After a year of using each of these applications, I feel that it is imperative to share with you these little secrets that make using your Mac (let alone any computer), so much more enjoyable and convenient. These are not bundled with the OS and they are not Apple branded apps either. These are 3rd party apps that have found themselves serving a very important niche. I would not be surprised to learn that Apple simply buys these companies and then incorporates their technologies into the next version of their OS but until they do, I cannot speak more highly of these 2 very useful applications.
Beginning with Dropbox, there has become a need to share files. Ironically, I've found that I don't want to share files with others as much as I need to share files with myself! It is strange but true. Between my iPhone, my work computer, my laptop, and my home desktop- I find that my files- that is, my data, needs to be accessible from each device. I am not talking about movies or music or pictures, although that could be the case. I am talking about websites for clients, receipts, office documents that need to be referenced and PDFs that I like to have on hand at all times. Music, photos and videos pose a particular problem that I'll get into later. But for now, let me explain to you the wonderful features of Dropbox.
Dropbox is not just an application but a service. By that I mean, you must setup an account with Dropbox and then download their software. They even offer a free account with up to 2 gigs capacity. I survived on this for quite some time. Finally it dawned on my that the mere $55 that they were asking (per year) was so very reasonable, that I upgraded my account to 50 GB. Now, on all of my devices- my iPhone, my laptop, my office computer and my home desktop- I have a folder in my home directory called Dropbox. Anything I put in that folder immediately (almost) shows up on my other devices- even my iPhone! It is simply the easiest and most convenient way to share files with myself. It has proven to be so easy and useful that I have often set this service up for businesses as a substitute for a server! So long as you don't need to make things complicated, Dropbox is ideal! I have a feeling that Apple (Steve Jobs) has noticed this and is now going to make up for lost time with their MobileMe service. This service could have offered the same features but the implementation was less than ideal. And to this day, very few people who have MobileMe use it in the same way (and scope) as they do Dropbox; including me.
So point your browser to Dropbox and try it out. Of course this is only useful if you have more than one computer. But this is cross platform too! If you work on a PC at the office and have a Mac at home, install Dropbox on both computers and start sharing files seamlessly and effortlessly. Email was intended to be text only! Stop using email as a file transfer method. It was never designed for that and will continue to be inefficient. As much as it is convenient (merely because you know how to email yourself!), it is far from ideal.
You can also send other's links (via email), to files that you have specifically chosen to share out. That means, you can share out extremely large files and not have to rely on the capacity of the end users mailbox.
The only thing I want to stress as a word of caution is that you should fully understand how this works. If you add something to the Dropbox folder, it will appear on all machines with Dropbox installed. If you DELETE something from the Dropbox folder, it will delete it from ALL machines that have it installed! For some reason, this concept escapes careless users as they "think" that they don't need the file on their laptop but only their desktop. So they delete their file from their laptop thinking that the file will still be on their desktop. You see error here, right? You delete it from one place, you delete it from all places. This is NOT a backup or redundancy service. However, using Dropbox in conjunction with Time Machine is pretty amazing.
This is another program that has been designed to be used in conjunction with Dropbox. So long as you place the file in Dropbox, 1Password's functionality will work on ALL of your devices. So, what is 1Password??
Imagine doing what you are supposed to do and you actually have a different "secure" password for every single website account that you may have. And of course, you want a secure password so each password looks something like this; "xB%4k3*&70dAA". But each password is different. Yeah- that is a great idea but incredibly impractical. Enter 1Password. Now, all you have to do is remember ONE password and then you unlock ALL of your passwords. That is, once you enter the ONE password that you are very well accustomed to, 1Password can automatically generate a "secure" password for you and then automatically enter it for you when you visit that site. So now, you can have your unique secure password AND you have only to remember the one password that you know. 1Password can also record bank account information, credit card information, multiple identities (like for work and personal), etc. It is fantastic and do not like to use any computer without it.
Again, coupled with Dropbox, this functionality is available to you at every device, including the iPhone!