Gladinet turns cloud data services into local virtual folders

With online services appearing regularly, how do you differentiate between them? Pricing is surely one way, but features and ease of use ought to play into the mix as well. Business Hacks points out Gladinet as a way to make several web services a little easier to use on a Windows machine.

This free utility turns cloud utilities and data into virtual local folders to make it look like everything is right there on your PC. It supports Windows Live SkyDrive, Google Docs, Zoho Docs, Amazon S3 storage, Picasa and more; each service is integrated nicely within Windows Explorer. Since the data is actually stored in the cloud, Gladinet offers an easy way to create a sharable URL to one of your "folders", but BHacks says that public folders aren't working for them. Since the application is still in beta, that's not too surprising but I hope that gets addressed quickly. Most of the other data storage services have the sharing features down pat.

Live Sync for Mac is back. What's with the remote access setting?

Yesterday, Microsoft launched Windows Live Sync, a new service that takes the place of the older FolderShare application that's been around for several years. While the cross-platform support of Live Sync is welcome, Mac owners saw immediate problems. A few hours after launching, it was apparent that the service wasn't ready for Mac OS X and the Live Sync team blogged an update last night that we shared:

"Hi Sync friends. We've found a problem that is causing sign-in to take longer than expected and in some cases causing sign-in to fail. We're actively working on fixing this problem and expect to have it fixed for most of our users very soon. We are sorry for the inconvenience. - The Sync Team"

A few hours ago, one of our readers noticed a more positive update. Terry Tigner noticed that the Sync Team posted the following message indicating that the issue was resolved:

"Hi Sync friends.Thank you for your patience while we investigated the sign-in issue. We have now fixed this issue and the service has now recovered. If you have the Mac client you should download the updated Mac client (http://sync.live.com/clientdownload.aspx) in order to connect. Thank you for your continued support."

I tried the old client just to see if it work but no such luck. Following the Live Sync team's instructions then, I grabbed a new version of the client and it's working perfectly fine. Good to see this get addressed quickly! One thing I've noticed in the settings but haven't had time to try just yet: remote access to devices. Live Sync is sounding more and more like Live Mesh, so I'm curious how it fits in to Microsoft's business and service model.

Mozilla includes multi-touch support in Firefox 3.1b2 for Macs

I've only had my new MacBook for two weeks or so and one of the most immediate disappointments was that the extremely useful multi-touch gestures I was initially using in Safari weren't working in Firefox. I was just about to install the awesome Multiclutch utility that James raves about, but I just found thanks to MacRumors that I don't need to after all. And actually this is fact, not rumor.

Ever since I posted about the availability of Firefox 3.1 beta 2 the other day, I've actually been running it as my full-time browser. It's wicked fast and definitely stable enough from where I sit... or stand, whichever the case may be. Now and again, I've been jumping around a web page for what I thought was no apparent reason, but now I see why. Mozilla included multi-touch support for the Mac version of Firefox 3.1 beta 2. Here I thought the browser was glitchy because every so often, in the blink of an eye, I'd be at the top of web page. Call it a big case of user error in the form of accidentally using multi-touch without realizing it! Here's a listing of the swiping support:

- 3 finger swipe Left: Go back in history (hold Cmd to open it in a tab)
- 3 finger swipe Right: Go forward in history
- 3 finger swipe Up: Go to the top of the page
- 3 finger swipe Down: Go to the end of the page
- Pinch Together: Zoom out
- Pinch Apart: Zoom in
- Twist Right: Next tab
- Twist Left: Previous tab

I've been twisting, turning, pinching and swiping away the day in my browser and I'm definitely moving around much faster than before. It also illustrates to me that if this same feature-set were on the screen of my notebook, I'd be slower. With the touch features on the trackpad near the keyboard, it's far faster and much less of a stretch for my fingers. I'm sitting here with a dozen tabs and doing nothing but "twisting" through them just for fun. It's like turning an invisible dial or knob... this is sure to freak out my father when I tell him that's what I'm doing, using the newest Apple innovation: an invisible dial on my notebook.

OneNote 2009 planner notebook available

We have long been fans of OneNote and how it is so flexible that you can do almost anything with it.  One thing that we often hear users wish for is a ready-to-use day planner for OneNote to make it as useful as those paper planners.  You can build one yourself but that requires an awful lot of work so it's great to see that user David has done it for you.  He's built an entire 2009 day planner in the form of a OneNote notebook and while it's a pretty big download (13.5 MB) we think you'll appreciate it.  Check it out and be sure and thank David!

Microsoft offers .docx to HTML Firefox extension

One of the most frustrating aspects of working in the cloud is when I get a .docx file from someone to read, review or edit. Up to now, I've used Zamzar to convert the .docx file to .doc since Google Docs doesn't yet support .docx imports. Digital Inspirations just came to the rescue with a second option that's specific to Firefox users in the cloud looking to simply read a .docx file.

