Drop.io
Encyclopedia
Drop.io was an online file
sharing service. It allowed users to quickly create "drops", which could contain files of any type, and could be accessed via the internet
, e-mail
, phone, fax, and widget
s. The service did not require users to sign up for an account, and each drop was private unless the creator chose to share it. Drop.io was named one of TIME Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2009, and CNET Webware 100.
On October 29, 2010, Drop.io announced that the company had been purchased by Facebook
and that the service would be shutting down. Sam Lessin, one of the site's founders, would be moving to Facebook. , the site is no longer active; the blog is also down, as of November 2011http://blog.drop.io.
, New York City
; it moved to the "DUMBO
" neighborhood of Brooklyn
in 2008.
In November 2007, Drop.io completed a $1.2 million Series A round of financing led by RRE Ventures
to support the company's development efforts and infrastructure growth. In March 2008, the company closed $2.7 million in series A-1 financing led by New York venture capital firms DFJ Gotham and RRE Ventures.
Drop.io was nominated for the Technical Achievement Award at the South By Southwest
11th Annual Web Awards in 2007.
On June 10, Drop.io and Scribd
, announced a partnership to offer rich conversion and viewing within private "drops", in an attempt to make it easier for people to share private information online. As of 2008, users can find Drop.io on a number of social networking sites, including: Facebook
and Twitter
.
Between March 2007 and November 2008, drop.io released a series of feature improvements to their platform including 'inputs' and 'outputs' via various interfaces like phone and fax, a twitter 'subscription' mode, and a Firefox plugin that allows users to 'drag and drop' files into new or existing 'drops'
In September 2008, drop.io released a very simple API which allows other applications to use drop.io's file sharing ability in their own applications. Several early applications were built, including usend.io (a simple file transfer app like senduit or yousendit
). Ars Technica
appears to have built the first fully operational third party application on the API.
In November 2008, drop.io announced having moved 100% into 'the cloud' having switched away from all owned and rented physical hardware/servers and claimed to be the largest 100% in the cloud application in the world.
Also in November 2008, drop.io released a major design overhaul which completely changed the front end of the product, but maintained the core service.
In December 2008, drop.io was one of the first services to release a Facebook Connect integration, which allowed users to publish updates of any sort made to any drop directly to their facebook feed
In January 2009, drop.io launched a professional product extension called drop.io manager which allowed users to create templates to pre-customize and brand drops, as well as get detailed reporting about how their drops are being used.
In March 2009, drop.io launched playlist.io one in a series of 'applets' which allow for feature customization of drop.io around various use cases
Between February 2009 and May 2009, drop.io started integrating real-time features into its file sharing backbone using XMPP. This initially included chat functionality and real-time streaming of files, but expanded in May to include a web-presentation mode.
On September 10, 2009, drop.io released Attach Large Files , a pre-installed application for all Yahoo! Mail users. The app allows users to attach an unlimited amount of files up to 100 Mb and was developed entirely on drop.io's API with their custom-built JavaScript library.
Computer file
A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. A file is durable in the sense that it remains available for programs to use after the current program has finished...
sharing service. It allowed users to quickly create "drops", which could contain files of any type, and could be accessed via the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, phone, fax, and widget
Widget
Widget may refer to:*Widget , a placeholder for a manufactured device*GUI widget in computer programming, a reusable element of a graphical user interface that displays an information arrangement and provides standardized data manipulation...
s. The service did not require users to sign up for an account, and each drop was private unless the creator chose to share it. Drop.io was named one of TIME Magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2009, and CNET Webware 100.
On October 29, 2010, Drop.io announced that the company had been purchased by Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and that the service would be shutting down. Sam Lessin, one of the site's founders, would be moving to Facebook. , the site is no longer active; the blog is also down, as of November 2011http://blog.drop.io.
History
Drop.io was founded by Sam Lessin and Darshan Somashekar in August 2007. The company's offices were originally located in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; it moved to the "DUMBO
DUMBO, Brooklyn
Dumbo, an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another that continues...
" neighborhood of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
in 2008.
In November 2007, Drop.io completed a $1.2 million Series A round of financing led by RRE Ventures
RRE Ventures
RRE Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investments across several disciplines, including software, internet, mobile, financial services, environmental, and other related technologies, primarily within the United States, and especially in and around New York...
to support the company's development efforts and infrastructure growth. In March 2008, the company closed $2.7 million in series A-1 financing led by New York venture capital firms DFJ Gotham and RRE Ventures.
Drop.io was nominated for the Technical Achievement Award at the South By Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
11th Annual Web Awards in 2007.
