Chris Anderson's FREE

An important focus of this blog is that the technologies discussed are free.


Why?  Well, why not?


Time and again the internet is providing free alternatives to otherwise pricey options.  I have been frequently focusing on Google Docs because it epitomizes the free business model offered by Anderson in his book --->


Google primarily makes their money through advertising.  New-age, inventive advertising, but advertising nonetheless.  Interestingly, this is just one prong of the 3 "free" models that Anderson proposes.

Everything that I've posted about thus far has fallen into one of these three, free categories.

Google Docs is based on Free 2.  It provides one group with a useful and free service while charging another group for the advertising service.

Dropbox and Doodle operate under Free 3: Freemium.  You are given a simple version of the software for free with the option to upgrade to the premium version for a fee.  

In his book, Anderson provides razors as an example of Free 1.  Companies like Gillette will give away a razor (seemingly a costly endeavor) and then charge you for the replacements.  The profits from the replacements is more than enough to subsidize the hand-outs.  


This all is extremely interesting because it is, quite simply, the future of online business.  Arguably we, the consumers of it all, stand to benefit the most from this revolution.  Anderson stresses the point that the "free" of yester-year is no more.  In its wake, actually free services, like Google Docs and Dropbox, are here to stay.  


Notably, there is another type of free that Anderson discusses, that of the "gift economy."  Altruism isn't a new phenomena, but the ubiquitous nature of the internet stands to expand and encourage un-reciprocated giving. As a prime example of such giving, Anderson cites Freecycle which is an excellent resource that everyone should look into.


Overall, an excellent read that will motivate you to tap into the free technologies of the future!  


You can find Free: The Future of a Radical Price on Amazon for cheap if you're interested.    


  

Dropbox

Check out this brief video tutorial that I put together on Dropbox.  *I recommend expanding to full-screen view by clicking on the furthest bottom-right icon*

Considering I've only been using the app for a brief time now, I don't yet know how to use all of its features.  What I do know is that Dropbox is free and fairly simple to get started with.

While 2 GB may not seem like a whole lot of space, it's perfect for backing up your computer's documents.  Also, if you enjoy the service you can always upgrade to the Pro version or invite your friends to get more space (this is a handy marketing strategy by Dropbox; you get space, they get more visibility) .

As for sharing your documents, using Dropbox is a far better idea than e-mailing them out.  Similarly to Google Docs, housing the document in a central location online reduces the problem of having alternate versions floating around.  Unlike Google Docs, though, Dropbox won't allow you to collaborate in real-time.  It will, however, keep your document in its native format whereas Google Docs converts all text into its own personal format.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

P.S.  If you would like to try out Dropbox, use this link.  That way I'll get some extra space for my account ;)

Doodle

Simple. Useful. Free.

What more can you ask for?

Doodle is an online application that makes the process of finding a suitable meeting time as simple as possible.  If your schedule is generally wide open then Doodle may not seem so amazing to you.  However if you're like most college students, you probably have a full course load, are in several student orgs, have a job, and you're trying to maintain a social life on the side.  At times, finding even a small block in your schedule to meet up with others in person can seem daunting.

Google docs may be the answer if you have some time to work on your project.  Often, though, time is the one thing missing.  Now the fun part begins.  You and your fellow group members waste more and more of your precious time sending e-mails back and forth, texting, and playing phone-tag, only to still not have the slightest clue of when the meeting is!

So why not streamline the process?

Take the center of control away from each individual and put it on a website.  Doodle allows you to set up a free (really, truly free) account and then create as many events as you need.  After you create an event and invite all the people that need to respond, you're done.

Most recently, I was invited to respond to a meeting that needs to happen next Tuesday.  All seven group-mates submitted their preferences on the Doodle spread and within a couple of hours, we have our time.  The easy to read layout makes it simple to tell which option is best suited for your group as a whole.

Scheduling a meeting time isn't the only way to use Doodle.  This is a wonderful application to experiment with and I'm sure that it can be of great use to you and your student org.