Dropbox is no doubt one of the most popular file synching software for PCs and mobile phones alike. To start out, Dropbox gives users 2GB of free space (and an additional 250MB) and then allows users to earn additional space by referring friends. However, you can earn 5GB of free space by downloading the beta version of Dropbox.

Users who download the beta version of Dropbox and help the developers fix the bugs will get up-to 5GB of space for uploading photos and videos from their mobile phone, camera or SD card. You will receive 500MB of space when you first import your photos or videos to Dropbox and continue earning additional 500MB of data for every 500MB of photos or videos you upload to the cloud.

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Dropbox has been growing rapidly and there were some hints that they might also integrate with Google Docs soon, however, nothing has come of it yet.

Beta software can often be buggy and sometimes crash your system. However, if you are willing to take the risk, you can download the beta version of Dropbox from here. Also, don’t forget to check our Online Storage section to find free online storage for your files.

[via Engadget]

The folks over at Fusible tipped us that Dropbox might finally be bringing much requested feature of integrating Google Docs to their service after they purchased few domains including DropboxDocs.com, DropboxDocs.net and DropboxDocs.org.

The request for Dropbox integration with Google Docs was first requested on their forums in February 2010 (forum post). However, despite rumors that made rounds in early 2011, there were no signs of the integration. Dropbox has definitely been one of the most popular file synching services in the market and was recently valued at $5 billion. They have also shown exponential growth growing from 4 million users to 25 million users in under a year.

However, unlike other services like Box.net, Dropbox does not allow users to store or backup their Google documents in the cloud. However, this might change considering that Dropbox purchased DropboxDocs.com, DropboxDocs.net and DropboxDocs.org on August 29th according to Whois records.

Unless they plan to spinoff their own document service in the cloud, I am pretty convinced that Dropbox might soon rollout integration for storage with Google Docs in collaboration with Google itself. Integration with Dropbox would help Google stave off some tough competition from Microsoft’s Office 365 and get more users to their service.

We are not sure about a formal announcement yet, but expect that it might be made in the next few days . This would definitely be a good addition to an already excellent service. Do you use Dropbox? Do you think it’s integration with Google Docs might be useful to you? Do let us know through your comments.

With the introduction of Opera Link in 2007, Opera became one of the first browsers to support profile synchronization out of the box. Although Opera Link has received multiple enhancements since then, it still has a pretty big shortcoming. It can’t sync passwords. However, that might be about to change.

Last year Opera had explained that they wanted to support password synchronization; however, given the sensitive nature of the data, they wanted to get it absolutely right before launching it. It appears that the wait might finally be over. Favbrowser was tipped off by a reader that one of the Opera 11.10 snapshots contain a “SyncPasswordManager” setting buried inside opera:config.

Although this setting was removed in the most recent snapshot, I am fairly confident that the appearance of the setting is an indication that Opera is planning to launch this feature soon. In the meanwhile, you can install the excellent LastPass extension for Opera to be able to access your passwords from pretty much any browser and any operating system. The latest version can even import Opera Wand passwords. Roboform fans can also check out the new RoboForm Lite adapter for Opera.

Xmarks, the popular cross-browser bookmark synchronization tool, has announced that it has been acquired by LastPass, bringing to end months of speculation about Xmarks’ future.

Towards the end of September, Xmarks had announced that it will be shutting down due to its failure to identify a viable business model. The announcement had triggered an outcry from its users, who blamed the company for not even trying. Taken aback by the outpouring of support from users – as many as 30,000 pledged to pay for a premium version of the service, Xmarks soon changed its stance. The pledge of financial support from users also helped the startup gain the attention of multiple potential buyers.

LastPass is also one of our favorites, and we have lauded the cloud based password and identity management tool on multiple occasions in the past. Like LastPass, the core functionality of Xmarks will remain available for free. However, a premium offering, which will include iPhone and Android apps among other things, will be available for $12 per year. Users looking to take advantage of both of these excellent services can opt for the combined subscription at $20 per year.

For now, LastPass and Xmarks will continue to operate individually. They will have separate websites as well as separate downloads. However, in the future, they might be combined into a single offering.

A few months ago, Xmarks, the bookmark sync service announced that they would be shutting shop due to lack of a good business model. The service though was revived thanks to donations from users and will not continue to live  around thanks to the sale of the service to a anonymous buyer.

According to an official blog post, Xmarks in the final stages of completing the sale to a new owner who is committed to keeping the browser sync service alive and kicking.

I’m pleased to announced that we’re in the final stages of completing a sale of Xmarks to a new owner who is 100% committed to keep our great browser sync service running smoothly.

Xmarks will continue to have a free browser sync component whilst providing users with more features through a premium service. Users who pledged towards keeping Xmarks alive during their turmoil will get access to premium options.

Details on the sale or buyer are not yet available. Long live Xmarks.

Google Chrome dev channel has been updated to version 8.0.552.18. The latest version on the dev channel has officially got a long requested feature to sync passwords to the cloud.

