• WHAT: Access to any file on your computer from your cell phone
• WHY: View it, email it, set up an alert for when it changes - all from your phone
• COST: Free

Continuing on the quest to reduce the amount of gear that I carry while increasing functionality, I hit a roadblock: I needed my laptop (synced with my desktop so that all of the files are "mirrored" from one to the other) in case I needed to view, email or do something else with a file.  Sure, I could have (and did, for a while) take a thumb drive with me but that was one more thing to sync, carry, etc.  Then, of course, I would still need a computer to plug it into in order to access the files on it.  Not the best solution.  What I really needed was a way for me to access, not carry, my files - and not from another computer.  (There are plenty of ways to access files on your desktop from other computers, but we're talking about mobility here.)

I found the solution in a product called "SoonR", which is still in beta, but works flawlessly in my experience (and I'm using it on a Mac, which is frequently left behind in development of new mobile services, so I can only presume that it works at least this well on a PC.) 

There's a cool diagram of the system's functionality HERE, but the way that it works is downright simple.  You install a small, very inobtrusive and benign piece of software on your computer (available in Mac or Windows) and create an account.  Once logged into the account you can determine which of your folders you want accessible from your cell phone - you can designate an entire folder, such as the Documents folder, or something that is nested within that folder - it doesn't matter which.  

You enter your cell phone number into the account information and you're pretty much done.  At that point it's going to take a few minutes for SoonR to give you access to all of your files... I designated my entire Documents folder (the same as "My Documents" on Windows) and the whole process was done in a few minutes. 

Now, when you want to access your files from your phone, fire up your phone's web browser and go to SoonR.com - the site will recognize that you're contacting it from a mobile device (don't you wish they all did that?) and will look for your number in their files... when they find it you'll be in for a shock - you will be looking at the folder/file structure that's on your computer and will be able to set up a monitoring process to be alerted if a file changes, forward the file via email to someone or do a few other things with it.  Your computer will have to be on to accomplish this with all of your files, but SoonR is also experimenting with a version that has 100MB of free storage space so that you can store some files offline to access when your computer is off. 

I've tested this service quite a bit and have found it to be rock-solid, reliable and ready for prime time.  If you have ever needed access to the files on your computer from outside of your office and had to go driving back (or use some other remote method to access them from another computer) you'll appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of this service.  And, at this price (free), it can't be beat.