Turn your Gmail into an online storage drive

Although I use Gmail primarily to stay in touch while I travel, my account has proved enormously useful for plenty of other reasons. Rather than visiting 3-4 different airline and hotel sites, I collect and "star" all my itinerary info within my Gmail for easy reference. And rather than carrying around all those annoying frequent flier cards, I created a single file in Google Documents that lists my member number for every airline. Not to mention the hundreds of other great ways you can take advantage of Google when you travel.

Now I have another reason to keep coming back to my Gmail - an add-on for Firefox users called Gspace. Gspace turns any Gmail account into 2 gigabytes of free online storage with an easy-to-use interface. Think of it as an easy way to store your photos, videos, favorite music and important travel documents on the road. When you log into Gmail, you'll see the files you've uploaded listed as emails in your account. Head over to the Gspace site, download their Firefox application, and you're ready to go. You access Gspace from the pull-down "Tools" file menu in your Firefox browser. Check the How It Works page if you're having any problems.

If you don't have Firefox, you can download it for free - trust me, it's better than Internet Explorer. Also, if you're not already a Gmail user, it's time to sign up. The best part? You can sign up for unlimited Gmail accounts, so there's technically no limit to what you can store.

Filed under: Internet Tools