Wuala in Stores!

Great news today: From now on you can go and buy a Wuala Card directly at selected stores in Switzerland!

With a Wuala Card you get 10 GB and those awesome pro features - automatic backup, sync and file versioning. The cards are exclusively available at Interdiscount (only XXL stores), Data Quest and Heiniger AG.

To celebrate this, we're giving away 5 Wuala Cards. Tell us why YOU need to win a card and send your reason to competition@wuala.com.* We'll pick the best five reasons on November 9. Good luck!

*Competition closes on November 8, 2010 at 12 PM CET.

Effective Usage: Getting Your Paper Done

One of the greatest advantages of being a student today is that there are various tools helping you to increase your productivity. This is something I clearly missed a few years ago. Since I am now doing additional studies, I am relieved to have access to all those tools, making my life as a student much easier.

Everything In It's Place
For our ongoing research seminar our study group has to create a thesis, conduct research and hand in a paper in the end. Thinking of all those documents and the different stages of doing research - we knew it would be a lot of work. As a group of three, we needed a solution where we could store all data and allowing all of us to access it. For this we created a private group on Wuala - our personal hub for files - where we have carefully organized all files in different folders.

You Know What's Important
For us, conducing research also means having to create a survey. There are many different online survey tools, but which one would match our needs? Which tool would support our questions and their conditions? You can easily search the tools, but in order to make a decision in the end, you would need all relevant information such as features and pricing. For this, we decided to set up a Memonic set were we were able to clip the essential information and share it with each other before making a decision.

Feeling Connected
Since we are pretty busy and don't live in the same city, we decided on having regular Skype calls. A major advantage of having Skype calls is that we're all in front of the computer anyway, so we can directly edit our files on Wuala or look at the set on Memonic and make instant decisions. Furthermore, Skype allows you to do share your screen, making it easy to show your friends what you're talking about.

Face To Face
Though Skype is great for deciding on our next tasks and steps, there are times when we need to discuss things face to face. In order to find a date, we rely on Doodle. Thanks to Doodle we end up at the same table and realize: Though we're literally stuck with our research paper we're having great fun - something we wouldn't want to miss!

For us Wuala, Memonic, Doodle and Skype have given us a clear advantage. Though studying is hard work, the right tools have supported us and made our life a lot easier. By organizing ourselves online, we were able to save time and stress, and at the same time increase our productivity. The good thing is: You can do it too! Check out eKnife - the perfect bundle to boost your efficiency.

eKnife.ch: Get More Swiss Efficiency For Less

We're excited: Together with Doodle and Memonic we're launching eKnife.ch! With our brand-new online Swiss Army Knife you can now get three cool services for the price of two: Clip the essential with Memonic, schedule your meetings with Doodle and get more storage on Wuala.

A Perfect Match Made On Twitter
After some random tweeting on a Friday night involving ourselves and top three bloggers @bloggingtom, @leumund and @michelrossier we came up with this idea and before we knew it, the eKnife was born. You can read the whole story over here.

Presenting: Doodle and Memonic
You know who we are - but do you know our friends? Let me introduce them to you.

Organizing a meeting for ten people and trying to find a date can be a pain. This is where Doodle comes in: Simply set up your dates, send the link to everyone who should participate and you've got a final date in just two clicks!

Surfing on the web and stumbling upon content you want to keep has always been kind of unsatisfying. Just bookmarking the link doesn't really help, after all you want to make use of the content. With Memonic you can simply save web content and access it from every computer or mobile device. This is great for your travels: Instead of printing out the way to your hotel and the places of interest, simply combine this in a Memonic set and take it with you on your iPhone, iPad or any other mobile device.

What You'll Get
As a eKnife user, you'll be a premium user with the following goodies:

• Doodle: No more ads for you and your participants, easily track your polls, choose your default calender and get this really cool Doodle crown ;)
• Memonic: Unlimited sets and groups - simply capture as much content as you like.
• Wuala: 10 GB of online storage and those nifty features automatic backup, sync and file versioning.

This special bundle is limited until December 31, 2010 and is available for 59 CHF (44 EUR) at eKnife.ch. Get yours now!

Top Ten Questions and Their Answers: How Long Will It Take To Upload My Data?

Last week we talked about the pros and cons of the Wuala Client and the Wuala Drive. This week we will describe how you can calculate how long your backup will approximately take.

When uploading data to Wuala, all files first get encrypted directly on your computer before they are uploaded to Wuala. After they have been uploaded they are split up into many pieces (fragments), which are then stored in multiple places. This whole process takes some time, however the question is: How long?

Your Internet Connection Matters
Since Wuala is an online storage service, the duration mainly depends on your Internet connection. However, there are two other factors which we should take into account:

1. The amount of data you want to backup
2. If your data has already been stored on Wuala

It makes sense that 10 GB takes longer than 5 GB, but it may not be apparent that Wuala deduplicates files. This means that files which have already been uploaded once, do not need to be uploaded again.

