So what can we say; other than “it’s true.”

We thought it only fair to provide an explanation.

First of all we made a mistake in publishing a go live date in the first place and we won’t be making that mistake again, that’s for sure, because when you’re about to give the world something truly great, for free, nobody needs the added pressure of explaining missed deadlines so this will be the only such explanation.

(That’s one thing we’ve put down to experience.)

In discussing it in the office the other day one of our colleagues quite rightly pointed out that in software development deadlines are missed every day but nobody knows because launches are invariably not made public until launch. (The same applies to hardware; notice how Apple launches are never trailed – they just happen.)

But there was a good reason for the delay and it’s worth sharing with you because it happens to have fantastic secondary benefits not just for us but the software design community as a whole.

During final local testing (testing is a foundation of our work) we discovered a problem that could not have been foreseen.  For the technically minded of you you’ll be aware that the internet runs primarily on TCP/IP which is used to transmit most small files like a Word document, for example.  For larger files (like video) UDP is the main conduit, but UDP is inherently unstable and means transmission of files can be slow and data loss is commonplace.  Because LifeStuff will be relying on massive data transfer, encryption and storage we’ve had to take a long hard look at UDP. As a p2p protocol it’s extremely powerful and of use to most, if not all, p2p infrastructure projects. We also created our own Distributed Hash Table (DHT) implementation that marries up with rUDP to create a DHT that has similar qualities to D1HT and Kadmelia, the difference is we have used the massive scaling capabilities of Kademlia and the speed capabilities of D1HT to create a distributed network that’s extremely fast and reliable (and as a bonus we have included end to end encryption that is resistant to man in the middle attacks and DDOS outages).

So far, so revolutionary.

Now, in testing two weeks ago we encountered a problem with rUDP data being channelled through symmetric routers.  The data simply couldn’t get through (and about 8% of the world uses symmetric boxes).  Every P2P network faces this problem and they’ve given up trying to fix it. (Apple TV didn’t work on BT Home Hubs too, some of you may be aware, because of router problems.)

We could have said “Hey guys, LifeStuff isn’t available on symmetric routers” pretty much like the gamers say, but we’re not put off by the small inconveniences of unfixable faults.

So, we fixed it and one day we hope to Open Source these components which will allow more small companies to create amazing cross platform fully distributed apps, including games and secure transaction software.

Suffice it to say, LifeStuff now works on 100% of routers, 100% of the time with 100% data security and no drop off.  And the world has a major new fix.

Why didn’t we test it live you might ask?  The simple answer to that is; we can’t.  Sure it’s a Beta we’re about to launch and like all Betas we’ll find bugs, but this was fundamental.  If we’d gone live to 92% of the network we could NEVER have brought it to the remaining 8% and we don’t see that as truly democratic behaviour.

This is how our founder David Irvine describes it, drawing on his fondness for ant colonies.

“This [The Maidsafe Network which supports LifeStuff] is a fully distributed system…. think of it as a new life form or a self sustaining machine.  The toughest part, by a significant way, is the initial seed. That first step is like being the first ant in a colony… a raindrop could kill it, but add some more ants and it gets stronger… add a few million more and you have one of the most successful species nature has created. We need to make sure that the first few “ants” on our system don’t get killed by a raindrop so that they can create the initial part of the network for everyone else.”

That’s why we sweated it out and found a solution.  Now we need to integrate the fix with the existing code and soon enough we’ll go live… But only when we’re sure it’s perfect!

Good things come to those that wait as Arthur Guinness allegedly said.

Written by Mark Gorman

For more information on LifeStuff, please visit www.golifestuff.com

Our last advert before launch…
and maybe the most meaningful?

For more information visit www.golifestuff.com

It might not be life-threatening but you don’t want to share your fashion sense from 20 years ago, or the business tender you’re working on that you just can’t allow your competitors to see.

All of these things are clear and present dangers in the cloud because, contrary to some people’s perceptions, cloud computing is not some virtual storage platform that’s only visible by you. It’s storage on real hardware situated well and truly on Terra Firma.

And it’s where on Terra Firma that the hardware storing your data is based, that throws up the real issues. Let’s leave aside our views on the insecurities of the cloud (OK on second thoughts let’s not, you can read more about them here) and instead focus on governmental views on the surveillance of cloud stored data and of their take on whose data it is in the first place.

