Printing is a tricky business.
You can be sitting in a room on the opposite side of the house, and your printer will merrily churn out a 12-page report, and then you can be sitting in the same room as it, and your printer will inexplicably balk at the thought of a 2-page recipe for muffins.
How near or far you are from the printer doesn’t seem to be an issue, and that’s especially the case with Google’s new Cloud Print.
Google claims you can print “anywhere, from any device” using Cloud Print. Essentially, it connects your printer to the internet where you can access it and use it to print, via Cloud Print. Devices that are compatible include smartphones, tablets, laptops, and pretty much any internet-capable device. Will it work if you are home? Fine. At the office? Yes. Exploring the Pyramids of Egypt? No problem!
Cloud Print works with all printers, so long as they are connected to a PC that has internet access. Google, however, recommends that “for the best printing experience” you use a Cloud-ready printer, i.e. one that connects directly to the internet without a PC. A printer that connects to the web directly would save a lot of hassle, especially if you’re trying to print something when you’re 3000km away!
As all things in the Cloud, there is a concern with security. Will someone be able to steal my documents? Will someone be monitoring my print jobs?..etc. Google has something to say about that, too: “Documents are transferred over a secure HTTPS web connection. After a job is completed, the associated document is deleted from our servers.”
In reality, the Cloud is a relatively safe environment well suited to typical documents and files (you wouldn’t want to use it to print state secrets, of course).
Overall, Google Cloud Printing seems to be a convenient method for printing that’s a step up from household wireless or public printers. The only issue is the constant internet connection required, hence the preference for Cloud-ready printers.
Want to get in on the Cloud Printing action but don’t know where to start? Give Advanced Computers a call and we’ll sort you out!