The Maths
Before we start doing some calculations, remember that 1 MB = 1024 KB, while 1 GB = 1024 MB. In the following example, we're assuming that you have 1 GB of data to upload. Normally, internet providers specify the available bandwidth in kBit/s, sometimes also written as kbps. Devide this by eight to get KB/s (one byte has eight bits). Furthermore, upload bandwidth is often about a tenth of download bandwidth for non-business connections. Example:

1. Let's assume you have 'DSL 6000' from T-Online. This connections offers 'up to 6 MBit/s' for downloads and 'up to 576kBit/s' uploads.
2. 576kBit/s per second are 72KB/s. As this is 'up to' and normally not reached, we use 60KB/s for our calculations.
3. A day has somewhat less than 100'000 seconds. So we can upload about 5 GB per day. (100'000s * 60KB/s * somewhat less = 5 GB)
4. So a 25 GB backup will take at least five days to finish.

Btw: did you know that uploads can slow down downloads and vice versa? The reason for this is that during any download, your computer constantly acknowledges the reception of the data. If these acknowledgements get stuck in upload traffic congestion, the download slows down. A typical http download from the web causes about 1KB/s of hidden upload traffic per 10KB/s download traffic. That's why downloads can slow down concurrently running uploads.

*Data deduplication means that if the same file is inserted twice at two different places, we detect that and can skip the upload of the second insertion.

Top Ten Questions and Their Answers: The Wuala Client vs. The Wuala Drive

Last week we illustrated what will happen to your files in case you exceed your account. In this week's posting we will explain the pros and cons of the Wuala Client and The Wuala Drive.

For some users there may be a confusion about the Wuala Client and the Wuala Drive. While some prefer to access their files directly in the Windows Explorer or the Wuala Drive, others solely use the Wuala Client.

The Wuala Drive
With the file system integration, Wuala is integrated seamlessly into your system. You can access your files as if they were in a folder directly on your desktop. With Wuala running in the background, you are not even aware of the fact that you're actually using a software.

Pros

• Direct access to your files
• Wuala is running in the background (close the Wuala window)

Cons

• Features such as sharing or automatic backup cannot be used directly
• Group members are not viewable
• It is not apparent if your folder is private, shared or public, and if it is a backup or sync folder

Even though it may appear that there are more cons than pros, using Wuala via the Wuala Drive is a lot easier especially if you're just focussed on editing your personal files.

The Wuala Client
The Wuala Client brings you a user interface with which you can easily share folders, configure your backup settings or define folders for syncing. Further, you can directly see if a folder is private, shared or public.

Pros

• Features such as sharing, backup and sync can accessed directly
• Group members are visible
• Visibility of your folder: private, shared or public

Cons

• You need to have the Wuala Client running

With the client you can use all of Wuala's features, something which you cannot do by solely accessing your files directly via the Wuala Drive.

It's Up To You

So how should you use Wuala? Even though I believe this is completely up to you and your preferences, I would recommend the following:

• If you're a person who just wants to access your files and edit them, you should use Wuala within the Windows Explorer or via the Wuala Drive.
• If you want to share folders and collaborate in a group, you will probably feel more confortable in using the Wuala Client.

Let me know what type you are: A Wuala Client or a Wuala Drive?

Effective Usage: Backup Your Social Life

Yesterday Facebook announced the ability to download all the information you've ever put on Facebook with just one click: your messages, Wall posts, photos, status updates and profile information. Facebook will gather your information and will send you a download link where you can download your information in a .zip file. After unzipping the file you can easily access the information in your browser.

Don't Forget Your Backup

In order to protect the information you've downloaded, why not store it on Wuala? Just drag and drop the folder to your personal Wuala account to always have a backup of your social life. Since Wuala encrypts your files directly on your desktop, you can be sure that your data is private and secure. Only you - not even we as the provider - can access your files.

Top 10 Questions and Their Answers: What If I Exceed My Account?

Our previous posting explained the function of the local cache. This week we will answer a very simple question: What will happen if you store more data than you're actually allowed to?

When you sign up for Wuala you start off with 1 GB for free. You can get more online storage by either buying additional storage or by trading local storage for online storage.

If you buy online storage your storage will be valid for one year. After one year your additional storage will expire. This means that you will most likely have more data stored on Wuala than your account allows you to have. For example: You have bought 10 GB for one year. Your storage plan expires. You now only have 1 GB of online storage left, however, you have stored 9 GB.

The same might also apply when trading storage. There might be a situation where you have to turn off the computer (e.g. vacation) resulting in a decrease of your online storage, since you are no longer fulfilling the requirements of trading storage.

The question arises: What will happen now? Will data be deleted? Will the account be blocked?

The answer is simple: No, we will not delete your data or block your account without informing you. What will happen is that you cannot upload any additional files until you have enough space again. Hence, we recommend renewing your storage plan or simply start trading as soon as you're back from vacation again!