There are times when I just can't help myself. A large number of the accounts that I follow on Twitter either have the word "tech" in their name, share the latest inroads in technology or exist only to make my life more fun … make that easier thanks to today's technology. Some have been nothing more than a flash in the pan but others have become the things I cannot live without.
One of my favorites is Dropbox, an online storage utility that allows you to make your files accessible from virtually anywhere there is an Internet connection. Dropbox has allowed me to enjoy my love of family history without having to email information to myself or keeping track of what flash drive I was using when I made that last trip to the court house.
Here's how it works. After installing the application and connecting to the server, Dropbox works like any other folder on your computer or mobile device allowing you drag and drop to move files around. Any files or folders that are uploaded to Dropbox, either by you or someone you are sharing the files with, are immediately synchronized in your account. As if that isn't enough of a wow factor, Dropbox keeps track of every change that is made to the contents of your storage, instantly updating to all the computers that are linked to the account. You can even undelete files that you may have accidentally erased.
But where Dropbox moves to the front of your list of "favorite go-to" is the way it allows you to share whatever you want with other people. Every individual folder can be shared with other people and every member of a shared folder will be able to add, edit and delete the contents but will not have access to anything outside of that specific folder.
There is also a public folder that allows you to share files with non-Dropbox users through the use of a hyperlink.
Oh …. did I mention that Dropbox is free for Windows and Mac? You can share 2GB of your files for free or upgrade to Dropbox Pro for 50GB of storage.
Refer a friend to Dropbox and you and your friend can get an additional 250 MB of storage.
As with any cloud-based service, Dropbox is a great source for storing non-confidential content. The following video demonstrates how easy it is to use Dropbox. Who knows? It may be your next "cannot live without."
My business uses a dropbox feature for all of our employees out on the road. It has been a great way to get them a file in a secure manner. Cloud technology has been huge for us and has definitely increased productivity. The cloud backup service has also been huge for us and helped when we had a computer crash!
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