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By Jason / Feb 22, 2010
divShare–your file sharing and storage site–has been hard at work bringing you the best product in the industry. We’ve created useful new features, made inovative improvements, and are taking great strides torward creating the first anb best cloud computing platform for consumers.
Here are just a few of the upgrades and new features over the past year:
Drag-and-drop uploader
The drag-and-drop uploader has been a favorite of our users, we’ve gotten tons of great feedback from our users on how simple this makes uploading your files. If you haven’t tried it out yet, make sure you take it for a spin!
Increased Speed
divShare has increased both download and upload speeds for all users. Free account users should see a 2x increase in speed, and premium account owners will have an even better experience.
Video player skins
Many of our customers like using personalized skins for the embedded video player on their sites, either to better blend into their site’s branding, or to visually enhance the content in the videos being played. Be creative with both your videos and the player itself!
Facebook connect
We wanted to make divShare even easier to use, so we took advantage of Facebook’s APIs, and plugged in using Facebook connect. Sign in to divShare at the same time you’re signing in to your FaceBook account, and vice-versa!
Facebook Privacy
divShare was the first service to enable the private sharing of content to your Facebook friends. divShare allows you to share one of your divShare files or folders to some people on Facebook, without exposing it to everyone you know! Your new family photos are for the in-laws, not your office mates, afterall.
New Data Center
divShare has operated a top-notch data center for several years. But as we topped 1.5 million active users (we’re at 1.8 million as of this writing) we knew expansion was necessary. We expanded into a new data center, providing geographical redundancy, upgraded hardware, and better overall performance.
divShare was originally built as a file-sharing and backup solution, but it is rapidly evolving into much more. It is at the very heart of an industry-changing cloud computing platform for consumers–and current divShare customers will be the first in the world with the opportunity to see it… stay tuned!
Posted in Design, Development, Site News | No Comments »
By Jason / Jan 27, 2010
Does the introduction of the iPad by Apple have any relevance to divShare users specifically, and the cloud computing community as a whole? Yes! And here’s how…
On the content side, they are of course trying to do to ebooks what they did to music with the iPod–namely change the game and change pricing. Jason D O’Grady at ZDNet chatted about this saying:
“In the days following the iPad announcement, print publishers have begun bailing from Amazon in droves.”
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=5962
As content becomes easier to access, cheaper, and the content developers gain more control it will be essential for a system in the cloud to hold all of this for both the business user and the consumer. And shouldn’t it be portable and work across devices??? Obviously, but someone has to create a system that will both enable this and be financially feasible, otherwise walled garden environments will continue.
On the connection speed side, the iPad is more or less an iPhone/iPod 3G as far as we can tell, and that’s great! Built in wifi is necessary, but the ability to add your own SIM card provides flexibility. A new device that makes it easy to use applications, information, and data is a beautiful thing to cloud enthusiasts. And if the iPhone’s impact on the handset industry is any indication, we’ll hopefully see competitors trying to do this one better (fingers crossed)!
And what I love, is that this will open the Internet (and for us both divShare and the cloud) to a whole new set of users: people who hate technology! Take a look at the Tech Crunch article “Why My Mom’s Next Computer Is Going To Be An iPad”:
“The iPad is a computer for people who don’t like computers. People who don’t like the idea of upgrading their 3D drivers, or adjusting their screen resolution, or installing new memory.”
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/31/ipad-moms-next-computer/
While the two big stories about the iPad have been 1) the device could kill the Amazon Kindle, and 2) the device could save the newspaper and magazine industry, the divShare team sees it a bit differently. Another device connected via the internet to multiple sources of content–including the subscribers personal content–is a wonderful thing, while at the same time an added layer of complexity to his or her life.
Posted in The Cloud | No Comments »
By Dave Saunders / Dec 27, 2009
 From the “huh, that’s kind of odd” category, Twitter has hard-coded 370 passwords that you may not use.
To check it out, simply visit the sign up page, view source and look for the source code that starts out like this…
<script type="text/javascript">
//< Today in 1901, the first Nobel Prize was awarded. Alfred Nobel set the prize into motion using his fortune largely earned from his invention of dynamite.
Amazingly enough dynamite was actually a safety improvement over highly volatile nitroglycerine which was under heavy use at the time. Dynamite could be used for the many earthworks efforts of the time, not only in mining but also in clearing away stubborn mountains that stood in the way of a railroad’s intended route.
On the other hand, the convenient nature of dynamite also expanded its use in killing large groups of people in a single effort and was viewed by many as one of the first (arguably) true weapons of mass destruction.
