Tech news: "The great tech layoff"

Last week all the major players of technology; Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta have all announced huge layoffs of workers. When we say huge, we're talking in the thousands.

Google laid off 12,000, Microsoft 10,000, and at Amazon 18,000.

According to layoffs.fyi and Insider's calculations, more than 65K workers have lost jobs so far in 2023.

Over at Apple, it's looking slightly brighter for the employees as Tim Cook took a 40% pay cut to avoid the layoffs.

On January 20, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, announced layoffs that equal to about 6% of the company's total workforce.

https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/january-update/

So why the gauntlet of employee cuts?

Most industry watchers speculate that the pandemic had a major effect on the way consumers spend. 

During the Covid lockdown taking your wallet out for travel, restaurants and entertainment were off the table. Many industries were directly impacted by the pandemic, especially restaurant, airlines, cruises, media production, manufacturing, retail, oil, and gas.

So instead of the usual spending habits, people began looking at alternative ways of spending their dollar with the majority of purchases done online.

One source reported that in less than a year, from February 2020 to January 2021, the percentage of online sales to total retail sales nearly doubled, going from 19.1% to 36% boosting sales for major tech companies including Amazon, Google and Zoom. 

In fact, in 2021 the New York Times reported, the five tech superpowers — Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook — had combined revenue of more than $1.2 trillion!

Major tech needed major workers to fill in needed positions quickly!

So here we are January 2023, almost 3 years since the lockdown began in the US. Retail stores, restaurants, and malls have long since reopened and consumers have since reverted back to their pre-pandemic spending habits. The sharp influx of online shopping has slowed down dramatically.

So now the major tech firms that had fattened their workforce now need to trim the fat. Mind you these tech firms aren't going anywhere, and some foresee a slow hiring trend in the next two years but as Sundar Pichai stated they're all "bound to go through difficult economic cycles."

How To: Disable Googles Ad Personalization tracking

You're browsing a web page and suddenly on the right side an ad appears for razors. And yet, you just picked on a pack at the store a few days ago. 

True.... you were looking at ordering online at Harrys and Dollar Shave Club but decided on buying a pack locally.

But why are you seeing an advertisement on what you were looking at a few days ago? Is Google reading your mind?

It's called 'Ad Tracking' and, long story short, Google keeps track of your browsing habits very closely.
And this is all for marketing purposes. 

Don't want Google snooping into your browsing habits? Here's how you can disable it. All it takes is one click of the mouse and 'Ad Tracking' is disabled.

1. On your browser log into your Google account if your not already logged in.

2. In the address bar type in https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated

(Note: if you click 'More Options', you'll get a check box allowing Google to use your browsing activity to personalize ads on websites. It's easier just to turn off Ad Personalization altogether)

3. Click the switch to turn off Ad Personalization.

When you turn off Ad Personalization, you'll get a pop-up window essentially asking if you're sure you really want to do this?

Click 'Turn Off'


And that's it. 

Turning off Ad Personalization gives a certain level of privacy knowing that Google isn't keeping track of your browsing activities. 

Tech News: The future of Android....and a colorful replacement called Fuchsia

Google is currently developing an Android replacement for Android and the OS already has a name.

Fuchsia is based on a new kernel called Zircon.. The project became known in 2016 on Github without any official announcement.

Fuchsia's user interface and apps are written with Flutter, a software development kit allowing cross-platform development abilities for Fuchsia, Android and iOS. Flutter produces apps based on Dart, offering apps with high performance that run at 120 frames per second.

Flutter also offers a Vulkan-based graphics rendering engine called "Escher", with specific support for "Volumetric soft shadows", an element that Ars Technica wrote "seems custom-built to run Google's shadow-heavy 'Material Design' interface guidelines".







Although it's more on the technical side, the documentation concerning Fuchsia is located at the Google Source website & Document Page.

Android - How an OTA update occurs

Originally posted 11/21/18

Your on your couch and you've heard that Oreo is out and available for you phone. Awesome! You want to upgrade so you can try the new Picture In Picture, and New Settings Menu.

On your phone you click 'Check For Updates"....and then download Android 8.0.....but what happened months before that update was available?

When it comes to getting the latest and greatest version on Android for you phone, it's up to the manufactures (not the carriers) to release the OS upgrades.

