When it comes to online storage, you can almost never have enough, but adequate space from most services almost always come with a price. Before you upgrade your online storage account, you should consider transforming your own hard disk into online storage for free with Wuala.

Wuala is an application that utilizes the idle resources on user computers in order to provide online storage. Each user is initially given 1 gig of space and anyone whose computer is on at least 20% of the time can offer up an additional amount of space on your own hard disk in exchange for additional space on Wuala. The amount of additional Wuala space you can receive increases as the amount of space and time you offer increases. The same principle applies to bandwidth. Wuala is also quick and secure, and while your data is adequately backed up, not even the Wuala team has access to your files.

With Wuala you can upload your files for storage or publish and share them with others. One of the best things about it is that it’s so easy to use; dragging and dropping files is no different than with your computers own file manager.

Wuala, currently in closed Alpha, was developed by Caleido AG. Learn more about it as it makes its way around the world at wua.la/en/home.

Apparently a lot of people don’t think that Google docs does enough for them so many other document uploading sites have sprung up all over the place. While many of them pretty much do exactly the same thing (even less in some cases) than Google docs, edocr actually goes about the process of uploading and sharing documents in a much different way. While Google docs and it’s copycat sites endeavor to allow you to select who you want to be able to see and to modify your document, edocr does neither.

When you upload a document on to edocr it goes into the database and anyone can access it. However no one can actually change the document including the person who placed the document online. Really edocr is most useful as a place to place documents you want other people to read and this is perhaps where the site really has potential. Imagine yourself as a writer who wants to gain an audience before seeking the publishing of your material. Well just load your project up on edocr and boom you now have a place that allows you to send anyone who might have interest in reading your material. Also because the site does have some social networking capabilities, other people who already use the site may read it, and also leave feedback.

However, I think more than hopeful writers can gain benefit from this site. Since you can post almost any document you want on edocr you can use it as a place to store a business plan, favorite recipe’s, interesting news and a variety of other things. While many sites offer this same type of use, edocr is more designed for people to post things they want other people to see and I think it will do this job fine.

While using a service to host files for sharing is almost necessary for many Internet users today, it can be a major pain–you may lose quality if your files get compressed; things may get disorganized; you may want to share several files at once, but don’t want to send out several links for each one; the list goes on. But using TechSmith Screencast may eradicate some of these annoyances.

Screencast’s file hosting service is designed specifically for file sharing. Once you sign up and upload a few files you can organize them by storing them in folders or playlists. You can then define who you want to share a file with and send them invites. If you want to send several files you can share an entire folder. When you’re ready to delete your files you can delete them one by one or delete a folder and all its contents. You can also delete a playlist without deleting the files associated with it.

With Screencast your files won’t be compressed, encoded, or altered in any way. Your files will only be shared with the people you want to share them with, and you can share media for portable devices or allow people to subscribe to your content via an RSS or iTunes feed.

Screencast offers three levels of subscription–a Basic account provides 25 GB of storage and bandwidth at $6.95/month; a Plus account provides 50 GB of storage and bandwidth at $12.95/month; a Premium account provides 100 GB of storage and bandwidth at $24.95/month. If you purchase your account by the year you’ll save 17%. The 60 day trial account is free and provides 200 MB of storage and 1 GB of bandwidth.

Screencast definitely seems to be better than the average file hosting service, which is why it comes at a cost. If you use Camtasia Studio or Jing you can upload files directly to Screencast from those programs. Plus, TechSmith will extend its users’ trial Screencast accounts for the duration of the Jing Project. Sign up for Screencast at www.screencast.com.

Read about the Jing Project here.

So you already share your files using TechSmith Screencast, but you wish you could do more with it? Well you could buy TechSmith SnagIt to capture screen images and Camtasia Studio to capture screen videos; or you could just use Jing, which does either in a few easy steps.

To use Jing you first have to download and install it. Whenever you’re ready to do a screen capture, run it and select what you want to share. Decide whether you want to capture an image or a video and Jing will capture whatever you have selected. After you’re done you can edit and preview your capture before saving or sharing it. You will be asked to log-in to or create a Screencast account and the URL of the file will be saved to your Clipboard once the file is uploaded. You can then share it with whomever you want.

I see Jing being very helpful to people who make tutorials, as it removes several of the steps involved in making a tutorial manually. Plus, since editing tools have been built in, a video tutorial can be shared instantly.

While Jing is a TechSmith project, they’re not exactly sure what to call it yet. It’s a concept that will be further developed based on the feedback received from users. It is currently free to use, making it a great alternative to SnagIt and Camtasia Studio, and users will be granted free trial extensions with Screencast for the duration of the Jing Project. Knowing all that, I definitely say that Jing is win. Get it at www.jingproject.com.

Read about Screencast here.