Dropbox

I finally found a Web 2.0 technology that works well on the iPad (actually, I heard that Prezi has an iPad app so it probably works well, too). My new favorite tool is Dropbox. Sign up for an account, and you get a free 2GB of cloud storage. For Loyola people, this is similar in many ways to your G drive, but it seems to work more seamlessly, especially on non-Windows devices.

The idea is that you install the application, create an account and tie it to a folder (or folders) on your computer. The folder is then automatically synced to a server at Dropbox. You now have instant access to that folder from anywhere. If you have more than one computer, just install Dropbox on your other computers. If you have an iPad, install the Dropbox app. If you are on another computer, just go to Dropbox.com and download the files that you have stored. You can also set folders to be accessible by others (specific people or everyone) to share stuff or have stuff shared with you.

For the iPad, I find this particularly powerful. Without Dropbox, if I want to share a document with my iPad, I have to load it somewhere (such as iBooks) and then plug my iPad into my computer to sync. It's not terrible, but it's not quick and easy. With Dropbox, I just drop it in and within a few seconds I can see it in the Dropbox app on my iPad.

If you use this link to sign up, they'll kick my storage up from 2 GB to 2.25 GB. Try it and see if you like it. It will take less than 5 minutes to get it set up on your computer and your iPad.

David Marcovitz