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Copy.com Review - Generous Free Storage with 5GB for Every Referral

Update 5/15/13: In response to Google increasing Drive's capacity to 15GB, Copy has decided to match that and is giving away 15GB for free now instead of the initial 5GB. That means if you use a referral link, you get a sizable 20GB of free storage just for signing up. After you sign up, Copy will eventually offer to give you another 2GB for tweeting about their service as well. That means you can get 22GB without even referring anyone! Enjoy!

Copy is a new cloud storage service similar to Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Tresorit, or SpiderOak. It is a pretty crowded market but Copy is entering it anyway. So what makes Copy stand out compared to the host of other cloud storage services available?

From a user interface standpoint Copy.com is VERY similar to Dropbox. This is good because, as you probably already know, Dropbox is very simple and easy to use - it just works. Copy, like Dropbox has a single folder where you can add anything you want uploaded to the cloud and synced to your other devices. There are controls that allow you to pick which files/folders you want synced to which computer or device.

One thing that Copy is doing better than Dropbox right now is giving a way a huge amount of storage for free compared to Dropbox's somewhat miserly 2GB. I contacted Copy regarding their security and encryption policies because I was unsure about a couple things after reading their privacy policy and terms of service. They confirmed that that do encrypt all data to and from their servers no matter the agent used (browser, computer application, mobile app), it is stored in an encrypted format, and authentication keys/passwords are also stored in encrypted formats. Regarding giving information to authorities, they simply replied that, "currently all DMCA requests have been made regarding public links." So, I feel comfortable saying that your data is probably pretty safe. However, like Dropbox, they are not a "zero-knowledge" cloud storage provider. In other words, they could easily decrypt your data, view it, or give it to whomever they wanted.

If you are really concerned about security, then I would suggest Tresorit or SpiderOak as they are both providers that cannot decrypt or view your data. However, you can always use the excellent encryption program, ~~TrueCrypt~~ to create an encrypted volume within your Copy folder, that can be just about as secure as you want it. If you do that make sure to use a different password than your Copy password. That way, even if someone gained access to your Copy password and data, they would only see a bunch of nonsense encrypted data.

UPDATE: Since the TrueCrypt project was shut down without any real explanation in the middle of its audit, I am not sure what to recommend... there isn't really a good alternative. Many people think that the developers were just finished with the project and that the software is still good, but I would wait until the audit is complete to fully trust sensitive files to TrueCrypt again.

A few things that stand out is that Copy is offering support for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers right out of the gate - and I commend them for that. Also, both Android and iOS apps are available. Secondly, they offer an extremely generous referral program that gives both parties an extra 5GB for each referral! So if you sign up with a referral link, confirm your email address, and then install the software on your computer, iOS, or Android device you will get 20GB for free and I will get an extra 5GB. According to Copy this is a time-limited offer, so I am not sure how long you will be able to get this much space for each referral. Lastly, if you are willing to pay for one of the cloud storage services like Dropbox, SugarSync, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SpiderOak then this is one of the cheaper options available. As you can see in the image below, their prices are very reasonable compared to the competition.

As I have used Copy, it has worked seamlessly as Dropbox - no issues so far. I have tested the Windows, Mac, and Android apps as well as their online interface. When you drop a file or folder into your Copy folder it starts uploading immediately and will sync to your other devices in the background. It is an excellent alternative to Dropbox and they give you enough free space so that you could easily sync all your music or pictures between devices - something that would be difficult without a paid subscription on all the other cloud storage providers. So, go ahead and load up on free storage while you can.

Review Summary:
Item reviewed: Copy.com
Description: Cloud storage provider that has lots of free storage available.
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Reviewed by: Cam Medlin

Date published: 04/22/2013

I have a Galaxy S2 on Ting and recently upgraded to the latest Jelly Bean software. This software update to Jelly Bean 4.1.2 will be the last major upgrade for the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S2. In order to upgrade you have to do so manually, it will NOT be sent OTA to your device, so this is a good time to root as rooting the S2 is about as easy as manually upgrading :)

The camera sounds on the Sprint Galaxy S2 and S3 can be very annoying and very loud if you are in a quiet environment. This method requires rooting your phone but rooting this device with the stock ROM is extremely easy and adds multiple advantages such as ad blocking, ability to get rid of all the sprint bloatware, and better backup (for example using titanium backup root).

