minimize the chances of any SkyDrive-related social mishaps.
Bitcasa's infinite cloud storage balloons to $999 a year
If you thought Bitcasa's infinite cloud storage was too sweet of a deal to exist on this mortal plane for $99 a year, that's because it was -- or at least partly because the bulk of subscribers filled up far less of their digital lockers than expected. According to the outfit, 98 percent of its customers use less than five terabytes of data, and 92 percent "do not store anywhere close to a terabyte." In addition, the firm says a survey of its customers revealed they valued more features over additional space. As result, the unlimited service will now cost $999 a year, or $99 per month, and the company will focus on making the platform more useful, starting with a freshly-released API. Free accounts have been tweaked to start at 5GB (as opposed to 10GB), and the $99 per year (or $10 a month) tier now nets 1TB of space. For those with even more bits to squirrel away, 5TB can be had by contributing $499 a year (or $49 each month) to Bitcasa's coffers. Existing subscribers will get to keep their current plan's rates and storage, but won't get access to some new offerings -- such as the future Linux client -- unless they switch to the new pricing scheme. Tencent's free 10TB of online storage might sound even more tempting now, but it's worth taking this instance as an example of what could happen to your cloud paradise.
China's Tencent will offer 10TB of free cloud storage to attract US users
Getting wind that users of Tencent's Chinese-language cloud service have 10TB of free storage made many drool, but soon there'll be no need for envy. Peter Zheng, one of the company's vice presidents, announced last weekend that the complimentary storage setup is bound for the US and will likely be available in early 2014, PandoDaily reports. If you're not familiar with the offer, folks who sign up for one of the firm's QQ accounts and download its mobile cloud app score 1TB of gratis space, which will balloon closer to 10TB as needed. Sure, the idea of handing terabytes of your data to a foreign firm in an era of privacy concerns doesn't inspire confidence, but the outfit has plans to earn your trust: Zheng says your bits will likely be stored in servers outside of China. Can't wait for the freebie to make its way stateside? Tencent hopes to keep you distracted with the US launch of its Instagram-like image app, Story Camera, within two to three weeks.
Google Drive for iOS now supports multiple accounts, AirPrint and CloudPrint capability
Not super thrilled with the prospect of using iCloud for your web storage needs? Google Drive presents an ever-improving alternative to Apple's in-house solution, and today's iOS app update brings a couple of new features into the fold. The app now supports multiple accounts, so you can access your personal, work, or alter ego GDrive files with ease. And, for those luddites who prefer holding an actual piece of paper instead of an iPad to do their document review, iOS users can now print as they please using either Apple's AirPrint or Google's CloudPrint protocol. Got it? Go get it.
Kim Dotcom's Mega cloud storage exits beta, secure messaging and video chat due next year
The feds may have taken Megaupload to the big cloud storage facility in the sky, but Kim Dotcom's followup Mega is going strong and now out of beta. That official launch includes a new web UI with tweaks focused on making everything faster and more efficient, including local caching that only syncs changes made since the last time you connected. Sharing among friends should also be easier, with user avatars for a visual reminder of who's who plus contact management that shows how many files someone is sharing with you and when they were last updated. The final tweaks mentioned are tree style navigation between folders, the ability to move around the site while continuing file transfers and a custom Firefox extension. So what's next for Mega? Its iOS app has been submitted for review (it's already available on Android), and is expected in the next month along with a Sync desktop app headed for Windows, OS X and Linux. Looking down the road into 2014, the company also previewed encrypted communications services (including file attachments, of course) for text messaging between members and video conferencing built to keep prying eyes locked out.
Streamnation cracks open your digital TV and movie stash for online sharing
Digital movies and TV shows have a long way to go before they're as easy to share as an MP3. To that end, the cloud storage service Streamnation may have created a solution. You can now upload your own movies and TV shows to the digital locker service and lend them to whoever you want, so long as they also have a Streamnation account. Folks enjoying your videos have 24 hours to stream them across a number of popular devices, and during that period you can't view the media yourself. In that way, it's a lot like borrowing them a DVD or Blu-ray. The whole thing sounds an awful lot like Steam's sharing program, but the difference here is that historically, Hollywood tends to operate differently than the game industry when it comes to passing content around.
