Thursday, March 12, 2009

Become a Web Master: File Sharing Services for Larger Documents

Have you had problems with large email attachments? Do you constantly forget your USB drive at home?

Don't email that file, upload it to a file-sharing service so you can access it online from anywhere! Many of the services listed below allow you to create personal accounts and store a variety of files online. This way you can easily work on projects both at home and at school.





  • Create your own password-protected account; runs on your personal desktop, drop files into one "Dropbox" folder on your computer and they automatically sync online; easily share folders with others; Online history allows you to track and restore changes made to the folder.
  • 2GB-Free; 50 GB-$9.99/month or $99.00/year
My thoughts:
This is my personal file-sharing service of choice. The ability to drag and drop files to one Dropbox folder on the computer makes uploading files completely hassle-free. This service also has the most free space. Sharing with others is also incredibly easy.




  • Create your own "Drop" or address, send updates to twitter and Facebook, incorporates chat and easy audio streaming (call a number and it automatically converts your text to an audio file); pretty and customizable interface; create multiple drops; Firefox-add on for easel; teachers can create a Moodle-like account (http://drop.io/mrdavidson)
  • 100 MB file-size limit without purchasing upgrade
  • $19.99 a month for 20GB; $10 a month for additional 1GB per Drop
My thoughts:
This is a great service to consider. The community-aspects have a lot of interesting potential, especially since you can assign various privileges to users you share the Drop with. The main drawbacks: not enough free space (although the purchasing plan isn't that bad, plus you can always create multiple drops), and there is no way to upload files from your desktop, although the email and phone-in options for uploading files are cool.




  • Many interesting ways to upload files; multiple plugins to applications, upload directly from desktop; Easily send links to files to multiple emails; You can create an account or not
  • 100 MB file-size limit without purchasing upgrade
  • Tiered purchasing plan: $9.99 for 2GB
My thoughts: YouSendIt has a lot of great features. You can automatically send files from your desktop, through an Outlook plugin, Office, iPhoto and more. The main drawback is that there is not as much free space as Dropbox, but it has a similar purchasing plan to drop.io. Many of the interesting features are not available on the free account.




  • Completely free, no file size limits!
  • Download program, available on Mac and PC
  • Files are not available online; they only go from peer-to-peer
My thoughts: This downloadable application is perfect if you want to send huge files to single users. It may take you a while to familiarize yourself with the application interface, and you have to manually add "buddies" to send to. This application works best for direct file transfer of very large files (such as video editing projects, etc.)
Other Services
  • box.net - limited file size limit with free account
  • Mediafire - unlimited size limit, files must be smaller than 100MB
  • FolderShare - synchronizes folders on your desktop with the desktops of other users

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Word of Mouse: Yapta


Here’s how to stretch your travel dollars. I wanted to try this site out before I recommended it to you. It’s Yapta.com.
Book your flight with Yapta and they will monitor the fares and alert you if and when they drop. They also arrange for your refund with either an airline credit or voucher. I tried it for a nonstop flight that I needed to book early and within a week I received a $108.00 refund because the fare had dropped. Your refund is in the form of an airline voucher or travel credit. I advise taking the travel credit. The entire $108.00 credit can be applied to a future flight whereas travel vouchers typically don't retain any residual value. For example, if you have an $80 voucher and only use $50 of it, you will lose the remaining $30.

http://yapta.com

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Tips in a Minute: Noodle Tools Part 4 - Notecards

Noodle Tools is a web service that creates citations, and helps you create online notecards.

This is the fourth video in the series that explains how to create, edit, and print notecards.

Remember, Middle Schoolers, only include one idea per note card. Also, you don't need to fill out every field in a notecard. You only need to have a title, source and one of the following: a quote, paraphrase, or my idea.


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