Dropbox is releasing a new API for developers that should help bring new capabilities to apps that tie into the service for file storage and sharing. The new API handles a variety of sync functions on both iOS and Android devices. Dropbox will now treat files as if they were local, managing syncing, caching, change tracking, and offline access. These functions were previously handled by app developers who had to code all of this themselves. » Read the rest
Ever hate having to access multiple apps just to check a document on your Dropbox? Box 2.0 hopes to solve that for you by including a document viewer that supports 75 different types of files. That’s right, you no longer have to first open Dropbox, check to see if its the latest version, then open Quickoffice all to just access your presentation you slaved over for hours.
This update brings a host of other features including automatically updating offline folders and files, a complete transfer manager as well as a completely browser-less experience. Now, the race for best cloud storage system for mobile devices just got a bit tighter. With 5 gigabytes free of space, I would strongly suggest you at least check this out if you’re in need of a more fluid cloud storage system. Hit the break for the download links.
It’s pretty clear that Amazon has every intention of staying competitive in the mobile space for the foreseeable future. Between new devices, applications, and cloud services, Amazon is fighting their way to the top of the OEM pile, and doing a pretty good job of it. To add more to their app/cloud repertoire, Amazon has released a Cloud Drive Photos app to access any photos you may have on Amazon Cloud drive. » Read the rest
Yesterday, it was reported that the popular cloud-based gaming hub OnLive had allegedly laid off a majority of its staff and planned to file for bankruptcy. OnLive remained quiet for several hours after the initial rumor became widespread. When asked about the potential folding of the company, OnLive’s director of corporate communications refuted the claim by saying “we don’t respond to rumors, but of course not.”
Today Amazon has announced they will be pushing some serious upgrades to their popular Cloud Player music streaming platform. The intention is to make the service more competitive with Apple’s ‘iTunes Match’ and Google Music.
Starting with the addition of scan and match technology, the service will scan customers’ iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries, then match the songs on their computers to Amazon’s catalog of music, which includes a stunning 20 million tracks and rising.
All matched music will immediately be accessible via Cloud Player and upgraded for free to high-quality 256Kbps audio. This includes music customers bought from iTunes, ripped from CDs or that was bought from Amazon. Better accessibility will be a driving factor in making Amazon Cloud Player more popular. For example, any customer with an Android device, iDevice, Kindle Fire, or even a web browser will have access to all their music via the cloud. Those of you with Roku and Sonos home entertainment systems will soon have support as well. » Read the rest
Sources have told GigaOM that Google will likely be launching a cloud services platform next week at Google I/O to compete with Amazon’s EC2 and Microsoft’s Azure services. Sure, Google already has cloud services with its App Engine and Google Cloud Storage, but this would be a more comprehensive enterprise-level offering known in the industry as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).
Cloud computing comes in three flavors, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). They each provide increasing levels of rented virtual resources. With IaaS, users simply rent use of servers provided by one or more cloud providers. PaaS users rent servers as well as the system software to use in them. SaaS users also rent application software and databases along with the servers and system software.
So now that we know the different types of cloud computing, we can see that Google is making a play for an IaaS model to rent out virtual servers and storage space for corporate markets, ultimately targeting one of Microsoft’s biggest strengths… their enterprise developer community. By partnering with third-party companies such as Rightscale and Opscode, Google has focused on making it easier to write, deploy and manage applications in order to lure enterprise developers to its platform.
We’ll find out more at Google I/O next week!
source: gigaom
In keeping up with the excitement of its exciting Players’ Choice Awards, NVIDIA is set to revolutionize graphics and gaming as we know it. CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has shared that the company plans on using distributed graphics to stream low-latency video games from the internet to computers. In order to power this great concept, NVIDIA has partnered with cloud gaming giant Gaikai and argues the new GeForce Grid GPU actually has a reduced latency of streaming games to just ten milliseconds. Sounds impossible, but it’s definitely been acheived people. To do this feat, the GPU captures and encodes the game frames rapidly in a single pass and promises the enhanced Gaikai service will be available not just Android smartphones and tablets, but TVs as well. » Read the rest
It’s no secret we all love gaming on our Android tablets. That’s why Wikipad’s Android tablet looks to revolutionize the face of Android gaming as we know it. The tablet will be designed as a general portable gaming unit, instead of having a traditional tablet slate. You will find the standard D-pad, dual analog sticks and buttons galore in order to control your games. Wikipad also took some time to pump up the features of its gaming tablet— which will feature a 10.1-inch screen, a quad-core processor and optional 3G for those who choose to use that to connect to the cloud gaming service if you don’t want to play a game locally on your device. Speaking of which— Wikipad also announced it’s teaming up with Gaikai to bring high-quality console games which will be streamed to gamers of all types.
No word on what games will be available at launch nor do we know of when the intriguing device will be released, but we suspect that they’ll want to release it soon– especially as summer is around the corner. Hit the break for the full presser.
Google’s head honcho Larry Page took some time recently to give his formal update on all things Google for 2012, including the Android platform. In an unsurprisingly bright outlook, Page expresses his excitement for Android specifically by sharing how the platform is not only on fire, but:
“ The pace of mobile innovation has never been greater. Over 850,000 devices are activated daily through a network of 55 manufacturers and more than 300 carriers. Android is a tremendous example of the power of partnership, and it just gets better with each version. The latest update, Ice Cream Sandwich, has a beautiful interface that adapts to the form of the device. Whether it’s on a phone or tablet, the software works seamlessly”.
He also adds that Android users are able to do a ton of actions ranging from “searching for something” or “turning your phone into a wallet”. Furthermore, he highlights the ability to access information anywhere and everywhere by stating:
“As devices multiply and usage changes (many users coming online today may never use a desktop machine), it becomes more and more important to ensure that people can access all of their stuff anywhere… so I am excited about products like Gmail and Google Docs that work well across Android and desktop. With Chrome now recently available on Android, switching devices becomes painless, too, because all of your tabs are just there across your desktop and Android. And with Google Play, movies, books, apps, and games are all accessible from the Web or an Android device—no cables, downloading, or syncing required. I think there is a theme here”!
Finally he shares a quick tidbit on the recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility. He shares that Google is “excited about the opportunities to build great devices capitalizing on the tremendous success and growth of Android and Motorola’s long history of technological innovation.”
We’re excited too Mr. Page– believe us.
source: Google Investor Relations
Let me set the scene, as I’m sure it’s one that many of us have encountered on numerous occasions. You’ve spent a solid hour in the morning smashing your way through level after level on Angry Birds using your trusty Android tablet. Fast forward several hours and you’re sitting on the train on your way back from work and decide to kill some time, you whip out your Android phone to pick up where you left of. Or so you thought, all that hard work you put in hasn’t carried over to your phone meaning you’ve got to run through it all over again. Frustrating right? Well the team over at gaming powerhouse Ubisoft agree and have decided to do something about it.
Head of Digital at Ubisoft, Chris early told Pocket-lint “I think this is a huge issue and I personally can’t stand it where I have to do something over again. We have a cloud-based storage system for that data for you.” Chris also confirmed that Ubisoft’s forthcoming title Ghost Recon Commander will utilise cloud storage, allowing you to access your character on multiple platforms including Facebook, mobile and tablet devices.
It’s great to see Ubisoft address this issue and here’s hoping that other games developers follow the trend. Better yet, perhaps Google could help us out and bake cloud storage for mobile gaming into Google Drive. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
source : Pocket-lint