How to save and share ridiculously large files

A few years ago it was a big deal to find a place that would let you share 1 gigabyte of files.

Things change, though. Bandwidth keeps growing, and the cost of Web storage keeps shrinking. That's good news for people looking to share increasingly big files, be it an HD video recording or an archive of several files that tops out at over a gig.

There are now a handful of free and paid services that make it easy to host these gigantic files and send them to a pal, family member, or business associate.

The key thing to point out here is the individual file size limit. Many storage services will toss gigabytes at you without any real strings attached except for the fact that you cannot upload files larger than a gig. This really isn't a big deal, that is until that first time you need to do it. Below are a handful of sites, both free and paid, that are up to the task.

The free ones

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but the same cannot be said about storage. You can, with little effort, dump big files in a number of places. The usual caveat there is that there tends to be a lot of on-site advertising and your files may not be saved for very long in case you want to arrive back to re-download or share them later on.

ADrive (2GB): ADrive is more of a personal file storage service, but files can be shared via a direct link, or via e-mail. The service gives users 50GB of total storage and uploads at up to 2GB a pop. It has both a Web-based uploader and a desktop software version.

Something to be wary of is that files that have been uploaded to ADrive's free service tier eventually expire, something that doesn't happen for users who shell out for the signature and premium plans.

File Xpressit (2GB): File Xpressit actually tops out at 300MB a file but will go up to 2GB if you register with the service. It is free, it just requires clicking an activation link in an e-mail. The uploader does not require Flash or Java, which is nice if you're trying to use it on a computer without it installed. The service can also give you an e-mail notification when the file has been downloaded by your recipient.

Worth noting is that to use FileXpressit, you'll need to have an e-mail address for the person you wish to send the file to. This won't actually send the gigantic file to their in-box, but it means you can't start the upload without typing it in first.

Humyo (10GB): Humyo has a free and a paid plan, but the free plan is very generous at 10GB of free storage. There are basically no set-in-rock file size limits, just a cautionary message that encourages files that are over 10GB to be split into smaller segments. We didn't actually test this with a 10GB file (and we doubt you will either), but it's nice to know you could if you wanted to.

Dropbox (2GB): Dropbox is a file storage and synchronization service. Free users receive 2GB, which can be upgraded to 50GB and 100GB for $10 or $20 a month respectively. Still, if you have a file that's at exactly 2GB, or just a little bit less, you can store it on Dropbox free of charge. The only caveat here is that you need to use the software file transfer tool, as the Web-based uploader tops out at 300MB. You, and whomever you're sending the file to can also score an extra 250MB of storage if you refer them to use the service.

File Dropper (5GB): File Dropper allows file shares of up to 5GB. That's not as much as Humyo's service, but it's still more space than you're able to fit on a single-layer DVD (not that you're sharing those, right?). Files are kept "forever," and best of every, there's no registration required. Instead, when your file is done you receive a URL that links directly to the file, as well as embed code to stick a download link on a blog or personal Web site.

Along with the free service, File Dropper also has three paid plans which run anywhere from $1 to $10 a month. These can up the file size up to 50GB and 250GB in the two upper tiers.

Sizable Send (2GB): Sizable Send is another one of those services aimed at people who are trying to receive around the attachment size limits put in place by most e-mail providers. Using the service, you cannot share a file with someone else without first filling out your e-mail address and that of the person you intend to share the file with.

On the plus side, the tool lets you add password protection to the file, as well as set it to be automatically deleted as soon as the person you're sending it to has downloaded it. There are also quick links to share your file on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, along with blogging tools like Blogger and WordPress.

WeTransfer (2GB): WeTransfer is one of the standouts on this list. It's a very slick and stylish site that keeps the number of things you have to fill out to an absolute minimum. You just pick the file (or files) you want to send and drop in an e-mail address for both you and the person you're sending it to. It then starts the transfer and gives you a simple status meter with an estimate of how long it has left to go. every the while you receive pretty background photos to look at, which change every minute or so, along with a link to the artist who made them. This is also where the service slips in its ads.

