Killer App of the Year: Dropbox
Wow. I can’t say more about Dropbox than the fact that it’s changed my life, in a tremendous way, probably equal to, if not more significant than when I received my gmail invite. I don’t remember when an app made such an impression on me.
Dropbox is a cloud-based storage app, that allows you to sync and share your files. Remember the now defunct Yahoo Briefcase? Imagine that, but easier to use, and on steroids, and it.just.works.
Once you sign up for dropbox (online) and install the application, the app installs a folder on your computer (you can put it wherever you want). Anything you put in that folder (up to 2.0GB free) will automatically sync with the “cloud” and your data is stored in both locations. Add dropbox to another computer and it’ll automatically sync there there as well. Take it out of the folder, it’ll take it 0ff the server. Make a change and it’ll make the change, and you can revert back to the older copy if you need to, as it only changes the data that you changed. (i.e. you have a backup of the file/document).
You can also share the folder with anyone you want. Want to send grandma a bunch of digital pictures and she’s not too computer saavy? Set dropbox on her computer, share your dropbox, and boom, the pictures are on her computer in her dropbox file and all she has to do is click on them to see them.
Maybe you’re too cheap/poor/recession-adverse (like me) to spend $99/yr for MobileMe, but want to sync your data? Put your address book files, and your iCal files in dropbox, and point a shortcut back to the original folders and it will be in sync with whatever computer you have connected to dropbox.
Oh, and dropbox is available for mac, windows, and linux, so you can transfer files between those computers as well. And because the files are stored both in the cloud and locally, you always have the data even without being connected to the internet. they even have dropbox portable, so you can install that on a USB drive, if you want to do that too. They use great servers and great encryption, so your data is secure, to boot. And if you’re willing to pay and/or need to back up a lot of data, you could pay $99/yr for 50GB of space, or $199/yr for 100GB vs. $99/yr for MobileMe’s 20GB.
With my 2GB of space I’m using it to sync/back up:
Address book, iCal, my school work, my downloads, and all my important archived documents. This is the easiest free way to keep data redundant and safe, not to mention having my data in sync over multiple computers.
Did I pique your curiosity? Shameless plug here: Sign up by clicking here and we’ll both get an extra 250mb of storage, so you’ll start off with 2.25 GB instead of 2.0GB, and I get an extra 250mb too!
something I saw today
Something I don’t see every day: A Lancia Fulvia parked on the street (Fillmore and Geary to be exact).
Something I don’t do everyday: get in between two people fighting.
It was surreal. Across the street from the Fulvia, two women, a middle aged black woman and a younger Korean woman were yelling at each other. The black woman threw something (food?) at the Korean woman, and korean woman charged her. black woman and black woman #2 lock in and try to fight the Korean woman. I drop my bag o’ food from Nijiya market, and get in between the two and break up the fight.
As I reflected on what happened, it got me thinking. I was kinda surprised that I ran into this situation suit and tie and all. I mean, it was “none of my business”. I usually wind up being a bystander. Why did I respond? Was it because of my beliefs? Was it because I wanted to be a hero? Was it because it would be something I would expect myself to do? Maybe it was a little bit of all three.
All I know is that it was indicative that something had changed in me. And I think it was for the better.
my thoughts on random topics
It’s not an easy thing to decide what to blog on. I’m going to (attempt to) post regularly about my thoughts on various topics that I have expertise (or at least an opinion on). Some topics that I’m thinking about right now:
Mazda Miata: chick car, or racecar? (racecar is my favorite palindrome)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 (and the HTC Touch Pro that it’s on)
Apple computers in general, but in specific my experiences with OS X and Apple’s Notebook computer lines
I can keep go on and on about various topics to post on, but I’ll stop for now and dear reader, please wait with bated breath
Random topic: It’s bated breath, not baited breath, as J.K. Rowling and I thought. Yes, the Straight Dope is authoritative, at least more than wikipedia, or obviously, J.K. Rowling in my eyes.
blogging since 2002
Wow.
I checked the wayback machine and it reminded me that I’ve been blogging since 2002. My other domain went down in 2008, and I’ve hadn’t the time or bandwidth to get it rehosted and reconfigured, so I’m starting afresh. It’s also been a while since I’ve blogged; but as I’ve entered a new season where I’m reading more personal blogs, blogging is an itch that needs to be scratched.
I’ll probably wind up rambling about everything and anything that I find blogworthy: everything from religion, philosophy, automobiles, pop culture, etymology, hip-hop/rap, technology and life in general. Given the way I’ve blogged in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t blog daily, or weekly, and at times monthly, but I’ll do my best to update as regularly as I can.
So here’s my first post, composed at using the free wifi at the Crissy Field Center. When I look up and to the right, I see the Golden Gate Bridge in its full glory. Here’s a pic to commemorate that.
The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Crissy Field Center
