2010 seems to have been the year mobile gadgets have really become ubiquitous. Smart phones, laptops and the like are no longer just for professional uses. It's hard to walk through a public facility anymore without seeing people of all ages on their smart phones and mobile computing devices. As workshifters you know that the majority of the weight in any of your carry on bags these days is at least 50% gadgets and devices. Well, mine is anyway. The biggest challenge all of these devices bring us on a daily basis is having the ability to access the information you need from any of them.

Today I'd like to talk about an app that I use all the time and has been a lifesaver on many occasions: Dropbox. Dropbox gives you the ability to access data across a multitude of devices and share that data with anyone you allow access to.

Last year at about this time I was speaking at one of the biggest events of my life. While traveling on the plane to the venue my laptop screen decided it was going to just stop working. No warning and no Apple store in sight when I landed. Luckily, I had placed my presentation in my Dropbox folder and had it stored safely up in the cloud. 15 minutes after landing I sent a message to the event promoter and asked if he might be able to lend me his computer to do my presentation. He was more than happy to help me out and within 20 minutes I had alleviated the stress of having to give my presentation without slides.

This is the magic of Dropbox. Heck, my wife is as far from a geeky gadget gal as anyone but loves the Dropbox app! We place photos of our 12 week old son in the secure Dropbox and she then has the ability to show them to anyone that asks via her Andriod based smart phone installed with the Dropbox app without taking up precious memory space.

Dropbox can serve a multitude of functions but really excels with the workshifting professional that wants to have important backups and files easily accessible from any device with internet access. Give it a try today. they have a free 1 Gig plan as well as some paid plans.

Let me know what you think of Dropbox!


Photo Credit: Akakumo