Security Certificate and Uploading Issues Fixed!

Many of you were experiencing an issue with an expired security certificate when trying to download a file or sign up for an account. As well, some of you were having an problem finding your new uploads. We are happy to report that the security certificate has been renewed and uploads are fully functional again. We appreciate everyone's patience in these matters!

The '09-'10 school year is nearly upon us. Why not treat yourself or a friend to a myDataBus.com account? Accounts start at just $10.95 for a whole year -- a price well worth the convenience of having your files at your fingertips no matter where you are. So whether you you're in the computer lab at school or sitting at your desk at home, stay connected with myDataBus!

Speed Restored!

Some of you may have noticed a recent problem with download speeds, particularly with large files. We are happy to announce that we have resolved the issue and site speed is back up to normal. We appreciate everyone's patience in this matter and we will continue to work hard to make sure your files are available to you whenever and wherever you need them!

Recent myDataBus Speed Issue

Many of our users have been experiencing slow download and upload speeds over the past few days. We have had a surge in the number of users lately and as a result site access speeds have been affected. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone's patience in this matter as we work to resolve this issue as quickly as possible!

Streaming Movies from myDataBus

Did you know that if you have a Silver, Gold, or Platinum account, you can embed and stream movies directly from your myDataBus public files? To stream a WMV movie, simply use the HTML code provided here. To learn how to embed other movie formats, click here.

Silver, Gold, and Platinum accounts all offer direct linking of public files, allowing video streaming directly from your account. So go ahead -- upload your videos, make them public, and stream away!

More Security for Public Files

Now there is even more security for your myDataBus shared files! Silver, Gold, and Platinum accounts enjoy both password and domain protection on public files. Password protection means you can set individual passwords on your public or emailed files. This is a great way to control who has access to your files when hosting them on a public website or forum. Domain protection allows you to restrict public file access to a certain web domain. For example, by setting domain protection to "http://www.myspace.com," that file can only be downloaded when the file link is accessed from myspace.com. This prevents your file links from being shared on unauthorized websites.

Remember, these protection features are only available on Silver, Gold, or Platinum accounts. To upgrade your account, log in at http://www.mydatabus.com and click Upgrade.

Simplified Upgrade Packages!

As we completed the transition to a all-paid web service, we decided to simplify our billing packages as well. Instead of charging separate fees for storage and bandwidth upgrades, we now have four simple account upgrade packages: Basic, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The Basic account is still only $10.95 for the whole year, and includes 5GB of storage and 30GB/month of public bandwidth. However, a Silver account is only $6.95 per month and includes 10GB of storage and 90GB/month of public bandwidth. That's 3GB/day of public file bandwidth for less than $7/month. Happy holidays.

Need even more storage or bandwidth? A Gold account ($9.95/month) gets you 15GB of storage and 150GB/month of public bandwidth. A Platinum account ($24.95/month) gets you 25GB of storage and unlimited public file bandwidth. And Silver, Gold, and Platinum accounts all come with direct linking of public files, no advertising, and telephone support.

So go ahead. Give yourself the gift of more online storage and public file bandwidth this holiday season. After all, you've been good, right?

MyDataBus.com Site Switchover

Here at myDataBus, we have been able to offer many of our services for free up to this point. However, we are being forced to revise our business model and discontinue our free services. Effective immediately, we have made the decision to remove file uploading to free accounts. Free account holders will still be able to access their accounts until Tuesday, October 9, at 12:00 p.m. EST. At that time, unpaid accounts will be deactivated. (If you are a paid user, your account will not be affected. We are also working hard on our file uploading issues and will have it working again as soon as possible).

If you are not a paid user, we want you to continue to enjoy the file storing and hosting services of myDataBus, which is why we are offering you 10GB of storage and 60GB per month (2GB/day) of public bandwidth for the low fee of $10.95 per year! This offer is only valid through Tuesday, October 9. After October 9, the price of $10.95 per year will provide you with just 5GB of storage and 30GB per month of public bandwidth. Customizable packages are also available for those who need more storage or bandwidth space -- just click the Upgrade button in your account to view available storage/bandwidth deals.