Transporter Sync: Making the cloud personal and affordable
Earlier this year, Erica Sadun and I tested a new idea for creating a personal cloud -- the Transporter from Connected Data. At the time, we weren't all that impressed with the device or its user interface. Our big complaint was that the software was quite confusing, requiring access to both a local app and a web interface to accomplish certain tasks. When compared to the ease of use of Dropbox, Transporter seemed like a total hassle to use. Well, Connected Data went back to the drawing board and today announced both a new device -- Transporter Sync (US$99) -- and a much more Dropbox-oriented solution to a personal cloud. The idea of Transporter is that you can create your own "cloud" by taking network-attached storage and syncing it with similar units at the office, at a relative's home, or basically anywhere else offsite. The files are available from any connected device, whether it's an iPhone, a Mac or a PC, and the syncing capability provides offsite storage. The original Transporter unit included a built-in 1 TB or 2 TB drive, while the new Transporter Sync unit lets you use any external drive. Considering that new 4 TB bare drives are available for as little as $150, this means that for $249 you can have a good amount of cloud storage with no monthly or annual fee. By comparison, if you want just 500 GB of Dropbox storage, you're going to be billed $499 annually. The Transporter Sync is a tiny little device, but with the availability of inexpensive external disk drives, it can provide a mountain of storage in the cloud. The device is a small, truncated cone with a power connection, a USB 2.0 connector and an Ethernet connector. Plug it into power, connect it to your USB 3.0 or 2.0 external disk drive, and then connect it to your router, and you're ready to share your data securely while you're on the road and sync with another Transporter Sync remotely for cloud backup. I'm wondering why Connected Data chose to go with the slower USB 2.0 port, but it could be that the network connection is the real bottleneck to throughput, not the connection to the drive. Connected Data, which recently merged with big storage provider Drobo, sees a big future for this small device. The company notes that the average household now has about 2.2 TB of content -- music, videos, apps, documents, etc. -- and surveys show that most would be happy to spend about $200 per year to protect that data. For Dropbox users, you'll be happy to know that you can use Dropbox and the Transporter Sync simultaneously and that the user interface on the Mac is almost identical to what you see with Dropbox: On an iPad or Android tablet, you'll see a simple representation of the files that are being shared in the cloud: All in all, it appears that Connected Data really listened to the feedback that they received from both the tech press and from early adopters who backed the company's Kickstarter funding project. We look forward to testing the Transporter Sync soon, and will provide readers with our assessment of how the new device and software work. Show full PR text New Transporter Sync Delivers Convenience of Dropbox for All Your Data, With Total Privacy And No Monthly Fees – For Only $99 Transporter Delivers First Unlimited, Private Cloud Storage Device for All of Your Photos, Music, Movies and Documents SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Oct. 29, 2013 – When it comes to digital data, nothing is more important to consumers than their photos, videos and personal documents. Keeping them safe, easily accessible from every device, or sharing them with family and friends has always been an expensive and complicated proposition. Until now. Just in time for the holidays comes Transporter Sync, a new and simple way to sync, access, protect and share everything important. The latest addition to the award-winning Transporter family of private cloud storage products, Transporter Sync automatically synchronizes data across your phones, tablets and computers. Now photos, videos, documents, music and more can live in your own protected, completely private cloud for a one time cost of $99 USD – with none of the recurring fees associated with expensive, subscriber-based services. Free iPhone, iPad and Android apps make on-the-go access easier than ever. "Families and businesses are finding it more and more difficult to synchronize data across all of their computers and mobile devices," said Geoff Barrall, CEO and Founder of Connected Data. "With Transporter Sync, we provide an affordable and simple way for them to protect, share and access what matters most, with total privacy, a low one-time price and no hidden monthly fees." Transporter Sync allows users to access their data from all their devices without moving it to the public cloud. This ensures that everything on Transporter Sync is protected and private giving them full control over who has access to family photos and personal videos. It can be used as a stand-alone device, or together with other Transporters to form a powerful private network. "Millions of consumers enjoy the conveniences of the cloud, but stop short of using it for everything, because of factors such as cost and privacy," said Tom Coughlin, President of Analyst and Consulting firm, Coughlin Associates. "Transporter Sync creates a new model to deliver the promise of 'everything, everywhere' cloud storage without monthly fees, while providing this universal access in a private and secure environment." Retailing for $99 USD and without monthly fees, Transporter Sync works with any standard USB external hard drive. Available from Connected Data, Amazon, B&H Photo and Newegg in time for the upcoming holiday season, Sync is the perfect gift for everyone on your list. About Connected Data Connected Data is focused on providing elegantly designed solutions for consumers, professionals, and small businesses to privately share, access, and protect their data. The Connected Data team consists of the same professionals responsible for the popular Drobo storage array and the creation of the high performance BlueArc Silicon Server. Connected Data is privately funded and based in San Jose, California. For more information, visit www.connecteddata.com.
