Plug: the brain of your devices • Hacker News Board

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#21

Post by anExcitedBeast » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:01 PM UTC

Is it RAID configurable? Is the data encrypted at rest, and, if so, how? Will it support two factor authentication? Will Plug ever "phone home" for any reason or report any data (meta or otherwise) to anybody except the purchaser? Will the software be open source, and if not how do we trust this device from a security standpoint? Can Plug be used effectively as a NAS without the syncing software?

I know it's difficult to tell, but I'm very excited about this.

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#22

Post by samstokes » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:03 PM UTC

Shish2k wrote: post #7

"When Plug is installed on your computer, our application intercepts all the input/output operations performed on your files, using several patent pending technologies. When Mac OS X, Windows or Linux want to store or access data, they ask our application instead of manipulating the hard drive." They've patented FUSE now? Or is that NFS?

FUSE wouldn't do what they claim to do. FUSE would let them create a Dropbox-alike, i.e. a separate partition whose contents are synced to the Plug. Using FUSE to intercept all I/O on all files would require you to migrate your entire directory structure to their FUSE filesystem; probably a rather unfriendly setup procedure.

If their description is to be believed, they're presumably installing a kernel module which hooks in above or below the filesystem layer, so it doesn't require you to modify your existing filesystems.

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#23

Post by samstokes » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:19 PM UTC

This seems like a very ambitious project, which is great. It does seem at risk of boiling the ocean. They're taking on:

* NAS device with encrypted file storage and UPNP

* setting up a VPN

* client software for said VPN on each platform (or at least installers that can configure each platform's native VPN support)

* multi-device file sync

* whole-device file sync, with client software for each platform, presumably with subtle kernel-level code (those "patent-pending technologies")

* versioned backup

* "instant file transfer" (presumably this is just their streaming tech repackaged, but it's a separate UX to develop and maintain)

* streaming file delivery across varying-bandwidth connections

* presumably media player apps on each mobile client platform to consume said streaming media

Each of those things is plausible, putting them together makes a lot of sense at the product level, and it would be a godsend if they can do it well. I guess I just wonder why they're not raising $5M rather than $100k.

(Maybe the team is actually an established company with 20 engineers, and the Kickstarter is purely to bankroll the initial production run? It's not clear from the team bio.)

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#24

Post by flexd » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

"Ever needed to send hundreds of pictures to a friend? With Plug, we invented a technology to transfer files instantly. No matter their size, no matter their number. That’s also part of our job to simplify storage."

How exactly are they planning to make that a reality?

Say I've been out filming with my GoPro and my friend wants the clips, or I've taken some photographs with a DSLR (which are at least >5MB in size per picture).

It can't be instant.

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#25

Post by gohrt » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

Shish2k wrote: post #7

"When Plug is installed on your computer, our application intercepts all the input/output operations performed on your files, using several patent pending technologies. When Mac OS X, Windows or Linux want to store or access data, they ask our application instead of manipulating the hard drive." They've patented FUSE now? Or is that NFS?

Weird ad copy. The product is aimed at techies, but techies abhor patent-encumbered software.

I thought the days of using "patent-pending" as marketing puffery were over...

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#26

Post by andyl » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:21 PM UTC

Looks like it draws energy from Ethernet to power the Plug Device and the USB drive. Is that right?

Do consumer-grade routers/switches deliver power over ethernet?

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#27

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:22 PM UTC

samstokes wrote: post #22

Shish2k wrote: post #7

"When Plug is installed on your computer, our application intercepts all the input/output operations performed on your files, using several patent pending technologies. When Mac OS X, Windows or Linux want to store or access data, they ask our application instead of manipulating the hard drive." They've patented FUSE now? Or is that NFS?

FUSE wouldn't do what they claim to do. FUSE would let them create a Dropbox-alike, i.e. a separate partition whose contents are synced to the Plug. Using FUSE to intercept all I/O on all files would require you to migrate your entire directory structure to their FUSE filesystem; probably a rather unfriendly setup procedure. If their description is to be believed, they're presumably installing a kernel module which h…

That would be the "Translucent File System" from Sun, patent #5,313,646 (http://www.google.com/patents/US5313646). Back when Sun was building a new source code control system (code named Avocet) they wanted a way to create a 'view' of the branch which included stuff from NFS servers and stuff locally. The problem is subtly tricky in some ways (creating 'whiteout' to delete a file which exists in one layer but not the other).

Its a really handy thing, and I was very impressed with it in the mid '90s when I was using it. Perhaps its time has come again?

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#28

Post by gohrt » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:22 PM UTC

samstokes wrote: post #22

Shish2k wrote: post #7

"When Plug is installed on your computer, our application intercepts all the input/output operations performed on your files, using several patent pending technologies. When Mac OS X, Windows or Linux want to store or access data, they ask our application instead of manipulating the hard drive." They've patented FUSE now? Or is that NFS?

FUSE wouldn't do what they claim to do. FUSE would let them create a Dropbox-alike, i.e. a separate partition whose contents are synced to the Plug. Using FUSE to intercept all I/O on all files would require you to migrate your entire directory structure to their FUSE filesystem; probably a rather unfriendly setup procedure. If their description is to be believed, they're presumably installing a kernel module which h…

If their kernel-hacking description is to be believed, it will hork your whole system every time you get a minor OS upgrade.

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#29

Post by Aldo_MX » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:24 PM UTC

andyl wrote: post #26

Looks like it draws energy from Ethernet to power the Plug Device and the USB drive. Is that right? Do consumer-grade routers/switches deliver power over ethernet?

It has a power adapter, I didn't read anything about PoE.

Re: Plug: the brain of your devices

#30

Post by nickpresta » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 6:25 PM UTC

Awesome idea and it seems very ambitious. I wish it supported USB3 and gigabit ethernet though, especially when you're talking about several Terabytes of files and streaming movies, etc.