Continue reading Box for Android updated to 1.5: adds widgets, uploading from any app, magic

Box for Android updated to 1.5: adds widgets, uploading from any app, magic originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With 45 million users, Dropbox is a hugely popular cloud storage service. Consumers use it to store photos, documents and other material so they can access it from their PCs, phones, or other devices. But it’s much more than that, said Drew Houston, founder and CEO of the company.

Businesses can — and do — use it to offload chunks of IT infrastructure as needed.

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra, for example, had to cut its IT staff but still had a server running email and other apps in a closet. Instead of keeping that thing chugging away, they went to hosted email and put the rest of that server data in — you guessed it — Dropbox’s cloud, he said.

The company’s success has been greatly aided by the fact that consumers want the same nifty tools they use from home, in the office, Houston told attendees of the GigaOM RoadMap Conference on Thursday afternoon.

People’s work tools used to be better than their tools at home, but that’s no longer the case. So if they use Dropbox for their family photos, chances are they’ll start using it for their work documents.

It also helps Dropbox’s case that today’s connected world isn’t always all that connected. “My mom has her music in iTunes but her phone is a Droid. So even though all of her devices are connected, they don’t talk to each other,” Houston said.

Clearly he sees Dropbox as the mother ship for all his mother’s (and everyone else’s) digital cargo. The proliferation of mobile devices has only driven more demand.

That cloud-based repository can also alleviate a lot of the headaches around moving big chunks of data around for business users or consumers. “Big email attachments and uploads — that’s the kind of thing that goes away if all of your stuff is in the cloud by default,” he said. “We can preview it, transcode it.”

As for what’s next, he didn’t provide a ton of detail, but he hinted that Dropbox will get better at uploading and managing all sorts of files.

“The way we manage files on a computer is insane. We’ve had this system for decades, but there’s still no one button that says ‘put this online,’” he said.

Dropbox will also be able to store not only a person’s photos but the metadata about that photo, the location information. “All of these things become possible. We can index all that metadata in the pictures and then tel you where the picture is taken, and maybe give you all the pictures taken within ten mile radius.” This sounds like a lot more than storage.

Dropbox is not alone in this hot cloud storage market: it competes with Box.net, Carbonite, Backblaze and others that are duking it out for the cloud storage needs of consumers and businesses. But it’s clearly growing gangbusters. The 45 million users Dropbox now claims is up from 25 million in April. The company just closed 0 million in funding.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• What Enterprise Software Vendors Could Learn from the Consumer Space
• NewNet Q3: Facebook remakes headlines in social media

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Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 makes it easy to preview email attachments right in the Reading Pane. Unfortunately, the attachment previewing software included in Outlook doesn’t preview PDF files attached to messages. Fortunately, you can fix this problem easily. All you need to do is set up Outlook to use the free PDF previewer that’s built into current versions of Adobe Reader.

Adobe Reader (which is also often referred to as Acrobat Reader) is a free program from Adobe for viewing PDF files. As its name implies, it is only for viewing (reading) these files, not for creating them. If you receive PDF files as message attachments, you are probably used to saving them, then opening them in Adobe Reader to view them.

If you decide to configure Outlook to view PDF files, you will be taking advantage of the same Adobe Reader technology, while eliminating the need to save attachments and open a separate program just see what they say. If you don’t have to go outside Outlook to view message attachments, you save time and effort, while better keeping your focus on what you are doing (handling email in Outlook).

Setting this up takes only minutes. All you need to do is download Acrobat Reader, install it, then configure Outlook 2007 to use it. In most cases, it will only take you a few minutes to complete the entire process. Even if you don’t normally make changes to the software running on your computer, if you can follow simple directions, you can set this up yourself. The benefits of a PDF previewing program make this small amount of effort a great investment.