If you visit your sync options, you will now see an option which will allow you to sync your passwords to your Google account. This is definitely something I have been waiting for a long time and will make my life easier when it comes to switching between multiple computers.

Chrome 8.0.552.18 has been updated for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. You can see this feature by visiting Options -> Personal Stuff. If you want to add an extra layer of security to your data, you might want to encrypt it using the "Encryption" tab in the Sync window. This will ensure that your data can only be synced if you enter the encryption key.

Quite recently, I got a new laptop and wanted to move data from the old one to the new one. Just like Firefox and Google Chrome, Opera does have a Sync service called as "Opera Link" which will allow you to sync your Bookmarks, Personal Bar, Typed History, Speed Dial, Notes and Search Engines to another computer.

However, Opera Link does not sync your current sessions and passwords with the new computer. If you are looking to do that, a software called Stu’s Opera Settings Import & Export Tool which allows you to export your settings, profile and sessions to an archive and then later on import it back to another computer.

Using this tool you can backup and/or migrate your Opera settings and data from one computer to another including your Bookmarks, Saved Sessions, Mail and chat data, Contacts, Notes, Searches, Preferences, Cookies, History, User scripts and more.

Techie Buzz Verdict

I started using Opera Link today to sync my data in the cloud (thanks to quite a few people’s suggestion on Twitter) but for the Opera Settings Import & Export software a much more comprehensive way to migrate everything to my new computer.

I found the import and export process to be a piece of cake and I was able to move my Opera settings and session to the new computer in less than 5 minutes. Totally Awesome and a highly recommended download.

Ratings: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

Download Stu’s Opera Import & Export Tool

In a move that will definitely surprise a lot of people, Xmarks – the popular bookmark synchronization tool, has announced that it will be shutting down in approximately 3 months.

Xmarks, which started off as a Firefox extension called Foxmarks, offered free cloud based bookmark synchronization for Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer. In spite of the introduction of out of the box bookmark synchronization to recent versions of Firefox and Chrome, Xmarks managed to remain wildly popular due to its ability to cross-sync bookmarks among different browsers.

Earlier today, in a lengthy blog post, Todd Agulnick, the Co-Founder and CTO of Xmarks, explored the events that ultimately led to the demise of Xmarks.

By Spring 2010, with money running tight and options fading, we started searching for potential buyers of the company. Over the past three months, we have been remarkably close to striking a deal, only to have the potential buyer get cold feet. We also considered refocusing Xmarks as a freemium sync business, but the prospects there are grim too: with the emergence of competent sync features built in to Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, it’s hard to see users paying for a service that they can now get for free. For four years we have offered the synchronization service for no charge, predicated on the hypothesis that a business model would emerge to support the free service. With that investment thesis thwarted, there is no way to pay expenses, primarily salary and hosting costs. Without the resources to keep the service going, we must shut it down. Our plan is to keep the service running for another 90+ days, after which the plug will be pulled.

There’s nothing unusual about startups collapsing due to the lack of a viable user model. Yet, one can’t help feeling sorry for Xmarks, simply because it was a damn useful service. It’s a pity that they decided to fold even without trying the freemium model.

I am a heavy user of Google Calendar and used to use Google Calendar Sync for Outlook. After I switched to using Outlook 2010, Google Calendar Sync stopped working as it only supported Outlook 2007 or lower.

However, the latest version of Google Calendar Sync now works perfectly with Outlook 2010 and can sync your Google events with your Outlook Calendar. The newer version of Google Calendar Sync for Outlook is available for only 32-bit versions of Office 2010.

If you have been waiting for the update you can go ahead and download the Google Calendar Sync for Outlook 2010 from here.

CometBird is a lightweight, yet powerful browser,   developed using the source codes of Mozilla Firefox, the open source browser. Hence, it comes with all amazing features of Firefox. Moreover, all the Firefox add-ons and extensions are compatible with CometBird.

CometBird has some advance utilities and functionality which make it a fantastic browser. Here are some of the cool features in CometBird:

• CometBird comes with a pre-installed add-on BitComet Video downloader. Users can download media files (video/audio/flash) from any site with this utility.

• CometBird has an integrated bookmark synchronization tool: CometMarks. It works exactly as the Xmarks and Chrome’s sync feature. Users need to signup for a CometMarks account to use this service. CometMarks also works with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Moreover, users can easily import their bookmarks from Google Bookmarks.
• All Firefox add-ons, extensions and Personas work smoothly with CometBird.

• Easy import wizard for importing browser options, cookies, history and favorites from Internet Explorer.
• CometBird has an integrated note taking tool and translator. Translator uses Google translate’s technology.
• Undo Close Tabbutton to re-open recently closed tabs, adjacent to Home button on navigation toolbar.
• Supports AwesomeBar, pop-up blocker, one-click clearing private data, anti-malware and customized security settings etc., similar to Firefox.

Techie Buzz Verdict

Hence, CometBird is a really cool browser. If you love using Firefox, you will also love CometBird. CometBird is the best alternative of Firefox, and you can choose it as your secondary browser.

Techie Buzz Rating : 5/5

Link: CometBird