Google is the undisputed king of the cloud. If you spend any considerable amount of time on the Internet, you probably have made a Google account at some time or another. And if you’re like me, you use your Google account on a daily, scratch that, hourly basis. Whether I’m at home or at work, on my Mac or on my Blackberry, as long as I am connected to the Internet I can access Google search, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Maps (Latitude), Reader, Alerts, Analytics, and much, much more. That’s a boat load of cloud computing.

I can’t begin to tell you how much joy Dropbox brings to my life. So much so that Dropbox is now officially one of the first programs I install on any new computer I use. Here’s how it works — first you download and install Dropbox on all of your computers. This will create a folder on each computer called “My Dropbox”. Now, anything you put into your “My Dropbox” folder gets uploaded to your Dropbox web account and subsequently synced with all of your computers that are linked to that account. For me, this is a dream come true. I’m constantly bouncing back and forth between computers and operating systems. It’s cross platform, so it works with Windows, Linux, and OS X. No more emailing myself files or constantly pulling out my thumbdrive every time I need to move my data around. You can also access all of your files via a web browser, which can be super convenient when you’re on the go and don’t have access to your personal computers.

Lala does music, and they do it well. It’s especially nice if you spend a good chunk of your life in front of a computer. Here’s the scoop; after joining Lala, they will scan your entire computer(s) and upload (or match) all of your songs in your library to your Lala account. From that point on, you have access to all of your music anytime you want, as long as you’re on the cloud. But it gets even better. You can play any song that’s not in your library, once, for free. You can even put entire albums in your queue and listen to them in their entirety before you decide if you want to buy them or not. And here’s the beauty, if you like the song and want to purchase it (or them), you have two choices. You can buy the streaming version for only 10 cents per song, or a DRM free MP3 for 99 cents per song (89 cents if you previously bought the streaming version). This is great on so many levels. For one, 10 cents is cheap, and once you buy a streaming song you can listen to it as many times and as often as you’d like as long as your connected to the internet. You also get 50 free streaming songs just for joining Lala. Secondly, you may not need or want to download an entire album. You could buy an entire streaming album for $1.00, then hand pick the songs you want to download (DRM free) to put on your iPod, or your Zune, or your iPod. Lala has a nice wallet feature too that allows you to store a set amount of money for quick purchases. When your wallet runs dry, just add some more cash. $5.00 = 50 streaming songs. Not bad. If I could improve one feature of Lala, it would be their music discovery. Though it’s not all that bad, it’s still not on par with the likes of Pandora. Oh yes, and a Blackberry app — that would be fantastic.

Xmarks, formerly known as Foxmarks, is a browser plug-in for Firefox, IE, and Safari (hopefully soon for Chrome) that stores all of your bookmarks remotely and then syncs them to all of your browsers. Again, this is only handy if you spend a lot of time in multiple environments — but that’s sort of the whole point of cloud computing, not having to be locked down to one computer, one processor, one hard drive… Once installed, Xmarks does everything in the background — set it and forget it. Xmarks is also taking a stab at social bookmarking, similar to sites like Delicious, Stumble Upon, and Digg. Good luck with that one guys — the social bookmarking scene is getting a bit crowded. Personally, I would just stick with bookmark syncing. This is definitely one area where they know their stuff

Reqall is a virtual extension of my memory. The whole reason I started using Reqall was so that I could get thoughts out of my head quickly (GTD-like) and revisit them at a later time. For example, I always remember things while I’m driving. With Reqall, I can call and leave a message on my account. Reqall then transcribes the message and emails it back to me. Now my idea / thought / task / appointment is nice and safe in my email inbox for review at a more appropriate time. Reqall is also linked to my Google Calendar, so if I were to call and say “Dinner with Meg’s parents Sunday at 5 O’Clock”, Reqall would put that entry right on my calendar on the specified day and time. It can be a life saver. Their website is well designed and offers a variety of ways to organize your To-Dos and notes. However, they could work a bit on improving their lists management system which, according to them, is on their list of things to do — no comment. Voice isn’t the only way to add items to reqall. You can use instant messaging, a Firefox extension, email, text messages, or my personal favorite, their mobile app. I can’t speak for the iPhone app, but Reqall’s Blackberry app is probably the best, most well designed app on my phone. Reqall also offers a pro account for $20.00 a year which unlocks a few neat features. I think the free version is sufficient for most people though. At least until they fix some of the minor quirks and add a few more niceties.

