5 Ways You May Already Be Using the Cloud

The cloud has been something of a hot topic for the past year in the world of technology, with many articles and pieces of information announcing how everyone and everything will soon "move" into the cloud . Despite this coverage techno-new almost constant many people are still confused about what "cloud" really means and may feel unsure of how it can be beneficial. Research has even shown that some people think the cloud is something to do with time! This confusion and reluctance on the cloud in the personal lives of many people may continue in the corporate world and can, in some cases, create barriers to implementing and benefiting from the cloud in a context of business. If you are a regular Internet user, it is very likely that you are already using the cloud in one way or another. Understand how maybe you already use the cloud can be help to show how the "cloud" can be translated to the corporate sector

.1. Collaboration 

The Internet has revolutionized the way we can work together and share things with them. With the click of a button, we can share presentations, documents and files with your friends, family and colleagues if they are sitting at a computer next to you or across the world. If you used a document sharing service, such as Google Docs or a file hosting service like SkyDrive to share files and documents with people you know, you used the cloud. Services such as Google Docs and SkyDrive to store your files and documents in the cloud so they can be accessed from anywhere, so you can allow other users to view and make changes.The cloud can also be particularly useful for accessing your files when you're traveling or on another computer. You can also use the cloud to access your bookmarks and preferences. bookmarking sites such as Delicious or Google Bookmarks will store your favorite websites in the cloud and login to view and edit from anywhere. Similarly, some browsers have features to keep your bookmarks, history and tabs same current in the cloud so that they are handy if you use a different computer

.2. Storage

 One of the main uses of the cloud for storage. There is a wide variety of storage options to choose new options appear each month. Sites like Dropbox, Google Drive MediaFire and allow you to store your files and access them from anywhere through the cloud. Many of these options will allow you to store a number of gigabytes of data for free. Using cloud storage can be a great way to store your files and free space on your own computer. Files, especially music and video, may take a large amount of space on your hard drive and can be difficult to fit on a USB key. Store files in the cloud means that you can see and use them whenever you want. Many people also use cloud services and storage as a backup of their data - keep a copy of your data in the cloud in case something goes wrong with your computer.

 3. Entertaining 

You do not realize how many forms of entertainment now use the cloud to reach new audiences. A large proportion of Internet users will spend time catching up with their favorite shows or watch online movies on demand. Services that offer TV programs and movies to watch on the Internet, such as Netflix, iPlayer or 4oD to use the cloud to these services to a wide audience. Music streaming sites like Spotify or Internet radio stations like Pandora are also cloud-based services. The cloud means that large amounts of data and files can be stored and accessed by a huge user base - a perfect solution for streaming media sites and services.The gaming industry is also a concerted move to the cloud. Many online games are already hosted in the cloud and are played through the Internet, but the console and computer games follow closely behind. A number of cloud gaming services have been introduced in recent years and may be closely involved in the evolution of the video game industry. With cloud gaming you can enjoy more powerful processing speeds and better graphics rendering without needing your computer to get high-end specifications. More information about cloud gaming can be found here.

 4. Communication 

One of the simplest ways to use the cloud that you have not done is email. Most email programs, web based, such as Hotmail (now Outlook), Gmail and Yahoo Mail, are actually a form of cloud computing. Emails and contacts are not stored on your local machine, instead, they are stored in the cloud, allowing you to check your email from anywhere. The cloud is a key element in many forms of Internet communication. Skype, the popular video-chat service and instant messaging, use the cloud so that its millions of users can all interconnect with each other. Other platforms UC also use the cloud to provide services, such as Hosted Lync is a unified communications platform Microsoft hosted in the cloud. 

5. Social Networks 

Many social networking sites reach millions of users and the use of the cloud is a good way for them to keep their services available and reliable. So whenever you want to post on Facebook or write a tweet, you use the cloud. In a Web site for sharing photos in the same vein as Instagram and Flickr are also cloud-based services. It is to the cloud you're able to share your Instagram photos with your friends from your mobile due to cloud storage that allows you to save and view your photos in Flickr. If you pin something to a board in Pinterest, the image is part of a Web site that is hosted in the cloud. You can not think that you are using the cloud in your life every day, but it is likely that you are, even if you do not realize it.