Glide's gDrive ("no limit"): Glide is unlike many of the other services on this list in that it's not just a storage provider, it's an operating system of its possess that can be accessed from any browser. Glide's "gDrive" gives users 50GB of free storage space, and users can upload files of any size when using the company's Glide One Sync software. Web uploads, however, are capped at 200MB.

Send This File ("no limit"): Send This File does not have any difficult restrictions in place on how big your files can be, though it notes that some browsers cap things at 2GB. That works for us, though.

Send This File has both free and paid plans, and worth noting about the free version is that the file will only be hosted on the service for three days before being deleted. It can also be downloaded a mere three times. Other downsides include the service throttling download speeds, meaning that it could take whomever you're sending it to the greater part of a day to actually receive the file unless you pony up for the paid plans. Still, if your recipient is patient, it's simple and software-free.

The paid ones

Why would you pay for storage when you can use every the over services for free, you ask? More often than not it's the extra features. Most of the sites listed below can hang onto your files for months and in some cases years. They can also toss in things like file encryption, FTP access, uploads in excess of 2GB, and a way to use the service for business.

DivShare (2GB): Divshare is more of a traditional file-hosting service than some of the others on this list have been. Like ADrive, it's set up to let you keep your files in a virtual storage disk. It then splits them up into images, videos, audio, and documents.

DivShare lets its free users upload files up to 200MB in size. Paid users receive bumped to the magic 2GB mark. The only downside there is that DivShare keeps tabs on how much bandwidth has been used by people who are downloading your files. For the free plan, that's 10GB. It goes up to 75GB, 200GB, 500GB, and 2,000GB on the paid plans.

Box.net (2GB): Box offers 2GB file size limits on its business and enterprise plans. For the business plan that comes out to $15 per user per month. Its free plan, which includes 1GB, otherwise caps files at a mere 25MB.

Streamfile (2GB web, 30GB via FTP): Streamfile can be used for free, but unregistered and registered users can only put up 150MB and 300MB files respectively. The paid account, which costs $5 a month can do 2GB uploads via its Web interface, and files up to 30GB a pop for users transferring files through an FTP application. The pro version also nixes advertisements, adds 256-bit file encryption, and keeps your download link alive for two weeks.

Dropio (2GB): Dropio, which offers users 100MB for free, has an a la carte upgrade program that can top out individual storage folders at up to 25GB. If you're uploading through the standard Web interface, though, it's capped out at 2GB. Larger files need to be split up.

The price for the 2GB "drop" as the service calls the folder, is $20, and the file will be saved for a year. Users can tack on extra time by opting for two-year storage for $40 or three-year storage for $60.

Gigasize ("no limit"): Gigasize has a free uploader service that lets you upload files up to 300MB in size. Its premium service, which costs anywhere from $10 a month down to $4 a month (depending on how long you sign up for), takes every file size limits off. It also adds a few handy features like file encryption and a terabyte of online storage.

Mailbigfile (2GB): Like Streamfile, Mailbigfile has a free version, but this tops out at 200MB uploads. Going pro, which costs $15 a year, knocks that up to 2GB, as well as adding things like an address book to keep a short list of people you're sending files to, as well as keeping files up for 28 days after they've been uploaded.

Beyond pro accounts, the service also offers a "business" account for $50 a month, or $300 a year, that can be branded, and given a custom subdomain, though it still has a cap of 2GB on individual file sizes.

YouSendIt (2GB): YouSendIt's free service is limited to 100MB uploads, whereas the pro and business plus plans, which start at $10 per month per user, bring that limit up to 2GB. Though a big downside here is how much total storage users receive, which on the pro plans is topped out at 2GB. This means if you intend on sending more than one big file at a time, you have to bump up to the business plus plan, which comes with 6GB of storage.

Sendspace (1.5GB): Sendspace's pro service is the only one of its three plans that lets users upload more than 300MB. $7 gets users 20GB of storage space, and uploads up to 1.5GB apiece.

Which one to use?

So with every these choices, which one is going to give you the best bang for your buck? Or offer the most features at no cost?

