In the bevy of Google news from yesterday, the Mountain View search giant also increased the amount of mail storage Gmail users get. So, everyone got bumped from the previous 7.5 GB to a whopping 10GB. Don’t worry – it was a free upgrade and from what we’re hearing, Google plans to slowly increasing the amount for years to come – so start attaching bigger and bigger files to your emails.
Source: Google
After hearing rumors for months about a possible “Google Cloud Drive” service, the search giant finally made good and released “Google Drive.” Like the multitude of cloud storage services out there, Google Drive gives all registered users 5GB free – from there, you can upload all types of files to your cloud account, share, send and edit (Google Docs Integration) your files from any computer and most mobile devices.
All the talk has been on Google & Apple as of late, in terms of cloud based audio/video/storage but no one told Amazon that. Today, Amazon unveiled their “Cloud Drive” and “Cloud Player”:
“…Amazon Cloud Drive is your hard drive in the cloud. Store your music, videos, photos, and documents on Amazon’s secure servers. All you need is a web browser to upload, download, and access your files from any computer…”
Details: You open a “Cloud” account with Amazon (Free) and get 5GB for storage to start with, that’s about 1000 songs worth of storage. From there, you can put music, movies, docs or anything else your little heart desires and access it from any computer with web access or you can use Amazon’s Cloud Player (Android) for streaming music to your smart phone. (No mention of video streaming)
Do you buy your music from Amazon? Even better, as Amazon will give you 20GB for free when you buy a full album from their music store! Any music bought through Amazon’s Music Store will be stored automatically in your Cloud Drive, for a secure backup. Did you hear that Apple and Google? You guys better be cooking something good!
Conclusion: Amazon allows anyone to store multiple media types (music/movies/docs/etc) in a private/secure cloud locker for free (5GB limit) and then you can access that data from any web connected computer or stream music from your locker with Amazon’s Android based music app. Want extra storage space – drop some cash and you’re in business. Amazon for the win! Google and Apple, you’ve been put on notice…
Source: Amazon.com
And then there were two! WD has forked over some serious cash and stock, in a deal that hands them control of Hitachi GST – axing yet another competitor off the list. The $4.3 Billion deal, essentially combines the two companies, with WD holding on to branding and HQ, while personel from Hitachi GST head on over for a never ending sleep over. No idea how long Hitachi’s Deskstar, XL and desktop line of HD’s will stay on the market but you can bet serious cash, Seagate isn’t too happy. Want all the press release goodness – click here.
Source: Engadget.com
While Apple isn’t present at Mobile World Congress, that doesn’t mean the rumors stop during this frenzied time of year. What’s on the table today you ask? Rumors of a iPhone mini or nano or micro (You Pick) and a revamp to MobileMe. Let’s talk about the phone first: World on the street is that it will be a smaller version of the 4 (quarter/half smaller in size) and will be unlocked. So no carrier to lock you into a 2 year contract and a low price point – rumor says about $200 bones. Very unlike Apple but they need a low cost weapon against Android’s march – kind of believable….
MobileMe revamp. I wouldn’t even call it a revamp – I’d call it a launch! MobileMe is horrid, slow (sync) and expensive for the features it offers. Google offers every feature MobileMe offers and does it better and for free. What needs to happen: 1st: Apple needs to make it free, 2nd: syncing with all iOS devices needs to be wireless and quick, 3rd: make iWorks cloud based and add storage for photos,movies and projects. If you wanna use that North Carolina server farm for good – add free email, coupon deals for the app store and local businesses and buy Twitter. NEXT!!
Source: MacRumors.com