Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with upload

Looking for a service like Yahoo briefcase circa 2000

desjardins — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:43:55 -0800

I want to upload a few files on one computer, and be able to download them from wherever. I don't need Amazon s3 or Jungle Disk or other big backup service. I want it to be free. I don't need or want to share the files with anyone, but it's not super-sensitive information either. Yahoo used to do this. I don't like Yahoo. Yes, you can upload files to Google docs, but it converts them and then you have to convert it back if you want to download. They must stay in their original format, no matter what it is.

Picture my sister in Nepal frustrated in an internet cafe

Pineapplicious — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:08:22 -0800

My sister is going on a 3 week adventure in Nepal and is taking a 1 year old Canon Powershot SD1100 IS. She'd like to upload photos a few times while she is away to some sort of photo sharing site (flickr, photocbucket, or even facebook). She is wondering if it is possible to do this without first saving to a computer (she'll be in internet cafes) and if so how? Both she and I (obvs) are new to this digital camera stuff.

Expression Engine file upload won't work. Why?

davebush — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:56:37 -0800

Why won't Expression Engine's file upload work? My first Expression Engine website has gone smoothly, with the exception of the file upload function within the Edit window. The server path and directory permissions are both correct (I've checked and re-checked). The file browser works fine (which I assume confirms the path is right), but attempted uploads give me the error message "An error of an unknown type was encountered."

EE's support staff haven't been able to provide a solution yet (via my forum thread) and searching through past forums threads shows me others have had this problem, but it's normally the result of server path or permissions issues.

I've begun to think the problem might stem from an issue with the host's temp directory. Apparently, uploaded files initially reside in a temp directory before being copied to the final destination (my "uploads" folder).

One more troubling aspect - the host's control panel file upload works fine.

Any suggestions? I'm baffled and frustrated. I'll attempt phone support with the hosting company tomorrow, but I'm hoping to know more about a possible solution before then.

Massive, simple, customized file uploading

signal — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:11:54 -0800

I need to hire a file upload service for a printing company so their customers can send files that can be in excess of 2GB. I'm thinking something like Rapidshare and its brethren, that :

0) Does not require the customers to sign up, in or on, or download anything, and is super simple to use.
1) Allow a customized frontend, with my client's colors, logo, etc.
2) Sends some sort of notification to my client whenever a file is uploaded.
3) Allows some sort of organization, so maybe each customer has their own folder (which might contravene point 0, I realize, so maybe there's some sort of intermediate solution).
4) Is fast.
5) Has essentially no size limits.
6,7,8,9) Is 100% reliable, stable, etc.

Price is an issue, but not the main one.

How do I set up an e-commerce site that accepts photo uploads and takes credit card payments?

designbot — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:42:48 -0800

How do I set up an e-commerce site that accepts photo uploads and takes credit card payments? I've been asked to set up a website for a client who wants to custom-print an item using photos uploaded by customers. They need to accept credit card payments.

As one option, I am considering setting up a custom front-end for Shopify, but I'm not sure whether that's overkill, or whether they can accept an uploaded picture sent as part of the order information.

What's the simplest/best way to do this? My PHP/Javascript skills are rather rudimentary, but I'd like to learn more. Should I try to do something from scratch, or are there good solutions out there already?

It seems like there would be a few parts to doing this manually:

Getting the customer's order info from a form (I can handle the HTML for this)

Getting the customer's photo, making sure it's within specs, and displaying a reduced preview (I don't know the best way to do this… I assume there a image processing libraries available or something)

Processing a credit card payment (I don't know the best way to do this)

Doing something with that order data (could it be emailed to the client, or is that too insecure? would I need to set up a front end for the client to access orders stored in a database?)

Hope me, Metafilter! You're my only help.

Help me be heard! ( Podcast style )

thankyoumuchly — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:18:19 -0800

Is there an application that will automatically take my ready-to-publish podcasts from my local PC, and upload them to a website and publish their links to an RSS feed? I've searched Askmefi for Podcasting advice, and found many tutorials and how-to's for recording and mixing my podcasts, but nothing that specifically says "drop your finished podcast files in your "My Music" folder on your local PC and this application will upload them to a website and publish them to an RSS feed for you".

Can anyone help? I'm very technical with audio recording equipment but the publishing / RSS feeding is greek to me. Help me be heard!

Thank you in advance!

-TM

p.s. - Free applications are preferable, but I'll take what I can get so long as the world can hear my voice :)

Embeddable Video

nam3d — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:44:28 -0800

What video sharing website has the 'cleanest' looking embeddable video player which has less branding on it than say YouTube or Daily Motion? It would be a plus if it had a "HD" video option.