If you currently have a free account, don’t wait -- log in at http://www.mydatabus.com and click Upgrade to take advantage of this great offer and keep your account active. Remember, you have until Tuesday, October 9, either to upgrade your account or remove your files.

We hope you choose to continue using myDataBus for your file storing and sharing needs!

The myDataBus Facebook Application!

The team here at myDataBus.com is thrilled to give you the all-new myDataBus Shared Files Facebook application. Robert the Summer Intern developed this application on the Facebook Platform to give you some great new ways to share.  Now your friends can listen to your music, watch your videos, and download your files--right from your Facebook profile!  You can also easily send links to your files via Facebook messages. We're pretty excited about it.

All of your public files are automatically posted to your Facebook profile when you add the application, and visitors can page through to see everything you have posted.  Click on the My Friends' Files tab lets you easily view and download files from those savvy Facebook friends who also use the Shared Files application... or hit a button to upload directly to your public files from Facebook!

Click here to get started... and then come back to the application page to let us know what you think.  What features does it still need?  What do you love about it?

Online Trust in a Web 2.0 World

As more and more of the most popular websites depend on user-generated content, trust becomes an increasingly important commodity.  The success of a site like eBay depends on a system of community trust where buyers and sellers carry a reputation based on the feedback they have received from others in the community.  Such a system exists for other large sites as well, but the problem of how to extend such a system of trust to smaller sites is a difficult one. 

The anonymous nature of the Internet makes it hard to know exactly who IS trustworthy. Is this eBay user really selling this rare jazz record, or is it a hoax? Does this auto-care blogger actually know anything about cars?  A famous New Yorker cartoon in 1993 carried the caption "On the Internet, no one knows you are a dog." -- as the internet becomes ever more user-centered we will need to find better ways to deal with this problem.

Venyo, one of the websites we have integrated with, is attempting to tackle this problem. Their concept is that users carry a reliability index--a "Vindex"-- made up of ratings given by users on any website.  The magic of the Vindex is that they are offering a Trust platform which ties to the user, rather than to a specific website or community. 

A Vindex rating box instantly tell you how a user's reliability has been judged by the larger online community, giving you peace of mind when interacting with that person's online contributions. And by clicking someone's Vindex box, you have the opportunity to rate that person yourself, warning or encouraging other users about that person's reliability.

 To sign up for a Venyo.org account, click here. Once you've signed up, log into your myDataBus account and click the Profile tab. Scroll down to the Venyo login box and submit your Venyo user name and password. Your Venyo Vindex will be posted next to your name in myDataBus group lists and on the download pages of e-mailed myDataBus files. Your myDataBus contacts can then see your reliability rating and have the opportunity to rate you themselves.

myDataBus File Format Conversion? Easy!

Guess what? We've added another resource to your myDataBus-file-editing arsenal: we are now integrated with Zamzar.com. Zamzar is an online file conversion tool that lets you easily change your document, image, video, and music files into other file formats with a few clicks of your mouse. Change your .wav files into a mp3s. Make your .txt file a PDF file. Convert PDF files into editable Word documents. Convert your MS Paint stick-figure drawing of Aunt Bertha into a JPEG file and post it in your myDataBus family reunion photo album. Anything's possible. For a full list of file conversion types, click here.

With Zamzar integrated into myDataBus, you can convert your myDataBus files without needing to download them first. Just select "Convert with Zamzar" from a file's Options menu, then select your desired file format, enter your e-mail address, and hit Convert.

Once you receive Zamzar's notification e-mail, go to the download page and copy the link to your file by right-clicking (or Ctrl-clicking for Macs) the Download File button. Then go to your myDataBus account, click Upload Files > Webload, paste the file link into the URL box, and hit Upload. Your converted file will be sucked right back into myDataBus from Zamzar. No downloading required!

Why not give it a try? With myDataBus and Zamzar, we've given our users a whole new way to do more with their files online!

Introducing the MiniBus!

The team here at myDataBus.com is proud to introduce the MiniBus: a quick, easy, and convenient file hosting service that lets you instantly upload a file and begin sharing it immediately in an e-mail, website, or blog. You don't even need a myDataBus account; just upload your file right from the myDataBus home page and start sharing!

