One of Drobo FS drawbacks is its inability to be accessed outside of a local area network (LAN). Many NAS servers today have this functionality built-in along with tons of other features that allow mobile users to access their data from abroad. Today, Drobo answered that call in a way with its partnership with Pogoplug, the popular way to make ones data easily accessible on the Internet. Drobo calls it Personal Cloud and will give user 10GB of free cloud storage in addition to instant access to their Drobo unit. All it takes is a software download for either your Mac or Windows machine and you’ll be off and rolling.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Nov. 21, 2011 – Drobo http://www.drobo.com , makers of award-winning data storage products for businesses and professionals, and Pogoplug, creators of the award-winning line of streaming and sharing devices, today announced a partnership to deliver a comprehensive personal cloud solution for anytime, anywhere access to files. Drobo customers will have access to free cloud storage, remote file access and digital media streaming using Pogoplug Cloud, a new service announced last week.
Using Pogoplug Cloud, customers can turn their Drobo into a multi-terabyte private cloud that provides secure, remote access to their entire digital library of documents, movies, photographs, games and music files. The agreement between Drobo and Pogoplug also provides Drobo users with 10GB of free public cloud storage – ideal for syncing valuable files between Drobo and the cloud.
“Small businesses, professionals, and consumers already store large collections of files on their Drobo,” said Tom Buiocchi, CEO of Drobo. “Adding remote access, media streaming and other cloud capabilities turns the Drobo into the ultimate personal cloud – combining the simple, reliable storage Drobo users have come to expect with the flexibility and freedom of the cloud.”
Designed specifically for customers who require storage capacity without the complexity and price of legacy storage, Drobo delivers sophisticated yet easy-to-use and affordable storage solutions for professionals and businesses. Every Drobo is powered by the patented BeyondRAID technology that automates traditional storage challenges such as data protection, capacity expansion, and application performance optimization.
“Digital media content has exploded as a major part of our lives, but requires huge amounts of storage, ” said Daniel Putterman, CEO and co-founder of Cloud Engines. “The partnership with Drobo delivers a seamless hybrid cloud experience for professionals and consumers alike to access and stream stored digital media and personal content.”
Pogoplug Cloud, delivered by Cloud Engines, has changed the way personal content is stored and delivered over the Internet with the advent of its personal cloud. Pogoplug Cloud provides secure storage of digital media from any location, enabling users to access, share and stream their content from a mobile or connected device. Together Drobo and Pogoplug Cloud offer customers with large personal media files remote access to these files under the security of linking a Drobo appliance to a personal cloud.
Customers interested in the new offering can find more information at http://www.drobo.com/pogoplug.
About Drobo
Drobo makes award-winning data storage products that provide sophisticated data protection and management features, affordable capacity and ease-of-use for small and medium businesses (SMBs) and professionals. Delivering “Big Storage in a Small Box” to hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide, Drobo solves the three storage challenges – data protection, capacity adjustment, and application service level optimization – all in one box, through patented BeyondRAID™ technology, thin provisioning, reclamation and automated data-aware tiering. To learn more, visit www.drobo.com http://www.drobo.com or follow us on Twitter @drobo.
About Pogoplug
Pogoplug is cloud storage for your mobile life. The service enables users to store, share and stream personal content from any mobile device. Pogoplug is the only service that provides flexible expansion options by allowing users to purchase additional cloud-based storage or to host a private, unlimited cloud for no monthly fees by purchasing a Pogoplug device.
Pogoplug is led by experienced entrepreneurs from the digital media and security space and backed by Foundry Group, Softbank and Morgan Stanley. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with a satellite office in Tel Aviv. For more information, please visit www.pogoplug.com.
If you’re wondering what iCloud is or know but just need to know how to use it, then you may be interested in the new book from Joe Kissell entitled Take Control of iCloud from TidBITS. The 143-page ebook will help you understand the differences between MobileMe and iCloud and what stays, goes away, and what’s new. Examples of how to configure aspects of iCloud, such as syncing your calendar, are all part of this new digital release. Get it and learn the iCloud.
Sebastopol, CA—The rollout of Apple’s new iCloud service has not been without problems, and many people have questions about how best to sign up, switch to, and use iCloud. To answer those questions, TidBITS Publishing Inc. is pleased to announce the release of Take Control of iCloud ($15.00 USD), a 143-page ebook that helps readers successfully migrate to iCloud and its many services.