Seven of Nine

“We are the Borg.” – My personal favorite. She is also what prompted me to create this illustrious list. I’ve been on a Star Trek Voyager kick for the last month or two and have decided to re-watch all the old episodes in chronological order. I never realized how utterly boring the show was until they added Seven of Nine to the cast of characters in the fourth season. This buxom Borg made the pain of enduring the previous seasons well worth it. Seven is a by far one of the more interesting characters I have come across in realm of science fiction.

Star Trek: Voyager

Kara Thrace

“Frak.” – Battlestar Galactica is, without a doubt, my favorite television show ever to be aired. When I first heard that they were remaking the original series, I was ecstatic. When I heard that the part of “Starbuck” was going to be played by a women, I was worried. Maybe even a little offended. But all my fears and doubts were laid to rest the moment I actually watched the show. Kara Thrace is a more complex version of the former Starbuck. She is also far better looking and much tougher than her male counterpart ever was. Sorry Dirk, Kara for the win.

Battlestar Galactica

Princess Leia Organa

“I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.” – For all of you younglings out there still daydreaming about Padme, stop it. She couldn’t hold a candle to Princess Leia Organa (Skywalker) (Solo). At age 20, this young spitfire was the leader of the Rebel Alliance against the well established and all powerful Galactic Empire. She even told Grand Moff Tarkin that he stank, right to his face. Let’s see Padme do that! Oh, and this is all while she was being escorted by the Dark Lord of the Sith, the most feared being in the universe. Don’t be fooled by her cute little buns people. By that I mean hair buns naturally. This princess is the kick ass mother of all sci-fi women to follow. Except for Padme of course, who actually is her mother…

Star Wars: A New Hope – Empire Strikes Back – Return of the Jedi

Leeloo

“Multipass.” – Every geek, male or female, has had a crush on Leeloo at some point in their life. Perhaps it’s her flowing orange hair or the fact that her whole outfit looks like one big distorted belt. Maybe it’s her cute incoherent babble or her innocent blue eyes. No, it’s more likely the fact that she could kill you without even breaking a sweat. Sweet and deadly, sort of like a twinkie.

The Fifth Element

Trinity

“Dodge this.” – Finally, this brings us to one of the most celebrated female characters in the realm of science fiction, Trinity. The Matrix spawned a slew of iconic figures and Trinity is at the top of that list. Clad in latex, this cyber-goth-goddess is one hacker that isn’t to be trifled with.

The Matrix – The Matrix Reloaded – The Matrix Revolutions

And there you have it, my top five greatest women in sci-fi list is complete. This list was not an easy one to make mind you. Quite a few of my favorite sci-fi vixens didn’t make the cut for various reasons. Take the women of Firefly for instance. After BSG, Firefly could be my favorite TV series, and a lot of that had to do with the great cast, both male and female. Alas, I didn’t feel that as individuals they could bump anyone off this list. Sorry girls. Below are some of the other gals that almost broke into the top 5, but were snubbed out at the last minute.

The Runners-Up

	Sarah Connor – Terminator 1 & 2
	Max Guevera – Dark Angel
	Mystique – X-Men 1, 2, & 3
	Ripley – Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, & Alien Resurrection
	Lara Croft – Tomb Raider 1 & 2

Discuss or post your own list here…

That’s it. Do you dare disagree with my sci-fi expertise? Post your own list here.