It’s all in the cloud

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Having been a Dropbox user for sometime, I started evaluating the other options from competing providers yesterday.

  1. Ubuntu 1
  2. Google
  3. Microsoft
  4. Apple

Prices seem all over the place at the moment, as do service standards. Free.

The best free service in terms of space vs. pricing is Microsoft. If you have an account with Microsoft already, you can claim 25GB and go from there. However, there is currently an upper limit, and IT ONLY WORKS ON Windows 7! So if you are like me in anyway, and still managing half a dozen xp systems… well, look elsewhere! But it easily the most affordable at $25 pa for 75GB! That’s less than $2.10 per month! Affordable, limited and only on Win7+.

Google offers the biggest spaces of all the services, though prices are noticeably sharper than Microsoft. But the idea of the service is pretty good, if you DON’T use Google Docs. If you do, then all your Google Docs are available in a rather silly Google Doc format. You can download them in your chosen format, but then you can’t edit them In Google Docs, either. So integration between Docs/Drive and your PC is poor. Notch one point to Microsoft on that! Large space, broader support, and funky formats.

Apple is similar to Microsoft, in that if you use XP, you’re pretty much out of luck. It’s also the most expensive of the four I’m looking at, and if you’re not part of the Apple-verse, it’s rather pointless. The only plus is the iTunes Match service that I can see. I don’t think at the moment, Apple have much chance to become the CLOUD. And they’re flipflops on mobile-me aren’t very encouraging at all. Limited, expensive, but visually attractive.

Ubuntu One is a very interesting alternative to the big three: it’s already multi-platform – 2 OSes at least, as 2 mobile platforms (all the big ones). It seems to be everything Icloud isn’t: supported on many platforms, affordable, and there are options for music streaming, too. I have installed this (along with the others (except Apple, which I removed) but haven’t tested it much yet. The only odd thing is that there are two (two APPS!) in the iTunes store… Weird. Multi-platform, affordable, but unproven.

So I guess that leaves me Dropbox. It’s still more expensive than some of the others, but it’s already available, the technology is already tested, mature and stable. It’s available on multiple platforms (PC and mobi), and Web. You can’t view documents in Dropbox as such, so it’s not a competitor to either Microsoft or Google in that sense (wonder why Google didn’t buy them!). Overall, reliable, affordable (almost), but gets expensive quickly.

So which one are you going to try?

Needing someone to manage YOUR online reputation these days?

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After giving Reputation.com a thorough look-through, I was quite impressed by what the site offers. Although I personally am not in need of the services, at least not yet, I believe that what this site provides is essential for a person promoting themselves as a novelist, businessperson, dentist, or any professional who relies on the www for their business.

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The site has a truly unique approach that let’s customers choose a plan according to their needs and budget. The products offered have won awards, and the site itself is run by a prestigious and qualified staff in the field. When I first arrived to the site, I was greeted by immediately eye-catching graphics and words. I enjoyed that I knew what I was getting into the moment I clicked on the site’s link.

Product Offerings x3

The goal of Reputation.com is to help individuals to maintain and protect their online presence, which is something that is much more possible online than offline. The site offers a selection of products that come for an annual fee.

The site offers a product called “Reputation defender” whose chief features are the ability to fix results on Google, hide undesirable links, and make you visible online. This service seems like a great deal, because we all know how unforgivable the internet is.

Another product, “my reputation,” seems to act as more of a monitoring service than a fixing one. This seems like a good service especially for people who are just starting their business or online presence.

The third product, “my privacy,” seems like a good service for anyone, even if they aren’t working on an online presence. People would be surprised at the amount of their personal information can be learned from a quick Google search. This tool can help you decide what you want people to see.

Payment Options

I personally think that it might be better to have monthly payment options too. I didn’t see an option for a trial period, but that could be helpful too. Despite this, I believe there are plenty of people out there who would be willing to invest in these services right away. The nice thing is that customers can choose from a simpler or plan or a more advanced plan to fit their budget.

Site Overview: Staff, Styling, Signs

From reading the management page, it appears that your business would be in good hands with Reputation.com. They offer a large, experienced staff who are qualified and dedicated to helping your reputation.

I found the site to be professional, stylish, and easily navigable. It was easy to find the information I was looking for, and it is all arranged neatly. It was a breath of fresh air seeing a site with great information as well as a great design.

One thing that I would take out is the little pop up window that keeps coming up asking you to register. I realize that this is pretty common with these types of websites, but I still think that people who have interest will register of their own free will.

And in the end

Overall, the site was a great experience that offers a unique and useful product. I would definitely recommend checking out this website to anyone interested in buying reputation management services, whether for personal branding, professional or business-related reputational management.

Cyber Security – Be Vigilant, Be Smart… Stay Safe on the Net

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Cyber security is increasingly something that worries me: And on a variety of levels.

Why? Simply, viruses can be gotten easy on most PCs these days (Macs, too!), and many kinds of malware can infect PCs. I reckon that’s important to:

It used to be that the main vector for contracting viruses/malware was via attachments, but if you use Google or any other webmail, you can pretty much nix that vector by NOT downloading attachments to your PC.

So now things have shifted: Drive-by Downloads seem increasingly common esp. on unpatched computer systems; malware hides in regular software, and IM (SPIM) in your messenger services all are increasingly common. Also, you may find that you get caught out by Spook (Facebook Spam). As cyber security improves, you can bet your bottom dollar that thieves, criminals, and spies will try anything new to rob us of our cash, our data, and even our identity.