Most Useless 25GB Online Storage Gets Useful

Cloud is the key word on the Internet these days. Everyone gets excited about Google, Amazon and Apple for what they give you for quite small amounts of money. However there is something smaller – free. Who gives Cloud for free? Well Microsoft does, as they offer 25GB of storage with SkyDrive. So why are we not raving about it? Well because it is stuck behind the most appalling UI you have ever seen and only has limited integration with Live Mesh to allow only up to 5GB to be used by that service, leavin 20GB completely unused.

However news come about an update…

Microsoft tells me that the June 2011 update for SkyDrive will go live on Monday, June 20, so it should be available by the time you read this or soon will be. Reviewers were not given early access to the service, so I was only able to watch a live remote demo at the time of this writing. But as one of the few people who actually uses SkyDrive pretty extensively, Im excited by what Ive seen and by whats been implied for future improvements. SkyDrive has always been more promise than reality, but this update is going to go a long ways towards fixing that. I cant wait to see whats next.

via SkyDrive June 2011 Update.

This update seems to be giving us a way better UI, that looks like it will make it useful to actually sign up for the service. So remember one thing… you can use any email address as a Passport (such an old word) for accessing SkyDrive. Whatever you do, I do not recommend that Cross scripting hack hell that is Hotmail particularly as a logon for SkyDrive.

Can’t wait to try the new SkyDrive Out.

Laptop Security

Try thinking of your notebook or mini-note not as a computer but as a pile of cash. Would you leave $800 lying around on a library table or the front seat of your car? How about $300? Chances are you wouldn’t, and that’s because we instinctively realize that’s tantamount to inviting unscrupulous types to help themselves.

Mobile PC Security Tips: Part I

This article offers some straightforward security tips, but the best one is unsaid.

Make it so you do not care whether your laptop is stolen. Take the normal physical security precautions, but make best use of the Cloud to ensure that if the laptop is lost or destroyed, that you do not lose any data. This is done via file sync systems such as Mesh, Live Sync or others, or by using Gladinet to give folder level access to online storage mechanisms like Google Docs, Amazon S3, or Skydrive. What about security of the data – well make sure you use full disk encyption for the laptop so nothing on the disk is recoverable without the password.

And then we come to the cost… well use low cost laptops or netbooks at less than €400/£400 or much less, so the biggest cost is actually the installation of a new machine.

These are what I can recommend, think about it.

Online/Small Business Leave Management

Whos Off Leave

This sounds like a diversion from the main point of this blog but it really is not. If you are a small business owner or a consultant/contractor who needs to manage a number of other people then you can be left out in the cold in terms of managing sickness and leave. What I have used in the past and do recommend is the service provided by Whosoff. Whosoff provides a basic free service that gives you a basic workflow for managing the time off that the people you work with do have/need. The major advantage of the system is that this is web and email based, available to all, with a good selection of resources for managing leave entitlement.

It does not have full Outlook or iCal integration but that just has to be a matter of time.

Obviously you do need to ensure that you handle the Dataprotection issues that apply, but this is a very effective system.