If you’ve used DropBox or SugarSync, then you know of the beauty of putting a file in a folder on one computer and having it show up on another computer without having to do anything other than signing up for an account and installing the software. Now you can get the same functionality in Lion without installing their app or using up the limited amount of storage you have available via those services.

The magic folder resides in your hidden Library folder. You can go one of two routs – un-hide the Library folder to open up some interesting usefulness or just navigate to the folder using the Go menu in Finder. But first, let’s make sure you have iCloud files sync turned on.

Go to System Preferences and click on iCloud. Make sure there’s a check box next to Documents and Data.

Now you have a choice to make. Do you want to un-hide the Library folder? We have a How To on that you can follow. If you don’t want to bother, then open Finder and click the Go menu. Type in the following:

~/Library/

This will open the hidden folder. Find the Mobile Documents folder. If for some reason you don’t see one, you can create the special folder, but not by the traditional means of just making a new folder in Finder. You have to open an iWork app like Pages and create an iWork document. To do that just open Pages, Numbers or Keynote. Create a new document and click the Share menu and choose Share via iWork.com.

After sharing the document, the folder will be created with Apple’s magic sauce for syncing between all of your Macs.

Now, just make an Alias to that folder somewhere. I dragged the folder to the FAVORITES list along the left side of the Finder Window.

Now any file you save to that folder will automatically sync to your other Macs, if they have iCloud Documents & Data turned on in Settings. You may want to repeat these steps on other Macs to ensure they all have the folder setup and an easily accessible shortcut to it configured.

Using this solution in place of DropBox or SugarSync means you don’t get cloud based backup or web browser access to the files from another location. For quick and dirty sync of a file this works better than the woefully horrible AirDrop feature. I can see using this to quickly move a file to another computer that you don’t really need ongoing access to after your done with it.

Thanks to Apple Insider for the idea.

How To Use the Built-in DropBox-Style Sync in Mac OS X Lion is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

I was fortunate, but what if the finder decided to be a keeper? What if she also found a way to crack my system password, access my email, bank site, and other personal details that I have on the system? I’d be screwed because I did not do some very simple things. I did a few things right, but should have done more.

Make sure you learn from my failure and don’t fall prey to the dishonest people out there. I got lucky, but you might not.

Here are a few ways you can keep your MacBook, or Windows notebook, protected, and even track it down if it goes missing. Best of all, you don’t have to spend a dime to do this.

Prey Tacking Software

This summer our editor Josh Smith posted about his use of LoJack for Laptops, a laptop tracking application that helps you recover your laptop if stolen or lost. That solution will secure your computer for a price. A free alternative he mentioned comes from the folks at the Prey Project. I chose it because I’m cheap, but it also will let me add features for a decent price.

Like LoJack, Prey keeps you protected from unscrupulous people who get access to your system. Sign up for an account and install the software on your Mac, Windows, Unbuntu or other Linux system and it runs quietly in the background. In fact, you won’t even know its running. That’s a good thing since the bad guys won’t know it either. On my Mac it doesn’t have a menu bar icon or an app icon in the Applications folder.

You can watch the company’s video demo for the Pro plans which do cost anywhere from $5/month for a personal account up to $399/month for enterprise users with a slew of PCs to protect. You can use the service for free if all you want is very basic tracking. Added features include installation on more computers, an active mode that keeps track of your computer all the time, not just what you report it, and a few more features which you can see on their plans page. They also have apps that work for iPhone (in beta and will be released soon) and Android.

Prey Project introduction from Carlos Yaconi on Vimeo.

iCloud Find My Mac

For Mac users, the forthcoming iCloud will offer a new service very much like the Find My Phone for iOS. It will track your computer and let you know where it was last used based on where the bad guys log onto the Internet. The feature will be ready to go for all users on October 12 when iCloud launches and offers a free version with up to 5GB of file storage and other paid versions with added storage. Use the storage to backup and sync files between Macs and iOS devices.

The key security feature finds your Mac on a map (see image above). It will also let you send a message to the computer so that you can tell the person who “found” your computer that you want it back and how they can do the right thing and turn it into you. If you need to you can lock the system down and remote wipe the user data in your Home folder.

These solutions may work great, but what if you lose it and no one finds it or what if it you, someone else or mother nature destroys it? What if the bad guys know what she’s doing and wipes the system before any of these security apps can kick in? You need to do a few things to protect your data. You should be following these best practices anyway.

Back Up Your Data

Have a regular backup plan. If I hadn’t recovered my MacBook, at least I’d still have all of my documents and files. That’s because I use SugarSync to synchronize my important files between my three computers and their cloud storage service. I also regularly keep a backup copy of all of my music, videos, and pictures. I backup the media files manually since they take up too much space for SugarSync to handle (over 200GB). Every time I download new music, create a new video or load new photos onto my computer, I back them up to my 2TB Firewire drive hooked up to my other computer.

iCloud will come in handy for Mac users because it also handles file backup/syncing. Windows users can take advantage of SugarSync, DropBox, or Windows Live Skydrive, just to name a few. Whatever you choose to use, use it! For unlimited data backup in real time, get a Carbonite account.

