I’ve been really impressed with Gladinet Cloud Desktop so far.  I’ve been able to seamlessly push and pull things from a few different cloud objects, including from within programs.  Being able to redundantly store that long letter locally, as well as remotely at the same time is pretty good tech.

My first test was with Google.  While Gladinet supports Google Apps, it is not quite as mature there as it is for Picasa, and standard Google accounts (yourname@gmail.com type email addresses). I expect that will mature with continued releases.

Webdav and FTP were certainly no issue, and the plugins for those allowed anonymous mode as well.  I appreciated the flexibility modes regarding bandwidth, as well as scheduling options – the Pro version includes scheduled backup options.

It can push to a cloud like Amazon S3 (that also worked well).  I suspect as others become more prominent in this field (like Rackspace) there may be plugins added for those as well; the Gladinet code seems pretty modular, with one or more plugins per service (support for Adrive added, and they’ve supported others like Box.net for some time).

With the Premium Edition it looks like Gladinet has plans for a rather “feature enhanced” enterprise type version. That’s usually what I try to choose even for home “power” use, when I can.

While SkyDrive is not perfect yet (Microsoft still has the 50 meg file size limit per file, which is sure acceptable given they give you 25 gig for free) it has been easy to drag and drop things back and forth, create new folders, etc. all from the Windows side.

Gladinet screenshot

Due to their plugin architecture, I expect we’ll be seeing nice incremental upgrades to this technology. While it’s easy enough for some of my non-tech friends to use, it also will definitely find a home with many of the IT folks I know.

I have to admit, the free 30 day test drive of the full professional mode helped sway me to buy.  I admired their product confidence in offering a full “free” mode for 30 days, yet still allows all of the core functionality for free after that time.  They seem to know that once you experience this in action they’re more likely to close a sale.  As well, they are taking care of their active beta testers. A business like this, I can deal with!

I haven’t tested this on anything but Windows 7 RTM (go go, final code!), 64 bit ultimate.  Lots of applications don’t work smoothly (some not at all) under this, since it’s so new; Gladinet works fine.  I suspect it’d be breezy on a standard Windows XP 32 bit installation, eh?  You can download either the 32 bit or 64 bit version for free from their site.

For those that want the full scoop you can check out their complete version comparison chart;  Gladinet also has their own blog, forums, and they tweet their version upgrades.

I’ve added this to my “must have” list this year. Even if I never get an Amazon S3 account on the European side, or my very own EMC Atmos . . .

If you’d like to purchase Gladinet Cloud Desktop Professional Edition for Home Use or their Professional Edition (non home use) I’d appreciate it if you’d use these purchase links; fair disclosure is to tell you that while it won’t cost you anything additional, I would get a small commission should you purchase.  Thanks

From a friend via FaceBook :

For all IPhone and IPod Touch users!! Michael Roberts and 3 friends have just launched a new application (game) for your ipod and phone. Please check it out!! It’s really fun & cool and if you like it, please send this on to all your friends that have an IPhone or ITouch!! Please download it and see what you think! Thanks!

JukeBoxChamps – requires iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=326252292&mt=8

Let Mike Roberts know what you think of it; he hasn’t had time to do much on his website lately with work and family, but his contact info at the bottom is still good

Speakeasy – Speed Test

Good stuff; I know there are plenty of other sites to test your broadband speed out there, but this spot has been pretty consistent for me over time.

I do like the fact that it’s easy to use, over flash. I think some of the java based apps may be slightly more accurate, but this is pretty good.

Plus the choice of a close server, etc.  Some info on your results at  http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/moreinfo.php

As well, to keep your expectations on broadband real – check the price for guaranteed bandwidth.  http://www.speakeasy.net/business/ethernet/ Ahem.

Don’t hesitate to post your favorites, and I’ll check them out and add them to this, as appropriate.