Among the crowded field of cloud sharing and file synchronization services, there are plenty of interesting options (we've been partial to Dropbox around here, but check around for more), but when you add 'must work well with iPhone' to the requirements list, the choices narrow a bit. I've been testing out two business-focused options in Readdle Docs and box.net, and two other iPhone-friendly options (ZumoDrive and Drop.io) have just poked above the horizon.

Readdle Docs may be on the pricey side for the App Store at $9.99US, but there's a lot of functionality bundled into that ten bucks. In addition to turning your iPhone or iPod touch into a WebDAV file server -- accessible easily and securely in the Finder, Windows Explorer, or via clients like Transmit -- Readdle lets you access hosted storage on your MobileMe account or other WebDAV services.

Once you get the files onto your device, it's easy to view all iPhone-friendly formats, or forward documents and images by email. I'm particularly fond of the full-screen PDF and PPT viewers in the app. Of course, it's no Documents to Go, but it's a good start (and for those waiting eagerly for D2G to arrive on the iPhone, word from DataViz is that the app is on track for a Q2 release).

Update: DistortedLoop points to veteran Palm developer QuickOffice and the $9.99 Mobile Files Pro product, which offers iDisk connectivity and also allows editing of Excel files. I hadn't heard of it before and we'll definitely be checking it out for a future review.

While you can use Readdle with iDisk or any WebDAV-enabled storage service, you also get a bonus account on the Readdle servers with 512 MB of storage (yes, not much, but it's handy). Upgrades to the Readdle storage start at $5/month for 2 GB. On the other hand, if you need the cloud access but not the onboard server, you can save $2 and get Readdle's OneDisk product for $7.99. Per Michael's question in the comments, the Readdle team does have OneDisk working with JungleDisk and Amazon S3, and it should work in the same fashion with Docs.

Though box.net is focused on enterprise users, it's plenty functional for personal use; with a free 1GB storage account that permits 5 collaboration folders and files up to 25 MB in size, you've got some room to maneuver (paid plans start at $7.95/mo). The companion iPhone app, also free, lets you upload images from your photo library or camera, view a list of recently modified files, and open up any of your files for viewing (unfortunately the new box.net webdoc format reads in as raw HTML, which is a drag). You can also forward sharing links to your colleagues directly from the iPhone app, which can be extremely helpful in the midst of a collaborative project.

The box.net app is more streamlined than Readdle Docs, but offers a lot less of the bidirectional functionality, and the viewer isn't fullscreen or landscape enabled; it also doesn't appear to cache large documents locally as Readdle does, and it's crashed on me once or twice while downloading large PDFs. Still, if you're already using box.net or you don't have a WebDAV-enabled storage option for use with Readdle, it's a fine app to try.

Details of the two new kids on the block, in the 2nd half of the post.

Flow, a pleasant FTP client for the Mac, has definitely come a long way since we last took a look at it (so very long ago). Flow just hit version 1.0, and here are some of the new features:

• QuickLook
• Built-in editor
• FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, .Mac, and local FTP
• Droplets to upload quickly
  

Flow is designed specifically for Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5). Flow costs just $29; you can also download a free 15-day trial version then buy a license. I am an adamant Transmit/Panic addict; however, Flow has such a great Aqua-licious UI and feature list, that I may make the jump (sorry Panic guys).

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Dockdrop isn't necessarily something new to Mac OS X, but it's a simple and a cool application none-the-less. Dockdrop allows you to drop files on top of it and perform an action. You can use the following protocols to send files: FTP, Flickr, WebDAV, or SCP. Dockdrop reminds me of the "droplets" that you can create in Panic's Transmit FTP application (and is pretty much the same). I tested the FTP and Flickr upload functions and they both worked seamlessly.

Dockdrop works with both Mac OS X "Tiger" (10.4) and "Leopard" (10.5). You can download Dockdrop for free from the developer's website.

Thanks John!

Jungle Disk lets you securely store files on Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) servers. It runs on your local machine as a WebDAV server, allowing you to access S3 as a remote disk. Today the always wonderful Bruce Stewart blogged about an online post he'd stumbled across which put across the question of whether this would be a good way to take your iTunes library on the road.

Matt Thommes wrote that he was looking for a solution that eliminated worries about capacity (there's no upper limit on S3 storage), allow world-wide access to his music (he could connect anywhere there was Internet), and allow him to use play the music directly from iTunes. Since Jungle Disk allows you to use S3 as a remote disk, it was just a matter of dropping his iTunes library onto S3, allowing the data to transfer and then setting his new iTunes Music folder location.