Written by tech expert Joe Kissell, Take Control of iCloud explains how to handle a variety of setup scenarios and concerns (including multiple Apple IDs and upgrading from MobileMe, iCloud’s predecessor), and how to best use the many features in iCloud: iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match, iCloud Backup, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Find My iPhone, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and more.
Readers will learn the answers to questions such as:
What are iCloud’s primary features?
How do I set up iCloud-based calendar and contact syncing on my iOS device?
How do I share calendars with people who are not using iCloud?
How quickly should I expect iCloud to sync my data?
How do I configure my email software to use my iCloud email address?
How do I add files to my Photo Stream from Windows?
How can I configure my AirPort Extreme to work with Back to My Mac?
And for those making the jump from MobileMe, Kissell also explains:
How iCloud’s feature set compares to MobileMe’s.
Which MobileMe features will disappear after you switch to iCloud, and which will stick around until June 2012, when Apple has announced it will shut off MobileMe.
Handling old data stored on MobileMe, such as photos in Gallery and files in iDisk.
Converting a MobileMe Family Pack to iCloud accounts.
Replicating MobileMe-based group calendar sharing in iCloud, especially if not everyone can upgrade to iCloud.
For a review copy or more information please email takecontrolpr@oreilly.com. Please include your delivery address and contact information.
Additional Resources
For more information about the book, including table of contents, author bios, and cover graphic, see: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781615423958
Take Control of iCloud
Publisher: TidBITS
By Joe Kissell
Ebook ISBN: 9781615423958
Pages: 144
Ebook Price: $15.00
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
About Take Control Ebooks
The Take Control series is published by TidBITS Publishing Inc. TidBITS co-founders Adam and Tonya Engst have been publishing highly regarded news and editorial since 1990 when they created the online newsletter TidBITS, which covers Macintosh and Internet-related topics. The Take Control series has helped many thousands of readers with high-quality, timely, real-world, cost-effective documentation since 2003.
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
Clearwire Corporation, a leading provider of wireless broadband services and operator of the first 4G network in the country, today announced the availability of CLEAR® 4G, take-it-with-you internet service for businesses and consumers in Sacramento. With CLEAR, anyone can now use the internet at speeds four times faster than 3G* – whether at home, in the office, or on-the-go within CLEAR coverage.
In Sacramento, CLEAR covers nearly 1.2 million people. Regionally, service extends out to Davis to the West, to Elk Grove in the South, to Roseville/Folsom out to the East and Natomas to the North. A detailed coverage map of CLEAR 4G service is available at www.clear.com/coverage.
“Whether as a critical link for the Pony Express or for the first transcontinental railroad, Sacramento has long been at the forefront of this country’s ever-growing need to communicate. With today’s launch, Sacramento reinforces its historical position as a communications hub and becomes the anchor to Clearwire’s 4G network in the Central Valley,” said Allan Lamb, regional general manager for CLEAR. “For the first time, capital city consumers are able to access the content they normally enjoy at home or work wirelessly around Sacramento at an affordable price and without data limits.”
For a limited time, new customers can take advantage of CLEAR’s online-only mobile internet promotion to receive a 50% discount on their service plan for the first two months, with overnight shipping included and no activation fee. This promotion is available at www.clear.com/sacramento.
Does a GPS with a constant connection to the Internet make it the best way to travel in your car? Can it find the lowest gas prices, the nearest Starbucks, an ATM near your friends home, and the best pizza joint in town? Will it show you how to get to work quicker than you have ever made it before IN traffic? Does the volume setting of 11 make it that much better than anything else available?
Yes, we know so many questions to be answered but we think we do a pretty good job of answering those and even more with the newest craze hitting cars across the country in this new GPS unit. An Internet enabled GPS device that taps into Yahoo! Local and lets you send your addresses from within your web browser on your computer to your Dash Express sitting silently on your, um, dash.
Now, is it all worth it? Read on.
