This seems like a very ambitious project, which is great. It does seem at risk of boiling the ocean. They're taking on:<p>* NAS device with encrypted file storage and UPNP<p>* setting up a VPN<p>* client software for said VPN on each platform (or at least installers that can configure each platform's native VPN support)<p>* multi-device file sync<p>* <i>whole</i>-device file sync, with client software for each platform, presumably with subtle kernel-level code (those "patent-pending technologies")<p>* versioned backup<p>* "instant file transfer" (presumably this is just their streaming tech repackaged, but it's a separate UX to develop and maintain)<p>* streaming file delivery across varying-bandwidth connections<p>* presumably media player apps on each mobile client platform to consume said streaming media<p>Each of those things is plausible, putting them together makes a lot of sense at the product level, and it would be a godsend if they can do it well. I guess I just wonder why they're not raising $5M rather than $100k.<p>(Maybe the team is actually an established company with 20 engineers, and the Kickstarter is purely to bankroll the initial production run? It's not clear from the team bio.)
Yes. Store hundreds of movies and hundreds of thousands of pictures on plug and access them anywhere![1]<p>[1]: So long as you have an absurdly fast internet connection at your house, and also have an absurdly fast internet connection wherever you are that you're trying to use this thing...and aren't on an airplane, or in the car, or on a train...which is when you would generally want to watch movies on your tablet.
"When Plug is installed on your computer, our application intercepts all the input/output operations performed on your files, using several patent pending technologies. When Mac OS X, Windows or Linux want to store or access data, they ask our application instead of manipulating the hard drive."<p>They've patented FUSE now? Or is that NFS?
This is very exciting because I feel this addresses one of the cornerstone technology failures that keeps me from enjoying the computing model I want, which I call PAO [1]. Namely, it deals with the failure of VPNs to evolve into something that regular consumers can understand. Plug in this device, add a hard drive, and access your data on your various computing devices from anywhere on the Internet. VPNs have had the underlying capability to provide that access to personal data, and those savvy enough to implement a personal VPN server do so. I don't use cloud file servers because I can access my home network's file server over an IPSec VPN from all of my devices. But what a pain in the ass.<p>Most people defer the responsibility to manage their data to cloud vendors because cloud vendors solve the key pain point (I need my data everywhere) at the seemingly low cost of just losing control and some added friction. But the alternatives where control is retained have classically been user interface disasters. I imagine my mom setting up an IPSec/L2TP VPN--yeah, not happening.<p>Even as someone who does have the ability to set up a VPN, I am left with routine annoyances associated with the abysmal user interfaces associated with managing VPN connections.<p>Of course, in addition to this, to realize PAO, I still need an OS-level application server concept with all my applications designed in a "responsive" model servicing multiple concurrent views. But providing always-on plug-and-play VPN connectivity and from-everywhere access to personal data is a leap forward.<p>Thanks for your work on this, guys!<p>Such a device has the potential to render all traditional cloud storage vendors obsolete, and I welcome that potential future.<p>[1] <a href="http://tiamat.tsotech.com/pao" rel="nofollow">http://tiamat.tsotech.com/pao</a>
"Ever needed to send hundreds of pictures to a friend? With Plug, we invented a technology to transfer files instantly. No matter their size, no matter their number. That’s also part of our job to simplify storage."<p>How exactly are they planning to make that a reality?<p>Say I've been out filming with my GoPro and my friend wants the clips, or I've taken some photographs with a DSLR (which are at least >5MB in size per picture).<p>It can't be instant.
Reminds me of the PogoPlug[1]. I came across it when buying a SheevaPlug, the device it was originally built on.<p>[1]: <a href="http://pogoplug.com/devices" rel="nofollow">http://pogoplug.com/devices</a>
Can we have a discussion about marketing? Like how does this $60 niche product raise $150k in 2 days? Was it hyped before hand? Did kickstarter hype it? Anyone know the details behind their PR?
I don't believe this project can accomplish all of what it claims it will.<p>Media streaming alone is an art and a science all in itself. There are various formats, encoders, decoders, etc... This is why AirServer/AirVideo is its own thing already... and I'm sure they're very busy.<p><a href="http://www.inmethod.com/air-video/" rel="nofollow">http://www.inmethod.com/air-video/</a><p>And file sync plus version management? Resolving conflicts there is yet another art all in itself.<p>It would be amazing if they could pull 50% of this off, and even at 50%, their engineers have their work cut out for them BIGTIME.
Oh wow, I feel so sorry for anybody who has backed this. The promises they make are simply technically impossible on devices such as iPads and iPhones. They also don't say they have actually done anything in that area either, only that they have a prototype for Win/Linux/Mac desktop - probably an unpolished clone of Dropbox.
Is it RAID configurable? Is the data encrypted at rest, and, if so, how? Will it support two factor authentication? Will Plug ever "phone home" for any reason or report any data (meta or otherwise) to anybody except the purchaser? Will the software be open source, and if not how do we trust this device from a security standpoint? Can Plug be used effectively as a NAS without the syncing software?<p>I know it's difficult to tell, but I'm very excited about this.
I like how this image:<p><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/719/044/5881e3534d86253c2e4545cde9727586_large.png?1372879330" rel="nofollow">https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/719/044/5881e3534d86...</a><p>totally rips off the Sparrow icon:<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sparrow_icon.png" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sparrow_icon.png</a>
I'd love to hear more about how this works on iOS. How does the Plug app have access to files in the local filesystem outside of the Plug app's sandbox?
