Your iOS device is a killer pocketable computer; your desktop is more powerful with a bigger screen. They need to play better together. Here’s how to break down the barrier between the two and shuttle text, files, media, and more seamlessly between your desktop and iPhone. More »
Windows only: If your primary hard drive just isn't large enough to hold all the software you need on a day-to-day basis, then Steam Mover is the perfect tool for the job—assuming you have another storage drive handy. More »
Need to share a file quickly and without the hassle of setting up a file server or other dedicated connection between you and the recipient? S4ve.as makes transferring a file as simple as pasting a URL.
Visit the s4ve.as web site, select a file you want to share, upload that file, and you’re given a URL. The URL is good for 24 hours from the time of creation. Anyone who visits it can download the file you’ve shared. You don’t need to be online, the file is temporarily stored on the s4ve.as servers.
S4ve.as is a free service with no restrictions on the size of the file you can upload. Have a great solution for simple file sharing? Let’s hear it in the comments.
We’ve highlighted many ways to help you share files over the internet. Newly launched service WatchDox aims to make the document-sharing process more secure.
Once you've chosen and uploaded the document(s) you want to share, WatchDox lets you enter your recipient's email address along with your own, which WatchBox will validate. Then you can select what permissions you want to give to the person you're sharing with—including whether they can print, forward, or copy the document. You can also set when you want the document to expire (maximum 30 days).
As its name implies, WatchDox lets you track who views and opens your documents and modify the permission settings as you like. You can send an unlimited number of documents (uploaded two at a time, up to 15MB), and store up to 50MB online. There’s also a Microsoft Outlook plug-in available for download to share directly from Outlook.
Of course, WatchDox can't guarantee 100-percent safe document transfers—it can't prevent someone from taking a screen grab, for one—but the service provides enough added security benefits to make it worth a look. WatchDox is currently in beta and free to use.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Java-based DirSync Pro provides cross-platform file synchronization with an easy to use interface, incremental backup, and a profile system.
DirSync Pro is a robust and open-source file synchronizing tool. Thanks to its Java-based construction it has cross-platform support and a self-contained directory for easy portability.
You can use DirSync to perform bidirectional and unidirectional syncs, making it easy to only update files on one side of the transfer or sync both locations to each other. There are numerous variables you can tweak to control the transfers including only syncing new, larger, or modified files. You can set filters to include or exclude sub-directories, create backups of the synced and changed files, and create configuration files for your most frequently used locations and settings.
The configuration files are handy feature, especially if you’re running the application in multiple environments off your USB drive. You can create unique setups and execute them independently making it super easy to create a specific routine for backing up files at work, syncing files at home, or whatever situation you find yourself in. DirSync Pro is open source and works wherever Java does.
Free iPhone app Discover isn’t as polished a solution to hosting, sharing, and transfering files to and from your iPhone as previously reviewed Air Sharing, but for casual use, it’s hard to beat the $0 price.
As most new iPhone/touch owners find out, usually in a disappointing revelation, their devices are the only Apple portables that don’t offer a “disk mode” for easy, thumb-drive-like file carrying and transfer. Apps like Discover (and Air Sharing) create a temporary webDAV network share, allowing Windows, Mac, or Linux systems to connect by adding the iPhone’s IP address as a network drive or, in the case of Discover, using a browser to access the app’s web-based interface.
Check out how Discover works with your files in the screenshots below (click for larger images):
Not pictured are support for Apple MobileMe syncing/transfer and a connection to an OS X-based server.
Discovery is a free download for iPhones and iPod touch models running the 2.0 or later software; the paid ($5) version takes away advertisements.
