I don't know about y'all, but the beta service Dropbox has personally answered my prayers. It's an amazing piece of web software that integrates with the Finder, and allows you to seamlessly copy files up to the web for sharing -- and not use FTP.

Dropbox exists (through some kind of magic, I'm sure) in your home directory as a folder named "Dropbox." There, you can copy files to and from it just as you would any other kind of folder. File copying is pretty perky. A 1MB file took about 15 seconds over my broadband connection. As someone who still cringes at uploading files via the Finder (hi, early .Mac user here), this was a pleasant surprise.

One thing I wasn't expecting was that since the Dropbox folder appears to "live inside" your home directory, the default Finder behavior of moving files (and not copying them, as you might expect) applies. I was still of the FTP mindset that "I am copying files to the internet." So hold down that option key.

Beta accounts of Dropbox include 2GB of storage. (If you need more, SugarSync, OmniDrive, or JungleDisk might be options for you.) You can also add multiple computers to the same account, and have access to a common Dropbox among all of them.

My favorite feature, though, is being able to upload files to a "Public" folder, and have a URL automatically assigned to them. I have a Transmit bookmarklet that already does this (though, it uploads it to my own website), but I have to type out the URL manually. Dropbox's contextual-menu item saves me that trouble, and I can just paste the URL into my email.

Dropbox is still in public beta, so if you know a friend who got a beta signup code, then they got 10 invitations as well. So bring chocolates, flowers, cash, or whatever it takes to get an invitation. They will disappear quickly.

Papaya is a new utility for personal file sharing, and TUAW got a chance to put through its paces. We were pretty impressed with the ease of use it provides for getting your files across the office... or the globe.

Papaya provides a simple window and a multitude of methods for adding files to be shared. You can drag on to it, manually select files, snap a picture with your iSight or add the currently playing track from iTunes. You can even paste text snippets onto it for quick sharing of code or prose. It allows for the creation of folders – which it can automatically archive and compress at the time of download – and a web interface for navigating remote libraries.

Papaya sets itself up as a web server on port 6900 and takes very little network configuration (you will have to map that port to your machine if you're behind an Airport base station or other NAT router). When you add a file to Papaya, it automatically copies an address to the clipboard (an option in the preferences) which you can send directly to another user. While I wouldn't recommend broadcasting that address far and wide, it makes for a very convenient means of getting a larger file where it needs to go, without dealing with an interim server.

Papaya provides Quick Look previews, and the web interface is iTunes-like and easy to navigate. It can also resize images and define its own folder hierarchy without disturbing your original files. The files are served from where they exist on your drive, everything else is handled on-the-fly. It even provides access control on a per-file basis. Basically, it's file sharing at its most personal.

If you need to share files with friends, family or co-workers quickly and conveniently, give it a shot. The download is free, but a license will cost 20 Euros which, with the current state of the U.S. Dollar, is almost $32. While Papaya is extremely fluid and well though out, I do think that's a bit of a high price point for a file sharing utility, especially considering it's a convenience layer over the built-in functionality of your Mac. Fluid to use and pretty to look at, to be sure, but you'll have to make the decision as to whether the convenience is worth the price.

QuickShareIt, which we covered a while back, has received an upgrade to 2.0, adding many of the originally promised features as well as a host of new ones.

QuickShareIt is a Mac app that provides online storage and file sharing with both Mac and PC users. It's growing up amongst a host of similar products, but differentiates itself by offering some unique features centered around the teaming of its dock icon drop-box, "recent uploads" floating panel and web-based file access. For example, if you drag multiple images onto the dock icon, it will ask you if you want to create a gallery. When the upload finishes (with Growl notifications), it will give you a url that you can share and provide options for handling that gallery in the floating panel. It also accepts text clippings and creates a line-numbered, online document for quick sharing of code samples or text snippets. Previews for other filetypes are available.

Right now uploading to QuickShareIt is anonymous and public access. The developers are rolling out registration options in the near future, as well as paid options with extra features. If you want to try QuickShareIt out, just download the application and run it. There's no configuration or sign-up necessary (despite the option being present), just drag files or text clippings onto the dock icon and watch it go.

Do you remember when Napster was huge (about ten years ago), and digital file sharing was on everyone's minds? Metallica and The Red Hot Chili Peppers were sort of leading the anti-p2p charge. Several years later, when the iTunes Music Store demonstrated that the online distribution of music could be accomplished successfully, the Peppers refused to participate, stating that (among other things), they didn't like that customers were able to purchase individual tracks, as it interrupted the flow of the album, or some other artsy thing like that.

Anyway, this is why I was very surprised to find nine Peppers albums in the iTMS this morning [iTunes link], including some exclusive stuff and videos. I'm glad you guys have come around.

Every so often, now that we have a chatroom, I'm going to have little impromptu chatcasts with readers on different tech topics that affect the Mac community. This time around we talked about the Grokster decision, the RIAA, the MPAA, and Google's new video playback capabilities and their lack of a video client for the Mac.

Here it is:

CK TUAW: so what do you guys think about the Grokster ruling?
Joe: ?
CK TUAW: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/technology/27cnd-
grokster.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1119898935-jDT/6cD8tbk7ycNTzY9DHw
CK TUAW: the Supreme Court by a unanimous vote ruled against Grokster
Joe: o
mrbarrett: well...
CK TUAW: basically saying that any file-sharing software that promotes pirating should be held
accountable for its misuse by others
********** at 3:04 PM jx left the room
Joe: yup it sucks
CK TUAW: well....?
mrbarrett: personally, I'm mixed. There are many legit uses for P2P networks...and I hope that
P2P won't be harmed by this ruling
Joe: don't kill bit torrent
mrbarrett: but it's also clear that there are some companies, like Grokster, that were using P2P
solely for illegal purposes
mrbarrett: the ruling did seem to focus more on Grokster's misuse of the technology, rather than the technology itself

Read more after the jump...