At the starting line: Google
Android is a Google product....it's also open source.


So Google releases the latest version on Android on the AOSP site. This isually happens the same time a new Nexus or Pixel device is announced

OEMs grab the code
At the AOSP site, manufacturers access the source code, tweak and adapt it to their own devices.The manufactures HTC, Samsung, LG, etc determine what devices on their product line will receive the latest version of Android and which devices will not. Obviously newer devices have priority to keep customers happy and to promote sales. Plus the more recent devices have better compatibility with the latest version of Android.

The older the device, the less likely it will get an update. Manufacturers stop developing updates for older devices to drive sales for new hardware and to make the most efficient use of limited resources. But it’s also the case that the hardware in older devices eventually becomes unable to meet the demands of new operating systems.

Pushing to the carriers
The manufacture then sends their updates to the carriers where they test the update.
Whether it's AT&T, Verizon  or Straight Talk, testing is very time consuming at this stage.
This is due to many legal (depending on the country) and technical hurdles (depending on the technology) to overcome,
At this point, carriers may add or take out certain features, such as tethering capabilities.


Releasing the update to the masses
Finally, after carrier testing, the OEM/Manufacture releases the
update pertaining to your device on a server where it's available to download.

Next: Project Treble .....and how the OS framework will speed OTA updates.

Tech News: Over 1 million Android phones hacked

Over 1.3 million Google accounts, which include photos, documents and email have been accessed by hackers by way of apps which were not available on Google Play Store.

Checkpoint, a cyber security firm, has named the hacking campaign "Googligan" and has set up a website named "Googligan Check Point" for consumers to determine if their Google accounts have been hacked.

The infection begins when a user downloads and installs a Gooligan-infected app on a vulnerable Android device, or by clicking on malicious links in phishing attack messages. Checkpoint states the code is targeted towards Android devices which have The Jelly Bean, Kit Kat, and Lollipop versions of Googles operating system.

Google has since removed the apps from thier Play Store, which contain the malicious code. However the attacks are still prominent as 3rd party websites still list apps that contain malware.

Android users have the option to download unofficial apps from 3rd party vendors and websites, but it is advised not to due to incidents like these.

How to: Tracking your package or shipment via Google

This comes way of Googlesystem Blog.
 Google has created a new card for an easy simple way of tracking packages you've sent out.
The card is extreemely simple. You just enter the tracking number in the field.

No need to goto the websites of USPS, FedEx or UPS! Check it out here: Googlesystem Blog

Try it out!

How to: Have Cortana use Google instead of Bing in Windows 10

Windows 10 has a pretty amazing search assistant called Cortana. She comes hand in hand with Bing, as Bing is owned by Microsoft. So every search result that comes back is from Bing. That's all fine and dandy but if you're a fan of Google that's a big no-no.

Here's how you can force Cortana to use Google instead of Bing.

1. Navigate to Settings. You can get there from the Start menu.
2.Select System.
3. Click Default apps in the left pane.

4. Click Microsoft Edge under the "Web browser" heading. ...

5. Select the new browser (ex: Chrome) in the menu that pops up.











6. Great....Now that you've changes the default browser you'll need to install a Chrome Browser extension called Chrometana. You can download it here.


7. Once the extension has been installed you'll see a webpage welcoming you to Chrometana and to choose your default search engine. Simply click Google here and you're all set.

Now when searching with Cortana in Windows you'll see results from Google instead. 

If you ever feel to change the search engine or remove Chrometana click  click the triple bar button in the upper-right corner of the window, select “Settings” from the drop-down menu, and then click “Extensions” in the list of items on the left side of the “Settings” tab that displays (under “Chrome”).

Tech History: How Google got its name

We use it on a daily basis...that web page to look up an infinite amount of online information what we know as the internet. But why the name Google? 
And what in the world does the word Google mean?

Google web page in 2000 (Waybackmachine.com)

Back sometime in the late 90’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin were classmates at Stanford University and the internet was still in it's infancy. 

Bulletin Board Systems and Compuserve were out the door and making way for HTML and web pages. Larry and Sergey noted that conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page. 

The two theorized about a better system that analyzed the relationships between websites and developed Page Rank. 

