Wuala Card Competition - The Winners

In order to win a Wuala Card, you had to convince us why you desperately needed a 10 GB Wuala Card. It wasn't easy to decide among all participants, but in the end we picked the following five winners:

Winner Nr. 1
Because I always promote this wonderful tool on Facebook, Twitter and forums on the Internet. I’m active in the French community, especially for Windows Home Server users.
(F.D)

We've seen his retweets and his postings everywhere - definitely a good reason to win!

Winner Nr. 2
I've just started a small business with my partner, and our experimental data is _everything_ to the company right now. We're totally self financing, so she's waiting tables at a restaurant and I'm babysitting and tutoring to pay the bills as we start up. We're in the midst of building our office in the basement of a bank to get a cheap lease :) As we built out our infrastructure we tried using several other online storage/backup/sync solutions but the flexibility of Wuala (like the ability to sync to group folders!!!) and the trade-for-storage model were irresistible. 10GB of storage may not sound like much, but for a company being built on sweat instead of VC the peace of mind is invaluable. (E.O)

A story which touched us. As a startup you need to look after every cent and it's important to store your important data in a safe location. Good luck with your company!

Winner Nr. 3
I am from Romania. I'm a dentist in my country and I have a lot of data of my patients on my work computer. So my reason is to backup all my work. (L.B)

Though none of us really liked going to the dentist, he convinced us. We're proud to see a dentist use Wuala to backup his confidential data.

Winner Nr. 4
I'm the leader of a small group of freelancers focusing on creating finest websolutions, design, development etc. We stick with Wuala since early beta and are still impressed how great it works. The most important part is the high level of security because our data is sometimes really confidential. We archive this data in Wuala with a clear conscience. (A.B)

This case proves that Wuala is great for small teams and for creative professionals. Further, they have been using Wuala since early beta - that's more than two years! Yet another point which convinced us.

Winner Nr. 5
I had my laptop stolen and the little music I had left was what I had backed up to my Wuala space! (C.S)

Right to the point. This is the reason why you need online storage!

All participants have been contacted with a little runner-up surprise, while the 10 GB Wuala Cards are on the way to the winners.

Zürich - IT's happening here

With last week's kick-off event, the city council of Zurich has declared eZurich as the one of the main points in the upcoming legislative period. Aim of eZurich is for Zurich to become a major hub in information technology - or let's put it this way, Zurich should be the Silicon Valley of Europe!

The kick-off event was accompanied by an idea competition open to all citizens of Zurich. Further, there will be a workshop bringing together all major IT-professionals from various companies such as Microsoft or IBM. And guess what: Our very own Luzius is now also an IT celebrity. Together with Myke from Doodle he'll represent the start-up scene. Listen to his quote below (in Swiss German):



If you're living in Zurich, feel free to post your visionary idea to the ideas competition until December 12, 2010. Or if you have a great idea how Wuala could help Zurich, send it to me: oona@wuala.com. Thanks!

Effective Usage: How To Use The Search Function

Wuala's search function is simple: Use the search box and type in your search request. Most of the time, Wuala will find exactly what you're looking for. However, there may be times when you want to specify your search. For this we have compiled some tips and tricks below.

Introduction

A query for an advanced word search consists of terms and operators. There are two types of terms: Single Terms and Phrases.

A Single Term is a single word such as Wuala or friend.

A Phrase is a group of words surrounded by double quoted such as “wuala group”. Multiple terms can be combined together with Boolean operators to form a more complex query.

Boolean Operators

2 Boolean operators are supported: “+” and “-”.

+ Operator:
The “+” operator requires that the term after the “+” symbol must exist somewhere in the field of a single item.

To search for items that must contain flower, but may contain tree use the query:

+flower tree

- Operator:

The “-” operator excludes items that contain the term after the “-” symbol.
The search for items that contain flower but not tree use the query:
flower -tree

Wildcard Search

To perform a multiple character wildcard search use the “*” symbol. This search is supported only within single terms, and “*” may not be the first character.
Multiple character wildcard searches looks for 0 or more characters.
For example, to search for test, tests, or tester, you can use the search:
test*

Fuzzy Search

To perform a fuzzy search use the tilde, “~”, symbol at the end of a Single word Term.
For example to search for a term similar in spelling to roam use the fuzzy search:
roam~
This search will find terms like foam and roams.

Field

When performing a search you can either specify a field or use the default field. You can search any field by typing the field name followed by a colon “:” and then the term or phrase you are looking for.

To search for the users whose username is Wuala use the query:
user:Wuala

To search for the tag music use the query:
Tags:music

The supported fields are as following:

name (name of items, such as file-name, link-name), description, tags, comments, commentAuthors, owner, path, extras (specific meta data such as artist, song title, album, etc.), fullName, email, skype, founder, uploadDate, modificationDate, firstPublishingDate, content, restricted (0: not restricted; 1: restricted)

If you don’t specify a field, the results are found from the default fields:
name, owner, description, tags, comments, commentAuthors, founder, fullName, extras.

