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Amazon has been offering cloud services to businesses for several years through its Amazon Web Services, but now it is finally leveraging its web-based infrastructure to serve its consumer customer base. If Amazon invented the Kindle to stimulate book sales, this new duo of services is clearly intended to boost its music sales. With a free online music player and free storage for purchases made from its MP3 store, the retail giant has created a compelling offering that can attract and lock-in customers — giving them a competitive advantage in the marketplaces for both digital music and online storage. What’s up Google and Apple?

Well, now Google has provided a better way.  It is called their “Multiple Sign-In” feature and, just like it sounds, it allows you to be logged in to more than one Google account simultaneously in the same browser. It works for a select number of Google products including Gmail, Google Voice, Google Calendar, Google Reader, and a few others.  To use this feature, you will need activate it in your account settings page for your primary Google Account:

Google wants to make sure you understand there are some limitations (including the disabling of offline modes for Gmail and Google Calendar), so it will first ask you acknowledge some details about how the feature works before it will activate it.  Once you do this, a drop down menu will appear in the top right corner that will allow you to associate additional Google accounts and switch between them:

By using separate tabs or windows in your browser, you can have these different accounts visible simultaneously.  And since each account uses a unique URL (i.e. mail.google.com/mail/u/0,  mail.google.com/mail/u/1, etc.), you can create bookmarks for 1-click access to each of your accounts. Note that the feature is not currently available for Google Apps accounts, however you already have the ability to be logged into a Google Apps account at the same time as a standard Google account.

How many Gmail accounts do you manage?

What’s even better is that this feature will work with your Google Voice account if you have one (now available to the public). Your Google Voice phone number will display as the outgoing Caller ID, and you can receive calls in Gmail (and even screen them) by activating Google Chat in your list of phones in your Google Voice settings.  So, what is the added benefit?  If you haven’t figured it out yet – it’s a free phone line.

While Google Voice provides voicemail, call routing, custom voice messages, and other nifty features, you have always needed your own land-line phone or cellphone to use them.  This new calling feature in Gmail essentially provides you with an extra phone line that you can use at home, work, or when traveling.  It can be very handy if a land-line is unavailable, if you don’t want to use your cellphone minutes, or if you simply can’t get good cellphone reception.  And it’s a perfect solution for those entrepreneurs running their small businesses out of Starbucks (rent=1 cafe latte, phone=$0).

The only catch is call quality.  My trial run had a bit of static, but I don’t know how much of that was hardware related.  A good headset may yield better results.  The quality and strength of your internet connection will also be critical.

While Google is not the first to offer PC-based calling, it is the first that I’m aware of to offer it for free (to the U.S. and Canada, at least for now).  And when it’s used in combination with the other Google services such as Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Voice, its a very compelling feature.  The service is being rolled out gradually to Gmail users, so it won’t show up for everyone immediately.

Have you tried making calls in Gmail?  What do you think?

1. Use Online Email

If you use Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, or any hosted email service than you are already using the cloud!  All of your email in these accounts are stored somewhere other than your computer.  Sure, these services have had a few rare outages, but you’ve never lost email from these accounts due to corrupt files or hard drive failures.  If you’re one of the 5 people who haven’t used an online email service, give one a try and you will become more confident in the security and flexibility of hosted applications.

2. Fly on a Plane

For some people who suffer from the fear of flying, it is a result of one or more specific phobias such as claustrophobia (the fear of enclosed spaces) or agoraphobia (the fear of sweaters).  For most, however, the affliction is simply caused by the feeling of not being in control.  Of course, this anxiety isn’t based on logic.  Unless you are Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger, chances are that you and the other passengers are much safer with the pilot behind the controls instead of you.  Similarly, most reputable online software companies are better equipped and more experienced to protect your data than you are.

3. Trust but Verify

It’s understandable to be concerned about the security of your information.  Do your due diligence before putting sensitive information in the cloud.  Most online services offer information on their website about how they store and protect your data.  Smaller, start-up service providers often use resources from larger internet companies, like Amazon Web Services, so they can offer large scale application deployment and security.  These data centers generally employ encryption and other sophisticated electronic security measures, as well as redundancy (data stored in multiple locations), and even physical security (actual guards with badges and guns).  This is probably more protection than you are getting from your laptop, but trust your data with only those companies that you have confidence in.

4. Keep a Local Backup

If it makes you feel better to have your data in your physical possession, then by all means keep a local backup.  Most online applications let you easily download a backup of your data anytime you’d like.  Google Docs, for example, has a feature that allows you to download all of your documents as one zip file.  Eventually you’ll come to realize that you’ll have little need for that backup, as your online data will always be accessible and current.

What’s so great about using the cloud?  Because much of the data processing and storage occurs on a remote server rather than your computer, cloud computing offers several advantages:

• It reduces the resources required of your computer (explaining the rise in popularity of netbooks).
• Your data is not in danger of being lost if anything happens to your computer.
• There’s no need to install or upgrade software (updates happen transparently on the web).
• You can access your data from any computer.
• You can easily share and collaborate with others.

For businesses, using the cloud means they can spend less on maintaining their own IT infrastructure, and invest instead in revenue-generating activities like Super Bowl ads.

Although you have nothing to fear from the cloud, its use does come with responsibilities.  It’s important to protect your passwords and use precautions when using public computers and wifi.  You also want to understand the policies regarding copyright protection and ownership for any websites where you share any intellectual property.

When used responsibly and securely, the cloud offers tremendous power and flexibility by leveraging the true potential of the internet.

Are you a fan or skeptic of the cloud?  What do you like most, or what scares you most, about cloud computing?

Arguably one of the most valuable of Zoho’s online productivity applications, Zoho CRM allows you to organize and manage all of your sales, marketing, and customer service activities for your business.  Their free edition has an abundance of functionality that is more than sufficient for many entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses.

Read more details in my article at MakeUseOf.com:  (Read More)

As a result, some people are becoming more cautious about who they “friend” on Facebook, particularly when it comes to authority figures like parents or a boss.  Fortunately, there is an easy way to add “Facebook Friends” with whom you’d rather not share everything.

First, should we consider perhaps that this increased level of visibility, that comes with a more social internet, gives us a reason to examine our words and deeds more carefully?  If there are things we wouldn’t want certain people know we’ve said or done, is it possible that those are things we shouldn’t say or do in the first place?  Nah.  Let’s just find a way around it.  Here is a way to keep select people from seeing more than what you want them to see.