SocialFolders Weekly Digest Soon In Your Inbox

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Phil

Something good has been cooking in our kitchen and we can’t wait to share with you the upcoming changes…

Your Personalized, Social, Weekly Recap

Say you go check Facebook every day. You see new albums from your friends—one of them is of particular interest, and you’d really like to keep it on your computer. But even if you think to yourself that you should download the album, you don’t necessarily have the time, let alone the tool, to do it on the spot.

Then, your day goes on and you end up forgetting that you wanted to keep that particular album you just saw.

With SocialFolders, that worry is a thing of the past. If you connected Facebook to your SocialFolders, we will send you every week the latest albums by email. In one click, you will be able to subscribe to these albums and they will then be automatically downloaded to your computer.

This weekly recap will also let you know the activity of the past week of your SocialFolders account, including the number of uploads and downloads that happened across each channel you added to your SocialFolders.

That way, you’ll be sure to never miss a beat of the pulse of your social content!

The first weekly recap will be sent this week. Everyone will receive it but you can of course, if you choose to unsubscribe either from the weekly email itself, or on your account page.

Just One More Thing…

Facebook is one of the most popular channels on SocialFolders. The past few weeks we have released several new features that will help you to get the most out of it:

  • new “Recent Albums” page, that shows you the latest albums from your friends so that you can download them in one click
  • Facebook Connect: you can now sign in with Facebook, directly from the application on your PC or on your Mac
  • when you subscribe to some of your friends’ albums, you can know let them know about it through Facebook requests
  • a new wizard when connecting for the first time Facebook to SocialFolders

As always, we value your feedback and would like to hear it straight from you, so feel free to email us at hello@socialfolders.me or ping either on Twitter @socialfolders or on our Facebook page!

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A New SoundCloud Ruby Library, Easier to Integrate and to Configure

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Saverio

When we want to integrate a new cloud service or social network, we’re often fortunate enough to find a library (in the form of a gem) which wraps their API. Sometimes the wrapper is very complex and full-featured, other times it’s relatively barebones. Other times we need to interact directly with the HTTP APIs.

We’ve found that the most comfortable way to wrap HTTP APIs is to use Faraday as an HTTP connection manager. It’s more comfortable for a number of reasons, but mostly because of swappable middleware and swappable adapters. We can add any kind of behavior to the connection (logging, exception tracing, transformation) without touching the main application code. We can add stubbed responses, and the whole middleware stack will be executed as if they were coming from the actual servers.

One exception has been the official SoundCloud library (available here). The gem is actually a very thin wrapper around HTTParty, adding token authentication and a number of predefined operation to exchange credentials. Because of this approach, using the SoundCloud gem means that we had to build all HTTP paths by hand. Rather than following this approach, we decided to build a new library from scratch with the following requirements:

1) The library should explicitly declare methods for all the available endpoints, effectively hiding that there is any HTTP involved.
2) The library should use Faraday as its connection manager, which allows for much simpler configuration (e.g. using MultiJson for deserialization, checking for HTTP status codes, etc.)

Because we chose to use Faraday, you can swap the adapter:

1) to be used inside an EventMachine reactor loop (by configuring Faraday to use the corresponding :em-http adapter, attaching callbacks to the response itself)
2) to handle persistent connections and parallel requests
3) to add/modify the behavior of the library (by confi“guring the default middleware stack)

You can find the gem and a lot of documentation here, and use in your Rails app by adding the following line to your Gemfile:

gem "soundcloud-client"

Let us know if you find this library useful, as well as any other feedback you may have!`

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SocialFolders vs. Google Drive: the Face-off

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Martin

After (literally) years of speculation, Google Drive is finally out, and it’s great. It holds great promise to people around the world to better share, backup to the cloud and collaborate on documents, as it is backed by the Google Docs sharing infrastructure and Gmail—and there are 250 million Gmail accounts.

