T11M

Dropbox has been around for quite a while. I tried it out initially back in 2008 and had no use for it. I used a laptop everyday and so always had my files with me. After my move to DC and taking a job in which I’m extremely mobile and supporting users across the world, Dropbox has become invaluable. Dropbox syncs the contents of your Dropbox folder with the Dropbox servers and then back down to any other computer you have linked with your Dropbox account – essentially cloud storage. The difference between Dropbox and a service like Google Docs (which just enabled any file type upload) is it stores the files both locally and on the server so there is no lag time when trying to use the files on that computer. I personally sync my home Mac and primary work PC with Dropbox allowing me to always have access to the files I need everyday.

Another great feature of Dropbox is the ability to quickly and easily share files with other people. To do so you simply move the file to the public subfolder in Dropbox and right click to get the public URL. Then just email the link to whoever needs the file. Super slick for delivering files that users need access to any where in the world.

Speaking of firewalls and security – according to Dropbox, “Your files are actually safer while stored in your Dropbox than on your computer in some cases. We use the same secure methods as banks and the military to send and store your data.”(How Secure is Dropbox) On that page they provide a detailed explanation of their security procedures which are pretty impressive.

Some added benefits to Dropbox are the cool workarounds that can be configured to allow syncing across multiple computers. For example, I use Notational Velocity on my Mac for quick and easy note taking. With Dropbox I can sync the text files that NV creates to anywhere I may need them, including other Macs running NV. A final example is the ability to sync iTunes libraries across multiple computers. All you have to do is move your iTunes library to your Dropbox folder (give it time to synchronize) and then point iTunes on any computer to the correct location of the library in your Dropbox folder. Library synchronization done easy. (obviously the limitation here is how much space your music occupies – for those of you with 100+ GB libraries Dropbox isn’t an option)

Now as for price:

Dropbox Basic – 2 GB of storage – Price = Free (Awesome deal)
Dropbox Pro 50 – 50 GB of storage – Price = $9.99/month
Dropbox Pro 100 – 100 GB of storage – Price = $19.99/month

An outstanding write up on considerations that should be made in regards to web development. All of these apply in some way or another to ALL web development, not just corporations. I nodded my head most of the way through this article.

Great post on easily limiting access to websites.

HTAccess Privacy for Specific IPs: “

Running a private site is all about preventing unwanted visitors. Here is a quick and easy way to allow access to multiple IP addresses while redirecting everyone else to a custom message page.

To do this, all you need is an HTAccess file and a list of IPs for which you would like to allow access.

Edit the following code according to the proceeding instructions and place into the root HTAccess file of your domain:

# ALLOW ONLY MULTIPLE IPs
<Limit GET POST PUT>
 Order Deny,Allow
 Deny from all
 Allow from 123.456.789
 Allow from 456.789.123
 Allow from 789.123.456
</Limit>
ErrorDocument 403 path/custom-message.html
<Files path/custom-message.html>
 Order Allow,Deny
 Allow from all
</Files>

To prepare this code for use on your site, do these three things:

1. Edit the three IP addresses to suit your needs. Feel free to add more IPs or remove any that aren’t needed.
2. Edit both instances of ‘path/custom-message.html’ to match the path and file name of the file that will contain your custom message. This may be anything, anywhere, with any functionality you desire.
3. That’s it. Copy/paste into your site’s root htaccess file, upload, test, and get out!

(Via Perishable Press.)

Generally Microsoft’s advertising department is about as useful as a flashlight is to a blind person, but here they have finally done something right.  This video definitely pokes fun of what we do on the Internet while simultaneously showing off the cool functionality of IE 8.  Will I switch?  Hell NO!  But I do give Microsoft a thumbs up for a good ad.

The Creative Commons License (CC) is starting to gain traction amongst many different artists, developers, and various other creative types.  You will notice that I recently joined the league of CC license holders (see the very bottom of every page on my blog).  Licensing your content takes literally minutes and embedding the CC image is as simple as adding code snippet to your page template.  The main thing to understand about the CC license is it is a method of waiving some of your rights as a copyright holder to allow others to use your work.  The CC license provides a very simple rubric by which you can gauge what level of copy protection you would like to maintain.  In most all cases your original work is protected by the standard copyright laws – only you have the right to use and distribute your work as you please.  Others do not have the right to use and distribute your work without your permission.  Thus, by using a CC license you can specify exactly what others can do with your work, making it easy for people to legally recognize that they can use your work and then do so.  The CC license has become very popular and is beginning to be used by many different people – from recording artists to software developers.  So far the CC license has held up in court, although the cases are very few and far between.  To use the CC license for your content simply visit the CC license page.

This is by far my favorite TED talk yet.  Mike Rowe makes some outstanding points in his talk and I feel that as a society we should take heed.  I highly recommend you watch, listen, contemplate, and take action. 

As I sit on this flight to Washington DC I am realizing just how much of my daily computer activities are linked to the Internet.  I generally listen to music through Last.fm, download software and add plugins to software I already use, read a long list of blogs and news sites, blog, do web development of two web sites, take 2 online courses, check in with our help ticket system at work, view Google Analytics, constantly monitor my email, chat through Adium, and that doesn’t include any of the web surfing I do to learn about new topics.  Sitting here I wonder how I ever managed to survive without an Internet connection when my family traveled around the country.  Sure we would hit an Internet cafe here and there, but I only checked my email once or twice a week – and that was just under 5 years ago!  Now I have a much nicer laptop with better programs, but without Internet access it feels like a useless brick.  Just thougt I’d notify everyone that I am stunningly bound to the Internet.  (Obviously I posted this after getting back to an Internet connections.  Whew… I feel much better now.)