A recent survey uncovered the confusing fact that one in three people think that using "The Cloud" involves actual clouds. Wrap your head around that one for a minute. I'm trying hard not to laugh, but this happens with any leap forward in technology. There are always those who get it, and the ones who are left behind.

In reality, Cloud-Based storage is a safe and inexpensive way to store your digital files and photos rather than filling up the hard drives on your computer.

According to the survey:

  • 51% percent think bad weather messes with the cloud
  • 54% think they don't even use the cloud
  • 14% that have lied in job interviews about being very familiar with the cloud

Cloud based storage is probably one of the most important computing developments in recent years. It is your digital life--your music, your movies, your eBooks, and your documents--stored in one central location that you can access from any device, anywhere.

I use iCloud, Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, Media Fire, Flickr, Copy, Cubby, Mega, and Box to store my various digital things, and I can access them from wherever I am via my laptop, iPad, or iPhone.

Between all of my cloud services, I have a whopping 1,244.4 GB (1.2 TB) of storage space I can use for whatever I want. My sister and I regularly trade whole albums and movies via Copy or Dropbox.

Services like Mega and Media Fire offer 50 GB of storage free. Flickr now offers 1 TB of space for your photos!

Even if you don't use one of these services, you probably still utilize the Cloud without even knowing it. Downloading books for your Kindle? That's from the Cloud. Keep notes in Evernote? That's the Cloud. Watch movies in Netflix? That's the Cloud. The list goes on and on... The Cloud is everywhere, and it's amazing.

These ads from Microsoft a few years ago don't explain what cloud based computing is at all. All I know is that to access my data, I need a spinning desk and possibly a flannel shirt. Still, they're pretty funny.


[Via Gizmodo]

More From 95.7 KEZJ