Yes, you know it – you want it. 23 inches of visual goodness,
Let’s start this story yesterday.
The GIT sits awkwardly. Lumbar back pain visible on his sun damaged face. Peering. Peering myopically at the small laptop screen. Retinal detachment imminent.
Move forward to the present.
The GIT feels comfortable. Leatherette office chair massages the scoliotic discomfort from his vertebral column. His eyes, relaxed, gazing peacefully at 23 inches of high definition beauty. He types, peacefully to his friend, His Holiness the Dalai Llama. “All is good in the world”.
So what the heck is this dufus talking about?
Yes, I have updated the setup here at GIT-HQ. The GIT-cave. The GIT-arena. My living room.
We have snaffled, from a local PC purveyor, a brand spankin’ new LG Flatron W2353V 23″ monitor. Replete with HDMI connection from the HP Windows 7 laptop. It’s now displaying in 1920 x 1080 High Def. It is truly a pleasure to use.
Anyway. Happiness has ensued.
I know, I know – the true tech heads out there will say that I “shoulda got” the “blah-nee-blah-nah” model. That may well be true, but for under 250 clamarino’s I’m in eyeballian heaven.
Today I had an epiphany. I really am as dumb as I look.
I jumped onto my laptop with a fresh Windows 7 installation and decided to play with some photos for a friend.
I hunted around for my image editing program and, lo and behold, I’d forgotten to install it. Being as time pressed as the rest of you lot I decided to hit up Google for a solution. That’s when I came across Pixlr.
This is an amazing use of web technology and is a preview of what is to come. Technologies like Chrome OS or Android (or most likely a merged version of the two) from Google will essentially run your whole computer from the web browser and store everything online. The “programs” will also be hosted remotely giving you the most up to date versions available. But dear lord I digress into areas not remotely linked to what I was first talking about.
Pixlr, is basically a cut down version of Adobe Photoshop/The Gimp but delivered to your computer online. That way no matter what computer you are using, as long as it has web access, you’ll have access to this slick image editor.
“Hey Bob! You know those photos of the basket weaving tournament that we went to?”
“Yeah!”
“Well, could you destroy the evidence and send me the bucks night pics instead?”
“But they’re huge!”
“Aww, that wasn’t the only huge…”
We’ve all been there. Well maybe not the “huge” bucks night (I promise honey). Friends, family, bosses all asking for you to send them big files through email. Twenty-seven emails later and the final pic is on its way. Then you get some error that causes you to cry and then hit your monitor with astonishing force.
There’s got to be an easier way.
And of course there is or my typing would end here.
As I’m an all round novice and simpleton I always try and find the path of least resistance. The super simple way that’s going to cause the fewest headaches. So I’ve got two solutions for you all. The first is a superquick disposable method and the second is one of the most amazing and elegant uses of web tech I’ve come across.
Drop.io, as the name suggests, is a site that allows you to create “drops” of up to 100Mb that can be accessed through the web. Upload files, photos or videos, using the simple website and send the link to your friend. They can then punch that into their web browser and download away.
The first step is to name your “drop”. It’ll tell you if the name you’ve chosen is okay and then just move on to select files. Once the pics from Aunt Mavis’ eightieth have been selected just hit “Create A Drop”. Give the drop a password and you’re all done. The password’s only used for administering the drop. You can then just email the link. An example could be http://drop.io/auntmavisrocks.
If you want to get a little more sophistimicated you can set access passwords (for those basket weaving *cough* shots) or even a self destruct date.
So overall, what’s drop.io good for:
Super quick and easy sending of files.
Making a non-permanent place for friends to share files online.
Sharing up to 100Mb for free (pay a monthly fee and you’re heading into gigabyte territory).
Email files into your drop.
Easy customization of the look and feel of your drop.
The second method is just brilliant and one that I use on a daily basis.
If you’re forever sharing photos and other files with friends and family, Dropbox is going to be a godsend. Seriously.
Just signup for their free 2Gb account and then install the free desktop software on your PC, Mac or Linux box. This will create a dropbox folder in your documents folder. This is when the magic begins.
Add any file into the Dropbox folder and it is then backed up in the “Cloud”. If your computer then spontaneously combusts your files are safe. You could access these files by using a web browser and logging onto the Dropbox website or by re-installing the software on your new computer. The files are automatically downloaded and re-synced to the new computer.
Where Dropbox gets really special is when you install Dropbox onto your work computer, iPhone (free in the App Store) and home computer. Now if you place a file into the Dropbox folder at work it is immediately available to be viewed on the iPhone (yes you can even stream compatible media like mp3 music) and when you get to your home PC. Lucky you, you can keep working on those files at home – with any alterations being made to the documents on your work PC.
You can treat this Dropbox as you would any folder on your PC. Create new folders within it for your family pics and other items.
Where Dropbox extends its value is that it rewards you for recommending friends. If they are recommended by you they then receive 250Mb of extra space free after they install the desktop software. The other bonus is that you also get another 250Mb for nix up to a maximum 3Gb-ish extra. Noice.
So here is the family-centric scenario.
Invite the parents and your brothers and sisters to join you on Dropbox. Get the free extra space and then share a folder using the right mouse click (sharing options). You could call it something super clever like, “familystuff”. Now any picture, document or embarrasing video that gets placed into the shared folder magically appears on everyones computer. Picks of Dazza’s 21st birthday just got super accessible. Everyone who has access to the shared folder can contribute. Sweet, no getting together and swapping CDs or USB drives.
Other clever odds and ends like revisioning and access to deleted items for 30 days makes this excellent for team collaborations.
If 2Gb isn’t enough there are various subscription packages for 10′s of Gigabytes of storage. Handy.
So there you have it. 2 super simple ways to get files to bosses, spouses and various other crazy cats. Enjoy.
With the release of Microsoft’s latest lovechild – Windows 7, people are asking the question: Should I spend my hard earned denari on this or should I stick with the old way of doing things?
Yes. And no is as vague as I can make it.
For me, my old Vista install was becoming unstable. Quite a few of my programs started displaying the “Not Responding” error message at unfortunate times. So it was going to be a full Vista reinstall or bite the bullet and purchase Windows7 and install that.
Luckily I had an email address from an educational institution that allowed me to purchase the Pro version of Windows7 for cheap-cheap. To be honest I’m stoked that I took the relatively cheap plunge.
So what are the yes’ for the Windows7 upgrade:
Visibly faster – this operating system is snappy – although I say this with some caution. Add a few “service packs” and things might grind to a Vista-like halt.
Great interface – while not too different to Vista, the task bar is a great improvement especially the hidden icon arrow in the bottom right corner. It hides the programs that are fussing about in the background like your uTorrent program and video conversion software for your iPods.
It installed all of the drivers I needed for my laptop – sweet! With a bit of luck you wont need to hunt through manufacturers websites for the drivers. Double sweetness!
Appears super stable, err, so far.
Visually, it is schmick. The rotating desktop themes are a lovely touch. And yes I know, eye candy isn’t the most important thing – but I like it.
And what are the nays:
If your XP or Vista install is doing everything you want it to do then forget the upgrade for now. Wait for that new PC purchase.
It can be expensive – running into the hundreds of dollars for something that, let’s be honest, wont change the way we use a computer.
So that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.
In a nutshell – if your computer’s running like something that can’t run, upgrade to Windows7. If, on the other hand it’s running well and doing everything you want it to do then play the waiting game – wait for that shiny new PC in a couple of years running Windows7 service pack 3 or 4 or 5.
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