Need Unlimited Cloud Storage For Free

Wanted – CLOUD STORAGE, willing to pay $0.00

Yup.  I know I’m dreaming, there will always be a cost associated with cloud storage.  Many services out there will give you between 1gb and 5gb free.  Google will give you 25gb with Google Apps for free but come on, the days of measuring storage in the GB are done.

I was speaking with someone the other day and the topic came around to storage, and media.  He told me that he has 12tb (yes TERABYTES) of documentaries stored on a home server all connected to every TV in his house.  Many friends that I have are doing the same, perhaps not on as grand a scale, but have successfully networked their home so that they can pull TV shows, movies and music from anywhere in their house and in some cases when they are outside of their house as well.

For power users in the home measuring storage in TB is the new normal.  But what about for devices such as iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, or even Windows powered phones and tablets?

iOS devices don’t allow for any additional memory other than what you purchase — and trust me 16gb is not enough (I’ve since learned with respect to my iPad).  For Android and Windows powered devices you have more options in way of micro SD cards – however the largest I’ve seen is 32gb and for the prolific picture or movie taker (on your portable device) this is still not enough.

What is the solution?  Cloud storage.

Who is out there, what will you get and what will it cost for more?  I did a bit of research to see what’s being offered and at what cost.

I found several companies offering the type of service that I wanted: Apple, Amazon, Dropbox, SugarSync, ZumoDrive, MemoPal, and Box.

All offered between 1gb and 5gb of free storage and then plans if you needed more. Companies like Apple and Amazon will allow you to store products purchased from their services without any limit, so you could have several hunderd GB of music stored on Apple or Amazon and it won’t cut into your free space.

Most offered an iOS app or Android front-end. There were some that also offered Windows and BB applications as well, but I wasn’t interested in those.

I’ve not looked at any other platforms other than mobile, as the intention is to look at mobile solutions I’ve also not considered pure storage type of services (for backup purposes only) as my needs are primarily to be able to store photos and HD video to an online service that I can access through an Android or iOS app over several devices.

While all these services did offer something for free, I really wanted TRUE unlimited space and well, there isn’t anything out there — at least nothing I was able to find. So that’s when I started looking at GPL solutions that I could implement onto one of my own domains. The one I found most promoted and talked about was something called ownCloud.

Some of the information that follows is taken directly from ownCloud.org, I’ve added my own emphasis in certain places to stress things that were important to me:

ownCloud started with a keynote by Frank Karlitschek at Camp KDE’10 where he talked about the need of a self-controlled free and open source cloud. It is part of KDE’s, a project connecting you with your peers in the community. The Social Desktop aims to bring the power of online communities and group collaboration to desktop applications. What’s more, the Social Desktop integrates sharing and exchanging knowledge into your apps.

They don’t currently have a version of the client for Android, but one is in the works – you can find a beta version at http://gitorious.org/owncloud/android. However there is a WebDAV client available for Android, iOS and BB available at http://seanashton.net/webdav/.

I have only started to work with ownCloud and hope to get some time to install it in the next few weeks on one of my domains. Once I’ve had a chance to install it, use it on my iOS and Android devices I will provide an update.

Setting up ownCloud will require some technical skills, it’s not as easy as installing WordPress - however if you’re inclined to try it yourself you can learn more about ownCloud by visiting their site at http://www.ownCloud.org.  To learn more about what ownCloud can to today visit http://owncloudtest.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-you-can-do-with-owncoud-today.html.  Development is ongoing, here is the latest post of recent enhancements and additions to the application http://owncloudtest.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-in-owncloud-overview.html.

A whole bunch of goodness has been added to ownCloud – check the blog post http://owncloudtest.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-in-owncloud-overview.html for more details:

• Contact syncing
• Tomahwak media player
• Bookmarks
• Sharing
• Interface improvements

I’m really looking forward to installing ownCloud and working with it on my Andriod and iOS devices.

If you’ve installed ownCloud and are working with it, I’d love to hear from you – what challenges did you have when setting this up?  Is it meeting your expectations?  What should someone be aware of when installing ownCloud?

Ready For Retirement?

Most people that read this blog are not yet ready to retire – but what are you doing for your retirement?  Are you counting on your employer (not even government employees can count on their employer any longer – even employees in large [automotive/finance - insert industry here] corporations learned the hardway that everything is fair game when you’re having to restructure.

Are you counting on the government to help?  In Canada there are many safety nets, but it’s often a difficult landscape to manouver and there is a lot of paperwork to sift through.

An interesting article on CNN today from a US based perspective on Social Security – have a read at http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/20/opinion/granderson-social-security/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

What are YOUR retirement plans?  Who are you counting on?  Wife, kids, government, LOTTERY – don’t laugh, many are.  Love to hear your thoughts.

World Without Oil

A week or two ago, as I was channel surfing I watched an excellent program on TV called “A World Without Oil” – it was pretty scary but a very realistic view of how the world would change if there were no more oil.

Part of the show that struck me the most was how city living would be altered, and migrations.

I remember through high-school Social Studies classes we learned about how when the first trains started rolling in the US and Canada most towns started to spring up around them as this was the main commerce routes.  As technology advanced (and we didn’t like living near noisy trains) and other means of moving people and goods became available we moved away the tracks and built cities farther away.  On the program as the oil dried up and was reserved for moving goods (in particular food) people started moving back towards the primary routes of commerce (and food) which were — trains.

The second thing that struck me was the mass migrations of people from northern climates to warmer areas of the continent.  This brings back memories of studying how the “cavemen” migrated from one part of the continent to another to escape the cold.

In a world without oil, everyday life would be greatly affected, from food production to space industries to being able to keep a satellite in space or even replacing aging satellites.  Think of international travel – it would come to an end.

If you haven’t seen this show, you should visit National Geographic at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/aftermath/4462/Overview.  I would highly recomment you watch the program if you get the opportunity.  It is really an eye opener.

There are several shows in their Aftermath series:

• Population Zero
• Swallowed By The Sun
• World Without Oil
• Population Overload
• When The Earth Stops Spinning

Click on the EPISODES drop-down to see all the episodes in this series.  I’ve seen Population Zero and it’s great!

« Previous Page — Next Page »