If you're going for pure storage space, options like Streamfile, Glide's gDrive, Humyo, and File Dropper every offer the most, with every but Streamfile doing it for free. Again, the caveat here--at least for Streamfile and Glide--is that you can't move these big files without first installing a little bit of software on your machine. That said, it's not always a burden to do this, since these programs can often keep the uploads from slowing other browser tasks, and can resume a big upload if there's a problem with the connection.

There's also a question of whether or not you intend to access that file later on down the line. And if that's the case, it's definitely worth investing in a service that will keep it around. Many of the paid services mentioned over can also be helpful for business needs, since you can brand them with your company's logo, give your download pages custom domains, and control how many times any particular file can be downloaded.

Will there be a time when 20GB is the new 2GB? I think so. And if File Dropper's freebie 5GB and Humyo's massive 10GB are any indication, we're already well on the way to getting there.

Any we missed? Leave them in the comments, or shoot me an e-mail.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

9 Mar 2010, 6:00 am | click here to view more

Watch live March Madness games on your iPhone

hear up, college-hoops fans: I have good news and bad news about this year's version of the CBS Sports NCAA March Madness On Demand app.

The good: Unlike last year's version, it doesn't require a Wi-Fi connection to stream live games. Now you can watch over 3G or even EDGE.

The bad: CBS hiked the price from $4.99 to $9.99. But let's face it: For any difficult-core NCAA fan, that's peanuts for the privilege of watching every game in the tournament on demand.

On the other hand, if you can live without the video but still want the scores, stats, brackets, and basic tournament coverage, NCAA March Madness On Demand Lite is available free of charge.

Me, I'll be ponying up for the full version--and watching my productivity plummet during the second half of March (and, depending on how far my beloved MSU Spartans receive this year, possibly the first week of April as well). Stay tuned for some awesome reruns "Best of iPhone Atlas" posts later this month. (Shh, don't tell the boss.)

Anyway, hit the comments and let me know if you'll be springing for the live-streaming version of the app--and who you're rooting for in this year's tourney. Go State!

(Quick disclaimer: The NCAA March Madness On Demand apps are sold by the CBS Mobile division of CBS Interactive, which also owns CNET.)

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

8 Mar 2010, 1:38 pm | click here to view more

Remote computer access and 2D car racing: iPhone apps of the week

The big news of the day is the announcement of when Apple's latest creation, the iPad, will be available. According to Apple, the "magical and revolutionary" product will be in stores April 3 starting at $499, but you can preorder the device as early as March 12. Only the Wi-Fi model will be available at first, with the Wi-Fi/3G capable iPad to arrive later in April.

There is already plenty of analysis every over the Web about who will buy the iPad and whether it's truly a viable alternative to laptops and Netbooks. Most reviewers seem to be predicting that the device will only appeal to tech and Web novices, or those with enough disposable income to spend their money on what reviewers deem no more than a luxury device. The consensus seems to be that it's "neat," but not very useful to serious tech fans.

As an iPhone app reviewer, I think the iPad will indeed be a revolutionary device. With now more than 150,000 apps in the iTunes Store and developers dedicated to upgrading old apps and creating new ones that take advantage of the added processing power and screen real estate, I think the iPad will prove to become much more than just a luxury item. I think once the iPad gains some traction, we're going to look more and more useful apps that will be exclusive to the device, with options and features that would be impossible on smaller devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch. I guess what I'm saying here is that I think it's dangerous to write the iPad off before we really receive to look what it can do. I have a feeling that reviewers and tech Web sites will be humming a different tune once the iPad is in the wild. Now that we know when they're coming out, we'll just have to wait and look what happens when they actually receive into people's hands.

This week's apps include a free productivity app to gain access to your computer remotely and a 2D driving game that's surprisingly fun and addictive.

TeamViewer (free) for iPhone lets you remotely view and control your computer's desktop and applications and comes in handy for remotely supporting your friends and family members. In order to use this program on the iPhone, you will need to install TeamViewer on the computer you wish to connect to (Mac or Windows). Once installed on a desktop computer, TeamViewer gives you an ID and password so you can connect using the iPhone app remotely. Once connected, you can set various permissions in the settings to allow viewing privileges and even to give remote users full access to your desktop and files.

