bitcasa blog

May 22 2013

Android, App Update, Bitcasa News, Bitcasa Tech, iOS, Web Access

A Fresh New Web Experience at my.bitcasa.com

Over the last few months our developers have been heads down working on creating a more intuitive and higher performing Web experience. Many of these changes were the direct result of what we heard from you and the stuff you care about.

For those of you that haven’t used our Web access you should check it out. Go to my.bitcasa.com from any browser (you don’t need to install Bitcasa first) and use it as a fast & easy way to stream your music, videos and photo albums anywhere you might be. The Web interface not only gives you access to all your content, but it also plays videos natively in your browser.

A Better Web Experience

Here are some of the latest editions to the new Bitcasa Web experience at my.bitcasa.com:

1. A Crisp New Look

We are now optimized for mobile phones and tablets, creating a really great experience for anytime, anywhere instant access to all your digital goods (music, videos, photos, etc.).

We have also made lots of other changes under the hood to make sure you have thright tools at your fingertips when you’re on the go.

2. Photo and Document Preview

Now when you click on a Bitcasa Send Link, you can instantly see a preview of your photos or document right there on the web page. No need to download them to view!

3. Shorter Send Links
We have taken a hint from the folks at Bitly and shortened our sharing links so they’re easier to include in your emails, Facebook posts, and tweets.

4. My Drive is the new Folders

We have renamed the “Folders” view to “My Drive” to better reflect all the content you have on Bitcasa. Click it to see what’s on your Infinite Drive. We will be doing this across all our applications for a more seamless experience.

5. A Better Photo Viewing Experience

We know that album art from your music collection can clutter your Photos view. We now filter for any small photos under 50kb in size to be excluded from the “Photos” section.

If you have questions about how my.bitcasa.com works, please check out this post which highlights some commonly asked questions and gives advice on how to get started.

An improved Web experience is one of the many things we are working on and you’ll be the first to know as soon as we have any new updates.

Tagged mobile, music, photos, web

May 16 2013

41 Comments

Bitcasa News, Bitcasa Tech, Mac

New Windows & Mac Updates!

Over the last month, our team has been working hard to stabilize and improve the performance of our Infinite Drive for Windows and Mac desktops.

Just released, the updated Windows and Mac desktop clients are now available for download on our website at www.bitcasa.com/download. We will also be pushing an in-app upgrade notification for all Mac users (Windows users should already have received a notification). With these updates you can expect faster upload and download times, and an overall improvement in performance and stability across the board.

Windows updates include:

Boosted Explorer performance
Faster performance when uploading concurrently from multiple machines
Optimized cache to make it faster and more responsive, especially for large or full caches
Improved performance on large copy jobs
File uploads from local cache will continue if Bitcasa is interrupted
Fixes Windows issue with displaying Mirrored drives named with a colon (i.e. “E:” will now display “E Drive” and be accessible from all Windows operating systems)
Ability to change your device’s name via the “Settings” menu

Mac updates include:

Major stability and performance improvements across the board
Improved performance on large copy jobs
Boosted Finder performance
Faster performance when uploading concurrently from multiple machines
Optimized cache to make it faster and more responsive, especially for large or full caches

We realize for many of you have been waiting for this, so thank you for your patience and continued support.

[UPDATE: Mac users -- if you experience an issue upgrading the Mac client, just delete the "Bitcasa" app from your Applications folder and run the latest version downloaded from http://www.bitcasa.com/download. Don't worry, all your data and settings will be perfectly safe!]

Tagged app, backup, infinite, Mac, performance, Windows

May 10 2013

7 Comments

Bitcasa Tech, Questions and tips

Attention Moms: 7 Tips to Simplify Your Life on Mother’s Day

Have you ever lost precious photos or rummaged through drawers in frantic search of a document you need for your kid’s first day of school? Well, in hectic households Bitcasa can be a real game-changer helping your family safely store, find and share infinite amounts of information.

Here are seven ways your family can take advantage of Bitcasa:

Create album favorites: Upload your photos to easily view and share your memories at family functions, parties with friends or with your children when they grow up! You can create albums for Halloween, the holidays or family milestones and instantly access them anytime and anywhere on any device.
Be prepared for any occasion: Back up important documents (work, tax, healthcare, immunization records, etc.) to ensure they don’t get moved, ripped, spilled on, lost or face any other disaster. You can also access your files in real-time. Say it’s the first day of preschool and you need to access your child’s latest immunization records, Bitcasa helps you avoid those frantic searches!
Enjoy your full music library: Do you get annoyed that your phone or tablet doesn’t have enough space to hold your music library? Upload all your songs to Bitcasa and enjoy at your next family reunion or children’s birthday party.
Share precious moments as they happen: From any device, use Send To Friend links to let your friends and family easily stream pictures and large videos. For example, send videos to Grandma who wasn’t able to make it to graduation. Or save on costly international data fees when you’re traveling abroad! And no need to download videos, Bitcasa just streams them instantly.
Travel planning: Make sure all your files are backed up when you travel in case you have any unexpected issues requiring proof of identity, vaccinations or confirmation of hotel and flight reservations. Remember these can be accessed on any device or you can remotely access using your password on someone else’s device with my.bitcasa.com. Also by “Favoriting” files, such as movies, you can access them offline to watch on the plane or in the car.
Store your favorite recipes: With Bitcasa you can easily store and share your favorite family recipes. When you start cooking just open the recipe on your phone, iPad or other device. You can also get creative and file your recipes based on cultural delights or holiday themes.
Scan and save artwork: You can scan and save all of your children’s school work and art without ever running out of space. And when your kids get older you can share your favorite pieces.