On June 10, Drop.io and Scribd
Scribd
Scribd is a Web 2.0 based document-sharing website which allows users to post documents of various formats, and embed them into a web page using its iPaper format. Scribd was founded by Trip Adler, Tikhon Bernstam, and Jared Friedman in 2006...
, announced a partnership to offer rich conversion and viewing within private "drops", in an attempt to make it easier for people to share private information online. As of 2008, users can find Drop.io on a number of social networking sites, including: Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
Between March 2007 and November 2008, drop.io released a series of feature improvements to their platform including 'inputs' and 'outputs' via various interfaces like phone and fax, a twitter 'subscription' mode, and a Firefox plugin that allows users to 'drag and drop' files into new or existing 'drops'
In September 2008, drop.io released a very simple API which allows other applications to use drop.io's file sharing ability in their own applications. Several early applications were built, including usend.io (a simple file transfer app like senduit or yousendit
YouSendIt
YouSendIt is a Web-based secure digital file delivery company, which lets users securely send, receive and track files on demand. It is an alternative to sending large e-mail attachments, using FTP, and sending CDs or DVDs or tape or USB flash drive via Sneakernet...
). Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
appears to have built the first fully operational third party application on the API.
In November 2008, drop.io announced having moved 100% into 'the cloud' having switched away from all owned and rented physical hardware/servers and claimed to be the largest 100% in the cloud application in the world.
Also in November 2008, drop.io released a major design overhaul which completely changed the front end of the product, but maintained the core service.
In December 2008, drop.io was one of the first services to release a Facebook Connect integration, which allowed users to publish updates of any sort made to any drop directly to their facebook feed
In January 2009, drop.io launched a professional product extension called drop.io manager which allowed users to create templates to pre-customize and brand drops, as well as get detailed reporting about how their drops are being used.
In March 2009, drop.io launched playlist.io one in a series of 'applets' which allow for feature customization of drop.io around various use cases
Between February 2009 and May 2009, drop.io started integrating real-time features into its file sharing backbone using XMPP. This initially included chat functionality and real-time streaming of files, but expanded in May to include a web-presentation mode.
On September 10, 2009, drop.io released Attach Large Files , a pre-installed application for all Yahoo! Mail users. The app allows users to attach an unlimited amount of files up to 100 Mb and was developed entirely on drop.io's API with their custom-built JavaScript library.
Products
Drop.io's free product offered 100 megabytes of storage. Users could upgrade to 25 gigabytes of storage for an annual fee. Drop.io additionally offered a business and education-oriented service called Manager, which aimed to replace FTP systems for file sharing.People
- Sam Lessin, CEO
- Christine Hunsicker, COO
- Steven Greenwood, VP of Business Development
- Jacob Robbins, Head of Development
See also
- List of acquisitions by Facebook
- YouSendItYouSendItYouSendIt is a Web-based secure digital file delivery company, which lets users securely send, receive and track files on demand. It is an alternative to sending large e-mail attachments, using FTP, and sending CDs or DVDs or tape or USB flash drive via Sneakernet...
- Dropbox
- Box.netBox.netBox is an online File Sharing and Cloud Content Management service for enterprise companies. The company has adopted a freemium business model, and provides 5GB of free storage for personal accounts. A mobile version of the service is available for Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and WebOS devices...
- HotfileHotfileHotfile is a one-click file hosting website that was founded by Hotfile Corp in 2006 in Panama City, Panama. Hotfile currently gets 23,000,000 monthly visits.- Usage :...
- ZumoDriveZumoDriveZumoDrive is a cloud-based file synchronization and storage service operated by Zecter, Inc. On December 22nd, 2010, Zecter announced its acquisition by Motorola Mobility. The service enables users to store and sync files online and between computers using their HybridCloud storage solution...
External links
- Drop.io Blog
- Smart Sites and Terrific Downloads, PC WorldPC World (magazine)PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
- With drop.io, real-time collaboration in the cloud, ZDNetZDNetZDNet is a business technology news website published by CBS Interactive, along with TechRepublic and SmartPlanet. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991 as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication owned by CNET...
- Drop.io Speeds Up Its File-Sharing And Adds Chat, TechCrunchTechCrunchTechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
- Present.io: Dead Simple Web-Based Presentations, MashableMashableMashable is an American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore. The website's primary focus is social media news, but also covers news and developments in mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets...
- Facebook Ignites Entrepreneurial Spirit at Harvard, WSJ
- Attach Large Files Yahoo! Mail Application
- In Silicon Valley, Buying Companies for Their Engineers, New York Times