Cloud Computing & Syncing

CLOUD COMPUTING – simply means an online (or off-site) storage location for those things we normally save on our computers: documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, photos, music, videos etc will now also be saved in the "clouds" so that we can access from anywhere in the world, anytime....

These are just a few of popular cloud computing services - almost all offer some FREE online storage as well as a variety of paid storage plans - Even as I am preparing this information, the amount of free storage is changing, as are the rates & programs for paid storage - so do your homework... 

• GoogleDrive
• SkyDrive - those with Hotmail/Live accounts get some storage free on Sky Drive 
• Apple iCloud
• Amazon Cloud
• DropBox

When we use these services including MSN  (hotmail, live accounts) or Google (Gmail accounts) or iCloud (Apple) accounts one major advantage is that each time you're connected to the Internet and make changes to data, files, photos etc. you can choose to have your account "sync" to your multiple devices.  

"Syncing" can include documents, photo, music, apps, emails, contacts, calendars etc. changed on one device will now appear on all devices that are in "sync" (desktop, laptop, iPhone, Smartphone, tablet, iPad etc.. - Making life much easier and saving confusion, time and money (not having to buy books, music, movies, apps for each individual device)...

You want to be careful that information you are putting in the clouds is NOT COPYRIGHTED, because if they are, that could potentially be in breach of copyright laws and the files could get deleted or your account suspended because of this.  

I think many of us feel more comfortable storing Music files on an external or portable hard drive..but you can certainly upload them to any of the Clouds..

Google Docs - Part 2 of 2

For anyone who is using Google Doc's - Google has a great new software plug-in “Cloud Connect” that easily will move any and all of our Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint files to Google Docs.

Cloud Connect, was released by Google on Thursday Feb 24^th, 2011 and it will allow users to save our files to save their files to "the cloud," which in this case is on Googles servers.

That means that once our files are saved in Google Docs, we can then edit files in Microsoft Office and sync them up to the clouds. This will also mean that it will be much easier if and when we want to collaborate on documents and will eliminate the confusion as to which version of a document is the most recent one.

"For example, you can edit a Word document's Opening Page of Grandma’s Life Story from Lake Havasu, AZ, while your sister in Quincy, MA is adding the family tree and your brother in Weymouth, MA is making other revisions.. This way, instead of having to send emails with tons of attachments, your whole family or group can work together."

And the great news is that Google will save every revision of any document users of Cloud Connect make, whether those edits take place in Office or Google Docs. And files can be shared in a view-only form via Google Docs as well with each document getting a unique Web address (just in case you don’t want someone make changes).

Cloud Connect is free and works with Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 on Windows PCs. Cloud Connect, however, won't work with Mac versions of Office. Sorry – it’s not available for Mac Users yet, but Google indicates it’s working on it, so no doubt it will be in the near future….

Check it out for yourself…

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect