cloud storage: Google Drive and insynchq, Skydrive, Dropbox, SugarSync and my Synology… and Evernote

Recently everyone is providing cloud storage in the same way Dropbox have been doing it for a while.

Last week Google started rolling out the long awaited Google Drive, with Mac and PC installers to accomplish sort of what Dropbox does, with the difference that they increased the free storage to 10Gb while Dropbox gives 2Gb.

I installed Google Drive. It is basically Google Docs renamed. Honestly I am a bit disappointed. In my Mac GDrive creates a folder with only links to Google Docs and yes, with the files that are not Google docs specifics. Insynchq does it much better… with Insynchq you use Google Drive but instead of having links it converts them to word, excel and powerpoint documents that are downloaded into your computers. Neat.

Also with Insynchq you can have multiple Google drive mapped at the same time. I use two, my norai and torres domains, now both upgraded to 5Gb each. I ended up removing the Google Drive Mac client as I prefer the Insynhq one.

What is cool about GDrive?

Well I am a heavy user of Google Docs, so is nice to have extra storage, plus to buy extra storage is pretty affordable. What Google does well is to be able to open most of the file within the browser, from PDF to DOC to even Photoshop. Also they have included OCR making it by far the best search. If you upload a photo or a pdf, and you search for something in it, you will find it. Like with Evernote.

The collaboration rocks with Google and I believe is one of the best for online editing.

Then we have Microsoft Skydrive. It has been there for a while, but is not that known, and not that loved. You might change your mind after reading this.

They also released an installer for Mac, PC and even apps for iPhone and iPad (while Google has none). So, again, like Dropbox, you will have a local folder synchronized with your cloud service.

So what is good and different about SkyDrive?

For starters, if you had it before you can claim 25Gb for free (which I did) and if you are new then you get 7Gb (which is still the best out there).

Second, it works perfectly fine on my Mac, PC, iPad and iPhone. Also if you use the web, and you have an Office document such a word, excel, powerpoint or Onenote you have access to Office 365 or online editor for word documents fully compatible, of course, with your traditional Word, and others.

For sharing is also pretty easy now. You can get a link that can be emailed or shared in social networks easily.

For collaboration Google is still stronger thought. I guess SkyDrive still works with the concept of checking in and out documents.

What about Dropbox and SugarSync?

For me they are pretty much dead. SugarSync gives you 5Gb for free and is the most feature rich one, but too complex for many.

Dropbox is still the simplest and that is why they might still survive, but for me is over, together with SugarSync. Storage space has no competitive prices.

The best?

Well I have a NAS, as Synology DS 1511+ with 15Tb. In the latest update they rolled out (DSM 4) they included Cloud Station which is again based on the same principle. A local folder with local files synchronized with the NAS via an installer.

So far they did not release a Mac version yet but I have it on my Windows machines.

So which is the best… well with my Synology I have raid 5, I own the data, and I have 15Tb available… plus fibre optics at home with 100Mb up and down…. so for personal use my NAS, for collaboration, Google Drive, for the best storage option now SkyDrive.

But… what I use the most is Evernote… anything I print I don’t send to the printer anymore, I just print it to Evernote. All my docs are tagged, OCR, emailed and stored there…

Now someone should create a service that uses all the cloud storage and puts them into one single volume… so 5Gb from your GDrive plus 25Gb from SkyDrive plus your 5Gb from SugarSync, the 2Gb from Dropbox…

Day 13: Last day. Back to LA and bye bye Harley’s

Woke up early as usual. Jumped on our Harley’s and ride to a Starbucks on the main road in Santa Barbara.
After that we headed south on the 101 by the coast, stopping by often.
We stopped again for lunch in Santa Monica and then went to the motel where we stayed the last time we stayed in Los Angeles.
We just walked from Eagle Rider and here we are, reaching the end of our journey. I will compleat each of this entries once I’m back at home.

