Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Apple Prepares for iCloud by Zachary Scott

It was a very sad day when Steve Jobs, the Co-Founder and creator of companies like Apple and Pixar passed away, but that does not mean his companies will die with him. To prevent this, Steve Jobs left his beloved company with several ideas and plans for future Apple inventions. A few of these ideas we could see in the near future are solar powered cell phones, devices that work with the wave of your hand, and the ability to use your Iphone to pay at the grocery store check out counter. Some inventions and ideas that Jobs vetoed are even being reconsidered now that he is gone by Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook. But the next “big” thing that Apple will soon be releasing is a new version of iTunes that will not only patch over 80 bugs for Windows users, but will install a brand new program called iCloud.

ICloud is a new system that will be able to be downloaded with the next major Itunes update. Essentially, what iCloud does is allows Itunes users to save their music, movies, television shows that people have purchased on an internet data base that can be accessed from any computer. The best part about this upgrade is that anyone will be able to log into their personal Itunes account from anywhere. They will be able to see all of their media files and update their iPods and iPhones on the spot on any computer. Another great feature of iCloud is that if someone purchases a song on their iPhone, their iTunes will automatically be updated via iCloud. The best part about this new aspect of iTunes is that it is 100% free! Everyone will be able to download this new program and easily access it from any computer. Yes, Apple previously failed to do this with their program MobileMe in 2008, but iCloud is new and improved.

This technology is going to revolutionize the way the internet, and computers in general, work. I truly believe that all information that everyone has on their personal computer hard drives will eventually be put onto a massive internet data base. This would mean that anyone will be able to access their documents, videos, pictures, and all other personal information from any computer in the entire world. If this technology takes off and becomes popular, it will also change the way computers are constructed. There will no longer be a need for huge hard drives or external hard drives to back up important information. Computer software would also change because it would have to have the capibility to save files and documents to the cloud. There will also be no more need for flash drives because they could easily just log into their cloud account and pull up everything that they would normally have on their hard drive. Everything will be accessible on everyone’s personalized accounts in this internet “cloud” in the sky. Every single person will have their own accessible account that stores all of their own personal information and data.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220728/Apple_preps_for_iOS_5_iCloud_with_iTunes_update?taxonomyId=123

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/10/whats-next-for-apple/?test=faces

2 comments:

  1. While I feel the premise behind the iCloud is great. It does leave one to wonder. The technology is just one giant net which is holding all of our information-- so my question is this. While being able to access any file we may ever need or want on any mobile device or laptop/computer is a revlutionary idea, what would happen if there was a security breach? You said it yourself that they would be able to hold everything in a "cloud" in the sky-- so once they pierce that cloud-- what to stop them from taking literally everything. At this stage in the development of this idea, the consequences would be minimal (some stolen/pirated music), but on a grander scale with more personal information (passwords, social security numbers, etc...) it could potentially wreak major havoc on the world.

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  2. iCloud is truly a beneficial upgrade for Apple. The ability to store and save such a vast amount of data is remarkable. I recently had my iPhone stolen and the new iCloud allowed all my information to be restored on my new phone for free. A lifesaver indeed. However, the only problem I see with iCloud is the survival of the existing competitors. If iCloud takes off and everyone adapts to it then where does that leave companies like Dell and Microsoft? Will they have to adapt to or simply give in to Apple and join/surrender? If these rival companies are put out of work then that puts a lot of intelligent individuals out of work. This is just a personal view, but I feel iCloud is yet another leap Apple has made in reinventing the technological world.

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