After four months of using DropBox as our primary data storage channel, its viability is no longer in any doubt. 100Gb of storage space is beginning to seem a little restrictive, but with that caveat, the service works as advertised, and in an unobtrusive, reliable fashion. If Australian bandwidth was better, the whole concept would be pretty much perfect. We have DropBox linked to four desktop PCs in two locations. The need to keep track of file synchronisation and make multiple backups in both locations has vanished. At the end of each day, we save the working file folder to a backup USB powered hard drive. That, plus four identical copies of the data (one on each workstation) and the copy on the DropBox server (plus  DVD burn backups) makes the data seem quite secure. A skim of the DropBox forums hint at unmet demand for storage solutions larger than 100Gb, so hopefully additional packages will be rolled out soon.

The immediacy of Twitter is exciting, but the usefulness of it takes a little while to become apparent. Following celebrity lives is one predictable function, but more serious business uses can be found:

• tweet news of your latest products/services to your clients (assuming they ‘follow’ you — something that you can encourage)
• tweet interesting links/information in your business field (don’t just promote yourself relentlessly)
• encourage informal feedback from your customer base, or from potential customers
• listen to leading thinkers/businesses in your field, follow up on some of the suggested links/hints.
• Programs like TweetDeck can help you keep track of everyone you find interesting in the world of Twitter.

Twitter’s truncated, telegraphic form cuts a lot of the clutter found in the rest of the web. It also presents very low entry barriers, and if you only send a couple of tweets a day and read a few more, represents less of a time commitment than a blog. The web is a very important business frontier, and tweeters are often right out on the bleeding edge.

If you are afflicted by self-doubt, procrastination, attention deficit disorder, old-fashioned laziness or a simple inability to get things done, 43 Folders is a very useful source of advice. Completely devoid of motivational bumph and navel-gazing, Merlin Mann’s mission is to help you avoid distraction and get on with your real work. For example:

• set your email to update once an hour, rather than every five minutes.
• Writers should write, rather than read books about writing.
• Everything takes longer than you expect, even when you anticipate it will take longer than you expect
• Spend significant time thinking rather than filling up every moment of your time with activity

Many of his thoughtful and amusing musings boil down to the following nugget: “Creative work only seems like a magic trick to people who don’t understand that it’s ultimately still work.“