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Day 12: Fat Boys up and down

Woke up at the motel 6 and took the Harley’s to go for breakfast at the Andersen’s restaurant.
After that headed north till Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande and then round turn to Santa Monica where we are now, at Hacienda inn.
After leaving our stuff at the motel we took the road till the end where Santa Barnara Pierre is.
We walked at the marina and had an ice cream in the main street.

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Day 11: Harley Davidson Fat Boy and California coastline

As we managed to keep the car until the day after that made thing easier. We drove to eagle rider picked one of the bikes returned the car and went back to pick up the second bike.
Eagle rider was huge. They a lot of Harley’s.
Our two Fat Boys were brand new. 5 miles on the clock. One yellow for Sebas ( I like it more) and one blue for me. Having a Ducati myself I have to recognize that the Harley’s are a world apart. The noise the weight and the looks are unique.
We headed north by the coast, from Venice to Santa Monica, Malibu, Santa Barbara and finally stopping over at Buellton.
We had quite a shock. We arrived at Buellton with 10 miles left of gas in the tank. We really thought we would not make it.
For dinner we went to Andersen’s and fryer ordered what they claim is the famous pea soup. Nothing special.

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Day 10: Bye Vegas. Hi again Route 66 and Los Angeles

Last day with the convertible. We have to give it back at LAX by 6pm.
We left Vegas early and left the Stratosphere behind and drove south west towards route 66 starting at Barlow where we visited the route 66 museum. In San Bernardino we visited the place where the first Mc Donald’s was located. Not anymore though. Then the rest of the day was basically driving towards Los Angles.
First thing in Los Angeles was to go to LAX suites that I booked on my iPhone using booking.com. It was
conveniently located close to eagle rider and the airport and National, where we went to ask if we could keep the car until the following day as we took it in a morning. The answer was yes. That made things easier. We went to Santa Monica 3rd promenade and pier. Then back to the motel.

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Day 9: Gran Canyon West & O Cirque Soleil

We woke up early to check out, put all the stuff in the car and go to the north gate to wait at 7:30am for the van that would take us to the airport.
At the Vegas 500 offices we paid the rest and jumped into a 9 seater Cessna. The nice thing of this company is that there is always a window seat, the windows are big and the wings are over the plane so they don’t disturb the views.
After 30 min flying around Boulder city, Lake Mead we landed in the west rim of the canyon. We took a shuttle that took us to Eagle point and Hualapai Indian village and finally Guano point where we ate.
The views are amazing!!! We did not go to the skywalk because we thought it was not worth it.
We expected that the plane would take us inside the canyon but looks like only the helicopters do this. It was sort if a taxi only so if I have I recommend something is that you better come here in your own and then take an helicopter here.
Now we are waiting for the plane to go back to Vegas. I will continue tonight provided I find wifi to post this.

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Day 8: Las Vegas: New York New York

4th April. Wednesday.
Today it was a walking day. From the hotel we are staying (New York new York) till the Wynn las Vegas.
Sunny as usual but perfect temperature, we visited most of the hotels in the strip. The incredible Venetian with gondolas on the third floor, to the design of the cosmopolitan, Wynn and Aria. Old ones like harrah’s and treasure island to the newest ones.
What can I say. It is incredible and you overestimate the distances and the amount of walking you do. We booked for the O du cirque du Soleil for the following day even if we were one of the first to cue everything was sold out for the day, therefore we decided to stay one more say in Vegas. We had booked only for two nights at the New York New York at a rate of 60$, but surprise, with taxes and fees we end up paying 87$ per night which is misleading when booking it via booking.com.
The hotel was great. All have free parking and thesis one free wifi.
Tomorrow we’ll be staying at the Stratosphere further down the strip. The price advertised was 39$. We’ll see. The positive thing is that to go up the tower costs 16$ per person while if you have a room it is included.
We also booked a tour for the next day to the west side of the grand canyon with a company called Vegas 500. We paid 245$ per person and it included the transfer to the airport, the flight to the canyon, shuttles around the Indian reserve and lunch.
At night we went to a strip club but we just have a quick beer as it was pretty much empty and not as we expected.
In our way back Sebas played the roulette for the first time. He first read how o play in Wikipedia but he end up loosing 20$.