So go ahead, take the MiniBus for a test drive. Just click the MiniBus Browse button at the top of the myDataBus home page or at mini.mydatabus.com to select a file for upload. Click Upload and you're instantly ready to begin sharing your file! No speed limits on THIS bus . . .

Note: There are limits to the MiniBus's functions: only one file can be shared at a time, uploads are restricted to 20MB, and shared files expire after 14 days of inactivity. But remember that myDataBus account holders enjoy 5GB of free storage, extensive file sharing options with no link expiration, online file and image editing tools, and so much more! If you're not a member, sign up today and your uploaded MiniBus files will automatically be transferred into your new account!

No More Public Image Watermark!

As many of you know, a watermark—"hosted by myDataBus.com"—has always appeared on public images, well, hosted by myDataBus.com.

That is, until now. Public images no longer have any watermark at all— they appear exactly as you uploaded them (only re-sized . . . if you use one of the automatic re-sizing options!).

"But wait!" you cry. "My existing public photos still have the watermark!"

'Tis true: all newly-shared pictures will be watermark-free, but existing public photos will still display the watermark. But that's easy to fix. Simply remove the watermarked pictures from your Public Files, then re-add them. Voilà! No more watermark. And as long as you haven't changed the filenames, all your old image links will still work too.

Just another great update from the hard-working folks here at myDataBus.com . . .

Any Questions?

Here at myDataBus.com, we are working hard to make the site better than ever. And one way we're making it better is by helping users learn more about the site and all its features—which is why we've introduced an all-new, fully-updated myDataBus Online Support Center. It contains help topics for new myDataBus users, general troubleshooting tips, and information on new additions to the site. Learn how to set up a new account and upload your first file. How to activate automatic integration with Facebook.com upon login to myDataBus. How to use SnipShot and Zoho to edit files right from your account. Who knows—you may even discover a new feature that you weren't aware of!

And as always, if you can't find the answer to your question, contact our support team with our support form for some of the quickest support in the business! (Remember, Pro Account holders also receive phone support. If you don't have a Pro Account, upgrade now!)

Get the help you need—use the Support Center today!

Out with the old . . .

OK folks, we're all friends here. Let's be perfectly honest with each other. The ol' myDataBus file uploader wasn't exactly the greatest uploader ever.

But times have changed. The guys here at myDataBus have been hard at work on a brand-spanking-new uploader . . . go ahead, click the Upload Files button. What you have before you in all its glory is not only a faster, more reliable uploader, but an uploader that lets you SELECT MULTIPLE FILES AT ONCE. That's right, click Browse and try it out for yourself. You can select an entire folder's worth of files for upload in a matter of seconds.

Not only that, but now there are two nifty little download progress bars—the top one is for individual file download progress, and the bottom one is for the overall download progress. You can also choose to make your files public—or overwrite files with the same name—directly from the uploader! And as before, you have the option of performing a web upload by clicking the Webload button at the top of the uploader and entering a URL address.

We expect this new upload tool to evolve quickly; if you have any suggestions for it please let us know! As always, we here at myDataBus are working hard to bring you the very best in file storing and sharing. And we will continue to enhance the features of myDataBus to make it easier for you to do more with your files.

Public File Changes, MUCH FASTER!

Making files public is much faster now!  Last week many of you had trouble making files public or were seeing huge delays in the process, sometimes taking several hours to actually complete.  We were fighting on and off all week with our queueing system, it seemed to encounter a perfect storm of issues from all directions.

So what has happened?

First a bit of background; from the beginning we have treated public files as separate from your "My Files" storage- the primary benefit of this is that you could make changes to, edit, rename or even delete a file from your private space without affecting your public links.  The disadvantage is that we have been maintaining 2 copies of the file, and even in the best of circumstances making a file public involves waiting for the system to copy your file.

On Friday we changed the way public files are tracked and stored so now we simply flag files as public rather than copying them.  On the plus side since we are storing the file only once your quota usage is reduced and the process of making files public is now instant.  It does mean that you will have to be careful about deleting files from your private space from now on, if you zap a file that is public you will break your links!

