MegaやDropboxに挑戦するShared.Com, 無料で100GBまで
四人の自己資金だけの会社Share Mediaは、Kim Dotcomに勝つことをねらっている。そのサービスはファイルをドラッグ＆ドロップしてそれらをたちまち、ほかの人たちと共有可能にする、それだけだが、無料で100GBまで利用でき、ファイルサイズの制限は2GBだ。ぼくがこの記事を書いている時点では、Kim DotcomのMegaは50GB、そのほかの類似サイトもだいたいその程度だ。
ありがたいことに、このサービス上で共有されるファイルは、もっともらしくダウンロードキューに入れられて待たされたり、また“プロ対無料”のスピード差もない。ファイルをダウンロードするとき、希望すれば広告が出ない。同社はすでに、5億ファイルを共有している。UIはCrateみたいにシンプルで、デベロッパやたまにファイルを共有したい人などが、簡単単純迅速に使えるようになっている。
トラフィックはまだ遅いが、徐々に速くなっている。“すこし時間をかけて、アーリーアドプターたちの特有のニーズを理解したい。また初期のユーザからの提案を受け入れて変更もしたい”、とプロジェクトのCTO Florian Cervenkaは言っている。
彼曰く、“Shared.comは、これから作っていくロバストなAPIのプロトタイプだ。デベロッパはそのAPIを使って、自分独自のクラウドストレージサービスを展開できるし、また、クラウドストレージアプリケーションを素早く開発できる”。彼らはホスティング企業で長年働いた経験があり、flixya.comなどの大規模ストレージシステムをいくつか作ってきた。
“今でもそれらのサイトの一部は運用している。その収益で、今回のプロジェクトのための安いハードウェアや帯域を買うことができた”。
このページから登録すると、6か月の試用ができる。彼らはフィードバックを求めているから、じゃんじゃん送ろう。ぼくはその期間に、19世紀の絵葉書のスキャンを共有しよう。木彫りのセミヌードの妖精ちゃんなんかも、いるよ。
（翻訳：iwatani(a.k.a. hiwa)）
2012年 最高の発明品 7選
Lifelogging Cameras(01 of03)
Open Image ModalTwo lifelogging cameras came to prototype this year: Memoto’s Lifelogging Camera and OMG Life’s Autographer. Both cameras are head-height mounted and automatically snap pictures for you; the Memoto every 30 seconds and the Autographer whenever it detects changes in “temperature, light, motion, direction and colour.” Given the support both of these projects have received, lifelogging may just become A Thing people start integrating into their everyday lives.\n\nWhat might such cameras mean? With so many moments stored as photographs, memories will be \"searchable\" and will stay with the wearer forever. Further down the road, it might mean an end to the government and corporate monopoly on surveillance; now individuals will join entities as surveyors. (credit:Autographer)
Essemblix 'Drag-And-Drop' Drugmaking(02 of03)
Open Image ModalWe can \"drag-and-drop\" to make drugs like we insert photos into emails? Yep, that started happening in 2012.\r\n\r\nThe Parabon Essemblix Drug Development Platform uses a \"drag and drop computer interface\" to assemble compounds atom by atom. According to the National Science Foundation, \"it could drastically reduce the time required to create and test medications.\"\r\n\r\nHow drastically? Well, without Essemblix, drugs are built by a slow and expensive process of trial and error; slow and expensive enough that the design-to-product process of even one successful drug typically takes on the order of $800 million dollars and 15 years. Most of that money, and most of that time, isn\'t spent on clinical trials and FDA approval either -- most is spent simply on design and synthesis of new, testable drugs. \r\n\r\nBut with Essemblix, design and synthesis is no longer a time and money sink; Essemblix drugs, says the National Science Foundation, could be conceived and produced \"in weeks, or even days.\" \r\n\r\nBest of all, the Essemblix has already been used to produce drugs. P24RDN, a brain-cancer medication produced by Parabon, has been shown \"safe and effective\" in preclinical trials. PJ-01 , a drug made by both Parabon and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, is currently in preclinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer. (credit:AP)
Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset(03 of03)
Open Image Modal\"Virtual reality\" had a moment in the mid-90’s, what with Total Recall and Virtual Boy. But back in the day, the gaming technology wasn’t quite up to par. Mid-90’s VR displays were plagued by weight, menaced by low resolution, doomed to make gamers nauseous -- and eventually, all of them died with a whimper. \n\nBut now VR is back, and this time it looks like it’s going to work.\n\nThe Oculus Rift, made by ModRetro founder Palmer Luckey, boasts a huge field of vision, resolution approaching Retina-level, and head-tracking sans latency and sans nausea. Better yet, the Rift has a reasonable price tag ($300) and scads of corporate support -- the creators of DOOM have announced that they’re making their fourth game Rift-compatible (as well as their re-release of DOOM 3) and a Rift-compatible version of Minecraft is in the works. \n\nWith a $2 million war chest from their Kickstarter campaign and game developers going gaga over the tech, could the Oculus Rift be the biggest thing since Kinect? (credit:Oculus VR)