Dropbox and BlueBox: Access Your Data From Anywhere

If you are not familiar with Dropbox, I highly recommend this free service. Dropbox allows you to store up to 2GB on their server which you can access from anywhere. I am planning a complete post for later on exactly how I have set up Dropbox and how I use it. For now, if you do not have a Dropbox account, go to this site and create one. Not only will you get the 2GB of free storage, but by using that link, you and I will each get an additional 250MB of free storage.

One of the capabilities you have is anything stored in Dropbox can be accessed from your smartphone. All you have to do, once you have a Dropbox account, is download the app on your smartphone. This page will take you to links for any of the devices. For BlackBerry users, the easiest route is to go to BlackBerry App World and search for "Dropbox."

For BlackBerry PlayBook owners, there is not a Dropbox app, although hopefully that will come. Until then, there is a great free app called "BlueBox." BlueBox will allow you to download files from Dropbox to your PlayBook. It will also allow to upload files from the PlayBook to Dropbox. The missing element is the ability to sync with Dropbox.

I use BlueBox as the way to get files from my PlayBook to my computer. If I take a picture on my PlayBook, all I have to do is upload that picture with BlueBox. In a few seconds, it is available in the Dropbox folder on my computer.

While having Dropbox on my BlackBerry is a great convenience, the real productivity boost comes from BlueBox on my PlayBook. It is an essential piece in allowing the PlayBook to become a laptop substitute.