The Clouds Are Rolling In!

Of course, the clouds I am referring to are those of the "cloud computing" nature. Everyone from Apple to Google has been clamoring to conquer the masses that are about to adopt cloud computing. Some will charge you and some will not while others, like DropBox, let you decide based on your needs. DropBox is an amazing app that runs on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android machines and/or just about any web browser. It allows you to keep all of your files organized, backed up and accessible from so many places you'll never be without that file you need again. And the coolest part is, IT'S FREE! Well, free up to 2 Gigs anyway. I think we're all gonna be able to throw away our thumb drives soon!  Don't take my word for it, watch their short demo video and you'll see the light.

As you'd expect, it keeps your files on a server that is accessible via a web browser connected to the internet. But what you might not expect is that it also works as a folder right on your desktop, laptop or smart phone and keeps all of those places perfectly synced at all times. You can run DropBox entirely from the finder as a regular folder and never interface with the website(after the initial setup of course) and as long as you have the DropBox app installed on the machine you are working on, you will have an exact copy of your DropBox folder everywhere you go. It's pretty darn handy!

It also gives you the ability to share folders within your DropBox folder with friends and family making it easy to share photos, music, video, etc, without having to worry about file size when emailing and all those other things that make sharing stuff by email so cumbersome. And fear not, they will not accidentally stumble upon your hidden collection of latex fetish videos or your development and marketing strategies for your new killer app, just the files or folders you give them permission to see.

And, if that's not enough, their iPhone and iPad apps, which are also free, give you file browsing ability that you just don't have natively with those units.  I've got a ton of pictures in my drop box that are huge files and I can scroll right through them just like in the photo app on the phone, without taking up any memory on my phone.  You can also view and organize pdf's, word docs and all sorts of other documents that are normally challenging to manage with the iPhone OS.

I've been using it for a couple of days now and the performance has been flawless so far. I can see the life changing potential already for sure.  So what are you waiting for my friends?  Go to DropBox.com and try it out for yourself.  I promise you'll thank me for it.  At least I know Gene will anyway.