Kavaroca

Dropbox is nothing short of incredible. When the whole world thought file sharing had to be complex and kludgy, a MIT student who forgot his flash drive showed us all that file sharing could be simple enough that we’d all want to do it. You’ve got to trust it with your data, and be willing to pay to store more than several gigs of data, but beyond that, there’s little to make you question using Dropbox. It’s ubiquitous for good reason.

That doesn’t mean it’s the be all and end all of file syncing. There’s Google Drive, Microsoft’s Skydrive, and Amazon’s new Cloud Drive sync. But one new competitor, AeroFS, is taking on Dropbox directly with its own private sync solution, in an app that might be the absolute closest competitor Dropbox has seen yet. It’s fresh out of beta for individuals and teams, so let’s take a look.

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What, what’s AeroFS?

Dropbox sure took some explaining at the beginning, but almost everyone — techie or not — is used to it these days. It uploads your files to the Dropbox server and syncs them with your other devices, or with your friends and colleagues’ computers via shared folders. Simple.

AeroFS is almost the same, with a small catch: there’s no central server. It’s peer-to-peer sync that works almost just like Dropbox. You can sync files between your own computers, or share folders with friends and colleagues, over the internet or inside your own network when you’re offline. You’ll still need an account for authentication, but after that, you don’t use the AeroFS servers at all.

It’s Dropbox, decentralized.

So close, you might miss the difference

And that’s not an inapt description: AeroFS feels very similar to Dropbox. After signing up for an account online, you’ll download a small app to keep your files in sync. That is, the files inside your AeroFS folder, since everything you want synced with AeroFS has to be in that folder.

Choose where to store your one AeroFS folder

Next up, there’s a walkthrough of how AeroFS works. That’s nice … but it’s identical to Dropbox’ walkthrough. I understand taking cues from the way Dropbox works, and making your own unique product that’s in some ways similar, but a tutorial that’s almost precisely the same is a bit too much.

Wait: haven’t we seen this before?

The good thing is, AeroFS does work almost as good as Dropbox. If you’re used to using Dropbox to store everything, and just need to keep stuff synced between your computers — and don’t need files stored online to access if, say, your computer died suddenly — then it might be perfect. You’ll just have to add your files to your AeroFS folder, and setup AeroFS on your other computers, and it’ll likely work fine. The cool thing is, it’s 100% free, and there’s no storage limits beyond the size of your own hard drive. If you want to keep 500Gbs of documents and media synced between your computers, it might be the perfect app for you.

AeroFS in action

In my tests syncing AeroFS between my Mac and a Windows 8 PC on the same network, syncing was almost instantaneous. Syncing online was slower, but it seemed to be nearly as fast as Dropbox syncing in my non-scientific tests. You likely won’t notice the difference in real-world use.

The only major problem I had is that AeroFS is more resource intensive than Dropbox; it used 3% of my CPU and around 100Mb of ram all the time it was running, even when it wasn’t actively syncing files. AeroFS is Java powered, so that may be the culprit, but it definitely might eat into your battery life and computer performance.

Sharing and Saving

Now, sharing is one of the best things about Dropbox; it lets you easily send files to your friends and colleagues’ computers by just saving them in your shared folder. AeroFS lets you share files in much the same way. You can right-click on any folder inside your AeroFS folder and invite people to it. Once they’ve accepted, everything in that folder will be synced between both of your AeroFS accounts.

Add folder collaborators simply

Sharing folders worked great in my tests, just like syncing files between computers connected to your own account. What can get messy, though, is if both of you are editing the same file at the same time. Then, you’ll end up with a sync conflict. The conflicted file will have a yellow fork-in-the-road icon on the bottom to let you know there’s a problem, and from the AeroFS menu you can choose to view your local file, the conflicted copy from your collaborator’s computer, and then merge the changes or choose which version to keep.

Hey files, quit fighting!

There’s also file versions saved for everything you sync in AeroFS, whether between your own computers or with others. You can jump back in time and catch changes, and quickly restore the old version. That’s nice to have; I use the previous versions tool in Dropbox quite often. However, it can use up extra disk space, so you might want to keep an eye on that.

