What is "the cloud?"

Expecto

In the last few months there’s been a lot of noise about “the cloud”, with Google, Microsoft and Apple all launching their own “cloud” services.

I thought now might be a good opportunity to try and write something that cuts through all the jargon and try to explain what “the cloud” really is, and why you should care.


What is "the cloud?"
If you’ve ever uploaded a photo to Facebook, sent an email through Hotmail or watched a video on YouTube then you’ve used the cloud.

The cloud is simply a way of describing storing or accessing information that is not physically held on your device. Instead it is held on servers elsewhere, sometimes in an entirely different country.

This data can be accessed from anywhere in the world, on virtually any internet-connected device.


Today, the cloud is available in many flavours...

• Cloud Storage
• Personal Cloud
• Music
• Video
• Gaming
• Chromebook – a sign of what’s to come?

Expecto

Cloud Storage



Cloud Storage allows you to store your files away from your PC, safe in the knowledge that if you have a problem, your files are never lost. You can generally store anything in the cloud, from family photos to backups of your music collection.

As your data is stored in the cloud, it can be accessed anywhere. For example, imagine you’re talking to someone at work about a holiday you’ve just been on; while you’re talking, you can whip out your phone or use your work PC to connect to the cloud and show off your photos! They don’t need to physically be on that device!

Some services even allow you to edit your documents on the go. Yep, editing a Word document on your iPad definitely is possible.

You may have heard of Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud recently. They’re all great examples of cloud storage services, and there are plenty to choose from. I’ve detailed below some of the key features and differences of the well-known services, as well as how much they cost:


Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com)


Dropbox keeps all your files the same no matter where you’re working from so you never need to email yourself a file again. It creates a “Dropbox” folder on your PC, and everything in that folder is automatically backed up to the cloud without you having to think about it. If you have a smartphone or tablet you can also view all those files on the go. You can even share your stuff with other people – but don’t worry, you can specify exactly what they can (and can’t) see!

• Upfront cost: FREE
• What do you get?: 2GB of storage (plus an extra 500MB for every friend you get to sign up!)
• What if I need more storage? 50GB is $9.99 per month, or 100GB is $19.99 per month.
• What devices can I use it on? Windows, Mac & Linux, plus iPhone, iPad, Android or Blackberry.

Google Drive (drive.google.com)
With Google Drive you can create new documents, spreadsheets and presentations. You can even let other people access these files and work on them at the same time, seeing changes as they happen! Google Drive also integrates really nicely with the Google+ social network. Put your photos in the cloud and they’re also available to quickly share with your friends.


Where it gets really clever is in the search. Say you have loads of documents in the cloud and you can’t remember the name of the doc you’re looking for. No matter, just search for something that you wrote in the document and it’ll pop up!

• Upfront cost: FREE
• What do you get?: 5GB of storage
• What if I need more storage? +25GB is $2.49 per month, or +100GB is $4.99 per month. For people with loads of content, 400GB is $19.99 per month or 1TB is $49.99 per month.
• What devices can I use it on? Virtually any internet-connected device with a web browser. Editing docs is definitely best if you have a keyboard though!

Microsoft SkyDrive (windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/skydrive/home)

Very similar to the two above. All your stuff is accessible anywhere, whether you’re using a PC, Mac or smartphone. The most interesting feature of SkyDrive is Office Web Apps. They’re basically online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint that let you edit your docs on the go. And just like Google Drive, you can share these files with other people and work on them at the same time.

• Upfront cost: FREE
• What do you get?: 7GB of storage
• What if I need more storage? +20GB is £6.00 per year, or +100GB is £32.99 per year.
• What devices can I use it on? Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and through a web browser.

Apple iCloud (apple.com/icloud)

iCloud is a slightly different animal to the services above. It’s built into all new iPhones, iPads and Macs. It’s hooked into all your key apps (iWork, Photos, Calendar, iBooks etc), so content is automatically stored in the cloud and accessible on any device, without you having to think about it. iTunes also works in the cloud, so all your movie and music purchases are available on all your devices too. iCloud has a neat feature called “Photo Stream”, which means that any photo you take on your iPhone or iPad is automatically available on all your devices, again without having to think about it.

• Upfront cost: FREE
• What do you get?: 5GB of storage (iTunes purchases don’t count towards this)
• What if I need more storage? +20GB is $40.00 per year, or +50GB is $100 per year.
• What devices can I use it on? iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, Apple TV, Mac, Windows PC.

KNOWHOW Cloud Backup (pcworld.co.uk)


This is ideal if you have a lot of data as you get about as much storage capacity as you would expect on an external hard drive. You can select folders on your PC that you want to be backed up, and it does it in the background without you having to think about it. You can then access those files anywhere, and just like SkyDrive you can edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files even if you don’t have Microsoft Office installed on that PC. Your photos can also be retouched on the go with included app.

• Upfront cost: £30 per year, or £90 for 5 years.
• What do you get?: 500GB of storage.
• What if I need more storage? 1TB is £50 per year, or £150 for 5 years.
• What devices can I use it on? PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android.

There are tons of others, so apologies if I haven’t mentioned your favourite service! If that’s the case, drop some details in the thread and I can always add them to the list!

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Personal Cloud
Ok, so what if you don’t want to store your data in the cloud and would rather keep it safe on your own device? Enter the concept of the personal cloud...

In short, the personal cloud is nothing more than an external hard drive that you can access on any device, anywhere in the world. The hard drive plugs into your wireless router rather than your PC and acts as backup and storage for all your Windows PCs or Macs in the home.

