Digitizd Tech Blog: Internet, Gadgets, Apps, Websites, & More

Yahoo, Amazon Announce File Syncing Cloud Storage

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

Amazon and Yahoo nearly stepped on one another announcing cloud storage features meant to rival services like Google Drive and Microsoft’s Skydrive.

Yahoo announced a partnership with Dropbox, which adds the file storage and sync service right to your Yahoo mailbox. I’m totally shocked, shocked I say, to see a company headed by Marissa Mayer start to compete with services offered by Google. Regardless, it’s a smart move and partnering with Dropbox, a service that’s already popular and mature, shortcuts the usual development cycle.

The Amazon service is really just an extension of their Cloud Player music service. The basic online storage service offers 5 GB of drive space, which is not bad. There is an Android app for photo storage but so far no specific guidance from Amazon if they plan on expanding the service past the desktop.

Recently we covered online backup services and now it appears everyone wants in on the cloud storage game. The entrance into the market of heavyweight tech players can only drive down prices for online storage and give consumers more options. The pricing pressure is there straight out of the gate. Amazon sells additional storage for roughly $1/year for every 2 GB of additional storage, roughly half what Dropbox charges.

Competition is a wonderful thing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Amazon cloud storage, cloud storage, file sync, online file storage, Yahoo cloud storage | 1 Reply
Four Easy Backup Solutions For Any Device

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

When I worked IT support we divided the world into two classes of people: Those have lost data and those who were going to lose data. It was always easy to spot those about to lose data when they would come charging through the door with their hair on fire, clutching an open laptop, a single world announced their plight, “Help!”

You could watch the stages of grief unfold as you gave them bad news: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance would play out on our help desk counter almost every day. We got very good at being sympathetic, active listeners. One case that stuck in my mind was a postdoctoral candidate who lost six months of research data and it was only because of a commercial data recovery service that he didn’t lose two years of research.

These days it’s crazy to have your data at risk and backup solutions are out there for almost every device and operating system on the market. Here are my suggestions for backup options that are easy, work with any operating system and allow you to access your data remotely.

Dropbox

2 GB Free, Pro 100 GB $9.99/month. Dropbox is simple and intuitive application that puts a backup folder on your computer and whatever you put in there is automatically synced with the mothership. Whenever you have an internet connection, you have access to your documents.

The only thing you have to watch with Dropbox is that it will sync your docs whether you want it to or not. I accidentally wiped out a long document during testing because I wasn’t careful with versions.

CrashPlan

CrashPlan is one of my personal favorites because it lets you build your own distributed network of backup computers run by your family and friends. Or, if you’d rather, you can opt for a backup device, storage drive or use CrashPlan+ Unlimited online backup for just $4/month.

If you have several computers or devices to backup, opt for CrashPlan+ Family Unlimited.

SpiderOak

SpiderOak is another set and forget backup system that allows complete online access to your files and online file sharing. Unlike most services, SpiderOak will give you 2 GB for free for life. After the free space it gets a little spendy running $100 per year for each 100 GB of space.

Google Drive

People tend to forget you can buy additional storage that automatically integrates with Gmail and G+ Photos. Prices run 4.99 for 100 GB and there are discounts for one and two year purchases. I probably use Drive more than any other online storage service, although it’s not as automatic as some of the other online services.

If you’re worried about storing your private files on online storage, it’s relatively easy to learn how to use a product like TrueCrypt to create encrypted containers and feel more secure storing those in online drives. Once you get good at TrueCrypt, which is free and incredibly powerful, you can even create partitions with a secret pass phrase hidden inside a throw-away encrypted container for extra security. One word of advice if you’re using TrueCrypt, don’t lose the password for your containers. Forget the passphrase and you have effectively destroyed whatever was inside the containers. Nothing is totally secure in the digital world but TrueCrypt encryption is quite good.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged backup your data, easy backup solutions, easy online backup, online backup | Leave a reply
Samsung S4: First Look

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Guest Author Guest Author | 2 Comments

Rumours have circulated the Samsung Galaxy S4 since its release was first announced last year, but finally the full specs of the new handset have been revealed, at an exclusive press event held by Samsung in New York last week. We’ve taken a look over the details, and it really does seem like the S4 could be 2013′s handset of the year – while other major releases are on the horizon, it doesn’t look like anything will come close to this in terms of popularity of hardware.