Hey there, ye old files.

Your Whole Team

You might have noticed that I said shared folders can be shared with one other person. That’s actually one of the limitations of a free AeroFS account. Free accounts can share folders with one other person; you’ll need to make a new shared folder for each person you want to share files with. Free accounts also can have up to 3 teammates, which we’ll dig into in just a bit.

If you want to share folders with more than one person, or have more teammates, you’ll need to upgrade to a Team account, which costs $10/teammate/month. If you just want to share your own folders with multiple people, it’ll cost you $10/month, and the people you’re sharing folders with can still be using a free account.

There’s one final piece to the puzzle: the AeroFS Team Server. This is an extra app you can download to let your computer store all the files from each of your team’s AeroFS accounts (thus, the teammates). Alternately, you can have the Team Server store the files encrypted in Amazon’s S3 storage, giving you a way to — essentially — build your own Dropbox.

Send your AeroFS files to S3

If your company has a server running the AeroFS Team Server, then anyone on your team can sync files between their computers even if their other devices are turned off, since they’ll sync through the server. They’ll even be deduplicated and compressed. That makes it much more like Dropbox, and makes it much more interesting for teams. It also can make it more interesting for individuals; you could run Team Server and the normal AeroFS app at the same time to centrally backup your family’s AeroFS files to Amazon S3. I only wish the S3 options were built into the individual app itself; that’d make it a much more compelling tool for individual users.

Conclusion

On its own, AeroFS is a neat tool, one I’m sure I’d have loved to have around before Dropbox. But it’s a different world today. There’s Dropbox for free or $10/month, then alternates from Microsoft and Google that are even cheaper storage. They all let you keep your files synced, and stored online, too. That’s a huge advantage for most of us; I’ve used Dropbox and Skydrive both to get files I needed when I was away from my computer, something I couldn’t do with AeroFS. They also have mobile apps on iOS and Android, where AeroFS currently only has a limited Android app, one that only lets you view files from your computer.

For teams, the advantage is clearer: you can run your own AeroFS server, keeping everything under your roof, with no storage limits. But that’ll still cost you $10/user/month, where Dropbox for Teams would only cost you $10-$13/user/month, depending on your team size, and it comes with unlimited storage and more.

The very best use case for AeroFS right now is keeping larger amounts of files synced between your own computers on your own network. If you don’t need to access your files online, and want to sync more than Dropbox will let you, then it’s a great free option. If you have a VPS and want to sync files between it and your Mac, it’s also a great tool for that. AeroFS is also a great option if you want the added security of not having your files on a 3rd party server, something many businesses may appreciate. Still, it’s a tough sell in today’s crowded collaboration and file sync app market.

It would be fair to say that eCommerce is in a boom right now. The likes of Ebay and Amazon turn over more revenue than any high street chain you’d care to mention, and the number of independent online shops is growing hourly – the market-leading system Shopify, alone, is powering 50,000 online stores, and counting.

Despite this ever-expanding market, the range and variety of the eCommerce management software available is still relatively limited, and many services are fairly expensive from the viewpoint of a small retailer. Other than going down the Shopify route, most shopkeepers have to resort to WordPress plug-ins like WooCommerce, but neither option allows the non-coder to style their site easily.

It is, perhaps, because of this problem that Hiidef Inc. – maker of the fine, homepage creator Flavors – has produced Goodsie, a design-oriented hosted eCommerce platform. With Goodsie’s Standard package costing $14/month, this service is one of the more affordable eCommerce options available, but is Goodsie more luxury aisle or bargain bin? Time to find out.

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Getting Set Up

The simplicity of Goodsie’s sign-up is refreshing. Nothing more than a store name, an email and a password is required to start setting up your store. Upon completion of this process, you are greeted by a welcoming dashboard, filled with Metro-style unmissable icons.

Goodsie’s dashboard: huge icons, maximum clarity

With the end goal of simplicity in mind, Hiidef has done well to reduce Goodsie’s admin area to just these six icons – Products, Orders, Statistics, Settings, Marketing (e.g. coupon codes) and External (embedding codes).

