Google Launches Google Drive Cloud Storage Service
Google today announced its long-awaited Google Drive cloud storage service, providing users with 5GB of free storage integrated with Google Docs and other Google services.
Today, we’re introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.
Beyond the free 5GB level, Google offers several levels of paid storage up to 16 TB, all accessible via Google Docs or through clients for PC, Mac, Android and iOS devices -- though the iOS app has yet to be released, Google promises it is "coming soon". One of the biggest features in Drive is the ability to open more than 30 different file types directly in the browser, allowing users without programs like Illustrator and Photoshop to open up files and see what's inside. The service includes extensive sharing and collaboration features, as well.
The launch of Google Drive comes as several other cloud storage services have augmented their services in recent days. Microsoft's SkyDrive, which offers users 7GB of free cloud storage, yesterday updated its offering with an updated iOS app [Direct Link] and a preview client for OS X Lion, which allows users to manage their SkyDrive accounts directly from the Finder. Finally, Dropbox extended its file storage service with the ability to quickly share files stored on Dropbox with anyone, simply by creating a link.
Popular Stories
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, GameCube, Wii,...
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
Top Rated Comments
No interest in the product itself, but if it compels Dropbox to lower their prices in the future, that can't hurt .
I use and like Dropbox: it's robust and works well, but ...
When I share an individual file by publishing it's URL (copy link) to someone, when they open a file, like a video, on Mac, it plays the video. If they don't have QT Pro, they can't download it. I often want to share videos (my own, nothing copyrighted by others), and Dropbox makes that more difficult. I supposed I could just ZIP the video first, as iDisk does, but that's yet another step. They should deal with this issue.
Second, if I share a folder, there are two issues:
1. When someone else attached to it, we BOTH pay for the storage used - Dropbox counts the same bits twice. So, if I share a folder, then one of my sharees decides to move a bunch of c**p into into it because he's not a computer nerd like me, I go above my quota and have to tell him to get that stuff away. There's no way to restrict access (see #2)
Maybe that's OK if we both have read/write/delete access to the files ... but ...
2. Often files just disappear from my shared folders. Why? Because the most common use of these shared files if for people to drag them onto their hard drives for whatever reasons. And on Mac, that's a "move" not a "copy." So the file vanishes from Dropbox.
So I spend time warning my users not to do that, etc. What Dropbox needs is folder access types: full sharing for collaboration, partial sharing (read/write/delete, but not ADD files); and read only sharing (users can copy the files if they want, but can't make any changes)
iDisk was slower, but I could accomplish those goals easily enough.