We already liked TeamViewer for both Mac and Windows machines and the iPhone app is also extremely useful. There is a little bit of lag time, and TeamViewer for iPhone is certainly not as easy as using your desktop computer, but for demonstration purposes, remote support for family and friends, and transferring files, TeamViewer for iPhone does an admirable job. To make things easier on the iPhone, TeamViewer comes with touch-screen gestures you can use to perform certain tasks such as right-clicking, window scrolling, drag-and-drop actions, and zoom. You also have the ability to browse recent connections and create bookmarked locations with partners. This version is not for commercial use (the commercial version of TeamViewer is $99). Overall, if you want a way to access files, demonstrate actions, or perform remote support for friends, this free app is the one to download.

Alpine Crawler World (99 cents) is a 2D side-scrolling driving game that's not immediately impressive visually, but quickly becomes more impressive as you explore the levels and environments. There are three game types including Free Ride, Time Trial, and Challenge. Free Ride lets you practice unlocked courses, and Time Trial challenges you to receive to the end of a course in the least amount of time. The Challenge game type lets you race on courses from multiple different environments one after the other. You'll need to finish every the courses in an area on Time Trial to unlock new areas to race. The unique driving pedals let you control how much throttle is applied as well as how difficult you touch the brakes. Once you've completed a few races, Open Feint support lets you view leaderboards and look if friends are playing.

Alpine Crawler World isn't particularly impressive graphically on first blush, but real-life physics, weather effects, and night and day courses made me appreciate the overall look the more I played. You receive several cars and trucks you'll need to unlock, every with different engine sounds and physical attributes that will affect the way you handle the terrain. You can pick between five different drivers, though you'll mostly just look their head bobbing in the car as you race. You also can pick the color of your vehicles from a big color palette. Overall, with numerous tracks across several different locations, real-time physics, and tons of customization options, Alpine Crawler world is a great time-waster with plenty of replayability.

What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you think the iPad will be a hit or a dud? Are you glad to finally have a way to remotely help your family members with computer issues on your iPhone? What do you think of Alpine Crawler World? Let me know in the comments!

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

5 Mar 2010, 7:31 pm | click here to view more

Vlingo 2.0 for iPhone: E-mail, SMS dictation now cost

Vlingo is an app that's been around awhile in the mobile space, but a new version for iPhone is causing some uproar. With Vlingo for iPhone 2.0, the company commits the sin of opacity by updating its rather good voice search and dialing application to version 2.0 without making it clear that you can only unlock the intriguing new features with your wallet.

Those familiar with Vlingo's BlackBerry app won't be surprised. There was an equal outcry when Vlingo introduced premium features for the first time, including switching a feature that had once been free to the paid category.

To recap, Vlingo's free voice app can search the Web, dial contacts, map a location, and update Twitter and Facebook with your voice--for free. You'll have a chance to edit before posting. Since computer-aided voice transcription is far from flawless--whether you're using Vlingo or Google Voice (look flubs here)--you may befriend that edit screen, especially when you're in noisy environments, when you're mumbling, and when you talk too quickly for Vlingo's rather sensitive electronic ears.

It doesn't help Vlingo's case that one of the two new premium features, which you can receive by way of an in-app purchase, doesn't work very well. There's e-mail dictation and SMS copy that copies the transcription of your voice recording to the iPhone's clipboard, but you then have to glue the text yourself into the SMS field before sending it. For $6.99 as a standalone feature, e-mail dictation might be worthwhile; however, its SMS copy feature is not. For $9.99, you receive both features, which would be a good deal if the SMS feature didn't require the hack.

Those who don't mind separating e-mail dictation from Vlingo's other voice-triggered features, there's always the free Dragon Dictation app by Nuance Communications (the folks who mainstreamed T9 text input method for cell phones.)