Selling Your Wares

Pretty dashboards are all very nice, but the most important part of an eCommerce service is the selling of goods. Given that the listing of eCommerce products is rarely straightforward, Goodsie does a good job of making the process as simple as it can be.

Other than titles, descriptions and price, Goodsie’s notable features include SKU support, a Cost of Goods option for keeping track of your profit margins, as well as the ability to create product options (e.g. small, medium, large) and extras (e.g. gift wrapping). Products also come with a very slick gallery, which has the added benefit of being video compatible.

Adding a product to your Goodsie store is relatively simple

Retailers of digital goods will be happy with Goodsie’s platform, as downloads can be sold in your store with the aid of Fetch. Products, once added, can be viewed within a list, or as image “cards.” Similarly, orders are displayed as a list, with the order number, date, customer name and order status all displayed.

Getting the Look

Critically, however, designing your Goodsie site is incredibly straightforward. The controls, which will be familiar to Flavors users, provide simple one-click options for layout, colour, fonts and more. As a Flavors user myself, I arrive at Goodsie’s design palette with a sense of direction, but I don’t think anyone would struggle with this system, even with no experience.

The fonts are a particular area of quality in Goodsie; there is a vast list provided by MyFonts, which gives you non-standard fonts like Benton and Gibson to add to your site for free.

The design suite in Goodsie is ridiculously easy to use

Unfortunately, Goodsie’s design strength is also its greatest weakness. For those of us who are willing and able to dig into design code, the lack of this option in Goodsie may, in the long run, be a turn-off. Additionally, this lack of freedom may force some business owners into running a separate website. If, for instance, you want to run a blog, then your only option within Goodsie is to embed it, which is not an option many will wish to take.

Goodsie is clearly not aimed at the geekier end of the retail spectrum, though, and the design options provided will suit most shopkeepers.

Behind the Scenes

Goodsie excels in areas other than the obvious, too.

Coupon codes can be adjusted and limited in terms of time, quantity and their effect, and if you’re willing to make the jump to Goodsie’s Premium $40/month package, you can get your hands on the in-built targeted email system, which will personalize emails to each customer’s taste.

You’ve got plenty of options when setting up coupons in Goodsie

The Statistics dashboard (another Premium package feature) is simple, yet insightful, presenting a considerable amount of information with clarity.

The statistics – pretty, aren’t they?

There are five payment methods through which Goodsie shop owners can receive funds, including the usual options of PayPal and Google Checkout, as well as Braintree, Authorize.net and the much praised Stripe (only for shops in the United States, at present). That much selection is definitely nice to see.

Many will be happy with the Stripe payment option

One other Premium feature which will appeal to retailers is the user management built in to Goodsie’s admin area. This allows an admin to create accounts for their employees (for example), safe in the knowledge that only what is designated as accessible can be messed up.

Goodsie’s user management will come as a relief to many managers

Conclusion

Out of all the eCommerce software options I’ve tested – and that’s a large number of services – Goodsie is by far the easiest to get going with, and for the non-technical retailer, its design options cannot be beaten for ease of use.

The inherent lack of freedom to dig down into your website’s code in Goodsie is a problem, reducing the platform’s versatility, and it will prevent some shops with more niche needs from utilizing Goodsie’s service.

In general, however, if you want to start selling with the minimum of fuss and the maximum of style, and you don’t have any unusual requirements, then I’d have trouble recommending an eCommerce platform other than Goodsie.

Raspberry Pi es un computador de bajo coste que llegó con la idea de revolucionar el sector educativo y que, en muy poco tiempo, se ha convertido, junto a Arduino, en un exponente del hardware libre y en la base de un buen número de proyectos. Este ordenador de algo menos de 30 dólares se ha convertido en un artículo muy demandado por los aficionados al que, la verdad, se le puede sacar mucho partido.

