You can add any kind of file and save it into your Dropbox folder.  So say, Bill add a series of Word documents in his Dropbox folder and then shares that folder with me, I can then pull the documents out and edit them, view them and even add them back to the Dropbox to send back to him.  It is hard for me to hold back my urge to describe the service as some sort of odd time space worm hole – but to me, that might be the best way to describe it.

If you sign up for the free version of Dropbox, you get 2GB of disk space to save and send your stuff.  While that might not make it the perfect backup option – it does come in handy with collaborating on files with others. Check out Dropbox and let me know if you have found any other handy uses for it.

ManageWP is something I have needed for a long time.  It takes your site details for each WordPress powered website you manage, and lets you take care of simple tasks for multiple blogs in one location.  This saves you time as you no longer have to log into each blog.  You can take care of things all at one.

Getting set up is easy, all you need to do is sign up, download the ManageWP Worker plugin and then install the ManageWP worker on your blogs. Once set up you can:

• Manage posts and pages
• Install new plugins and themes
• Manage your categories and tags
• Manage your comments
• Do one-click updates to WordPress and plugins

The only thing that keeps me away from using ManageWP full time would be the fact that I feel a little nervous about handing my login details to a third party like this.  However, there should be a self-hosted version of ManageWP in the works soon – so once that is out there, this is going to be something I’ll use for sure.

You can go sign up and try the remote version of the service at ManageWP.com.

Did you share something on your Twitter page about a month ago and now can not seem to remember the URL? Facebook, Twitter and the like do not make it very easy to go through the archives to dig up old content.  Thankfully, Trunk.ly is here to archive things for you.  This awesome website will automatically collect links you share on Facebook, Twitter and Delicious and make them searchable for you.

This is really helpful for Delicious users out there who have just recently found out that Yahoo is looking to shut down that service.  Trunk.ly makes it really easy to import those links, back them up and make them searchable. I am really excited to see how much of a fan base grows around this new service and what other import features they might bring in the future. 

It never hurts to have a backup of your socially shared links and Trunk.ly makes doing so really easy.  You can also follow or share your collected links with other too.  You can check out my Trunk.ly profile and see how easy it is to get started with the service.

Download Vol 6 Issue #3 of Ping! Zine (.pdf)

If you did not get the paperback copy of the magazine, you can also pick up the digital version from PingZine.com.  If you want to get the paperback version of the magazine for free, check out this special subscription offer from WebHostingShow.com.

Looks like they replaced my power supply and I should be back up and running as I was in a few days at most.  Going to take time to get things synced back over from my laptop to my desktop.  Overall I would say I was very impressed with how HP handled the situation.  A couple of days ago they even gave me a phone call to see how things were going and if I had gotten it back yet – that was nice.

On a side note, I can also report that Windows Vista’s image based backup service actually works! I made a backup of my PC before I sent it off and I am now back to how I was two weeks ago (even after a few reformats in between).  I am almost scared to praise them too much because then the wheels might fall off – but thus far that part of the experience has been the most surprising of all. 

You can upload all of your images and files, manage sort and organize them and then they also provide a few cool ways to share them with family, friends and the world around you.  As mentioned before you get 10 GB of disk space for storage.  You also get 1 GB of daily bandwidth and you can upload 50 MB per file.  They provide support for these file formats:

jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, tiff, psd, pdf, txt, rtf, doc, ppt, csv, xls, swf, xcf, xml, css, dcr, docx, xlsx, pptx, ico, ttf, tif, dxf, dwg, max, 3ds, pdd, psp, dng, ai, htm, html, rss, atom, eml, pages, dot, dotx, info, svg, cdr, zip

Sign up and give them a shot.  Would love to hear about some real world use of this Online service.

Shadow Explorer

This program makes it a quick and easy job to browse through the shadow copies of your files created by the Windows Vista volume shadow copy service.  Without, it is kind of hard to hunt down an exact file backup, but with it – it gives you a familiar interface to find all your backed up files.  I would still recommend backing up using other means, but this is just one more nice Vista addition to have handy.

Logon Studio Vista

Tired of how your default Windows Vista logon screen looks?  This free download will allow you to change that background picture you see on the logon screen to whatever you desire.  They also have several you can download and use too.  Sure, this is just an eye candy improvement, but we all like for things to look nice, right?

Lifextender

This tool, used with Vista Media Center, is an application designed to remove any and all commercials from the video that you record.  I have used it a number of times for the various cable shows I watch and it has yet to let me down.  Might just set it up to work overnight, so it doesn’t get in the way of your day to day work.

For some more applications to make the Vista experience better, check out Ave’s Vista Stuff.  There are a handful of neat little application there that will add a few more perks to your shinny new OS.

• Google PageRank Updates and Debate
• Discrimination Against Southerners in Hosting
• How to Backup Using cPanel
• Best of the Forum Scripts
• ICANN Investigates Insider Domain Registrations

Should be a podcast everybody can get something out of. If not, you can have your money back! Jokes on you though, you can listen for free.

+ Listen to Episode 129 of the Web Hosting Show!

From projects to cool sites to those darn dancing badgers – I need my bookmarks to survive. With that in mind, I have been backing up my bookmarks early and often using these steps and I thought I would share them with you. When it is all said and done you too will be able to use del.icio.us to backup your bookmarks.

There are only two steps you have to take to backup your bookmarks from your browser to Del.icio.us:

Step One: Export from Browser – The first thing you need to do is export your bookmarks from your browser. I use Firefox, so we will stick with that for now. In the Firefox menu bar click on “Bookmarks” and then “Manage Bookmarks” to pull up your bookmark manager.

Once inside of there, go to “File” then “Export…” and save the “bookmarks.html” to your desktop.

Step Two: Upload to the Web – Login to the del.icio.us web site and then click on the “Settings” link at the top. Under the “Bookmarks” section click on the link for “import/upload”. The rest of the steps from here are easy to follow. Read the instructions and upload your “bookmark.html” file you backed up earlier.

As a tag, I usually use “bookmarkbackup” but you are free to use whatever you wish. Just make sure it is unique so you don’t get them mixed up with your other saved items if you use del.icio.us for multiple reasons.

There you have it. Now your bookmarks should be saved and you don’t need to worry – just in case the worst might happen to your browser, computer and/or house. Del.icio.us to the rescue again!

• Navigation Menu Debate
• CSS Menu Generator
• Fonts For Every Occasion
• Get Your Dummy Text Here
• Find A Backup Method That Works

Got a suggestion for a Web development topic or a resource you’d like me to check out? Drop me an E-mail and let me know about it.