Sorry, Vlingo. We like you, we really do, but either the pricing has to go or the SMS tool does. However, there's no need to delete or avoid Vlingo 2.0 if you're not interested in buying into the new features. Voice search, dialing, and status updates work as they did before the update (hilarious and editable mistranslations included), and these are still free.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

5 Mar 2010, 5:52 pm | click here to view more

New Photoshop for Android includes Apple potshot

Adobe Systems released a new version of its Photoshop.com Mobile application for Android phones on Thursday night, an upgrade that came with an apparent attempt to tweak Apple's nose.

The new version gets more editing options. It adds "vibrant" to make photo colors richer and "pop" for a pop-art style. Also new are "soft black and white," "warm vintage," "vignette blur," "white glow," and "rainbow," Adobe said.

But more significantly, perhaps, the mobile editing software also now can be incorporated by other programs on the phone. "Third-party application developers now have access to the Photoshop.com Mobile for Android 1.1 editor, allowing them to easily make it a part of their applications," Adobe said.

This is where the Apple potshot comes in--a notable move given a public squabble over Apple's unwillingness to include Adobe's Flash Player on the iPhone or forthcoming iPad.

"Unlike iPhone, the Android platform allows us to make the Photoshop.com editor broadly available to developers so they can provide it within any application they are working on. Photoshop functionality can then easily be accessed from an online auction, real estate, or social media application so users can quickly fix photos and make them look their best, before being showcased," Doug Mack, general manager of Adobe's Digital Imaging and wealthy Media Solutions group, said in a statement.

The remark is hardly a condemnation of Apple. But I can't remember Adobe ever going out of its way to take sides by calling attention to what Photoshop on Mac OS X can do that it can't on Windows or vice versa.

More details are available at the Adobe site for mobile Android developers.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

5 Mar 2010, 4:51 am | click here to view more

Chrome bug kills offline Gmail

A bug in Thursday's update to the development build of Google Chrome renders it incompatible with Gmail offline. Users who've had Gmail and Chrome configured for offline use will find that Chrome crashes as soon as you log in to Gmail. The problem affects every development versions of the browser.

Right now there are only two ways around the bug. You can disable offline mode in Chrome by going to Options/below the Hood and clearing out the Gmail-related entries below ''Change Gears settings''. This will delete every offline data from Gmail that you've saved on your computer. If offline Gmail is more important to you than using the dev version of Chrome, you can update the browser to the beta (Windows | Mac | Linux) or stable (Windows only) builds. Windows users can also use the Chrome Channel Changer to switch versions.

You can follow the bug's progress at Google's Chromium project Web site.

5 Mar 2010, 1:12 pm | click here to view more

Five ways to keep your PC free of viruses and Trojans

Even if your PC is equipped with up-to-date anti-malware software, hardware and software firewalls, and other security measures, it can still become infected. The weak link in computer security is the wetware: the human beings who use the machine. And there's simply no fool-proof defense against operator mistake.

That's why any PC security plan has to assume that eventually, some piece of malware will breach the defenses. And these days, infections can do considerable damage without being detected. Here are five ways — some more practical than others — to reduce the risk of someone stealing the sensitive data on your system or using it to break into your bank accounts.

#1: Don't use Windows
It makes perfect sense that data thieves target the most-popular computer platform, so the best way to minimize your risk is to use an operating system other than Windows. Unfortunately, this simply isn't practical for many users. At work, our employers usually determine the type of PC we use.

But even when the choice is ours to make, the software we rely on may lock us into Windows. Still, more and more people are switching from Windows PCs to Macs — despite the cost premium — or to Linux — despite the added complexity and smaller number of applications available. And their primary motivation for choosing an alternative platform is the added safety it provides.

If you can't give up Windows, you may still be able to install Linux on an old PC or in a partition of your Windows PC. Then you can use that system (or partition) whenever you engage in any sensitive computer activities. You'll find instructions for dual-booting Windows and the Ubuntu version of Linux on the Ubuntu Community Documentation site.

In 2008, I wrote a series of posts about getting started with Linux. I found out the difficult way that it pays to do a little research before you start your conversion to Linux. Despite the heavy lifting, adding Linux to your PC repertoire offers many benefits apart from the added safety. To start with, the OS and nearly every applications are free. Do you think Microsoft will be giving away Windows anytime soon?

