Google Drive Pricing Reduced

With more and more data moving into the cloud we are seeing a bigger demand for affordable cloud storage. Google launched Drive just over two years ago with a competitive pricing model and has been a popular choice for storage ever since. One aspect of Google Drive that appeals to many is the deep integration with Google docs allowing you to easily create a document, spreadsheet or presentation, store it in Google’s cloud and easily share it with others using Google Drive.

Recently Google announced that it was slashing the prices of Google Drive to make it more affordable to everyone. Now you can get 100GB of storage for just $1.99 a month instead of $4.99. For those with much bigger requirements such as myself you can get a whopping 1TB of storage for just $9.99 which is insanely good value at just 1 cent per GB. When compared to competitor Dropbox which gives you 2GB free and a maximum of 100GB for $9.99 this is an extremely generous offer.

It’s likely in the coming weeks that we will see a retaliation from some of the other cloud storage providers who will likely reduce pricing in order to compete with Google’s new pricing structure. Whilst we are unlikely to see anything like the pricing offered by Google we should expect to see some action from other providers such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon and Box.

You may be wondering what you would do with 1TB of storage from Google Drive? personally I use it as an extension of the memory on my iPhone. Sadly you can’t add any external storage on iPhone via SD card so I take advantage of Google’s generous 1TB offer and use it to expand the storage on my ageing 8GB iPhone 4 allowing me to store more photo’s, videos and documents than would normally be possible.

Have you taken advantage of the new pricing model for Google Drive? What do you primarily use cloud storage for? As usual we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Amazon Releases Cloud Music Player for iPad

Apple has released its Cloud Player app for the iPad, some six months after it came out for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Your music. Everywhere. Listen to your music collection from the cloud on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad anywhere you are. You can download or stream your library from the cloud – or play the music you already have on your device.

Amazon has made several moves to expand its cloud music platform in recent months. It has optimized its music store for mobile Safari, made free digital copies of all CDs ever purchased on Amazon.com, and introduced a new "scan and match" service similar to iTunes Match.

[Source: MacRumors]

Adobe acquires Behance, sets sights on community-driven Creative Cloud

Well, it looks like Adobe is wrapping things up nicely before the long holiday weekend. Mere days after the most recent round of updates, the software outfit has just announced its acquisition of Behance, the online portfolio community for creatives in a number of disciplines. Founded in 2006 by CEO Scott Belsky, they NYC-based outfit will remain it's current location and retain all of its 32 current employees. Touting over 1 million active users and 90 million project views in the past month, Behance is an online repository for portfolios, feedback, inspiration and the hiring of creative pros. Adobe is planning to fully integrate the design community's wares into it's Creative Cloud arsenal "allowing members to seamlessly create content, seek feedback, showcase their work and distribute it across devices." For now, there won't be any changes for free and paid members of the Behance offerings, but Adobe is evaluating how to integrate the paid portions into Creative Cloud memberships with the free option from the community remaining as such. Head on past the break to take a gander at the full announcement.

[Source: Engadget]

Google adds the scrolls of Genesis and the Ten Commandments to the cloud

Following through on its mission to help digitally preserve the Dead Sea Scrolls, Google announced today that it's working with the Israel Antiquities Authority to bring more ancient text to the cloud. The latest archived entries include an early copy of the Book of Deuteronomy and part of the first chapter of Genesis, which describes the creation of the world. In addition, hundreds of other 2,000 year-old texts outlining the history of Judaism and the life of Jesus will be added to the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library at a 1,215 dpi resolution. Utilizing Google's hosting, this project houses around 900 manuscripts that support commenting, image zoom and fullscreen viewing. Stop by the coverage link below to get up close and personal with these pieces of history.

[Image Credit: Israel Antiquities Authority]
[Source: Engadget]

Sony and Box extend BFF status, offer 50GB free storage to Xperia owners through 2013

When Sony and Box came together last year to offer Xperia owners a tantalizing deal of 50GB of free storage for life, the promotion was only set to run for a year. Now that shopping season is upon us once more, however, the holiday spirit must've moved them to extend the partnership for yet another year -- that, or Sony needs any edge it can to move those Xperia devices to consumer hands. Just as with the prior promo, Xperia and Sony tablet users can snag 50 gigs of cloud storage completely gratis just by signing up or tapping into existing Box accounts on their devices before December 31st 2013. However, do note that the offer doesn't extend to the Xperia X10 mini, the X10 mini pro and anything that has firmware older than Android 2.1. Now that Sony has this going for two years straight, maybe they should extend this to a lifetime scenario, or as long as Box sticks around to offer up that sweet storage in the sky.

