Enterprise File Fabric™
The latest version of the Firefox plug-in (0.39) for SMEStorage can be found here. It uses the new uploader API and works much better for large files. If you have chosen to use your own Amazon S3 keys or our platform or Gmail as your storage cloud you can use the Firefox plug-in to batch upload/download files, as well as share files or send to business groups that you have formed.
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We’ve released another update to our API manual. This incorporates the new uploader API changes, email backup, and our an API for our forthcoming Fax integration.
This API is what we use to design the tools and add on’s you use, from the iPhone Web Application to the Windows File Explorer and Microsoft and Open Office Add-In’s.
You don’t need to worry about any provider we support, this API sits on top of that. Right now the two storage cloud providers we support are Amazon S3 and Google GMail, although we will be announcing several more soon. This API provides a real file system on top of these providers as well as offering all sorts of functionality such as sharing files, making files public etc.
by In the recent batch of changes we also snuck in an Amazon / Import export for all accounts. This means that if you have a SMEStorage Account and you want to import your files to your own Amazon then you can. Alternatively if you want export your own Amazon S3 Account files to SMEStorage you can.
And of course you can do combinations that involve AOL XDrive and GMail now also.
by The SMEStorage platform now supports Google Mail for Cloud Storage. What does this mean ? It means that when you establish a Google email account and pair it with SMEStorage you can use the Google email account for file storage and data access via the SMEStorage platform.
All files stored will be able to be used with the SMEStorage Windows File Manager, iPhone, iGoogle, Facebook etc, and can be integrated with Microsoft Office, Open Office, Zoho Office, iPaper, and Picnik for imaging editing etc.
As we provide a consolidation layer and API on top of cloud storage platform, this means you can do some really cool stuff like import your Amazon S3 files to Google, or export your Google emails and files to Amazon S3. As we also support AOL XDrive, you can also import your AOL XDrive files to Google.
Here is how to start:
1. First Establish a Google Account
2. Next Register for a new SMEStorage Account. Make sure that your register for the GMail package. Once you have validated your account, login and enter your Google details. If you have existing emails and file attachments in your account these will be imported. It can be a good idea to start a separate Google Email account for your stored files if you want to use Google email as your cloud storage
3. Next Enter your Google Details.
These details will be checked and then you will have the option to save the details. If you choose to save them they will be encrypted and saved. If you choose not to save them you will have to enter them every time you access your SMEStorage account.
Once you click continue you may have to wait a while if you have a lot of files / email as SMEStorage syncs with GMail. If this is a new GMail account you have just created then this step will be quick.
That’s it ! You can now upload files to Gmail via SMEStorage. All your files will be stored in GMail and accessible also via the GMail platform.
by Well, SMEStorage Explorer is finally released. It is a windows explorer for SMEStorage.com that allows you to upload and download your files to any of the storage platforms we support, which include Amazon S3. If you take part in our OpenS3 programme you can use your Amazon S3 keys and take advantage of using the tool to upload / download files, share files, and collaborate with business groups.
When you install SMEStorage Explorer, if you have Microsoft Office and/or OpenOffice installed you will get another toolbar that allows you to open and save files to the SMEStorage cloud, which again includes Amazon S3. Pretty nice we think. This was built using the SMEStorage REST API.
by If you are like me you have several email accounts, some free, some not, and many of these you probably have email accounts where you store email locally and others where you have email stored on the server side.
As always with any form of data it makes sense to backup, and where better to do this than to Amazon S3. SMEStorage allows you to backup any email account to Amazon S3 via SMEStorage, or if you subscribe to our OpenS3 beta service, using your own Amazon S3 Account.
Once you have your email backed up, if you need to, you can access email items through your iPhone or share items through Facebook, or just so know you have it all backed up….just in case 😉
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We recently announced that we had launched our OpenS3 beta. The purpose of OpenS3 is to allow any Amazon S3 user to be able to access the SMEStorage platform and take advantage of all the channels and features we have. This means if you would like to have access to your Amazon S3 files via your iPhone for example you now can. If you want to share your Amazon S3 files or use them on Facebook you can , and much more.
After you have registered for the beta, using OpenS3 is simple. You merely enter your Amazon S3 keys (and choose to store them on our servers or not. If not you will need to enter them each time you access your account) and then we import the metadata from you S3 file to the SMEStorage platform. We don’t move the files themselves or change them in anyway. This means you can still access them from any other S3 tool that you choose.
Once you have synchronised you can then choose to change your filenames and store the files in a proper directory structure. Again this will not change the core S3 files. We overlay a proper directory structure on top of S3.
Once you have completed this process you can use the rich SMEStorage filemanager to access all the additional functionality that we provide over and above Amazon S3 such as being able to back up any email account to S3, easy file sharing, unique url for each file, Public files, Business Groups, Faxing, and integration with Flickr, PicniK, Zoho etc.
by A new file uploader for the SMEStorage site has been implemented. There is a graphical upload bar with real-time uploading stats for the files. It should also be quicker – enjoy !
by SMEStorage is now integrated with ScribD using their iPaper API which allow PDF’s to be viewed inline within the browser from SMEStorage without having to download them to view them. This compliments existing integration within the SMEStorage platform that allows users to view and edit Microsoft Office documents and view and edit graphic files.
by It’s now possible to import your AOL xDrive files to the SMEStorage platform. Once you have logged in, just look for the “AOL xDrive import” link. Now, despite the announcement from AOL that xDrive is to close down, xDrive users have an easy option to migrate their files.
by Business Groups are one of the collaboration of SMEStorage. The basic premise is that you can create a Group and invite users to it. This is very easy to do as you can see from our previous post on groups. Anything that you then share with the Group will be shared with all members of the group. Group members will receive an automated email message letting them know that a new file has been shared with them. Members can also receive Twitter messages when a file is shared with them if they have chosen to enter their Twitter details in their SMEStorage user preferences. You can also choose to allow other users to share files with your business group.
So what are groups useful for ? Well we polled some of our users to see what they were using them for and we found some interesting uses. One of our users is using Groups as a way to keep his sales partners updated with corporate product collateral and technical documentation. He has formed what he calls a “content sharing network”.
Another of our users is in a band and after doing some live recording he tweaks the results in Garage Band and shares them with his bandmates.
Many others are using the Business Groups to keep in touch with family by sharing photos and files
Quite an innovative and bandwidth friendly use is that users are using Business Groups to share jokes etc. Normally friends have a user list in which they send the same joke, which can include a video and picture, to all their friends. Using Business Groups they just do an upload and all their friends get notified.
We’ve had quite a few feature requests for Business Groups and we will consider adding some of the more common ones, such as allowing the option to make business group members private. Watch this space for the rest !
by The porting of SMEStorage as a native IPhone application is almost complete. We are now waiting for approval from Apple to allow us to post it for free on the Apple App Store. SMEStorage for App Store includes the following features:
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