In The Personal Cloud

It’s hard to believe that the cloud has come so far that we’re addressing this topic already. Less than a year ago we were busy writing posts introducing the general public to the concept of cloud technologies and cloud storage. Now we’re going to prod your skull on the likelihood of whether or not you can go a full day without tapping into a cloud-computing product. You may be thinking that you clearly can, but we’re willing to bet that it’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

Cloud technology has found its way into almost everything we Internet users do as a digital culture. One of the first questions you should ask yourself, regarding getting off the cloud, is how long you can survive without your smartphone? Almost everything that makes your smartphone run, is thanks in part to the cloud. Do you download apps? If so, guess what? Apps are all digital files that you download from a remote server. Thus, they are stored in the cloud. So, if you’re cutting the cloud from your life for a day, you gotta cut your smartphone apps too.

How about streaming music? Do you stream music from Pandora, Spotify, or anywhere else? If so, you’ll have to quit that for a day too. The music you’re streaming is being stored on a virtual server, making it available to you through virtual storage and streaming.

Next up you’ll have to spend a day without your streaming movies, TV shows, and on-demand features on your television. All of these digital assets are completely reliant on virtualization.  Without virtual storage, Netflix would have nowhere to store their database of movie files, to shoot them directly to your living room, phone, and PC.

Have you grown accustomed to driving with your GPS? If so, you better be prepared to unfold an old-fashioned map. GPS technology is fully integrated with the cloud, and the pinpoint location technology is only half the story. All the data in a GPS regarding road names, addresses, and detours is all part of a real-time updated cloud library.

If you remove virtualization from your life for just a single day, you’ll have to spend that day without your smartphone capabilities, your streamed music, your on-demand movies and television, and you’ll have to teach yourself how to get around town all over again.

Now, we’re not saying this is impossible. Clearly, there’s going to be a time (hopefully) in all our lives where we can “get away from it all” and find ourselves camping next to a lake with no cellphone signal, while reading a good book by the campfire. So, yes, there is probably going to be a day where you will avoid using the cloud. Just good luck getting to a remote location without your GPS and smartphone!

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Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Mozilla Slams CISPA, Breaking Silicon Valley’s Silence on Cybersecurity Bill – Silicon Valley has been quietly taking sides either in support of or against the government’s latest proposed cybersecurity bill. However, Mozilla has come forward as the most vocal, stating that although they support a more secure internet, they can’t support a bill that seems to ignore privacy laws already in place. [Forbes]

How to spot dangerous links before you click them – Once again readers, a little vigilance now can save you from a lot of heartache later. Here are a couple of quick and easy ways to not just spot dangerous links, but to put a little more faith into that leap ranging from installing plug-ins directly into your browser, to simply mousing over the link to see where it plans to take you. [CNET]

First Drive-By Malware Sites Discovered for Android – If you have an Android device and use it as your primary source of surfing, pay very, very close attention to the advice offered in this write-up. There are now sites out there that can detect not only whether or not you’re using an Android device, but are then capable of invisibly installing malware on it. Good news though, the fix is easy and it’s free. [Gizmodo]

Skype security hole shares Internet addresses – Looks like a new hacking tool has surfaced with the ability to capture a Skype user’s last known IP address. This can be used to send malware directly to the user or to help launch a denial-of-service attack. Fortunately, the fix is pretty quick and simple. [Technolog]

Facebook teams up with security vendors, offers free antivirus software – Although you may be limited to one security app download per Facebook account, you get six months of security updates for free. Not bad. [ITWorld]

Google Drive: Hybrid of Cloud Storage and Cloud Computing – This Huffington Post writer took Google’s latest product for a spin, and concludes that although it may take some getting used to, it seems to be a step in the write (pun intended) direction. [The Huffington Post]

Google Drive: Watch out, cloud computing in the U.S. like ‘Wild West’ – It wasn’t all that long ago that law enforcement needed a warrant to gain access to your personal computer. The reason for that being that they had to actually enter your home to seize it. Nowadays, with cloud computing on the rise, they really only need access to the server your data is stored on. And depending on the company you store that data with, that could be quite easy. [Prospectus News]

Growing Up Google: How Cloud Computing Is Changing a Generation – 7 Year olds creating workarounds is only the beginning. This article highlights how Google might be more than a trend, it might be positioning itself as the norm. [Mashable]

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