The Open XML Document Viewer Firefox extension from Microsoft will open and translate any .docx file into HTML so you can view it in the proper format within your browser. Note that this is just a handy viewer in its first release; in the Spring of 2009, Microsoft is planning to bring support to Opera's browser as well.

Live Mesh upgrades for Mac, Mobile and Desktop

Good to see that the Live Mesh team is still working hard because I really want to see how Mesh plays out for Microsoft in 2009. I think it will have a bigger impact than most people expect. The team blog says that there's a Live Mesh Technical Preview update available for the Live Desktop, for Mac and for Mobile. If you have Live Mesh on your Mac, it might auto-update as I've seen that in the past, but I can't be sure as I just freshly installed the client on my new MacBook. The new Mac version is 0.9.3602.818 while the Mobile client gets revised to 0.9.3424.9. My suspicion is that Live Mesh for Mobile will require a manual update, but that's simply an educated guess. Perhaps a reader using Live Mesh on a handset can confirm or deny.

I don't see any visual changes upon quick perusal, but I really didn't expect to see many. The Live Mesh team says that the update includes:

• Server-side performace and reliability enhancements
• Minor usability improvements

The Live Mesh client for Windows will also be getting an update, but that's not planned until next week. Altough there are several great cloud or web synchronization services out there, I highly recommend you give Live Mesh a look. Like some of my other faves, it supports cross-platform synchronization (Windows and Mac) which is key for many mobile users. I also like the Live Desktop feature which is a virtual desktop with all of your data that can be accessed from any computer over the web.

Google Desktop for Windows gains Gmail gadget

Either my glasses need another cleaning or the lines keep blurring between cloud, desktop and browser. My latest bout with myopia comes from the new Gmail gadget supported on Google Desktop for Windows. All of the Gmail goodness is in there: message starring, keyboard shortcuts and contact auto-completion. There are plenty of Gmail gadgets for Microsoft Windows Vista, so this might be more appealing to Windows XP users.

Do we have any Google Desktop for Windows users out there? After a brief stint with Google Desktop, I uninstalled it as I was on a "lean and mean" kick and wanted to minimize system resources at the time.

Foxit adds more reasons to dump Adobe Reader on PCs

Those wily cats at Foxit Software are at it again according to Business Hacks: the free Foxit Reader for Windows hit version 3 and it offers more compelling reasons to dump Adobe Reader. Foxit is far lighter in terms of its footprint and required resources than Adobe's ubiquitous Reader application. For starters, Foxit Reader 3.0 is a 3.68MB installation package, while Adobe's latest Reader package is north of 20MB. If you're not careful, Adobe will default to an installation that includes Adobe AIR and that brings your install download up to 33.5MB. Of course, both product installs will expand since they're compressed, but having used each product on notebooks and netbooks with minimal memory, I can vouch for Foxit's "less is more" approach.

Fearing the cloud- services that go away

We talk about embracing the cloud a lot here, Kevin's long cloud journey was a popular one.  There are many good reasons for adopting a cloud computing philosophy and we won't go into those again here.  There are also some good reasons to fear the cloud and one of the reasons most often heard is that you give up control over your own stuff when you move to the cloud.  Rather than rehash that old argument because good cases can be made for both sides of it, a news item from our friends at WebWorkerDaily makes the case for us.

Two popular productivity services, I Want Sandy and Stikkit, both free and covered by WWD in the past, are shutting down for good on December 8.  Rael Dornfest, the genius behind both of these cloud services, has accepted a job at Twitter and will shut them down on December 8 due to the inability to continue providing them.  This is great news for Mr. Dornfest and I'm sure everyone wishes him all the best in his new job but it points out the exposure that users take on when they move either their data or the services they depend on to the cloud. 

Protecting your data that you move to the cloud is straightforward as almost all cloud services allow you to back up that data somewhere, somehow. But what happens when the cloud service or company you've adopted goes away unexpectedly?  Sure this case involves a one-man company offering free services but if you have trusted these services to run your business that's little consolation.  In this business climate even large companies can go away and therein lies the rub for those on the fence where moving to the cloud is concerned.  What happens to your business if your cloud apps or services go away suddenly?  How do you temper that exposure to protect your own interests?

Free Productive Magazine- packed with GTD tips

We're all about free stuff at jkOnTheRun, especially when the free item is something that can help make life and work better.  I have never been one of the Getting Things Done (GTD) ninjas but there are plenty of those out there who swear by the system.  A new digital magazine has been published that covers all things GTD and the premier issue is jam-packed with good articles about productivity boosters.  Productive Magazine is available for free in PDF format which is nice and green and you can find out all about it at the magazine web site.  Nice stuff, and the first issue is dedicated to the memory of Marc Orchant, one of the best GTD ninjas who ever lived.