Webware100

Category: Data

Apple's .Mac service is a yearly subscription-based suite of Web and software services for Mac users. Subscribers get their own online storage, e-mail address, and Web-based e-mail client. They can also publish to their own blog, which can be edited and managed using Apple's iWeb software.

Users of .Mac can build public or private meeting pages using the groups service. Each group gets its own shared file storage, calendar, e-mail, and message board.

The .Mac service is also getting some extra features later this year with Apple's next operating system release. Subscribers will be able to access remote computers from any Mac.

Web site: www.Apple.com/dotmac

Webware coverage: .Mac users getting remote goodies this holiday

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Category: Data

AllPeers is a file-sharing tool that runs right in your browser. Once installed, users get a buddy list pane in Firefox. It's very easy to kick off file transfers to people on the list: you just drag files or links from your file window or from inside your browser.

The file-transfer technology inside AllPeers is BitTorrent, which means your files aren't uploaded to any central service; it also means that if you're sharing a file with a group of people, the bandwidth to transfer the file will be shared by all, potentially speeding up transfers.

Web site: www.Allpeers.com

Webware coverage: AllPeers: file sharing inside your browser (and nowhere else)

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Category: Data

BitTorrent is an advanced peer-to-peer sharing technology that runs using a client system. To share and transfer files, users must be running a BitTorrent software client on their computer. Some Web browsers such as Opera are even building in this client technology. It works by splitting up files into tiny bits of data that can be shared in any order. Users work together to make the file available on demand. Even if just one person has an entire file initially, eventually after sharing it with others, the speed for downloading increases.

To share and download files using BitTorrent, users must first open a torrent file that contains tracking information to get things started. BitTorrent has become quite controversial as a result of sites and services that have sprung up to track and host these tracking files. While the technology remains a really great way to take the burden off servers and put it on to the users, it remains a hotbed for piracy of music, movies, software, and other intellectual property.

Web site: www.BitTorrent.com

Webware coverage: BitTorrent's game downloads: A big hoax; BitTorrent Entertainment Network hands-on: 10 pros and cons; BitTorrent goes legit: Paid P2P movie-sharing coming

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Category: Data

Pando is a peer-to-peer file sharing technology. Pando users must be running the Pando client software, which lets them share files that are too large to share via e-mail or instant messaging conversations. Users can select any file on their hard drive and make it sharable using a link that can be sent through e-mail.

Pando is free, but it comes with a limit of 1GB on file sizes, and download links that expire after a week. For power users, Pando offers three other premium services that let users transfer much larger files and do it at faster speeds.

Web site: www.Pando.com

Webware coverage: Sending that 1GB file over email gets easier

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