Web Worker Daily

Even in the best of times, a freelance web worker’s income can be spotty and irregular at times. Unlike salaried employees, contractors are subject to sudden and frequent variations in the amount of revenue they can generate at any given time. Those variances can be mitigated, however, by buttressing your revenue through a few out of the ordinary sources. Read the rest of this entry »

File sync, storage and sharing site Dropbox launches to the public today ending the need for pesky beta codes or invites to this very cool service.

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?

With the tremendous number of ways to get your files online – from Dropbox to FolderShare to Box.net to SugarSync – there’s one big issue for consumers: how do you choose? Over at our parent blog GigaOM, Om Malik things Sugar Sync has a new edge in this market due to their announcement of an iPhone interface. But is that enough to tilt the balance in their favor?

Part of the issues is that the market is so fragmented: there are backup solutions, replacements for email attachments, synchronization solutions, and more. Trying to pick one “best” provider from the confusing variety out there is tough, at best. If you’ve had to choose a way to get your own files online – who did you choose? And why?

At our parent blog GigaOM, Om Malik is tackling a question that will be familiar to most independent web workers: what’s the best way to add a bunch of bulk storage to your network, beyond just putting a larger drive in your computer? After considering his own needs, Om pronounces the Buffalo Linkstation Mini “almost perfect.”

Of course, there’s no guarantee that your own needs match Om’s precisely. While the idea of just adding an external box with storage is attractive, you need to think carefully about what you’re going to do with it. Is it just an extra drive that you can get to from all of your computers? Is it a media server? Is it a backup device? Do you need compatibility with multiple operating systems? Do you need web or wireless access?

Read the rest of this entry »