At the first annual DBX Developer Conference, Dropbox announced some new additions to its cloud storage service.

First up is something for developers. The Datastore application programming interface (API) would allow developers to save information, not just files, regarding what a user is doing inside an application.  It can be used to keep track of high scores, allow players of multi-player games to set new goals or targets based on how well their competitors are doing.

Since everything is in the cloud, when a device goes offline, data will not be lost, but will instead be synced as soon as the device establishes an internet connection.  It’s said to be compatible across iOS, Android and Javascript.

Another goodie for developers is the ‘Saver’ function, that can be used with their codes in order to get files quickly into Dropbox.

The Datastore API is not only beneficial for those developing games but also for those building apps for collaboration.  It can help facilitate real-time sharing especially for companies, enabling immediate communication of information in text documents, spreadsheets, digital whiteboards, instant messages, among others.

Catering to developers may also boost Dropbox’s revenue so this is a win-win situation for both parties.

Mailbox integration

Since its acquisition of Mailbox earlier this year, Dropbox has yet to integrate the two services – until now.  Mailbox is a mobile app that sorts Gmail or Google accounts on your iPhone or iPad.  At DBX, it was announced that Mailbox now supports Dropbox, so if you put a Dropbox link in your email, the file becomes accessible directly within Mailbox, with no need to open an external link to view the file.

Mailbox is available for download on iTunes for iPhones, iPod Touch 3rd, 4th, and 5th generations, and iPads.

Yahoo integration

Back in April, Yahoo! announced its integration with Dropbox that would allow users to store email attachments in Dropbox as well as send files via email.  The problem here is, unlike other email-cloud offerings, what Yahoo and Dropbox offer is not quite as seamless.  Even so, that hasn’t stopped Yahoo from extending its Dropbox integration to its Android app.  Now, if users want to attach a Dropbox file to their email, they can do so directly in the app via the “Share from Dropbox” icon.  This would only work if you’ve linked your Yahoo and Dropbox accounts, if not, do that first before you start attaching Dropbox files.

The new version of the Yahoo Mail app is now available on Google Play.