Burning Question

Frasermoo — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:20:54 -0800

What is the cheapest (best way) to get my vinyl on to YouTube? I have a stack of vinyl and want to share it. I sold my decks before I emigrated so what should I do now? I don't want to mix, just burn and upload. I live in Canada.

Blogger needs more room!

chrisinseoul — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:53:30 -0800

Blogger running out of hard drive space trying to keep it simple and free... So I keep a fairly photo-heavy blog (http://chrisinsouthkorea.blogspot.com, if you're interested) and have been for over a year. Blogspot allows for 1GB of photo storage through upload, which I'm coming up to the limit... Ideally, I'd like a place to upload photos that gives thumbnail links and displays a photo with as little clutter as possible. Oh, and free, easy to understand and upload. Any ideas?

Time outs sending emails to gmail using IMAP

charlie7691 — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:33:08 -0800

How do I stop Outlook / Thunderbird timing out when pushing emails to Gmail via IMAP? I have folders containing up to 22,000 emails that I'd like to move from Outlook / Thunderbird to Gmail. I've tried the GML tool, and uploading via IMAP, and though IMAP seems the way forward (because it can replicate the folder structure too) it times out after uploading about 600 emails.
Although I could just send messages in 500s, the idea of doing this SO many times fills me with dread! Does anybody know how to stop IMAP timing out, or of some way to upload them (and their folder structure) more quickly?
I've got 1.3mb/s upload and fast PC, so connection speed shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks in advance,

Sharing photo slideshows

maxg94 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:07:05 -0800

What are some ways to share a photo slideshow with music with friends? I used Comcast's photoshow but they are discontinuing it. I created a show with Photostudio Expressions already. The show saves as a .slw file or an .exe file. But then how do I share them? Is there a free website those can be uploaded and then notify others? I would also like privacy settings.

I know you can upload pics to photo sites, but I wanted to be able to have special transitions, music, text etc. This makes places like Flickr not helpful.

Crap! Now I can't get hit on by thousands of strangers!

Drainage! — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:56:29 -0800

Why can't I see some pictures on Myspace? I've uploaded a couple photos to Myspace, and I can't see them. They're simply empty boxes, not even shaped to the photo or anything.

I also noticed that some of my old photos were like this, too. WTF?

(Note: I am already well aware and agree that Myspace is a terrible, terrible site.)

Easy FTP copy link

jverdone — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:11:34 -0800

Quick & easy way to copy links within FTP I'm trying to upload files & quickly copy the links from within FTP program. Is there an easy way to do so? The only program I've found is Rightload, however, it only lets you do so one at a time. I'd like to do so from within the FTP program. Currently using Filezilla.

Batch Facebook Events Upload?

furtive — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:19:57 -0800

How do I generate events for a Facebook page from our database? I'm having a hard time finding any tools that can do this, or allow me to import data in large batches. We have about three events a week to put up with four months of data ready, and would prefer not to do it all by hand.

How to sanely migrate email messages from Apple's Mail.app to Google Apps' GMail

Wild_Eep — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:34:07 -0800

How do I move around 2000 messages from Apple's Mail.app (10.4) to a Google Apps (Premier) GMail account quickly and efficiently? Maintaining the received dates and any miscellaneous attachments is a must.

I'm helping a company move their 35 employees with traditional POP download-it-to-your-hard-drive-then-delete-it-from-the-server accounts to Google Apps-based GMail accounts. They opted for the Premier ($) version of Google Apps.

I know about enabling the GMail account's IMAP service, then adding the IMAP account to Mail.app, and then dragging in your messages. When I tried that, it took hours upon hours to move very few messages, often timed-out for no good reason, and even with the activity window open, didn't give very detailed feedback about the progress of the operation. The company has a "business-class" DSL line. Speedtest.net reports that they're getting 300 kbps upstream from their office to San Francisco. (I assume Google's servers are somewhere in San Francisco.)

I'm willing to convert the mailboxes to some other format (mbox, etc.) and use a PC tool. Google themselves provide a tool to suck in messages from an existing IMAP server (which doesn't help directly), or Google Email Uploader, which only seems to work with Outlook, Outlook Express, or Thunderbird. I've also heard about IMAPSync, but I'm not certain it will do what I want.

I do have a PC available, if needed. For the Mac, I do have Emailchemy available.

Fastest way to upload and share images?

wastelands — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:43:29 -0800

What's the fastest way to upload and share images? I share images so frequently that I wonder if I could cut down my workflow to save time. Currently I use ImageHost.org. The usual workflow is:

1. Save image to local drive if the image is from a web page
2. Go to ImageHost, sometimes having to open the browser if it was closed (e.g. during gaming I close background apps)
3. Browse, upload
4. Copy/paste ImageHost link to wherever

I tried a Firefox plugin for ImageShack but wasn't all that impressed. It seemed like just as much work.

