3 Tools for Backing Up Your Google Docs

I haven’t used Microsoft Office in months because I now only use Google Docs for my document needs. It’s convenient because I can access my documents anywhere I go and it’s easy for me to share my work with friends, classmates, and clients. Unfortunately, whether I’m on my laptop or iPad, there needs to be an Internet connection in order for me to access my documents. So what happens if I’m in a place with no Internet connection? It becomes a problem because there’s just no way to access my documents.

This is where a tool for backing up your documents for offline use really comes in handy. Whether there is an Internet connection or not, your documents are still accessible. Therefore, these 3 tools listed are great productivity boosters and make Google Apps the obvious choice for creating creating and saving documents of all kinds.

This is what I’m currently using and I feel that it does the job extremely well. Memeo Connect lets you bring your documents to your desktop (Windows, Mac), iPad, and iPhone/iPod Touch for online or offline use. It not only syncs your documents to your own GDrive, but it also lets you upload and edit your documents (you’ll need Google Apps Premier Edition Account for editing privileges). “The Memeo GDrive looks and acts like a physical drive on your computer and is integrated with your local file system” (kind of like Dropbox).

Price – $9.00 per user, per year

With GDocsDrive you can access your Google Docs on your Windows desktop pretty much like a virtual drive. You can also upload any types of files and folders via drag and drop. Sharing files and folders is easy can can be done with individuals, Google groups, Google app domains, or on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. All file types are supported and you’ll also be able to search through your files and convert them to Windows file formats (ie. Microsoft office documents).

Price – $19.99 USD for one license with unlimited future upgrades

Cyberduck is a very unique, open source tool for Windows and Mac that supports FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, cloud files, Google Docs, and Amazon S3. One of its many features is the ability to connect your Google Docs account to back up and access your documents. It also lets you share documents by defining access permissions (read or write) for individuals, Google groups, Google app domains, or the public. You can also export and edit your files if you have a Google Apps Premier Account. Because of its many other uses, this is a tool definitely worth checking out.

Price – free

While you can’t sync your Google Docs for offline use with Jilicloud, it’s a great way to browse and access your documents online along with all of your other favorite Web services. “Jolicloud is a cloud desktop that makes it easy to manage everything you care about in the cloud.” It also has its own OS, which makes it a great alternative to Chrome OS.

A few features:

Organize your entire collection of apps in a beautiful cloud desktopAdd more than 1,000+ apps from the Jolicloud App CenterCreate your own apps in secondsAccess and preview your Dropbox filesDiscover and add new apps your friends recommend

Price – free

What’s your favorite tool for backing up or accessing your Google Docs? Do you use a third party tool or just simply use the Google Docs website?

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6 Social Media Tools for Tracking Weather and Natural Disasters

With all of the natural disasters happening this year, it’s very important to stay up-to-date with your local weather and keep a look out for any warnings or watches. You never know when something disastrous might be coming your way. What better way to keep up with the weather and natural disasters than by using technology? Whether you’re on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, or another mobile device, there are tons of tools and apps available to help you out.

You may already have a tool or app that you’re using for weather, but does it also alert you of natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc? If not then you may want to take a look at one of these 6 tools that are great for tracking all of the above.

This is a simple extension for Chrome that shows you a 15-day weather forecast, which includes: hurricane weather, world weather, and local weather forecasts.

AniWeather is a Firefox addon that animates the 5-day weather forecast right within your browser. Weather conditions are updated in real-time and you can also check out more in-depth reports along with weather alerts, with a single click. There are also iOS apps for the iPhone and iPad.

Whether you have Windows OS, Android, Windows Phone 7, an iPhone or iPad, this tool has you covered when it comes to tracking hurricanes. This is especially useful right now since so many people in the U.S. are being affected by Hurricane IRENE.

You will get the latest NHC real time data from our internet servers including real-time Satellite, Current position, Latest Real Track, Official NHC Prediction Path, Tropical Weather Outlook, Tropical Weather Discussion, Strike Probabilities, Public Advisories and Forecasts directly to Tracking The Eye to be viewed on a colorful map and saved to your computer. You can even setup alerts to your cell phone and email so when a new storm becomes active you will be the first to know.

1-Click Weather for Safari adds a button to your browser that, when clicked, takes you to a page where you can view the current temperature and weather conditions for your area.

Swackett is a “different kind of weather app.” It lets you know whether you need to wear a sweater, jacket, or coat when going outside. It’s the graphics and colorful UI that make it so fun and unique. While it was originally just a Mac app, there is also now a Web app available (which also looks great on the iPad). You can also view weather watches, warnings, and animated maps.

Stormpulse is an advanced tool that tracks hurricanes and other severe weather conditions with detailed maps. Unfortunately, all of the advanced features are only available with a paid subscription. With the subscription you also get access to the iPad app.

If you’re looking for a free alternative, you may prefer MyHurricane, which is specifically for hurricanes and offers alerts, a widget, and a web app (which is also optimized for mobile browsers). It’s an “advanced, full-screen hurricane tracking software platform built on open web standards such as HTML5 and CSS 3.”

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