First things first though: let’s take a look at the phone itself.

The phone

Speculation on the S4 was more or less accurate – it does indeed boast a five-inch screen, and a 13-megapixel camera, as well as a number of Samsung-specific features over the Android Jelly Bean OS. With a full HD display and a 1920 x 1080 resolution it’ll make the ideal pocket camera, perfect for taking snaps as well as more advanced shots and video chat – there are a huge number of additions allowing you to take photos via the front and back camera at the same time, or make an animated gif from your photographs. The front camera is also installed with eye-tracking technology, so it can see if you’re still looking at the screen, and Air View, to allow you to control the interface using gestures if the touchscreen is just too much hassle.

The handset’s impressive hardware makes it a real workhorse of a phone, and should suit mobile gamers as well as intensive users – under the cover the S4 features Samsung’s new Exynos eight-core processor, a two-part build featuring one large, powerful four-core for heavy-duty tasks and a smaller four-core for more mundane everyday use. The battery is much larger too, to compensate for the extra computing requirement, but the handset remains as light and slimline as ever.

The competition

It’s undeniable that the S4′s biggest threat this year comes from Apple; two handsets are expected from the tech giant this year, but early market predictions suggest that things may not be looking good. Both the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6 are tentatively on the tech calendar this year, but with Samsung getting a headstart Apple might find that there are few people still willing to opt for the relatively restrictive iOS when the S4 offers a powerful alternative with open-source software.

It’s hard at this stage to know which other phones on the market will stand up to the S4; pricing hasn’t been released at the time of writing, but it seems Samsung is planning a staggered worldwide release across April and May. Overall, the S4 is a well-balanced high-end handset, packed full of features and designed for every type of user. This kind of achievement, executed so impressively, will make it hard for any other handset to dominate the market in 2013, and while it’s played it safe in terms of aesthetic design, it represents an incredibly high standard for the current market. Definitely one to keep an eye on!

About the author: Jordan Peck is a freelance writer who writes on various topics including mobile devices and technology. He is currently writing on behalf of E2Save.

Posted in Gadgets | 2 Replies
The First Five Apps You’ll Want For That New Chromebook

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 2 Comments

It may be a bit presumptuous to just assume you’re going to get a Chromebook, but really why wouldn’t you? For the cost they’re nearly disposable and the function goes far beyond the price tag.

Lightweight with battery life measured in hours, the Chromebook that fits easily in a backpack or computer bag and is useful at times you just don’t feel like dragging out your full size laptop and waiting for it to boot. Thrifty on power and bandwidth, Chromebooks will be useful for many commuters, students and road warriors.

It’s not what the OS does that makes the device useful, it’s the applications you can run on the device and Chromebooks have a world of useful apps. Here are the first five you’ll want to install.

Evernote Clearly

Evernote is bookmarking on steroids and a must for anyone using the web for research. Clearly uses Evernote’s cloud storage to store articles, pictures and notes and make them available on any device. What you make like better is that with one button tap Clearly strips away all the web page clutter and makes it easier to read.

Any.Do

We covered Any.Do in our review of productivity apps and your new Chromebook wouldn’t be complete without it. Be more organized and productive by keeping your todo list in front of you all the time.

Pandora

Pandora is a nifty service that lets you pick the kind of music and artists you like and it creates a music stream based on your preferences. I picked blues rock and was met with classics from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Joe Bonamassa. As a bonus Pandora includes the lyrics, though singing along with your headphones on has never gotten anyone discovered.

Kindle Cloud Reader

The Kindle Cloud reader opens an endless world of ebooks. The Cloud Reader is still a work in progress and offline reading can still be a little tricky.

Save to Google Drive

If you recently purchased a Chromebook it automatically comes with 100 GB of Google Drive storage. This extension adds a button to save web pages, photos, media files and documents. Keep all your work backed up and safe while you’re on the go.