Thanks for bearing with us last week, and enjoy our new more responsive system!

100,000 people are Doing More with their files!

myDataBus.com celebrated a huge milestone today-- we just hit 100,000 registered users!

Thanks to all of you; our users-- to those who have told their friends about myDataBus, or have posted about us on your blogs, on forums, on mySpace... Today is obviously really exciting to our team, and hopefully to all of you as well. Our rapid growth means that we can continue to add new features and improve old ones, and that you can continue to rely on myDataBus.com to be there when you need it. Keep sending up your files, sharing them, posting them and telling others how they can do more with their files too!

Raise a glass of whatever you have nearby, and toast with us to many, many great things to come.

myDataBus.com -- Do More With Your Files

Public File Download Changes

Last week you may have noticed that we made some changes to the way public files are downloaded. After watching for a while to see how it has impacted both our users and the people who come to download your files we have decided to go ahead and make some permanent changes to Public Files.

Background
The way our Public Files have worked in the past is what we will call Direct Linking; when a user clicks on a link the file begins to download right away in their browser. The change we are making is that many files which used to be direct linked will now point to a page on our servers. That page will initiate a download in the background, and show the user a link to manually start a download if for some reason their browser blocks the automatic one.

Who is impacted by this change?
First of all, Pro accounts (any account where you have paid for upgraded service) will see no changes to the way their public files work, just as before all Public links will be direct links. We are also going to continue serving all JPG, GIF and PNG files directly, so that you can continue to use myDataBus to host images on other websites as many of you do now. (ebay, CraigsList, blogs, etc)

What do I need to do now?
For most of you nothing; Pro users can ignore this and enjoy yet another perk of paid membership. The group that will be directly affected by this change are Basic Account users who host audio and video files that are embedded in other websites. You can still link to your files and users will be able to access them; but embedding those files (mp3, Flash Video, Quicktime, etc) into your pages will no longer work unless you choose to upgrade to a Pro account. Remember, you can get a Pro account for as little as $9.95 per year, and you will also get larger file uploads, no advertising, and 10GB of storage space! Log into your account and click on the 'Upgrade' link at the top of the screen today!

Why are you doing this?
Fair question; we do think that for some people downloading public files this does provide a more fluid download experience- but let's be honest, the main reason has to do with capturing eyeballs. By sending users first to a page on our site we are able to promote our service to more potential new users, generate increased advertising revenue, and take advantage of other opportunities to monetize traffic. Providing a service like myDataBus takes a lot of resources, and the more revenue we are able to generate the better service we can offer to you, our users!

Thanks again for using myDataBus, and keep the feedback coming, we love hearing from you!

myDataBus.com Mobile is Live!

myDataBus.com Mobile is officially live; grab your cell phone and check it out! Load up http://m.mydatabus.com on your cell phone's browser, and get access to your files truly anywhere!

Some of the things you can do with myDataBus Mobile:

• Browse all of your files and folders, or use the Search feature to find something in either your files or any groups you belong to.
  
• Show file size and type, and a thumbnail of supported images.
• Download (how useful this is depends a lot on your phone!), Delete, or Email files right from your phone!
• Invite someone to one of your Groups, or to get their own myDataBus account.
  
• View your photo albums right on your phone.

Back in Action!

We are back! Again I'd like to extend an apology from our entire team to our users who couldn't access their files during our outage. We take very seriously the trust you have given us by hosting files in our system, and go to great lengths to honor that. From what Level 3 has told us this sounds like the perfect storm of network problems; but after today's extended outage we are already working on plans to make additional redundant bandwidth available in our main data center.

Network Outage...

As you have probably noticed myDataBus is currently offline; unfortunately our main network provider is experiencing a major outage affecting our entire state caused apparently by a fiber cut. At this time we do not have a repair time from them, but we hope to be back soon.

We're very sorry for the inconvenience; I'm sure that our users are as frustrated as we are at being unable to access your files!

If we do have any more information this evening I will be posting here until we are back.