GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Our favorite online-storage service Dropbox got a major update today, finally bringing it out of beta and into version 1.0.

Most notably, the update introduces a big performance boost and a feature we’ve desired for a long time: selective syncing.

Now instead of syncing your entire Dropbox folder to every computer you use, you can choose to sync only specific folders to certain computers to save space (for instance, if you have a netbook that you don’t watch movies on.) This could save you a lot of time and space.

Dropbox has posted a full explainer on service enhancements and features.

Image courtesy of Dropbox

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

jQuery(‘#inf_widget’).load(‘http://www.wired.com/ajax/widgets/related/content/blogPost/gadgetlab_55522′);

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Syncing data between a smartphone and a cable is a lousy chore (I’m looking at you, iTunes), but fortunately you can juggle a lot of your files in the “cloud” (i.e. wirelessly over an internet connection) with Dropbox-powered apps. As of today, these apps are showcased in a directory, which should really come in handy for smartphone users.

It can be a little tricky to explain, so take how I use Dropbox as an example: I read digital documents often. While browsing the web on my Mac, I’ll see a PDF I want to read later. I drag and drop the PDF into my Dropbox, and then on my iPad or iPhone I launch the Dropbox app. When I select the PDF, Dropbox gives me the option of loading the document with other third-party apps that are designed for PDF-reading such as iBooks or GoodReader. Choose an app and the file loads there instead, leaving the Dropbox app.

So basically, there are a bunch of third-party apps designed to handle different types of media that are using the Dropbox API to spare you the trouble of wired syncing or e-mailing yourself files. And Dropbox just today launched a showcase displaying which apps will cater to your wireless lifestyle.

Dropbox is available on several mobile platforms: BlackBerry, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image from DataViz.com.

With its flagship mobile office suite Documents To Go, software company DataViz makes some of the most popular productivity applications for Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mobile, and Android. Now that RIM has bought the better chunk of DataViz to work for Blackberry, its days as a cross-platform mobile superstar might be numbered.

The deal had been reported as done on Friday by Crackberry.com, reportedly for $50m in cash, shortly after DataViz had announced that they were cancelling development for Palm. RIM confirmed the acquisition yesterday in a statement: “RIM has acquired some of the assets of DataViz and hired the majority of its employees to focus on supporting the BlackBerry platform.” Translation: it’s all ours, now.

Even if RIM just lets its client apps for other platforms drift along for a while, they’re still a good business: as CNET’s Jessica Dolcourt points out, “fifteen dollars a pop for iPhone business professionals buying Documents To Go for iPhone isn’t a business to quickly pull from.”

Still, having Documents To Go in-house offers RIM terrific leverage. They can use its InTact cloud-syncing software for all media files on the Blackberry; offer the premium version for free to enterprise customers; and package a new suite of productivity and enterprise apps for its forthcoming BlackPad tablet. By buying Documents To Go and its software team from DataViz, RIM just solidified its position as the “serious” and “productive” smartphone company.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Dropbox, the file-syncin’, cloud-storin’ service for the cognoscenti and the extremely good-looking, has released a beta for the Blackberry. Currently limited to 1,000 users (and already fully subscribed), the beta essentially brings gigabytes of remote storage to your crackberry.

Dropbox is a service which syncs any files in the Dropbox folder on your computer with 2GB free space in the cloud (you can pay for more). This is at once a backup (with versioned saves of files, so you can rescue a file you wrongly edited) and as a sharing service.

Like the versions for iPhone and Android, Dropbox for Blackberry lets you open files, stream movies and music and view pictures right on your handheld. You can also upload files: pictures taken with the Blackberry’s camera, for example.

It’s too late to sign up for this wave of the beta, but hopefully this signals that the fully-baked app, which will run on OS 5.0 devices, will be launched soon.

Dropbox for Blackberry Beta Begins [Dropbox Forums via <a href="http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/31/dropbox-launches-a-limited-beta-version-for-the-blackberry/
">Boy Genius]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews