LATEST NEWS
2012 is here and privacy is finally becoming a hot topic!
Despite the best efforts of much of the US tech media and in particular some very high-profile blogs and bloggers, online privacy is becoming a major talking-point. Many internet users are reeling at the gradual exposure of just how little most developers respect their privacy and intellectual property rights and are waking up to the reality that they have been deliberately lulled into a false sense of security by a willing army of people who 'write words' online.
The writing has been on the wall for some time. Internet users DO NOT want to trade their privacy and intellectual property and copy rights for access to their OWN content. And neither should they. Web 2.0 has been an unfortunate story of developers like Mark Zuckerberg who have hijacked free technology for their own ends whilst arrogantly declaring privacy to be 'dead'. Web 2.0 should have been all about the empowerment of the user but instead became a virtual wild-west as operators ran roughshod over users rights using the technology that should have been empowering users to imprison them in walled-gardens in which they hold all the rights and user have no recourse.
Now we watch these thieves line up to cash-out of the mess they have created by selling their users 'value' which really means how much selling them to advertisers is worth. Cynically, they don't even want to be bothered to wait until they have actually generated the revenues, they want to bail-out via an IPO and sell the 'potential' via the public share market.
We think that this is all very wrong and makes no sense at all except to those involved. We know that the users, personal privacy and society-at-large will be the net-losers whichever way this plays out unless there are alternatives that break the mindset of Web 2.0 and the website-as-service mentality that has pervaded the development community at large. The alternative is here and it is Iconic.
In a nutshell, Iconic OS advocates that internet users connect employ a personal web server to use as a conduit or portal to the greater internet. They connect to their personal server using a standard web-browser and their server which can run a suit of personal server software that delivers the functionality they are used to, but with a new generation of privacy, security and intellectual property rights unavailable to them at present.
Iconic OS is a concept that outlines the framework for a new development architecture that anyone can use to develop applications. The only restrictions in place are conceptual guidelines that encourage responsible development with zero restrictions upon technologies. In fact if you can program applications in the basic languages of the internet such as HTML, PHP, JavaScript and CSS, you are already developing for the Iconic OS platform (you just didn't know it until now ;-]).
Iconic OS is set to change the very idea of personal computing and the way
people experience the Internet and this year we are launching a suit of Iconic OS compatible applications that will allow users to take charge of their online identity and share and communicate with others in absolute privacy whilst retaining 100% of their copyrights and IP rights. Most are still in development but we have public beta launched scheduled for several products in March and April so stay posted for updates...
CURRENT PROJECTS
(click on the icons for more information)
InstaSite 1.0
InstaSite helps people who like to share without having to share their copyrights or intellectual property rights, by allowing them to create feature-right single-page web-sites around the photos or videos they capture, upload or discover online, in as little as 3 clicks that are self-hosted and 100% private. With InstSite you can share your photos and videos across social networks such as Facebook and Twitter but without ever sharing your copyrights as you are only ever sharing a web-link.
When your friends checkout your site they can chat with other visitors via text or live-video chat, leave comments, rate your media, follow you and even share the link with their friends. You get notified in real-time and can join them on the site to enjoy the engagement that comes with sharing.
Unlike other sharing services, as you are hosting and sharing your own content, there are NO RESTRICTIONS whatsoever on what you upload and share.
DataSafe 1.0
DataSafe is like your own personal data assistant in the cloud as it allows you to store your important and private personal data in a secured repository that can be access from any web-enabled device. DataSafe makes it easy to save your passwords, credit cards, back accounts, and even contacts from your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile without needing to download, install or configure anything. You can even use another persons' device to access your data without leaving a trace.
DataSafe is 100% secure as it all your data is stored and transmitted using 128 bit encryption and YOU have the ONLY key.
PrivatelJournal 1.0
PrivateJournal is the one journal/diary that is guaranteed to remain 100% private and NEVER appear in Google or any other search engine. Accessible from any web browser - yet absolutely private and secured as a private website - are the qualities that make this journal superior to any physical alternative. Your words, pictures and memories are stored and transmitted using 128 bit encryption and YOU have the ONLY password so you never have to worry that they will be seen by prying-eyes.
