Portal :: Syncing Made Easy

Portal lets you sync files, folders, system settings and applications between all your Macs with ease. Simply drag whatever you want to sync into the Portal window, and then select the Macs you want to share with. Clicking Sync sends the files on their way. From then on, all changes to that item will be synced between your Macs using Bonjour, triggered whenever they are brought close to each other.

But clicking Sync isn’t the end of the story. Portal also lets you show off your Mac with amazing animated sync animations. Watch as a twisting, pulsing wormhole punches a hole through your desktop and sucks in all of your files and applications! You can view these stunning displays in full screen or opt for a more discrete windowed version. Besides the Wormhole, dozens of other graphics styles are available ranging in complexity from a simple progress bar all the way to a high-speed “Mario Kart”-style race between your files.

Adding files to the sync queue is easy thanks to the drop box, but it can still be faster. To quickly add a file or application. without opening Portal, just right click on what you want. Conveniently located in the drop down menu, you’ll find the “Sync with Portal” menu. Clicking on this will reveal a list of available Macs, as well as all the other options you’d want.

To make Portal really disappear, you can hide its icon in the Dock and call up the window with a keystroke. If you’d rather use the Dashboard, there is also a Portal widget. Full Growl and Quicksilver support make it even easier to fit Portal into your normal routine.

Portal is designed for people with two or more Macs; it lets you keep your systems in perfect harmony. But it can do more than just that: Portal can also let you create Ad Hoc groups, where you can share files between your friends’ systems effortlessly. During these group sessions, if you edit a file, it automatically streams to everyone in the group when you save. Additional Sync modes for Classrooms, Workgroups, Sync to Server, Sync to Public, Sync to Disc, etc. will be available after the initial release.

Portal also uses Time Machine, a new backup feature in Mac OS X Leopard, to make sure that all your important files and settings stay safe. Whenever Portal overwrites an older file, it makes sure that Time Machine has made a backup, just in case. Portal also extends the backup features of Time Machine to applications written before Leopard.

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Vote for Portal

If you own a Mac, you know how easy working with a computer can be. If you own two Macs, you also know how frustrating it can be to keep them in sync. One Mac is always more up to date than all the rest, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Portal solves this problem, and makes syncing your Macs just as easy as you always knew it should have been.

Keep your files up to date and your applications running in perfect harmony. Share the same toolbars, the same preferences, even the same screensaver settings between each of your Macs. Just drag any file or application you want to sync into the Portal window and click Sync.

If this sounds like something you might use, or possibly something you’ve been dreaming of, then please go to MyDreamApp.com and Vote for Portal. While there, you can read more about Portal’s features, add your comments and suggestions to the Forums, and read the Judges’ comments (and my responses).

The next round of voting begins on Wednesday, October 11 and runs through Thursday.