One day after releasing Alpha 2b, Jolicloud announced yesterday raising $3.4M, and welcomed in its team Gilles Samoun and Niklas Zennström, Skype Co-Founder.

With this amount, Jolicloud will “launch its developer program, and expand its global network of partners”.

• What is Jolicloud ?

Jolicloud is a netbook operating system, developped by a French company leaded by Tariq Krim, also known as Netvibes‘ founder.

When we say netbook, you obviously think about an online activity focused system. Jolicloud centralizes your email accounts, your social networks,  in a pleasant and easy-to-use interface.

Add applications in one click, share your profile, and follow your friends’ activities in one eyeshot.

With Jolicloud, Web 2.0 lands on your computer.

More informations and guided tour on the  Jolicloud Official Website

We asked for an invitation to try this OS, we’ll tell you if we get it =)

I am trying the new Opera browser right now, and I’m amazed !

As a browser, I’ve been using it for long, and it’s really nice. Ergonomic, etc…
Talking about little bonuses, it has an email client, a basic IRC client, a little note system, etc. and it’s also possible to access to all your favorite links from anywhere with your Opera account, but what makes the real difference in this version, is the Opera Unite system.

What’s beyond ?

It’s a 6 applications set included in the browser, working on the same way :

You give a URL (a link) to someone, and he gets access to your application online !

The following applications are available at the moment :

File Sharing : This application allows you, as its name means, to share all kind of documents with your friends : specify a folder you would like to share, then your friends can browse the folder and download the files with a single mouse click.

Fridge : This application is a kind of virtual fridge on which all your friends can stick little post-its with a message. That’s fun, that’s easy, that’s cool ^^

Media player : Same system than the File Sharing, but this time for audio streaming : specify the folder where you keep your music, and you can browse your albums, listen or download your music from anywhere, through your web browser.

Photo sharing : Same system again : specify the folder you would like to share, and access to your photos anywhere.

The lounge : Host a chat in one second, share the link with your friends, and anyone can access the channel. Still nothing to set, only one mouse click.
Web Server : Specify a folder in your computer containing all your website files (html, css…), and that’s it, your website is online. No web host needed =)

All these applications use the cloud computing system : the data isn’t in any server, it’s computer to computer. It is thus necessary that your computer is on (and connected to the Internet, of course), to have access to all these applications from anywhere.

For each application, 3 sharing options are available :

- Public : Anyone following the URL linked to your application get access to your documents and services.

- Limited : Your applications are protected by a password you only share with people who you grant the access to.

- Private : Only use can access your documents. Useful if you want to access to your music from anywhere in the world without needing to share it.

It’s a real small revolution for me, as far as it really simplifies data sharing. I’m just loving it ^^.

All the applications are compatible with any browser : your friends don’t have to use the opera browser to access to your shared documents.

Available on PC, Mac and Linux, you can download it right here.