Chromebooks are not a substitute for a full size computer for many tasks, but for making notes, managing your schedule or reading a good book on the go they’re invaluable. I expect many people will try one at some point.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Apps, chrome, Chromebook, five first chromebook apps | 2 Replies
T-Mobile Launches New No-Contract Pricing On Schedule

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

Right on schedule T-Mobile rolled out its new contract-free $70 plan for unlimited talk, text and data for the road warrior in all of us. If you’re not big into data usage the $50 plan includes 500 MB of data usage per month, but where’s the fun in that?

While the new no-contract pricing is a step in the right direction for U.S. mobile service, which seems to be chronically stuck in the dark ages compared most other countries, there are elements to the T-Mobile sales process that remind you that they’re still a U.S. cellular provider.

In the phone selection section you’ll see a lot of phones priced at $0 on the page and you have to dig down in the fine print to see that you’re actually financing the phone for two years or you’ll have the option to purchase the phone outright. It takes good eyes to figure out you’re actually paying $360 for the Galaxy S Blaze 4G or $15 a month for 24 months.

Most savvy consumers know it makes more sense to buy their phone outright rather than lock themselves to a particular service for two years, an eternity in mobile technology. I don’t understand T-Mobile’s bold step in pricing plans only to follow up with timidity in phone pricing. Perhaps even an overdue change is a process.

There’s also a bit of confusion when it comes to the data portion of the service, one page claims all their data plans are unlimited if you’re on the T-Mobile network. Another page says data speeds drop to 2G after 500 MB. Welcome back to dial-up. I’m sure there’s an explanation in here somewhere and as soon as I hear back from T-Mobile on the clarification I’ll post it as an update.

Another limitation on data is that while you can turn your smartphone into a mobile hotspot for other connected devices, like your tablet, you’re back to the 500 MB cap. Otherwise you have to purchase a separate data plan for the device.

It’s probably good to remember that the most abused word in any type of data service advertising these days is “unlimited”.

For America’s cellular industry, old habits are tough to break. If T-Mobile was trying to simplify their offerings, I’d have to give them a big FAIL on that so far. It may seem simple to them, but cellular industry specializes in obscurity in order to raise your bill.

Still, we can accept this as at least a small step in the right direction and T-Mobile should get props for making the effort. After all, if you don’t like the service you can leave without waiting 20 months and that’s a luxury all by itself.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cellular data plans, data, smartphones, t-mobile, talk, text | Leave a reply
Three Alternatives To The GoPro

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

The success of the GoPro line of action cams was bound to inspire competition and today consumers have more choices about the cameras they attach to their helmets, mountain bikes, or surf boards to record their daring escapades of extreme sports or final moments, whichever it turns out to be.

Although none of the alternatives match the GoPro exactly in specs, they can be better choices depending on the exact nature of your extreme sporting desires.

Drift HD Ghost

Claiming a 3 hour battery life and a lens that levels itself, regardless of the mounting angle, the Drift HD Ghost includes a lot of features that are extras on the GoPro Hero 3, although both units sport the same retail price tag. The Ghost comes with a two-way remote that clearly communicates whether your camera is recording or not and the camera is compatible with a control app available for both iOS and Android.

The Ghost also comes with a 2 inch LCD screen, a feature that’s an add-on for the Hero.

On the downside the Ghost only has a depth rating of 9 feet, so it’s not going to replace the Hero for sport diving and snorkelers. For other sports, the self-leveling lens, longer battery life and built-in LCD are all strong selling points.

Sony ADR-AS15

The AS15 is the upgrade to the AS10 and is another rugged, wearable action cam with built-in wifi and better than average low-light performance. The AS-15 incorporates Sony SteadShot image stabilization, 1080 HD video and a super slow motion setting for 720p shooting at 120 fps.

Liquid Image Ego

Another mountable sports cam with wifi capability and apps available for iOS and Android. Even with the optional underwater housing, around $40, this is still the lowest cost camera in the group. With the underwater housing you’re good down to 130 feet, deeper than most sport divers.

1080 HD video at 30 fps but if you want to push it to 60 fps, you’re limited to 720 HD. The Ego is an adequate if not stellar performer but lacks the sophistication of the Ghost.

If I’m buying one of these today, I’ll probably go with the Ghost and keep my Hero 2 around for snorkeling and diving.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Drift HD Ghost, gopro, Hero 3, liquid ego, sony hdr as-15 | 1 Reply
HBO Contemplates HBO GO Via Broadband Providers

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

There are indications that HBO is finally starting to think about expanding HBO GO to users without a subscription to their cable service.

