FilesOverMiles Shares Files Browser-to-Browser Without Limits (Sort Of)
Web site FilesOverMiles shares files directly between your web browser and the person you want to share with, cutting out the web server as a middleman for instant, uncapped* peer-to-peer file sharing between two users.
Using FilesOverMiles is simple. Like any other file-sharing site, you start by choosing the file you want to share. The difference is that rather than immediately starting to upload the file to a FilesOverMiles server, the webapp simply creates a unique, private URL that you give to the person you want to share the file with. Email or IM that link to the person of your choice, and when they visit that URL, their browser will immediately begin downloading the file directly from you. That also means an extra layer of privacy, since your important data will never end up on someone else’s server.
It’s important to note that the file is only available to share while the page is open. Close the browser or navigate away from the page and the URL is no longer valid.
*Many traditional file-sharing web applications have a 100MB (or so) file-size limit. With FilesOverMiles, the maximum file size depends on your own computer as well as the computer in use by the recipient.
This limit is only because FilesOverMiles is based on Adobe Flash Player that requires that the uploaded or downloaded file is stored entirely in the computer memory (RAM). As a consequence, a sender may upload only those files that are smaller than the memory available on his/her computer. In turn, a recipient may download only those files that are smaller than half of the memory available on his/her computer. Hopefully, upcoming versions of Adobe Flash Player will remove this limitation and then FilesOverMiles will have no file size limits.
FilesOverMiles is currently in beta and is free to use. For more file sharing options, check out the five best file sharing services as chosen by readers like you. For a look at another web application that does similar “real-time” file sharing (but still goes through a third-party server), check out previously mentioned EatLime. Got a file sharing secret of your own? Make it known in the comments.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@UlfOstrich: hm... guess it's a problem on my end then.
I don't think this service is useful enough to troubleshoot this, but it seems like a good enough idea.
OMG! cheese!
ok so why not share the file over IM directly then.... i dont get it.
Bonobo Papagaio
@shafnitz: Great suggestion. FilesOverMiles couldn't get past my company's firewall, but JetBytes worked like a charm. Awesome concept and great speeds.
spcomputing
Zapr is way better. It's an app that runs on your PC with the same private URL principal, but without the size limits or requirement to keep a page open.
[www.zapr.com]
Shizzyraw
Nope, the window is still open. http://imgur.com/RegQ0.png It worked for 1.5 people. How odd.
UlfOstrich
@shafnitz:
Same here. A friend of mine hasn't set up his firewall for Skype, so it always relays dead slow when I try to send him something. JetBytes slips right through at full speed though.
@UlfOstrich: it's been less than 30 minutes and it's not there anymore. either a problem with the service, or you closed it already.
From the site:
The file sender is not reachable at the given URL. The sender may not be
transmitting the file any more or firewalls prevent direct network connection
between you and the sender.
hopefully you (ulfostrich) reply and tell me whether it's a problem with the service or you simply closed it.
I've been using JetBytes to do the same thing for a while. It was flaky for a while, but it's pretty solid now. Basically the same thing but with a better name... :)
[jetbytes.com]
Who wants a picture of the moon rotating? You've only got 30 minutes until I close the window! http://www.FilesOverMiles.com/b997d9a5751045a0831130c84ff20504
UlfOstrich
Reminds me of previously mentioned File Ai [lifehacker.com] which I use extensively.
That sounds really cool. Looks like a good thing for people who can't set up their own VPNs or are tech-handicapped.
The only thing I wonder about is the security of the connection.
This sounds just like Steamfile. It will let you send 2GB free over that I think you have to pay.
maddencorner
wow this seems very useful, up till now when I want to share a big file, I would just make a torrent for it or upload it onto a site like filemail.com. but this seems like another viable alternative.
lbrtdy
This is just like PipeBytes, but PipeBytes doesn't give me a message saying I'm behind a "restrictive firewall."
@UlfOstrich: :(
@Bonobo Papagaio: I don't use the official MSN client, and if anyone sends me a file, it's limited to 3KB/s, oh joy. Better off emailing, or using this aforementioned site.
Trinsec
And if you're a bit more technically inclined, there's always SFTP...Try the Filezilla server and open the virtual server ports on your firewall so your friend can access it. Make sure you setup your friend with an account and a password and only allow read access. Speed only limited by the ISP connection speed at each end, size only limited by free disk space.
bwcbwc
Or you can just create a torrent and upload it to mininova.
poboxy
@Bonobo Papagaio: sometimes you chat cross-client, such as yahoo-live, and file sharing is disabled then. so i use jetbytes in those cases.
@shafnitz: yes, jetbytes has worked terrifically for a few months now