How to Save Money and Be More Productive With Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is increasingly becoming a more valuable way of using your pc, your laptop, and your smart phone. In cloud computing, you are taking advantage of applications and storage capacities located in different parts of the country or the world.

In my view there are three ways that cloud computing is

both economical and efficient:

1. In that the applications you use are not stored on your hard drive, they can be accessed anywhere as long as you are on a computer, have internet access, and haven't forgotten your password.

2. You can save money on external disks. Although I still backup my very essential files, I do it just for peace of mind and to be able to boot up my computer in case of a crash. I do not carry the flash drives with me, nor have I bought any in years.

3. Cloud computing has eliminated the need to network your computers. With your applications being in the cloud, all you need is internet access and your password.

Cloud computing then is valuable not only for its efficiency and capacity to make you more productive, it is also economical.

There are several cloud computing apps that I have found to be extremely useful. With a Google account, you have access to all the Google apps including Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Reader. I also have found Dropbox and Evernote to be quite useful. Google Docs and Dropbox have similar features, but with Dropbox, you don't need a Google account.

With regards to Evernote, I consider it to be the best note taking tool available anywhere on the web. With it you can create notes for text, images, audio, and whole pages. All these notes can then be synchronized between your pc, your laptop, and your smart phone.

Also, in that you can add images as uploaded and process notes, they become searchable by any text in the images. Therefore, if you take a picture of a book you want to remember in a store, or an artist's name displayed on an art gallery wall, you have a quick and efficient way of keeping, and accessing that information. You can also choose to download the Evernote application to your pc or just use it in the cloud.

While I have not mentioned any of the Windows cloud applications such as the Windows Live Services, the use of cloud computing based on the examples I've provided means that you can strip away some of the software you have installed on your computer in favor of the cloud alternatives. Moreover, you are unshackling yourself from your pc and allowing yourself to have access to e-mail, files, pictures, and more whenever you are and have a web connecting device.


What do you like or dislike about cloud computing?
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