Password Protection

Passwords protect you only if you do the following:

• Make good passwords including random numbers, letters (both caps and lowercase) and if possible punctuation marks
• Don’t use common words, names, well known personal data like birthdays
• Use different passwords for all of your sites – don’t have one password to rule them all
• Use a password database application like Lastpass

The last suggestion can really help if you password protect your Lastpass account with a really good password. Then, you only have to remember one password. Lastpass stores your password database online in encrypted form so that not even they know what the passwords are. They also don’t know your password, so you make sure you make a good one but also remember it. View the Lastpass instruction video below:

Finally, don’t keep your passwords written down near your computer. If you have little notebook with all of your passwords in your computer bag, then you are just asking to have your bank account emptied by a criminal.

Lock It Down

Finally, remember that your computer can be taken even if you just go across the room for a refill or to the restroom for a pitstop. A good lock can help, like a Kensington lock or Griffin’s TechSafe Calbe Lock that I recently reviewed.This system doesn’t work with the MacBook Air, but if you don’t have a Kensington lock slot on your computer, this is a good solution.

With these you lock your computer to the table or some heavy object and the grab-and-go criminal will be thwarted from stealing your computer.

How to Protect Your Notebook in Case You Lose It is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

I’ve been using Skydrive for quite a while now and it has gradually improved over the years. It is still not where I want it to be, though, with one of my complaints being file size limitation (although that has been improved a bit in this new update).

I have always liked Skydrive’ collaboration capabilities: you can share your files easily with friends and colleagues, also. When you upload an attachment, whether it is Microsoft Office files or photos, you can choose to have them stored on Skydrive for easy access and quick editing if necessary.

The new Skydrive takes on a familiar Windows Explorer look which should be more attractive and welcoming for first time users of the service. Files are displayed in a default details layout along with the default ‘My Files’ location, which displays all file types.

There are some limited customization capabilities built in: you can change the default view from details to Thumbnail preview.

If you want to see more information about your files or folders, just hover over the file and click the blue i that appears. A TaskPane will appear on the right side of the screen with attributes about the file. This will have options that will let you add information, edit in Word Web App, Open in Microsoft Word or download to your hard disk. You can also see version history and edit the document’s permissions.

The new Skydrive features greatly improved search with a new suggested results feature. Just start typing a few words and the most relevant results will appear as you type. You can also see that you have quick access to other options beneath the document, such editing in the browser or view properties information.

The new Skydrive strongly focuses on quicker access to tools. The toolbar, for instance, displays quick links to creating a new Office file such as a Word document, spreadsheet, presentation or notebook. You can also create a new folder, add files or view synced files. Because you are using the browser instead of Windows Explorer to manage and create files, such improvements are welcome.

You can quickly organize and view common file types using the new Skydrive. For example: the Navigation Pane has a Documents and Photos link so you can quickly view all related files. In the above screenshot, I am in the Documents view where I view a combination of folders and Word documents. I have similar organization tools I can find in Explorer, such as columns, for viewing files. A nice feature is viewing the size of a folder.

You can also use the Quick Views capability first introduced in Hotmail to quickly access recently added documents or documents shared with you. The Groups feature allows you to easily collaborate with groups you might have set up on Windows Live Messenger. A very well integrated experience across core Windows Live services.

Photos

The new Photos view is nicely done in Windows Live Skydrive. By default, photos are displayed in Thumbnail Preview. One of the nice features I noticed include a faint watermark on the bottom right of the total number of photos in a folder. See below:

Another nice thing I discovered is that each thumbnail preview is an actual mini slideshow, see below:

Mini slideshows dynamically changing

Overall, these improvements are welcome and will make Windows Live Skydrive a more attractive option to use. However, the file size limitation still remains a big deal. Individual file sizes have moved from 50 to 100 MBs, but that is still not enough for what most people would like to use the service for. Especially for video and photos that can balloon in size. It’s something Dropbox still beats Skydrive on.

The other thing would be synchronization. Although Windows Live Sync is easy to use, there is a set it and forget it approach to Dropbox: just install the free client, type in your account information and files are automatically synced up. That seamless experience is still something Skydrive lacks.

That said, if you like Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9 integration, just like Hotmail, you can drag and pin the Windows Live Skydrive web icon to your Windows 7 taskbar for quick access with built in Jump List. It’s a good effort focused on making the service easier and more accessible. And in the end, it’s a free service, so its definitely worth a try. There’s nothing to lose.