#2: Don't use your bank's online services
Several years ago, there was a rash of phishing e-mails masquerading as important messages from major banks. I scoff at any e-mail that purports to be from my bank. That's because I've never given my bank my e-mail address.

I've had the same bank account for decades and have never felt the need to bank online. You can say online banking is a convenience. You can say online bill-paying saves you time and the cost of stamps. But to me, the convenience and time- and money-savings simply aren't worth the added risk.

But I'm the Luddite exception, as the growth in online banking services attests. To bank safely online, make sure you're dealing with a legitimate establishment. The FDIC offers a guide to safe Internet banking that's a few years old but still helpful, particularly for its information on how to determine whether an online bank is insured.

You must also take precautions during an online banking session. In 2008, University of Michigan researchers reported on the prevalence of flaws in the design of banking sites that put the banks' customers at risk. More ominously, the FDIC issued a special alert last October warning banks about "money mules" who are recruited — often unwittingly — as accomplices in fraudulent electronic funds transfers from compromised bank accounts. (Read more about the threat on the Retail Payments Risk Forum's Portals and Rails blog.)

Many analysts look multifactor authentication (or two-factor authentication) as a way to strengthen the security of online banking. Last September, security expert Bruce Schneier described weaknesses in two-factor authentication. Schneier recommends securing the transaction rather than the person, which he points out is the approach taken by credit-card companies.

#3: Use a disposable credit-card number
Speaking of credit cards, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act limits consumers' loss due to unauthorized use of credit cards to $50 — but the protections don't apply to unauthorized use of debit cards. That's why it's important to avoid using debit cards for online transactions.

You can increase your level of protection when buying products or services online by using disposable credit-card numbers. CreditCards.com describes these virtual credit cards and offers tips for reducing your risk of loss when using PayPal and other electronic payment systems to purchase products online.

#4: Use virtualization software every the time
Last August, I described the $25 Returnil virtualization software that creates a virtual environment — or sandbox — on your PC to prevent any unauthorized changes to your system. When you close down your machine, every traces of the session are wiped out.

When I tested the program, it didn't slow my PC down noticeably, though it does require that you grant permission for each file or program setting you want to change while working in the virtual environment. Still, if safety is your paramount concern, there's no more secure method than using a virtualization program such as Returnil.

#5 Use more than one malware scanner
No security program is 100% effective, so the more different malware scanners you use, the better your chances of spotting any virus that makes it through your first line of defense. (Remember to use only one real-time malware scanner at a time to avoid system-stopping software conflicts.)

I set my primary security program to scan e-mail and file downloads automatically and to run full system scans during times when the PC is otherwise idle. But I also use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware program to scan my system about once every week. The free version of the program lets you perform manual scans, but only the $24.95 version supports real-time malware scans and automatic updates of its virus database.

Nearly every security-software vendor offers free online scans. These include Trend Micro's HouseCall, BitDefender Online Scanner, Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner, F-Secure Online Scanner, and Panda ActiveScan. CNET Editor Jessica Dolcourt examines the pros and cons of these services in "Demystifying online virus scans."

The VirusTotal service lets you scan files you suspect may be infected. The free service uses virus databases from more than 40 different security services. Likewise, Jotti uses 16 separate virus scanners to identify infected files. And just in case two virus-scan aggregators aren't sufficient insurance, run that suspicious file through the dozens of scanners at VirScan.org.

Originally posted at Workers' Edge

5 Mar 2010, 12:22 pm | click here to view more

Chrome dev gets rudimentary HTML5 geolocation

In an update to the development build of Chrome, Google on Thursday introduced a rough version of the native HTML5 geolocation API. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, Google Chrome dev 5.0.342.1 comes with the geolocation API that Mozilla has supported since it introduced it in last summer's Firefox 3.5.

However, geolocation in Chrome is turned off by default. To activate it, users must go to their Chrome shortcut and add --enable-geolocation to the end of the target line, below the Shortcut tab. To test if it's working, you can go to http://www.browsergeolocation.com. If the browser asks for you to approve sending your location data, you know it's working.

