Dropbox vs. Google Drive vs. Amazon vs. Skydrive: Which One Is Fastest?

By David Sobotta at ReadWrite:

As cloud computing services become ever more popular, you might begin to wonder how much you can really trust them to perform when you need them? I decided to find out - by testing the top file-transfer/file-storage/file-backup services.

In many ways, getting a file from one computer to multiple computers is the most challenging task for the cloud. And because I like to use multiple computers running multiple operating systems, including Linux, Windows and the Mac, that function is particularly important to me.

Cloud Services Can Lag

I am pretty agnostic when it comes to cloud providers - as long as they are free or close to it. However, as I was moving files around while preparing my most recent book A Week at the Beach The 2013 Emerald Isle Travel Guide I was a little surprised at the lags I sometimes experienced using the big-name cloud-based file-transfer services.

More than once when I wanted to use a file from one computer to another, I was disappointed by my cloud services. There were a few times that I got so tired of waiting for a file to show up on my other computer’s cloud drive that I resorted to sneakernet using a USB thumb drive.

After my book was published, I decided to go back and run some simple tests to see just how long the four best-known file-transfer/backup services actually take to put the files where you want them.

To compare Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon Cloud, and Microsoft’s SkyDrive I started by exporting a 500K JPEG test image from Lightroom on my Windows 8 computer directly to each of the four services.

Fighting The Randomization Factor

After running the tests a few times, I noticed what can only be described as random operating system differences. Sometimes the file would pop up first on my Mac and other times it showed up first on my Windows 7 laptop.

In order to eliminate the operating system differences, I restarted the tests and this time stopped the timer when the file showed up on either my Mac running Mountain Lion or my Windows 7 laptop. I also reran my tests with a variety of sizes and types of files. In all I ran twenty-five sets of tests.

The differences were significant, if not overwhelmingly huge. The fastest synchs took less than 3 seconds, while a few others took several minutes. The biggest chunk of tests clocked in between 10 seconds and one minute. A few synchsnever completed. But which service recorded the best times with the fewest problems?

Dropbox FTW!

Dropbox ended up being fastest 56% of the time. Even more importantly, it was slowest only 4% of the time.

Skydrive brought up the rear. It was fastest on 12% of the tests, but but slowest on a whopping 80% of the tests. It also had two files that never showed up on the Mac and one that never showed on the Windows 7 laptop.

The Amazon Cloud slightly outpaced Google Drive - which had one file that never showed up on the Mac and another that took a very long time to complete.

If my tests convinced me of anything, it is that Skydrive is a work in progress and has a long way to go. I even had trouble setting up the tests on Skydrive.

My tests also revealed a number of odd results. When testing files saved from Word, strange extra files sometimes showed up on all the cloud drives except Dropbox. The file names always began with the characters “~$”. Sometimes the mystery files disappeared and sometimes they hung around.

Cloud Drive Recommendations

So here are some quick recommendations:

• First, do not treat your cloud drive as one huge dumping ground. Create folders and try to force a little organization on yourself.
• If you save a file to the cloud in order to work on it from another computer, quit the application or close the file on the first computer after you have saved the file to the cloud drive.
• Make sure you have a local copy of important files in your documents folder - not just the replicated cloud folder on your computer. Interesting things sometimes happen when cloud files get updated or deleted from another computer. When you come back to the computer where you first created a file, you could be in for a nasty surprise.
• If you cannot get a cloud folder on your computer to update, trying quitting the cloud application or rebooting your system.

Dropbox and Amazon appear to be the most reliable solutions with only occasional delays. Google isn't far behind, and I can't imagine that Microsoft won't work hard to improve Skydrive - the company's subscription model depends on it.

Even so, I have no plans to throw away my USB thumb drives.

Amazon to Acquire Book Lovers’ Network Goodreads

By Devon Glenn at Social Times:

Amazon has reached an agreement to acquire Goodreads, a community for book lovers.

Founded in 2007, the San Francisco-based company has a member base of 16 million avid readers who have collectively formed more than 30,000 book clubs.

Amazon’s selection of eBooks for Kindle, as well as its emerging publishing division, will benefit from the recommendation power of the social network, where members have written more than 23 million book reviews.

As Hugh Howey, best-selling author of WOOL, put it: “I just found out my two favorite people are getting married. The best place to discuss books is joining up with the best place to buy books – To Be Read piles everywhere must be groaning in anticipation.”

