Dropbox

An alteration made for the latest 2.0 version of the Dropbox app for Android in order to better comply with the rules of the operating system resulted in the removal of some features that, in the 1.x versions, users had come to rely upon. As a result, Dropbox team members these past few weeks have found themselves in damage control mode, as they work to stem a rising tide of frustration from users, some of whom aren't yet buying the company's message that these changes were necessary. The biggest change the new version makes is to the storage locations for files downloaded from users' Dropbox storage areas to their phones. One is the cache for files that may be useful on the phone, like pictures and music. Another is for documents that may then be opened up in apps on the phone, like the QuickOffice productivity suite or the KeePassDroid password cache. The new version of the Dropbox app moves these locations to directories specified in the Android guidelines. But the change was implemented before users and developers were ready. The Android app for Dropbox has been generally available only since mid-2010. During that time, both users and developers had come to recognize sdcard/dropbox as the storage location for downloaded files. Other apps could rely on those files appearing there, so when they were launched automatically, the files would be loaded with them. After upgrading to 2.0, Dropbox for Android users discovered that feature no longer worked. They panicked. One furious developer contacted me personally. In an e-mail, Dropbox forums member ro m. expressed his outrage that developers were never told about the change of methodology prior to the 2.0 update. "The worst part is that while the upgrade migrates data that originated from the Dropbox app to the new location," ro m. wrote, "anything that the users put into that place from other sources will be lost." Writes one Dropbox user on Android Market, "This app used to be awesome. It would sync automatically. Now it sucks. Docs were available once it synced. Now you have to 'export' and it won't even preform background downloads." Followed another, "Dear, Netflix... I mean, Dropbox: Don't fix what isn't broke." This afternoon, Dropbox's Android app product manager, Aseem Sood, acknowledged to ReadWriteWeb that the change from one-click downloading to an "Export" button caused some issues with customer support. "We did this partly to Read More

This week we are changing things up a little.  We wanted to make this a special post where we pay tribute to 2011 by selecting that one app, accessory, piece of hardware, etc that we couldn’t live without.  Hopefully many of our favorite items will also be yours. However, if they’re not, please feel free to comment on our selections, and suggest picks of your own. Check out this year’s picks after the break. iOS 5.0 My Pick of the Year is iOS5.  After long and careful consideration I’ve decided that this piece of software is the thing that most delighted my iLife this year. Although I do not each feature or app daily and despite the fact that many things are still a work in progress (iMessage I’m looking at you!) this is thing that Apple can be most proud of birthing this year (yes even above iPad2 and Lion). It was such a major release that it felt like I was getting a new phone.  And that’s a good thing, because I was feeling a major itch for something new around this past August/September. So I was most relieved and delighted to see that iOS5 did not render my iPhone 4 obsolete, I was still rocking one the coolest smartphones on the planet, now with cool new features. What I most like about the update for my iPhone are customizable Notifications, geotaggable Reminders, the effortless and indomitable Photo Stream and Over The Air syncing. Additionally the introduction of Multitasking gestures and Airplay Mirorring for my iPad 2 make a world of difference. I can’t remember how we used to live without these features. Of course a lot of things are aided and abetted by iCloud which delivers more or less a smooth user experience once correctly set up. Now that we know that it is by no means a given that you can get the latest software updates for your smartphone I appreciate it even more that Apple continues to be dedicated to upgrading and improving the software experience for users of iDevices. All in all a Very Good Thing that I heartily recommend (yes there are still people who have not yet updated). (Free update) Link MacBook Air   I’ve written ad nauseum about my new MacBook Air on this site– but I’m in love, and I will be continuing to write about it. As you likely know by now, my MacBook Read More

iOS verweigert seine Liebe auch im fünften Lebensjahr der dateibasierten Arbeit. Dokumente lassen sich rudimentär zwischen Apps austauschen und individuell modifizieren. Ein systemübergreifender Speicherplatz, wie er für iCloud in Zukunft (vielleicht) geplant ist, fehlt. Dropbox springt mit seinem Angebot als Daten-Silo für unzählige Anwendungen in diese Lücke. Durch ‘DropboxAutomator‘, einer Web-App mit vorgefertigten Skripten, die sich auf Netzwerk-Ordner anwenden lassen, gestaltet sich der iOS-Alltag einfacher. Nachdem der Drittanbieter-App Zugriff auf das persönliche Verzeichnis eingeräumt wurde, überwacht sie einzelne Ordner und wendet spezielle ‘Actions‘ auf dort abgespeicherte Dateien an. So lassen sich beispielsweise Textdokumente im Word-Format automatisiert in ein PDF umwandeln, umbenennen und als E-Mail weiterleiten. Alternativ wandert das DOC auf Google Docs, erhält eine elektronische Unterschrift, wird verschlüsselt oder verschiebt sich auf einen FTP-Server. Solche Prozesse lassen sich von unterwegs auslösen, wenn beispielsweise ein Mail-Anhang in die Dropbox-App (kostenlos; universal; App Store-Link) verschoben wird. Die Konfiguration der unterschiedlich zu kombinierenden Arbeitsabläufe vom iPhone aus ist übersichtlich. Einige der Aufgaben nahmen in meinen Testläufen am heutigen Morgen mehrere Warteminuten in Anspruch und fühlen sich insgesamt noch nicht komplett rund an. Read More

