Essential App #3: Dropbox
Regular visitors to this blog will probably have noticed that we mention Dropbox a lot. I mean, we won’t shut up about it. Why? Because it’s so ridiculously useful.
The way it works is simple: It’s a portal for files from your iPhone to your Dropbox account, a free service that gives you your own 2GB cloud to store files and media, and if you want to, lets you share those files and media.
Here’s a partial list of uses for Dropbox:
- It’s the easiest way to transfer a few photos from your iPhone to your computer without having to sync (I use this function constantly for screenshots I post up onto this site).
- It functions well as a quick remote backup for important files that’ve just found their way onto your iPhone.
- Easily create a gallery of images or video clips to share with selected people or the general public.
And since the Dropbox service is web-based, any file on your iPhone can be transferred quickly and easily to any computer you’re currently at, assuming you have some kind of Internet connection. It’s almost like having a $100 Pogoplug, only it’s free (but also limited to 2 gigs, and without the ability to upload large files instantly, which
And now, for a buck, there’s even the ability to edit Dropbox-stored text files with the Droptext app, which makes Dropbox even more useful.
You only get two gigs of storage for free, but it’s more than enough for the kinds of stuff most users will do with Dropbox.
When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path — which explains why he's Cult of Mac's test editor-at-large. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of 