Read the full story here

Amazon Enters World Of Facebook Gaming

 

Via AllFacebook:
NewsOnline retailer Amazon announced Monday that it is expanding its offerings and moving into the world of social gaming. The company has launched a Facebook game, Living Classics.

The company has been working on Living Classics for a while, but it finally opened the game up to play on Monday. The new development team — Amazon Game Studios — plans to roll out more games on the Facebook platform in the future.

Amazon explained why it’s getting into the social game market:

Why is Amazon making social games, you ask? Good question! We know that many Amazon customers enjoy playing games – including free-to-play social games – and thanks to Amazon’s know-how, we believe we can deliver a great, accessible gaming experience that gamers and our customers can play any time

Living Classics takes users inside their favorite stories, such as Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and King Arthur.

Read the full story here

Google, Facebook & Amazon Quietly Forming Tech Lobbying Group?

By V3 at Search Engine Watch:
Technology giants – and often competitors – Google, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay are expected to join forces to form a lobbying group known as the Internet Association (IA), Reuters reported.

The IA plans to launch sometime this September and will focus on getting Internet-related legislation passed by the U.S. government. Former congressional policy adviser Michael Beckerman will lead the group.

The group will be the first lobbying association to combine the forces of Internet companies for the sole purpose of advancing web-centric legislation.

"The Internet isn't just Silicon Valley anymore, the Internet has moved to Main Street. Our top priority is to ensure that elected leaders in Washington understand the profound impacts of the internet and internet companies on jobs, economic growth and freedom," Beckerman said in a statement. "No one can predict what innovations will happen next. But we do know that the internet's decentralised and open model is what has enabled its unprecedented growth and innovation. We must guard against misguided attempts to handcuff this incredible source of job creation, freedom and creativity,"

Beckerman is a former adviser to the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton. During his time with Beckerman chairman Upton came out against legislation like net neutrality and the creation of an Internet tax.


Read the full story here






 

Amazon Game Network Launch Hints at Kindle Smartphone

By Emily Price at Mashable:  
Amazon is taking on Apple’s GameCenter with the launch of its own gaming network for Kindle Fire gamers: GameCircle.

GameCircle brings achievements, leaderboards and — most interestingly — makes sync APIs accessible for Kindle Fire games. Sync will save your place to the cloud, allowing you to pick up playing on one device right where you left off on another.
Amazon describes the feature thus: “Players will not have to worry about losing progress, scores or achievements between Kindle Fire devices, as all data is securely stored in the cloud.”

Curious wording, and a curious feature — given that the Kindle Fire tablet is currently the only device with that branding.

Probably the only reason for having such a service — unless you happen to have bought multiple Kindle Fire tablets — is if those hints of an Amazon smartphone are for real.
Sure, you could also use the feature to transfer game progress on your current Kindle Fire to the next generation if and when that becomes available, or to a new Kindle Fire if your current device is lost, stolen, or broken. The functionality; however, would lose its luster long-term if you didn’t have a few Fire devices to use it with.


Read the full story here

Monitor Your Pinterest & Your Other Social Media Accounts on Cyfe

By Devon Glenn at Social Times:
If you’ve been using Pinterest to connect with your audience, here’s a way to keep track of all your activity on the site. Cyfe, the all-in-one business dashboard that organizes every social network you use for your job on one screen, now connects to Pinterest.
Launched in January, the service also monitors your Twitter, Facebook, Google, Salesforce, MailChimp, Amazon, and Zendesk accounts, loading them onto one screen for easy viewing.  The dashboard allows you to see when you have new messages or other activity without having to leave a bunch of browser windows open. The company has added Pinterest to the list in response to customer feedback.

Wrote the Cyfe team in an email to its current customers:

This widget will allow you to track your Pinterest metrics (e.g. boards, pins, likes, followers, following) right from within your dashboards.
This is one of over 20 updates we’ve released just within the last 30 days. Other updates include a new Twitter Search widget, larger Twitter feeds (up to 100 tweets), user account management, multi-sheet Google Spreadsheets, improved chart performance, and so much more. All possible because of your continued feedback and support!

The email also included instructions for adding Pinterest to your dashboard:

You can add the Pinterest widget to your dashboard simply by logging into Cyfe, clicking on the “Add Widget” button and navigating to the “Social Media” category on the subsequent screen.