Is there an easier way, or am I at the limits of efficiency? Typically I'm sharing either a screenshot from my system or I want a more permanent location I can link to for a fleeting image on reddit/4chan/whatever that might disappear soon from expiration or the "Slashdot effect".

I'd prefer a solution that doesn't involve signing up with a website, if possible.

Best way to convert avi for youtube in ubuntu?

The_Partridge_Family — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:18:15 -0800

Recommended route for encoding avi to smaller file size for upload to youtube in ubuntu? Earlier today I shot an 8 minute movie on my Nikon point & shoot - the avi is 485Mb. I wish to upload this to youtube, so I'd like to reduce the file size. WinFF/ FFMPEG seemed the obvious route here, but when I convert the avi using the "flv for web use 4x3" setting, it compresses the file down to a nice 17.4Mb, but video only. If I select the "WMV2" setting, I get a 47.8Mb file that looks kinda crappy but it does have audio.

Is that as good as it gets? Am I using the correct settings? Is there a better route? Happy Holidays!

HTML File Drag-and-drop

maxwelton — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:12:16 -0800

I currently am using plain-jane HTML form "browse" file input fields to allow uploading on several sites. I want to move forward. I think "thinfile" will work for me, but before forking out the bux, do you have any recommendations? I would like to do is replace the browse input on the form with a multiple file drag-and-drop applet or other tool--I can handle the post-upload processing.

The sites where this would be installed are on shared hosts -- Apache, PHP, MySQL -- and in addition to the convenience of multiple files at once, getting around my favored host's 2-4MB practical limit for file sizes would be a bonus.

I have a PHP handler for the back end, which I can adapt to multiple files.

It looks like thinfile, specifically, "thin slice," would work for me, with a bit of monkeying around. The cost isn't outrageous but also isn't insubstantial.

Do you have any alternatives you would recommend, or have you had direct experience with these products?

Here are my requirements:

1) I need to be able to redirect after upload;
2) Progress bar;
3) The software will skirt the max upload limit for individual files on the host (thin slice does this by splitting the files into chunks and reassembling them on the server);
4) I cannot access the "put" method;
5) I absolutely, positively need to strip directory information from the uploaded files, I just want them dumped into the root of my holding directory;
6) I need to be able to access at least the file name(s) after upload via PHP;
7) Multiple users of the site need to be able to use the tool simultaneously, passing the PHP handler only the information on the files that user just uploaded;
8) Needs to be able to handle a variety of file types;
9) Don't want post-upload file management as part of the tool, or a way to disable them if the tool has them.

Bonuses:

1) Ability to filter out file types on client side first;
2) Some level of customization of the appearance of the tool;
3) Free or low cost, but I'm happy to pay a reasonable amount.

I can also create an FTP account for the tool to use if it called for it--but I still need to be able to grab file info with my PHP handler when the upload is finished.

In an ideal universe, I'd avoid a java applet but I'm not sure what other solutions might be out there. I understand Flash-based solutions have been used but judging from the broken flash upload in my wordpress blogs, I'm not sure how robust they are.

I can code in javascript, PHP, Flash, and some other basic languages, so I'm open to code snippets or libraries that might accomplish the same thing if they're straightforward to implement.

Thank you for your ideas.

Upload YouTube videos from the terminal in Linux

remi — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:18:00 -0800

Are there any programs for Linux to upload videos to YouTube from the terminal? I found many utilities for Linux to download YouTube videos, but I didn't find anything to upload.

I'm trying to find such a program because I would like to upload videos directly from a remote server to YouTube, rather than having to download them to my computer then have to re-upload them again to YouTube.

dropload for my own server?

carthik — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:49:07 -0800

I was wondering if there is a script/tool that I can install on my own webserver (apache2 on linux) that will do the work or dropload or yousendit or one of those numerous websites. So I want to be able to upload and provide links for downloading files. The app should also allow me to send an email with a link to the person I uploaded the file for.
I really want to just be able to send someone large files with minimal issues, and due to security/privacy reasons, I do not want to use dropload.com or yousendit.com or dropbox.com, but would rather do it with/on my own server.

So does anyone know of any clones of the above mentioned websites that might work off of my server?

At the very least it should allow me to set a per-file password, or make a file available for download to only the person I sent a link to.

Thank you.

Ridiculously fast uploads?

qvinx — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:06:25 -0800

Can veoh.com upload speeds exceed 300mbps? I regularly upload videos to veoh.com, usually at about a speed of 60-100kbps, not bad.

But today I went to upload one and my 900mb video was uploaded almost instantly, literally within (3?) seconds!!

I thought it must have been a mistake, but went on to veoh.com to edit the video metadata and such, gave it a few minutes to process, and it really was all uploaded: all 900mb, all 1 hour and 30 minutes of it!