Cloud storage and ownership issues

Ownership and intellectual property (IP) laws differ all over the world and they are comprised of copyright, confidentiality and contract laws. So, in the USA, IP owners are deemed to own their rights based on the fact that it’s a product of human intellect no matter where it was conceived or where it is stored. But in other countries, like China and the UK, that ownership is determined not just by where it was created but also by where it is stored.

So if you’re working in an open-minded and non-invasive country on your own hardware device, that’s cool… you’ll be fine, no matter where you store it.  If, however, you’re working in the cloud, and the hardware is situated (perhaps unbeknown to you) in an intrusive country, like China or Britain, you could be in trouble.

Think about it.

LifeStuff is different

Because we fragment and obfuscate your data (render obscure and unintelligible) before storing it across our network (with no need for any administrators). Nobody, not even us, can look at it. And because the hardware we spread it across is geographically dispersed and unreadable in its fragmented form, no legislation can apply to it. No governments can look at it and no hackers can get at it. Even if they request access to your account by coming directly to LifeStuff, we can’t give them it because we don’t know who you are… we don’t even know you’re on the MaidSafe network.

With LifeStuff, there is only one person who can access your data… You!

And that’s why LifeStuff is the most secure and private cloud that you will ever find.

Written by Mark Gorman

For more information on LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com

Online security is big, big business these days. Every hard drive, every server, every mainframe is protected by rings and rings of anti virus, anti spyware, anti everything software and it all comes at a cost (latest figures suggest that the enterprise security market alone is worth a staggering $22.9bn a year (Source: Canalys)). And it’s not just a financial cost.  It slows your data retrieval down and impairs your online experience.

So the world needs a security solution that makes online data storage a viable and worry-free proposition.

The world needs LifeStuff.

When we started out on our epic journey we asked ourselves how could we create perfect online data security.  The answer lay in a completely new kind of network. We call it an autonomous self-healing network and it’s what lies beneath LifeStuff.

And that’s what makes us different as a cloud storage provider, because we don’t just secure the storage, we secure the data itself, ensuring that nothing and nobody can see, change, steal or hack your data.  Ever.

From September 5^th you can find out for yourself what it’s really like to be a user of the most secure and most unlimited storage offering on the planet.

Oh yeah… and it’s FREE!

Welcome on board.  To be sure.

Written by Mark Gorman

For more information of LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com

The downside to this is that the same data is stored on all three of your devices and on your cloud providers servers.

This has two major problems…

1. Your data is replicated three times across your three machines which uses three times as much of your available storage.
2. Your data is three times more likely to get lost, stolen or corrupted.

The way LifeStuff handle this is by storing all your data in the MaidSafe network and allowing you access to it from ANY machine that is connected to the internet with an installed copy of LifeStuff.

You do not have to be on your machine to get to your data, you simply log in to LifeStuff and all your data is there.

You can access your data from any machine connected to the internet with Dropbox, but as soon as you do, Dropbox copies all your data to that machine also, leaving your data on someone else’s device.

LifeStuff is designed specifically to require an internet connection so you do have to be connected to the internet to retrieve your data, but realistically, almost all devices are connected these days. However, if you can foresee a situation where you cannot get a connection to the internet, you can always keep a local copy of your data on your machine and use LifeStuff solely as a backup solution.

Another major benefit you get with LifeStuff is total security.

No other cloud provider can offer the level of data security that LifeStuff provides as standard.

The reason we are different is that we secure the data itself, as well as the place where we store the data.

We do this using self-encryption which chunks up your data, encrypts each chunk and then xors the result. This leaves obfuscated information which is then distributed across nodes all over the network.

The only way to recover your data is by logging in to LifeStuff with your Keyword, your P.I.N. and your password and none of these access requirements are ever stored on the network or on your computer.

Written by Stephen Cosh

For more information on LifeStuff, please visit www.goLifeStuff.com

First, let’s clarify some definitions.  Wikipedia tells us this;

“Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored in virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers, and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them.”

So far, so accurate.  That definition neatly sums up cloud storage.  Essentially it’s a physical entity that you lease or hire - a bit like booking out a hotel room that you can rest your data in for a while.  And, like a hotel room, it comes at a price.

Another Wiki definition;

“Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale similar to a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet…users rent use of servers (as many as needed during the rental period) provided by one or more cloud providers.”

