For the past few weeks I’ve covered mostly large companies with well known products, but just because these companies are huge doesn’t mean they always have all the answers for your techie needs. This week, I’ve taken a look at three small companies that provide very specific services, but, in my opinion, do what they do very well.
Dropbox (www.dropbox.com)
You have probably have realized how invaluable your space on Davidson’s server can be while switching among different computers to work on a paper or presentation. If you leave campus, though, it can be a hassle to access the files and keep track of the most up-to-date copy.
Dropbox is a desktop program and a web application that acts as a server space with a very user friendly interface on both the web and a your desktop computer. The application creates a folder on your hard drive that syncs to the Dropbox server and then with any other computers on which you may have installed the program. Accessing your files on the website or smartphone is also a breeze.
When it comes to working on collaborative projects that require input and revision by several people, Dropbox has many advantages. You can share files with other Dropbox users, which allows the group to maintain one central copy of a file.
A free Dropbox account comes with 2GB of storage space, but if you invite your friends, you can gain additional storage space. If you decide you need significantly more space, you can upgrade to a paid account for a small fee.
Prezi (www.prezi.com)
If you’re tired of the same, boring PowerPoint presentations then Prezi is just the tool you’ve been looking for. Like PowerPoint, Prezi supports text and graphics to accompany a talk.
It offers, though, a major difference: instead of using several slides, Prezi allows a you to make a single canvas and zoom in and out to focus on only what you need at a given time. This approach to presenting has one distinct advantage: it gives your audience a heads up on how your presentation is structured so they focus on the material, not the mode.
To create a presentation, you use the web-based tool on Prezi’s website, but the program also offers an offline presentation tool in locations without internet access. The basic functions of Prezi are available through a free account, though this option only includes limited storage space and does not allow you to make your presentation private.
For students and teachers, another free option includes additional server space and the ability to make your presentations private. Once again, though, if you find you would like the additional server space and functionality, there are several paid options.
Prezi’s website contains several videos that demonstrate the merits of its product. At first, using Prezi may seem like a bit of a challenge because it requires a bit more of an artistic touch than PowerPoint, but learning the basic features takes just a few minutes. You’ll be creating awesome presentations in no time.
Evernote (www.evernote.com)
Evernote, another incredibly popular web/desktop/smartphone application, organizes notes from multiple types of media, such as text, photos and audio. There are several other good options for organizing notes and data, but most of them lack the huge convenience factor of Evernote, which provides access to your notes on many different platforms.
If you ever find yourself scribbling down some important bit of information on a piece of scrap paper only to realize later you have misplaced it, Evernote makes it easy to jot that information down in a text note, or to simply take a photo of it on your phone and add it to your notebook. Once in your Evernote notebook, you have the ability to search the text within the photo because of a great handwriting recognition engine.
Evernote also organizes web clips through browser plug-ins in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer, which makes it easy to keep track of all the websites you visit while doing research. If you’re like me, you’ll use this feature all the time when you know you read something on a website but can’t seem to figure out which one by searching for key words in the web clips.
Like Dropbox and Prezi, Evernote is free for a basic account, but if you become a heavy user, the program offers the option to upgrade to a paid account for additional server space and functionality.
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