How to use the new Windows Live Skydrive is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Mac OS X Lion will soon be out with a collection of iCloud sharing and syncing features 5GB of free online storage, but we think these Mac apps will be able to hold their own against the built in iCloud features. Best of all, you don’t need to wait for Apple, you can get started with your own version of iCloud today.

Evernote – FREE in Mac App Store

You might not think of Evernote as a sharing or syncing app, but it is the best note taking app for a reason – it syncs with the Evernote servers so you can share your notes, screen grabs, pictures, video, and audio recorders with all of your machines. If you take a picture of a business card or document the built in OCR feature will make the text searchable within Evernote so you can find it later. The OCR even works on handwriting.

Evernote is a tool that calls itself your second brain. We call it the digital filing cabinet. It is perfect for storing information for both the near and long-term. Here are a few ways we use Evernote;

• To save copies of all receipts of the Internet purchases that we may need at tax time.
• For fast access to travel itineraries (hotel reservations and such).
• A great repository for notes.
• Keeping scanned meeting documents at hand.
• A place for audio recordings of meetings and conversations.

When you pair Evernote with a smart phone, tablet or any device with an Internet connection you can access your information anywhere you go. What’s more it is free!

If you like Evernote, check out the Evernote Trunk service which allows you to pair up with other services and extend the functionality. If you find yourself saving web pages on a regular basis you’ll enjoy the Evernote browser plugin, which works in many browsers, but the updated the Chrome plug-in is at the head of the pack.

Dropbox – FREE

Dropbox is a free service that allows you to sync up to 2GB of files to your Dropbox.com account and to all of your computers. We really like Dropbox because it acts like a flash drive in the clouds. As long as you save your files to the Dropbox folder your files will be backed up to the website and synced to all of your computers.

You can access the files you save to your Dropbox on the website or from the computers you install Dropbox on. There are also mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android devices and even BlackBerry.

The Dropbox service is free for 2GB of storage and costs extra for more. You can participate in special activities which earn extra free storage. It is easy to get an extra 1 to 2 GB of storage because of all the extras Dropbox offers.

SugarSync – FREE

SugarSync is similar to Dropbox and can be used alongside Dropbox if you want extra storage or the functionality of both services. As you can read in our SugarSync review, SugarSync has a collection of features that give you more functionality like media playback from mobile devices, the ability to sync any folder (even on external drives) and a new mobile device management functionality.

We sync our media files to SugarSync thanks to better playback in the apps for iPad, iPhone and on Android devices. SugarSync is also nice for storing your media files because you get 5GB for free and the upgrade price is cheaper than Dropbox.

If you don’t want to be limited to the one folder in Dropbox, you should check out SugarSync. After you upload a file it is easy to share a single file or an entire folder with another user. This is especially handy for sharing a large home movie or collection of photos that are too big to email.

PhotoSync – FREE

PhotoSync isn’t just a Mac app, it is also an iPhone and iPad app. Together these apps are the easiest way to quickly offload pictures from your iOS device to your Mac without the need to sync to iTunes. When you want to sync your photos from your iPhone to your Mac, you can start a transfer from your iPhone or from the menubar on your Mac.

We reviewed the PhotoSync iPad app as part of one of our iPad Apps of the Week. We love this solution and think Apple should just buy the company that made this and incorporate it as is into OS X and iOS. While iCloud is building in Photo Stream, a service that will perform similar functionality, it will need to be really good to beat out the PhotoSync app.

SyncTwoFolders – Free

The above file syncing services are great for ongoing synchronization of files and folders, but sometimes you just want to do a one time sync of two large folders. SyncTwoFolders is a free utility that we don’t use often, but when we need to sync two folders without waiting on cloud uploads or singing up for online services it gets the job done. We have used it to backup folders of music and media from our MacBook Pro to an external hard drive and the small app works as advertised.

Here is what you can do with the app:

• Analyze both folders for a smart sync that beats out copy and paste.
• Source completes Target – Can copy only new files to the backup location.
• Reciprocal - Mirror the folders using either folder as the primary so that new files are copied and deleted files are deleted in the second folder.
• Source replaces Target – changed files in one location replace old files in second location.
• Copy both ways – files missing in either location will be copied to the other.
• Reciprocal without delete – Copy new files from one location to another but leave the files you deleted in the source in place on the backup
• Runs as a simulation – Allows you to see what changes will take place if you run the app

5 Great Mac Apps for Sharing and Syncing is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

How do we know about these tips and tools for getting work done at the coffee shop or mobile office? Our team is extremely mobile and I’ve spent the last 5 months camped out at the same coffee shop at least three days a week. In short, I live in coffee shops, which means I know how to get things done in a mobile office and turn distractions into incentives.