Raspberry Pi es un proyecto de hardware libre que se ha hecho extremadamente popular entre los aficionados al mundo de la computación y la electrónica aunque su objetivo principal es equipar las escuelas de todo el mundo con ordenadores que cuestan menos de 30 dólares y que permiten, por tanto, democratizar el acceso a la tecnología y a la enseñanza de materias técnicas. Gracias Raspberry Pi, y la fundación que está detrás del proyecto, sería posible desplegar un aula de informática en centros educativos de todo el mundo sin que el presupuesto sea una barrera de entrada y, por ejemplo, en Camerún se ha desplegado un aula en una zona rural que permitirá que los escolares de la zona tomen su primer contacto con la tecnología.

Además de lo bello que es el proyecto en sí mismo y los objetivos que tiene, Raspberry Pi se ha convertido en la base sobre la que muchos aficionados desarrollan sus proyectos personales, profundizan en sus conocimientos sobre computación y se divierten construyendo aplicaciones sobre estas pequeñas placas que cada vez podemos encontrar en más distribuidores (inclusive a través de vendedores que operan a través de Amazon). Raspberry Pi es un gadget casi de culto y un buen regalo geek con el que sorprender a alguien pero, tras la novedad del unboxing, ¿qué usos podemos darle a nuestra Raspberry Pi?

Con la idea de sacarle partido a este computador, vamos a dedicar unos minutos a conocer algunos usos creativos de Raspberry Pi:

Montar un NAS eficiente

Somos muchos los que tenemos más de un ordenador en casa y, ante la ausencia de un NAS con el que compartir ficheros en red, andamos compartiendo carpetas en nuestros equipos. Si bien esta solución es plenamente funcional y evita que tengamos la información repetida en nuestros ordenadores, no es extremadamente eficiente porque implica que tengamos que tener encendidos los ordenadores para acceder a la información y, por tanto, implica gasto en consumo eléctrico.

Raspberry Pi, además de ser un ordenador de bajo coste, tiene un consumo eléctrico muy muy bajo y, por tanto, puede ser la base sobre la que construir un NAS de bajo consumo y eficiente desde el punto de vista del consumo energético. ¿Y qué tenemos que hacer? Como nos podemos imaginar, para construir nuestro NAS necesitaremos una placa de Raspberry Pi, su fuente de alimentación, un disco duro USB para conectarlo a la placa y la tarjeta SD con el sistema operativo (fundamental para arrancar el sistema).

Una vez arrancado el sistema podemos seguir alguna de las recetas que circulan por la red para instalar el paquete de Samba en el sistema y configurar las carpetas a compartir en la red de nuestra casa.

Otro de los casos de uso de Raspberry Pi que podemos tener en cuenta es montar nuestro propio Dropbox, es decir, nuestro propio sistema de almacenamiento y acceder a él desde cualquier lugar, aunque estemos fuera de la red de nuestra casa. ¿Y cómo podremos hacerlo? Recurriendo a Barracuda Drive que está disponible en la tienda de aplicaciones de Raspberry Pi.

Ampliar nuestros conocimientos sobre redes y comunicaciones

Raspberry Pi, a pesar de ser un pequeño ordenador, dispone de un interfaz de red Ethernet 10/100; una tarjeta de red que podemos aprovechar para realizar nuestros propios experimentos y profundizar nuestros conocimientos de gestión de redes en plataformas GNU/Linux. ¿Y qué usos podemos darle a Raspberry Pi en este sentido?

Con NeoRouter, por ejemplo, podríamos montar sobre Raspberry Pi nuestro propio servidor de VPN y acceder a nuestros equipos en remoto desde cualquier lugar y de forma segura. Otra posibilidad es montar sobre Raspberry Pi un servidor de USB que nos permita compartir en red cualquier dispositivo que conectemos a los puertos USB de este computador y acceder a estos desde un equipo Windows conectado a la misma red y, por ejemplo, compartir impresoras o webcams.

También podemos usar Raspberry Pi como cliente de torrents que, además, podríamos gestionar cómodamente desde el sofá de nuestra casa a través de nuestro dispositivo móvil o, incluso, montar nuestra propia centralita IP gracias a Asterisk.

