STFU && RTFM

I’ve been looking for a sturdy, simple and preferably free solution to enhance the way I take my computers with me. I’vew recently found just that.
 
It all started a little while ago, with the discovery of the powerful tool Google Gears, which enables me to have my Google Documents, Google Calendar and GMail syncronized to my laptop. I’ve written about it here.
 
Then, I discovered Dropbox. Dropbox isn’t “just” an online storage solution, it is also the perfect choice to automatically syncronize your files across many computers. They offer three account types, Basic (2GB), Pro 50 (50GB) and Pro 100 (100GB). The latter two cost money ($99 and $199 per year, respectively). Basic is free.
 
Most of us don’t usually need to have more than 2 GB of files with us at any given time, meaning that the Basic account will suffice for most of us.
 
The best thing is the sync though. Simply drag and drop your files into the Dropbox folder, and off they go, to your account. Uploading and downloading large amounts of data takes some time, but boy does it work. The client works with both Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
 
Want to get it? Do me a favor, use this link. By doing that, you, and I, get an additional 250 MB of storage on our accounts.

In a previous post, I talked about Google Gears. Now, let’s take a look at a practical application. First, the developers at Google brought us the next big thing in web-based email. Now, they are bringing a way to take it offline.
 
Bear in mind, Offline is a GMail Labs feature, so it is wont to be a bit unstable for now. That being said, here’s how to enable the feature:
 

1. Sign in to Gmail and click ‘Settings’.
2. Click the ‘Labs’ tab and select ‘Enable’ next to ‘Offline Gmail’.
3. Click ‘Save Changes.’
4. In the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username, there will be a new ‘Offline’ link.
5. Click this link to start the offline synchronization process.

The clever people at Google have made Gears, an Open-Source multiplatform program that enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to your web browser, such as:
 

• Let web applications interact naturally with your desktop
• Store data locally in a fully-searchable database
• Run JavaScript in the background to improve performance

 
To get it, go to gears.google.com to download and install it.