Before his death, a paper accidentally carried his obituary which basically remembered him as a modern harbinger of death due to his horrific creation.
Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant of death is dead")
it went on to say, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”
Not wanting this to be his legacy, the Nobel Prize was essentially his effort to "rebrand" himself and on 27 November 1895, Nobel signed his last will and testament, setting aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes.
Did it work?
Before reading this, were you aware of Nobel’s original notoriety?
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
By Dave Saunders / Nov 26, 2009
 In spite of the tradeoffs, I’m thankful for the water we have available to us from coast to coast. Yeah, I know it’s got chlorine in it. I’m not a fan of drinking water directly from the tap. I don’t want that chlorine in my body. I’d also rather not breathe it into my lungs in the shower.
Some people say “the poison is in the dosage,” but I consider that an idiot’s mantra. Let’s see one of those people volunteer for a daily dosage of arsenic, lead, mercury, uranium or wood grain alcohol.
Chlorine is easy to filter out though so kudos to the people who work their buts off at the water treatment plants around the US to give us water that doesn’t contain weird forms of life that make us sick.
You may think your municipal water doesn’t always taste the best and if you don’t filter out the chlorine, you’re a dummy, but millions of people around the globe wish they had water half as good as what we take for granted.
Water that doesn’t deliver bacterial infections, parasites and other diseases should not be a luxury.
Clean water should be the norm.
Unfortunately, it isn’t the norm around the globe. Water should be a source of life. Instead it’s one of the greatest sources of sickness and disease.
Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water.
A BILLION!
That’s one in eight of us.
If you’ve ever had Giardiasis (AKA, Beaver Fever), or any other water-borne pathogen in your gut, you know what it’s like to be more focused on clenching your stomach while holding in the pending gastrointestinal tsunami and fighting to keep yourself hydrated at the other end.
It sucks.
Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick.
What would you life be like if you had to subtract 3 hours from every day, just to get your water?
Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.
Take some time today and give to CharityWater.org and give others something to be thankful for.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
By Dave Saunders / Nov 26, 2009
 In spite of the tradeoffs, I’m thankful for the water we have available to us from coast to coast. Yeah, I know it’s got chlorine in it. I’m not a fan of drinking water directly from the tap. I don’t want that chlorine in my body. I’d also rather not breathe it into my lungs in the shower.
Some people say “the poison is in the dosage,” but I consider that an idiot’s mantra. Let’s see one of those people volunteer for a daily dosage of arsenic, lead, mercury, uranium or wood grain alcohol.
Chlorine is easy to filter out though so kudos to the people who work their buts off at the water treatment plants around the US to give us water that doesn’t contain weird forms of life that make us sick.
You may think your municipal water doesn’t always taste the best and if you don’t filter out the chlorine, you’re a dummy, but millions of people around the globe wish they had water half as good as what we take for granted.
Water that doesn’t deliver bacterial infections, parasites and other diseases should not be a luxury.
Clean water should be the norm.
Unfortunately, it isn’t the norm around the globe. Water should be a source of life. Instead it’s one of the greatest sources of sickness and disease.
Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water.
A BILLION!
That’s one in eight of us.
If you’ve ever had Giardiasis (AKA, Beaver Fever), or any other water-borne pathogen in your gut, you know what it’s like to be more focused on clenching your stomach while holding in the pending gastrointestinal tsunami and fighting to keep yourself hydrated at the other end.
It sucks.
Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick.
What would you life be like if you had to subtract 3 hours from every day, just to get your water?
Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.
Take some time today and give to CharityWater.org and give others something to be thankful for.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
By Jason / Oct 9, 2009
Straight from the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment conference in San Diego, CA
First things first–is there anyone who comes to San Diego at any time of year and doesn’t think, “man, I could totally live here”? Of course not. I’m even originally from Southern California, and I’m still always amazed at just how perfect it is here… then add a few fish tacos and life is muy bien!
The fall CTIA show(http://daily.ctia.org/wirelessit09/) is more focused of the 2 North American wireless conferences, and always the smaller. 2009 is no exception–even smaller than usual I’d say, both because of the general economy and the recent consolidation in the mobile industry. However, the concentration of people doing serious business here is palpable, and none of the time wasters look to have bothered to make the trip. This is serious business, and the industry is moving fast.
Android is everywhere. While Apple seems to shun the wireless events (we’ll see if they keep that up come the fall showin Vegas) Google is everywhere, though mostly via other companies. Motorola has gone “all in” on the Android platform, and their developer conference held at the Hard Rock Hotel across the street from the conference center showcased how their new device line will be taking advantage of Android’s capabilities. Others were in play on Android too throughout the week. The other theme that was front and center was the app-store concept. Everyone wants one to be sure, but it’s not all rosy. Many are finding that there are TOO MANY apps on the iPhone app store now, and subscribers can’t find what they want anymore. Methods for better app stores are necessary and on the way.