This is only a few of the ways that moms can use Bitcasa! We’d love to hear interesting ways you’re using it!

Tagged harddrive, moms, music, photos, safe, secure, storage, travel, videos

May 08 2013

1 Comment

Bitcasa News, Infographic, Survey

Have you ever lost digital photos and videos? Nearly 50% of moms have

Check out the recent findings from our survey, which asked moms how they are storing their important photos and files. The survey results show that moms need an easier way to safely store and secure their memories. To help with this, for Mother’s Day, Bitcasa is offering moms a $30 savings with the promo code JUSTFORMOM. Sign up at http://www.bitcasa.com through May 13, 2013 to get a year of Bitcasa’s infinite and secure storage.

Tagged back up, digital, hard drive, infographic, mom, mother's day, photos, storage, survey, videos

May 06 2013

From One Mom to Another

The other day, my husband’s Facebook post read, “Ever have one of those days in the office where you really want to listen to a band like Concrete Blond, but left it on the home computer?” When I saw this, I knew I could immediately make his day with Bitcasa. I had just set to mirror the music folder on his computer a couple of days before, so I knew I could send the songs to him in minutes. I logged into my.bitcasa.com, found the folder, and sent him the link. He was delighted!

I’m always finding new ways to use Bitcasa, so it came as no surprise when I was asked to write a Mother’s Day blog post about my experiences. I most frequently use Bitcasa for photos.

Even last week I uncovered more uses while helping my daughter with her 5th Grade Science Fair project. A last minute decision, she decided she wanted more pictures for her project’s display board. Given my camera was broken, we turned to my trusty iPad mini to snap some photos, but then I realized I hadn’t synced it to my computer yet and had no time to set it up and get her to school on time!

In the past I would have panicked, but with Bitcasa I simply opened up the app and my daughter took the pictures she needed with my iPad and I opened the Bitcasa app to let the camera roll upload. Then I was able to open the “Uploads” folder in Bitcasa on my computer for my daughter to print the pictures she needed for her display board, all while getting to school on time!

I am also really passionate about using Bitcasa for my family photos. One of my favorite bedtime routines is to cuddle with my daughter and scan through the family album either with my.bitcasa.com or the Bitcasa app on one of our tablets. I really enjoy the way the album view brings up pictures you forgot you had, making it so fun to flip through. My daughter could look at them endlessly.

My daughter viewing photos on Bitcasa during our bedtime routine

Before uploading my photos to Bitcasa, they were pretty much a mess and were not being enjoyed. I had them scattered across a couple of different computers, back up CDs and even one big dead USB hard drive (that I still wonder whether it holds pictures I don’t have on backup CDs) with no good way to enjoy them quickly. Now, I can answer those burning questions like, “Was I Spider Girl for Halloween when I was 4 or in Kindergarten?” in a matter of minutes, at swim practice. (Please tell me I am not the only one who has to answer to these critical kid issues NOW!?!)

Under my “family photos” folder I have made a folder for each year, and then copied in the project folders that my camera makes.

With Summer Camps coming up quickly, I strongly suggest you keep a copy of your kid’s forms in Bitcasa, as well as vaccination records. When the camp director calls, it will probably be faster to find the form there, than crumpled up in the bottom of your kid’s backpack. Would love to hear how you’re using Bitcasa in your home!

By Zoe McAtee

Tagged backup, harddrive, ipad, mom, parents, photos, uploads, videos

Apr 30 2013

39 Comments

App Update

Latest Updates to Our Infinite Drive

Our team has been busy making significant product adjustments and improvements and we wanted to share with you the latest updates to the Bitcasa Infinite Drive.

Desktop Clients

For Mac (1061) and Windows (v1.0.1.14) we have made significant performance and stability updates including adding the ability to relocate the cache from the C:\ drive on Windows. We also made big steps to increase bandwidth by adding a new data center on the East Coast.

Android App

We’ve made several new updates to our general Android app, including:

New ‘Quick Action’ menu in the Folders view for easy access to “Delete,” “Share,” “Favorite,” etc.

Adding “Share” in the Folders view
Zoom in and zoom out while viewing photos
Adding “Stream with” menu option to let you stream videos in full resolution without transcoding.
Adding “Open with” menu option and “Quick actions” for Folders, Music (track view), Photo and Video views. “Open With” will bring up a list of applications on the device that can open this type of file. If there is only one application that can handle it, then it will just open it directly.
Improvements to downloading (“Favoriting”) files, especially large files
Changing “Connect to Camera” name to “Camera Auto-Backup”
New icons all around! Music, Photos, Videos and Folders are brighter and shinier
Thumbnails for pictures and videos in the Folders view to simplify file browsing
Better handling of international characters in filenames

Download the new version from the Google Play Store or click “Update” in the app store.

iOS (1.1)

We’ve introduced several improvements and fixes to iOS.