Please note that this tutorial is for the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S2, but if you have a rooted Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3, the latter section of this post when we start to use the root browser should be the same.

Update: if you do not wish to root your phone, have another device, or want to mute any other sounds, learn how do so with Tasker.

There are plenty of resources our there on how to update to a rooted version of the stock Jelly Bean ROM so I will not go into detail, but will provide links along with the basic steps outlined below:

As always, backup all your important data to a SD card or your computer before doing anything!
Make sure you have the Samsung mobile phone drivers installed for your phone.
Download the rooted version of the stock ROM (the .exe file) and once it is downloaded right click on it, run as administrator, then extract.
Open the Odin-OC folder you just extracted and then open the application in that folder named "SPH-D710_GB27_1014481_Rooted_Restore.exe"
Now grab your Sprint GS2 and turn it off. Then simultaneously hold down the power and volume down buttons. Your phone will ask you if you want to continue by pressing the volume up button, do so, and your phone will enter download mode.
Plug your phone into your computer via USB and a yellow box should show up in the Odin application (if it doesn't try another USB port and make sure you have the drivers installed).
Press "Start" and let it install the rooted Jelly Bean ROM on your phone (it will take a little while).
If follow the instructions above you shouldn't have any problems, but if you need a more detailed look you can check out this video (ignore his links they are outdated).

Now that you have an updated and rooted phone lets give you the option of turning off those annoying camera sounds. The screenshots are from a Galaxy S2, but should be nearly identical on a Galaxy S3 (if not let me know).

You will need a file explorer/manager that can obtain root access. Root Browser Lite works and is free, but you can choose any. Download your file explorer app of choice.
Go to /system/csc/ (shown below)
Open feature.xml with a text editor (RB Text Editor should be already installed) (shown below)

Scroll down to the <!-- Camera --!> section
Find "<CscFeature_Camera_ShutterSoundMenu>false</"
Change to "false" to "true" (without quotation marks) so that it looks like this:

<CscFeature_Camera_ShutterSoundMenu>true</

Press "Save" and exit out of the text editor and root browser.
Restart your phone.

Now when you open the Camera app, click on the gear icon, scroll down to the "Shutter sound" option that has appeared, and turn it off! That should be all. Now you can turn the camera sounds off whenever you want.

I have also written about how to mute the camcorder sounds and mute the startup and shutdown sounds if you are interested.

Multiplicity Photography or Sequence Photography

Multiplicity photography is the photographic technique of merging multiple images into one with the help of post processing softwares like Adobe Photoshop. This trick is also known as Sequence Photography.

Multiplicity Photography or Sequence Photography

How to do Multiplicity Photography?

In order to combine different exposures into one, you need to carefully plan and take the individual pictures.

Step by Step Tutorial – How to Take the Shots

Mount your Camera on a Solid Tripod
Focus on your scene and shift to manual focus: - if your camera re focus every time you will have slightly misaligned pictures, it’s possible to make multiplicity photograph with those but it requires a lot more effort in Photoshop.
Put your camera in Manual mode and dial in the exposure manually:- this is critical so as to get consistent exposures throughout.
Use a Narrow Aperture: - you will need your subject to be reasonably sharp in every instance so it is recommended to use a narrow aperture, f/11 or greater should work just fine.
Shoot through the sequence quickly:- lighting conditions could change significantly when you are shooting outdoors and might cause problems, so it is always better to pre-plan your poses and go through the sequence in as little time as possible.

