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Jungle Disk 2.0 learns to share
Jungle Disk, one of the slickest ways to access your Amazon S3 account, has officially updated to version 2.0. I have two words to say: compatibility and bucket. Compatibility buckets are by far my biggest cause for celebration. You see, I have a disorder that doesn't allow me to do things with just one utility or application, I have to make use of every tool available. I guess it's similar to more mechanically inclined folks who fetishize power tools. I digress. The long and short of it is that compatibility buckets no longer store my files in a flat, proprietary file system. Not only does this mean other tools can access my Jungle Disk buckets, I now have the ability to move and rename files, which I didn't previously. Upgrading your buckets to the new format is optional, and in my experience can ruffle a few feathers if you use it in a shared environment. For reasons noted previously, I was willing to take the flak. I've only toyed with -- but never used seriously -- the offsite backup features of Jungle Disk. I would say from my brief forays, though, that they rival CrashPlan's abilities. As noted by our friends at the Download Squad, the interface is much nicer now on every platform (Jungle Disk is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux -- there's even a USB version). There are also new command-line tools included, which is great for scripting and automation. If you use Amazon S3, or if you're looking for cheap and massive storage options, Jungle Disk has officially become worth looking at, in my book. The release notes shed light on quite a few improvements I've neglected to mention. The program is $20 and is a one-time purchase with free upgrades for life. You get licensed versions for Windows, Mac and Linux, and free reign to install on as many machines as you like with a single license. For $1/month more, you can get Web-based file access, block-level file updates and upload resume features. The storage pricing itself is direct from Amazon and runs about 15 cents per gig with additional charges for transfers ($0.10/gig upload, $0.17/gig download). Jungle Disk is free to try.
Press shots for Samsung's new S2 and S3 players
Got a hankering for glossy imagery of those new Samsung S3 and S2 DAPs. We've got the hookup, so knock yourself out. How the photographer made those pebbles look matte we'll never know.%Gallery-21386%
Samsung S2 and S3 hands-on
We just got to spend a smidgen of quality time with Samsung's new boringdaps: the S2 and S3. Gone are the pretensions of Bluetooth grandeur of the P2, these two players are about as straightforward as it gets. Samsung's targeting the fashionistas in the crowd, and while the S3 might be a bit larger than they were hoping for in a 4GB player, the S2 "pebble" has kind of a fun feel to it -- though some sort of clip-on apparatus would be appreciated.%Gallery-21369%
Samsung intros the S2 'Pebble' and slim S3 portable media players
Samsung -- known for dropping a PMP or two on the public -- has introduced a couple of new media players sure to have you tearing up and snapping open piggy banks. First up is the S2 "Pebble" player which we saw a little while back, a tiny, rounded DAP with 1GB of storage on-board that can tune in your favorite FM stations (they still have those, right?) as well as play back MP3, WMA, and OGG files. The S2 comes in green, purple, red, and black / white, which should make it easy to match up with your outfit. The other new offering is the S3, a 4GB or 8GB full-function (yet slim) device which sports a 240 x 320 display, plays MP3, MPEG4, and WMA files, includes an FM tuner, flash games, and comes in green, red, blue, or black / white. Both models will be available in June, no word on price. Stay tuned for a thrilling hands-on experience with both new models.
Forklift 1.5: fast, pretty and stable.
Forklift, the split-pane file manager with support for multiple network protocols, is officially at version 1.5 now. We covered the initial release a while back, and we're excited about the progress it's made. With an interface update (Leopard goodness) and some behind-the-scenes tweaks, it's turning into a sweet piece of work. Forklift has always been of interest to me, with its support for SFTP and Amazon S3, but my previous experiences with Forklift had shown it to display a tendency toward a little sluggishness and the occasional poorly-timed crash. This latest version has not only been stable for me, but has been snappy. And by that I mean speedy to the extreme, especially when dealing with (S)FTP servers and S3. Ten times faster on remote transfers, actually, according to their own benchmarks. Quick Look and FXP Copy (server-to-server file transfer) round out a great feature set. If you're looking for a Finder add-on/replacement (or a great FTP client), definitely download the trial. At $29.95, it's quite reasonably priced for what it can do. And for current users the upgrade is free and will fix quite a few shortcomings you may have noticed thus far. Version 1.5 is Leopard-only, but 1.2 is still available for our striped friends.
JetS3t offers another option for Amazon S3 access
At 15¢ per gig, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) is rapidly becoming an online storage standard, with companies like 37Signals and SmugMug storing information adding up to terabytes. On a slightly smaller scale, I transfer a few gigs on S3 every month, both to and from my Mac and server-to-server, and my bill is usually under $10. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to take advantage of this inexpensive yet massive storage system. Several Mac applications have already added S3 support, including Transmit, Interarchy and Forklift. That's a cool step for such applications because it integrates your various file transferring tools (FTP, SFTP, S3, etc.) into one app, which I would love... if it worked reliably. But the only application I've consistently had luck with – as in not constantly crashing – is JungleDisk, which uses a webDAV system for filestorage that allows an S3 bucket (a subsection, or folder, in your S3 account) to be mounted as a local filesystem, but makes the filesystem on the web inaccessible to other programs. And you can't make files public outside of your local network. I've generally resorted to S3Fox - a very capable Firefox addon - and a command-line ruby script called s3sync. However, I also discovered the JetS3t Java toolkit today. In addition to the toolkit, the JetS3t download also includes an application suite. Of primary interest to me was the Cockpit application, which provides an S3 browser with upload and download capabilities, as well as ACL control. There are also apps for setting up gateways and providing a secure, distributable client. I'd like to begin by saying that I loathe Java applications on a Mac, not least because they're ugly. But Cockpit is one of the fastest S3 browsers I've ever used. Looking past the fact that you have to launch it from the command line (yes, you can fix that), it has no integration with other Mac apps, and its underwhelming aesthetics, I have to admit that it really does get the job done. It even has little extras, like the ability to generate Torrent URLs or a temporary URL that which allows people to download a file for a specified period of time. It probably won't replace my current tools, but it was worth a trip to the dark (Java) side. I hope it inspires some Cocoa browsers that are faster, more flexible and more stable than what we've got.