Canon LiDE200 Color Image Scanner (2924B002)

• New “Auto Scan Mode” automatically adjusts settings by detecting where you are scanning
• High-speed letter size color scanning in approximately 14 seconds
• Just one USB cable for data and power
• Advanced Z-lid expansion top for scanning bulky items

Canon LiDE200 color image scanner has convenient features for easy scanning up to 4800 dpi.Manufacturer Product Description How easy is this? Just select what you want to do with your original – scan, copy, or create email attachments or PDFs – and the entire process is automated. The new Auto Scan Mode detects your type of original, then scans and saves it with the optimal settings. Your results will be outstanding, with color dpi resolution up to 4800 x 4800, and you can also create fabulous 19600 x 19600 software-enhanced (extrapolated) scans. Plus, a letter-sized color scan takes only about 14 seconds. .caption { font-family: Verdana, Helvetica neue, Arial, serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; } ul.indent { list-style: inside disc; text-indent: 20px; } table.callout { font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, serif; margin: 10px; width: 250; } td.callout { height: 100 percent; background: #9DC4D8 url(http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/electronics/det

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A very important factor any business proprietor must have realized within the last 12 months or so is a demand of a business to get cheap and efficient settings of operation. One easy way companies are finding to do this is actually through the usage of faxing software.

In earlier times, a common way to get a fax was to acquire a piece of equipment, transmit over the phone lines and spend massive amounts of money on toner. Today thankfully there’s beginning a better option. The internet is much faster mode in transmission as compared to phone lines ever were and managing that full speed for faxes is answer to more cost-effective and much more efficient small business operations.

Faxing software is rapidly making its presence felt as an easy method to connect in the business world. There are plenty of savings available it is hard to just imagine the fact that this technology has had such a long time to arise. Your company can save hours, money and place by not having to maintain a fax machine available any further.

There are plenty of rising companies which are offering this faxing software program therefore it has become simpler to find a solution that will suits your specific small business needs. When you start to think about faxing software and even suppliers be certain that you take the time to do your homework.

Each provider may have a better plan as well as prices offered and don’t forget the main goal would be to save time and expense, which you will not do if your service provider costs just as much or even more than your traditional fax machine. Evaluate the prices, figure out if you need unlimited faxing capacity and select the business that is certainly right for you.

Keep in mind the actual service which a faxing software business may offer you as well. Some will simply send faxes as email attachments while others are mainly obtainable on the internet therefore be careful.

You will discover a few that may help sending broadcast faxes that is a single document to a lot of people. It’s also possible to have the selection of synchronizing computer systems in your company to use exactly the same fax program. By doing this everyone can send as well as receive faxes from their own private table.

The last thing you need to be aware of is the quality of the fax the service supplier can easily send. When faxing software was in the beginning stages numerous services could only send out low-resolution Pdf file format forms, which in business isn’t the most effective option. Immediately however these service providers can send high-resolution docs and also many formats.

For faxing software package the most popular extension is TIFF, however some are also working with GIFF and other formats as well. Look into faxing software program today and see if it may create a big change on your small business.

A very important factor any business proprietor must have realized within the last 12 months or so is a demand of a business to get cheap and efficient settings of operation. One easy way companies are finding to do this is actually through the usage of faxing software.

In earlier times, a common way to get a fax was to acquire a piece of equipment, transmit over the phone lines and spend massive amounts of money on toner. Today thankfully there’s beginning a better option. The internet is much faster mode in transmission as compared to phone lines ever were and managing that full speed for faxes is answer to more cost-effective and much more efficient small business operations.

Faxing software is rapidly making its presence felt as an easy method to connect in the business world. There are plenty of savings available it is hard to just imagine the fact that this technology has had such a long time to arise. Your company can save hours, money and place by not having to maintain a fax machine available any further.

There are plenty of rising companies which are offering this faxing software program therefore it has become simpler to find a solution that will suits your specific small business needs. When you start to think about faxing software and even suppliers be certain that you take the time to do your homework.

Each provider may have a better plan as well as prices offered and don’t forget the main goal would be to save time and expense, which you will not do if your service provider costs just as much or even more than your traditional fax machine. Evaluate the prices, figure out if you need unlimited faxing capacity and select the business that is certainly right for you.

Keep in mind the actual service which a faxing software business may offer you as well. Some will simply send faxes as email attachments while others are mainly obtainable on the internet therefore be careful.

You will discover a few that may help sending broadcast faxes that is a single document to a lot of people. It’s also possible to have the selection of synchronizing computer systems in your company to use exactly the same fax program. By doing this everyone can send as well as receive faxes from their own private table.

The last thing you need to be aware of is the quality of the fax the service supplier can easily send. When faxing software was in the beginning stages numerous services could only send out low-resolution Pdf file format forms, which in business isn’t the most effective option. Immediately however these service providers can send high-resolution docs and also many formats.

For faxing software package the most popular extension is TIFF, however some are also working with GIFF and other formats as well. Look into faxing software program today and see if it may create a big change on your small business.