------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 3, Issue 9 Today my daughter, Kaylie, turned 18 months old. There have been some challenging moments, but for the most part, she has been an absolute charmer. Watching her change and learn has been one of the best parts of my life of late. It's amazing to watch her become her own little person. One of her favorite new words of late has been "uh-oh". She uses it a lot. Sometimes she even uses it correctly -- like when she trips over her own feet -- other times, she just belts it out for no particular reason (or none that we've been able to determine). The best ones, though, are when she intentionally drops something, then looks up with those innocent baby-blues. "Uh-oh!" On my end, I've been working with a different kind of dropping lately. And while it isn't as cute as my darling daughter, it certainly is a sight more useful. I've been using a new tool called "DropBox". It's a cool way to share and backup files of any kind across any number of computers. Check out the details below. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: A DropBox in the Bit Bucket 2. Shameless Self-Promotion 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: A DropBox in the Bit Bucket ---------------------------------------------------------------- Ironically, despite the fact that I'm a sole proprietor, I always have to share my work with other people. Whether it's the client, a collaborator, or a subcontractor, we often need to share files of various descriptions through the course of our work. Sometimes this can be done simply, by just emailing the information back and forth. Sometimes we need something much more sophisticated, like a version control system, which can keep track of all the changes that each person makes to each individual file and to provide the means to merge any conflicting changes. Sometimes, though, you need something somewhere in the middle. That's where DropBox comes in. DropBox (http://www.getdropbox.com/) is a nice little tool that provides up to 2 gigabytes of space (for their free offering). That space is located "in the cloud". This means that you can have multiple computers all accessing the same data. Of course, DropBox gives you the ability to share files with anyone else on the network. Just type in their username and it's done. This is similar to the way that Google Docs does things. If either of you makes changes to files within the shared area, the system automatically notifies anyone else with access to the files. Free shared storage isn't really revolutionary, but what is exceptionally cool about DropBox is that it acts like a directory on your computer. This means that you can access the network files just like any other files on your computer. What's even better is that it works on just about any operating system. It has easy installation instructions for Windows, Mac, and even Linux. This is really nice for me because, while I have both a Linux and a Windows machine, several of my clients work exclusively with OSX-based Macintosh computers. The DropBox site has a number of articles on other uses you can make of the networked space. The one that I thought was pretty clever was to save your ongoing computer games there so that you can access them no matter where you are. The site also has a library of third-party add-ons which allow you to do even more with your space. Of course, there are a few limitations on the service. The 2G limit for the free account is a big one. Also, files which are shared count against the space quota for everyone sharing them. Despite the limitations, though, this is a pretty impressive service that just might meet your needs. Since it works seamlessly with your operating system, you don't have to figure out a clumsy Web-based interface. Just drag and drop or copy and paste. However you feel most comfortable, DropBox can help you out. Do you use any online disk space service? Which ones? Drop me a line at gpeters@cyberdatasolutionsllc.com with some of you experiences. Copyright 2009, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your webmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is safe with us.