So… what about SocialFolders? Google Drive is bad news for SocialFolders, right? Well, not quite. Believe it or not, SocialFolders still has a few advantages over Google Drive, starting with…

SocialFolders Supports Google Drive

Google Drive is an enhancement over Google Docs, and their desktop application integrates with the service. But so does SocialFolders !

It’s a tie.

SocialFolders Supports Offline Editing & Backing Up

Did you know that Google Drive did not actually download the contents of your Google documents? Instead, it downloads a link which will open your browser and then load the documents in your browser.

It stays possible to view the documents offline—IF you install a Chrome extension and cache the documents beforehand with Google Chrome. It’s a lot of hoops to jump through, though.

What if you counted on Google Drive to backup your documents?

Offline editing and backing up? +1 for SocialFolders!

SocialFolders Allow You to Use Microsoft Office

And what if you wanted to edit the documents in another “app” than their web-based editor? Then you’re stuck… SocialFolders not only backups the contents of your documents to your computer but also converts your Google Documents to their Microsoft Office equivalents, a wildly popular (and compatible!) format. So that you can choose which application you want to use to edit your files.

SocialFolders Supports Multiple Services

SocialFolders is not all about Google Docs… But also about Evernote, Box, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud and many other services! As far as we know, Google Drive is the new Google Docs.

Multiple service support? +1 for SocialFolders!

SocialFolders Allows You To Easily Import and Export To and From Other Services

Finally, what if you have a file in your Evernote or Box account for example? With SocialFolders, it would be very easy to transfer it to your Google Drive space.

What makes SocialFolders different is its cross-cloud approach. By supporting multiple services, it has a different approach and utility than service-specific applications. So actually, it’s not necessarily about choosing between SocialFolders and Google Drive. Nothing stops you from using both!

As always, we value your feedback and would like to hear it straight from you, so feel free to email us at hello@socialfolders.me or ping either on Twitter @socialfolders or on Facebook!

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‘Dropbox for Sounds’ thanks to SoundCloud + SocialFolders

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Martin

SoundCloud was the service that pioneered sound sharing on the web—be it podcasts, speeches, comedy, music, and more. Simply put: it’s awesome. Dropbox is awesome too. In a different way: you just move files to your Dropbox and voila, uploaded to the cloud. On the other hand, you also have always on offline access.

So wouldn’t it be awesome if you could have Dropbox-like sync and access applied to your SoundCloud universe? It would probably be awesome—squared. Which is why we’re thrilled to announce SoundCloud as a new channel in SocialFolders.

Dropbox for Sounds

 

Easy sound access? Check. Background uploading? Check. Downloading the sounds of people you follow? Check. Downloading your favorites? Check. Collaboration between SoundCloud users becomes easier, thanks to the ability to subscribe to sound files from other creators and open them with their favorite desktop audio editing apps and players.

To get going, simply add SoundCloud as a new service in your SocialFolders app. (If you don’t have SocialFolders already, grab the free app here). This will backup your SoundCloud content to your computer. You’ll then be able to subscribe to the sets and favorites of users you follow on SoundCloud, sampling their work—when allowed!—to create your own and as easily upload it by dropping it in your SoundCloud folder.

We Folderistas hope you’ll love, and use, this integration as much as we do. As always, we value your feedback and would like to hear it straight from you, so feel free to email us at hello@socialfolders.me or ping us either on Twitter @socialfolders or on Facebook.

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Backup Your Instagram With SocialFolders, Now and Forever?

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Martin

It’s official: Instagram is no longer the lovable underdog of photosharing. The visual powerhouse grew very quickly to millions of users and hundreds of millions of photos. The inevitable result: it got bought, for a large sum of money, and by no other than Facebook.

This acquisition has far reaching consequences in terms of the future of your Instagram photos as well as of privacy issues, both of which warrant backing up your Instagram photo stream as soon as possible with SocialFolders.

