In an effort to improve the site’s reliability and to ensure a stable service over the long term, we’ll be instituting a change in the download limit for free users. As of August 1st, all free accounts will be allotted 10 GB of downloads every month. This change will only effect roughly 0.2% of all free users, and those users who are above this limit can upgrade to DivShare Personal, our budget priced premium plan. DivShare Personal includes 50 GB of monthly downloads, a completely ad-free site for you and anyone who downloads your files, and download speeds up to 10X faster than that of our free plan. Members can upgrade to this plan for just $1 a month by heading over to the Upgrade page. For the small percentage of free users that are currently above this limit, your files will stay online but will be unavailable for download until your download limit resets. To find out when your downloads reset, simply head over to the My Account page.

The vast majority of users will be unaffected by this change, while all users will notice an improvement in reliability and speed - both top priorities for us going forward. As always, feel free to drop us an email with any questions, and have a great day!

Our Facebook application allows you to integrate your DivShare account into Facebook and to easily share files with your friends and co-workers. Our goal when creating this app was to add something useful to Facebook amid a sea of other applications that, while entertaining, didn’t offer much in the way of productivity. PC Mag recently counted down the 9 best Facebook apps with DivShare receiving the honor of “the most useful app”.

Share music, videos, homework assignments, or whatever else—all through Facebook. Trade documents at work through DivShare—and when your boss catches you using Facebook, you can point out how productive you’re being.

Previously, ZDNet called DivShare one of the best Facebook apps for business and Lifehacker included it on their most productive apps list. If you haven’t already, you can add our application by heading over to our home on Facebook.

Have an idea for improving our application on Facebook or for another app? Shoot us an email and we’ll check it out!

You may have noticed the site evolving over the past couple months. We’ve thrown up a new front page, expanded the width and cleaned up download pages, and now we’re introducing the third evolution of the member dashboard.

In addition to a new layout and design, we’ve also added new functionality based on user feedback we’ve received over the past year. It’s now easier to move files in and out of folders - select the files you want to move, click the move link, then just click the folder you’d like to move it to, or for those of you with a lot of folders, you can find a folder fast by searching for the folder name. We’ve also added the ability to create sub-folders, one of our most requested features. This has been on our development list for awhile and we’re finally integrating it into the new dash. Just like you would on your desktop, you can create a new folder under any other folder, or in your root “all files” directory in a click.

Another highly requested feature is the ability to organize the order of tracks in a playlist or photos in a slideshow. You can now organize both of those, as well as any folder! While in organize mode, simply drag the file you wish to any order in the folder, and that’s the order it will appear in on the download/streaming page.

You’ll also notice new sharing options for linking to your folders and slideshows. You can now link directly to any folder page, which lists all the files in that folder, but doesn’t display any particular file like it did previously when you linked to a file in a folder. The sharing link for folders looks like www.divshare.com/folder/123-abc and can be found under sharing options. Similarly, you can link directly to slideshows by using the “gallery” sharing link.

Finally, as a thank you to all our members, we’re running a promotion this week for 20% off premium plans for all current members. Remove all advertising from the site and download faster for under $1 a month, or brand your Flash video, audio and slideshow players and increase your storage with DivShare Professional. Current users can take advantage of this deal and upgrade by visiting the upgrade page.

We welcome your feedback and questions - simply drop us a line at support@divshare.com. Look forward to more updates and blog posts soon, and have a great day!

Dear DivShare members,

Late last night we were alerted of a security breach that allowed a malicious user to access our database, which included user e-mail addresses and other basic profile information. No financial information has been accessed by any unauthorized parties. We have taken extreme measures to secure the site in the last 12 hours and are currently in the process of rolling out new security precautions, which is why many files are currently unavailable. We apologize for this inconvenience and for the oversights that allowed this security breach to take place. We take the security of all data and files very seriously and are embarrassed and regretful that an intrusion was allowed to take place on our watch.

Please rest assured that no financial information whatsoever has been compromised. While we are not aware of what data has actually been accessed or copied, the database included user e-mail addresses and other data you may have saved to your profile, such as your first name. We are not aware of any files being accessed without permission, but we recommend that you change your account password and the passwords on any private folders as a security precaution.

