Hasta La Gadget!

While many can tell the difference between Sky TV services and Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage, that’s not necessarily true for everyone. A British court certainly thinks there’s room for confusion: it has ruled that SkyDrive infringes BSkyB’s trademarks on the Sky name in both the UK and the European Union. The presiding judge didn’t believe that Microsoft’s use of the “sky” prefix was absolutely necessary, and she showed evidence that at least some of the general public didn’t understand which company made what. Microsoft says it plans to appeal the verdict, although there’s no guarantee that it will have to relabel SkyDrive if the appeal falls through. Some past trademark lawsuits have led to fines instead of name changes, and we suspect Microsoft would rather pay out than lose brand recognition across a whole continent.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage, Internet, HD, Microsoft

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: BAILII

Although Google Drive has spread far and wide, its localization hasn’t always kept pace. The service just took a few needed strides forward, however, with the addition of 18 new languages. Asia gets the most recognition with support for Hong Kong Chinese, Khmer, Lao, Malaysian, Nepali, Persian, Sinhalese and Urdu. Not that Google is neglecting other corners of the world, mind you: Africa is well covered with the additions of Afrikaans, Amharic, Swahili and Zulu, while Europeans get some TLC through support for Basque, Estonian, Galician and Icelandic. French Canadians and Spanish-speaking Latin Americans get localizations, too. Google Drive still isn’t tuned for every language on Earth, but those with cloud storage in Cape Town or Kuala Lumpur should feel at home.

Filed under: Storage, Internet, Google

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Source: Google Drive Blog

As great as free server space is for us regular folk, businesses use cloud storage too (and they actually pay for it). In an effort to attract the attention of mobile app developers, and ultimately keep enterprise clients happy, Box has launched a revenue-sharing program called $rev for those who create business-focused software integrated with its cloud storage platform. It’s pretty simple, really. Step one: get your app to play nice with Box; step two: people use the app; step three: make it rain. By getting an app into Box’s OneCloud club and enrolling in the $rev program, devs can net up to 15 percent of the “per seat price” in rewards. Although its API is already available, Box has launched iOS and Android SDKs in tandem with $rev to make the integration step a bit easier; more SDKs are expected in the “coming weeks.” The $rev scheme is currently in a closed beta phase, but it’ll open up in the near future. Interested app crafters can learn more about getting paid by Box, download the SDKs and sign up to $rev at the source links below.

Filed under: Storage, Internet

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Via: TheNextWeb

Source: Box (1), (2)

Box just recently snapped up Crocodoc to improve the web component of its cloud storage, but what about tuning the native apps? It’s addressing that side of the equation by acquiring the technology behind Folders, a third-party cloud storage app for iOS. Box loves Folders’ code and design enough to want both of them inside the next generation of its iOS client. Folders creator Martin Destagnol (pictured here at center) has already been working on this for weeks, Box says. While there’s no word on a similar treatment for Android, we should see the iOS partnership bear fruit in updates spread throughout the year.

Filed under: Cellphones, Storage, Internet, Mobile

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Box

Perhaps to celebrate passing the 250 million user mark, SkyDrive is rolling out an update which introduces some nifty time-saving features. Now, you’ll be able to view all your photos — across folders and albums — in a timeline view, with images grouped by event and date for easy searching. There are also filmstrip and slideshow modes, and, according to Microsoft’s Inside SkyDrive blog, photo-upload times have been improved at least twofold. The update brings a few other goodies too: full-resolution camera uploads for all Windows Phone 8 devices worldwide, and new thumbnails for PowerPoint and Word files. The update will begin rolling out today and should make its way to all users within 48 hours.

Filed under: Software, Mobile, Microsoft

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Source: Inside SkyDrive