Upload and access all of your important files, including videos, photos, Docs, PDFs and more wherever and whenever you want – never lose important data again!
Google is certainly pulling out all the stops these days. From Google+ to Google Play and now Google Drive, the search engine giant is truly trying to create an all intensive universe of its own that has everything one could want. Google Drive, the latest attempt in that effort, gives users 5GB of free data storage in the cloud.
Not enough? You can opt to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49 p/month, 100GB for $4.99 p/month, or even 1TB for $49.99 p/month. As a side bonus, when you upgrade Google Drive to a paid account your Gmail account storage will also increase to 25GB.
Google calls it 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.”
Some of the features include:
- Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
- Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just… there. You can access your stuff from anywhere—on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. We’re also working hard on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.
- Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let’s say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages, and we expect it to get better over time.
“Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience,” notes Google. “You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive.”
So how does it work? Download and install the app for your computer here.
During setup select the “advanced setup tab” as shown below. Next choose where and if you want to sync data with Google Drive, and whetehr or not you want to sync your Google Docs files.
Save your changes and close the window. You can always change your preferences by accessing it from icon in the system tray.
As an example I uploaded a small home video clip to store and share with others by selecting the upload tab on Google Drive.
Once it’s done uploading click the “Share” link and choose how and with whom you want to share it.
Keep it private or share with certain people or groups using names, emails, or contact lists you’ve created.
It’s that easy.
Google Drive is available for PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android (iPad coming soon). If you want to see it in more detail watch the demo video below.
Stay tuned.
[email protected] | @jaredmoya
I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