I think this project has great ambition and tone. I like it, it seems good.<p>But — trust users to manage their own physical data? Forget it. It seems to me that people don't just want their data accessible from everywhere, but they want it to be kept in perpetuity. Considering the backup schemes I see among even tech savvy friends: really, forget it. Those fussy WD Passports can't compare to the reliability of Glacier. The cost of cloud storage is worth it.<p>There are a few workarounds I can imagine though, and I like where this is headed overall, so: nice work!
I was piecing something like this together on my own with a laptop and a pile of external hard drives, when I found my desk overrun by the little things. They were too fragile and didn't stack well. I started looking around for a shelf to hold external hard drives and do cable routing, when it hit me "oh yeah, that's called a desktop computer." So I bought a nice computer case and a relatively inexpensive motherboard/CPU combo and filled it with disks. Way sturdier, and much faster. I'm not sure at all what I was thinking before with that USB idea.<p>Using external hard drives as a semi-permanent storage array is not a good solution. For an appliance, Drobo/Synology has the right idea here, and I think this group is making a mistake by expecting people to build a disk array out of a hub and USB drives.
I actually really like the idea, but the problems I would have are:<p>My current internet has awful upload speeds, but I've had fibre in the past and many other people do/will.<p>So ruling that out, my other issue is surely my main PC has to be on? 99% of my media (the only real use to me) is on it.<p>Wake on LAN was a given I thought. I didn't read anything and quick CTRL-F finds nothing. It was quite hard to read through the spiel but if it's 2 years in development; is WOL such a given they don't mention it or is there a reason they're not doing it?
Hmm. Plug will apparently retail for $150. If I look at the dual band 802.11n router I have which happens to have a USB host port for NAS (which seems to be common these days?), it's $87 on Amazon, and of course if you don't want the router part you can get something for much less, or just use an existing desktop if you don't mind the power bill.<p>Of course much of the value is in the convenience of setup and the full-featured set of client software that they've developed. But $150 seems like a huge markup.
All possible, all been done before in smaller parts, all the UI is not simple, all the side issues / polish are infinite, blah blah blah, it's all true. I totally agree.<p>If it comes out and it's even half-way decent, I'd buy one. If it's decently usable, I'd buy a few, and send them to friends and relatives. I'd <i>love</i> these, and even with my meh internet connection it would easily keep up, and I'd just have to buy an additional external hard drive every year or so.
So, can someone from Plug explain what you're really trying to accomplish.<p>I'm already stuck at "They have one content, but multiple devices. So they spend a lot of time just figuring out where are their documents. And they keep moving their files to-and-from tiny Cloud folders. " It doesn't mean anything.<p>Is this private cloud storage with auto-syncing across all your devices? That already exists, to the extent that it does just that, if you know what I mean.
I think the real implications of Plug or a similar system are actually in the VRM vendor rights management and API's, not in the media play features.<p>We really need to wake up and realize that having all of our connected devices reliant on 3rd party servers will not scale.<p>I want to see this device have babies with another crowdfunded project BRCK <a href="http://brck.com/" rel="nofollow">http://brck.com/</a> for backup connectivity, power, and mesh networking.
Very interesting hardware specs:<p>Embedded Linux (OpenWRT based)<p>x86 compatible processor<p>I'm curious as to why they didn't go with an arm-linux combination. In any case, it sounds pretty well powered and I'm wondering if they'd ever allow 3rd party app development for it as it would be cool to have a tiny embedded box that takes care of the VPN aspect of connecting securely back to home. I'm thinking home automation type stuff.
So it's a USB backed NAS with some custom software to manage sync on computers and devices? Okay that actually sounds pretty good since NAS devices are usually pretty expensive. When multiple disks are installed in the USB chain does it manage the data so that a failure on a disk doesn't lose data? Will it alert me if one of the disks went bad?<p>The Kickstarter mentions online backup solutions, but does it have any integration with them?
I think this is a very neat project and am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. One thing I would like is the ability to have a software only solution. I already have a NAS and have no desire to buy another USB. I get why for simplicity reasons they are going with the hardware but I would love a software version.
What does the average "30Mbps" mean in the specifications? Is that the max it can write to a connected drive? Read speed from a drive? Average transfer speed over the network? If yes to any of the above, then isn't this quite slow for anything other than a few small pics and documents?
This seems like it could appeal to a lot of people right now. As seen by DuckDuckGo's recent spike in use, a lot of "regular" internet users are more concerned with privacy. People could use this as a "private" Dropbox that is still easy to use.
I would personally fear doing any product that tries to integrate all your media for all your devices...especially because Apple and Samsung are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D working on the exact same thing.
Pretty dishonest. They claim you have to manually copy files to and from DropBox, but I've always just used the auto-sync feature. The only files I generate not in my DropBox are the ones in source control.
It's like git-annex ( <a href="http://git-annex.branchable.com/" rel="nofollow">http://git-annex.branchable.com/</a> ) on an embedded linux box with a different front-end and ios support.
So this essentially turns a flash drive into a NAS that's accessible over the internet? I'd like to know how it's web-accessable. Is there a web server built into the plug device?
Awesome idea and it seems very ambitious. I wish it supported USB3 and gigabit ethernet though, especially when you're talking about several Terabytes of files and streaming movies, etc.
Looks like it draws energy from Ethernet to power the Plug Device and the USB drive. Is that right?<p>Do consumer-grade routers/switches deliver power over ethernet?
"How is this different than Dropbox?"...Ok, you attempted to answer that. How is this different than having a NAS, which can hold big TB hard drives, have RAID, often run linux (mine is running cron, etc. to transfer files).<p>Just a few fancy apps and features? I just don't get how this is different than any network storage on any network and how this is really all that innovative at all.