This is unreal. Not that I'm complaining, but how is this possible?

I am on a campus network, and never before have I seen such ridiculous speeds, downloading or uploading.

Maybe I should just accept it as a really cool freak accident and move on? Haha...

YouTube upload

cjorgensen — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:55:05 -0800

Any way to upload videos to youtube not using a web interface? I think the question really says it all, but the reason I am asking is I have a video that just won't upload.

I made a smaller version of the video, posted it fine, but after their conversion it looked really crappy. So I tried to upload the bigger one (after removing the original). I thought maybe it's a filename conflict, so I renamed the file, and titled the video differently.

It still won't go.

Any ideas? Tried from three different locations using different machines.

uploading/downloading huge files

Zed_Lopez — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:10:28 -0800

How to code a Perl web app to upload/download HUGE files? A straight HTTP upload/download for my app is untenable because I'm dealing with files of hundreds of megs each. I'd like to see a solution that would offer progress bars, and (more importantly) the ability to restart incomplete uploads or downloads.

The existing app is Apache 1.3/mod_perl/perl 5.8. Uploads require a login; downloads don't, but are limited inasmuch as they're keyed by UUIDs that are only considered valid in a short time-window. (I don't want the downloaders to see the real filename or location, but I suppose could make a link named for the UUID that gets deleted after its valid lifetime if I pursue an FTPish solution.)

I'm open to ditching doing the uploading and downloading in the browser if need be and requiring users to install client software to upload/download, but the download solution would need to be simple, easy, and available for all of Windows, Mac, and Linux. The upload solution would need to be simple and available for Windows.

But ideally, something AJAXy on the client-side and Perl (or plays-well-with-Perl) on the server-side can save the day and allow me to stick with the browser. I haven't done anything like this before. Anyone have any suggestions?

(3d-party hosting isn't an option.)

A movie editor I am not.

sisflit — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:31:05 -0800

I have a project I just completed for my MEdu program. As part of that I created a video. I recorded it on my Panasonic SDR-H18 camera, edited it with the ImageMixer3 crap software that came with the camera and joined two clips into the movie I wanted. The problem? The end result seems too large to upload anywhere. The video is just under 1 GB. So I broke the video up into parts 1 and 2, 790 MB and 227 MB respectfully. I still can't upload even the smaller clip. I have tried YouTube, my own website, the school's website. I just can't upload it anywhere.

So long story short, what am I doing wrong? I'm assuming it is related to the size of the clips.
I'm using Verizon DSL to upload, is there a limit to how much I can send to a website? I have plenty of storage space for the video on my webpage.
Is this whole thing just an exercise in futility?
Obviously I don't want to go spend a ton of money on some fancy software or hosting membership, since this is for a class that ends next week. However it is an online class and people from all over the US need to be able to access it.

I'm fairly tech savvy but inexperienced in this particular area.
Home PC is Windows XP.

Thanks in advanc for any help and suggestions!

Spiffy PHP file upload script?

kryptondog — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:21:19 -0800

I'm in need of a spiffy PHP file upload script. For great justice. The print shop I work at is in the process of moving away from our current (dinky, suffocatingly restrictive) web host. I was charged with the task of finding a new host, creating a new site design, getting everything transferred, etc. I'm still in media res but things are moving pretty smoothly.

One of the most important parts of our old site was our file transfer system that allowed customers to upload their art to us. The old script was garbage and I'd very much like to offer our customers something nicer. I could probably call upon my fading PHP-fu to cobble something together, but before I resort to that I thought I'd ask the Hive Mind if it knew of (or better yet) had any experience with a PHP-based file upload script that would satisfy me needs. Here's what I had in mind:

- It's gotta be account-based, not just a pool of files. I'd prefer it if people could sign up for an account themselves, but it's fine if it can only be done by an administrator.
- On that subject, a decent user and administration control panel.
- It'd be nice if it used AJAX to refresh the FTP connection to the site while the file uploads. Our old file uploader had a nasty habit of timing out in the middle of customers sending huge files, which is (needless to say) pretty bad. Also, some kind of progress bar (possibly with "time remaining") would be a huge plus for our more impatient customers.
- Multiple file upload inputs on one page would be awesome.
- Email notifications of some kind would also be awesome.
- Our ultimate goal is to make the file uploader part of a group of services that we offer our customers online, so it would be highly beneficial if the script was made in such a way that it could easily (and legally) be extended upon.
- Free would be nice, but we'd have no problem paying for a quality product.

I know that it's easy to just sit on my butt and make a wish list of features that I want for this thing, but maybe you've come across something that comes close to matching what I need. I'm aware that there's a lot of services similar to what I need that host the data on their servers, but I really need this to be self-contained on my companies website (however, if you've had positive experiences with one of the aforementioned services please share that too). Thanks in advance.