How to sync Google Docs, Dropbox, Box.net accounts at one place.

I can’t pay for paid accounts of cloud-based storage services like Dropbox(I am lovin’ it), Box.net, Google docs and the likes but at the same time I need more space also!
So what I do is to have accounts on multiple services and use them together to store my files online.Okay, that’s fine but there is a problem. At times, it becomes difficult for me to manage files on multiple accounts.
Is there a way to synch all Dropbox, Google Docs, and box.net storage space together through desktop tool?
Yes. And that’s the reason I am writing this post. Joukuu, a new Desktop tool allows you to manage your files that are spread on different services through a centralized approach.

What you can do with Joukuu?

• You can combine Google Docs, Dropbox and Box.net in one place.(More service will be supported in future, says company.)
• You can transfer files between them by drag and drop right from your desktop.
• You can create new folders and manage your files for each account and also delete files if you want.
• Want to add new files? Just drag and drop the file on the service where you  want to upload it.
• sync what you want. you can choose which file or folder sync between your computer and the online account.
• It reads all the files from all accounts and separate it based on the file type also that includes Music, Pictures and Videos, Documents and others. It lets you easily find what you need form a pool of files.
• In short, You don’t need to got to Google Docs, Box,net and Dropbox to add delete or manage files. You can do it right form Joukuu.
  
  Update: Sorry, I forgot to mention that when you install Joukuu, it creates new option in your right click menu so you can send any folder or file to any of account that is linked to joukuu by a right click. No need to drag and drop or copy and paste!
  
  

  

Joukuu Interface

What It misses?

• I didn’t feel it intuitive enough. It should add support for right click so that we can manage files through a right click.
• No built-in search feature to search files.
• You cannot rename or share files.
• Only supports windows at this time. Although, Developers are getting ready to release for Mac also.

How to install.
First of all you need to have .NET Framework in Windows to make this applications work. Currently this application is in beta mode and you have to sign up to get a download link. Once you sign up, you will get an email containing the download link. Download the file open it and click on it. If you already have .NET framework installed in your PC, that’s fine. If not, Joukuu will prompt you to get the Framwork. Once the the installation is complete, you can open the application and add accounts. After that it takes a while to get files from your respective storage accounts and then you can start manage you files from all accounts at once place.

Drop a comment below if you need some more info. You can also visit Jaikuu forum to know what folks are saying about this.

GO to this link to to get download for Joukuu.
Recommended Reading: Dropbox Tips Series.

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5 Free Online pdf Editors Worth Checking.

Although pdf files can be edited offline by using pdf editors like pdf nitro, pdf exchange, Adobe pdf reader etc. but in some situations it is always required to know that “how can a pdf file be edited on the internet without using any software.”

There are various free useful services that can be used to edit pdf files on the internet. off course, these files are not as robust as offline pdf editors but these are quite handy when you are not at home PC and you don’t have time to install  a software for this purpose.

Take a look at this list of online pdf editor. I have also added some pros and cons of every service to let you decide quickly about every service.

1.pdfescape.com

One of the most  useful tools available on internet for this purpose, pdfescape lets you edit and annotate pdf documents without any hassle. Even better, you can also use this tool without creating an account although registered users can enjoy more feature such as file security, online file storage etc. You can login by using your existing Facebook or Google account also. If you have a free bucks, go premium and you will work with pdf files in ad-free environment.

This screenshot shows how the interface woks once you upload pdf file and taken into editing page.

Features of pdfescape:

• You can insert text, images, links etc. in the document.
• You can annotate the pages with highlighting, and by adding sticky notes.
• Rotate & zoom PDF pages to preferred viewing style
• Select text and copy PDF content to your clipboard.
• Search PDF text for terms & keywords with ease
• Save, download, email, & print PDF documents.
• The free PDF software works with Firefox, Google Chrome, IE and Safari
• You can wash text by using whiteout tool.
• Last but not lest, you can add password to your pdf file to make it secure!

What I disliked?