All your stuff is then accessible on any device using apps. That means every photo you’ve ever shot is available on your smartphone, or every movie you’ve ever downloaded available while you’re away on business.

If you have a Smart TV or Games Console at home, they will see your Personal Cloud and allow you to view all your media on your TV. Embarrassing your son in front of his new girlfriend with those baby pics has never been so easy!

There’s another advantage, you get tons of storage capacity and you only pay once. No recurring fees and no high prices for adding extra storage.

A couple of examples:

WD My Book Live: 1TB: £110 // 2TB: £130 // 3TB: £170
Seagate GoFlex Home: 1TB: £90 // 2TB: £120


Again, there are lots of others. Feel free to recommend your favourites!

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Music



A streaming music service such as Spotify allows you to listen to any song, on virtually any internet-connected device. For a monthly subscription, you may never buy physical CDs again. Plus, as the music isn’t stored on your device, it doesn’t eat up any space.

Apple recently launched “iTunes in the Cloud,” part of their iCloud service. Now when you buy an album on iTunes, it’s instantly available on all your Apple devices without needing to connect it to your PC first. There’s also another new feature introduced by Apple called “iTunes Match.” For a yearly fee of £21.99, iTunes will take all the music that you haven’t bought through the store (CDs, MP3s etc), and give you a digital copy of that music, direct from the iTunes server. That means your all CDs are now also available everywhere and on everything!

Storing music in the cloud also gives way to some fantastic products. I have a Logitech Squeezebox Radio in the kitchen that connects to Internet Radio and my Spotify account. That means I can listen to pretty much any song in the world, without having to dig out a CD or buy it on iTunes first (or alternatively just listen to The Archers over the internet on BBC Radio 4!)





Things to check out:

• Spotify
• iTunes Match
• Logitech Squeezebox Radio / Squeezebox Touch
• Sonos

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Video




This is probably the one that most people are familiar with. It’s no surprise that as broadband speeds have got quicker, streaming video has become more and more relevant. BBC iPlayer is a revolution in a lot of ways. You no longer need to sit in front of the TV at a pre-arranged time to watch your favourite programme. Now it’s available to you when you want it. In fact, thanks to mobile apps on tablets and smartphones, you don’t even need to be at home anymore!

I read a fascinating stat the other day. There are 30 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every single minute. Perhaps the most incredible though is that by 2015 there will be so much video content online, it would take you 5 years to watch the video that crosses the internet every second. Ridiculous!

Netflix recently launched in the UK. It followed in the footsteps of LoveFilm (run by Amazon) and offers huge quantities of movies and TV shows available on demand for a fixed monthly fee. You can watch as much as you want with no limits. There’s some really good stuff on there too. I virtually missed the entire “Lost” TV series when it was on Sky, so I’ve just started from the beginning. The whole thing is on there as well, so I’m going to be very busy for a while...



Things to check out:

• BBC iPlayer – On demand BBC TV
• Sky Go – On demand Sky shows, available on tablets, smartphones and PC.
• Sky Anytime+ - connect your Sky box to your router and watch TV on demand in the living room.
• WD TV Live – turns your TV into a Smart TV.
• Netflix – Unlimited movies and TV shows on demand.
• Apple TV – iTunes movies, TV and music from the comfort of your living room.

Expecto

Gaming




This is fairly new in the UK, and potentially game changing (forgive the pun).

Traditionally if you wanted to play games, you had to buy a specific device to cater for that need. Whether that’s a Nintendo DS for gaming on the go, a console for FIFA or a high-end PC for the real enthusiast.

Cloud Gaming services should bring the high-end gaming experience to virtually anyone. All the grunt work is actually done elsewhere, and all you need is a compatible device to play it on. That can be a netbook, a smartphone, maybe even an ultrabook or a TV. All you really need on top of that is a half-decent internet connection.

If this sounds interesting, have a look at OnLive (www.onlive.co.uk). It’s not been around all that long, but has a decent library of games, and you can even trial them for free to see how it works.

Expecto

Chromebook


I wanted to point this out because it might give an indication of where the world of computing is going. A Chromebook is actually just a small laptop that runs Chrome OS, a new operating system made by Google.

The real revolution is that a Chromebook is always connected to the internet, and all its apps and storage capacity is in the cloud.

A Chromebook is essentially going full circle on what we’ve become used to. For years the idea of buying a new PC or laptop was all about getting the best damn spec you could for the lowest price. Quad-Core? Yes please. 4GB RAM? Definitely. Massive storage? Of course!

Now enter these relatively “dumb” devices, with “low” specifications that look pretty. That concept isn’t actually all that different from your smartphone. Have a look at it. Looks nice, right? Does lots doesn’t it? Yep, but how much of what you do is powered by small apps and online content like Facebook, Twitter, email and YouTube? Most of it I’ll bet. The spec inside is totally irrelevant for the majority of what people do with them.

The great thing about having a purely online device like a Chromebook is that it’s always up-to-date, always protected against viruses, has access to all your stuff (no matter how much you have), and as the spec isn’t overkill, it has a long battery life too.

It might not be the perfect solution for everyone just yet, but is perhaps a signpost of what’s to come...
http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebooks.html

Expecto

TLDR; cloud is good.

Hope this has been helpful and/or interesting!

penrhyn

No, your huge pictures made it all very annoying.;)

PS I got free wifi with the Cloud!

Pikeyp

Thanks Expecto! ... all good information!

.. and the pictures are just fine here!

brightonman123

the cloud- just a 'new' name for the internet, innit?

i store various backup documents in draft folder of email account.. can then email to whoever wherever..