Using Zotero with SME and WebDav

Zotero is a firefox plug-in that is an easy to use research tool that aids in gathering, organising, and analysing sources. You can choose to store documents, notes and screenshots that you take directly with Zotero or you can choose to use another WebDav resource.

Of course SMEStorage provides CloudDav, WebDav over any Cloud we support, even if the underlying Cloud does not support WebDav. If you enable CloudDav for your SMEStorage account you can use it with Zotero as follows:

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Mac Cloud Tools released !

We are really please to announce that we have released the first version of our Mac Cloud Tools.

The cloud tools encompass:

– A virtual Cloud Drive that works within Finder

– A Desktop to Cloud folder sync utility

– Cloud Files integrated into Spotlight indexing

Unlike other silo’d storage provider SMEStorage works as an abstraction layer above over 15 storage clouds and enables users to access and manage files from all the major storage vendors.

The Cloud Tools really bring the Cloud into the Mac desktop enabling users to witch storage cloud providers by simply changing directory, and editing files becomes as easy as double clicking on the file in question from within the Cloud Drive and saving when done. We’ve also integrated file actions into the Mac Finder on right click so that, amongst other things, you can easily get a URL of a file to share, or generate an email with a file link for example.

Our desktop to folder synchronisation tools makes it easy to keep files from different clouds in sync with different desktop folders. Just drop your files into the folder and the sync tool will pick up and ensure they end up on the relevant Cloud.

Lastly, we’ve integrated spotlight to work with all the Clouds mapped to a SMEStorage Account so that when Spotlight indexes the Cloud files are also searched

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How to make sure your Cloud data does not disappear overnight

If you you’ve been following the IT news recently you probably saw the issue that users recently had with GMail. If not you can read more about it here. Imagine one morning firing up your Android phone or laptop and finding your data was gone!

Of course, this does not just affect email systems. It can affect any cloud service you store data with. Carbonite was another high profile example of data loss, and of course there are many others, and no doubt there will be many more.

So what can you do to prevent such loss? Well, you can backup! Exactly like you do with your laptop. At SMEStorage all users, including free users, can backup their emails to their storage cloud of choice, as long as their email provider supports IMAP, the user can start or schedule a backup and just leave it to complete. An effective solution to a horrible problem should it ever arise.

What about you Cloud data? Well, our Personal Cloud Lifetime and business users can choose to ‘pair’ a backup cloud with a primary cloud. This will instantly schedule a sync of all existing data to a backup cloud, and it will also backup any future data uploaded, giving you total piece of mind that your Cloud data is highly available as a backup copy is stored on another cloud. this could be Amazon S3 and RackSpace for example, or MobileMe to Azure Storage, whatever combination you would like to choose!

If you primary cloud goes down or your data is not available we’ll get it from your backup cloud.

The Cloud does not have to be a dangerous place, just take sensible precautions to protect your data.

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How make your Cloud Data public but still keep it private

Being able to share data publicly via a website is very attractive for lots of different reasons, especially when you want to give the widest possible reach to your data, from an internet search perspective.

However, there are times that you wish the data to be visible, but also be able to control who has access to it. We had a good example of this recently from an educational establishment who uses SMEStorage with their own FTP Server to make available course content publicly to remote learning students. They wanted the course data and titles of files to be available and entered into search engines to attract future  students, but they also wanted to be able to control access to the data so that only students who were enrolled on the course could download the content.

One of the features of the SMEStorage cloud Gateway is that it enables you to work with your cloud data but overlays certain features and functions that you may not get from your provider. One of these is encryption. If you upload your data to your storage cloud via SMEStorage then you can choose to add an encryption key which then encrypts the data with an AES encryption cipher (key) that you choose and which only you know. This is the key private key you then need to share with anyone who wants access to the files.

Lets look at the steps of this in practice:

1. Upload your data to your cloud via SMEStorage and choose to encrypt it. The key is not stored on the platform and is known only by you.

2. When the file is stored you will notice that in the Web File Manager it has a key next to it that notifies you it is encrypted.

3. If you now set this file to be public in the File Manager then it is stored in your public files page which is of the format http://www.storagemadeeasy.com/username/files.

4. If a user then clicks on the file that you made public but which you also encrypted then they will be asked to enter the encryption key before they can download the file.

This works above all file storage clouds that SMEStorage supports, such as Google Docs, SkyDrive, DropBox, Amazon S3 etc. It is a great way to be able to limit access to files but still make them available.

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Android SME Cloud File Manager updated to 1.7

We have updated our Android SMEStorage Cloud File Manager on the Google Android Marketplace to version 1.7. This new release has the following changes:
– Enabled Notes to be emailed as attachments
– Accessing notes changed to a double tap
– Added support for HTTPS on login (https is slower)
– Added support to upload any file from phone to storage cloud chosen
– Added support for icloud, safesync & Sharepoint clouds. SharePoint can only be used by SMEStorage business accounts.

The next release will feature HTTP / FTP support for local file upload over Wi Fi and also sync from ‘cloud to phone’ / ‘phone to cloud’ scheduling, a much requested feature.

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Multi Cloud Open Office and MS Word Plug-In Updated

We’ve updated both our OpenOffice and Microsoft Office Toolbar plug-In’s. Both Plug-In’s enable you to create, edit and save documents from any of over 15 storage clouds, including Google Docs, Microsoft SkyDrive, DropBox, MobileMe and more.

As well as bringing the plug-in’s up-to-date with all the current supported clouds, one of the major feature changes was to enable documents to be saved back to the same directory structure when saving back to the Cloud. So if you are editing a document and you save it, then save it again later. The Cloud Save icon will automatically take you back to the correct directory for the save, rather than having to find it yourself.

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SME Android Application updated to 1.6 and adds support for Samsung Galaxy Tab and other Linux Tablets

We’ve now released the update to the Android SMEStorage application which adds support for the Samsung Galaxy Tab and other Linux Tablets. Other updates to the Application include:

– Now supports in-app registration

– Added support for large file downloads

– Enhanced sync and added support for background sync on login

– Added a simplified view option

– Changed folder navigation to make it easier for those without trackpads or thumbwheels (now double click supported)

– Adds support for DropBox and Google Storage Clouds

– Updated Notes to support categories

You can find out more about the App and it’s features on our wiki here.

User who already purchase this through SMEStorage can update their App bu logging in from the website and going to “My Cloud add-in’s”. Other users can update from the Android marketplace.

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Sneak Preview – next version of Android SME Cloud File Manager supports Galaxy Tab and other Android Tablets

We’re almost done with updating a new version of our Android SMEStorage application that will also feature optimisations for Android Tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab. There are also a whole host of new features including:

– In App Registration

-Enhanced Sync (features now sync on login of all directories mapped to phone for sync and from phone to cloud)

– Enhanced Notes featuring categories and now sync

– Added support for Google Storage and DropBox

– Many other small tweaks and additions

We expect to release this into the Android Marketplace as an update to the existing App on Monday. Users who purchased directly from us will be able to update by navigating to “my cloud add-on’s” from the sidebar link after login.



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