You can not edit a file with more than 100 pages or 10mb of size. Although this limit is not met in 90% of the cases but what about other 10% cases? Other than this small drawback, it is really a nice service to work with.

2. Fillanypdf

Fillanypdf is also a worth checking pdf editor that is especially suitable if you want to fill pdf forms or if you are interested in creating new form and share it with friends and colleagues. But, it does not mean that you can only use this service for form. You can also use editing tools to edit any pdf file by uploading it to their website. Once you choose the file and upload it to fillanypdf, you are ready to edit it. Take a loo at the screenshot above to have an insight of editing features. IF you create an account, you can get additional features also.

Features.

• You can use variable font sizes and colors.
• White-out and Redaction tools available.
• You can write text on pdf document.
• Add clickable web links in pdf.
• You can zoom in and zoom out the document while editing.
• Start blank document and create pdf online.
• Download the file after editing without creating account.

Downside?

• More focused on form filling and sharing than every kind of documents. Although its not a drawback really!
• Slightly slow-loading.

3. PDFfiller

pdffiller is an excellent service especially for form fillingg. If you want to fill pdf forms online I will surely document this service as well as pdf escape for this purpose. PDFfiller includes all the basic tools for text input and text editing. You can fill fillable as well as non-fillable pdf forms on by using this service. To enter information on this form simply click anywhere on the form and begin typing.

PDFfiller Features.

• Modify text by changing colors and font size.
• You can cut, copy or paste to the PDF.
• You can move the text on the PDF form. Just select the text and use the arrows icon to drag the text to a new position.
• You can add a Signature to the PDF form.
  Use the signature button in the toolbar to add a hand-written signature.
• Secure to use as security it uses https connection.

Drawbacks?

• After editing the document, you can not download it unless you create an account.
• No password protection option.

4. pdf Hammer

Do you know nitro pdf software? pdf hammer is a free online service of nitro pdf that also allows you to edit pdf files without even downloading a software. It gives some features that are missing in the aforementioned service (and exclude some features that were there in pdfescape!)

Features of pdf Hammer:

Other than the standard features of pdf editing and annotating, it has some extra features that include:

• By merging multiple files, you can make a single pdf file.
• Quickly rearrange, reorder, and delete the pages from existing PDF files.
• like pdfescape, Add password to you document.
• Also you can add meta data to pdf file.

What I disliked?

Misses pdf annotation and text writing feature in pdf.

Not as sleek and easy to use as that of pdfescape (But, its personal thing. you may like it more than me). In short, you cannot do much when it comes to real editing but if you are interested in features mentioned above, its definitely the place to go.

5. Touchpdf

Touchpdf is another free service you can use to manipulate pdf documents. It’s a relatively new service and doesn't provide too many options but it is quite handy.

T0uchpdf features.

• No Registration needed to use this service.
• No watermark/logo anytime.
• Support PDF Form Field generation.
• Add Image/Line/Rectangle/Oval/FreeDraw(Signature) in document.
• Free for NON-PRINTABLE target PDF file(s).
• Can also be used as a Free Pdf It! FireFox Addon.

What I disliked?

• Lacks many standard editing options as compared to pdf escape.
• No option to lock pdf files with a password.

So what the conclusion?

Well it depends on how do you want to edit your pdf file online and what is the size of pdf file. I would recommend pdfescape as I really stands out among all these 5 services. If you are interested in form filling, go with Fillanypdf as it is really great for online pdf form filler.

Have you ever used these services?

Recommended Reading: 8 Best pdf viewers for android devices.

Technorati Tags: pdf

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10 Things I like Most About Minus [File Sharing Tool]

File sharing with friends or anyone else can be done using various ways that includes Dropbox, screen sharing programs, chatting tools like skype etc, cloud sharing and by uploading it to websites like megaupload, Rapidshare, mediafire etc. But, all these methods are relatively time consuming when compared to min.us.

 

uTorrent 3 is not the only way to share files with other by using simple drag and drop methods. Minus, a relatively new but powerful service also allows you to share files with other and the best thing about this service is that it is dead simple to use and take no time at all.

