The Pogoplug is a fantastic little gizmo that turns any USB hard drive into your own little cloud server accessible over the Internet. We gave it a very enthusiastic review.
Now the company behind the device has issued version 2 — updating both hardware and software — and it’s all about multimedia.
Sporting a new design, the new Pogoplug hardware supports up to four external drives and includes a software update (free to current users) that turns attached drives into a “personal storage cloud” for sharing photos, videos and slideshows.
“Multimedia is a pain in the neck,” said Cloud Engines CEO Daniel Putterman at a launch party on Thursday night. “The Pogoplug multimedia sharing device makes it easy.”
It’s possible, for example, to use the free Pogoplug iPhone app (iTunes link) to play movies stored on a Pogoplug at home, streamed over AT&T’s 3G network. A couple of Pogoplug employees showed me movies playing on their iPhones that were stored at home. It was fast and painless — and pretty impressive.
Getting multimedia onto a Pogoplug is pretty easy. The device can be synchronized to automatically import files added to any folder, or videos or photos added to iTunes and iPhoto (and Windows Media Player on a PC). Set it and forget it — the files are available anywhere with a Net connection.
The new Pogoplug will ship before the holidays for $129.