And, from the Guardian this rather unnerving Q and A response…

Q: What are the risks [of cloud computing]?
Cloud computing has real benefits, but there are also reasons for caution. Risks include loss of service if your provider has downtime or goes out of business, regulatory problems when personal data is stored internationally, security concerns when users lose control of how their data is protected, one-sided service agreements that give users little redress in the event of a calamity, and lock-in dependency on proprietary cloud applications.

The nub of the matter is this…

Cloud computing sounds too good to be true.  And that’s because with the current crop of providers it is.  Data may be described as being stored remotely and securely but the simple fact is it’s not inherently secure and it’s not really remote.  It’s planted in massive server farms the length and breadth of the United States and it’s a magnet for hackers.  If you were a hacker where’s the first place you’d target?  Exactly.  The place where the most physical data is stored.

With LifeStuff it’s different

LifeStuff offers all of the perceived benefits of cloud computing and cloud storage but it makes them real.

It takes the burden off your own devices and stores your data remotely.  But the difference with LifeStuff is that there are no server farms, there is no security threat – because your data is stored “above the cloud” in what we call a self-healing autonomous network that is perfectly secure (You can read about how our autonomous network (The MaidSafe Network) operates here.

And because we deliver the perceived benefit of cloud computing and cloud storage i.e. that it is truly remote and not placed on large electricity guzzling server farms we can offer it free and in unlimited quantities. Forever.

It’s not like a hotel at all.  It’s more like a commune.

Now, go ask Dropbox if you can have that! Man.

Written by Mark Gorman

For more information on LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com

However, not everyone will have a hard drive or will be comfortable donating a portion of their hard drive to the network. We call them One Way Users and we have catered for their needs on the MaidSafe network…

If you are a One Way User, you can buy space to store your data at a nominal cost, and we mean nominal!

Check the prices out below…

LifeStuff Storage Prices for One Way Users

As you will see from the table below, this is cheap… really cheap. In fact we are a staggering 3.5 times less expensive than the next cheapest provider, Google Drive, and more than 7 times less expensive than Dropbox. And compared to iCloud… Jeez!

So if you use a mobile phone or tablet to manage your digital lifestyle, or you just don’t want to use your own hard drive, buying MaidSafe network storage space is the cheapest possible way for you to store your data online.

Written by Nick Lambert

For more information on LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com

He should become LifeStuff’s PR man.  Here’s what he said…

“I really worry about everything going to the cloud. I think it’s going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years. I want to feel that I own things,  A lot of people feel, ‘Oh everything is really on my computer,’ but I say the more we transfer everything onto the web onto the cloud, the less we’re going to have control over it.”

He’s right actually, because “cloud storage” as it stands is no more “cloud storage” than Buzz Lightyear is a flying Olympian.  Cloud storage is simply remote storage on vast data centres that are huge targets for hackers.

LifeStuff is different

Thankfully, from September 5 this year, Steve can sleep more easily as a new kind of online storage will finally reveal itself to the world; a form of storage that doesn’t use data centres.

LifeStuff is a completely different concept in online storage.  A concept founded in the idea of perfect security and developed from there.  Read about the concept behind our network here.

Written by Mark Gorman (and Steve Wozniak)

For more information on LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com

They say that flying is the safest mode of transport ever invented.  In the US each year there are around 40,000 deaths caused by automobile accidents and only 200 in air transport.  That equates to 1 death for every 6,800 drivers but only 1 for every 1.6million flyers.

All very reassuring so long as you don’t become one of the unfortunate statistics.

So, as I sit here, hammering away at my keyboard in a very comfortable seat that’s screwed onto an aluminium and fibreglass tube that’s hurtling through the stratosphere at 566mph, I’m just hoping that my luck holds out because this is my 20^th flight this year and that has to increase the probability of the big “Houston, we have a problem!” announcement over this plane’s PA system.

I ask myself “Do I really feel safe?”

My instinct says “Yessir”

The International Transportation Safety Association website says “We admire your blind faith”.

We apply a form of blind faith to how we store our data too.

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

• “It’ll be fine.  My hard drive never crashed before.”
• “I only got hacked the once and my ISP provider sorted it for me…eventually.”
• “Cloud storage is much safer.”

Here’s the bad news.  The truth is that, just like travelling, the more we store and the longer we store it the more we crank up risk; in this case of data loss or theft: particularly online.