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Day 7: Zion Park & Vegas

We woke up early in Springdale. Had breakfast at this motel ran by an Indian couple and headed to the Zion’s park visiting center. We left the car there and grabbed a free shuttle to the end of the park: Zion lodge. We did some nice trekking from 8am until 1pm, visiting a couple of waterfalls, the emerald track, etc… Then we left and drove towards las Vegas.
We arrived to the New York hotel at around 5pm. We are at the empire tower room 3011.
I’ll continue later.

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Day 6: Antelope Canyon & horseshoe bend

As usual we are a bit post with the local time. From California to New Mexico to Arizona and now in Utah the time zone keeps changing.
Today we had breakfast as usual at the motel and then went to the tour operator for the antelope canyon. We paid 70$ for the two of us. This includes a ride with a huge pick up car and 14 people on the back, the entry to this indian land and a tour inside the upper antelope canyon. 1:40 in total.
The canyon is incredible. All done by the water passing through.
After the visit we took the car and drove to the horseshoe bend of the glen canyon. The typical photo of the river in a u form in the canyon. We left the convertible parked and walked to the spot and then around. The views are breathtaking. You cannot notice it for the photos but the cliffs are incredible.
After that we visited the Powell damn at Page. At lunchtime we went to a local American Mexican drive in called RD drive in. After eating we hesitated to either go to the Bryce Canyon or to the Zion national park. We decided for the second, so we headed towards Kanab (the little hollywood) and then Springdale, that is where we are right now.
When we entered the Sion National park we paid sure 25$ and opened the top of car even with 7 degrees. The road was amazing. Nature incredible and the experience of driving Ina convertible was great.
Now we are at the terrace brooks lodge and tomorrow we will visit the park. After that we will head to las Vegas where we have booked the New York hotel for two nights.

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Day 5: Grand Canyon

Woke up at 6 am by mistake. Sebas’ blackberry did not change the timeline when changing state to Arizona. We went down to have breakfast and I managed to have a Face Time with Nuria and Kai :-)
We jumped into the car, it was damn cold. 4 degrees. Flagstaff is at 2150 m. In the way to grand canyon the views are astonishing. The nature, trees and landscape is breathtaking.
We arrived pretty early, we paid the admission to the park 25$ per car, and parked in parking 2. There it was getting cloudy and very windy.
Grand Canyon has amazing views over the south rim of the canyon. The north rim is closed at this time of the year.
We took one of the free shuttles and went to different spots around the cliffs. We spent all day walking and going around with the bus.
Then we just drive to where we are now, Page. We just went to have dinner and tomorrow we are going to visit the antelope canyon and the typical bend…. But this is an entry for tomorrows blog.

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Day 4: Route 66 to Flagstaff

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Day 3: LA to Albuquerque

I woke up at 4am. Stayed in bed until 5:10 when I had a shower and went downstairs to be picked by the shuttle. In my printout it said we were departing from terminal 8 but the driver insisted that there was no terminal 8. Good start.
Finally our flight was operated by Skywest and the checkin was at terminal 7.
Now we are in a small crj200 regional plane. Like a bus.
I’ll continue when tonight and publish this as soon as we find wifi.
Alburquerque financial lunch Old town.
Sleep best American value Gallup

