Page 86 - April 2015 Life In Naples Magazine
P. 86
naples mac help
Understanding
‘The Cloud’
Y ou can’t turn on the news, open a magazine or talk to DROPBOX is a service that offers
a neighbor without the ‘cloud’ appearing. What is the
cloud and how can it be useful to you? 2GB of storage for free, and will add 2GB
to your storage for any referrals that sign
Simply put, the term cloud is used to describe information that up for Dropbox. You can also upgrade to
is stored not on your own personal computer but on a remote paid versions for under $10 monthly that
computer or server connected via the Internet. It is the next offer 1TB of storage. Using the Dropbox
step in computers – having your files, photos, music and more website on a computer, or the Dropbox
backed up and available over the Internet, wherever you are App on a tablet or smartphone, you can easily share files via
whenever you need them. email to friends, family and others. Dropbox is a convenient
way to share dozens of photos, whereas you would be unable
From a physical point of view, the cloud is a bunch of servers, to email a large amount of high-resolution photos without
storage, networking hardware and software connected to the sending multiple messages with a few files attached to each.
internet. They are usually stored in a ‘server farm,’ which is is You can easy drag a few hundred photos into your Dropbox
a group of networked servers that are housed in one location. folder, and simply click a share button to send a link to those
These are usually in clusters of buildings that can be spread photos. Dropbox can also easily share video and document
over several acres. Apple Computer has started construction on files.
a server farm in North Carolina, and the 500,000 square-foot
center may be doubled in size before completion. APPLE’S ICLOUD is designed
HOW CAN YOU USE to automatically and securely unite all
CLOUD COMPUTING? of your content – music, photos, files,
apps, calendars, contacts, bookmarks,
The most important features of the notes and reminders. Now, if you are at
cloud for the consumer are access and at lunch with a friend and they give you
convenience. When you store documents, their new email address that you enter
photos or music ‘in the cloud,’ you have into your iPhone, it will automatically
access to these files wherever you are, as long as you have a data download to your iMac at your office, your iPad at home, and
connection. No longer do you need to go home to email photos your iPod Touch in your kitchen. iCloud works with Apple
that are stored on your hard drive, or burn a CD to listen to devices, and with both Mac and PC computers.
music in your car. These can all be accessed from the servers
where they reside through almost any modern device. Having Photo Stream, part of iCloud,
your files on the cloud means that you can access your data manages photos that you
from any computer, tablet or smart phone almost anywhere. take with iPhones or iPads. If
enabled, every photo you take
CLOUD SERVICES automatically appears on your
computer or other devices, by
The two most well-known cloud services are probably pushing the photos from your
Dropbox and iCloud. Dropbox started as a file storage and iPhone to the other devices. If you have an Apple TV, you can
sharing service, and iCloud is what keeps Apple computers even share your photos from iCloud on the big screen of your
and devices synced. HDTV. Photo Stream stores your 1,000 most recent photos
86 Life in Naples | April 2015
