As you may know (or not) there are methods to use on the Internet where you go to a website, create an account and then upload a file.  A good example is www.yousendit.com.  These sites will allow you to create a temporary location that you can use to upload a file.  They then give you an address that you can send out to a recipient, who then goes to that website and downloads the file.  These work great as long as you don’t mind giving up personal information and living with a short time to retrieve the file.  I’ve used them before, but was always looking for a bit more.

Enter http://drop.io  That’s it, that’s the entire URL.   

Visit this web site and you will learn the following information (taken fom the site):

1.  Drop.io enables you to create simple private exchange points called “drops.”

2.  The service has no email signup and no “accounts.” Each drop is private, and only as accessible as you choose to deliberately make it.  Create multiple drops, add any type of media, and share or subscribe as you want. To make a drop, all you need to is click ‘drop it’

3.  You can add to each drop via:

• the web (http://drop.io/thedropname)
• email (thedropname@drop.io)
• phone (646-XXX-XXXX ext. XXXXX)
• widget embeddable in other pages

4.  A drop is a ‘discrete’ chunk of space you can use to store and share anything (pictures, video, audio, docs, etc) privately, without accounts, personal registration, or email addresses. Drops are not ‘searchable’ and not ‘networked’, they just exist floating in space, as points for exchange for individuals or groups.

5.  Create as many as you want in as little as two clicks and set things like a password, whether others can add to the drop, and how long you want it to exist (you can renew later). Drops are a simple platform for sharing things which are by default private, but can be flexibly used in a range of ways from sharing family photos and videos to collaborating on work documents.

6.  Each drop has three primary input methods – the web, email, and voice – and a few secondary ones like ‘widgets’. Anything you input into a drop can then be retrieved on the web at the drop location (with ancillary features to help you keep track of updates via email or RSS) or downloaded.

So, to recap, they do not require you to set up an account, you don’t have to provide them with ANY personal information.  You can “drop” pictures, PDF’s, videos, audios and documents.  You can phone a drop in, in other words, you call the number (ok so it’s a long distance call…get over it) and leave a message for your recipients.  They simply call the number and extension number to retrieve the message AND leave you a message.  You can email a drop or you can upload a drop.

A drop can be created in seconds and can be shared wth any number of people.  You can set it up so that people can just look or you can give them permission to add items to the drop or even delete items.

You get the opportunity to password protect the drop…or not.  You get  100 MB of storage or you can pay the princely sum of $10.00 and get 1,000 MB (a gig) of storage.  You can expire the drop after a day, a week, a month or a year.

You can even embed your drop in your webpage or blog as I have done.  See the sidebar on my blog and drop me a file!  🙂

I can see us using them to facilitate online collaboration, to transfer large files and to conduct communication with our clients in new ways.