Day 2: Los Angeles tour

We woke up early. Sure. Went out for breakfast to the corner at cafe collage. We had coffee and a muffin. Then we went back to the hotel to book a day tour around LA. They picked us up and spent all day visiting places. Before though we had a walk until Santa Monica. nicer than Venice I have to say. Posh and cool.
We started with the tour by… Venice Beach. A completely different place than the night before. Crowded with weird and eccentric people, tourists and homeless. Venice beach is the typical walk where nice girls roller skate and Arnold used to train at the beach gold gym club.
I found it old. Probably it was great in the 80s but now is just old. We also passed by the canals.
After that we visited Santa Monica. We have to go back there, specially to 3 av. We stopped and took some pictures of where the route 66 ends. Close to Santa Monica pier.
We then went to visit the famous houses in Beverly hills and Bel Air. We saw where Michael Jackson died, and houses from all the poor famous people. The cheapest house 2M$.
We went to rodeo drive and walked around the expensive shops with expensive cars (like a bugati le baron) and beautiful people.
After that we went for lunch to the farmers market. Very nice place we did not have the chance to explore as with just 45 min we had only time to eat a salad.
After lunch to a hill where we cold take a photo of the hollywood sign and see the city from above.
After that: Hollywood boulevard, Chinese theatre, Kodak theatre and just walk around taking pictures of the famous stars on the floor. 25000$ each!!
Finally we went to sunset boulevard and a guitar shop with the hands on the floor of famous musicians.
After that we we t back to the hotel.
The price was 79$ per person and the. The driver keeps begging for a good tip up to the point it was annoying. It was a nice tour. At the end the guy was driving like a crazy kamikaze. I guess he did not want to go too late home. We were dropped at 7:30. We went to have a drink to the side walk cafe were we ended asking for nachos and hot wings. In principle just starters but we could not eve finish them.
After that to bed. Early as we had a shuttle coming to pick us up at 5:45am.
I was awake at 4am though. I guess jet-lag.

Day 1: Geneva, Barcelona, Atlanta & Los Angeles

This is the blog for the trip to US with my very best friend Sebas. Let’s start by the beginning:
In November 2011, when I went to Barcelona for the surprise 40th anniversary party for Sebas, we agree than being the year when we both turned 40, we should do something special: so here we are.
I am actually writing this on day 3 of our trip. We are now in a small plane for LA to Albuquerque.
Day 1 started at 4 am for me. It was a last minute chandler because on the day we were supposed to travel Spain was going to be on a general strike meaning that only 40% of international flights were going to departure. Sebas manages to change the day for one day earlier so we had to hurry and prepare the luggage a change my flight to Barcelona.
I took the Ducati to go to the airport. I hope it is still there by the time I’m back!
When I landed at terminal two in Barcelona I took the shuttle to the new terminal and I met Sebas there. To be on the safe side we agreed to carry hand luggage only and it was a good idea!
The delta flight to Atlanta was packed and on time. We were not very lucky with the seats, as the were in the middle of the middle row. But I guess that for 500€ for a return flight from Barcelona to Los Angeles we could not ask much ;-)
9 hours later we got to Atlanta. We had 2.5 hours for changing flight and we though that was plenty of time. We were wrong!
Atlanta customs was like a football field. I guess that around 40 booths and translators being call for all languages. Even the UN has not that many translators. We queued forever. After that police control. Queued again. Then take the train to change terminal and then arrive just when they started boarding. We would not have made it with checked in luggage.
The plane from Atlanta to LA was shinny new. A boing 777. 5 hours later we landed at LAX. Total for me: 24.5 hours of trip It was dark already so we grabbed a cab to Venice beach. 30$ with the tip.
The Venice Beach Cotel was a hostel. Good ratings from hostelwold but pretty crappy to My standards.
We has a room with private bathroom (room #2) which was on top of Venice walk and facing the sea. It was also by the hostel bar so very noisy. Fortunately at 10:30 they closed the bar.
We went walking when we arrived. Venice beach is a ghost town when the sun goes down, packed of homeless people. We did not get far. We saw how the they were shooting a film around the corner of the hostel and then we went to have dinner to the restaurant in front of of our hotel.
Sebas had a pizza of the day and I had a Caesar salad. We also tried 2 very strange beers. A Palomino ale ape and another one I don’t remember the name.
After that we went to bed.

Share the ride

I wanted to share with you a website that will help you fill your car and get paid:

http://www.zimride.com/