In addition to previewing the next version of Android dubbed “L”, Android Auto, Android TV, new Chromecast features, and more, Google released an updated version of Google Drive for iPhone and iPad. The new version brings enhances to file sharing giving users the ability to allow files or folders to be viewed, commented, or edited by anyone with a link. The update also adds a new incoming view for seeing files that have been shared as well as an activity stream for seeing changes you and others make to files and folders in one place. Expand Expanding Close
I wrote a piece last month arguing that it was time for Apple to up its iCloud game, showing that the company is serious about cloud storage by focusing more on fast, reliable syncing, and by matching the functionality, storage capacities, and pricing of Google Drive.
In the WWDC keynote, Apple did exactly that. MobileMe may not, in Steve Jobs’ words, have been Apple’s finest hour, but it did at least include iDisk – an online drive we could access directly to store anything we liked – not just documents created in Apple’s own apps. It’s been a long time coming, but iDisk is finally back in the form of iCloud Drive.
The Apple ecosystem is a large part of why I stick to an all-Apple line-up for my laptops, tablet and phone. iCloud is key to that, of course, providing seamless backup and syncing between devices.
Whether it’s my calendar, contacts, reminders, notes, ebooks or Safari bookmarks, all are available on all devices within a minute or two of me updating any of them. Documents I create in Pages, Numbers or Keynote are again available from any of my devices providing I choose to store them on iCloud. As I pay the extra for iTunes Match, I’m also able to stream any of my music from any device.
In some respects, Apple clearly takes the cloud seriously. It has invested massively in expanding its network of data centers, including a $1B investment in Reno, expansion in Maiden and new data centers as far afield as Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Yet, central as it is to the ecosystem, iCloud still feels a bit like it deserves the tag Steve Jobs famously applied to Apple TV: a hobby …
Google is out today with a brand new set of productivity apps for iOS with the release of Google Docs and Google Sheets for both iPhone and iPad. Previously, documents stored in Google’s collaborative productivity apps were restricted to access in Google Drive or browser-based web apps. While both Google’s word processor and spreadsheet editor have appeared on the App Store, Google says that Google Slides, its presentation app, is “coming soon”.
While these apps have all been bundled in one place for you, you’re not stuck with the whole collection if you don’t want it. They are priced individually at the discounted rate meaning you can choose to only purchase and download the apps you want most.
Along with the rest of the bundled apps, you’ll find One Year Of Parallels Access on iPad for just $15. A year of Parallels access is normally $50 via in-app purchases through the free Parallels iOS app, so with today’s deal you’re saving $35 (70%).
The StackUp iOS Bundle: Up to 83% off – Printer Pro, Scanner Pro, iDownloader Pro, Day One, FX Photo Studio, Parallels Access and more…
You can see a complete list of the apps available along with a brief description and the regular price information below:
Google has just announced some new price plans for its Google Drive service. The new plans start at $1.99 for 100 GB (down from $4.99), $10 for 1 TB (down from $50) and 10 TB for $99.99. This storage is shared across Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos.
It should be noted that Google bills customers monthly. Even so, these new price points make Apple’s iCloud storage offerings look awful in terms of value for money.
For iCloud storage, Apple currently charges $20 yearly for 15 GB, $50 yearly for 25 GB and $100 yearly for 55 GB (lumping in the free 5 gigabytes Apple gives to every user). Rather amusingly, Apple’s options do not even allow users to perform a 1:1 backup of their 64 GB and 128 GB devices — the top iCloud tier totals 55 GB of storage.
Whatever way you cut it, Apple’s prices are exorbitant in comparison to Google’s. Doing some basic arithmetic, for one gigabyte of cloud storage over a year, Google charges you 24 cents. Meanwhile, Apple charges you 1.8 dollars. This means Apple’s current rates are 7.5x more expensive than Google’s.
VLC released an update to its iOS app today introducing an iOS 7-friendly user interface as well as several handy features.
Users will welcome support for streaming media from both Dropbox and Google Drive; previously, VLC required content to be downloaded locally in its entirety before it could be viewed. This will greatly speed up media viewing. The update also features a list of other improvements including new gestures and more.
VLC for iOS is available for free on the App Store.
Chalk up another Google Drive update for iOS as Google just announced a new sorting feature for files. Google’s iOS version of Google Drive has received quite a few updates in recent months to bring it in line with its Android counterpart. The new sorting feature should prove useful to just about every Google Drive user as it’s a much-needed and important feature.
MacUpdate just launched their Winter Mac app bundle this morning. This bundle contains 10 apps + 2 bonus apps for early buyers. Together, the 12 apps are worth nearly $400 (or about $360 without the 2 bonus titles), but the bundle is priced at just $39.99.