10 Tips To Getting Things Done While Working at a Coffee Shop

A Good Notebook – The first thing you need to get work done on the go is a notebook that is designed for mobile work. If you can choose your own notebook then you are at an advantage, but if work provides you with a notebook we recommend making friends with your IT guy so that you aren’t stuck with a desktop replacement that has poor battery life, a crappy keyboard and a weighs a ton.

If you can choose, look for something like the ThinkPad X1, one of the ThinkPad Edge notebooks, a new Dell Latitude E5420 or on the Mac side of things a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. You don’t need one of these notebooks, but the battery life and nice keyboards will make your mobile office time much more productive.

Good Headphones – Unless you like hearing the same music on repeat every 45 minutes and being interrupted by loud talkers and teens, get a good pair of headphones. We use a pair of Nox Scout in ear headphones which don’t block out all the noise, but you might prefer some noise cancelling headphones that go over your ears. These headphones are often more comfortable for long stretches and help give off a, “I’m working, don’t bother me!” vibe. If you can find a pair that includes a microphone you can be prepared for an unplanned conference call.

Google Docs – If you are working on a shared document, Google Docs is one of our favorite tools. Rather than try to figure out which email has the most recent version or calling four other workers to find out who is working on the document you can use Google Docs to always have the most recent version at your fingertips. You can even work on the document at the same time, which is perfect for working from a mobile office.

Find the Right Place – It may take a few visits, but it is worth looking for the right place. We have found independent coffee shops are usually more welcoming. Look for places with free WiFi, no time limits and seats near power outlets. Another thing we like about the independent coffee shops is the lack of WiFi login landing pages and systems which in our experience go down more often and interfere with our favorite screen sharing apps.

Cloud Storage – If you don’t have a Dropbox or SugarSync account, get one now. These tools will automatically sync files and folders to the cloud so that you have access to your files wherever you are. No more calling the office to ask someone to email you an important file you forgot to put on your thumbdrive.

Via hamron on Flickr

Find the Right Seat - This one will be a bit of personal preference, but we like finding a table near the action. By avoiding a corner, we are putting ourselves on display which makes us more aware of what we are doing — and less likely to goof off. Ideally this will be a two person table near a power outlet if you plan to stay for more than a few hours. Be warned, if you are too close to the door or the action you’ll become a prime target for chit chat from other regulars.

iPad + Screen Sharing App – Working on the go can be freeing, but you also may give up your great dual monitor setup. But, if you are on a local WiFi network or your own hotspot you can use an app like MaxiVista or Air Display to turn your iPad into a second monitor which is great for keeping team communication tools, TweetDeck, music or a reference page at hand while you work. These apps are even more useful if you are using an ultraportable with a small screen. You can get MaxiVista or Air Display for $9.99 in the App Store. MaxiVista is Windows only, while Air Display works on Mac and Windows.

Verizon 4G LTE MiFi

MiFi or Hotspot Smartphone App – Most of the time you can get connected on the coffee shop’s WiFi, but sometimes that fails or you want to work from a picnic table at the park. While writing this post the Panera WiFi wouldn’t allow us to connect and unlike at the local coffee shop we love, we couldn’t ask the staff to reset a router for us so we turned to the built in hotspot app on the Droid X2 to connect. This also allowed us to use the MaxiVista app, which won’t work on WiFi setups like Panera. You can add a hotspot package to your smartphone for around $20 a month or pick up a MiFi device from major carriers for reasonable rates.

Remote Connectivity – If you aren’t working from your main office computer while on the go, you need to have a VPN or LogMeIn installed. This will allow you to remotely connect to your main computer to retrieve files or to use applications and software tools you don’t have access to on your notebook. In most cases your IT department can get you setup for a VPN or can approve use of LogMeIn or a similar tool.

Via Marcin Wichary on Flickr

Tip Well & Be Considerate – If you want to work undisturbed and remain welcome for long stretches, don’t just get a coffee and fill a chair for 6 hours. Make sure you tip the barista and order something to eat if you plan to work for more than a few hours. If you pick a regular spot and tip well you’ll stand out and earn friendship from the employees. This is also helpful if you need to use the restroom and don’t want to completely pack up your mobile office. In general, if you are using a coffee shop as your mobile office treat the employees and other patrons with the same, or greater, respect that you would at the office.

Did we miss a tip for a productive mobile workspace? Let us know your favorite ways to stay motivated and productive on the go in the comments below.

10 Tips To Getting Things Done While Working at a Coffee Shop is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

The site is accessed through a web browser like Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox, or Internet Explorer 8 and higher. The service is promising apps to come soon for iOS and Android. By default the site uses Flash. However, browsers like Safari on an iPad or iPhone will work because they support HTML5.

DropTunes Streams Music from DropBox

Start by logging into DropTunes (the address is actually DropTun.es using the Spanish top-level domain ending .es) with your Dropbox user ID and password. The site automatically creates a folder in your Public Dropbox folder called DropTunes

You can choose to use this folder, but I have a folder in my Dropbox folder called music, so I just put my music there at first. Unfortunately, once one file was completed streaming DropTunes would not automatically go to the next song in the folder like it does when the music is in the DropTunes folder under Public. So, it is a good idea to use this special folder.