Grouping

Parentheses are using to group multiple clauses to form sub queries.
To search for either tree or present and Christmas use the query ( may exist and either term tree or present must exist):
+(tree present) Christmas

Range Search

Range Queries allow you to match items whose value are between the lower and upper bound specified by the Range Query. Sorting is done lexicographically.
uploadDate:[20091001 TO 20091002]
This will find items which have been uploaded from October 1, 2009 to October 2, 2009 (included).

Effective Usage: How To Sync Your Folders In Your Group

With yesterday's release Unterstrass we introduced the feature Group Sync. Instead of just syncing your files to your different computers, you can now sync your files in a private group and share the folder with your fellow group members. This is great for small teams who need to have access to the same files on multiple computers.

Your Requirements
Before trying to set up a sync folder in your group, you should bear in mind that you need to be a pro user in order to setup and link a group sync folder to your computer. Further, you can only setup a sync folder in a private group. In order to setup and link a group sync folder to your computer you need to have the permission to do so. In short: Please check your role and its permission in your private group (click on the group and go to File > Roles and Permissions...). Your permission has to be set to Add and delete any items, otherwise you will not be able to sync.

Note that there are two ways how to setup a sync folder in your private group. Either create a completely new sync folder in your group or sync an existing folder to your computer.

How To Setup A New Folder
In order to setup a s new folder in your group, simply go to File > Add Sync. Here it is important to have a look at the Advanced features, since this is where you define the location of the folder within Wuala. By setting the location to one of your private groups, a new folder is created allowing you and your group members to upload files to that folder and to link the folder to the computers of your choice.
How To Sync An Existing Folder
Choose the folder and go to File > Synchronize with this computer. By clicking on Path you can define the location of the sync folder on your computer. From now on you can simply edit and add files to your local folder on your computer and Wuala will automatically sync it to all associated computers.

Tips
When syncing a group folder to your computer you should be aware of the fact that other group members can add and delete any file in the sync folder, hence this affects your local folder on your computer. In case a file is deleted, you can still find the file in the trash of your group as long as the trash has not been emptied.

Let's recap: Group sync is highly recommend for small teams who need to have their files up to date on every computer they are using. When setting up group sync, you can either setup a completely new folder or link an existing folder to your computer. Since files are directly available in a local folder on your computer, we recommend to only use group sync with people you trust.

Release: Unterstrass

We're excited to have just released Unterstrass a few minutes ago! With our newest release we have done some major bug fixing and have added some excellent new features:

Group Sync
You can now sync folders within a private group. If you're a Pro user you can set up a sync folder in your private group, allowing other group members who are pro to sync this folder to their computer. This is perfect for small teams working with multiple computers. We will explain this new feature in a separate posting.

Enhance Your Uploads
With our new bandwidth checker, Wuala automatically sets your upload and download rates. Simply go to Tools > Options (Win/Linux) or Wuala > Preferences (Mac) and Connection, click on Guess Bandwidth, and let Wuala do the rest. Don't be surprised if you were able to optimize your upload and download experience with just one click!

Quick Access
Our new buttons allow you to access the different tabs faster. Just click on the tab of your choice and you're there in no time. Forget endless scrolling!

Sidepane

The new sidepane makes it easier for you to see the details to selected folders and files. You can enable the sidepane by clicking on the small arrow on the right and instantly edit file and folder descriptions.

Trial for Pro Features
You can now try out the pro features for 30 days. Click on the Backups or Sync tab in the client and enable trial. Enjoy!

Superior Search
We have enhanced the search function. Not only is the local search much faster, it also allows you to use the boolean operators. We will give you a few hints to improve your search in a posting next week.

Another New Team Member

Hello world,

my name is Bastian. I started together with Peter and today is my second day here.

Before Wuala I was working for a big swiss bank as a software architect and engineer. My goal now is to bring in my experience in software architecture and application development to enhance the face of the Wuala client.

To relax from tough but interesting work I go out into the mountains enjoying the beautiful swiss alps.

I am looking forward to a great time.

Look me up here.

New Team Member!

Hi,
my name is Peter and as every carreer at Wuala starts with a post in this blog, I want to give you some short facts about me.

I've studied applied computer sciences at the "Fachhochschule Furtwangen" in germany a bit over 10 years ago. Most of my developer life I've spent with backend systems, ranging from my own mail server at home to financial data processing in the banking industry. But I've also collected some experience on the front end side, recently increased by some iPhone development.

Personally, in the last years I moved my focus to microcontroller development, especially for model airplanes. So I stick to things that can crash for my hobbies.

At Wuala I'm starting in the backend area and will soon share some of the high responsibility for your beloved files! And as things are quite dynamic in here, I guess I'll also be involved in some other stuff.

You can find me here at Wuala.

Regards,
Peter