cloudstorage
Latest
Canon serves up its own cloud-based image repository
We're shooting images with DLSRs, point-and-shoots, GoPros and smartphone cameras these days, so keeping all of those snaps in one place can be a chore. Looking to help ease the workflow, Canon has introduced irista: its own cloud-based storage service for wrangling all of those photos in a similar fashion as Dropbox's Carousel. As you might expect, the interface is driven by search and tag features alongside a customizable timeline and tiled UI. Details like lens type, location and more can be tacked on to each image for easy sorting. There aren't any dedicated mobile apps, but you can automatically sync files with a desktop app, manually through a web interface and directly from both Facebook and Flickr libraries. In terms of space, you'll get 10GB for free -- which can fill up quickly if you're taking a ton of photographs at larger sizes. 50GB and 100GB tiers are available too, at £4.49/€4.99 per month (£45.00/€49.00 per year) and £9.99/€10.99 per month (£99.00/€109.00 per year) respectively. In comparison with Dropbox, that's 8GB more space before shelling out funds, but it's 5GB less than Google Drive's no-cost option.
Box's redesigned Android app opens almost any file you put in the cloud
Box overhauled its iOS cloud storage app early this year with a simpler, speedier interface; now, it's Android's turn. The just-launched Box 3.0 for Android shares much of its iOS cousin's look and feel, including minimalist controls and a high-speed previewer that opens over 100 file types right in the cloud. In other words, you won't have to fire up Office Mobile just to get a quick peek at that PowerPoint presentation. You can search text in any document, too, and it's easier to open content in Box-friendly apps through a built-in OneCloud gallery. The upgrade won't necessarily lure you away from the likes of Dropbox or Google Drive, but it may be welcome if you regularly deal with exotic file formats -- or if you just have to catch up on work while on the road.
Microsoft OneDrive adds sharing and organization features for Android
If you're a Microsoft OneDrive user on Android, sharing and organizing files just got a bit easier while on the move. Thanks to an update to version 2.5, the cloud-storage option allows those with Google-powered mobile devices to share via invite, link or sending files to an outside app. You can also download multiple files at once, while moving and sorting individual items and folders as needed. There are some new additions on the desktop side too, including adding items to a previously shared stash, publishing video content to Facebook, custom album covers and more. The new version of the Android app is available now in Google Play and the desktop features are rolling out to users "over the coming days."
Dropbox bolsters Carousel, eyes collaborative docs with startup purchases
Dropbox just debuted its Carousel photo management app last week, and it's already making strides to boost the software's storage chops. Today, the cloud-minded outfit acquired Loom: a photo storage service that became a popular alternative to Everpix and Apple's iCloud Photo Stream. The snapshot organizer provides users with the ability to automatically upload images from multiple sources (or folders) to a single repository, accessible from both mobile devices and a desktop browser. Of course, it synced over cellular and not just WiFi as well. Loom allows better organization and sharing than the first iteration of Carousel does, too. Dropbox's increased emphasis on captured imagery is already quite clear, but the company has other plans too.
Dropbox's Carousel organizes your lifelong memories in one app
It's not every day that a company shows off literal vacation slides as part of a press event, but Dropbox did it today as a way to introduce Carousel. It's an app for both iOS and Android that takes your photos from your Dropbox account and organizes them by time, date and event, and any new photos that you take on your phone will automatically backup to the cloud. You'll also be able to not only share all of your precious memories with family and friends, those same people can return the favor and share some of their pics and vids so you can add it to your personal deck of digital slides. The new app will be available on both platforms today for free. When we asked company reps about desktop and other mobile platforms, we were told that Dropbox is a multi-platform service, hinting that we can expect expansion further down the road without actually giving a specific time frame.
Dropbox makes it easier to handle personal and business storage by linking accounts
If you're the sort of person that likes to use Dropbox for Business and pleasure, your road has been a bit rough. Up until now, you had to keep them as two separate accounts and switching between the two involved signing out of one and signing into the other. If your dream is to eliminate this painful process and merge the two aspects together, then today is the happiest day of your life: Dropbox is now making it possible to have one option for business and another for personal use, and be able to link them together. This feature has been available to beta testers for quite some time now, but it's finally available to everyone else.