Internet Justice League: Superheroes of the Online World [COMICS]

Via Mashable:
What if the titans of today’s Internet turned into superheroes? Here’s the Internet Justice League, a pantheon of superheroes infused with awesome Internet powers.
Each represents an Internet entity, including Facebook, Google, Google+, Amazon and more, all jostling with the other superheroes for Internet dominance.
Too bad many of their superpowers are sometimes questionable. See if you agree with College Humor cartoonist Caldwell Tanner’s assessments of these Internet behemoths, their relationships with each other and their various archenemies.
Illustrations courtesy College Humor, used with permission

Amazon’s Growth: 9 Things to Know [Infographic]

Amazon is a household word these days. It’s recent release of the Amazon Kindle may signal it’s transition into a new stage, and it could become as essential a word as “Apple”.  What’s not as well known, is the story of its growth in the last 17 years.

The online bookseller became the world’s largest retailer, and hit its 50 millionth sale in record time – half the time it took Walmart. Amazon has had its competitors, but it successfully survived the Internet company shakeup of 2000 and is currently strong and continues to grow as the number one e-tailer in the world.
The infographic brought to you by Frugal Dad shows 9 things you might want to know about Amazon – it’s a story worth viewing.

Amazon Third Quarter Profits Drop 73%

Amazon just released its third quarter sales, indicating that net income is at $63 million, or $0.14 a share, down from $231 million, or $0.51 a share a year ago. This is a 73% drop in quarterly profit from the third quarter of 2010. Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S reports that analysts expected Amazon's third-quarter earnings to land at 24 cents per share on a revenue of $10.95 billion.

Amazon has been focusing its spending on the tablet, among other long-term projects. It launched the Kindle Fire Tablet on September 28, which remains Kindle's biggest order day to date.
Despite a drop in profits, Amazon added more than 8,000 new workers in the third quarter, resulting in 50,000 full- and part-time employees. This is an increase of 136% over the past two years.
Amazon.com added more than 8,000 new workers in the third quarter, bringing its total employment to more than 50,000 full- and part-time employees for the first time in its history.
Fourth quarter net sales are expected to grow between 27% and 44%, or $16.45 billion and $18.65 billion. Operating income should hit between $200 million and $250 million, or between a 142% decline and 47% decline compared with fourth quarter 2010.

By Alicia Eler at ReadWriteWeb

Amazon set to sell 3 million Android tablets this fall?

According to information given to CENS.com, Amazon expects to sell 3 million of its Android flavored tablets this fall. Quanta Computer Inc., the contract manufacturer putting together Amazon's tablet, has been told to keep the assembly line running to the tune of 800,000 to 1 million units produced each month from August through October. As a point of reference, consider that Motorola said it expects to sell half that amount for the entire year.

Amazon's tablet is easier to build with technical specifications not as complex as the competition. This makes the device cheaper to produce giving Amazon an advantage at the retail level. Amazon's plan is to get its tablet distributed widely and then sell apps through the Amazon Appstore. And consumers are ready for a low priced alternative. A survey showed that 55% of those asked would seriously consider buying an Amazon branded tablet. 79% said they would buy a tablet for $250 or less. That percentage drops sharply to 48% when the price goes up to $300 or less.


Via: PhoneArena

Amazon inks streaming deal with NBCUniversal

Amazon announced on Thursday that it has inked an agreement with NBCUniversal to provide its subscription customers with access to 1,000 Universal Pictures movies. The deal is in addition to the online retailer’s recent agreement with CBS to offer shows such as Star Trek and Cheers to its customers.

The new content includes films such as Being John Malkovich, Jetsons, Flipper, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Billy Elliott. Amazon is largely expected to release at least one tablet in the coming months, which will provide its customers with near instant access to its Amazon Unbox, Amazon Mp3, Kindle, Cloud Music and Cloud Drive services. Comcast owns 51% of NBCUniversal while General Electric owns the remaining 49%. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read on for the full press release.

