Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

We’re all becoming increasingly reliant on consumer cloud services, as cloud storage providers like Dropbox make it easy to share and store files, folders, images, sync between platforms, and more. They make our lives easier, but because they store an enormous amount of potentially sensitive data, there are some inherent risks. While Dropbox is for personal use, it and services like it are increasingly being used by businesses — another example of the ongoing consumerization of enterprise and IT.

It’s also true that most people want their data in their cloud service to be synced across all platforms on which they have the app installed, mobile, desktop, etc. So, with individuals and companies storing sensitive data in the cloud, cross-sync can make for some potential security problems, and it’s not really something you want to do at work.

That’s why virtualization provider AppSense has created DataLocker, a set of mobile and desktop apps for iOS, Windows and Mac that enable users to encrypt sensitive information in their Dropbox accounts for free — without giving up the convenience of cross-platform syncing.

DataLocker is the first product from “AppSense Labs,” the company’s new research arm, which is dedicated to building consumer-friendly solutions around cloud, mobile, and data that work within traditional IT infrastructure. As the boundaries between personal and professional computing are blurring, AppSense Labs will look to ride that wave with new products that capitalize on this transition, making it easier on consumers and enterprise, piece by piece.

And to that point, DataLocker is a great first step in alleviating some of the worry over the security of our personal information as it moves about the cloud. With the advent of Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft’s SkyDrive, businesses will have to decide whether these proprietary clouds are something they want to adopt. In iCloud’s case, user accounts are tied to Apple not to businesses, which may lead to some businesses balking at using the service to share sensitive company information.

This is where DataLocker could really come in handy. For now, it’s focused on Dropbox, but there’s potential for it to move beyond Dropbox, even if iCloud/SkyDrive integration isn’t in the cards. Businesses want to use friendly cloud services, and encryption of sensitive data is key to encouraging further adoption.

As to how the app works? It’s fairly straightforward, users simply install the app and link it to their Dropbox accounts, at which point they can upload new files, protect them instantly, while browsing and viewing existing and protected Dropbox files.

AppSense raised $70 million from Goldman Sachs a year ago today.

For more, check out the iOS app here.

Mobile video now accounts for half of all mobile traffic; and on some networks, that number is as high as 69 percent — a testament to the rise of smartphones and tablets as the mobile devices of choice for consumers, and their growing interest in using these devices to do a lot more than just make phone calls.

The data, from quarterly report on mobile data usage out today from mobile analytics firm Bytemobile, also found that Android is generating more mobile ad volume than iOS devices, and that Google now accounted for 75 percent of ad-generated data across all platforms.

Bytemobile says it has collected this data from a cross-section of its mobile carrier customers. It focuses on usage of two main platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

As many have already suspected, tablets are driving significantly more data traffic than smartphones. On Apple’s iOS platform, an iPad user generates three times as much traffic as someone using an iPhone; while on Android, the figure is twice as much when comparing Android tablets and handsets.

This is not too surprising: tablets’ bigger screens are that much more conducive to consuming video and other content than the smaller screen of a smartphone; and in the case of something like video, those tablets will require higher resolutions, which also translates to heavier data use.

Indeed, video, along with other streamed services, are proving, once again, to be bandwidth hogs. The most-used application on iOS, for example, is Safari, accounting for 61 percent of all transactions. But when it comes to what takes up the most data volume? Bytemobile says it’s the Media Player, with 47 percent of all volume:

The same goes for individual applications. Although users spend slightly more time per session on Facebook than they do YouTube — 9.06 versus 8.51 minutes, respectively — YouTube generates, on average, 40 megabytes per session, compared to 120 kilobytes for Facebook or 170kb for Twitter. Twitter’s average session usage is 4.57 minutes.

Bytemobile also took a look at where mobile advertising is sitting in the mix. As ad networks have also been demonstrating for the last several quarters, Android devices are edging out over Apple’s iPhone and iPad in terms of generating mobile advertising traffic.

Yes, part of that is because collectively there are more Android devices on networks than iPhones — Android now accounts for half of all smartphones worldwide, says Gartner.

