Forklift, the split-pane file manager with support for multiple network protocols, is officially at version 1.5 now. We covered the initial release a while back, and we're excited about the progress it's made. With an interface update (Leopard goodness) and some behind-the-scenes tweaks, it's turning into a sweet piece of work.

Forklift has always been of interest to me, with its support for SFTP and Amazon S3, but my previous experiences with Forklift had shown it to display a tendency toward a little sluggishness and the occasional poorly-timed crash. This latest version has not only been stable for me, but has been snappy. And by that I mean speedy to the extreme, especially when dealing with (S)FTP servers and S3. Ten times faster on remote transfers, actually, according to their own benchmarks.

Quick Look and FXP Copy (server-to-server file transfer) round out a great feature set. If you're looking for a Finder add-on/replacement (or a great FTP client), definitely download the trial. At $29.95, it's quite reasonably priced for what it can do. And for current users the upgrade is free and will fix quite a few shortcomings you may have noticed thus far. Version 1.5 is Leopard-only, but 1.2 is still available for our striped friends.

At 15¢ per gig, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) is rapidly becoming an online storage standard, with companies like 37Signals and SmugMug storing information adding up to terabytes. On a slightly smaller scale, I transfer a few gigs on S3 every month, both to and from my Mac and server-to-server, and my bill is usually under $10. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to take advantage of this inexpensive yet massive storage system.

Several Mac applications have already added S3 support, including Transmit, Interarchy and Forklift. That's a cool step for such applications because it integrates your various file transferring tools (FTP, SFTP, S3, etc.) into one app, which I would love... if it worked reliably. But the only application I've consistently had luck with – as in not constantly crashing – is JungleDisk, which uses a webDAV system for filestorage that allows an S3 bucket (a subsection, or folder, in your S3 account) to be mounted as a local filesystem, but makes the filesystem on the web inaccessible to other programs. And you can't make files public outside of your local network. I've generally resorted to S3Fox - a very capable Firefox addon - and a command-line ruby script called s3sync.

However, I also discovered the JetS3t Java toolkit today. In addition to the toolkit, the JetS3t download also includes an application suite. Of primary interest to me was the Cockpit application, which provides an S3 browser with upload and download capabilities, as well as ACL control. There are also apps for setting up gateways and providing a secure, distributable client.

I'd like to begin by saying that I loathe Java applications on a Mac, not least because they're ugly. But Cockpit is one of the fastest S3 browsers I've ever used. Looking past the fact that you have to launch it from the command line (yes, you can fix that), it has no integration with other Mac apps, and its underwhelming aesthetics, I have to admit that it really does get the job done. It even has little extras, like the ability to generate Torrent URLs or a temporary URL that which allows people to download a file for a specified period of time. It probably won't replace my current tools, but it was worth a trip to the dark (Java) side. I hope it inspires some Cocoa browsers that are faster, more flexible and more stable than what we've got.

As Mat noted a couple weeks ago, the ambitious team at Xackup announced, then thought better of it and retracted, Bandwagon: an unlimited-storage service for iTunes backups to run over your Internet connection. Greedy fiends that we iTunes users are, with visions of multigigabyte libraries dancing in our heads, we apparently shocked and awed Bandwagon into the just-announced revamped pricing plan.

The new plan offers iTunes backup for $1 monthly, and backup + sync between two Macs for $1.50. Cheap, no? The catch: this is BYOS -- bring your own storage. At launch the service will support backup to Amazon's S3 cloudisk service, with basic FTP and Omnidrive links to follow within a month or two. The Bandwagon blog details the changes here and explains more of the why here. Considering that Xackup is also launching Xackmail (Mail.app & Outlook backup) and Neverfuget (iCal backup/sync to Backpack) tools, this company is making a serious play for Mac home/net backup customers on all fronts.

Will Bandwagon pull you onboard? I might consider it myself, and work out a "homebrew co-lo" agreement with friends or family to put a spare drive and FTP access at their place, reciprocating with the same at my place -- or just bite the bullet and start paying Amazon for disk space.

[via UneasySilence]

Backing up your data is important, we all know that. However, backing up is often complicated and if your data isn't backed up and then stored off-site (i.e. not where your computer is) then your back up isn't truly safe. Enter Amazon's S3 service. Amazon has a bevy of computers waiting to hold your precious data in a safe, redundant, and off-site manner. Amazon charges a very low rate for bandwidth and storage and the best thing is that they have an API for developers to code against.

S3 Browser makes saving documents to and S3 'bucket' as simple as drag and drop. This app is open source, and started life as a diversion for the developer. Given those facts, S3 Browser is pretty slick.

[via Ranchero]