For the geeky, sharing files with the world or other devices is all done via the FTP that you've got for your website or blog. It involves a stack of complicated codes, faffing around with FTP software and generally an interest in computers and the way the Internet works to get it to go.?For the rest of us, there is dropbox.

Available for the Mac and PC (the iPhone has an app, and access though a mobile page is also offered) the concept is that it is a centralised folder that you have on all your computers or devices that allows you to automatically see what is in that folder be it on your work or home computer.

Sign up for an account, install the software and you can then instantly share documents, photos -pretty much all files - as long as they are in the that Dropbox folder.?Within the folder itself can be further folders and better still you can give public or selected access to those folders if you want.

What it means for example is that if you save all your documents to that folder whenever you make a change and then save it, it is automatically updated on all your computers rather than just the one you are working on. In turn this means the hassle of transferring it to a USB drive or CD to then take home or in to the office doesn't exist.

Clever huh?

On the Mac the whole system is as if it isn't there. In fact the only way you'll know you've got it installed is the appearance of a Dropbox icon on the menu bar at the top of the screen and a folder that you can drop stuff into on your desktop.

Clicking on the icon in the menu bar gives you direct access to your Dropbox folder, tells you how much storage you've got left (in percentage form) and what the recently changed files are. Unfortunately it doesn't change colour to show you that a file has been changed - something that would have been nice if you were working with others on a number of files - but it's no deal breaker.

While the system is likely to help you if work from home or need to share photos with the family across different computers, where we can really see the success is in the ability to share folders with others.

A quick invite to a folder and companies could easy share work projects without having to email large files around. In our tests we were able to share large (100MB +) documents within the team easily and quickly (based on internet connection).

If you aren't fussed about private access to certain people you've invited there is a "Public" folder that allows you to dump files in and then dish out a URL to anyone. (As an aside, PR reading this review, this is a perfect way to share pictures and press releases with journalists.)

As we mentioned there is an iPhone app as well that allows you to access all the files on the system. We had no trouble viewing word documents or images and you can upload from the iPhone as well, handy if you need to share a picture without docking or emailing the photo.

Of course you might not be at your iPhone or your computer with the software installed. Don't panic, Dropbox appears to have thought of that too.?Connected to the whole system is a simple website that once logged in allows you to view files you've got stored, view recent activity, and organise your sharing options.

It's basic, but it does mean that if you are at a random computer, be it in an internet caf? or someone's office you can still access the files.

It's free, so how can the company survive??

Well it comes down to the amount of storage you want. The basic or standard package, which is free, gives you 2GB of storage.?That storage is upgradable either via paying cash or signing up friends (although that will only give you a maximum further 1GB).

The quickest way to get more storage space is to pay. Part with $8.99 a month and you can upgrade that storage quota to 50GB, opt for $19.99 a month and it jumps to the Pro 100 account that gives you, you guessed it 100GB of online storage to store your stuff, more than enough for most people.

Verdict:

Dropbox is a very clever, but incredibly simple, sharing solution that we can see saving a lot of time for those that use multiple computers or just have the need to access certain files from anywhere without having to carry a USB thumb drive around.

Yes you've worked out how to set up a network storage drive on your home Wi-Fi network a system like this isn't that useful (around the home) but your Time Capsule or NAS drive isn't going to let your work computer play or your iPhone for that matter.

The free 2GB threshold is likely to be more than enough for basic file transfer and we would have no issue recommending this to you and everyone you know.

Storage and sharing files might be boring, but this makes it incredibly easy.

?

Tags: Software Online Storage Dropbox Mac software PC software iPhone apps Mobile phone apps

Dropbox originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:37:27 +0000

While other sites are writing reviews of Google Wave, we think it's a little unfair to judge Google's new communications tool so early, especially as it's only just stepped blinking out into the light of the web and already the hype bubble is bursting.

Much of the pre-release coverage consisted of breathy reports about how Wave was going to revolutionise communications. According to blog posts from the people who snuck into the developer preview of the service, we would all be dumping email and IM wholesale within minutes of getting an invite to this shiny multicoloured Googlegasmic utopia.

The reality was less impressive. When most people activated their Google Wave invitations they opened their browsers to a barren wasteland, because they didn't know anyone else on the service. They waved with themselves for a minute or two, before closing their browser bitterly disappointed. Some discovered "Public waves" - which are waves available to anyone, but were then overwhelmed with too many messages, too quickly.

At that point, the hype bubble burst and scathing articles and tweets proliferated about how Wave was pointless. But over the last few weeks, more users have trickled onto the service and most people will now know one or two others who are using it.

At the time of writing, Google Wave consists of four panes. There's an inbox, a pane to view selected waves in, a contacts bar (which lists any of your Google Contacts that are in the test program, as well as anyone you've invited) and a navigation bar. All can be collapsed into a space at the top of the screen where they become a drop-down menu instead.

You can save searches for particular subjects, as well as file things into folders (GMail's tagging functionality is still present too, but at the bottom of individual waves). There's a settings menu, too, though that's currently empty. There's currently a few extensions available - weather, maps and a poll gadget.?

So what's the reality? The answer, happily, is both. Google Wave in its current state is an impotent, stunted, stub of a web service, which is functional at best, and buggy at worst. But it's also the future. Consider the state of Twitter in 2007 - it was just a website with little messages that people pushed out via SMS. No one was terribly impressed.

But then it opened up its platform. It put out an API. It let other applications interface with it. The simplest examples were desktop and mobile apps that meant that you didn't have to visit the Twitter website to find out what was going on. Instead, you could have little notifications that popped-up as necessary when things happened.

Gradually, as a result of these "extensions" to Twitter, its popularity started to rocket. The same thing will likely happen to Wave. While it might, for now, be a strange communications tool that sits awkwardly between email and instant messaging, it has the potential - as a platform - to really improve communications on the web, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it can be used both actively and passively. You can ignore a Wave from your boss about why your project's late, like you would an email, while still gossiping with your friend about last night's Strictly Come Dancing, like you would in IM. But it takes the best bits of both, and chops out the worst bits.

It's better than IM because all history is saved, searchable and taggable. You can also add new people into the conversation very easily without them missing anything that's already been said. It's better than email because response can be instant - so instant you can see people typing (though that's more of a gimmick than a useful feature), and all messages about a subject are grouped into one thread, rather than filling up your inbox as multiple people reply.

Tools could roll out that - for example - automatically add in Spotify links to songs when you're talking about them, or allow some users more control over a Wave than others have, or even that let you integrate voice and video chat into waves, and use speech-to-text engines to automatically transcribe conversations for future annotation.

Verdict:

The possibilities are endless and so, therefore, are the possibilities of Google Wave. What it needs most now is to be made stable and opened up. Once developers can access the API and anyone can freely sign up, and when there's desktop notifiers for Wave, people will begin to see its true potential.

Tags: Software Online Google Google Wave Websites

Google Wave - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0100