But perhaps just as importantly, those Android devices appear to be generating more ad impressions and engagement — collectively called “transactions” by Bytemobile. On Android, some nine percent of all data transactions were ad-related, while on iOS the proportion was five percent.

Why is that? It could be down to the fact that Android generally has less paid apps in the Market than Apple’s App Store, and those more popular free apps are pulling more ads down from networks when they get used.

But if you are reading this and starting to worry about how mobile ads are draining your monthly data allowances on your contracts, save your worries for the future: Bytemobile notes that ads accounted for only two percent of data volume on Android, and only one percent on iPhone.

As with online, Google dominates the mobile ad space with its owner of AdMob, AdSense and DoubleClick holdings. Together, these accounted for 75 percent of all ad data. But when it comes to the single-most consuming ad network, that dubious honor goes to Apple’s iAd: its video-rich ad units generate nearly 16 MB of data per transaction, while the lowest were AdMob’s display units, which generated less than 4MB.

Clothes Horse, a fashion technology company based out of New York, is publicly launching its platform today in an attempt to address one of the biggest challenges facing online shoppers: buying clothes that fit. Through the use of a customizable widget that merchants add to their own websites, Clothes Horse can determine within just 30 seconds how the retailers’ items will fit any customer. The goal is not only to decrease shopping cart abandonment, but also the rate of returns due to ill-fitting clothes.

The problem with shopping for clothes online is that customers have gotten burned by their past experiences. “Instead of being excited about this great new thing you’re about to buy,” explains Clothes Horse co-founder Vikram Venkatraman, “you think about the last time you had to return something, or you start wondering if it’s really going to be as nice on you as it looks in the picture.”

It’s those points of hesitation that cause 70% of shopping cart abandonment, he says. Not only that, but 60% of the time customers return clothes they bought online, it was because of fit issues.

Retailers, of course, know the challenges surrounding fit – it’s why they provide measurements and size charts for all their clothes on their websites. But just because you can zip something up, that doesn’t necessarily mean it fits well. To address these issues, Clothes Horse provides a quick, user-friendly product that helps online shoppers determine, in about thirty seconds, whether something will actually fit in real life.

The product is a white-labelled Q&A system that enables shoppers to build a profile based on their answers to questions, which don’t have to involve measurements. Although retailers can customize the system to suit their needs, the idea is to go beyond things like height and weight, and find out about a customer’s body type, preferred brands, comfort in a given brand, and more.

For example, a men’s clothing site might ask “What brand’s dress shirt fits you best?” to which the shopper could choose “Ralph Lauren,” “Calvin Klein,” “DKNY,” etc. They could also describe how well that brand fits, answering “it’s perfect,” “it fits well,” or “it doesn’t fit very well.”

After a handful of questions like this are answered, the Clothes Horse widget then tells you what size to buy, and, most importantly, how it will fit (e.g. “tight around the chest,” “just right in the collar”).

“Now you know what trade-offs you have to make, if any,” explains Venkatraman. “You know what to expect given your lifetime of shopping. It lets you put this new thing that you’re shopping for in a context that you’re used to, so you know a little bit about it,” he says.

In early tests with Clothes Horse beta customer Bonobos.com, use of the new system delivered a 13% sales boost, results which the retailer has called encouraging. Heck, it may even be able to help you find jeans that fit!

Behind the scenes, Clothes Horse has a large database of human measurements which they’ve combined with measurement data from around 50 brands, six of which are live now on the web (Bonobos, Modus Man, Duke & Winston, Five Four Jeans, Frank & Oak, and one undisclosed customer). The startup is also in talks with several large retailers, who are reportedly very interested in the platform.

Finding fit is really only phase one of Clothes Horse’s grand scheme. Further down the road, it plans to support Facebook integration to help users build a shopping profile based on brands they “like” and what their friends like. This profile will function as a portable identity that moves with you from site to site. A mobile experience that ties offline shopping to the online profile is also in the works.

Besides Venkatraman, a former Deloitte consultant, entrepreneur and author, the other two co-founders are V Bespoke co-founder Dave Whittemore and software engineer Will Charczuk.  The team has an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Contour Ventures, and angel funding from Mark Wachen, Ben Ling, DreamIt and others.