Using Dots for File Sharing: Some Ideas

So here is a cool way that I have found for using Dots to file share with the people you care about. In my personal life, I love to record author talks and ahare them with friends. Using Dots, I can make these files available to just the friends I think would be interested in them. This helps me control bandwidth of the downloads (because I know who has access to upload them). First of all, you need to get an online file sharing provider. I have a paid account at box.net and think that their site and system are really fantastic. You can also get a free account with 1GB of storage if you just want to try this out. I really like box.net because they allow you to upload files, make them publicly accessible on the internet via a webpage, and also allow you to set up a password for each file. This is important because you're going to want to password protect the file but post that password in your Dot to your intended audience (unless your audience is the public - in which case, make double-sure that you have license to post what you're going to post). Once you have uploaded the file to your provider and possibly password protected it, you just need to Dot it! This morning I Dotted an audio file just for the folks at work. I included a password so that they could access it. Works like a charm! I think this is the best way to share files with friends, make them persistently available via search and tags at Blue.Us, and control who has overall access to each file. Another benefit to this is that you can create a password list for all of your files using Dots. I can just go through my tags - and I use a consistent tag for all my file shares - and this allows me to maintain a unique (more secure) password for each file. What are you using Dots for? I'd love to hear from you.