Microsoft sure is getting better at naming their products! Windows Live SkyDrive is sure better than Windows Live Folders (the previous name of this service in the earlier betas), or Windows Live Online Data Repository Home Edition…
Even though I was registered for the earlier betas, I never really paid too much attention to it until they announced the name change earlier this week. I kicked the tires by using it to send share some files with Lance, and am now storing some application backup files there. I’ve got nothing but praise for this thing. Simple UI, easy to use, 500 MB of disk space, permissions, Windows Live Messenger integration… what more can I say?
While the product is still in beta, they have opened this thing up and are allowing pretty much anyone to register. Go check it out, and put some data up in the sky… or just check out the Windows Live SkyDrive team blog.
I think it is criminal that any web site or service let you sign-up for an account without making it simple to remove your account should you ever want to stop using the web site or service.
This has bugged me for a really long time, and Box.net is just the latest service to piss me off.
Box.net is an online disk service that I have used on occasion to transfer or store files. With the Windows Live SkyDrive service offering me far more now, I no longer required an account or the 100 MB of disk space that they had been giving me. So, tonight I logged in with the sole purpose of removing my account…
Let me just say that as a user, I should never have to refer to a “Terms of Service” legal document to find out how to remove my account. That is totally ridiculous. As it turns out, I have to email their support and ask for my account to be removed. No problem, but just put it in your FAQ or on the same page where you are trying to get me to sign up for all your “professional” grade services.
Am I asking for too much here? I just don’t want to have to refer to legal documents on a web site to find out how to deal with canceling a service, or removing a user account.
I like to sign up for all kinds of weird web services, many of which I remove myself from inside of 5-10 minutes. “Web 2.0″ applications are everywhere, but only some are worth using.
MyMileMarker looks like it is one of the good ones, at least right now. The premise for the application is something that I have done off and on for years… track my car’s gas mileage.
Some people use little notebooks that get stored in their glove boxes, while others do some quick long division in their head to get the current MPG right before they forget about it pulling out of the gas station…
MyMileMarker is quite possibly the nerdiest way to do it yet, and you even have three possible inputs to choose from…
You can logon to the website when you get to a computer and manually enter the data.
You can use your cell phone’s mobile browser and login to their mobile website and manually enter the data.
You can send them a text message from your phone (via a Twitter direct message) and have the data input for you.
I think the Twitter integration is what makes this application the most interesting. Sending a quick SMS is the best case model for me, and one that I think I can actually keep up with using.
d mymm 6500 12 3.15
That’s what the text message would look like. The twitter username is mymm, followed by the current odometer reading, the number of gallons or liters, and the price per gallon or liter. Quick, easy, simple.
After putting data in for the first time, you will start to see all kinds of pretty graphs and figures that show predictions up to one year out. Really cool stuff, but I can’t see it being terribly useful without at least a few months worth of data in there.
This is presently a beta web application (what isn’t these days), but at this point anyone who wants to can join.
Apparently, I’m one of the cool kids right now, and have Pownce invites to give away… Three of them to be exact. If you want one, leave a comment and I will try and help.
GrandCentral had a very simple idea… that your phone number should be tied to you, and not your location. I still have a home phone, a work phone and a cell phone, but now I just give people my GrandCentral number and it knows how to find me.
They launched their service at the DEMO conference last Fall, and I was lucky enough to get a phone number just days after launch. For the most part, I have been a very happy user of the service ever since.
A few weeks back, Google acquired the company and the service became a closed beta again. So, I now have 10 invitations which I can send to anyone who wants one. If you would like for me to send one to you, just leave your name and email in the comments.I’m all out of invitations, but several people in the comments have posted that they are willing to share invitations. Please email them if you are looking.
If you are curious to know more about how the service works, or what the company is all about, you can watch their really impressive presentation at last year’s DEMO conference…
The New York Times Circuit’s also did a rather humorous review/advertisement of the service…