Page Rank determined a website's relevance by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the original site. They called the technology 'Backrub' because their search engine searched through backlinks. Get it? ;-D

Believing that nobody in their right mind would invest in a technology called 'Backrub' (sounds more akin to anything related to porn than a search engine), they rename it to Google.

The name comes from a misspelling of Googol, which is the number one (1) followed by one hundred 0's.

What's "Googol" you may ask?

Well, here's a little trivia.

The words googol and googolplex were originally coined by Milton Sirotta, a 9 year old nephew of Edward Kasner a famous American mathematician. As Milton put it, googolplex was shorthand for a number that was otherwise so large you would have to write “one, followed by writing zeroes until you get tired.”

10,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000

A Googol

During yet another name brainstorming session, their friend Sean, a fellow graduate student, suggested the word googolplex.

Larry responded that he liked the smaller term 'googol', but felt like the term in general was a great fit for what they were trying to do: index an unfathomable number of Internet web pages. When Sean did a search for googol to see if the domain was available, he had accidentally misspelled it as Google. Larry realized that Sean had mispelled it but liked the word he came up with and Google was born.

Thinking about buying a Chromebook?

Chromebooks are cool, they're light weight...and they're fast....much faster than their Windows counterparts.

Chromebooks boot up in 10 seconds or less. 

This is in comparison of a Windows 10 machine. A clean Windows 10 with minimum startup processes, have an average boot time between 45 seconds to 1:30. Of course this boot time for Windows depends on the type of processor and amount of RAM involved.

You're probably saying "Wow!...a 10 second boot up time! I'm replacing my laptop with a Chromebook!"

WHOAA partner....not so fast. 

The speed of a Chromebook comes with a price....and I'm not talking money (they're actually very inexpensive). Chromebooks are a different breed altogether.

Traditional operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX require a large portion of the computers hard drive in order to run. The Chrome OS is built on the Linux kernel*, however everything is done on the Chrome browser. It's a web app driven OS.

Remember when I said Chromebooks are lightweight? 
Because everything is done online (in the "cloud"), Chromebooks don't have a ton of storage.
Most have 16GB of SSD Hard Drive space with 2-4GB of RAM to play with.

That's not much compared to full fledged Windows laptops that usually boast 900GB hard drives and 4-8GB of ram. However storage on a Chromebook can always be expanded when adding an external Hard Drive or USB drive.
Concerning processors most Chromebooks have Celeron chips, which is Intels' budget

Anything you can do online, you can do with a Chromebook.
Checking your email....your bank
account....Facebook....Twitter....Youtube.....Yahoo.....checking up on the news or your stock portfolio. Working online and offline with word documents, spreadsheets and presentations are done with Google docs as well.

Chromebooks are optimized for Googles Web Store where there are plenty of browser extensions, web apps, and games.

Web Store for Chrome OS

You'll be able to play classic games like "Cut The Rope" and "Bejeweled", but because of the light graphics processor, you won't be playing any major game hits that are on Window PCs. Google is currently updating the Chrome OS so Android games on the Play Store will be accessible on Chromebooks.

The battery lifetime is where Chromebooks are king. Chromebooks average 10hrs of use on a fully charged system compared to a Windows PC which average 6-7hrs.

So if you're deciding on buying a Chromebook, the big question should be "What will you be using it for". Chromebooks are incredibly affordable and fast, and they come in a variety of sizes and spec, but they are limited in graphics processing power and onboard storage space. If you're looking at a second laptop just to get onlne, and you like Googles services, a Chromebook will work great for you.

*In fact, back in 2009, Canonical, Ubuntus parent company, worked very closly with Google in creating Chrome OS.

Tech News: Google announces Android 5.0 Lollipop

Googles latest version of the Android OS called Lollipop (Gotta love the naming scheme!) is being released officially on November 3rd.

Google has sent a message to app developers to start making their apps compatible with Android 5.0. Of course devices won't immediately have access to the OS as the rollout will depend on the manufacture of your device and your carrier. It's reported that Nexus series of devices will be shipped to retailers with Lollipop.

New features of Lollipop include new lock screen that comes with notifications that won’t force you to open up an app to take action on them. 

So for instance, you will be able to delete email messages from your device’s lock screen or from your notifications center now without having to actually open up Gmail to trash them.