After your music is finished uploading to Dropbox, go to the folder in your browser using the DropTunes site and click or tap on the “Play” link next to the track you want to start streaming. When it is finished playing, it will move to the next song. If you want to advance it, then just tap on the skip button at the top left. The progress of the streamed file is shown above the list.

This service competes with Amazon’s new Cloud Drive and Cloud Player service released at the end of March 2011. The added ability to stream music to iOS devices might make DropTunes preferable. However, there is one severe limitation to DropTunes – the amount of storage. A free DropBox account only provides 2GB of free storage (plus any extras you earn through referring friends or completing their tutorial or periodic scavenger hunts).

Amazon gives users 5GB for free and upgrades them to 20GB if they just buy one album. That 20GB is in addition to any albums they buy from Amazon’s MP3 service. So, if you have 3GB of music purchased from Amazon after they released the Cloud Drive/Cloud Player, then you will actually get 23GB of free space for the first year.

Another consideration is that your music will sync to all of your computers by default. You may wish to use the selective sync feature in Dropbox and only sync your DropTunes folder with one computer, as DropTunes suggest on their “Info & Tips” page. Otherwise you may have very long synchronization times as it uploads and then downloads all of the music you put in the folder.

If you have a small library or a large Dropbox account and want to stream to an iOS device, then DropTunes is probably the best solution. It is also one of the simplest to set up and use. If you chose to use DropTunes but need another cloud storage or syncing service, check out our roundup of free online storage. It has a lot of great options, some of which offer synchronization in addition to cloud storage.

How to Stream Your Own Music Using DropTunes and Dropbox is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Utilizing the cloud is still a new idea for many although we have dabbled with in some form or another for a long time now, web mail services such as Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and Gmail are common examples of utilizing the cloud for storage and communication. Instant messaging is another form of using the cloud for communication too. In this article, we take a look at how we can use the Cloud to store our data such as large files, pictures, videos and music to name a few.

There are many services out there and I don’t believe there is a one size fits all solution, so I will be looking at two popular files storage and sharing services. In this article, we’ll look at Live SkyDrive.

Windows Live Skydrive

When you talk about cloud storage, Microsoft makes it literal with this easy to use online service, its also attractive with its massive 25 GBs of available space. To use Windows Live Skydrive, you need a Windows Live ID there is also a storage limit of 50 MBs per file. So, for people with heavy needs Skydrive might not be the best option, lets take a look at how to use it.

First you need to log into your Skydrive account at http://skydrive.live.com

You will then be presented with your main page with displays familiar folders you find in Windows such as Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Public folders. The philosophy shared between the two makes it easy to get a hang of.

Add a File

After logging in, the next step is to add a file or files, its up to you to decide where you would like to store your files. You can also create your own folders and store files there too. Lets open the Documents folder and add some there. You can choose to add them anywhere you desire. Please beware though that files added to the Public folder are available on the Internet to anyone.

Here you can see I already have some files in my documents folder.

Click the Add files link

In the box displayed, you drag your files or you click the select documents from your computer link and browse to where your files are located. I am going to use the drag and drop option since its quick and easy.

As you see in the above screenshot, I selected a few Microsoft Office files I would like upload to my Skydrive Documents folder. After the files have been uploaded, click Continue.

That’s it!

Please note, you are not just limited to office files and pictures, Skydrive can handle larger files too such as videos. Just to prove it here I am uploading a video file which is 49.8 MBs in size which is just below the file limit of 50 MBs permitted by Skydrive.

Sharing is just as easy.

Once the file has been uploaded, hover over it with your mouse pointer and click the Share link that appears.

Click Edit permissions

Set permissions for who can access your file, you can leave it at just you and select the option to email to additional people.

In our next article, we take a look at another solution, Dropbox.

How to Store and Share Large Files Online is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

The key is, finding the IP address that your laptop is using to connect to the Internet. This is essentially the address for your computer and law enforcement can use it to track your notebook back to a specific area. Programs like Prey and Lojack for Laptops can track down your laptop using the IP address and other information, showing you where it is on the map, and in the case of Lojack, even coordinating with the police on stolen laptops. Our solutions won’t show you where you notebook or laptop is on a map, but you should be able to share it with the police to aid in tracking down your notebook.

First off is the Dropbox File Syncing tool. This handy online storage and syncing tool has a spot in the settings which allows you to see where each computer last connected from. If you log into Dropbox from the web and upload a new file, the stolen laptop will download it and Dropbox will show you the IP address of the notebook.

To do this, you need to login to Dropbox.com, click on My Account and then on My Computers. On the My Computers page, hover over the ? icon and you will see the location of your stolen laptop.

