New SkyDrive Plan Gives You 200 GB Of Space For $100 A Year

There’s lots of space in the cloud but it comes at a price. Microsoft SkyDrive says you can have 200 GB of space under a new plan that will cost you $100 a year. The plan is attractive for Windows 8.1 and Microsoft Surface 2 tablet users. SkyDrive comes integrated into Windows 8.1 and you can also use it as the default location to save your files from the desktop. Purchase a new Surface 2 or Surface 2 Pro and it comes bundled with 200GB of SkyDrive storage for free for two years.
Functionally, using SkyDrive could give a few benefits for space watchers and mobile users. The desktop has placeholders on the local file system for your files in the cloud. You can move, copy, and rename these local copies, but they will only be downloaded when you want to open them. This allows you to access all your files from the cloud without having to store anything locally. Microsoft calls them “smart files”.

Compared to the competition the purchase plan for the additional 200 GB of storage looks like a win. Dropbox charges $99/year for the 100GB Pro plan. Google Drive will bill you $9.99 per month for 200GB of space (approximately $120 per year). SkyDrive puts the additional space in perspective when it says that 200 GB is enough space to take a photo, every hour, from the moment someone is born, to the day they graduate from college.
But one can be sure, that extra space will be put to a lot of other uses apart from storing photos and videos. Have you maxed out the free 7GB limit on SkyDrive? How does the “bargain” sound to you? Or would you rather go for options available on Dropbox and Google Drive?

Build Your Own Awesome Personal 3D Avatar with Avatara

Do you use social networks and want to build your own awesome 3D avatar? Maybe you want to send someone a cute cuddly image of yourself (kind of)? Or maybe you have your own ideas of what you would do with an Avatar… Well look no further than Avatara which I discovered from the MakeUseOf directory . You can create 3d avatars out of pre-set up templates or create your own from scratch. To start, visit Avatara’s homepage . You will see this screen: Click Get Started to umm, get started! That will take you to this screen: You see that you can build your own Avatar using an uploaded head shot like the Obama one above (just an example, guys). Or roll with one of their awesome avatars. I chose to start with a blank avatar by clicking Start with a blank avatar at the bottom of the screen. That takes you to here: I clicked on the filter at the top and told it to filter out everything but male characters and then I saw this: I rolled with Buck and continued. You need to click Select...

Fun Tools to Translate Your Name into Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is an artistic writing style of the Japanese language. Its Chinese origins can be traced back to the twenty-eighth century BCE. Calligraphy found its way into Japanese culture in 600 CE and is known as the karayo tradition. For Westerners, calligraphy is forever fascinating. However, it takes years to learn how to properly draw the signs. Two basic principles must be known to understand Japanese writing: there are different writing styles and different alphabets. Kaisho for example, is a writing style most commonly used in print media. Tensho on the other hand is used in signatures. Other writing styles are Reisho, Gyosho and Sousho. The alphabets include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is used for writing foreign words. It can also serve to highlight words, in analogy to capital letters as we know them from the Roman / Latin alphabet (Romaji in Japanese). Each Kanji character has a meaning of its own, while Hiragana or Katakana characters merely repres...

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...

Kiran Upadhyay

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