With additional tools that allow you to format selected memories for sharing or publishing, zip and download your journal or even delete it entirely in an instant.
Lifecache 1.0
Lifecache is for the average internet user who wants full control and absolute ownership of the important media and documents they store online, by making it easy to self-host content on a secured(military-grade) personal web server and managed via a simple-to-use browser-based interface. With LifeCache you can store, manage and retrieve any type of file or data from any web-enabled device plus so much more as LifeCache is designed to work seamlessly with a suite of other personal server applications and act as a central repository for Iconic.
In future, LifeCache will be interoperable with third-party applications that allow medical providers, educational institutions and employers to seamlessly interact with your LifeCache whilst allowing you to retain full ownership and control of your data.
Iconic 1.0
Iconic is the next generation of browser-based interface for web servers, for people who care about privacy. We make it possible for every single user of the internet to have their own personal web server from which they can communicate freely and privately, manage their digital identity and on-line content, and (in the near future) enjoy a virus-free internet experience, all from a place that ONLY THEY can access and control.
Communica.do 2.0
Communicado helps people communicate with each other in absolute privacy using a new generation of instant messenger that is self-hosted and therefore requires no central website or hub, which means no tracking, profiling or spying of users.
If you are interested in gaining early/Alpha/Beta access to any of our projects please email us at info@getinstasite.com
What is Iconic OS?
When personal computers were first introduced, they used a complicated command line interface or CLI (think monochrome screens and DOS). This made them unappealing to the general public so not surprisingly in 1975 only 50,000 PC’s were sold. Luckily by the early 1980’s the graphical user interface, or GUI, had replaced the command line interface, instantly making PCs accessible. Now it is estimated that over 300 million PCs are in use in the US alone.
With the introduction of the Apache web server in 1995, developers suddenly had access
to servers that were cheap, powerful and secure. This resulted in millions of websites appearing on the internet and million more users racing online to access them. Personal use of internet literally exploded, with an estimated 2 billion+ people worldwide online today.
The fact is that web servers power the internet, delivering all the web-services we have come to rely upon: from messaging and social networking to gaming, photos, music and videos, there is just so much on offer. But there is a flip side. Not only do we have to install the same apps over and over to different devices, but we are forced to choose between letting someone else manage our digital identity, or juggle a myriad of log-ins, usernames and passwords in order access these services and even our own content. And then there is the spying, monitoring and profiling…
So if web servers are so cheap and powerful and run all these cool services, why don’t we just have our OWN servers and manage our own digital identities, connections to
other websites and online services; all from a single private portal? Surely with a personal web server, we could host our own content, then share and communicate with whomever we want, whenever we want without the limitations imposed by social networks. We could even eliminate all the spying and profiling that goes on every time we go online…
Well, believe it or not the answer is this. Right now, web servers still use a CLI! Unbelievable as it may seem, there is simply NO user-friendly interface for personal web servers. So just like the early PC, they are off-limits to everyone but techies and developers. Until now that is...
Introducing Iconic OS. The world's first, user-friendly, browser-based iconic
interface for personal web servers.
Convinced that Iconic OS will do for personal web servers what the GUI did
for the PC, users are already calling it “The GUI for personal web servers”. With Iconic OS, ANYONE can use a personal web server to manage their digital identity, on-line content and enjoy a virus-free internet experience from a private portal that ONLY THEY access and control.
Instead of installing apps and content over and over to different devices, with Iconic OS you just upload once then access them from ANY web-enabled device. No need for multiple
log-ins, user names and passwords. Iconic OS can manage them all, seamlessly across all devices.
And it is not only the developers who will love the freedom of a truly open platform and ecosystem that imposes absolutely no restrictions or fees. As Iconic OS is powered by the most popular web technologies, literally ANYONE with even the most basic programming skills can create apps for the platform straight away with just a few clicks then share them with their friends or sell them on the open marketplace.
With Iconic OS your imagination is TRULY your only limitation.
Iconic OS is set to change the very idea of personal computing and the way
people experience the Internet...
