@slim

@slim

I’m @slim and this is where I Tumblr. I work for comiXology and like to take pictures. I take part in several podcasts as well.

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Why I Love Dropbox Reason #41581.

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I like to think I’m hot shit.

So much so that I’ve ditched my MacBook when recording both Techsmoke and Paperkeg. I play the intro, outro, and various other sound effects from the iPod app on my iPhone plugged into the mixer. That then goes into the iPad.

However, this hit a snag recently when there was a smudge on my iPhone’s 4 camera sensor(iPhone 4’s?). The Apple Store couldn’t just swap out the back plate, as the smudge wasn’t showing when moving the switch to show video. They ended up needing to give me a whole new iPhone. I’m not complaining, mind you. It was free. I was complaining about the nearly 3 hour wait at the Zagg kiosk to put on a new shield. (side-note, I went today and now the shields have a very small Zagg logo on the front. Totally lame.)

So, this past Sunday I took my gear to New Jersey to record the latest Paperkeg not realizing that an iPhone 4 backup does not restore the music to the phone. Perhaps because I manually manage the files? This huccup means that I was ready to record the show but I didn’t have any music to lead us in or out.

Enter the Dropbox iOS app and my nerdy home set-up. I store all of my media in a Pro Dropbox account. Meaning, two of the three files were already stored in Dropbox. It was only a matter of starring/favoriting the files to store them locally as to not worry about streaming delay. The only remaining issue were two other sound effects that were on my home MacBook, but not Dropbox as of yet. Thanks to Screens, I was able to drag and drop those badboys right quick. (you should buy Screens)

Now if only I could share files from their iOS app. That would really be swell.

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Apple Dishes Dirt On Mac OS X 10.7.

With AirDrop in Mac OS X Lion, you can send files to anyone around you — wirelessly. AirDrop doesn’t require setup or special settings. Just click the AirDrop icon in the Finder sidebar, and your Mac automatically discovers other people nearby who are using AirDrop. You’ll even see contact photos for those who are already in your Address Book. To share a file, simply drag it to someone’s name. Once accepted, the file transfers directly to the person’s Downloads folder. When you’re done with AirDrop, close the Finder and your Mac is no longer visible to others.

I wonder if AirDrop would/could be expanded into MobileMe in the near future as a replacement for iDisk? I’d love to use MobileMe for something other than email and syncing bookmarks across my iOS gadgets.

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Use Dropbox to install non-market apps on Android.

Grab the app you want from a full-fledged browser on your desktop, then drop it in Dropbox on your system. I created an Android Apps folder for the purpose, but it’s not necessary. Then open up the Dropbox app on your Android phone, navigate to that .apk file you downloaded, and click it there. Your phone will open up its installer, and you’ll be all set to go. You’ll also need to have non-Market sources enabled in your Applications settings.

Dropbox is so easy to use. SO EASY. (sign up and stuff)

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Save us Dropbox, You’re Our Only Hope.

So you hear about this iPad thingie? Pretty slick, I’d say.

But would you really be able to use a netbook-esque tablet computer with only 16GB of storage space? One could argue that because of iPhone OS’s simple file structure or seemingly locked down nature that it would be rather simple to maintain space. I however, would argue that you’re just being silly.

(This is where I say that goofy overused first line of a paragraph where I get into the main thought of this article)

Enter Dropbox. As you should already know, Dropbox is this delicious application that lets you sync files across multiple computers and even the cloud. On you PC or Mac, it looks like a simple folder on our desktop or anywhere else. You drop a photo into that folder, and it will instantly sync to your desktop upstairs or any other computer with Dropbox installed. Killer, right? This is all free if you plan on using only 2GB of space.

It gets even better. They have an iPhone app version of their software. It gives you access to everything you store whether it be video, audio and pdf files. You can even peruse your photo collection. Android and Blackberry apps are in the works.

About a month ago I decided to upgrade to one of their Pro options. 50GB for $10/month. I moved my entire music collection into Dropbox, and have slowly started moving my photos into it as well. It works just swell on my Windows 7 box, because when I added my collection from my Mac into the folder, my Zune software on Windows 7 automatically installed it into its library. Easy wireless syncing to my Zune HD, neerrrrrddddd!

But enough about outdated laptop and desktop computers, they’re essentially like cassette players now.

Right out of the box, iPad will be able to utilize Dropbox using its existing app. All of my music and movies will be able to stream right to iPad. Booyah! My own personal media player without storing ANY of the files on the actual iPad itself. I can stream Casino while downing a bag of cheesy poofs on the couch until I keep over. Sure, I could do that with the iPhone, but you get the idea. It’s a bigger screen, son!

So thanks to Dropbox, we don’t need to worry about 16GB on iPad. If they *really* wanted to blow everyones socks off, though, they’d would add some general media player capabilities to the app itself. Playing a movie is great because it’s just one standalone file. Music is handcuffed because of the same reasons. If I want to listen to multiple songs(files), I need to fire them up after they finish. Lame.

Dropbox, if you add even the most barebones of media player options, you will belt brains.

Brains!