Lollipop also includes whats called 'Material Design' which involves improved graphics, a cleaner design with the use of 'cards', responsive animations and transitions, padding, and depth effects such as lighting and shadows.

TechCruch posted a preview of a Nexus 6 with Lollipop.

Also added to Lollipop is Android TV support, 64bit chip support, Multiple Users across devices (including a Guest User), increased security and longer battery lifetime.

For more information check out Googles Official Lollipop page.

The quick lowdown on Android TV boxes or "Whats an Android TV Box?"

So your sitting in front of your 47" LCD tv screen and got 500 channels available, yet nothing really to watch right? Well....lets just go browse the internet with your TV. Whats that? Your TV isn't internet ready? You have to go on your phone or laptop to browse Hulu or Netflix? Well....we can fix that with a small little device called an Android TV box.

Whats an Android TV box?
Simply put it's a box which makes your 19", 32" or even your 40" LCD TV into a huge android tablet, capable of accessing internet sites, playing movies off of Hulu or Netflix, or even playing your videos from Youtube. There's not real hard definition of what an Android box contains concerning the hardware components, however most boxes contain dual or quad core ARM processors and have 1-2GB of RAM and 6-8GB of storage memory and usually have 4.3 Jelly Bean or 4.4 Kit Kat as the operating system. Some don't even come in the form of a box but a USB stick with the minimum connections.

The connections:
Standard USB (some boxes have two), HDMI,
Ethernet, some boxes have expandable memory card slots.

Wifi, bluetooth, DLNA and Miracast (to play media from your android phone or tablet to the box) is available on most boxes.

Get ready to invest in a BT keyboard and mouse as many customers have issues navigating the on screen menus with the remotes which come with the devices.

As it is an Android device expect the standard apps and utilities that come with Android. Apps such as a browser, photo, email and Google Play come standard on most devices. XBMC which is a well organized media center may be installed as well.

The cost of these Android TV boxes can range anywhere from $50 for a low end dual core to $120 for a top of the line quad core with 8GB of RAM and XBMC pre installed.

XBMC Media organizer

My recommendation? Try a low end dual core Android box first which you can experiment with. If you have fun with it buy all means you can always upgrade and maybe sooner or later say goodbye to your cable TV bill!

Age old computer priciples that have stood the test of time

Technology is always moving forward.

The next best thing is around the corner it seems. Hardware gets faster and operating systems are upgraded to the newest features (or we hope so). It's just a natural step in computing laws. But just because your 6-year-old Vista desktop is obsolete doesn't mean some computer advice ever does. Take the following list of age-old computing wisdom. Most of the principles apply today as they did 20 years ago.

When in doubt, punch out

If something isn’t working on your PC, don’t wring your hands and yell at the screen. Just restart the system. That simple act alone will fix many of the problems you may be experiencing. When your PC restarts, it clears out all the temporary files in the RAM and relaunches the operating system. This wipes away any files that may have been giving your PC fits—and the operating system starts fresh and unfettered by whatever was affecting it. If you want to do these things without restarting, click Start, then Run, and type %temp% into the command line.

Expect your battery to let you down

It's simply Murphy's Law: Your laptop or tablet will poop out the moment you need it most. That is life. Always bring your power cables with you on the road, and if possible invest in backup and secondary battery options.

Crowdsource your troubleshooting

Chances are, the help resources at your device manufacturer’s website won’t address your exact headache, but if you type an error message or problem you're having into Google, you'll inevitably find helpful information from poor souls who have encountered the very same issue.

Back everything up 

Never get caught with just one copy of anything that you want to keep. Always back up your data, and then back up your backups. Consider backing up both to an external drive and to a cloud storage service. It’s a good idea to keep separate system and data partitions—back up your data partition daily, and back up your system partition (Windows as well as your installed programs) at least quarterly.

Remember that thumb drives are your friends

It’s very easy to lose track of the recovery discs that come with a new PC, so keep a USB drive with recovery software on it in case something goes wrong. Store it away in a safe, easy-to-remember place. And in that same safe place, keep both electronic and print copies of all your software keys.

