02.01.09
of Online Storage and Sync Apps
I’ve been waiting for something like this to come for ages (I have no idea why i didn’t work on it myself: i guess one can’t do everything :p).
Anyhow, with the ever growing usage of the internet on various devices, one really needs to keep their files and folders in sync through out their “internet devices”. I’ve got 3 systems which i use, my desktop at home, my office laptop and my office pc.
With online storage available on all three, gone are the days when I’d have to carry a USB everywhere and hoped that it didn’t get infected with a virus (that is if i’d remember to keep it with me all the time). All I have to do now is just copy the files in a particular folder and thats it; its as easy as that. With my 512K connection, it doesn’t take much to upload files.
Some of the easy-to-use apps that I am using for online storage are DropBox and Zumo Drive.
Dropbox gives u 2GB free space; then they start charging you (this reminds me of the days when hotmail and yahoo would charge for more storage for mail space 
). I bet over time, storage space wouldn’t be an issue in this scenario as well. For now, 2 GB is good enuf. After Installing it, it creates a particular folder where you can put your files and folders for syncing. The neat part is, its available for Windows, macs and Linux as well. The not so neat part is you cannot view your files through the browser and rather you have to install dropbox to your pc so that all files can be downloaded on it.
Lately I’ve started using Zumo Drive. Its fast and efficient. It creates a 1GB drive on your system which you can use. They claim that files are not downloaded until one specificly downloads them, only an image of the file will be available. You can also use the browser to view your files and share them, its a neat interface that they have given. It will sync your iPhone and iTunes as well. However, I didn’t see anywhere where i can install this for Linux. Hence i’m assuming that it works for macs and windows (since they support iTunes and iPhones). Overall, its an efficient way of accessesing your files.
This one other tool which I use to sync my browser (FireFox) and that is FoxMarks. Its a neat tool that manages your bookmarks and make them available on all pcs where you have foxmarks added on to your firefox. Hence if i do any searches on my home desktop, i just add a bookmark to them, and it become available on my office pc as well. This really helps me manage my bookmarks and for once I don’t have to maintain multiple backups of’em if I choose to format any system. So, i really suggest people try it.
I waiting for G-Drive to come. Will check it out and writeup on it soon.
09.20.08
Browser War 2
People thought the browser war was a thing of the past. NOT ANY MORE!!
It started off with Firfox taking out their 3.0 version (best ever so far) with a bang. They made “the download day” a record breaking stuff. Mozilla has been growing ever since they’ve started, and from the looks of it, they are doing a lot of the things right. With their plug-ins, their add-ons, their tabbed interface, and their simplicity they have become a very strong competitors in the browser industry.
Then recently, GOOGLE proposed that browsers needed to be better. They needed to be simpler, user friendly and most important of all, powerful enough to load the websites of the new age with speed. And their answer to all of that was, CHROME – beta. Interestingly enough, all of the Google sites worked really well, but that was it. They have problems with java scripts, frequent crashes (competing with Windows) and an overly simplified design and with all of this they think that they have the answer to what the world needs with Web 2.0. For now they claim that this is just a BETA version. When they do go for a full launch, hopefully things will be better.
Microsoft has always been a dominant player in the web browser industry; only because it came in with the windows operating system. This highly criticized move led to the Netscape going open source and eventually changing into Mozilla. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the winner of the first Browser war successfully created its huge niche. That doesn’t go to say anything about how good or bad it is. Since it was just a default browser that came with the Windows OS, the layman user used it without a second thought.
The latest news is, Microsoft has introduced IE 8.0. This is MS answer to the Web 2.0 needs. Highly simplistic in style, yet looks a lot like Firfox and Chrome but together in a blender. Writing this post, I can already see a lot of bugs which they have introduced. Don’t know what more they have added to it. I am expecting more bugs since its a Microsoft product, but for now they too are hiding behind the BETA release.
Once there was Opera. It tried to enter the browser market. It brought along some interesting concepts, but due to the lack of user friendliness it didn’t make much of an impact. I am not going to say much about this one partially because I haven’t used it much. I once installed it, then uninstalled it after a few hrs. Latest news from different sources is, they don’t have much of a niche.
Macintosh also came in the browser market with its Safari. However, it hasn’t made much of an impact in the market. Again I used it once. Didn’t like it much. Was way too “MACish”, so i just left it at that. It comes as a default browser with every mac : ) and MACers seem to be happy with it.
So with IE 8.0 – beta, Chrome – Beta, and Firfox 3.0, the browser war 2 begins. Firefox, which seems to be the best technically and with their experience in the market which they have, is my favorite to win this war. Microsoft has reshaped the IE, but with their history of bugs and crashes, I don’t expect much. Chrome is going to be a tough competitor only because of the GOOGLE power. It will be interesting to see how Chrome shapes up being opensouce and having the backing of Google. Chrome has already found itself tempered with, with the unofficial ports of it running on Linux and Mac. I predict there will be several different versions of chrome in days to come.