IP Address located with Dropbox

In order for this to work, your computer will need to be connected to the internet and logged on, so it’s not a big help for users who have locked their computer with a password.

Another solution is to look in your Gmail settings, which is a place you should be going anyway to change your password. If you had Gmail open and logged in when your computer was stolen, it will likely try to grab your email as soon as the stolen notebook connects to the Internet. When this happens, Gmail records the IP address which you can share with the police. You can also use this same screen to log your account out remotely so that the thief doesn’t have access to your email and accounts.

Gmail IP Address Location

To access the information, sign into Gmail and scroll to the bottom of the page. You’ll see a line that says, “Last account activity”, followed by a short amount of information. Click Details to open a new window which will tell you where Gmail was recently accessed from. This will provide you with the IP address and give you the ability to log Gmail out on other locations.

Keep in mind, these solutions aren’t designed to help you find a stolen notebook, but they may help. If you are reading this right now and you don’t have a lost laptop, we suggest you check out a solution like Prey, which is free, or a tool like Lojack for Laptops, which comes with support that will work directly with police if your notebook is stolen. You can setup these tools in a few minutes and save yourself loads of time and sanity if your notebook or laptop is stolen.

Dropbox tip Via Consumerist

How to Track Down a Stolen Laptop After You’ve Lost It is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

USB Drives – For Occasional Transfers

If you only need to occasionally transfer a few files, the fastest way is to just get a USB hard drive or flash drive and plug it into the source computer, copy it over and then unplug it. Take the drive to the other computer and plug it in and copy it wherever you want it. On Windows you would use Windows Explorer and on a Mac you would use Finder.

If you want it to be more automatic, one solution might be Clickfree’s USB backup drives. They make it pretty easy to do. Just plug in the drive and it finds the files in your user or home folder and copies them over. The first time will take a long time, but after that it just grabs new or changed files. Now you can take the drive to the other computer and have access to the files you want.

When moving between Windows and a Mac, file formats can be in issue. For example it is not easy to read files created in Pages on a Mac when they are on a Windows computer. We have a guide to show you how to do that if that is your issue. Otherwise, be sure to save files on the Mac in a format that your Windows computers can read or vice versa. For example, in Pages, Numbers or Keynote on a Mac, save your files in formats that are compatible with Microsoft Office. In Pages go to File, choose Save As, and then look for the drop down box at the bottom. Select it and then choose Word Document from the drop down list.

The Save As Dialogue Box in Word 2011

It is much easier when going from a Windows computer to a Mac. Most file formats that can be created on a Windows computer can be read by software on a Mac. If you have problems, do a Save As in the program and choose one of the following formats:

• Word, Excel, PowerPoint (can be read by Office and iWork)
• PDF (can be read by Macs with Preview app)
• RTF (can be read by Macs with Text Edit app)
• Almost any picture file format including JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP
• Video files work best on Mac with M4V, MOV, MPG

DropBox or SugarSync – For Syncing Lots of Files Between OS X and Windows

If you have a lot of files to keep synchronized on both Mac and Windows, then services like DropBox or SugarSync are great tools. If you are coming from Windows and already use Windows Live Mesh, it too works on a Mac, but we think these other solutions are better.

What is synchronization? It is automatic copying of files between two devices. If you create a Word document on your Mac and save it to a synchronized folder, it will automatically upload to the service’s online storage site and then download it to the second computer. Then, let’s say you go to the other computer and open the file and edit it. Save it and close it and the file will become available on the other computer and the online storage site. Be sure to close files or they will not sync.

Security: If you are worried about security, remember a few things. First, both services encrypt the files which scrambles them and keeps them from being viewed by anyone other than you, unless you give away your password or put the file in a special public folder that it is viewable by others. Don’t put anything in that public folder and you have nothing to fear.

Second, if you are afraid of having your files on the Internet, remember they are encrypted. Only you can read them. Also, this is no different than having your email on the Internet. In fact email is less secure than these services, so as long as you create a secure password and keep others from getting access to that password, you should be safe.

Here is a video that explains what Sugar Sync can do:

The basic operation of each service is the same. Install the client software on both machines, With DropBox there is a new folder in the user folder. Anything put in that folder is synced. On SugarSync, just tell the program which folders you wish to sync. From then on, any files in the folders will be synced immediately after they are saved or changed. Also, you can access them at the online site from multiple devices, including any computer, tablets, or smart phones including Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. The only Windows Mobile app comes from SugarSync, so if you use that device, that’s the service to use.

These services are popular so many other programs and apps will work along with them. So let’s say you snap a photo on your iPhone or Android phone. Many apps will take those files and upload them to DropBox for you.

To see the differences between the two, check out Sugar Sync’s comparison chart. One benefit tipping in favor of SugarSync is the amount of  free online storage. They recently upped it to 5GB. DropBox only offers 2GB for free.