Transporter Sync turns your external hard drive into a personal, secure cloud locker
The folks at Connected Data made a splash back in May with Transporter v2.0, and they've just announced their second foray into the wonderful world of cloud storage with the Transporter Sync. Like its slightly larger predecessor, Sync offers Dropbox-like functionality without users having to shackle themselves to costly subscription fees. However, unlike its elder, which has a 2.5-inch drive inside, the Sync lets you use whatever external HDD you like, as long as it's no larger than 4TB and connects via USB. This new Transporter option comes courtesy of consumer feedback: folks wanted to pay less, have more storage and be able to use their existing HDDs in their Transporter network. So, Connected Data set to work, swapping in a new chipset to facilitate connecting drives via USB, lopping off all the extraneous bits formerly needed to mount a drive in the device, and making the necessary firmware tweaks to make it work As its name indicates, this compact storage unit synchronizes with a variety of devices, so you can transition between working on your computer, smartphone or tablet with the aid of the Transporter iOS and Android apps. What makes Transporter, old and new, stand out is an emphasis on privacy, a word that's become all the rage in an increasingly wary consumer market. All of your data is saved locally, and by circumventing the need for a public cloud, the company claims that your precious files are as safe as houses. Sync will be available for $99 in the US or £89 in the UK in the next few weeks.
Google Drive updates Slides with custom themes, widescreen presentations
Users of Google Drive will be happy to know that today brings a handful of improvements to Slides, though the update is relatively minor. As you can see in the image above, slides will now be set to widescreen by default, giving you ample room to add text or images to your heart's content. Admittedly, not all displays are widescreen-friendly, so the settings can still be toggled to suit your needs on the page setup screen. Additionally, theme presets can now be tweaked to customize the look of your presentation by simply editing the master slide. And if you're a free spirit who wants to create slide layouts for themes from scratch, you can do that too. For more information, check out the Google Drive team's blog post at the source link below.
Microsoft talks up plans for government cloud services
All of this assumes the government ever reopens, of course. That's inevitable, right? When it does, Microsoft's upcoming Windows Azure U.S. Government Cloud will offer up some heavily secured services to state, local and federal agencies in the US, hosted in "specially constructed" datacenters in Virginia and Iowa. Redmond guarantees that all of the hardware, data and support systems will be physically located in the continental United States, and that all people involved with be "US persons screened for PPT-Moderate clearance." All that government data will be isolated on servers that only host data from other American government agencies. Lockheed Martin will be involved as well, helping Microsoft meet stringent government-imposed requirements for such data storage. More information on the cloak and dagger cloud storage can be had in the source link below.
RealPlayer Cloud fuses video player and cloud storage, launches on Android, iOS, PC and Roku
RealNetworks is trying something a little different with its attempt at launching a cloud service in a very competitive market. It's combined its upgraded player app with 2GBs of free cloud storage, allowing users to move videos across devices, stream or download them and beam them out to compatible TV sets (via Roku). The new service also means you can share "long videos" from your Android / iOS device to any other video-capable device, and the end-user won't need to download an app to play it. This is possible through RealPlayer's new 'SurePlay' tech, which auto-formats outgoing videos to the suit screen-size, available bandwidth and storage space of receiving devices. There's no shortage of compatible hardware, either. Alongside apps Google's mobile OS and iOS, videos can also be shared or viewed through Windows PCs, Roku TV units and, in fact, any device that can use a web browser. If 2GB sounds a little tight, subscription plans will start at $5 per month for 25GB, and up to $30 per month for 300GB, for those that really can't stop sharing. We've added RealNetwork's Consumer-facing Matrix (read: price chart) after the break.
Box Notes takes on Google Docs with collaborative editing, available in beta now (video)
Box users who have been using other services to compose notes and collaborate on documents can now do so from inside the app, thanks to a Box Notes. The Google Docs-esque feature set allows for real-time, collaborative document editing, with the ability to embed images and video clips. Through a simple (even sparse) UI, team members can edit a file simultaneously while adding notes to specific items, as well as comments via a side pane (similar to Word and Docs). Additionally, Box says these new features will make their way to mobile devices. Unfortunately, though, The Next Web reports that Box Notes won't see a full release until sometime in 2014, and there's no word on pricing yet either. Still, those looking to jump on the beta can sign up via the source link below.
