I have a great job. I get to play with the best web applications and then tell you all about them. Why? Because Splashtop loves web apps. They’re like chocolate and peanut butter or the Oreo crackers and the cream filling. I must be hungry. Anyway, today I wanted to tell you about Box.net, an online storage service that does some pretty incredible things.
First, storing files online gives you some great options when it comes to sharing files and having access to them from anywhere. Also, if you’re using the Splashtop browser, you don’t have a lot of file access from the hard drive (actually, you have none) so keeping your files online is a great option. The best of the best is definitely Box.net. First of all, you get 1 GB of online storage for free. That’s their “lite” option. If you feel like you need more storage, which might be the case after you hear about all the things you can do with those files, 5GB starts at $7.95/month. I pay more for a coffee and a scone at Starbucks. There is also more expensive options for power and enterprise users.
The guys over at Box.net have spent a lot of time thinking about how people (like us) use files online. What do we want to be able to do? Where are we when we’re using these files? The service has really become incredibly valuable. Sure, you can upload documents, music and photos. You can collaborate on a paper with your friend and you can certainly keep those important files available to you from anywhere. But, Box.net has also built in some special tools that let you do things like stream your music back to wherever you are. This small flash widget is incredibly useful, especially for Splashtop users.
This widget, pictured above is storing some music that I uploaded to Box.net (sorry it’s just an image of a widget, not the actual widget) via Facebook. I also have a Facebook widget on my Profile with the same music which will allow my friends to listen some Wilco when they’re on my profile page. You can do the same kind of social file sharing on nearly every other social network with customized Box.net widgets. Another thing I really dig is the fact that I can allow others to drop files off in my Box. That’s useful, especially when you receive a lot of emails. Sometimes files get lost in the shuffle. Plus, I can have access to it all the time on any machine.
Next week I’ll tell you about Box.net’s most killer feature where they integrate with other popular web applications.