If you are a less-tech savvy kind of person and want to share any types files in no time, minus is the way to go.

How to use this service.

Minus’ drag-and-drop simplicity should make it very easy to use as it is very intuitive. When you go to min.us website you see a simple interface asking you to either drag and drop your files at the homepage or to browse the files that you want to upload.

 

 

After dropping the file onto the homepage, minus starts uploading the file in the cloud and then when you click on the “share”you are shown various links to this file based on the type of file that include gallery link, forum link, HTML link, thumbnail link (if the file is an image) etc. You can use these links to share the file quickly.

 

10 things that I like most about min.us

1.

It is dead simple to use an completely ads free. if you are in a hurry, minus is perfect for you to share files quickly.Interface and browsing of files that you uploaded is also simple.

2.

You can upload any types of files for sharing. Literally any type including .exe files which most of the other services don't allow you because of their suspicious nature.

3.

Each file is represented by a large image (images, text files and PDFs get thumbnail previews).While audio and video files can be played within the app itself making making the things easier.

4.

No sign-in is required to share or download files. Although registered users can get extra benefits like they can view other people’s public files. Also they get upload size of 50 MB per file as compared to meager 25 MB for guest users

5.

You can decide whether to make your file or files private as well as public. Public files can be viewed by other people also.

6.

min.us is completely  free and doesn't prompt you to get paid account like some other services.

7.

Also, mobile apps for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7 and browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox makes it widely available.

8.

After uploading image files, it gives us ready-made links for forum posting as well as HTML link thus saving a bit of time if you want to share image file in a forum etc.

9.

Even guest users are allowed to track how many times their file has been downloaded. This is handy especially when you want to track the activity with the file.

10.

You can download single file as well as the whole gallery as a zip file. Also you can follow friends on min.us to know that what they are sharing publically.

Not every thing is good and nothing is without drawbacks in this worlds. Let’s take a look at what I don't like about min.us.

1.Even to registered users, it does not provide the facility to lock your files with a password. Although the files that are kept private by you are only visible to the one whom you send the link but, still, I'll not share confidential files with this service.

2.Unregistered users cannot view files that are shared publically on min.us.

File size limit is small. Guests are allowed to upload a maximum file size of 25 mb while limit is raised to 50mb for registered members.

What’s your opinion on this? Have you tried file sharing with minus?

Let me know in the comments as they are always knowledgeable to me.

Technorati Tags: File Sharing

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Use Dropbox as a Free CDN for Wordpress Blog.

For best site performance, it is always of great importance if we use CDN (Content Delivery Network) to host our website’s static content – like images, CSS and JavaScript files – since it effectively reduces the physical distance between the user’s browser and your content.

According to Yahoo!, A CDN is a collection of web servers distributed across multiple locations to deliver content more efficiently to users. The server selected for delivering content to a specific user is the one with the fewest network hops.

Several services provide Content delivery for websites. These services include Amazon S3 and MaxCDN etc but you can use Dropbox as your CDN service thus avoiding any other paid options for this purpose.

Although, Amazon S3 is among the most cost-effective CDN for hosting Wordpress files but if you are not on S3 yet, Dropbox service as a CDN to serve the static files of your Wordpress blog would be a suitable option to start with.

How?

Dropbox CDN is a Wordpress plug-in that helps you do the task easily. It Allows you to upload your themes CSS, JavaScript, and Images into your Dropbox 'Public' folder and server these files from the Dropbox network, thus reducing the bandwidth the server and making your site fast loading for a better user experience.

It works something like this.

You create a sub-folder in your Dropbox Public folder and replicate your Wordpress theme folder structure here.

Next grab the URL of this public folder, pass it to the Dropbox CDN plugin and it takes care* of everything else.

How much effective is this?

Will this really help to boost the performance? Amit Agarwal did a comparison of several CDN services like Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google CDN and Dreamhost to compare the loading speed.