Acelabs S3 touchscreen PMP actually plays useful formats
We're beginning to see some more interesting PMPs out of China lately, like this white number out of Acelabs that's listed as the S3 even though it's marked "Handy." The 0.4-inch thick device features a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, 8GB of microSD-expandable storage and pretty decent codec support including MPEG4, VOB, WMV, and, randomly, Real. Most impressive, however, is the slick-looking touch interface, which actually looks well thought-out for once. No word on whether we'll ever see these over here, as usual, but encouraging nonetheless.Update: Yep, Acelabs is Korean, not Chinese. Explains the Cowon resemblance a little, doesn't it?[Via AVING]
Bandwagon iTunes backup revamps pricing plans
As Mat noted a couple weeks ago, the ambitious team at Xackup announced, then thought better of it and retracted, Bandwagon: an unlimited-storage service for iTunes backups to run over your Internet connection. Greedy fiends that we iTunes users are, with visions of multigigabyte libraries dancing in our heads, we apparently shocked and awed Bandwagon into the just-announced revamped pricing plan. The new plan offers iTunes backup for $1 monthly, and backup + sync between two Macs for $1.50. Cheap, no? The catch: this is BYOS -- bring your own storage. At launch the service will support backup to Amazon's S3 cloudisk service, with basic FTP and Omnidrive links to follow within a month or two. The Bandwagon blog details the changes here and explains more of the why here. Considering that Xackup is also launching Xackmail (Mail.app & Outlook backup) and Neverfuget (iCal backup/sync to Backpack) tools, this company is making a serious play for Mac home/net backup customers on all fronts.Will Bandwagon pull you onboard? I might consider it myself, and work out a "homebrew co-lo" agreement with friends or family to put a spare drive and FTP access at their place, reciprocating with the same at my place -- or just bite the bullet and start paying Amazon for disk space.[via UneasySilence]
S3 Browser
Backing up your data is important, we all know that. However, backing up is often complicated and if your data isn't backed up and then stored off-site (i.e. not where your computer is) then your back up isn't truly safe. Enter Amazon's S3 service. Amazon has a bevy of computers waiting to hold your precious data in a safe, redundant, and off-site manner. Amazon charges a very low rate for bandwidth and storage and the best thing is that they have an API for developers to code against.S3 Browser makes saving documents to and S3 'bucket' as simple as drag and drop. This app is open source, and started life as a diversion for the developer. Given those facts, S3 Browser is pretty slick.[via Ranchero]
IBM's S3 security system may head to the US-Mexico border
IBM's decided that it's had enough of making traditional processors, and instead will head further into the lucrative military and law enforcement business. Big Blue just announced today that it's begun selling the "Smart Surveillance System," or S3. According to Reuters, the new system is able to record video feeds and the analyze the information gathered, sounding an alarm when it "identifies suspicious activity." CNET also reports that IBM is in talks with the federal government to put an S3 along the US-Mexico border. According to IBM, the Feds are "doing backflips" every time they see the S3, which apparently can index and search videos based on specific objects and/or actions. We're still not sure if this is a better system than that web-based border cam setup down in Texas, but perhaps the S3 can spy on those Texan cams to make sure they're getting the job done.[Via Slashdot]Read - ReutersRead - CNETRead - IBM press release
Canon PowerShot S3 IS reviewed
Digital Camera Resource got their mits on the Canon PowerShot S3 IS recently and were kind enough to post a detailed review for our perusal. While the S3 isn't exactly "an exciting upgrade" over its S2 IS predecessor, the reviewer still found it to be an "excellent" ultra zoom camera. Besides the bump from 5 to 6 mexapixels, the camera's two most touted new features are ISO 800 sensitivity and 60fps QVGA / 30fps VGA recording. Well, the ISO 800 snaps shot under low light were found to be, er, "not usable" while those taken under normal light should be limited to 4x6 prints with the aid of some noise reduction software. However, the overall noise level was still considered "low for a 6 megapixel camera." Meanwhile, the video capabilities were found to be excellent due to stereo sound recording and the ability to zoom silently while filming. However, lacking an MPEG-4 codec means your flicks will hit the 1GB per recording wall in only 9-minutes under the highest quality settings. Overall, the camera earns the reviewer's "enthusiastic recommendation" due to its "very good photo quality" and "snappy performance" in a "solid and capable" ultra zoom camera.
