Blogging

Got a big file you need to send to a friend or family member? You can either spend time uploading it to a hosting service, or start a one time transfer that will be deleted from the cloud within 24 hours. Streamfile is a service that does just that and with a high level of simplicity, making it pretty close to perfect for sending large files to non-tech savvy individuals.

Just pick what file you want to transfer to your friend (up to 2GB in size) and the service will spit out two URLs for you to send either on your own or via e-mail. One is a generic URL, while the other is secured with AES 256-bit SSL encryption, the same level of security you’d find on most banking sites. Whoever clicks that link will begin downloading the file in their browser’s download manager as the uploader on your site seeds the file onto a temporary spot on its servers. Even before you’ve managed to finish uploading your recipient can begin their download. Pretty cool.

One HUGE potential danger of the service is that you can spoof other people’s identities and send executables–something that’s been banned on most Web mail services both on the sending and receiving end. It lets you to pick both the name and e-mail of the sender which comes through as an e-mail from them instead of the service itself. If you’re targeting someone and know they’ll click on what you’re sending them, you could easily rename malicious files and get them to open them unless they’ve got capable antivirus software installed.

Huge security fraud potential aside, it’s blissfully simple to use and a huge asset for passing big files to friends. If you’ve been wary of installing a software solution and paying for premium services that let you break that 500MB to 1GB barrier found on most services, Streamfile makes a highly desirable solution.

[via SimpleSpark]

Streamfile lets you send as many files as you want, up to 2GB, either in total or per single file.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Read more here:
Streamfile lets you send files to friends; malware to enemies

Vysr RoamAbout, a browser add-on for contextual search that launched earlier this year at the Web 2.0 Expo, is opening up its service for developers Monday morning.

Vysr founder and CEO Guda Venkatesh says he wants the platform to be a veritable (and ultimately profitable) sandbox for developers.

The add-on tucks a small sidebar in the corner of your browser, letting you highlight text and quickly search various Web services to find out more–all without leaving the page.

Lately, I’ve seen a few publishing services that let content creators do this (see Apture and Zemanta) , but Vysr’s solution is more voluntary, and it is aimed at users who want to look things up from very targeted services without having to rely on the built-in search box in their browser. To a certain degree, Vysr is an attempt to ween users off of the search box, for the sake of productivity.

The GrooveShark application on Vysr will look up bands or music tracks just by highlighting them in your browser.

(Credit: Vysr, Inc.)

Venkatesh says it will be an uphill battle to attract developers to build and maintain plug-ins, but after having watched Facebook’s platform launch, he told me that he thinks the overall simplicity of building a Vysr application will attract bootstrapped developers who have put more care and finesse into their applications.

One of the new applications for today is a music search module that will look up any word or track name you highlight, then cross-reference it with GrooveShark Lite. When found, it will play the track in the corner of your browser while you continue to surf around, making it a pretty good addition to something like reading an album review.

As mentioned earlier, Vysr will eventually have ads as part of the equation. According to Venkatesh, they’ll only be on the little application overlay windows–not on the sidebar itself–meaning that you won’t be randomly surfing a page and getting advertisements. My guess is that most people will be willing to tolerate ads for convenience’s sake.

If you’re a developer looking to get your service integrated, you can check out the documentation here. Venkatesh says it took only 10 minutes to port over GrooveShark, so you might be able to get yours done during a bathroom break.

The rest is here:
Vysr launches developer platform

On Monday, Yahoo will begin the weeklong roll out of the new My Yahoo to users in all markets. The start page service is graduating from the much-coveted beta status, and integrating improvements made over the last several months like new and third-party content modules, a streamlined header, and advertising that’s not as in-your-face as previous iterations. (See full list of updates below.)

The move paves the way for Yahoo’s open-platform strategy, which was announced in late April. It lets developers create widgets that work on other Yahoo properties and OpenSocial in the hopes of expanding how and where content can be used.

All My Yahoo users should have the new version of by July 14.

From the release:

Custom-designed modules with more of great content from select publishers (such as New York Times, People, Wall Street Journal, etc.)

New and improved Yahoo! modules, including Top Picks from Your Page, Flickr, Note to Self, To Do List, Movie Showtimes, Scoreboard, Stock Portfolios, TV Listings, Calendar, Yahoo! Buzz, etc.

New modules that provide access to third-party services (i.e., Netflix, Gmail, POP mail, Facebook)

New header with easier customization tools for adding content and choosing options, as well as tabbed browsing for multiple pages

More control, with additional page layout options, a less intrusive advertising approach, and easy drag-and-drop functionality

My Yahoo graduating beta, adding new features