Mike gave us a glimpse of Dropbox back in March, and in my testing of services of this type I found Dropbox to be among the easiest to use and manage. Because there is no new interface to learn, it just works for me, and is easy to introduce to clients. A nice demo screencast does a great job of explaining how it all works.

Also announced today is the availability of a Linux client to add to their existing Windows and Mac options as well as information on new storage plan options. The 2GB free accounts are still around but if you need more space you will have the option to upgrade to a 50GB box for $9.99 / month or $99.99 / year.

Will you try Dropbox? With the myriad of sync and share options available, what do you use to keep files in sync?

BlastGroups makes it really easy to create your own community site where you can share just about anything with your group. Features include message boards, email blasts, events, pictures, videos, audio and more. The interface is simple and logical without a lot of flash or flair. Toolbar bookmarks make “Sending a Blast” to your groups or contacts remarkably simple. Integrated RSVP functionality make the calendar really useful for event planning.

For the web worker, the privacy options allow varying levels of access to your group including keeping it entirely hidden and invite only. This could make it an option for small group project management or collaboration. For testing purposes, I mocked up a group for WWD authors to share links and story ideas and can see it being very effective for this purpose.

The list of groups already available is understandably small, but as easy as it is to get something up and running I expect the catalog to expand quickly. If you don’t find what you are looking for, you can start your own group in just a matter of moments. A wizard like interface steps you through the process and you can be up and running quickly. Invite your friends and you are good to go. I can see BlastGroups being a great option for families, organizations, fan-club sites, and more. It’s dead simple to set up and use which should encourage those less technically able to jump right in.

Customization options for your group are a bit limited, allowing only color changes and a logo upload. I also had occasional moments of not knowing if I was in my group or on my profile, or if I was even logged in at all, but familiarity soon overcame these initial obstacles.

BlastGroups is free to use although there are occasional ads on the side of the page. They are relatively unobtrusive but I would appreciate the option to pay a monthly fee for ad-free usage. Registration is required to join or create groups.

What are you currently using to communicate with your groups? Could BlastGroups work for you?

Skitch – and it’s Web-based, cross-platform counterpart Skitch.com – is positioned as a “fast and fun image sharing” tool. With its compact Mac app, Skitch makes it easy to take a snapshot of a Web page and share it with others in all the ways you might share an image.

What hit me the moment I watched the short video demo of the application was how incredibly useful Skitch.com could be for the Web development process.

Right away I can see how handy having Skitch at-the-ready for aspects of my Web work that heretofore required wrangling with PhotoShop (I’m not really a graphics person) to manipulate screenshots. Skitch could help me take, modify and send or post screenshots for:

• making recommendations to new clients about their sites and modifications I’d recommend making;
• pointing out elements of good Web design on other sites to my clients;
• making comments about specific site design and development elements so my requests to my designers are unquestionably clear;
• before and after images of client sites after my team conducts a redesign.

The Skitch app does more than take a screenshot. It also provides editing and markup tools to draw and type “on” the image without actually modifying or ruining the image itself.

The first snapshot I took was of the upcoming redesign for my personal Web site. I wanted to show my designer what text I needed to change. All I had to do was take the snapshot, select the text tool and type my message on top of the image and then use the box tool to draw a box around the text I was referencing.

When I made a mistake drawing the box around the text, I clicked on the eraser tool and was able to remove the box without affecting the snapshot in any way.

The next images I took were of the original home page and redesigned home page of one of my past clients. On the before shot, I added some text about a few of the key goals I had set forth for the project. The after shot showed the end result of the work from the team I put together along with my comments. These shots could work well on my new site redesign as an example of what I do, and they took less than five minutes to create.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

To get these images into this blog post, I used a built in share function on Skitch – the “Webpost” button. With this feature, I was able to grab the code quickly and easily to embed images here. And I had the option to share a link to my personal page on Skitch.com or provide a direct URL for a smaller or full sized image.

I can also choose to make my Skitch page Public, Secret – for only people who know the URL, or Private and password protected.

Every image I took while testing out the app was automatically saved into my Skitch account which is a great feature for someone like me who is so forgetful about everything including saving files. I could save a screenshot without sharing it but also choose to modify, share or delete any image later since they were all archived in my account. This feature will automatically give me a nice archive of screenshots as I take and send them to clients, colleagues or vendors so I’ll be able to track down any shot in the future.

While I see the immediate value of Skitch for my Web work, I can’t ignore the fact that it is really, really fun to use. Skitch is one of those apps that will seamlessly cross over from my life to my work and back again.

P.S. – I was able to get ahold of Cris Pearson, co-founder and CEO of plasq, creators of Skitch, and while he didn’t reveal anything earth-shattering, here’s what he had to say.

WWD: Why is the site still in Beta? Isn’t a year a really long time for beta testing? Pearson: It is a long time. We have not been sure what route to take business model wise. There are many options. Paid VS free, Freemium (a free and a pro version) & subscriptions models are some of the ones we have been pondering. Down side is some customers don’t like to wait to find out pricing etc. Up side is you can experiment more and gather data while you decide.

WWD: When is the Windows version of Skitch going to be avail or is it even in the works? Last I saw it mentioned was March.

Pearson: A windows version is in the works, yes. I’ll stick to the ’soon’ time frame :) WWD: Anything else on the horizon for Skitch that would make it fresher and newsier? Pearson: We plan to beef up the skitch.com features over the next few months. A new dashboard like home screen is one feature we are working on. We also are looking to add upload support for some other services.