From the divShare perspective, one of the very exciting aspects of the show was the growth in mobile cloud computing players. The cloud mobility story favored enterprise solutions (as I think cloud computing in general does at this time), but there is still chatter about how Apple and others plan to push hard in this direction during the coming years. Of course anyone who wants to claim a leadership position there still has a window to do so.
Here is a great article from Fierce Wireless about mobile+cloud.
Start to formulate a mobile strategy for your company if you aren’t already. The mobile device is going to be as important (if not more) than the PC soon, and almost as powerful.
Posted in The Cloud | No Comments »
By Dave Saunders / Aug 21, 2009
If you do any work researching keywords for your Internet Marketing needs, you’ve probably dealt with the concept of long-tail vs short-tail keywords.
The best example I can think of is based on “golf.” That’s a short-tail keyword. It’s just one word.
Google Golf and you’re going to find a lot of results. Each of these results contains the word Golf. For some reason, possibly mystical, one page has the #1 result. Many look upon this ranking with awe.
“How can I get top ranking for a single keyword?”
Now consider the phrase “buy Nike Golf shirts”. This is a long-tail phrase. Google this and you’ll get far fewer results than for golf, but is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Someone who types “golf” is probably at the beginning of the online research phase. These are tire kickers. They’re not likely to buy. A million clicks from this bunch might equal a few sales. It also equals server load and requires your website to bear the traffic. What is that traffic really worth?
On the other hand, less gross traffic from people searching for “buy Nike Golf shirts” seems like a high ROI effort to me.
Long-tail keyword ranking isn’t just about finding phrases that are easier to rank for than short ones, it’s about maximizing results.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
By Dave Saunders / Aug 14, 2009
A lot of energy goes into search engine optimization. Searching for the best keyword phrases. Comparing keyword density between your site and the next guy. Looking for the latest tricks for getting indexed quickly.
It’s a big cat and mouse game.
There’s a bigger consideration you should be making though.
What do you want someone to do when they find your stuff?
I’ve seen companies spend huge sums of money on website designs where the phone number is buried on a single contact page requiring three clicks to get to. Other people will do nothing but Tweet keyword phrases and links without ever providing the slightest thing of value to the reader.
So before you crack into something like WordTracker to dig up keywords with high traffic and low competition, take a minute to ask yourself some key questions.
- Who do you want to find you?
- What do you want them to do when they find you?
- Why do they want your stuff?
- Why should they believe you?
These may seem like simple questions, but few take the time to answer them. The current state of the economy is a reflection of that. Average people are doing what other average people are doing and getting average results. Unfortunately, average right now means they’re losing money.
SEO opens some amazing doors that have never existed before. Don’t ignore its value, but don’t forget that in the end, you’re still dealing with people. Just because Google points someone at you doesn’t mean they’re going to buy.
Posted in SEO | No Comments »
By Jason / Aug 12, 2009
Our team at divShare has lots of respect for what it takes to maintain a blog. After all, it’s not always easy for us and we know it’s not for our customers. One of the main challenges for bloggers is just continually providing interesting content, also known as “blog writer’s block.” Enter the trend of team blogging. Team blogging can shoulder some of the work load, as well as lend an interesting tone to a blog. An interesting example of this is Southwest Airline’s Nuts About Southwest. The use of about 30 bloggers who contribute quarterly not only offset workload, but brings more inspiration and different voices to the mix. Southwest’s customers and the community at large get a view into the company that is more personal and seen from many vantage points (pilots, flight attendants, or those who work at the corporate level). In the case of team blogging, it usually most manageable if the team has the ability to post their contributions directly. This approach probably won’t work for the larger corporation or an environment where it’s necessary to control content. But, for many team bloggers, it has really worked well.
Another approach to writer’s block on your blog, is to invite guest speakers. This can not only add a different flavor, but it can be helpful for search engine optimization by including names of your guest blogger that may have their own following. And most bloggers are interested in cross pollination, i.e., generating some traffic back to their own blogs as well.
Final thought, whether you are considering team blogging or guest bloggers, it will be important to know a bit about the contributors, their reputations, and their writing style to make sure it will indeed enhance your blog. Happy Blogging.
http://www.podtech.net/home/4586/team-blogging-tips-from-southwest-airlines
Posted in Blogging | No Comments »
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