View Doron Katz's profile on LinkedIn

DropBox and iPad?

Online storage provider DropBox are looking into creating an iPad application, and boy wouldn't that be a match made in heaven?  
DropBox provides free online storage, allowing Mac, Windows and Linux users to sync their folders seamlessly, store photos, e-books and so forth. They even have an iPhone app that allows you to access your storage on the go, look at photos.
What tinkles my interest though is that having an iPad gives you the opportunity to view pdfs, word documents, pages and numbers in a viable-width view. With the announcement that Apple would be releasing it's iWorks apps for the iPad, we can work on documents, upload them via Dropbox, and work on them from home later on. 

As for book reading, imagine having to store a couple of your e-books on there, being able to search, view and bookmark those books, using your online storage. Hmm, the ideas are starting to flow now, for this little (or not so little) device. Here are some of the features of DropBox.

File Sync

Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.

  • 2GB of online storage for free, with up to 100GB available to paying customers.
  • Sync files of any size or type.
  • Sync Windows, Mac and Linux computers.
  • Automatically syncs when new files or changes are detected.
  • Work on files in your Dropbox even if you're offline. Your changes sync once your computer has an Internet connection again.
  • Dropbox transfers will correctly resume where they left off if the connection drops.
  • Efficient sync - only the pieces of a file that changed (not the whole file) are synced. This saves you time.
  • Doesn't hog your Internet connection. You can manually set bandwidth limits.
File Sharing

Sharing files is simple and can be done with only a few clicks.

  • Shared folders allow several people to collaborate on a set of files.
  • You can see other people's changes instantly.
  • A "Public" folder that lets you link directly to files in your Dropbox.
  • Control who is able to access shared folders (including ability to kick people out and remove the shared files from their computers).
  • Automatically create shareable online photo galleries from folders of photos in your Dropbox.
Online Backup

Dropbox backs up your files online without you having to think about it.

  • Automatic backup of your files.
  • Undelete files and folders.
  • Restore previous versions of your files.
  • 30 days of undo history, with unlimited undo available as a paid option.
Web Access

A copy of your files are stored on Dropbox's secure servers. This lets you access them from any computer or mobile device.

  • Manipulate files as you would on your desktop - add, edit, delete, rename etc.
  • Search your entire Dropbox for files.
  • A "Recent Events" feed that shows you a summary of activity in your Dropbox.
  • Create shared folders and invite people to them.
  • Recover previous versions of any file or undelete deleted files.
  • View photo galleries created automatically from photos in your Dropbox.
Security & Privacy

Dropbox takes the security and privacy of your files very seriously.

  • Shared folders are viewable only by people you invite.
  • All transmission of file data and metadata occurs over an encrypted channel (SSL).
  • All files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES-256) and are inaccessible without your account password.
  • Dropbox website and client software have been hardened against attacks from hackers.
  • Dropbox employees are not able to view any user's files.
  • Online access to your files requires your username and password.
  • Public files are only viewable by people who have a link to the file(s). Public folders are not browsable or searchable.
Mobile Device Access

The free Dropbox iPhone app lets you:

  • Access your Dropbox on the go.
  • View your files on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
  • Download files for offline viewing.
  • Take photos and videos and sync them to your Dropbox.
  • Share links to files in your Dropbox.
  • View interactive photo galleries.
  • Sync downloaded files so they're up-to-date.

A mobile-optimized version of the website is available for owners of Blackberry phones and other Internet-capable mobile devices.

Click here to join and get your free storage. 

Filed under: Apple General

Squarespace: Get your own blog site thats fancy yet dead easy to create

Squarespace

 

If you are still shopping around for the best looking, yet easiest way to create your own blog site, I would suggest SquareSpace! I have looked at WordPress, Blogger, and all the others, and you know, maybe some of them are free, or offer a free package, but for the amount of effort and technical knowledge you need, it may not be worth it, and SquareSpace gives you all the glitz and fancy stuff, more easily than anyone else. So just try it out for free, no credit card needed, for fourteen days and let me know how you go. 

OK so what makes SquareSpace so good?

  • Nothing to set up, nothing to tweak, nothing to install, nothing to scale, nothing to optimize (SEO).
Squarespace is a completely managed system. We take care of all the tricky details in setting up your site, which means that there is no software to install, nothing to upgrade and that your site will stay online through the most massive traffic storms. Further, we've already used every trick in the book to ensure your site gets picked up by search engines. New features are constantly deployed so that your site is always up to date.

  • Anti spam system.
Every Squarespace site comes equipped with a network-aware anti-spam system that prevents spam from ever reaching your Squarespace site. Because of our unique access to tens of thousands of hosted sites, Squarespace collects a massive amount of real-time spam data which is used in our spam blocking process -- a process developed over half a decade of experience, and one that is impossible for the independent site owner to replicate without plugins.

  • Like building blocks for the web. With our 20+ core modules, you can snap your site together in seconds.
Pages and features in Squarespace are broken into blocks that you snap together to make your site. This takes out all the plug-in hacking and complicated integration most systems require and lets you get right down to business. Building a photo gallery into your website is as easy as choosing the photo gallery module (block) and adding it to your navigation. All you have to do is add your pictures. All the technical stuff is handled behind the scenes for you by Squarespace.

  • Drag and drop control.
Moving pages around your site is as easy as dragging and dropping them. Need a drop down menu in your top navigation? Just drop a folder of links in the top bar and Squarespace creates the drop down menu for you. It isn't just navigation that you can drag and drop either, entire sections of content can be moved between columns with ease.

