Kevin P. Inscoe

One of the big advantages of online storage services such as Dropbox is that you can make use of them to share files easily with friends, family, colleagues and even strangers.

As far as Dropbox is concerned, it is possible to share files or folders with the public or select individuals only. Previously, you had to use the sharing options provided on the Dropbox website to do just that, but Dropbox has been hard at work lately to improve the way files and folders are shared.

The latest addition is a quick share option that the company has integrated into the default file manager of the system the software has been installed on.

To use it, Dropbox users have to right-click a file or folder stored under the Dropbox root folder on the system and select the Share Dropbox Link option from the context menu.

Here is what happens next:

1. Dropbox automatically sets the visibility of the selected files or folder to public.
2. The sharing link is copied to the Clipboard of the operating system.

You can then paste the link in a chat window, emails, forums or in any other way to let others know about it.

Note: The context menu option becomes only available if the Dropbox client is running on the system. If it is not, no options are displayed here.

Remember that the folder's or file's visibility is set to public automatically, and that you cannot undo the operation from the desktop.

To manage your public links, open this page on the Dropbox website. Here you find all of your links, the file and folder names, as well as the time they were created.

You can click on the x icon next to each line to remove the public visibility so that no one can access the files or folder anymore afterwards.

The new feature is especially handy for Dropbox users who often share files with colleagues or friends, as it speeds up that process significantly for them.

The post Dropbox introduces fast sharing option for desktops appeared first on gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials.

I've written a new article on cell phone history for Invention and Technology magazine. You can read it on-line, starting from this link. Look for the article entitled the Cell-Phone Revolution by Tom Farley:

http://www.americanheritage.com/inventionandtechnology/

*****Response to the article*****

Tom,

I came across an interesting citation today. It seems that in 1907 the King Chulalongkorn of Siam was on a visit to Norway. As a part of his travel report there is the following discussion of the potential for what we now call Mobile telephony.

"In the evening they returned to Notodden, and during dinner the king talked with Birkeland (one of the founders of the company Norsk Hydro) about the mysteries of electricity. He heard, among other things about Birkeland's idea about an electrical cannon and an idea about making rain. He also heard that Hydro had inventions and plans on telegraphic communication without wires or cables, but this project was not being pursued. As a result of this, the prophetically king wrote "It is not daring to predict that in the future there might be a portable telephone like a small personal watch. When you want to talk with someone, you can just talk into the watch and then put your ear against it to hear what the other person has said."

The Original Norwegian is: at http://www.almanakken.uio.no/temaartikler/norgesreise_2007b.html

He may have been thinking of crystal radios since it was only about this time that vacuum tubes were being developed by Fleming and De Forest in the US.

Filed under: Health Care

U.S. Representative Linda Sanchez has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting that the agency begin an investigation into allegations that Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) is a pyramid scheme. The allegations were first made by William Ackman and his Pershing Square hedge fund.

The Los Angeles Times cites Sanchez's letter of June 5:

As I have learned more about this issue from my constituents and from outside groups, I believe it is the Federal Trade Commission's responsibility to examine these allegations.

She further noted that she is "troubled that [Herbalife] may be harming consumers" with its multilevel marketing model, and said that Herbalife is victimizing "our country's most vulnerable populations." Herbalife estimates that about 60% of its U.S. sales are made to Latinos through its network of independent distributors.

Sanchez is just the latest entrant to line up with Ackman in his allegations against Herbalife. The National Consumers League sided with Ackman in March. If the FTC does decide to launch an investigation into the claims the Herbalife is a pyramid scheme, Ackman's $1 billion short position in the company will pay off handsomely.

Herbalife has denied the allegations in Sanchez's letter, just as they have denied all other allegations by Ackman and other critics. Activist investor Carl Icahn has sided with Herbalife in the dispute and was granted two seats on the company's board after nabbing a stake of around 13% in the company.

Herbalife's shares traded up 3.1% in the late morning, at $48.34 in a 52-week range of $24.24 to $56.39.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Activist Investor, Food, Healthcare, Law, Private Equity Tagged: HLF

 

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