Uploads in the background
Added thumbnails for images in “Folders” and “Favorites” views

Multiple new features in the music player, including “Shuffle,” “Repeat All,” “Repeat Once,” and “Play Album” button

Web Access: http://my.bitcasa.com

We have improved overall performance of the Web access, including the video playback compatibility for FireFox, Safari and Chrome browsers.

We are heads down with more updates on the roadmap and will keep you posted on new developments.Your experience is very important to us and we love hearing all your feedback, so keep it coming.

We’re confident that Bitcasa’s infinite storage and frustration-free sharing IS the future, so thank you all for your continued support!

Apr 27 2013

65 Comments

Bitcasa Tech

A Note to Linux Users

We want to provide you with a window into the status of the Bitcasa Linux client and our upcoming plans to support Linux

Our Linux alpha client is still active, although we do not recommend that users mix it with our new Mac / Windows clients at this time. Because of this, we removed it from the downloads page in order to prevent future users from having any issues.

However, we do have plans to better support Linux and update it to our latest experience so that it can be used cross-platform. As we do this, we’d love to get the community’s feedback on what you want most. Specifically, we often hear requests for these options:

A “headless” Linux client. Essentially, make our library available to users.
A full user interface similar to what is available on Mac and Windows.

Please let us know what you prefer as well as any other ideas you have in the comments below. Linux users are an integral piece of our community, and we look forward to giving you more support in the future.

Tagged linux

Apr 15 2013

9 Comments

App Update, Questions and tips

Video Tips for Your IOS and Android

Interested in the video playback features of your Infinite Drive? Check out these tips to ensure you’re getting the most out of your Bitcasa streaming experience.

If you play music and videos on your iPhone or iPad, you can also enjoy them on the big screen! Simply use AirPlay to stream your music and videos to your AppleTV.
You can now watch your videos in full HD within the Android app – take advantage of your fast connection by opening your videos with the “Stream with” menu option. You’ll now enjoy your video in full HD! Note that Bitcasa Android app typically transcodes your videos (we are working hard to ensure we can transcode each movie type!) to save bandwidth, but if this is not an issue, you can get a better viewing experience in seconds.
If you use the VLC video player, you can increase its network cache timing from 10ms to 1000ms so that you receive a much smoother streaming experience. Simple as that!
By “Favoriting” files you can access a local copy instantly while offline and in full quality. So it no longer matters where you’re viewing your files…and it guarantees the best quality viewing experience. Play your videos and music offline on the bus, train, or plane! When you’re done, just “Remove from Favorites” to remove the local copy and free up space!

We designed Bitcasa in such a way that your computer thinks your files are on a local hard drive, which means any application can access your files. We are making it possible for you to be able to instantly stream any video or music file to your PC or mobile device.

Let us know if you have any questions. Also, watch this video and see for yourself how easy it is to add and stream HD videos.

Tagged Android, hard drive, harddrive, hd video, iOS, mobile, storage, video

Apr 02 2013

18 Comments

Questions and tips

5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Bitcasa

We’re thrilled that you’ve made the decision to enjoy Bitcasa’s Infinite Drive and join our user community that spans more than 100 countries. Now that you have access to limitless, secure storage in the cloud, you can ditch your external hard drives and trust that we have you covered. To make sure you get the most of your Bitcasa experience, here are five things you can do:

1. Access your Data from Anywhere: From your home computer and work laptop to your phone and tablet – the Bitcasa Infinite Drive works seamlessly across all devices. Take a few minutes to install the iOS, Android, or Surface app on your devices and enjoy having your entire library of data available from your pocket.

2. Share with Anyone: Whether you want to send an entire portfolio of work to a client, hundreds of baby photos to Grandma or movies to your friends, rest easy knowing that Bitcasa makes sharing files of any size a breeze with the ‘Send to Friend’ and ‘Share’ options.

3. Get Automatic Back Up: With Bitcasa you don’t have to worry about backing up your data, because we do it for you. Just right-click to “mirror” your folders to your Infinite Drive and your files will be automatically and continuously backed up and available from anywhere. From that point on, any version of a file can be retrieved by calendar date, even if you accidentally delete a file.

4. Stream Video on my.bitcasa.com: With Bitcasa web access you can watch movies and stream videos from anywhere and from any device that has a browser. The Web interface not only grants you access to all your content, but it also plays videos natively in your browser or will transcode the file so it’s accessible on any platform.

5. Direct download any Web link to Bitcasa: Skip downloading and then re-uploading. By installing Bitcasa’s Chrome Plugin, you can instantly download files direct to your Bitcasa account as you browse the Web. Reading an interesting PDF document you want to save for later? With the Bitcasa extension, you can download the file and easily access it on your computer, phone or tablet whenever you wish.

We’re committed to making your user experience seamless and simple. If there are other features you enjoy or tips we should highlight, let us know.

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