Amazon Announces Digital Video License Agreement with NBCUniversal Domestic TV Distribution
Deal Will Allow Amazon Prime Members to Stream Select Universal Pictures Films

SEATTLE, Jul 28, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced a licensing agreement with NBCUniversal Domestic TV Distribution that will allow Amazon Prime members to stream select Universal Pictures movies through Prime Instant Video. This deal with Amazon will bring the total number of Prime instant videos to more than 9,000 movies and TV shows this summer.
Amazon Prime customers will be able to instantly watch popular Universal movies at no additional cost to their membership. Universal titles available to Prime customers will include Oscar winners such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Elizabeth,” and “Gosford Park.” For the kids, there’s “Babe,” “Flipper,” and “Jetsons – The Movie,” as well as other favorites like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Notting Hill,” “Being John Malkovich”, “Fletch,” and “Billy Elliott.”
“We are very excited to offer Prime members popular Universal films at no additional cost,” said Cameron Janes, director of Amazon Instant Video. “Our customers love movies and now we offer them more than 2,000 movies to choose from with Prime Instant Video.”
Amazon Instant Video is a streaming video service that offers customers more than 90,000 movies and TV shows available to purchase or rent, and with this Universal content included, will offer more than 9,000 movies and TV shows included at no additional cost with an Amazon Prime membership. Customers can instantly watch movies and TV shows from Amazon on a Mac, PC or directly on TV with any of the 300 compatible devices."

Google Books back on the shelf in Apple App Store

 Google Books is back in the Apple App Store following its revamp for the iPhone and iPad. Amazon's Kindle app has had a refresh too, now selling magazine and newspaper subscriptions.
Google's ebook app disappeared from the App Store for a day as the Big G updated the app to comply with Apple's new rules. Apps selling content such as ebooks can no longer send users outside the app to make a purchase. Instead users must either make a purchase through iTunes, earning Apple a 30 per cent cut, or through their browser, in which case Apple doesn't get a bean.

The newly adjusted Google Books keeps its core function as an ebook reader, as do similarly updated apps, such as Kobo, Borders and Kindle. But each app has removed the link to buy more books. Readers now have to buy their ebooks through iTunes or a browser, before the books can be read in the app.
Amazon users can no longer buy books via the app, but can now buy newspapers and magazines, with Apple taking a slice of the proceeds. Kindle for iOS version 2.8 lets you browse, buy and read any of more than 100 newspapers and magazines, including The Economist and Reader's Digest, with fancy high-resolution, colour photos.
If you already have a newspaper or magazine subscription on another device, like a Kindle ebook reader, you can access your subscription on your iPad or iPhone -- just look in the 'archived items' menu for back issues.
The Kindle app's Kindle Store button has now been replaced with an option to share quotes from books on Facebook and Twitter. We're sure your friends will love that.
The changes are less drastic than some feared when Apple first introduced its 30 per cent levy. Apps still function as normal, and the only difference is that readers have to open Safari or the like themselves when they want to buy a book, rather than press a button in the app that takes them there automatically. So that's all right then.
Google Books and Kindle had more good news recently when it was announced that the Harry Potter series will appear in ebook form through the new Pottermore site.

Amazon game download store prepping for October UK launch

 

Amazon is planning to unleash its online game download store in the UK this October, MCV reports.
The store would serve as a place where you could purchase games, then download them digitally, without having to go through all the hassle of having the darn things delivered to your house.

The service has existed in the US since 2009, which in tech-years equates roughly to the bronze age, so we're glad Amazon has finally seen fit to bring it to our green and pleasant land. According to MCV's sources, the service is currently in the testing phase, but is on track for a proper release in autumn.
Amazon is not the first to try and capitalise on digital downloads. Steam, from Half-Life developer Valve, is currently king of game downloads. But Amazon has the benefit of already being a household name that people trust, so when it comes to grabbing new customers it could have a massive advantage.
Assuming the UK service is the same as the US version, when you browse to a game that can be downloaded, you'll have the option to buy it normally and have it posted to you, or to download it there and then. Tidy.

College Students Can Now Rent Textbooks Electronically From Amazon

A month or so before back-to-school season begins in earnest, Amazon has jumped into the lucrative college textbook market with Kindle Textbook Rental.
Amazon claims students can save as much as 80% off textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store. The company is offering tens of thousands of textbooks, which students can rent for periods ranging from 30 to 360 days. Amazon has also extended its Whispersnyc technology so that students can access all their notes and highlighted content in the Amazon Cloud, even after the rental agreement is over.

Amazon’s entry, which comes after rival Barnes & Noble‘s, arrives as the National Association of College Stores estimates that U.S. college stores posted $10.25 billion in sales for the 2009-2010 fiscal year with each student spending $745 on average.
Amazon, of course, has had tremendous success converting the general market to ebooks. In May, the online retailer announced sales for its digital book format had surpassed hardcover sales. Meanwhile, publishers — aware of the migration into ebooks — are attempting to get ahead of the trend as well. In January, McGraw-Hill launched its first cloud-based textbook, which was aimed at the K-12 market.