We can’t apologize enough for allowing this breach to take place. We know how important security is for all our members and their files, and we are taking every precaution available to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We ask for your patience as we bring all your files back online under the new security system in the coming hours, and we pledge to keep your files and user information under the tightest security possible from here on out.

Please don’t hesitate to contact support with any questions or concerns. Yours,

The DivShare Team

Update,  8:30 PM ET: All files are now back online. We apologize for the extended downtime and the inconvenience caused by this security breach. Thanks again for being a part of the site, and please get in touch with us if you have any questions.

Thanks for using DivShare. We are currently rolling out new security settings, and unfortunately this process will disable access to most files for several hours this afternoon. We apologize for the inconvenience, and will have the site back up and running as soon as possible.

Today we’re proud to announce some great news — DivShare has been nominated for this year’s Webware 100 by the editors at CNET’s Webware.com. To make it from nominee to winner, we need your help. Voting is now live, and you’ll get three votes in each category — ours is “Utility & Security.” So, show your support with a vote and help us make it big. Thanks for being a part of DivShare!

• Vote for us in the Webware 100

This week we’ll be rolling out a lot of new upgrades to our user interface and tech support system. For starters, we’ve redesigned the “share this file” dialog that you see on your dashboard and download pages. The sharing options for each file will now pop up in a sleek new dialog box, and you’ll easily be able to copy the appropriate code snippet for use on your own site. Here’s an example:

Try it out for yourself on any download page and on your dash. The second upgrade we’re announcing today is a new Frequently Asked Questions page, which now covers much more about Flash players, storage and bandwidth tracking and a number of other general questions. Tomorrow we’ll also be launching our new support ticket system, which will further improve customer support for users who run into site errors. And we’ve got plenty more on the agenda this week, including more dashboard upgrades and a new release of our popular Wordpress plugin. Enjoy!

We’ve rolled out a new feature today that makes downloads up to 333% faster for our premium members. From here on out, premium files can be downloaded at speeds up to 1000 KB/s, which will make for much faster video streaming and a better overall DivShare experience. For free members, the max download speed will stay at our existing level of 300 KB/s.

Your speeds will vary based on your Internet connection, but the upgrades should provide much faster access to premium files all around. If you’re not already a premium member, upgrade today and get your first 14 days free. Enjoy!

Today we have an announcement that will affect many of our users in China and Southeast Asia, as well as users whose files receive traffic from this part of the world. As of Tuesday, February 12, files hosted in free DivShare accounts will no longer be accessible to visitors in this region. Premium users will not be affected the by this change, and current users in this region will always be able to access their own files. No files will be deleted.

The affected countries are: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Mongolia.

Downloaders: If you are in these countries, you will be able to download any file from any uploader if you have a premium account.

Existing Free Members: Starting Feb. 12, files in free accounts will not be accessible from the above countries unless the downloader has a premium account. If you live in one of these countries and are already a member, you will still have access to the files in your free account. All visitors from other countries will still have access to your files. If you would like to continue to serve downloads to China and Southeast Asia, an upgrade will allow you to do so.

Upgrading: We have created a new premium account, DivShare Basic, for members in the above countries. The Basic plan includes 5 GB of storage and 50 GB of downloads per month for just $3.95 per month. Current free members in China and Southeast Asia will be able to switch to Basic premium plans and continue to serve files to visitors anywhere in the world. New members from this region will only have the option to sign up for Basic or one of the other premium plans.

Why the change? Our free accounts are supported by advertising, and unfortunately the online advertising market in China and Southeast Asia is much weaker than in other parts of the world. We’re still proud to offer our storage and sharing services to users in this region, but we ask that they join us as premium rather than ad-supported members.

If you have any questions or are interested in a custom premium account, let us know. Thanks for being a part of DivShare!

As we announced on Friday, we’re rolling out new premium accounts that provide members with big storage and data transfer upgrades over the free plan. And to show our appreciation to all our members, all premium upgrades now include a free trial period. Here’s how it works:

• All current users will receive their first month free with any upgrade
• New members will receive two free weeks with any premium subscription

We’re also providing custom plans for users who need a lot of storage but not a lot of bandwidth (or vice versa). Drop our Enterprise department a line for info. Enjoy the free trials!