Infinite Storage Details

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/18/bitcasa-explains-encryption/

Infinite Storage in the Cloud

Amazing new 'cloud'...infinite storage for your device!! It's all stored on the net, in the cloud...sign up free:


https://www.bitcasa.com/beta-signup?share=1847924689

Google Contact Sync

I've been using a company BB device that I will be handing in soon, since I'm leaving that company. I want to leave the company, but not my contacts that won't fit on the very limited SIM card. I tried backing up using BB software. Aside from being cumbersome and wired, it will not help me if I get an Android or Symbian device. Google Sync will. And it so far it's beautiful. A small, simple to use, app from Google. Download, install, run, and let it sync! A couple of minutes and all your contacts are on Gmail, and ready to by synced to your Android, BB, Symbian or WM device. And like everything Googly, it's free :). Just download the version of Google Sync specific to your handset.

After you sync and log on to Gmail, you will get a notification telling you that Google provides you 25 levels of back up just in case you lose your contacts. Now that's what I call cloud service :)

Google Sync...I love it!!

Another Hit for the Cloud

Looks like talk is cheap, even in the cloud. But outages are not cheap. Outages and uptime, among other things, are what the cloud was created to solve in the first place. While the illusion of the cloud sounds like an IT dream come true, the reality can be a nightmare as you can see from this posting on ReadWriteWeb regarding Reddit's outage and continuing problems with Amazon's cloud:

(The URL is misleading, it has nothing to do with ipad, someone didn't have their coffee when they wrote the name)

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/03/ipad-for-business-round-up-web.php

2000 Movies

I think I've finally convinced my uncle to hover in the cloud. Just a few weeks ago he was very unwilling and saw absolutely no need for the cloud and such fancy services. However, his collection of 2000 movies may have helped change his mind.

A few weeks ago, he bought a new 8 TB drive and he was telling me that he will put his collection of 2000 movies on to it. I suggested the cloud, but he wasn't interested. He said he'd get me a 1 TB portable drive and get me some of his collection. Since then, I've been anxiously waiting for him to come visit. Yesterday I caught him on SkyPE, and I happened to ask him about that collection (and my copy!). The lost collection. Demolished by a hard disk failure. The HD was a new Western Digital 8 TB RAID. Yes RAID, Redundant Array of Independent Disks. You know, the type that is 'anti-fail'. Well they failed and he has no backup and WD does not take any responsibility for data loss, but they were kind enough to recommend a data recovery service. The data recovery service they recommended does not guarantee anything except that it would cost him a less than $8,000 to recover whatever they can find, if anything.

Near the end of our chat about this topic he said "I wish there was a service where we can store all this stuff and have it available for easy access". "The cloud!", I said, and I think he is finally convinced.

To recap, I'm happy to save another soul, but I am angry that I lost my, yes MY copy of 2000 movies. I know it's not as bad as losing your cancer research http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20028475-1.html, but it's still a loss for humans to the machines.

Next time, I will talk about my recent cloud development experience using Amazon Web Services.

Stay tuned...

Hybrid Cloud

In my last post, I talked about how the loss of my internet connection rendered the cloud useless. Today I want to give you an idea of the alternative to the cloud, where a loss of internet connection does not mean total loss of data access. The alternative is a hybrid solution where your data is stored in the cloud, but with an automated and seamless local cache. This solution offers the best of both worlds; You get the benefits of cloud storage, security, and management, and you also get the benefits of a local storage such as speed and offline availability.

Such a solution does exist, I'm currently reviewing a product that does all this and some more. I have not finished reviewing and don't have enough information to share yet, but I'm working on it. The company offering the solution gives 1 year free for anyone blogging or reviewing their product, I hope they give this year before anything's written, I would like to try it for some time before writing about it.

I won't tell you which company, but I will hint that it's an Australian company.

See ya next time, when I will have some more information on a great hybrid cloud/local solution.

Cloud Without Net

For the last few weeks, I've been suffering from either complete loss of net connection, or a very slow connection(64Kbs). Yes 64 Kilo bits, not bytes, per second. I wonder which is worse, complete loss or the slow net? I also wonder how life in the cloud can exist with such connectivity. Well, it can't.

In order to live in the cloud, you need to have a fast, consistent connection. Being without such a connection, you're kind of like someone who made a backup on an external hard drive, forgot it at home and went to work. He can still access the data, but he'd have to go home and get it. Very slow process. Very impractical. This is how it is in developing countries, where the net is slow, not always available, and/or has a download limit. I have a 10 gig/month limit which I finished on the 13th of the month. This is what caused the speed to drop from 2.4 Mbs to 64Kbs. Huge drop from cloud #9 to earth. Then I completely lost the connection due to an error at the ISP.

Loss of connection meant loss of everything. I became very dependent on Google Docs and Blogger. I find it very convenient to write on Google Docs, and I have a lot of things on Docs, with no local backup. So when the net was lost, I had no way to continue writing or reviewing my work. In order not to be completely out of touch with my documents, I will have to make local backups, since my ISP might throw another problem any time without notice. I consider this a slap in the face since I'm trying to promote the idea of The Cloud.

I have to admit, for the time being, the cloud is for developed countries, but for developing countries, I think in order to benefit from the cloud, it would have to be an intranet cloud. Developing countries will have to wait a few more years to benefit from the full internet cloud.