What can you say, when you move from the high through put of 5 Mbps of cable modem to iffy fixed wireless of the country, you become excited for anything close to reliable Internet. This weekend I surprised a friend in San Antonio, Texas for his 40th birthday and when I popped open my MacBook Pro yesterday to download Firefox’s latest beta, I was stunned to see the download ticker hit the 800 Kbps. I quickly went to Speedtest.net and was nearly floored when the connection tested at no lower than 7.9 Mbps. I looked to my buddy and asked him, “Dude, what are you connected to out here?” “Fiber,” was his response. “Fiber?! Out here?” was my shocked reply as they live about 30 minutes north of San Antonio.
Yes, it was fiber. Lucky for him, he just got it dropped into his home a few months ago and man, what fiber can do for you. Yes, I would agree that fiber indeed makes on regular. I’d use his connection regularly. 
So last night I was downloading everything I could. His upload speeds weren’t fantastic at 800 Kbps, but it was solid and latency was low enough that it still seemed blazing when compared to my crappy connection at home.
So, I’ve experienced a blessed experience on true broadband of fiber (though this fiber optic use is kinda interesting, too) and hope that one day I too will have the availability of fiber. But for now, I’ll be happy with my forthcoming T1 install and enjoy the 1.544 Mbps upload speeds (which will better you Rog’ ) as well as down at the same. Consistent, low latency, reliable Internet will be nice to have but dang, 8 megs was grand!
Orange Madagascar S.A. has released its new Orange World portal powered by Greenlight Wireless’ Skweezer technology, which optimizes Web pages and searches for mobile handsets.
Orange World is a mobile Internet portal that provides Orange Madagascar’s 1.4 million customers with access to Web content, such as news and sports scores, from their mobile phones and PDAs. Skweezer Private Label has been integrated into this portal so that Orange customers will be able to browse off-portal and visit any Web site on the Internet, whether it’s mobile-friendly or not.
“Orange Madagascar has chosen to work with Greenlight Wireless to integrate Skweezer into its WAP portal because of Greenlight’s experience, knowledge and expertise in the technology of reformatting pages to adapt them to the screens of mobile phones,” said Orange Madagascar Product Manager Tohiniaina Raherimanantsoa.
Approximately 24% of all Skweezer users are from so-called “emerging markets”. The growth in this sector is an ongoing tend that became apparent in mid-2005, when Skweezer penetration in Latin America, China, and India began to accelerate. Skweezer Private Label is also used by Orange Dominicana’s 850,000-plus customers, with further Private Label implementations due to be deployed in upcoming months.
Orange Madagascar is using Skweezer Private Label, which is a carrier-grade solution that optimizes Web content for PDAs and cell phones. Skweezer compresses and reformats content being downloaded, so that it loads faster, looks better, and is easier to navigate. Skweezer has introduced many mobile browsing innovations and has won several awards in 2007, including a Gold Star in the Mobile Star Awards and Best Web Compression Service in the Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards. Skweezer is completely platform-independent and can be accessed from Pocket PC, Palm, MS Smartphone, Blackberry, iPhone, Symbian, PSP2, and WAP 2.0 compliant devices.
Symantec Corp (Nasdaq: SYMC), makers of
Norton security software, today released the first volume of the Norton
Online Living Report (NOLR) revealing that, more than ever, adults and
children around the world are getting emotionally and socially connected
online – including dating, friendship and playing – as well as for
information and communication. The NOLR, undertaken by Harris
Interactive, revealed some startling statistics about how Internet-Age
technologies have affected families across the world.
Up to half of online adults worldwide and up to 40 per cent of online
children worldwide have made friends on line, with 72 per cent of
responding UK adults having translated at least one online friend to an
offline friend. In the UK, 43 per cent of online adults and 26 per cent
of children enjoy their online relationships as much or more than their
offline friendships. This indicates a major shift in how people relate
to one other and provides potential clues for the future of human
interaction.
Another common theme worldwide reveals that parents’ perception of what
their children are doing online does not reflect the reality of what
their children say they are doing. For example, one in five responding
children admit to conducting activities online that they know their
parents would not approve of with 24 per cent of UK online children
spending tenfold or more time online than their parents think they do.
The survey revealed that 72 per cent of responding parents in the UK are
concerned about their children’s activities online, with 25 per cent
having no idea about what their children are doing on the internet.
