[Memetic - Web Log (Beta)] Portable College Student
treehead
Last semester, I lost a USB flash drive with some homework on it. I wasn't too concerned about the files, because I had all of them backed up at home, but the contents of the flash drive were in no way protected by a password or encryption at all. Now, mind you, I didn't store anything truly personal on it--no financial data, passwords, or steamy love letters leaked out--but nevertheless, it's a little creepy knowing that someone is out there with my files. So I decided I was through with using USB drives to store files unencrypted.
What to do? Sure there are drives like Iron Key now, but you can still lose what amounts to a $79 packet of gum. I would use TrueCrypt in a heartbeat, but if you've used it at all, you know that you must have super user privileges on a system to make it work. No use there, most of the computers I want to use it on aren't mine.
Enter Google.
A New Meaning for "Google It."
I have been using Google Documents & Spreadsheets since its inception, but I decided this semester to use Google for all my college documents. Now, if you're not already familiar with Google Docs, then you should be--especially if you are a college student who needs access to your documents at your dorm, your friends' dorms, the library, the school computer lab... you get the idea. Google Docs is an online Word Processor, Spreadsheet program, and now Presentation Software. You can create and manage documents in your web browser, which means you can get to them anywhere there's a web browser: your dorm, your friends' dorms, the library, the school computer lab....
So this semester, I took the plunge. I decided that I was going to solely use Google Docs for my classwork. I can use the folders to organize my files by classes, and I use Google Notebook to take notes in class. My textbook came with an online component that contained slides in PowerPoint format, so I was able to take advantage of the new Presentation support Google announced recently and upload all the slides for my classes for review anywhere.
Doing The Shuffle
If this sounds like an advertisement, it is. You'll understand once you've given it a shot.
If you've ever tried shuffling documents from your computer to a USB drive--even to a web site share--and back, you know why this is such a big deal. Even if you can deal with the added time and attention it takes to do all this, you still have to keep track of what versions of which file are where. It can be pretty frustrating.
The alternative is using an online system that stores everything centrally for you and allows you to print or to export a document in the format you need, when you need it. For me, that's Google Docs.
If you're a Computer Science student, pay attention: this is where computing is headed, like it or not.
Yeah, But How Big is Google's Hard Drive?
If you're interested in the limits on Google Documents, here are a few items to note, directly from Google. You're not likely to surpass these anytime soon....
How big can each document, spreadsheet, and presentation be?
DocumentsSpreadsheets
- Each document can be up to 500K, plus up to 2MB per embedded image.
- You can upload documents from any of the following file formats:
- HTML
- Plain text (.txt)
- Microsoft Word
- .rtf
- Open Office (.odt)
- Each user has a combined limit of 5000 documents and presentations and 5000 images.
Presentations
- Each spreadsheet can be up to 10,000 rows, or up to 256 columns, or up to 100,000 cells, or up to 40 sheets -- whichever limit is reached first.
- Each user has a limit of 200 spreadsheets.
- The limit on spreadsheets open at one time is 11.
- You can import spreadsheets up to approximately 1 Mb in xls, csv, or ods, txt, tsv, tsb format.
- You can upload presentations up to 10MB in size in both .ppt and .pps file formats
- Each user has a combined limit of 5000 documents and presentations and 5000 images.
... all that, and the peace of mind that Google's crack shot staff is looking after your files, all safely stored on computer systems way smarter and faster than anything you've got at home!
Portable Applications
Google Documents may handle your document needs, but you may still be lacking a few other niceties, like familiar or particularly useful programs. I was, and I want programs set up my way, with everything tweaked to my preferences. Most of the computers I use when I am out and about are Windows based, so I have taken advantage of so-called "portable applications" that I can store on my USB flash drive.
Portable applications are usually programs that have an "installable" equivalent that have been modified for use solely on a portable drive. This means that all of, say, Firefox's settings (including all the extensions you've tricked it out with) are stored in one directory, so you can tote them around with you in your pocket.
I suggest checking out the sites below, installing some programs on your hard drive first, checking them out, and then running the installer again on your flash drive when you've decided what you like. This will save you some time, because some of these programs take a while to install on the flash drive.
- Portable Apps - High quality portable applications for Windows.
- Portable Freeware - Many, many portable applications, indexed and organized by use, with screenshots and links to their original web sites.
Sure, many of these programs are available on the systems I use, but putting them on a flash drive means that I'm in control. I'm basically carrying around applications configured to my preferences.
Get It Done
So then, how to get started... Here's a quick check list for becoming The Portable College Student.
- Backup: The first thing you want to do is back up anything you have on your USB drive. Burn it to a CD, DVD, or back it up on your hard drive.
- Upload: Take all those papers, notes and presentations and get to uploading. Many profs now supply their syllabi as Word documents or HTML (I even had a prof who gave his schedule out as a spreadsheet). Upload it--everything. Get it all into Google Docs. The last thing you want is to be stuck somewhere wonder which paper was due when for what class.
- Install: Once you've done that and you know what programs you're going to install, format the drive and install your applications.
- Configure: Centralizing all your documents online is great, and it's secure, but what if someone picks up your flash drive and your programs have all your usernames and passwords saved? Make certain that the portable applications you're using can at the very least require your password every time they're launched. Portable Firefox, for example, is configured this way by default.
- Secure: Especially when you're out on public networks (like the local library or even at your dorm), I suggest using SSL to access Google Docs, for an extra measure of peace of mind. Just make sure the address in your web browser starts with "https://" not "http://" that extra "s" in there makes it secure (Firefox will also turn the address bar yellow when you're on a secure connection).
- Track: If you're not already using a calendar or a task list to track your assignments, try creating a Google spreadsheet to track your homework and grades for each class. This will help you keep on top of your readings, study items, papers, projects, and anything else that gets thrown at you, and you won't have to go looking for it, because it will be right there will all the rest of your documents.
- Share: Got any projects that you need to collaborate with other students on? Need your adviser or directed study instructor to review your work? Click on the "Share" item in Google Docs and invite those people to take a look or work on your documents with you. No need to worry about who did what when, you can always go back to a previous version using the "Revisions" feature.
- Help: Check out the Google Docs Help Center for more tips and tricks.
My advice? Give the Google work flow a try for one semester and see how you like it. If you're not ready to commit whole-hog, try it for one class. I'm willing to bet that you'll wish you'd done if for all of them.
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Posted By treehead to Memetic - Web Log (Beta) at 9/21/2007 12:35:00 PM