Amazon gives Cloud Drive Photos for Android a new interface and simpler navigation
Amazon's been busy tweaking Prime and planning delivery drones these past months, but by the looks of it, it hasn't entirely forgotten its lesser-known services. Today, the company has updated the Cloud Drive Photos app for Android with a brand new interface and a navigation bar to make it easier to access your oft-used features. While the refreshed UI retains the older version's dark color scheme, it comes with new buttons and a new layout. The app now also automatically sorts all videos into one album and arranges photos and albums by date and name. Finally, other than the usual bucket of bug fixes, the new version adds an upload status indicator that shows how long you have to wait until you're done backing up your files. If these new features make you want to give the app a second chance despite being married to Google Drive or Dropbox, hit the Play link below.
Google Drive's reduced rates make cloud storage even more affordable
Google Drive has been the cloud repository of choice for many people since it launched back in 2012, and now the company is dropping prices to make it even more attractive. While users will still get 15GB for free, the 100GB package now costs $1.99 a month, down from $4.99. What's more, the 1TB option has received more than a 50 percent price cut: it now costs $9.99 per month, a big drop from its previous rate of $49.99. Need even more room? 10TB+ plans start at $100 a month. Best of all, if you're already paying for Drive storage, you'll automatically be converted to a better plan at no additional cost and the storage still spans Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos.
BlackBerry 10 finally gets its own Microsoft OneDrive app
If you worship at the BlackBerry altar and are in dire need of a cloud storage service that isn't Dropbox, Box or Mega, today's your lucky day. Now you can dump your files in Microsoft's OneDrive by way of a newly released BlackBerry 10 app. Like the Android and iOS versions before it, this OneDrive app lets you automatically upload your photos and videos as well as share your files with far-flung cohorts. Just be mindful of your limits: OneDrive (which went by "SkyDrive" before Microsoft got hit with a lawsuit) offers up 7GB of free storage to new users. That's still better than the 2GB that Dropbox gives away gratis, but Box and Mega offer 10GB and 50GB of free space, respectively. Choose wisely... or sign up for all of them and surrender yourself to the cloud.
SugarSync for Android gets more offline features, full-resolution media uploads
Cloud storage service SugarSync has updated its Android app with quite a few nifty features. For starters, the application now allows any file to be saved to your device or SD card card -- a feature that will come in handy when you don't have a connection. You can also rename folders/files and export them to other apps, while some optimization on the tablet side will make SugarSync for Android look better on larger screens. Most importantly, perhaps, the new version uploads pictures and videos at their full resolution -- and we know how meaningful this is for some of you.
ZipShare from WinZip lets you manage all your cloud storage from one place
WinZip's long been the go-to .zip file manager for many PC users, but no longer is it just a tool for freeing up some hard drive space. The desktop client embraced cloud storage around the same time it tiptoed into mobile, and now it has a new service based entirely on the web. ZipShare, currently in beta, is a portal for managing data you keep in the cloud on platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive and others. Through the ZipShare site, files uploaded to cloud services are automatically compressed, and can be password protected. They can then be shared by means of an URL, which you can publish straight to social networks, and downloads of that file can subsequently be tracked. Being able to access all your files also means you can easily manage and move them between different storage providers. It's not the best it can be on mobile devices just yet, but should be when it drops the beta tag within the next few months. Go check it out for yourself before that happens, though: all advanced features are currently free, but could cost up to $10 per month when the service launches for real.
StreamNation copies all your cloud media into a central hub
Joining multiple cloud services is great for maxing out your storage, but keeping on top of all them can be a chore. StreamNation's latest update may help you untangle all that by allowing you to copy your media from Dropbox, Flickr, Instagram, Google Drive and others into its own app. Content can be directly uploaded from those programs straight through their respective APIs without tying up your connection. Once copied over, you can then stream or share them with anyone who's also signed up to the service and even lend them out. To fit all of those files in, StreamNation will give you 5GB of storage for free, or more if you're willing to invite your friends or flood your social feeds with endorsements. Otherwise, plans start at $4 a month for 100GB, and go up to $19 month for unlimited storage. We tried the iOS and web versions of StreamNation ourselves, and found it a breeze to add local files or media from services like Google+ or Dropbox. However, since it creates a second copy of your cloud files, you may need as much space on StreamNation as all your other services combined. Still, if the convenience of being able to share any file from a central location outweighs those drawbacks, you can now sign up at the source.
Sprint now lets you buy Pogoplug cloud storage through your phone bill
Sprint hasn't had a cloud storage service to counter offerings from AT&T and Verizon, but it's catching up quickly through a new deal with Pogoplug. The partnership makes it easier for Sprint customers to grab the Pogoplug app, giving them a fast track to 5GB of free online storage. They also won't have to jump through hoops if they need more space -- they can now pay for Pogoplug's $5 unlimited plan through their phone bills. The offer won't matter to Sprint fans who already rely on other cloud services, but it should help newcomers who don't know where to begin.
