Cloud

The past year and a half have changed the world in more ways than one. Almost all aspects of modern life have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially work and education. Even as restrictions slowly get lifted in some places, the lines that divide work and home continue to blur. Those work from home or remote work arrangements are mostly made possible by the Internet and the cloud, and Dropbox is now announcing some important new features and changes to its services that further empower such hybrid workflows.

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Microsoft has launched Windows 365 today, putting Windows 10 and - eventually - Windows 11 into the cloud. The natural next step after remotely-hosted applications, this new "Cloud PC" category, Microsoft claims, will become instrumental in hybrid workplaces, as businesses try to grapple with employees working remotely and the practical and security challenges that brings.

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Google is a company that often has multiple solutions to the same problem. That sometimes works well in weeding out ineffective products, but, most of the time, it results in confusion, inconsistency, and uncertainty. That's true not just in messaging apps, for example, but even when it comes to cloud syncing and backup. Fortunately, Google has been working to fix the latter with one sync client to rule them all, and that Drive for desktop application is now being made available for Windows and Mac users.

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Microsoft has revealed the next batch of games hitting Xbox Game Pass this month. This round of games is slightly smaller than what we're used to, but there are still some big names in the lineup. These games are joining the titles that were added on July 1st to comprise the Xbox Game Pass additions for the first half of July, and it looks like cloud players are the big winners with this round of incoming games.

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As Microsoft and Google have focused on building out cloud gaming services centered around PC and console games, Facebook Gaming has focused on bringing mobile games to the cloud. After launching its cloud gaming service last October, Facebook revealed today that it has now expanded to the point where Facebook Cloud Gaming is available to 98% of people in the contiguous US. On top of that, the company also revealed that it has brought on Ubisoft as a partner.

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There's a new Razer Kishi Universal Gaming Controller for iPhone (Xbox) out in the market this week. Right alongside the launch of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cloud streaming at Xbox (dot com), Razer's teamed up with Microsoft to deliver a controller that's made to work on this platform, top to bottom. Users will plug their iPhone in to this device, open Safari (the web browser), go to the official Xbox website, and log in.

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A huge portion of computing in the past years has focused on the "cloud", but there have been new movements recently to bring computing back down to Earth, so to speak. Just as microcomputers marked the decentralization of computing away from mainframes, hybrid and edge computing are now bringing some of the responsibility back to on-premise devices, such as IoT appliances and NAS. To keep up with the trends, Synology is pushing a big version 7.0 update to its DiskStation Manager OS, introducing features that not only adapt to the complex needs of users and businesses but also set up Synology NAS devices to become makeshift Google Photos replacements.

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Although initially thought of as just hard drives in the cloud, cloud storage quickly became a way for people to share files. Unlike physical storage, however, there's a greater need for security with files stored and shared from the cloud. It is for that reason that Google is introducing an update to Google Drive that fundamentally changes the way file-sharing links work. Unfortunately, that change may also cause many public links to be broken unless their owners do something to update those.

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Chromecast with Google TV is one of a set of devices that can now use Google Stadia for cloud gaming. Today is the day that Google TV device gain access to Google Stadia, the company's cloud gaming app and subscription service. To make gaining access to and using Google Stadia as simple a process as possible for Google TV users, Google sent out emails to Chromecast with Google TV users with a price cut on the official Google Stadia Controller.

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With Google's unpopular changes to its Photos storage policies, some people have been in search of a new home for their photos in the cloud. Although probably not a household name among regular consumers, Microsoft's OneDrive has long offered such an option. Like many cloud storage services that saw a golden opportunity in Google's change of direction, Microsoft is now shining the spotlight on OneDrive's new photo handling capabilities, especially on Android.

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The Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase is undoubtedly one of the biggest shows happening at E3 this year, but before that goes down on Sunday, Microsoft has given us an update on all things Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Game Pass was a major focus for Microsoft in the latter half of the previous generation and continues to be a big focus as we head deeper into the new generation. It seems that it's about to come to a lot more devices and screens as well.

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Microsoft's cloud gaming system is about to get a lot faster, with Xbox Cloud getting upgraded around the world with Xbox Series X consoles. The refresh comes ahead of cloud gaming support being baked directly into the Xbox app on PC, Microsoft says, and will also power a number of other features.

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