Montar un media center

Gracias a su salida HDMI podemos conectar nuestra Raspberry Pi a la televisión de nuestra casa y convertirla en un media center de bajo coste que es capaz de reproducir películas en HD (aunque a 1080p hay veces que le cuesta un poco responder adecuadamente). En la red podemos encontrar muchas opciones para transformar este pequeño computador en un media center aunque una de las formas más comunes es recurrir a XBMC directamente o a través de distribuciones Linux preparadas para Raspberry Pi que ya lo integran (como RaspBMC o bien OpenElec).

En mi opinión, es uno de los usos de Raspberry Pi más prácticos que podemos encontrar porque el partido que podemos sacarle a este computador con este uso es bastante importante.

Jugar al Minecraft y otros juegos

Además de desplegar un media center o una centralita de VoIP, en la tienda de aplicaciones de Raspberry Pi podemos encontrar un buen número de juegos con los que pasar el rato y alternar el aprendizaje con un poco de ocio. Entre todos los juegos que se han desarrollado para Raspberry Pi, quizás uno de los más importantes y con mayor impacto es Minecraft: Pi Edition, la versión para Raspberry Pi del popular Minecraft (con el que podremos pasarnos buenos ratos).

Montar un supercomputador

No hay que olvidar que el origen de Raspberry Pi es la educación y, por tanto, es un proyecto que está orientado a la enseñanza de ciencias de la computación en aquellos lugares en los que la adquisición de tecnología puede suponer una importante barrera de entrada a este tipo de disciplinas. La educación superior también puede ser un buen ámbito de uso de Raspberry Pi y un buen ejemplo de ello es Iridis-Pi, un proyecto llevado a cabo por la Universidad de Southampton para introducir a sus alumnos en el mundo de la computación distribuida y la supercomputación.

¿Y qué es Iridis-Pi? Iridis-Pi es un "pequeño supercomputador" formado por 64 nodos (cada nodo es una placa Raspberry Pi) y con un coste de 4.000 dólares que permite a los responsables del proyecto usar una maqueta con el que trabajar en ejercicios de computación distribuida sin necesidad de realizar grandes inversiones en servidores.

Por cierto, el proyecto Iridis-Pi es abierto y podemos descargar las instrucciones para poder construirnos nuestra propia versión.

Revivir máquinas arcade

He de reconocer que una de mis pasiones son las máquinas recreativas clásicas, es decir, las máquinas arcade que eran tan populares en los años 80 y principios de los 90. Gracias a Raspberry Pi podemos sacar esta vena vintage que llevamos dentro y revivir algunos de los clásicos de las recreativas cuyas ROMs circulan por la red. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, The Punisher, Captain Commando o Final Fight son algunos de los más de 5.000 juegos a los que podremos jugar gracias al emulador MAME4ALL disponible para Raspberry Pi.

Y si, además, se nos da bien el bricolaje o queremos hacer un regalo muy especial, podríamos construir nuestra propia máquina recreativa a tamaño natural y ponerla en el salón de nuestra casa que, seguramente, se convertirá en el más geek del vecindario.

De todas formas, si el espacio físico es un problema podemos construirnos una versión mini que podría convertirse en un buen regalo que hacer a nuestros amigos.

Emuladores de MS-DOS, Atari 800 y consolas clásicas

Además de revivir los videojuegos de las máquinas arcade, podemos encontrar un buen número de emuladores de sistemas clásicos como Atari800 que es capaz de emular computadoras clásicas como la Atari 800, Atari 800XL, Atari 130XE y Atari 5200 y transportarnos a los primeros años de la década de los 80.

rpix86 es un curioso emulador de MS-DOS que es capaz de hacer funcionar aplicaciones diseñadas para arquitecturas x86 (recordemos que Raspberry Pi es un sistema sobre ARM) y que emula una computadora con procesador Intel a 20 MHz, 16 MB de memoria RAM, gráficos de 640x480 a 256 colores y una tarjeta de sonido SoundBlaster 2.0 para que podamos ejecutar alguno de nuestros juegos de ordenador de antaño y volver a disfrutar de clásicos como Maniac Mansion o el X-Wing de la ya extinta LucasArts.