Microsoft changes SkyDrive's name to OneDrive
Microsoft had little choice but to relabel its SkyDrive cloud service after losing a trademark dispute with BSkyB, and it's now ready to make that name switch. The newly rebadged OneDrive is functionally identical for existing SkyDrive users, who can go about business as usual. However, there are also promises that this is more than just a cosmetic change. The curious can register at a preview page to be notified when OneDrive launches with "more" than what they've known with SkyDrive. Microsoft isn't saying exactly what users can expect, but it won't hurt to sign up.
Google Drive dev tools promise better and more powerful apps (video)
If you're an Android user, there's little doubt that you're familiar with Google Drive, Mountain View's preferred cloud storage service that competes with the Dropboxes, SkyDrives and iClouds of the world. Of course, Drive can also be used by developers to build better apps, and today Google has rolled out a new Drive Android API to make devs' jobs even easier -- and provide us all with better app experiences. The main attraction is a feature called transparent offline syncing, which, for users, means that cloud storage is treated the same way as local storage.
Box redesigns its iOS app for simplicity, speed and real-time search (video)
Box is finally countering Dropbox's revamped iOS app with a redesign of its own. Its updated cloud storage software centers around a fresh, iOS 7-native interface that's both simpler and faster at drawing content. The app takes advantage of that newfound speed, too -- it now previews over 100 file types with accurate rendering, and grid views make it easier to find photos and presentations. Box has also slipped in real-time searching, a comments sidebar and the option to copy, delete or move multiple files at once. Even if these features don't justify an upgrade by themselves, the company is sweetening the pot by offering 50GB of free, lifetime space to anyone who downloads the new app within the first 30 days. If you're at all interested, we'd suggest hurrying to the App Store.
Dropbox goes down following problem with 'routine maintenance' (update 2: what happened)
We hope you weren't planning a big Dropbox sync this evening. The cloud storage service reports that it's having problems with its site following an issue with "routine internal maintenance." Just what that means isn't yet clear, although it's not believed to be an intrusion attempt. While Anonymous Korea and 1775 Sec claim to have hacked Dropbox, the company tells Engadget that the outage isn't the result of "external factors." That news won't be much consolation to those who still can't reach their online data, but it at least suggests that users won't have to worry about changing their passwords. Update: Dropbox says that its site is back -- as expected, it adds that claims of a leak are a "hoax." Update 2: A few days later, Dropbox has explained what happened. It was attempting to upgrade operating systems when a scripting bug reinstalled a number of active machines, bringing down Dropbox's service in the process. The company restored its core functionality within about three hours of the failure, but it took until Monday to get all its databases running smoothly. If this ever happens again, though, Dropbox will be prepared -- it built a tool that will let it recover much more quickly.
Cloud storage meets old-school archiving with IDrive's new Safe service
An internet connection is usually the only thing between you and your remotely stored data. Not with IDrive's new "Safe" service, however, which is a strange mix of traditional archiving and newfangled cloud storage. For a one-off payment of $100, the company'll send you a physical 1TB hard drive to fill up, collect it from you, and store it indefinitely (with no recurring charge). With 24 hours notice, IDrive will dive into its warehouse, dig out your HDD and let you have at its contents through the magic of the interwebs -- higher pricing tiers are also available for individuals or businesses that require more frequent data dumps. We can almost see why some might prefer their very own HDD as opposed to an anonymous server rack, even if both are technically out of reach. Best to keep some treasured family photos backed-up though -- that flight isn't going to wait 24 hours for you to recover your e-ticket.
Got Windows Phone? You have 20GB of bonus SkyDrive space for the next year
If you're a Windows Phone user, check your email -- you're about to get a big holiday treat. Microsoft has followed up its earlier Surface promo by giving Windows Phone owners a free 20GB of extra SkyDrive storage for the next year. The bonus capacity stacks on top of whatever is already present, and customers have until January 31st to claim their additional cloud space. You'll have to wait for an email like the one above before you can take action, but we'd expect these notices to roll out to all registered Windows Phone users in short order.
Dropbox for Android now lets you share folders with friends
Dropbox members no longer have to wait until they're at a desktop to share a whole folder. An updated Dropbox for Android lets users both invite others to shared folders and manage the relevant permissions. There aren't many other interface additions, although anyone eager to upgrade to Pro service can now subscribe through Google Play instead of the web. And don't worry, iOS fans -- Dropbox is bringing invitation support to your app in early 2014.