1. My precious… pictures

A team of 13 employees (Instagram) just got bought out by a corporate behemoth (Facebook). That usually does not bode well for the smaller service, which in similar acquisitions across the industry has floundered or drawn to a complete stop—see Delicious and Flickr (acquired by Yahoo), Gowalla (acquired by Facebook), Aardvark (acquired by Google), etc.

In some cases the service can even completely be shut down!

In that case, you want to be prepared. Backup your Instagram photo stream by adding it as a service in SocialFolders. That way, all your Instagram pictures will always be backed up to your computer. Unlike other services, this is not a one-shot backup. We check-in regularly with Instagram to see whether you took new pictures. If you did, we back them up immediately. Add Instagram here in a few seconds!

2. My precious… data

Facebook just got its hands on vast quantities of tagged (#coffee) and geotagged (@ Starbucks) photos. They can now associate them with your Facebook account. They can also use your network of following and followed to gain deeper knowledge of… you.

Maybe you don’t care. But maybe you do. In that case, add Instagram to your SocialFolders in a few seconds to backup all pictures to your computer before you do anything irreversible.

Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram could be a net win for the users. After all, Instagram never made a dime and didn’t have a business model. But it could also be a potential source of new privacy issues for the users. You never know. Be prepared!

As always, we value your feedback and would like to hear it straight from you, so feel free to email us at hello@socialfolders.me or ping either @socialfolders or @martinpannier.

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Master the Evernote + SocialFolders Combo

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Martin

… with this 2 min 40 video which walks you through configuring Evernote with SocialFolders. As usual, let us know your thoughts on Twitter or Facebook!

Evernote Walkthrough

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The Top 6 Reasons To Migrate to Google Docs (With SocialFolders)

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Martin

Google Docs is easily one of the most popular channels for SocialFolders users. Here’s why in 6 points:

1. Access Your Google Docs Even When Offline.

You never know when you will be offline or with a crummy internet connection. You prepared an important presentation on Google Docs and now you can’t even access it!… what to do?

One more problem you won’t care about if you configured Google Docs with SocialFolders: your Google Docs will always be with you on your computer.

There are many advantages of having “always on” access of your Google Docs:

  • search,
  • access,
  • edit,
  • print,
  • and more!

… your Google Docs wherever you are and whatever the situation… because you never know!

2. You Can Use Google Docs To Edit Your Docs Online

You could not have access to the internet. But you could also be out of batteries or have forgotten your computer! In that case, having a copy of your documents online and being able to edit them from any computer that is connected to the Internet can be providential. Fortunately, if you configure Google Docs with SocialFolders you will always have a copy of your documents to edit online should you not be able to access your computer!

3. Always Be Up To Date With Automatic Sync

Automatic sync means you always have the latest version of your data with you—and online. It’s just great to be able to set it up and forget it, with the peace of mind brought by knowing that your documents are always up to date, everywhere.

4. Securely Back Up Your Data To Google’s Worldwide Servers

Google’s servers aren’t indestructible, for sure. But in their high-security zones with compartmentalization, sprinklers, arctic-grade A/C, and the fact that multiple servers in different physical locations contain the same data, they’re probably less sensitive to failure than your computer. So backing up all your documents to Google’s servers won’t seem such a bad idea when your computer crashes and you get all your documents back just by installing SocialFolders on your new computer!

5. Use Your Weapon Of Choice

When we sync your files to your computer we sync them as Microsoft Office files. So now you can use your favorite program—whether PowerPoint, Word or Excel—to edit your Google Docs. Or just use the standard online interface. Whichever you want!

6. Migrate All Your Work To The Cloud, And Back, The Easy Way

“I’m convinced,” you tell me, ready to move all your documents to Google Docs. But what is the easiest way to add all my documents to Google Docs without uploading them individually? And what if I want to revert to my prior organization? Well, with SocialFolders it’s really easy. Just drag and drop all your documents to your Google Docs folder to import all of your current documents to your new Google Docs organization.