To learn how to use DropBox check out this great Howcast video below. Just wait a second and click Skip this Ad.

Here’s one for SugarSync:

Network Attached Storage – for Making Files Available, but not Stored Locally

A third option is for those who want to keep files available to a Macbook Pro or MacBook and a Windows notebook, but do not want to actually store them all on both computers. For example, let’s say you are creating a bunch of videos on your MacBook. After creating the video you want to be able to access it from the Windows computer, or any other computer. But you don’t think you will want to access that file all the time. There is no reason to copy it to the other computer’s hard drive until you plan to view it.

The best solution for this is a network attached storage device, or NAS. If you have a network at home to share your Internet connection between multiple computers, then you will likely have a router. The router might have a USB port on it intended for hooking an external USB hard drive (see above – Netgear WNDR3400 Wireless Dual Band Router). Consult your router’s support page or documentation to see if it does. If so, you can get a cheap USB hard drive and plug it in. Configure it to be available to all the computers on your home network. It might even have the ability to make the files available to you over the Internet.

If your router doesn’t have a USB port on it, then you might want to try out a device like the PogoPlug. We reviewed the older version and found that for accessing files over a network or from the Internet, it is great.

PogoPlug shares hard drives and printers

PogoPlug is a box that plugs into your network via an Ethernet cable. It can also be done wirelessly, but if you can we recommend using the Ethernet cable. Then, you plug in up to four hard drives which can then be accessed from any computer on the network or through a special web interface anywhere in the world from the Internet. There are a lot of other features to including:

• Accessing from tablets and smart phones
• Sharing certain models of printers over the Internet or to some tablets and smart phones
• Sending file to hard drive via email
• Streaming video, music and pictures via the Internet to many devices

Setup is a little tricky, but it is worth it. They have three options, but we recommend the PogoPlug Pro. It has built-in Wi-Fi and replaced the ugly pink with black. It is $99 direct although we found one on Amazon for just $72.23.

Google Docs or Windows Live SkyDrive – for Transferring Office Documents Between Mac and Windows

Some people only want to share their office documents, like word processor files, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. For those people, the best option might just be to use either Google Docs or Windows Live SkyDrive in conjunction with Microsoft Word 2010 and 2011. Microsoft’s tutorial page shows how their service works.

For SkyDrive, from within Microsoft Office 2011 apps on a Mac, like Word, just choose File, Share and then “Save to SkyDrive…”. It will ask you for your user name and password and export the file to the online storage. Then, just access it by going to your SkyDrive page on the other computer.

To dot his on a Windows computer, just follow our guide. For this to work you will have to have a Windows Live ID, which you can get at the Windows Live site.

If you prefer to use Google Docs, you will need an account. For Gmail users, you already have one. Just go to the Google Docs site and sign in using your Gmail credentials. From there you can create the document and save it. Then go to the other computer and sign in and open the document.

One benefit of Google Docs is you have both Google’s online office suite, but you can also upload a lot of different files formats and have them accessible online.

What is really cool is you can just open up the folder that contains the file(s) you wish to upload and drag them from Finder on a Mac or Explorer on a Windows computer to the box on the docs site (see screen shot above). To see what kinds of files you can upload, click the “File types and size limits” link below the “Drag and drop files here” box. It includes:

• Word .doc
• OpenDocument text .odt
• StarOffice text .sxw
• PowerPoint .ppt and .pps
• Excel .xls and .xlsx
• OpenDocument spreadsheet .ods
• Comma-separated .csv
• Windows Metafile .wmf
• Photos with .jpg, .gif and .png formats
• PDF

One thing is for certain, sharing files between Mac OS X and Windows is much easier than it used to be thanks to a collection of free or cheap tools. If you switch between systems on a regular basis we highly recommend one of these solutions to simplify your file sharing and access.

How to Transfer Files Between Mac and Windows – 4 Solutions is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Run Windows (or OS X)

While Apple has kept their app store walled off from things they don’t want you to do with the iPad, thanks to remote control apps, you can do many of them by installing and running an app on the PC and controlling it via the iPad. As a result you can run a full range of Windows software on your iPad, through these remote control apps.

The best solution for this is LogMeIn Ignition, a $29.99 app that just plain works. There are cheaper options, but not better ones. It is worth the high price for this app to be able to run apps from your iPad that are not in the app store. You don’t even have to jailbreak your iPad to do this. Users of software that won’t run on the iPad can run it on a PC or Mac and control it with the iPad. The speed is not stellar but it is very good and works even over the Internet.