Here’s a disconcerting fact…

Virtually all online storage providers use server based storage. This massively increases the risk of single point of failure. And these servers are all housed together in massive datacentres the length and breadth of the USA.

Now, imagine you’re a hacker.  Where would you go first to corrupt or steal data? That’s right, the place where the greatest concentration of it can be found.  Datacentres.

Datacentres are like hackers’ honeypots.  They come from far and wide to have a crack at it.  They mount wave after wave of brute force attacks and every now and then “Bingo. We’re in.”  It’s inevitable.

That means online data storage providers have to spend small fortunes on data protection and security and that means you’ve got to pay for it.  And that’s why after your free starter, you have to pay small fortunes for your data storage.

With LifeStuff it’s different

There is an alternative to server-based storage if you want to store your files online.  It’s LifeStuff and like all good ideas it’s come from re-engineering an old idea. Peer to Peer or P2P technology is the principle that allows our network (the MaidSafe network) to share and store data on distributed network architecture, which means, in simple terms, that all the machines that authenticate onto our network become the storage infrastructure.

So, no datacentres, no hotspots for hackers to target and the world’s best security.  Perfect security in fact.  Each machine on the network looks out for every other one, they literally protect each others’ data because in a collegiate approach the interests of the whole matter as much as the interests of the individual.

And what’s more, because everyone looks out for everyone else on the MaidSafe network it means we can offer unlimited, free online storage for everyone, for ever, and absolutely no need for blind faith.

For a more detailed technical explanation of how the MaidSafe network supports LifeStuff read this.

Written by Mark Gorman and Stephen Cosh

For more information on LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com

(Mark is a technical pygmy.)

LifeStuff runs on a self-healing network. – the MaidSafe Network that underpins our software – and it’s designed to act like an Axolotyl.  You might have had one in science class.  It’s a member of the Salamander family and it’s a pro at growing back bits of its body, post-amputation.  Lizards and worms do it too but the Axolotyl is the Usain Bolt of self-healing.  We like that.

What we mean by this is that our network, which is autonomous (ie it’s independent and “thinks” for itself) realises when its data is under threat of compromise and fends off cyber attack.  And if parts of the network become compromised or in any way broken, it heals itself.  If a user misbehaves they lose face on our network and they are ranked lower.  That discourages bad behaviour.  So, for you, the LifeStuff user, this is a biggie.  It means you need never worry about your data being lost, stolen or broken, because it can’t happen.

So confident are we of the network’s efficacy that we have removed any human intervention in its management, period. That way it can never break, fall over or be compromised.

Now, ask Dropbox, iCloud, SkyDrive, Google Drive or Wuala how well they perform on that measure. You’ll have a long wait for an answer.

Because our network is clever it spots duplicate data.  I mean how many copies of Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling are out there?  Millions, right?  Our network spots duplicate data and dedupes it, meaning that when you’re in party mode and want to access Will.I Am in all his glory, you can.  Immediately.  But the network doesn’t have to store millions of copies of it.  The result?  Faster, more efficient data on demand and greater capacity for you because deduped data comes off your sharing quota.

The self-healing autonomous network.  How Dan sees it.

(Dan is a technical giant.)

The MaidSafe Network is a reliable repository for all information. So reliable that we store in it the information needed to run the system, but more importantly, the information that users trust to the system. Once we have ensured user data is safe to be placed anywhere on the network (see Self-Encryption), several tasks remain to be performed by the network, all with the aim of making the network autonomous.

Simple rules: protect data, protect the network, protect individual nodes.

To ensure that data will be perpetual (as long as users want it to be), the network is in charge of regulating the number of copies that exist at any given time on specific nodes. Constant communication is kept between all nodes involved in looking after a particular piece of data. Together, they decide when and where new copies should be added or existing ones removed.

To ensure that all behaviour is regulated, the network also provides a ranking system, which ensures that nodes will act in what is their natural best interest, i.e., the network’s best interest. Bad behaviour is punished; good behaviour, rewarded. A bad apple is quickly identified and treated as a threat.

The network also keeps accounting of the quid-pro-quo factor of users, ensuring that the fairness of use principle is kept.

Traffic is not a load to this network, it is a resource. Nodes benefit from the knowledge of other nodes and work together to make popular information easily available.

Written by Mark Gorman

For more information on LifeStuff, visit www.goLifeStuff.com