And reverting to your old organization is just as easy. Another drag and drop in the opposite direction is all it takes.

What are you waiting for? Connect Google Docs to SocialFolders today! Or do you have any other reasons you’d like us to add to the list? Fire away in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!

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3 Smart Ways to Use SocialFolders with Facebook

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Martin

Facebook is the top most configured service in SocialFolders. People’s pictures are important to them. Accessing them and backing them up is too. But did you know that you could do much more with SocialFolders for Facebook? Here are 3 smart ways to use SocialFolders with Facebook:

1. Keep an Offline Copy of Every Picture You Are Tagged In

On Facebook, pictures come and go as people can very easily delete them down the road. I don’t know for you, but I’d like to have a copy of all the pictures I’ve been tagged in on Facebook on my computer, where they can’t be as easily deleted.

Thankfully, with SocialFolders it’s very easy to do so! If you log in to SocialFolders, and go into the Facebook settings, you will be able to select what kinds of pictures you want SocialFolders to download to your computer: your wall pictures, your albums, and… the pictures you’ve been tagged in. Mission accomplished.

2. One-click Download Your Facebook Friends’ Albums

Say you went on vacation with a group of friends, but you didn’t bring your camera. Your friends did, though… but they didn’t send you the pictures, posting them instead on Facebook. Downloading the pictures one by one is not an option. Thankfully, SocialFolders gives you one-click download of these albums.

If you go once more in the Facebook settings, you will see a “friends” tab (if you are already logged in, just click here). There, you will find a list of all your Facebook friends. Just click on one of your friends’  name and you will be able to select any or all of his albums for download on your computer.

Easily download whole Facebook albums in one click

Easily download whole Facebook albums in one click.

3. Creating and Uploading New Private Albums

Uploading pictures to Facebook with SocialFolders is very easy. Create a folder in next to your existing Facebook albums on your computer. Drag and drop pictures. Done.

But what if you want a specific privacy control? SocialFolders allows you to specify whether you want the album to be public or private. Public means that your albums will be published with your default privacy setting — often your friends. Private, on the other hand, means that only you will be able to see the albums on Facebook, where you will be able to set more fine-grained privacy controls.

These were just 3 quick tips on smart ways to use SocialFolders with Facebook. Do you have any other suggestions? Fire away in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!

Posted in How To | 2 Comments

Incoming: Support for TwitPic, YFrog, Twitgoo and Flickr pictures in Twitter

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Martin

Twitpic Twitgoo YFrog Flickr Support for Twitter SocialFolders

Previously, connecting SocialFolders to Twitter would only download pictures from Twitter’s built-in photosharing service. And some of you were understandably confused: why is my—or my friend’s—picture not downloading?

Today we are happy to announce that we are pushing an update which not only squashes a healthy amount of bugs, but also adds support for TwitPic, YFrog, Twitgoo, and Flickr pictures which have been posted to Twitter.

This means that everything you use SocialFolders with Twitter for—whether backup, upload, cross-posting or archiving to Evernote for example—will work with even more content from Twitter.

Even better, no action is needed on your behalf to benefit from this update. If you’ve connected Twitter to your SocialFolders, it will kick in automatically. If you haven’t, connect Twitter now!

We Folderistas hope you’ll love, and use, this integration as much as we do. As always, we value your feedback and would like to hear it straight from you, so feel free to email us at hello@socialfolders.me or ping either @socialfolders or @martinpannier.

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New SocialFolders Screencast on MacOSXScreencasts.com

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Martin

“Zettt” of the Mac OS X Screencasts team just produced an awesome screencast which walks you through installing, configuring and using SocialFolders. Zettt’s screencasting skills are so good that we think his screencast is even better than ours. In any case it’s well worth a look, so here goes!

You can view the screencast on Mac OS X Screencasts using this link.

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