I found that on Windows 7, launching Chrome from the taskbar did not allow it to recognize the geolocation activation command. It worked fine, though, when launched from the Start menu.

This update to Chrome dev also includes a few other minor improvements, mostly to the Mac and Linux versions. Along with the geolocation support, users on those platforms should look improved plug-in stability and better implementation of autofill preferences. Mac users only should look favicons in the history menu, and HTML5 databases have been added to the cookie manager. The full list of changes can be read here.

4 Mar 2010, 5:33 pm | click here to view more

Opera Mini now on Windows Mobile. Yeah, you read that right

As if keeping the differences straight between Opera's Mobile and Mini browsers weren't tricky enough already, Opera has added another twist by releasing Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows phones, a mobile platform that has previously only run the Opera Mobile app.

Until now, Opera's mobile browsers boiled down to this: Opera Mini (stable|beta) is the proxy browser for Java-based phones that feeds Web content through Opera's servers. And Opera Mobile (stable|beta), is the full Web experience for Symbian and Windows phones that's written with Web code.

The "Mini" browser doesn't render Web sites as faithfully as Opera Mobile's true Web client (and it still won't for Windows phones) but it does return key content faster.

We loaded CNET.com and other graphics-heavy sites using both Opera Mobile 10 beta 2 and the brand-new Opera Mini 5 beta on an HTC Touch Diamond 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5 (got every that?). Opera Mobile took more than 15 seconds to load over Wi-Fi, but it rendered the page in desktop view and displayed CNET's Flash. Opera Mini loaded CNET's mobile-optimized site in a fraction of the time, but we missed out on the landing page.

Introducing Opera Mini for Windows phones is a big deal. First, Opera had to write a separate version of Opera Mini that runs on Windows phones using the compatible C-based programming language instead of Java (which is incompatible or inconsistent, depending on the phone model). Second, making a speedier browser for a platform that's already capable of running its possess full Web browser hints that for many, Opera Mobile wasn't quick enough.

Not that Opera Mobile isn't already equipped with a way to turn on the gas. The Opera Turbo compression engine (also found in Opera's desktop browser) can hasten page-load times while (knowingly) sacrificing image clarity. But Opera Software claims that running Mini on Windows Mobile can compress traffic by up to 90 percent, making pages load faster still.

As far as the feature sets go, the latest beta versions of Mini and Mobile share an identical interface that includes tabbed browsing and Opera's Speed Dial start screen (video tour). According to Opera, the company's goal is not to cannibalize Opera Mobile with Opera Mini 5 beta, but software makers tend to follow users' leads when the tide turns for unused products. What we're banking on is for browser technology to improve enough to make Opera Mobile, and not Mini, the better choice for Opera loyalists on any mobile platform.

The presence of Opera Mini on a Windows phone presents at least a short-term answer to the ever-important question of speed. It's telling us that a standalone mobile browser that's quick enough to deliver the Web without a proxy server go-between isn't here yet.

Opera Mini 5 beta is free for Windows Mobile 5 and 6. Download it by pointing the mobile browser to m.opera.com/next/ or visit http://www.opera.com/mini/next/ from the desktop.

4 Mar 2010, 5:22 pm | click here to view more

Searching secrets

If you've always wished for a way to search a favorite Web site without loading the page first, you're in luck. We show you a hot tip for creating keywords that you can drop into your browser's address bar. After typing the keyword, you'll type your search term and voila! You'll be rewarded with search results from the site. Best yet, the tip works with most Web browsers, such as Firefox, Chrome, and Opera.

Speaking of Opera, the Norwegian browsermaker graduated its latest beta, which has now become the most recent stable version. Opera 10.50 gets a new look and even more importantly, a new JavaScript engine that brings it in closer competition with Google Chrome.

In other browser news, a European antitrust case against Microsoft shines the spotlight on several alternative browsers. We're talking about browsers that make Safari, Opera, and Chrome look mainstream, like GreenBrowser, Maxthon, and K-Meleon. Read the story and receive the full list of "other" other browsers here.

4 Mar 2010, 2:00 pm | click here to view more