Use Internet Explorer on your iPad via LogMeIn Ignition

Hold your speaker notes

If you regularly speak in front of a group of people, you likely are used to writing notes on a 3×5 card or carrying notes on the printed page. Save some money, time printing, and waste for landfills by leaving the printer idle and sending your notes to the iPad. Here is our workflow to make this happen easily. Instead of using the clunky File Sharing feature in iTunes, which requires you to hook up the iPad to the computer and manually upload a file via iTunes to an app, we use DropBox installed on the PC and iPad.

The file will sync automatically. Just create your notes in Pages ($19.99) on a Mac or Word on anything and save it to the DropBox folder. Then open the app on the iPad and use the Export option to open it an app that reads the notes. We use Pages because it allows us to make last-minute edits and to increase the font size so we can quickly see it while standing behind the podium.

Show off pictures you’ve just taken

After taking some snapshots either with an iPhone or a camera that has either a USB cable or SD card, you can show them off to your friends and family. What you will need is the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit and optionally the VGA Dock connector adapter ($29) or HDMI adapter ($39) that was just released.

Here are the steps:

1. Take pictures.
   

   Use Photos to show off your pictures

2. Plug in the iPad Camera Connection Kit adapter that works for your (USB or SD depending on which way you prefer to hook up the camera).
3. Plug either the USB cable from the camera to the adapter or take the SD card out of the camera and plug it into the iPad.
4. The iPad will recognize that the kit has either the USB cable or an SD card attached and open the import tool automatically.
5. Import either all or just the pictures you want to show off.
6. Now use the Photos app (it is open automatically after connecting the cable or card in step 4 above) to show them off either in a slide show or just manually.
7. Optionally you can hook up the iPad to a TV, projector or some other external display via the VGA cable or HDMI cable. With the iPad 2 you could just use AirPlay hooked up to a display with an Apple TV ($99 – see our review) installed.
8. You can even play some music while you do this.

Play movies on your TV with Apple TV

Speaking of the Apple TV, you can also show videos on your TV if you have the Apple TV already hooked up. Right now, not many apps feature this capability, but the built-in Videos and YouTube apps will do it. And we expect more to come, including the Majek app (free), which is from the people who made Goldilocks, a web actions series shot entirely on the iPhone. They plan to add this feature so you can watch their shows and films on a TV.

Use it as a game controller for a Mac game

There are a few games that can be installed on the Mac and the iPad which allow the user to control the game on the Mac via the iPad. One such game is Chopper 2 ($4.99), a game where you fly a helicopter around. This fun and we think it is the future of an Apple game console. If Apple is smart they will allow games to be installed on the Apple TV and use iOS devices as remote wireless controllers.

Add an external display to your notebook

With an app like AirDisplay for just $9.99 you can add a ten inch display to your computer. The app runs on the iPad and has a small app that runs in the background on your computer. When the computer detects an iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch) with AirDisplay running on the same network it will use the iPad as a second display just as if it was plugged into the computer. It won’t be as smooth as an actual external display, but for simple tasks like keeping track of a Twitter feed or instant messaging it works great.

AirDisplay uses iPad as an external display

Advance presentation slides in mouse-like fashion

If you make presentations with a computer, you can install Mobile Mouse Pro ($1.99) and use the iPad as a presentation mouse to control the presentation. The computer must have a connector app running. Windows puts it in the system tray and Mac has it in the menu bar.

Get where you are going with GPS

With Navigon use iPad as a GPS device

For those who have an iPad with 3G there is also a GPS receiver built into the device. With navigation software like Navigon (from $29.99 to $119.99 depending on which version you get) or the built-in app Maps based on Google maps, you can get directions to a destination. If you can afford it, get a navigation app because it will provide spoken turn-by-turn directions. If you don’t need it, then the built-in Maps app will suffice.

Create a home movie with iMovie

This is an iPad 2 specific use because Apple’s new iMovie ($4.99) for the iPad only works on the newer tablet. You can shoot movies either with the new iPad or on an iPhone. If you do the later you will have to import it using the iPad Camera Connection Kit and your USB charging cable. We recommend this if you can since the iPhone’s camera is so much better. If you don’t have an iPhone, though and don’t want to use the iPad’s camera to shoot video, you are out of luck at this point. Hopefully Apple will fix this. We have a section about this in our review of the iPad 2 over at our sister site, Gottabemobile.

Make beautiful music with GarageBand

GarageBand ($4.99) works on both iPads but it works better on the new one. This is a cool app that lets you do some amazing things. It has synthesized instruments that let you create multi-track recordings. Export them to the iTunes app on the iPad or download them to the computer to put on your iPod or iPhone. Alternatively, you can email the tracks. Even if the result don’t sound that great, they are a lot of fun. If you have any musical talent at all, you will likely be able to use GarageBand.

One fun tool is the sampler that lets your record your own voice and use it as an instrument. Electric guitar players can use the iPad as a mobile amp too. Here is an example of what you can do – just right-click to save it.

Ten Cool Uses for iPad and iPad 2 is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.