Tencent ups the ante, offers users 10TB of free cloud storage in promotion
If you thought that the free storage that's offered by Microsoft, Google and others were generous, then you've never been to China. Tencent, in an attempt to crawl past local rivals Baidu and Weibo, is offering customers a whopping 10 Terabytes of space on its Weiyun cloud storage service. All users need to do is sign up with the company, offer up their QQ account number, and download the Weiyun mobile app -- which bags 'em an instant 1TB, with the allowance gradually increasing to 10TB the more files they upload. The only downside for us, naturally, is that the promotion does make SkyDrive's 25GB seem a bit stingy by comparison.
Microsoft boosts base SkyDrive Pro storage to 25GB, lets administrators add more
Microsoft's SkyDrive Pro is helpful for cloud-savvy businesses, but its 7GB of storage per person now seems restrictive next to improved offerings from rivals like Box. The company won't let itself be outdone, however: it just bumped SkyDrive Pro's base storage to 25GB per user, and administrators can raise that limit to 100GB if they're willing to pay. There's some incentives to take advantage of that extra space, too. Microsoft now offers a larger 2GB file cap, automatic versioning for new users and a client view that displays all shared documents. If your employer depends on Microsoft for online collaboration, you should notice the additional storage today.
Box gets more generous, gives users 10GB of personal cloud storage
Box may not be the first company you think of when it comes to cloud storage, as it's largely focused on serving business needs. Still, while Box's bread and butter is the enterprise, the company does dabble in personal storage, and today Box users had their lockers double in size to 10GB. That's twice the 5GB previously offered, which makes it a more spacious option than SkyDrive (7GB), Dropbox (2GB), Amazon Cloud Drive (5GB) and iCloud (5GB). The only big-name competitor with more free digital square footage, in fact, is Google Drive, which provides 15GB of space. There's also some good news for small businesses and folks who like to share their space in the cloud. Box has rolled out a new starter tier that delivers 100GB of storage and allows up to ten users for $5 a month. 100GB of web workspace for the price of a large latte? Even the smallest startups can afford that.
Box announces 10GB of free storage and $5 starter plan
Almost everything is getting more expensive it seems, with one glorious exception; online storage. In the digital storage arms race, consumers are the winners thanks to a host of generous gigs of free storage offered by companies who want you to use their service. The latest move in the (online) storage wars comes from Box, who have launched a new, free personal storage and starter storage plan for budget-minded users. Box's free personal storage accounts have been upgraded from 5 GB of free storage to 10 GB. These plans only allow for one user, but a free extra 5 GB is a free extra 5 GB. The company has also introduced a brand-new Starter plan for small businesses looking to enter cloud storage. The plan offers 100 GB of storage and up to 10 different user accounts. Box's Aaron Levie has published an interesting post about their new and upgraded storage options which featured one particularly interesting tidbit of information about how much digital data usage is growing. For reference, Box started in 2005. Individuals are now accessing, editing, sharing, presenting and manipulating more data than ever before, across more devices than anyone could have ever predicted. It's estimated that there will be nearly 40,000 exabytes of digital data created by 2020 (enough data to fill up 671,088,640,000 64GB gold iPhones). For perspective, the year we started Box, there were only 130 exabytes of data in existence. If software is eating the world, then information is eating the enterprise, and we want Box to be the simple and obvious choice for sharing and accessing that information securely. Box has an iOS app that allows users to share files with coworkers, view presentations, comment on documents and instantly view updates to spreadsheets. You can download it from the App Store here, and if you were already an existing Box "personal user" enjoy that extra 5 GB of storage space.
Google gives the gift of server-side encryption for Cloud Storage
There's little doubt Google knows a thing or two when it comes to encrypting its own data, and now the company's kindly sharing some of that cryptographical love. Starting now, data uploaded to the Cloud Storage platform will be encrypted on the server side of things before being uploaded. The company's promised that the added safety won't impact performance, and no additional setup will be needed on your end. Also, once you, the authorized reader, are ready, that data will be auto-transferred and decrypted. The company's also going to start encrypting older data, but that migration is likely to take a few months.