Having previously slipped a preview of the Dropbox update with optimizations for Ice Cream Sandwich, we all knew it was coming but we didn't know when, exactly. As it turns out, the latest update for Dropbox is now available in the Android Market and ready to be downloaded. Aside from the new UI and Ice Cream Sandwich optimizations, Dropbox has a few other tricks built in: Whether you're a hardcore Dropbox user or just a casual user, this update is one not to skip over. You'll find some more screenshots and the download link past the break for you all.   Read More

The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPhone productivity app of 2011. Our readers provided a plethora of nominations in this category, but five apps really stood out. Springpad (free) captured the lion's share of the nominations for its easy to use interface, customizable notebooks, and ability to sync across platforms. A dark horse was ISMEStorage (US$4.99) a comprehensive cloud and local file manager that supports cloud services from Amazon S3 to Zimbra Briefcase and just about everything in between. The big guns weren't left out of the voting, though -- both Dropbox (free) and Evernote (free) were popular nominations for iPhone productivity apps. It was good to see OmniFocus for iPhone ($19.99) in the nominations, as it is a consistently popular and highly-rated productivity app. And now, let the voting begin! The results will be announced on Christmas Day, December 25. What is the best iPhone productivity app of 2011? Read More

During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for TUAW Best of 2011 nominations is iPhone productivity apps. Sure, the iPhone is fun and it's wonderful for keeping in touch with friends and family. But it's also a productivity tool that goes everywhere with you. What apps are included in this category? Well, according to the App Store on the evening of December 18, 2011, there were a total of 6,464 apps in the productivity category. Will Apple's Pages ($9.99), Numbers ($9.99), or Keynote ($9.99) take the prize? Evernote (free) works on the iPhone as well, and it was the winner of our TUAW Best of 2011 award for Mac productivity apps. Will Evernote grab the award on the iPhone as well? Or will Dropbox (free) pick up the award this time? Mac and PC owners both love to control their personal computers from anywhere, and LogMeIn Ignition ($29.99) could be a fan favorite in the productivity category. Perhaps Microsoft will pick up a winner with the new SkyDrive (free) cloud storage app. TUAW wants to hear from you -- what's your favorite iPhone productivity app for keeping you up to speed with your workload? Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 20, 2011. Read More

Mac OS X Hints has discovered that Macs running OS X Lion and registered with iCloud have a hidden "drop box" in the user's Library folder that allows for easy document and file syncing between Macs. A folder within ~/Library (which Lion hides by default) called "Mobile Documents" contains iWork documents synced with iOS devices via iCloud (something our own Erica Sadun discovered quite a while ago.) "What is of use is that any files put into the ~/Library/Mobile Documents folder will automatically upload to iCloud and push to any other Mac you have that is signed in to the same iCloud account and has the 'Document & Data' iCloud preference checked," says Mac OS X Hints member CHM. "Lion even notifies you of version conflicts and allows you to resolve them when you open the document." This functionality is broadly similar to the third-party file syncing service Dropbox, but having the service buried within a hidden user folder makes it far less useful. Files manually added to the Mobile Documents folder also apparently don't sync to iOS devices, which is another feature Dropbox does provide via its iOS app. What's interesting about this hidden folder is that it shows that iCloud and OS X Lion have already laid the groundwork for an easy-to-use and official method for syncing files between Macs (and possibly iOS devices). This discovery makes it seem as though a very simple software update could enable the current Mac versions of iWork's applications to sync with iCloud quite easily. iCloud is still a relatively new service, having been in public release for less than a month as of this writing. Hidden features like the Mobile Documents folder seem to indicate that Apple has broader aspirations in mind than the relatively simplistic iOS-only, iWork-only document syncing the service supports thus far. Read More