Below are some of the shots used to create the final picture, i have not included all the pictures, and it is always a good idea to shoot a couple of more instances of your subject than you actually need, so you will have options to choose from while post processing. You only need to use the one's you wish.

Multiplicity Photography or Sequence Photography

Photoshop Tutorial

Import all your files into Photoshop:- Click File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. If you are using an older version of Photoshop which does not have the load files into stack option, you need to manually copy paste the pictures as layers into the same document.

This is how your layer palette looks like when you have all your shots stacked as layers in a single document.

Using Layer Masks:- once you have all your shots in different layers, click on the top layer to activate it. Click New Layer Mask icon (at the bottom of the layers window).
Press B, then D to select the brush tool with black as the foreground colour.
Now paint over the person in that layer, the figure will be erased, now press Ctrl + I (to invert the mask), now you will be able to see two instances of the person.
Now you need to repeat what we did to the top layer to all the layers and you have your very own multiplicity photo. You need not apply mask to the bottom layer.

This is how the layers palette looks like once you have applied layer masks to all but the bottom layer.

Here's another one.... Have Fun.

Multiplicity Photography or Sequence Photography

Photoelasticity or Birefringence Photography Trick Tutorial
Shadow illusion photography trick
Harris Shutter Effect
Multiplicity Photography or Sequence Photography
Insomnia – Trick Photography

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

This is one fast trick which is very easy to do.

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

All you need to do is to mount your camera on a stable tripod and take two pictures; one in which both eyes of your model are looking up and another one in which both eyes of your model are looking down.

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

You need to make sure that the model keeps his/her head still till you complete both the shots, only the pupils should move.

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

Now that you have both the pictures, open them both in Photoshop drag one over the other to have them both in two different layers in a single document.

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

Now apply layer mask to the first layer and just erase one of the eyes and you are done. Easy...... isn't it?

Here is one more example

First shot with both eyes looking up

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

Second shot with both eyes looking down

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

And this here is our finished picture

Bug Eyes Photography Trick

Now these are the two wonderful ladies who accepted my invitation to volunteer for the project. Many thanks to Mirjam &Serina.

Mirjam

Serina

It should look cool if you try a variant of this with both eyes looking to one direction first and then both eyes looking to the other direction and then combine them. Have Fun.

Harris Shutter Effect

Harris Shutter Effect can be done directly in DSLRs as a camera trick, but it can also be done much easier in Photoshop. In this article we will see how to achieve it using Photoshop.

Harris Shutter Effect

In order to to this trick you need to take three separate pictures of your subject. Make sure you have your camera mounted on a stable tripod or it is kept somewhere stable so the framing does not change from shot to shot.

Step by Step Tutorial

Step 1 :- Keep your camera somewhere stable.

Step 2 :- Take three separate shots of your subject

Harris Shutter Effect Photoshop Tutorial - Trick Photography

Now that we have our three shots needed to create Harris shutter effect let us see how to combine them together in Photoshop.

Step 3 :- Open all three images in Photoshop.

Step 4 :- Create a new document with the same file sizes as the base images. for example if your three shots are of 800px by 600px @ 100 resolution; create a new file with the same dimensions. This is not essential but its a lot simpler this way.

Step 5 :- Select the first picture, Click Window > Channels to display the channels palette, click on the red palette to have it selected, Ctrl A (to select all) Ctrl C ( to copy to clipboard).

Now you have the information in the red channel from the first image copied to your clipboard. So we will now paste the same to the corresponding channel (in this case Red) of our new document.

Step 6 :- Select the new document, in the channels palette click Red, then Shift + Ctrl + V (paste in place).

So now we have successfully copied the red channel information of the first file to the red channel of our new document.

Step 7 :- Select the second picture, Click Window > Channels to display the channels palette, click on the Green palette to have it selected, Ctrl A (to select all) Ctrl C ( to copy to clipboard).

Now you have the information in the Green channel from the second image copied to your clipboard. So we will now paste the same to the corresponding channel (in this case Green) of our new document.