This can have shocking consequences: Five times as many children online
in the UK have been approached by a stranger online than their parents
believe. In UK, adults believe that four per cent of children have been
approached online by a stranger. The actual per cent reported by UK
online children is 20.
Whether staying in a hotel, waiting for a flight or drinking a latte at the local coffee shop, Alltel customers can now connect to the Internet virtually anywhere. Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network providing coverage across the nation, today launched Alltel Wi-Fi, an easy-to-use solution powered by Boingo Wireless that instantly provides customers with laptop access to thousands of hotspots throughout North and South America. Alltel also provides wireless broadband access via Alltel Wireless Internet service, allowing customers to access the Internet from their laptop or smartphone at speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps on its nationwide data network.
Through Alltel’s relationship with Boingo, the world’s largest network of Wi-Fi hotspots, Alltel customers will be able to enjoy a fast connection all over the country. To provide customers with maximum coverage, Alltel is offering a Wi-Fi and EVDO Wireless Internet “bundle,” delivering unlimited Wi-Fi access from any supported hotspot starting as low as $9.99 per month, in addition to the customers’ Wireless Internet Plan. Pre-paid Wi-Fi cards are available at Alltel Wireless retail stores for $19.99 per week or $9.99 per day. Additionally, users can purchase Wi-Fi access at https://wifi.alltel.com.
“Wi-Fi is an excellent complement to Alltel’s existing portfolio of wireless internet solutions and is a good fit with Alltel’s strategy to provide customers with more ways to connect wirelessly to the Internet, email, or corporate intranet,” said David Maddox, director of product marketing for Alltel Wireless. “Alltel customers will get the best available wireless broadband connection throughout the country with EVDO and Wi-Fi from Alltel.”
I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I tell that just because you dragged something to the Trash can on your Mac and emptied it, it’s not gone. Or how you deleted a bunch of e-mail in Mail.app. It’s not gone. How ’bout all your Internet History that you “cleared”? Not gone. Only the index marker is gone. The actual data is still there. Ask former CEO Kenneth Lay of Enron how that works. Worse yet, even your Keychain really isn’t safe from prying eyes.
SubRosaSoft.com Inc. of Union City, California, has just released a tool that will help forensic specialists get some interesting stuff off of any OS X computer. With the simple insertion of the MacLockPick to any USB port on a Mac, the MacLockPick starts digging into the operating system looking for gems and jewels. MacLockPick knows where to go for finding the large vein and thus starts cracking your Keychain for the real goodies. “Once the MacLockPick software is run it will extract data from the Apple Keychain and system settings to provide the examiner fast access to the suspect’s critical information with as little interaction or trace as possible,” so says SubRosaSoft’s press release. Wow! This is some heavy stuff. For the mind-blowing specifics, check out the list after the jump.
Now, don’t worry. SubRosaSoft is only selling this to “Licensed Investigators, State and Local law enforcement professionals, (as well as to) Federal law enforcement professionals.” Though, I just added one into my cart under PI and it hasn’t yet asked me for my license (though I suspect it does further into the purchase phase.) Pricing starts at $499.95 for PIs and the Feds get the best deal at $399.95. eBay buyers will most likely pay double. Read the rest of this entry »
Taxes are due next Tuesday and many will be spending their weekend “finishing” (read: starting) their taxes. Many will eFile. Check Point sent SvenOnTech this great write up on what to watch out for when filing over the Internet.
Despite the growing awareness of online identity theft, many electronic filers still do not know the basic and necessary measures to protect themselves and their tax information, said the security experts behind Check Point’s ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite today. The IRS reports that last year, about 73 million people submitted federal tax returns electronically. About 20 million of these individuals filed via the Internet using home computers, an increase of 18% from 2005.
“It’s amazing how many e-filers take pains to keep their jewelry in a safe at home and their financial paperwork in a locked desk but don’t take minimal precautions on their personal home computer,” said Laura Yecies, vice president at Check Point Software Technologies and general manager of the ZoneAlarm consumer division. “For starters, we hope everyone knows by now that they shouldn’t wirelessly file tax returns from the local coffee shop, which may not be secure.”
The IRS expects a steady increase in the number of e-filers this year as consumers are increasingly taking advantage of the conveniences of the Internet to file, getting their returns faster and helping them avoid the long lines that mar the post office on Tax Day. Read the rest of this entry »