  • Total control: update any part of your site, at any time, right from the front of your site. No developer help required. No waiting.
Who better to manage your site than you? We built our comprehensive platform so bloggers and business owners alike would be equipped with not only the ability to have an attractive site, but to understand what's going on with visitor behavior. We lay out all the numbers you want to see in an attractive useful way. What does this mean for you? Don't worry about plugging in third party analytics tools or being an analytics guru. Your site automatically comes with this information ready to be discovered, all you have to do is click a button, and you're off on your way to knowing your visitor behavior.

Oh, I found a voucher code you can use when you sign up, MARKET which gives you 10% off for life. Maybe you can find some other ones and post them up on here.

 

 

(download)

Filed under: General Web development

My coffee shop thinks im what?

Noticed a note the coffee shop led for me on my takeaway cup this morning.

E: doronkatz@mac.com
PH: +61 (0) 410 740 678
SKYPE: doronkatz1981

Filed under: General

My cat needs to go on Snappy Tom light

My cat chilling in the basket
Filed under: General

Why Google Chrome should be your default browser

Amidst all the anti-Safari Firefox users on the mac making their headway in 2008 and 2009, I have been a steadfast Safari user, only because I was willing to sacrifice the power of extensions of Firefox in order to have a lighter browser that is faster, and therefore stayed with Apple's Safari.  But Google's Chrome had made a more stealthy entry into the browser wars on the mac, and from my playing around with it, has shown to be quite speedy, and in fact more speedy than Safari. I love it's simplistic interface, but up until now, I could not add extensions.

Well, although it's still very beta, you can get your hands on the latest dev build of Chrome or in fact download the open-source Chromium project, and you would be able to add extensions, like our Windows cousins could for the past few months... Now, what makes me wanna jump ship, is the fact that I can finally take 1Password with me onto the Chrome, which is my most essential browser plugin, so that I can auto-fill my website passwords and forms. If you are interested in the steps needed to install 1Password as an extension, visit the official blog of 1Password. I did not want to open up 1Password and then cut and paste and switch windows all the time, so this is perfect. Granted, it's not as smooth as Safari, but that's probably Google Chrome's fault because the plugins are javascript-based supposedly. But yes, the verdict is still out there, and for now, I am going to give Google a go as my default browser and see how things pan out. 


Chrome_extension.png

Filed under: Apple General

Things 1.2.92 is here

 One of my my favourite and most used app on the mac/iphone is Things  and their blog has announced 1.2.92 is released, filled with bug fixes and new goodies. According to the release notes, the changes include:

  • Fixed a regression related to the Today list sync conflict issue.
  • Fixed an issue where items completed between 12/27/2009 and 12/31/2009 were shown in the Logbook as completed in 2010.
  • Added support for emptying the Trash immediately. Hold down the option key while choosing the "Empty Trash..." menu command.
  • Fixed an issue where the title of a to-do could have multiple lines when entered via Quicksilver.
  • Additional fixes for the issue where Things sometimes started with an empty window and remained unresponsive for some time.
  • Fixed a bug that could result in missing search results when searching for tags that contain subtags.
  • Localization. Added missing translations for Tags window.
  • Localization. Japanese localization fixes.
  • Localization. French localization fixes

 

CulturedCode’s Things  app for the Mac and iPhone makes task management a breeze, and it comes down to the rapid ease of access to information and adding of information, as well as synchronisation of information between devices. For anything from development notes, to writing down your groceries, this app is fantastic, and once you get into the routine of micro-allocating your life into tasks, you loose the need to have a paper bag to hyper-ventilate.

 

Filed under: Apple General

Acrobat.com now on iPhone

Mark Szulc has reported in his personal blog that acrobat.com, an Adobe press release statement that announced Acrobat.com is now available for the iPhone. Acrobat.com is an Adobe collaboration package that allows for a user to work with, and create PDFs, and print and share PDFs, as well as fax PDFs directly from your phone. So you can take a photo of a whiteboard (as Mark says) and share it as a pdf with your buddies on the other side of the world. 

   
Click here to download:
Acrobat.com_now_on_iPhone.zip (30 KB)

Sygic : GPS Map of Cyprus Available for iPhone and Android

Just thought I'd announce, and im sure it would please quite a lot of people, but I just discovered the mobile mapmakers Sygic  have made available a map of Cyprus, which I have tested and it works amazingly, considering the sparse digital maps that do exist for the country. I have seen lots of people ask whether there is a GPS map out there for Cyprus, especially considering how un-intuitive it is to get around Larnaca and Nicosia.

I believe the maps are bundled within the Greece map bundle, and the actual Sygic User Interface is excellent on the iPhone, in fact I prefer it to Tomtom. The Cyprus map covers the entire island and contains POI as well as street names. So definitely worth checking out guys.
Filed under: General iPhone Dev

Appolous: Four letters: Who am I

Hey guys,

For all of you who use Appolous, and have recently seen the Appolous troll, it is now asking a trivia question before you get in: "Four letters: Who Am I? ".

While I don't personally use jailbroken phones because they are a security risk and  stuff up your phone (slow it down) and app piracy is wrong, especially since developers don't earn nearly enough for the amount of work that goes in. Anyhow...  someone has passed on to me that the magic keyword to get in is kyek  so type that in as the four letter magic word.
Filed under: General iPhone Dev

BookDepository: Finally free delivery of books for non-US residents

I just came across a really great bookstore, called BookDepository.co.uk, an Amazon-like online bookstore out of the U.K that promises to deliver the books to you, anywhere in the world for free. I've had a look at the book collection and prices and I must say, especially for those not living in the U.S, the prices are a lot cheaper than what we would pay at our local bookstore, plus we get the delivery for free.

Unfortunately, those who have purchased from Amazon and who live outside of the U.S, have experienced the jubilation of finding cheap books online, only to be dismayed by the cost of shipping those books which would offset the total discount you would get from purchasing online. So check out the bookstore and let me know what you think. I'd start with the fastest moving titles
Filed under: General
12