Even though HBO CEO Richard Plepler in a recent Reuters interview said, “Right now we have the right model,” which is corporate-speak for “we’re not letting go of the gravy train before we have to” there are signs HBO GO may soon become available for regular broadband customers.

It’s not hard to figure out what’s prompting the sudden change of heart as the number of Americans paying for cable TV packages has started to decline and is projected to just keep sliding. Consumers already paying for broadband internet are increasingly rebuffing expensive cable packages stuffed with channels they never watch.

In fairness to cable and satellite carriers most of the channel bundles come at the behest of content providers that insist your cable company carry all their crappy channels in exchange for the one or two everyone really wants. At the other end of the spectrum consumers want the ability to choose their cable channels a la carte. Content over broadband is shaking up the traditional relationships between cable and satellite providers and consumers. At this point in the march of technology there are no clear winners.

Facing the new reality HBO is now looking at ways to make content available to consumers without a premium cable subscription. The immediate goal is to have their cake and eat it, too; holding on to their premium subscribers while capturing some of the broadband market with a content bundled added to your internet connection. Instead of $40 internet bill it would be $55 with HBO GO included.

What remains to be seen is whether consumers will like the idea of having subscription costs added to their internet bill any better than they like them added to their cable bill. I’m going out on a limb and guess that they won’t like that at all.

The whole concept of a subscription to a specific content provider in the days of Netflix and Amazon is starting to sound a little old fashioned. I dropped my subscription to HBO after they canceled Deadwood without a decent ending and even a series like Game of Thrones hasn’t been able to lure me back. With the online entertainment options available today an HBO subscription just seems like a silly, almost laughable idea. So when the CEO makes it sound like his company is doing us a favor giving consumers what they want, it tends to justify the decision to drop them.

These days tone deaf comments from corporate CEOs are almost an everyday thing and no one is really surprised when it happens, but that doesn’t change the reality on the ground. HBO and Time Warner can either find a way to adapt to the new market reality or other companies that can will step in and poach their customers. As the dinosaurs learned the hard way, no one owes you a living.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cable, HBO, HBO GO, premium cable subscriptions | Leave a reply
Little Joy For Tech Consumers In New Supreme Court Decisions

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

The Supreme Court struck a minor blow for First Sale rights but upheld a $222,000 fine for downloading just 24 songs illegally in a different case.

In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons the court ruled that copyright law doesn’t stop the resale of works legally purchased overseas. The case related to an individual buying textbooks overseas and reselling them on eBay. The court overturned a ruling by the 2nd Circuit which upheld the practice called price discrimination.

Consumers in the U.S. are used to price discrimination, where companies charge different prices for the exact same product in different countries. It’s most common in the pharmaceutical industry where U.S. consumers are frequently paying much more for the same medications sold for much less overseas.

The ruling does nothing to address the most common price discrimination consumers experience, which are software and digital entertainment. The ruling does not prevent region coding of digital media and does not address the lack of a First Sale doctrine for software or digital media files.

In a separate ruling the court refused to hear the appeal of a woman fined $222,000 for downloading 24 songs illegally. In a statement the court said:

“An award of statutory damages under the Copyright Act does not simply redress a private injury, but also serves to vindicate an important public interest….That public interest cannot be realized if the inherent difficulty of proving actual damages leaves the copyright holder without an effective remedy for infringement or precludes an effective means of deterring further copyright violations.”

The Obama administration filed a brief in support of RIAA in the case, which has been winding its way through the courts since 2007.

The First Sale win is likely to be short-lived for consumers and big business continues to find new ways to try and squeeze more and more out of consumers for the same products. The money and odds are in their favor.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged digital media files, first sale doctrine, supreme court | 1 Reply
Networks Experiment With Live TV Via Smartphone

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | NO COMMENTS

Mobile technology has been rapidly changing the world since data first became an option on cell phones. Through most of the march of technology content providers have been reacting to changes in the market. Now it appears content providers are more willing to forge their own path in mobile media instead of dealing with a middleman aggregator like Hulu or iTunes.

