Cloud Computing
Microsoft this week provided new information about how it will integrate its SkyDrive cloud-storage service with Windows 8 (and previous Windows versions), dramatically improving the interoperability between the two. Put simply, SkyDrive should see a huge surge in usage in the next year or two: This already-useful service is about to become indispensable.
more Earlier this month, I wrote about my decision to migrate my consolidated personal email accounts from Gmail to Hotmail, which I use along side Exchange-based solutions at work and with Office 365. Since then, I've gotten a lot of interesting feedback from readers and, perhaps not coincidentally, have seen some interesting moves from both Google and Microsoft in the web email space. But the big news, perhaps, is that this transition has gone a lot more smoothly than I'd imagined.
more Windows Phone 7.5 includes a great new feature called Linked Inbox, which lets you consolidate two or more email accounts into a single, integrated view. Not coincidentally, if you're consolidating email accounts as I am, this feature can also be very useful when you want to send email from two or consolidated accounts. Here's how to set it up.
more As part of a wider move to cloud-centric solutions, I've switched my day-to-day writing to Evernote, which provides excellent web, PC, and mobile clients. But I'm still using Microsoft Word for my most critical work, such as my next book, Windows 8 Secrets.
more I'm changing the way I do things this year, and will be writing about some of the efficiency-related hardware, software, and services changes I'm making. First up: Email. And while this may seem obvious on the surface, switching to Microsoft-oriented email services was never obvious to me. But it happened.
more When it comes to automatically pushing phone-based pictures to the cloud, no one has Apple beat: With the iPhone 4S and an iCloud feature called Photo Stream, Apple's users have a best of breed solution that just works, and does so automatically. It's not without quirks, however, so if you want to take best advantage of this solution, please read on.
more Today, Microsoft took yet another step to advance its Windows Live SkyDrive consumer-oriented cloud service, offering up free mobile apps for both Windows Phone and Apple's iPhone. I've been using these apps for over a week, and the capabilities are impressive, especially on Windows Phone, which provides document editing capabilities in addition to viewing.
more Amazon Cloud Player, Apple iTunes Match, Google Music all offer interesting options for digital music enthusiasts, and all work well with Windows. Less obviously, perhaps, they can work together in interesting ways, too. I'm particularly intrigued by the notion of managing my music collection in the cloud rather than on a single PC desktop. And with these services, that's become more possible than ever before.
more Apple's new iCloud service is the most compelling and complete consumer oriented cloud computing service available today, offering deep integration between Apple's devices and the company's other products and services. iCloud is a no brainer for any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad user, and that's true whether you're a Windows or Mac fan.
more I spent much of today writing a 4000 word analysis of yesterday's Apple iPhone 4S event. But I'm not going to publish it: There's just too much to complain about. Instead, let me just recap the highlights.
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