| Hot Topics New Cloud Storage Services: The Benefits and Risks Two new products created buzz this month: Google Music Beta and Google Chromebook. And while they both have the Google name in common, they have something else that makes them alike: cloud storage. Cloud storage is a virtual storage system that's an alternative for storing information on a hard drive, flash drive, CD or other type of storage device. Cloud storage allow users to save information, photos, videos, documents and more on a virtual storage system that can be accessed anywhere. Many people are attracted to cloud storage systems because it alleviates the need to save and backup data, frees up memory space on a computing device and allows for much more storage of data. Many people use cloud storage and may not even realize it. Common cloud storage devices include services such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, Google Docs, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and Flickr. So what are Google Music and Google Chromebook promising? Ease of access to your most used data from anywhere at anytime - as long as you have an Internet connection. See, cloud storage typically only works if an Internet connection is available. Google's Chromebook is available for order June 15 and touts efficiency and ease of access. Chromebook performs all its tasks via the Internet and has a built-in Wi-Fi connection. Logging into Chromebook automatically logs a person into all the accounts they have through Google, such as Gmail and Google Docs, and syncs settings with other computers, so whether at work, home or somewhere else, all the data a person needs is right there. Google Music allows storage for up to 20,000 MP3s in one place. Once all a person's music is uploaded to Google Music, she or he can listen to it from anywhere via the Web or Android mobile phone device. Google Music also allows access to recently played songs or tailored playlists on an Android mobile device even when the Internet isn't an option, for example, on an airplane. Google Music tells us with this new service, we can spend more time listening to our music and less time managing it. Should We Be on Cloud Nine About Cloud Storage? While cloud storage may initially sound foolproof, concerns over security and reliability are often the most voiced. However, cloud storage systems often highlight that safety of data as something they can provide. See, data loss is often vulnerable when left to one device, for example, a hard drive or memory stick. When someone's laptop goes missing or if it crashes, the data is forever gone if it has not been backed up. With cloud storage, the data is not susceptible to same kind of risk. In fact, many storage devices duplicate the data, called redundancy, in order to ensure it's easily accessible at any time. However, the reliability of the organization providing the cloud storage is important to keep in mind. If a company is financially unstable and could go under or if they don't take measures to protect data through encryption, authorization and authentication, data loss could be an issue. But the reliability of a company does not always factor. Take, for example, Amazon's cloud computing and storage, Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS rents cloud storage and computing power to serve up sites people want to access online. Last month, Amazon's servers failed to work properly and big-name sites such as Quora, Reddit, Foursquare, Hootsuite all suffered. These sites were either down completely without access or severely slowed down. Other concerns include privacy. Cloud storage devices are often too complex for the average hacker to break into, but that still doesn't eliminate many people's concerns about private information stored virtually and potentially viewable by other parties. Other concerns over ownership of data stored in the cloud are also often expressed. As we move into the future, some people predict personal memory and storage devices will become a thing of the past as we begin to store all data in the cloud. The question still remains if cloud storage is more or less reliable than people saving data when left to their own devices.
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