Step 8 :- Select the new document, in the channels palette click Green, then Shift + Ctrl + V (paste in place).

So now we have successfully copied the Red channel information of the first file and Green channel information from the second file to the corresponding channels of our new document.

Step 9 :- Select the third picture, Click Window > Channels to display the channels palette, click on the Blue palette to have it selected, Ctrl A (to select all) Ctrl C ( to copy to clipboard).

Now you have the information in the Blue channel from the third image copied to your clipboard. So we will now paste the same to the corresponding channel (in this case Blue) of our new document.

Step 10 :- Select the new document, in the channels palette click Blue, then Shift + Ctrl + V (paste in place).

So now we have successfully copied the Red channel information of the first file, Green channel information from the second file, and Blue channel information from the third file to the corresponding channels of our new document. Now crop the file if needed and you have successfully created your own Harris shutter effect.

This is how your channels palette should look like once you have finished pasting all three channels.

Harris Shutter Effect Photoshop Tutorial - Trick Photography

One thing to keep in mind while doing the Harris shutter effect is that the photograph will render normal colours in areas that remain stationary throughout each of the three photos. So it will be fun to try this effect on scenes which have some stationary subjects and some subjects that move. Have Fun.

Shadow illusion photography trick

This is one simple photography trick or more of a photoshop trick. For this trick to work well you need to get long shadows of your subject and so it is preferable to try this during the morning or evening hours when the sun is at an angle which casts long shadows.

Shadow illusion - Trick Photography

To make this shot happen it is better to have your camera on a stable tripod. Simply take one shot of your model standing with his / her shoes on and then another with just the shoes. It is necessary to make sure that your model keeps the shoes as stationary as possible so that both the pictures align properly when you later combine them in Photoshop.

Shadow illusion - Trick Photography

In Photoshop import the two pictures as layers into one; the picture with the model in it should be your top layer and the picture with just the shoes should be beneath it. If you are not using a tripod and get slightly misaligned pictures you could use Edit > Auto Align Layers function to make Photoshop align your layers for you. Once everything is properly aligned just mask out the person from the picture and you have your very own shadow illusion photograph.

Once i posted this article, i got quite a few mails asking for exact instruction on doing it in Photoshop So here's a step by step guide.

1. Open both images in Photoshop
2. Select the move tool ( Keyboard shortcut V )
3. Click and drag the picture with the person in it on top of the other.

Now you have both the images as layers in a single file

4. In the Layers panel, Shift + Click on both layers to select both layers.
5. Click Edit > Auto Align Layers

Now both layers are properly aligned

6. Select the top layer. Now click the Add Vector Masks button to add a layer mask to the top layer.

Add Layer Mask to the top layer

7. Press D and then X and then B and you will have the Paint brush tool selected with black as the paint colour.
8. Now paint over the model to mask her out and you are done.
9. Select both layers in the layers palette, right click > Merge Layers and you are ready to save the picture.

Here is different view, just one of few we experimented with.

Photography Trick

And here's the source files.

Photography Trick

Here's a different variant.

Shadow illusion trick

Shadow illusion trick

Have Fun

Trick Photography Long Exposure Ghost Eyes

This is another trick that could be done by using a long shutter speed. If you have an ND filter at hand and a stable tripod and cable / remote release it would be helpful, but could manage without any of these. Only real requirement is a digital camera that allows manual controls.

The subject remains still during the length of the 2 second exposure but her eyes were constantly moving from side to side. I asked her to give a slight pause at the extreme ends to get this specific effect. Else you will get even blur without the pupil registering on both sides.

Trick photography - Long exposure - Ghost eyes

Camera: Canon 5dmkii
Lens: Canon 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Macro
Mode: Manual
Shutter Speed: 2"
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
White balance: Daylight

Spooky ha. :- No Adobe Photoshop software was used!

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Copy.com Review - Generous Free Storage with 5GB for Every Referral

How to Silence or Mute Camera Sounds on Sprint Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch Jelly Bean GB27