KY Jelly and Cloud Storage

 

 

A couple of years after 9-11 I was traveling by air for my employer.  Since I was heading out to our Western office, my boss asked me to take 50 USB thumb drives with me.  I think they were whopping 256M units and retailed for something like $75 each.  “Sure,” I said, “no problem”.

 

Not wanting to trust thousands of dollars worth of electronics to the baggage handlers, I managed to stuff all of them in my laptop bag.  Still not problem.  As I went through security at EWR in Newark, NJ, I anticipated having to explain why I had all the drives.  I didn’t anticipate the scanning line stopping dead, the TSA officers triggering a panic alarm, and being dragged off by three police officers, my feet not touching the ground.

 

I wasn’t even too worried when they locked me in a small, windowless room.  Then I saw the tube of KY Jelly and box of surgical gloves.  Now I was worried—big problem. 

 

Thank God, they listened to my explanation, called my employer, and commonsense prevailed.  No cavity searches were done and I was allowed to continue on my way, with only a stern warning about, “Causing a disturbance.”

 

Maybe that was the start of my dislike, but I’ve never been a fan of USB drives, portable hard drives, CD’s and the like.  They’re too easy to lose, leave behind, or drop in the toilet.  Still, traveling often and needing access to a variety of files and tools while at client’s sites, what to do?

 

I tried several solutions, including setting up my own server, using Mesh from Microsoft, and even emailing things as attachments to myself.  Each worked to one degree or another, but each had fatal flaws.  Then I found Dropbox. 

 

Dropbox is a free, cloud based storage site that is very simple in its design.  You can easily access it directly at www.dropbox.com, but the real power comes from installing a tiny piece of software on your “home” computer, “work” computer, laptop, or any PC that you use regularly.  Having done so, it appears as just another drive and you can use it as such. 

 

No matter how you access Dropbox, the site has been, over the course of a year, consistently reliable, fast, and secure.  I’ve used it at home, at work, abroad, and even from a smart phone. 

 

Logging on directly to the site, the GUI is clean, logical, and easy to use.

 

 

Unlike some designers, they don’t try to reinvent the wheel, instead being happy to stick with conventions.  On a machine with the Dropbox software installed, a tiny icon appears in the system tray.  To access your files, you can double click it.

 

 

Alternately, it can reached by the file explorer or in the save dialog of a program.  There are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

 

 

They offer 2G of space for free and if you need more, you can upgrade for reasonable prices.  By referring your friends and family to Dropbox, you can also earn an extra 250M of space, up to a total of 3G, for each that sign up for a free account.  Best of all, if you use this link, you’ll start with an extra 250M, right off the bat.

 

Give it a try.  It’s free, safe, and reliable and a whole lot more comfortable than anything involving KY and exam gloves!