And what he found out is that an uncompressed JS file was served from all the four servers and the load time of Dropbox turned out to be among the lowest (see the image) that could be related to the fact that Dropbox automatically serves the file with gzip compression.


Is there any bandwidth limits in DropBox?

YES. For free accounts, public folders are limited to 10GB ofbandwidth per day. The limit is raised to 250GB for paid accounts. What that means? Obviously, if you are having a low traffic website or blog, IT will not change the things and Dropbox will perform seamlessly but if your site/blog is a high traffic blog, Dropbox will show 404 Error page when it a exceeds the bandwidth limit i.e., The links are automatically suspended if any of your files exceed that limit.


For the sake of understanding, let us say you have a single-page website hosted on Dropbox and the entire weight of all the images, CSS and other static files served through that page is around 500 kb. That means the page should have less than 20k impressions in a day for you to stay within the Dropbox limit and for your website to run properly.


Take care of this fact when using (or abusing!) the Dropbox service.
Read Full Dopbox tips series
Go to Dropbox if you are not using this free file storage service yet.

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Automatic Wordpress Blog Backup to Dropbox

If you want to backup your Wordpress blog periodically to Dropbox space, wpTimeMachine is a plug-in that lets you easily do this job.

There are many benefits of doing this. The obvious and most important benefit is that you will have access to you blog’s backup all the time and everywhere on any device provided that you be connected to the internet.
wpTimeMachine can perform an automatic backup of your Wordpress MySQL database, themes, plug-ins and all the other files and images at scheduled times that you may uploaded to your Wordpress folder.

After installing the wpTimeMachine plug-in, enter your Dropbox account information and hit the Generate Archive button. Within minutes, you should see the backups in your Dropbox folder. It may take long times also depending on the size of your blog.

How to schedule and initiate Backups?

Either you may choose to perform backups manually, as in the case above, or you can setup a cron job to backup your Wordpress site at preset schedules automatically.

The plug-in can also be configured such that backups are triggered as soon as you publish a new post but use it with caution as it may put lot of extra strain of your server.

One other things to take into account, you may have uploading issues if the WP-content older is too large because the Dropbox API won’t accept files that are larger than 300MB. 

If in case you are new to Dropbox, it is without any doubts, world’s number one service for online file storage (also called as cloud storage) that gives you 2GB of free space (more space is available for paid users.) that you can use just like any other Windows folder to upload files to Dropbox servers and then you can access your files from anywhere, any device any time.

Via Digital Inpiration.

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How to Use Dropbox to Print Files remotely on Linux.

After giving solutions for remote printing on Windows and MAC by using Dropbox, it’s time to find a solution for Linux that will make us able to do this:

If you have a printer attached to a Linux machine, you can easily control that printer from another remote computer using Dropbox.

So, that’s how it is done.

The central point is that we create a shell script to monitor a local Dropbox folder. As soon as a new file is added to that folder from a remote computer (or mobile phone), the script will send the file to the attached printer for remote printing. Once the printing job is completed, the file is deleted from the incoming print queue.

You can use the script given below to implement this task. You only have to setup a cron job against this script such that it runs after every ‘n’ seconds (or minutes).

...................................................................................................
       1: --- dropprint.sh ---
       2:
       3: #!/bin/bash
       4:
       5: export PrintQueue="/root/Dropbox/PrintQueue";
       6:
       7: IFS=$'\n'
       8:
       9: for PrintFile in $(/bin/ls -1 ${PrintQueue}) do
      10:
      11:    lpr -r ${PrintQueue}/${PrintFile};
      12:
      13: done
      14:
      15: --- dropprint.sh ---

...................................................................................................

Now that the process is set up completely, you can test it by sending a test file from you mobile phones to the Prinqueue folder. You can either use Dropbox native applications for Android, iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry or iPad. Alternatively, you can also use Habilis application. Learn what Habilis does for you.

If you have multiple printers attached to Linux computer, use the –p parameter to specify the printer name.
If you are on Ubuntu, you may use "sudo apt-get install gnome-schedule" (Gnome Schedule) to setup a scheduled task for the script with recurrence set to "every minute."

