Synchronicity is defined by Wikipedia as "the experience of two or more events which are causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner." When it comes to technology and web 2.o tools this is really exciting. Before web 2.0 programs people and computers worked as "independent" work stations, documents and files were kept separately. If you wanted to transfer a single document or a number of files you would most likely attach files to an e-mail, copy files to some sort of memory device.
I recently was uploading a video to YouTube and discovered a few new things about synchronicity. First I was asked at the YouTube log in if I wanted to sign in using my Google account I agreed and now, every time I log into Google I also have my YouTube account, with access to my "favourites", and "playlists" at the same time. Selecting a video as "favourite" and adding it to a "playlist" means you can find that video again when you need to share it with someone or reference at another time. There are also new comment, annotations and message tools now in YouTube that will make collaboration on a video possible. The one Log In now works for both accounts. When these two programs are opened together it makes for easier transfer of YouTube files to my Google Blog, Document, Presentation, website or wiki.
The power of having files in sync is clear when I Started using Picasa. This program takes all the photos you have on a given computer (or the folders you want) and lets you upload and store them on the Internet. Those file can be synchronized. So now I can access, edit and create with my photo's on my home computer, office computer, net book or even on mobile device. Each of the folders of photos can be left private by default or made public and shared. So no longer do I need to worry about loosing all the special photo's if my computer breaks down. Everything I need is together, photo's video' docs, etc.
Sychronicity means = access to my stuff, anytime anywhere! Try it!
MJ:
ReplyDeleteIs there a limit to total file size on Google and Picasa? I know the gmail limit is 7 something gig. If I upload all of my pics it is way more than that.
Thanks,
Al S.
Hi Al,
ReplyDeleteWith Picasa you currently get 1 G of storage. You can purchase more space starting at 10 G of storage for $20 per year. 40G is $75. This less than the cost of storage key or most storage devices available right now. The amount of pictures depends on the size of the files and when you upload you can determine the size appropriate for different uses. I just compared this to Flikr and for their free account you can upload 2 video's and 100 MB of photo's per month. A pro paid account with Flickr is $24.95 year.