Now that we’re back and all settled back in to school, it’s a good a time as any to make some positive changes in the way we go about organizing ourselves. Like any good 20-something male, I’m a bit of a gadget geek, and I’ve got a list of a couple great tools that can help you organize your life.
We’re going to go through the list, one or two at time, and give you a look at some great stuff to make sure this year goes smoothly.
Dropbox (or some other kind of cloud storage) – Windows, Mac, Android, iOS
Don’t you hate when you’re on campus and find out that there’s a job you want to apply for, and you don’t have a resume? Previously, you would keep important files like that on a USB stick, but really, those are prone to loss.
The new hotness is in the cloud. Many services, like Dropbox, Sugarsync or Minus give you a free amount of data (2, 5, and 10GB, respectively!) to store files on their servers. Any computer that can access the Internet can then access these files, making sure that you’ll never be without the files you need.
However, the real utility comes from the way it integrates with you computer and other devices: on desktops and laptops, they install themselves like any other folder, and sync automatically. This makes it all the more easier to pull up on your phone or tablet; often a quick refresh is enough to bring everything up to speed, and most times you won’t even have to – the files just appear, like magic.
If I had to give my opinion, Dropbox offers the best cross-platform experience, with apps for iOS, Android, Windows and OSX. All of the services I mentioned above are free, and have options to pay more in order to have access to more space.
But let’s be real, here – why pay for space when you can have 17GB over three services? Keep photos on one service, documents on the other and the occasional emergency video on the third, just in case your days are especially long.
Recruiting friends gives you more space, so I’m going to shamelessly throw links to signup for Dropbox, Sugarsync and Minus here. Help a brother out; I may have just saved you some major woes in the future. 😉