By Seth Clifford, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2011 | Since I began using smartphones in 2004, they’ve become an indispensable part of my daily workflow. When I bought my first iPhone (a 3G in 2008), that workflow changed immensely, and for the better. The wide variety of apps available for the platform and the connected nature of the tools Apple provides make iOS a very compelling choice for managing many aspects of our business. At Nickelfish, I do a lot of different things, but a large part of my daily routine is maintenance of all our systems, both user desktops and laptops as well as our online accounts, backups, and services. I use a combination of apps to manage all of this easily. 1Password syncing to Dropbox means I have all the information for everyone’s accounts as well as software licenses and secure notes at my fingertips. I use Screens to monitor a few different machines via VNC around the office, making sure backups and updates are running and completing, and test machines are still testing the way we need them to. I use a variety of Dropbox-linked text editors to take and refer to notes throughout the day, notably WriteUp and Elements on iOS and nvALT (a Notational Velocity fork by Brett Terpstra) on my MacBook Pro. I’m currently using iCloud for my contacts, personal calendars and a personal email account. But we synchronize our company mail, contacts, and calendars with a Google Apps business account, so we’re set up with the standards on everyone’s Macs. Apple Mail and iCal run all day, and we all have those accounts hooked into our phones too. We used to run iCal server off of our Xserve internally and had our mail hosted externally, but we made the decision to bring everything together into Google Apps several months ago because of the availability of apps plugging into it. iOS has a ton of different calendar apps that can either sync with Google or with the iOS calendar accounts, as well as apps that tie into Google Docs, so people can choose how they want to hit those services, and there’s definitely something for everyone. When I’m out of the office, I rely on a few of the iPhone’s heavy hitters – Mail and iMessages – to stay in touch, as well as a few fantastic third-party apps. I use Verbs for IM when I’m Read More

Oft nachgefragt: ein Beitrags-Update über meine ‘Homescreens‘. Seit März 2011, als die letzte Aktualisierung dieser Artikel-Serie erfolgte, hat sich die eine oder andere App verschoben, geändert und aussortiert. Der derzeit aktuellen Stand ist an dieser Stelle festgehalten. Vielleicht finden an diesem Montag ja speziell frische 4S-Käufer, die einen ersten Grundbedarf an Software benötigen, die eine oder andere Anregung. Ich persönlich ziehe jede individuelle Empfehlungen allen generischen ‘Hitlisten’ vor. Genau deshalb soll mein privater Einblick auch nicht alleine bleiben: Wer Screenshots oder Tipps von seinen verwendeten Apps in den Kommentaren kundtun möchte, ist dazu herzlich eingeladen. Zwei Anmerkungen noch: Die zwei benutzten Hintergrundbilder gibt es hier und hier. Auf meinem Standby-Screen befinden sich dieses und dieses Bild. Außerdem führe ich zwei Ordner mit ‘Review’-Software, die ich mir für dieses Blog noch genauer anschauen möchte. Da diese Programme (noch) keine Empfehlungen sind, verbleiben sie für diesen Artikel ohne Erwähnung. Außerdem verstecken sich in den iPhone-Ordnern: Delivery Status touch (3.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); eBay (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Skype (kostenlos); WeatherPro (2.99 €); Tumblr (kostenlos); Verbs (0.79 €); WhatsApp (kostenlos); PayPal (kostenlos); Analytics Pro (4.99 €); Boxcar (kostenlos); Articles (2.39 €); Instapaper (3.99 €); Facebook (kostenlos); Kicktipp (kostenlos); Flickit Pro (3.99 €); 360 Panorama (0.79 €); Lab (0.79 €); Halftone (0.79 €); Instagram (kostenlos); Finnish English (2.39 €); Evernote (kostenlos); Reeder (2.39 €); CrashPlan (kostenlos); Meine Freunde suchen (kostenlos); Shazam (kostenlos); Synonymwörterbuch (19.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Handoff (1.59 €); Screens (15.99 €); Google+ (kostenlos) und AirPort Dienstprogramm (kostenlos). Außerdem verstecken sich in den Ordnern: Evernote (kostenlos); iOutBank (9.99 €); Pages (7.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); iMovie (3.99 €); Skype (kostenlos); Numbers (7.99 €); Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (3.99 €); Bumpy Road (2.39 €); Cut the Rope (1.59 €); Emberwind HD (1.59 €); Groove Coaster (2.39 €); The Last Rocket (2.39 €); Contre Jour HD (2.39 €); ShadowGun (3.99 €); Comic Zeal (5.99 €); Flipboard (kostenlos); Kindle (kostenlos); Tagesschau (kostenlos); Wired (2.99 €); Zeit Online (kostenlos); Big Picture (2.39 €); Color Splash (1.59 €); Instagallery (1.59 €); Instamap (1.59 €); PhotoSync (1.59 €); Remote (kostenlos); Boxee (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Simplenote (kostenlos); Air Display (7.99 €) und PDF Expert (7.99 €). * Alle Affiliate-Links (Danke!) führen direkt in den App Store. Read More

Dropbox, arguably one of the best file storage/sharing services around, recently released the new beta version of their app for Android, making it even easier to access files on the go that may otherwise be spread across several devices.     Besides bug fixes, the new beta includes the ability to store "favorite" files for quick offline viewing, bulk upload for multiple photos and videos, renaming of files and folders, upload from and export to local storage, and last but not least, a hugely improved UI which includes a more appealing gallery view and quick, one-tap access to file options. With these improvements in tow, Dropbox's app for Android is looking great, and, if you're a Dropbox user, there's no reason not to grab the new beta from the Dropbox forum and give it a try. Read More