What the script does?

Here’s an commented version of the script that will help you easily understand how the script works:

1. #!/bin/bash

Specific bash directly since its feature set and behaviors are consistent everywhere

2. export PrintQueue

It's necessary to 'export' in order for the environment variable to show up in the later $() subshell

3. IFS=$'\n'

By default, spaces will wreak havoc with the 'for / in' loop. Resetting the field separator handily works around that

4. /bin/ls -1

Directly use /bin/ls to bypass the common color-enabling aliases. Use -1 to force all files into one column. There's no need to search for the beginning of the file name using this

5. lpr -r

The -r option deletes the file after it successfully prints. This is better than doing an 'rm' later since it only does the delete on a successful print.

Recommended reading: Dropbox Tips and Tricks series

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How to Use Dropbox to Print Files Remotely on MAC.

My previous post was about printing files by using cell phone and Dropbox on windows computer  that used a VBS script which can only be used on a windows PC. However, MAC operating systems also has the capability to print files remotely by using Dropbox. Here is the solution to print files on any printer that is connected to a Mac.

Steps to Print files on Mac by Using Cell Phone and DropBox. 

Install Dropbox on your PC that’s connected to your printer if you do not have it already. In case you are new to Dropbox, go to full coverage of Dropbox intro and tips and tricks. In short, Dropbox is your folder in the cloud, I mean your online file storage folder that can be accessed from anywhere.

On you Mac OS X, create a folder named as “Print” in your Dropbox folder, with two sub-folders PrintQueue and Log.

[*] Fire up the Automator application and choose to create a Folder Action. 

Type “printer” in the search field and drag “Print Finder Items” to the main window pane. 

Type “Trash” in the search field and drag the “Move Finder Items to Trash” to the main window pane.

Alternatively, if you want to keep the files after they’re printed, use the “Move Finder Items” workflow, to Dropbox -> Print -> Logs.

Finally, make sure to set Folder Action receives files and folders added to the PrintQueue folder you created earlier on. Save the workflow and give it a name. That is it!

[*] Even better, @bbdel (The tipster) has compiled his steps in this zip file – unzip and it should automatically open with Automator. Then, create a folder in the drop box, right click it, and go to the bottom for folder actions, and select the “printqueue” one from those actions.

Now that the process is set up completely, you can test it by sending a test file from you mobile phones to the Prinqueue folder in you MAC. You can either use Dropbox native applications for Android, iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry or iPad. Alternatively, you can also use Habilis application. Learn what Habilis does for you.

Okay, so remote Mobile printing is what I was writing for but how often do you need it? I personally used it for one time only. What about you? Let me know this in comments.

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Remote Printing of Files by Using Cell Phone and Dropbox

Although cell phones in the recent years have become very powerful but still they are not readily synch able with the printers to allow us print files from mobile phone.

Here are some of the situations that require you to print files from mobile devices. You may find your own situations though.

Situation#1: You just received files like pdf or other files as an email attachment and you want to print them.

Situation#2: Say, you are viewing driving directions on Google Maps using an iPad and you want to print them but notorious iPad does not have USB connection, how do you send that map to the printer?

Your phone’s app store will have a few printing apps for this purpose but if you don’t want to pay for any additional application for this purpose, you can simply use Dropbox to print documents from your phone to any printer without requiring any additional application or hardware.

Although, some upcoming printers have built-in support for printing files by sending an email to the printer but with Dropbox, you get the same feature without requiring any new hardware. 

Print Files from any Mobile Phone through Dropbox

The workflow for printing files by using Dropbox and a cell phone is like this. 

First of all, you need to download a small application that will constantly monitor your Dropbox folders by running in the background for printing job when required.

You can send files for printing from your mobile phone through email or using any of the Dropbox mobile apps. As soon as Dropbox downloads the file locally, the utility will send it to the default printer. Once the file is printed, it gets archived to the logs folder.