Keep in mind that S3 is reasonably priced, but certainly not cheap. It costs $0.15 per month per gigabyte and $0.20 per gigabyte of data transfer. When your library starts running upwards of 30 GB, you need to do some practical math. As a rule, S3/Jungle Disk is great for backup, okay for being on the road, but not so good for day-to-day use on your main computer because you're paying for that transfer. Do keep in mind, though, that Jungle Disk does some caching. On the other hand, if you're bringing a laptop with you, odds are that you can just store your data right on the laptop and use S3 as an emergency backup.

This isn't quite so much a killer trick or hack you can perform on TextExpander - an indispensable time-saving text abbreviation and expansion utility - as much as it's a neat feature that I just recently discovered. TextExpander can export a list of all your text snippets and corresponding abbreviations, and it can subscribe to such a list if you keep it somewhere, say, like your iDisk or an FTP/WebDAV space. If you have a desktop and lappy for working on the go like me, this can more or less enable rudimentary syncing for your snippets between Macs. Of course, it would rock if SmileOnMyMac would make this an official feature, with bonus points awarded for baking in both .Mac and FTP/WebDAV syncing (like Mr. Simmons did with NetNewsWire). For now though, this might be a decent solution for keeping your snippets n'sync.

Well color us surprised: Mac OS X Hints just found out that iCal actually can publish calendars through FTP (not just WebDAV), opening the doors for many users to publish their calendars and integrate them into services like Google Calendar and the like. One simply needs to use ftp:// when using the Publish... command, and all should be well. While it should be noted this still doesn't enable full sharing and editing of calendars like SyncBridge, it should allow users with non-WebDAV enabled hosts to get their iCal publishing on.

Don't panic! Panic just released an update to their uber-popular FTP/SFTP client Transmit which purportedly squashes all those nasty bugs which have been driving you crazy. Version 3.5.4 fixes issues with certain SFTP servers, adds a preference pane to keep you connected even through some troublesome routers, improved WebDAV support and permissions reliability, and fixes an issue with the "Transfer Complete" sound. 3.5.4 also improves overall application stability.

Now, this might seem a bit silly, but my favorite thing about the notification email I received from Panic is the fact that they put a big, prominent download link at the top of the message. Thats the kind of smart thinking and small touches I love and expect from Mac developers.

iCal is great. I love the elegant interface, integration with other applications, and most of all, I love how easy it is to publish and share my calenders though .Mac. Unfortunately, paying 60 bucks a year just so I can share my calenders is just not something I can justify. Lucky for cheapskates like myself, there are ways to publish calenders from iCal without paying Apple's exorbitant fees.

Amazon recently launched their Jungle Disk online storage service, which offers a WebDAV server, similar to .Mac, at rock bottom prices. One can get 20GB of storage with 2GB of monthly transfer for $3.40 per month. Box.net offers 1GB of online storage with WebDAV for free. Publishing to any WebDAV server is just as simple as publishing to .Mac. Systems Boy has a great tutorial for how to do this on his blog.

Alternately, if you already have web hosting, and don't feel like setting up a new account at Jungle Disk or Box.net, Scalp makes it possible to publish your calenders to any server with FTP, SSH, or SFTP.

Via macosxrumors and Hawk Wings

JungleDisk is quite possibly the first serious, easy to set up alternative I've seen to Apple's .Mac iDisk. Using the power of WebDAV, JungleDisk allows you to mount an online, syncing hard drive (with various size options available) on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux, and save and access data to and from it as if you were working with files in a local folder on your desktop. This is all run through Amazon's S3 online storage web service, which is "based on the idea that quality Internet-based storage should be taken for granted". As an extra kick-in-the-pants to .Mac's iDisk, data sent to and from your JungleDisk is encrypted. A software package is available for each OS to make installation and setup a snap.

Pricing is spectacularly low, though I'm slightly confused as to how billing works. They truly mean: "pay only for what you use" - there isn't a flat monthly or yearly fee for your storage and bandwidth. Instead, on their pricing page, they state that you are charged $0.15 USD per gigabyte of storage per month, and $0.20 USD per gigabyte of data transfer. They offer a convenient pricing chart on their main page to compare with other services.

I'm already a .Mac customer right now, as I like the integration of all their other services. But JungleDrive sounds like a great alternative for those who only want the ease of use of an iDisk. If you have already used this service or will try it out soon (bonus points for more than one platform), please feel free to comment on your experience.

[via ~stevenf]