– Multiple Account Support. You can now switch between personal, work, or any other Google account
– Single Sign In: Sign in once to Google Drive and you’ll automatically be signed in to apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Chrome, and G+
– Print your files now with Google Cloud Print or AirPrint
– iOS 7 Support
Notably, users can now have multiple accounts on Drive for iOS and the app supports single-sign-on across Google apps on iOS. Also new is increased compatibility for iOS 7 and printing either via AirPrint or Google Cloud Print.
With former MobileMe customers losing their additional 20GB of free storage a couple of days ago, there are probably a bunch of new people eyeing the paid iCloud upgrade options and wondering whether or not to hand over their cash. So we thought it would be a useful to take a look at the other major cloud storage services out there, to see how they compare.
As none of them are trying to hide the filesystem in the way Apple does, they all essentially work in the same way: providing you with a virtual online drive that you treat just like a local folder. There are also OS X and iOS apps for each.
Let’s start with the obvious: if you want something that is totally integrated into both OS X and iOS, and which Just Works, then iCloud is king.
Although the 5GB you get free doesn’t sound like a lot, you actually get more than this in practice – because Apple doesn’t count the space used by any of your iTunes purchases (apps, music, movies/TV shows or books), nor does it count the 1000 most recent photos you get to store in Photostream. If most of the content you want to store came from Apple, and all you want to do additionally is sync your contacts, calendar, notes and so on, the free storage is probably all you need.
iCloud is also a seamless way to store documents if you use Apple’s own iWork software: Pages, Numbers and Keynote. By opting to save documents on iCloud, they are automatically available to you from your Mac(s), iPad and iPhone – as well as on the web.
But if you have a lot of documents, you can pretty soon start bumping up against that 5GB limit. Which is where iCloud’s costs and limitations start to show up … Expand Expanding Close
On top of the new icon, Version 2.4.1 of the app includes an “enhanced attachment experience,” which really means that a larger image attached to an email will now open in a new full screen viewing mode when tapping its thumbnail.
The update also includes improved integration with other Google apps:
Better integration with Google apps – Google Drive and Google+ links go directly to the app, if installed. You can turn this off using the in-app settings.
Also new is improved landscape editing support, copying links to files, and the overall sharing of files with other people.
The update also brings an enhanced focus on searching through files:
And last, we brought search to the forefront of the app so you can find the exact file you’re looking for, whether you’re on a small iPhone or a larger iPad. And remember, Drive search recognizes objects in your images and text in scanned documents. So the next time you’re looking for photos of that trip to the Statue of Liberty, just enter the phrase “Statue of Liberty” and your photos will appear – voilà!
The update is available for free on the App Store.
Google has updated its Gmail for iOS app to version 2.4, offering larger image thumbnails, better photo handling and better integration with both Google Drive and Google+.
You can now tap a photo to view it full-size, and both Google Drive and Google+ links now take you direct to the apps if you have them installed. Dealing with Google Docs attachments is now a much slicker experience.
Google has just updated its Google Drive app for iOS with a couple new features and performance enhancements. After adding support for opening links in native Google apps from the Chrome iOS app last week, it has now updated the Drive app with an option to open links within files in Chrome and Safari.
Also new in version 1.5.0 of Google Drive for iOS is support for inserting rows and columns via the “+” button within Google Sheets, as well as stabilization and other bug fixes:
What’s New in Version 1.5.0
Clicking on links from within files gives you the option to open in Chrome and Safari
Insert rows and columns using the “+” button in Google Sheets
Google today updated its Drive app for iOS with a couple new features including the ability to access comments for Google Docs and improvements to viewing images stored in Drive.
Version 1.4.0 of Google Drive for iPhone and iPad introduces the ability to “view, create, reply, and resolve comments in Google Docs files,” something users could not previously access from the mobile app for iOS.
While it’s not the full blown card-style redesign the Android app received a couple weeks ago, Google is also making easier to quickly view photos on iOS by allowing users to swipe through images while viewing in fullscreen.
What’s New in Version 1.4.0
*Swipe through your images stored in Drive
*View, create, reply, and resolve comments in Google Docs files
Scanner Pro, which lets users scan documents, receipts, and more using their iPhone or iPad, recieved a big update to version 4.5 this week. The update enables live border detection, which allows the app to intelligently find the edges of whatever is being scanned while you photograph it.
In our testing, the border detection was very accurate, although it did have a bit of trouble when the paper and the background where different shades of the same color. The app does still allow you to manually edit the borders to fit the document perfectly, just in case there is a detection error, so any small problems are easy to correct.