To get this process running on your computer, please follow these easy steps:

Step 1: Make sure that you have Dropbox on the computer that is connected to the printer.

Step 2: To print a file by sending it from your mobile device to the printer, you have two options.

• You can download a Dropbox app on your mobile phone - they have apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Nokia, webOS (Palm), and Android based phones. 
• Or, you can send files from your cell phone to Dropbox using email. Just connect your Dropbox account with an app that is called Habilis and they’ll give you a unique email address – any files or attachments sent to this address from your cell phone will automatically appear in your Dropbox folder.

Step 3: Download this zip file (credit to labnol for this script. VBS scripts are Windows-only but there are workarounds for Mac OS X and Linux as well.) and double-click the eprint.vbs file (see the source code). The script will create a sub-folder inside your main Dropbox folder called PrintQueue where all the mobile print jobs will queue up and another sub-folder called logs where all the completed jobs will be archived.

Step 4: Now that everything is set up, just send a test file from your mobile phone to that secret email address, or upload it through the Dropbox mobile app, and your printer will turn it into a hard copy almost instantly.

The utility can also handle multiple files simultaneously and it should print almost all file formats for which you have an associated application on the computer. If you would like to shut down the eprint utility, launch Windows task manager and end the “wscript.exe” process from the list.

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Let's Monitor Your Computer remotely with Dropbox

Consider a scenario where you don’t want to remotely access the computer but simply you want to monitor it from another location. For example, here are some of the situations that need monitoring of remote PC.

Sitution#1. You make it a point to lock your workstation every time you leave the office. How do you confirm that no one else is using your computer while you’re at home sleeping?

Sitution#2. Your kids want to use your computer while you are out shopping. They are pretty young so you really want to know what they are doing on the computer in your absence.

Sitution#3. You are running some task on your computer and want to track the progress from another computer remotely.

 In this case you need remote monitoring instead of remote access.

There are a few softwares that let you access your computer from any another computer by using your internet connection. Some of these tools even provide mobile apps so you can control your remote desktop using an iPhone or android phone. But if you just need remote monitoring instead of remote control, you can do it with your Dropbox account also. 

Remote Desktop Monitoring with Dropbox.

The idea behind using Dropbox for remote monitoring is not a rocket science. If you take screen capture of your desktop screen and place that image in one of the Dropbox folders on your computer, the image will automatically get uploaded to the Dropbox servers.

Repeat the screen capture process at regular intervals and you’ll get a recording of your desktop screen at regular intervals that will let you know the status of your PC. You can monitor it from any Internet connected computer or mobile phone since everything is now on dropbox.com.

Steps to implement Computer monitoring with Dropbox.

1. First of all, you need to download Screen Grabber  that is a free screen capture utility and it will be used to save the screen capture images directly in your Dropbox folder. You can also use Snagit or any other utility for this purpose.

2. After that we need a tweak that will be used to capture screenshots at pre defined regular intervals. For this purpose, you can use the following Autohotkey script [See below for explanation] that runs in the background and will press the hotkey for you at set intervals.

Loop {
   Send,  {SHIFTDOWN}{F10}{SHIFTUP}
   Sleep, 300000
 }

[*] If you are new to Autohotkey, simply download and then run this executable -dropbox-capture.zip – it’s a compiled version of the above script by Amit Agarwal.

The default hotkey for Screen Grabber is Shift+F10. This script will press that hotkey and then wait for 5 minutes (5x60x1000) in a cycle. As new images get captured, they are simultaneously uploaded online.

3. Run this utility on any desktop that you want to monitor remotely and you’ll soon have a regular screenshots of the computer in your Dropbox account as shown below. Even better, everything runs quietly in the background so people who are sneaking into your PC will not notice that their activity is being monitored.

When you lock your computer, the screen capture process is suspended but it resumes automatically as soon as you log in. You can run this tool on your office desktop and lock the workstation - if you find any screenshots in your Dropbox stream the next day, someone else probably used that machine.

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