[Source: Engadget]

SugarSync releases version 2.0 beta with new UI, drag-and-drop sharing and cross-device search

SugarSync's popular cloud sharing app just got a complete web and desktop makeover. Version 2.0 beta is now available in desktop, web and Android app flavors, bringing a handful of new features to subscribers on multiple platforms. Mac and Windows users will have direct file system access to all of their cloud content, letting you transfer documents and other data without launching the app or web interface. You'll be able to store files within individual folders, and you can hop over to the activity feed to see a list of items in the order they were added, making it easy to locate a file transferred recently.

A new search tool indexes all of your remote content, while also letting you locate files stored locally on computers and other devices. You can also drag and drop files to specific contacts or to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, without any need to copy and paste a download link. Apps will be available for Android at launch, and while BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian and Windows Phone users will need to hang tight for now, they'll still be able to use previous versions alongside 2.0 in the meantime. As always, you'll be able to sign up for a free 5GB account, with paid monthly plans ranging from $5 for 30 gigs to $40 for a monster 500GB plan. Grab the new version now at the source link below.

[Source: Engadget]

Dashboard beta leaks new Xbox Music Pass: Cloud playlists and early pricing revealed

Appearing soon after Zune's end, we've been sent these images of what Microsoft's likely to offer in Xbox Music. Matching those early rumors, it looks like some cloud-linked features will make an appearance in the form of synchronized playlists, while the service will offer a free half-month trial alongside paid subscriptions. Prices are currently set at £8.99 ($15) for a month, while £89.90 ($146) will offer a year's unlimited access to "millions" of tracks, to stream and download across Xbox, Windows, and Windows Phone. The system's UI seems to borrow its looks from Windows' Metro tile-based style, with a verysimilar keyboard that appears to be navigable from your Xbox controller. Take a tour of the gallery below and expect to hear more specifics ahead of the big Windows 8 launch next month.

[Source: Engadget]

Amazon brings Cloud Player music service to the UK: choice of free or premium tiers from £6 per year

Brits who've been straining for a reason to care about Amazon's budding Cloud Player service can probably relax. It's live in the UK as of now, offering 5GB of online storage and the ability to stream 250 of your tracks (or 256Kbps matched versions) to a range of devices free of charge. Adding extra storage will cost from £6 per year for 20GB, rising to £320 p/a for a full terabyte. If you're a heavy user, though, you may also need to fork out £22 p/a for the right to stream up to 250,000 of your tracks. Paying to play to music you already purchased? Indeed, further exertion may be necessary to figure out if it's all worth it, along with a glance at the detailed press release after the break.

[Source: Engadget]

D-Link Cloud Storage 4000 NAS stores up 16TB, hooks up to your smartphone and tablet

D-Link's latest storage solution is pitched at small business and households looking to escape into the world of cloud storage. There's four SATA bays, each of which can carry up to 4TB, with D-Link adding in compatibility with its own cloud cameras (for network video recording) plus connectivity to Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices. Remote access from your phone or tablet is possible through either the dedicated app or D-Link's portal website. There's also a pair of ethernet jacks on the back, for full-speed file transfer and back-up. The Cloud Storage 4000 is priced up at $450 and includes an DLNA server which will hook-up with D-Link's own BoxeeBox, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 -- storage buffs can even setup automatic email and SMS event notifications. Read up on the finer details in the press release below.

[Source: Engadget]

Adobe’s First Major Feature Update For Creative Cloud Focuses on Edge and Muse

About 4 months ago, Adobe officially announced the launch of its new Creative Cloud subscription service, which gives the company’s users the ability to pay one monthly fee for access to virtually all of the company’s professional tools. Since then, Adobe launched two minor updates for Creative Cloud, including the addition of Lightroom 4 in June and an update to the Collage tool in July. Today, however, the company is launching its first major feature update to Creative Cloud and is also announcing a few updates that are coming in September. The focus of today’s updates is on Edge, the company’s HTML5 tool for creating animated web content and Muse, Adobe’s website-building tool aimed at print designers.

[Source: TechCrunch - Read more here]

Things 2.0 takes Cloud syncing out of protracted beta, showers you with new features

Things, one of the leading task manager apps on Apple's OS X has seen a long-awaited update to version 2.0 today. It brings to a close some five months of public beta testing of a new Cloud syncing feature — which distributes your to-do list across the full range of Apple devices, courtesy of updated iPhone and iPad apps as well. Also on the new features list are Retina display support for the new MacBook Pro, an entirely re-engineered core for "blazing fast Things Cloud performance," visual refinements that include a reduction in window chrome, and an all-new Daily Review section. You'll need to be running OS X 10.6.6 (Snow Leopard) or later to be able to apply this update, which is free for anyone who's already purchased the app.

[Source: The Verge]