Guillaume Belfiore

∞ SkyDrive is getting pretty cool with sync features

So few hours ago, the SkyDrive team has announced new features and most notably a client which will allows you to sync your files on your Windows or Mac machines. 

Yes it’s like Dropbox, but with more storage and cheaper plans. Obviously, just like Apple, Microsoft probably tried to buy Dropbox and upon denial, decided to created a clone app. And it works great so far.

Now let’s see what Google has in store for their GDrive :)

∞ Dropbox referrals are now twice as nice!

Wow! My fav online service has launched the nicest campaign on my birthday. I’m now at 22,3 GB of free online storage. What else could I have hoped for ?

Once upon a time, we noticed that Dropbox spread fastest via word of mouth. We’ve always believed that sharing is caring, so we rolled out this referral program to make recommending Dropbox an even sweeter deal. Back then, we gave out only 250 MB per invite. Then we doubled the space for students for inviting friends, and they liked it so much we decided to give it to everyone!

∞ SugarSync vs Dropbox : let's give it a try

After discovering that Pogoplug had changed their software client, I decided to give SugarSync another. Will it convince me to give up Dropbox ? Here is a very interesting (though a bit dated) head-to-head review

From GroovyPost.com

I’m a Dropbox man—always have been, always will be. So, when an assignment to review SugarSync came across my desk (not really, MrGroove didn’t give me a desk…), I raised a skeptical eyebrow. At first blush, SugarSync struck me as the Dropbox alternative that I never asked for. I must not be the only one who feels this way, because right there on the front page of SugarSync’s website is a link to a comparison chart between SugarSync vs. Drobpox and the other cloud storage/folder syncing heavyweights: MobileMe, Box.net, Carbonite and Mozy.

Oh and get a 500 Mb bonus with my ref code :)

∞ Playing around with a new Pogoplug

This weekend I got a Pogoplug device in sale for 40€. I’ve been interested in the idea of having a personal Dropbox-like setup for quite sometimes and finally decided to get it. As Trusted Review says, in theory : 

If you have some technical know how and a bit of money to spend you can build a server or purchase a NAS box and setup remote access, or there are online storage services like Dropbox that give you a portion of online storage and let you synchronise files on multiple computers through a simple web interface. However, if you find the former too expensive and too much of a technical challenge and the latter is too limiting then the Pogoplug could be right up your street. 

In truth well, things are not going so smoothly but I still have to learn one or two tricks. i’ll give it a try for about a month and see if I’ll still use it on a regular basis afterwards.

∞ SparkleShare, the true open source Dropbox alternative

Looks interesting and i could definitely try it out someday.

From the Linux Journal : 

We love Dropbox here at Linux Journal. It’s cross-platform, offers a decent free offering and generally “just works”. It has some problems though. Dropbox is proprietary. Dropbox stores a copy of your data in its own data repositories. Dropbox is limited in size, especially with its free accounts. Enter SparkleShare. SparkleShare is an open-source project that allows you to start a Dropbox-like service on your own.

∞ Dropbox Accidentally Unlocked All Accounts

Hum.. scary and not a bad press as Microsoft unveils a new version of SkyDrive…

From The Dropbox blog:

Yesterday we made a code update at 1:54pm Pacific time that introduced a bug affecting our authentication mechanism. We discovered this at 5:41pm and a fix was live at 5:46pm. A very small number of users (much less than 1 percent) logged in during that period, some of whom could have logged into an account without the correct password. As a precaution, we ended all logged in sessions.