Google Docs now lets you upload any kind of files, though not many of them can be previewed in Google Docs. You can open Microsoft Office, StarOffice, OpenOffice documents, spreadsheets and presentations, PDF files and some images, Windows Metafile (.wmf) and, upload, share and play videos.

After uploading a video to Google Docs, you’ll have to wait until it’s processed. Then just click on the processed video file present in your Documents List, and the video opens in a new page that includes a video player (YouTube video player). You will need to have Flash installed for the video player to work. On the page that opens, you can also find more information about the video file, including the owner, whether the file is shared or not, and when the file was uploaded. It also lets you view the version history of the file. You can also download earlier versions of the video file.

Uploaded video files can be up to 1 GB. These are the most common video formats that you can upload and play:

• WebM files (Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codec)
• .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files – (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs and AAC audio codec)
• .AVI (many cameras use this format – typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM)
• .MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio)
• .WMV
• .FLV (Adobe – FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)

How to Share Private Videos Using Google Docs?

Simply follow the steps below to share private videos using Google Docs:

• Login to Google Docs using your Google Account.
• Click on the “Upload” button to upload the video file.
• You will see two types of upload options: Drag and Drop and Select files to upload.
  Note: If you want to batch upload multiple files, Simply select the multiple files in Explorer and drop them into “Drag and drop” area.
• You can change the Share settings before uploading or you can change the settings later on too. Click on the “Start Upload” button to transfer the selected videos to Google Docs.
• Now, visit https://docs.google.com/#videos to find all your uploaded videos. You can now click on the uploaded video from the Documents List in Google Docs to configure the sharing.
• A new tab will open that will show the uploaded video. Click on the “Share” link at the top left corner and select “Sharing settings” from the menu.
• You can share the uploaded video with your friends by specifying their email address or selecting them from the contacts. You can also set the visibility option of the video file to Public on the web, thus anyone (no Google Account sign-in required) with the link to the uploaded video can watch it or set it to Private (only people with explicitly granted permission can view the video). You can also sent an email notification to tell your friends about the newly shared items through Google Docs. The invited friends can then playback the shared video from Google Docs.

Enjoy sharing videos with only your friends and family privately. Now, I am waiting for Google to add more free storage to Google Docs so that I can share more of my stuffs privately.

MDownloader is a tiny program for downloading files available at the most popular file hosting servers such as Rapidshare, Megaupload and others. When downloading files, it allows you to queue the files you want to download and forget about them, thus removing the need of any human intervention.

After you add a link, MDownloader automatically check if the file is available or not, then it waits for the wait-time to lapse. It then recognizes and enters the CAPTCHA automatically and downloads the files for you. It even supports download resuming for those file hosting services that support it.

MDownloader also offers the option to do multiple simultaneous uploads to file hosting services.

Features:

• Page parsing to find supported links & matching interchangeable links (by name and size).
• RSS monitoring, FilesTube & Release Database searching.
• Download resuming (for those providers which support it in anonymous mode).
• Password detection and captcha recognition (OCR engine will try to recognize it, but sometimes manual recognition is required).
• Direct download and download via proxy mode (with authentication or without).
• Download acceleration using interchangeable links or proxy servers.
• Multiupload – upload a fileset to many providers at once.

Currently supported providers:

• Bitroad.net
• DepositFiles.com
• EasyShare.com
• FileFactory.com
• FileServe.com
• Hotfile.com
• Klurk.com (aggregate)
• Letitbit.net
• Load.to
• MegaUpload.com
• MirrorCreator.com (aggregate)
• Rapidshare.com
• SendSpace.com
• SharingMatrix.com
• uGotFile.com
• Uploading.com
• zShare.net

It do requires Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 installed for working. Other than that, it is a very good free automatic file downloader from various file hosts.

[ Download MDownloader ]

My Technology Guide had a rough day today with around 3 hour, 15 min of downtime in total. The main cause of this was the server on which it was hosted. So we took the issue with Dreamhost Support (our host) to see into the matter. They promptly replied with an apology for the situation explaining about why this was happening. In order to save us from further downtime, they moved us to a new server entirely.

The move to the new server was almost transparent and caused little to no trouble at all. I don’t had to do any work on the server or configure anything entirely due to this move. The support staff were very friendly and they kept a close eye to the server move. They configured everything and we regained back stability.

We are very happy with Dreamhost’s prompt solution and their best support which helped us to come back to normal track in no time! Kudos Dreamhost!