Jan 8, 2009 10:12 am US/Pacific
Pogoplug Puts Any Hard Drive On The Internet
LAS VEGAS (CNET) ―
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Pogoplug connects your USB drives to the Internet.
Pogoplug/CNET
Here's a cool little product that I can't wait to try out: The
Pogoplug.
It's a simple and releatively cheap box that plugs into an external
hard drive (or flash drive) via USB, and also into you home's Internet
connection. Then it puts the hard drive on the Web as well as on your
local network. Any computer in your home can access it as a shared
drive, and people outside can also connect to it over the Web. It
sounds like a very quick and simple way to put a whole bunch of files
online for friends to see.
Now, it's no great feat for a geek to wire up a PC or a
network-attached storage drive for Internet access. What the Pogoplug
does is not utterly unique. The company is going for ease of use,
though. Instead of having to open ports on your router, or configure a
NAS for Web access, with Pogoplug you just go to the company's Web
site, enter the identifying code from your device (presumably, it's
stamped on it somewhere), and then the Pogoplug servers will set up the
routing for you and give you your device's Web address.
You could, also, upload your files to a sharing service like
Flickr or YouTube. In comparison, Pogoplug will make the upload faster
(it's local), and should also give you more control over your files (if
you want to remove them, for example), and who can see them.
One thing I would be concerned about for home users: Many home
broadband connections are much slower on the upload than download.
People who want to download your raw AVI home movie files from your
drive may be limited by the speed that your Pogoplug-attached drive can
upload to the Net. If the device streams video this should not be a big
issue.
Other promised features inlcude an iPhone interface (for upload as well as viewing), and an open API for developers.
It's not out yet so I haven't tried it; I don't know if it's as easy as
it should be, or if the security is appropriate for its target use. But
the price is right for this utility: $99 retail. I could really use
this, and look forward to trying it when the first units are made
available in February.
Author: Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware.
(© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.)
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