The gold rush in mobile media has been building for a long time as years of fighting for revenue with more traditional entertainment pipelines, such as cable and satellite, have left both sides weary and annoyed at one another. Entertainment providers are growing increasingly hesitant to deal with aggregators and feel that mobile entertainment offers them the ability forge their own path forward.

Networks are starting to dip their toe in the direct to mobile market. CBS is making full episodes available through streaming apps on the iPhone and iPads, although the episodes aren’t available until 24 hours after the show airs on television and are delayed by 8 days for prime time shows.

ABC just announced their first app aimed at live streaming to Apple devices and Windows 8, but they’re pushing it more aggressively with their app syncing up with their cable and satellite providers to provide live content on the go. You can bet that ABC’s parent company, Walt Disney, is looking for ways to forge their own entertainment distribution channels as well and will be monitoring ABC’s experience closely.

Android apps are supposedly in the works and should be popping up later this year.

The mobile content land grab is on in force and I believe that when the dust settles this will be a big plus for consumer choice. Content providers will be free to deal directly with consumers rather than forge relationships with middleman providers, eliminating another layer of profit between consumers and their favorite shows.

Another side effect of the great mobile land grab will also be the democratization of content development. Independent developers will be able to bypass the lengthy and frustrating process of trying to negotiate distribution deals and make their pitch directly to consumers.

In the end it will mean more choice and more competition, at least at first. Eventually the forces of Balkanization will consolidate choices in the mobile market, just like they did in broadcast and internet technologies. But that will take time and in the meantime, we will have more choices.

The interesting question to me is that TV on a smartphone is not much different than carrying a small portable TV. Maybe some consumers are starting to think they already watch too much TV and this will be a step too far. Either way look for the mobile push to make big changes in the worlds of technology and entertainment.

Posted in Apps | Tagged mobile media, mobile tv, tv on your ipad, tv via smartphone | Leave a reply
Who Is Snooping Your Cloud Data?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Chris Poindexter Chris Poindexter | 1 Comment

There is a dark side to cloud storage and some providers may be routinely scanning files you store in the cloud.

The switch to cloud services and storage has been on so long that many companies, even large companies, positively scoff at the idea of running their own servers. It’s possible these days to have an entire software infrastructure and business applications delivered totally online. Instead of setting up a server room, many companies instead opt for a fat internet connection and a handful of wireless routers.

But individuals and companies should be thinking about the information being stored in the cloud and who may have access to it. Not all providers are alike when it comes to their Terms of Service as it applies to the sanctity of your data and a few may be routinely scanning everything you upload to cloud storage.

The Best Of Intentions

Some of these routine scans of data being stored in the cloud are being used to screen for child pornography. There is even a screening system developed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a nonprofit organization established by Congress and funded by the Justice Department.

A Maryland man was recently arrested for possession of child pornography when Verizon Online found 23 suspect images during a routine sweep.

Other times scans are looking for material covered by copyright. This quickly becomes a more questionable practice when people are uploading copies of movies and music they might legally own.

While it’s hard to feel overly protective of people trafficking in child porn or pirated movies, the routine scanning of files being uploaded to cloud storage should be a concern to private individuals and businesses alike.

Not All Cloud Storage Created Equal

Not all cloud storage providers use their ToS as carte blanche to scan user files. Some services, like Dropbox, Amazon and Google do not routinely scan files but only investigate when there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. One provider may treat your data like they own it, others respect your data property and respect due process when responding to investigations.

How do you know the difference between the good providers and the bad? You have to read the Terms of Service and ask those questions. Even at that one nagging reality will remain and that’s the ability of the vendor to change your Terms of Service, often without any notification. The issue becomes even more of a grey area when cloud storage providers file for bankruptcy protection or sell out to another vendor. Many of these issues have not been litigated and the laws are unclear.

Absolutely individuals and companies should utilize the convenience of cloud storage but do not do so without a clear idea of the terms and what it means in practical terms. Larger data customers may be able to negotiate specific changes to the Terms of Service for their account, it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask.

In the meantime, I would suggest using the same mindset toward cloud storage as company email; the safe course is to assume everything you send out is being monitored.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cloud storage, scanning cloud storage data files, snooping, spying on cloud users | 1 Reply

« Previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
…
131
Next »

The Best Of Intentions

Not All Cloud Storage Created Equal