The app itself is well-designed and features a solid storage solution for your documents. Multi-page scans are supported and you can save everything to a variety of cloud storage services, including iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more. You can even fax scanned items right from your iOS device.
Scanner Pro 4.5 is available now on the App Store. Existing users get the update for free, while new customers can get it for $6.99.
Google just announced a nice little upgrade to Google Drive which allows you to share your Google Drive Files from your desktop on your Mac (or PC). Once you click, you get the following message screen:
Previously only available to Chromebook users, Google announced today on its Chrome blog that Mac and Windows users will now have the ability to open Microsoft Office files directly within Chrome. The functionality works for users running the latest Chrome Beta and requires installation of the Chrome Office Viewer (Beta) extension.
In addition to saving you time, the Chrome Office Viewer also protects you from malware delivered via Office files. Just like with web pages and PDFs, we’ve added a specialized sandbox to impede attackers who use compromised Office files to try to steal private information or monitor your activities.
According to a recent survey by research firm Strategy Analytics (via Engadget), Apple is dominating the cloud storage space with 27 percent of respondents picking iTunes Match and iCloud as their go-to service. Closely behind is Dropbox at 17 percent, Amazon Cloud Drive at 15 percent and Google Drive at 10 percent. The report is quick to point out that Dropbox is the one major player that has gained its share of the market without actually selling content associated with its service. It might not be entirely accurate of usage worldwide, as the survey included around 2,300 people only in the United States.
Usage of cloud storage is heavily skewed towards younger people, in particular 20-24 year olds, whilst Apple’s service is the only one with more female than male users. Amongst the big four, Google’s is the one most heavily skewed towards males.
Cloud storage is overwhelmingly dominated by music; around 90% of Apple, Amazon and Google’s cloud users store music. Even Dropbox – which has no associated content ecosystem – sees around 45% of its users storing music files. Dropbox’s recent acquisition of Audiogalaxy will add a much needed native music player to the platform in the coming months.
Even with the influx of cloud storage options like Apple’s iCloud and Google’s Drive, Dropbox is having continued success adding users, according to the company’s co-founder Drew Houston. Houston took to the company’s blog to boast that Dropbox now has 100 million users, quadrupling in the last year. Speaking to the New York Times, Houston further expressed that he is not worried about the competition that his company has seen. “Those companies are busy trying to build something we had four years ago. We’re out front,” Houston said, “We’re already out there and building smaller features and things. All those other companies have turf to protect, and they’re fighting a battle on a totally different front.”
Apple announced iCloud now boasts 190 million users on its last earnings call, as its integration with iOS helps bring new users. However in comparison, the Galaxy S III (not inside the US) comes with a free Dropbox account loaded with 50GB of storage, along with many HTC devices that come with 25GB — surely driving sales. Expand Expanding Close
As always, we’ll be updating the list below as more notable apps and updates hit the App Store today:
Google Drive version 1.1.0: We already knew it was coming when Google leaked the update last week, but today we get all of the details with the update officially hitting the App Store. Included in version 1.1.0 of the Google Drive iOS app is the ability to create, collaborate and edit with Google documents. You will also now be able to create and organize new folders and documents, upload photos and videos from your device, and delete files from your Drive. Google said the updated app also includes a “Richer Google presentations with animations and speaker notes.”
– Edit Google documents with formatting and collaboration
– Edits to your Google documents appear to collaborators in seconds
– Richer Google presentations with animations and speaker notes
– Create a new folder or Google document
– Upload photos and videos from your device or a photo directly from your camera
– Move an item to a folder in your Drive
– Delete and remove files from your Drive
– Drive is now available in over 30 languages
Kindle for Mac version 1.10.3:The Kindle Mac App Store app received a nice update today that brings full sport for Lion gestures including panning and swiping, and support for Kindle Format 8 books. Amazon also performance for content that includes a high number of highlights and notes, and included support for Japanese and larger libraries.
The Wall Street Journal version 4.0:With this release of the WSJ app, the updating Now edition is finally available on the iPhone and you can now access archive downloads on demand for up to seven days. A full list of what’s new is below:
• WSJ is now available on your iPhone! Get the updating Now edition on your iPhone, with the latest news, market data and multimedia • Faster downloads and improved performance • More frequent news updates • 7-day archive downloads on-demand
With this release of The Wall Street Journal app, we have made substantial changes to improve app performance. Please note: when you update to version 4.0, any full issues you have saved will be deleted. All previously saved individual articles will remain.
Before you update, you can go to saved issues and save individual articles to keep them going forward. Expand Expanding Close