Look to last year’s model for a better value

Tech manufacturers always charge a premium for the latest and greatest hardware—and typically you don't really need the world's fastest processor, graphics card, or I/O technology. So do yourself a favor and consider buying hardware that was best-in-class during a previous manufacturing cycle. It will likely be heavily marked down, but still wholly capable and packed with performance.

Skip the extended warranty 

Don't be a sap. Extended warranties are designed to prey on your fear that the hardware you just purchased is already on its death bed. From a return-on-investment perspective, extended warranties almost never pay off—except for the companies that sell them.

Read the manual 

You might be surprised at what you can learn by reading user manuals. It’s natural to just jump right in and begin doing the things you expect a device or application to do, but I've found that by reading the manual I can learn about features and functions I didn't know existed. Reading the manual can increase the benefit you derive from your device, and make you feel a whole lot better about buying it.

Consider the total cost of ownership

This mostly applies to purchases of printers and subsidized phones. If you intend to do a lot of printing, pay close attention to the cost and efficiency of consumables, namely the ink or toner. And if you're investing in a new smartphone plan, consider what you'll be paying month to month...to month...to month...

Resist the urge to impulse-shop

A tech geek is never more dangerous than when perusing the aisles of a brick-and-mortar hardware store. If you absolutely must purchase a new toy in person, make sure to do your research beforehand. Don't be swayed by the razzle-dazzle of salespeople, and arm yourself with deep product knowledge before you enter a store. Also, always ask the retailer to match lower Internet pricing, if you can find it. (You'll want to bring your smartphone with you.)

Keyboard shortcuts: Use them, live them, love them

You can work far faster (and look way cooler) by mastering keyboard shortcuts for the programs, services, and operating systems you use every day. To learn these shortcuts, check out PCWorld's numerous articles containing keyboard shortcuts for every major OS and many popular applications. Get started with Windows 7 shortcuts.

Keep your software up-to-date

The message windows reminding you to update your software can get annoying, but it’s a good idea to stop what you’re doing and click the 'Update now' button. You'll get the all the functionality the software has to offer, and you'll also obtain vital security patches that can protect your system from software crashes and data loss.

Hide those cables

The tangled mess of cables and wires under your desk will only get worse and worse—and you won’t realize how much it bugs you until you finally clean it all up. You can bundle groups of wires by running them through toilet paper tubes, or binding them with pipe cleaners or small bands of Velcro, and then use binder clips to tie the bundled wires to the underside of your desk, or any place where they’re out of sight.

Stay wired when you want to connect

Wired ethernet will always be faster and more reliable than wireless networking. If you regularly do something (for work or play) on your home computer that relies on a constant Web connection, you may be better off using a wired Internet connection. Wired connections are capable of far faster data speeds and are simply not subject to the many factors that can disrupt a wireless connection.

Put your router in the middle

Position your wireless router as close as you can to the center of your home. This action can help ensure that all the wireless devices in your home are within range of the access point. You’ll also find that the signals coming from your router are more likely to reach their destination if the antenna is elevated off the floor a few feet.

Investigate crashes

If your PC seems to crash frequently, the Windows Reliability Monitor (Control Panel > System and Security > Action Center > Reliability Monitor) can help isolate the cause. The utility keeps track of all hardware and software crashes and warnings, organizing them by date. By clicking on one, you can see the full details of what happened.

For gamers: Update your drivers

Confirm whether you have the latest drivers for your PC's graphics and sound hardware. Game developers create their titles using the latest features and functionality in graphics cards. If you’re using older drivers, your graphics card might not be up to the task of rendering the game properly on screen.

Take a screenshot

Save a screenshot (or snap a photo and save it to Evernote) of every weird problem or crash you see. Having an image can help immensely if the problem becomes chronic and you need assistance in fixing it.

Change your router's default SSID

The easiest thing you can do to improve the security of your wireless network is to change both the login and the password for your router to unique alphanumeric phrases that only you know. Since finding the default login and password for almost every router on the market is child's play online, leaving your router at the defaults allows anyone to gain access to the wireless network in your home or small business.

Clear your cookies

Erase your browsing history and even better, enable the Do Not Track feature on your browser. This feature will send a message to the websites you visit that it is not okay for them to install cookies in your browser that will record your movements around the Web. Unless you want that to happen, of course.

The best tip of all: Take a break

Every so often, take an technology sabbatical. Go 24 hours without looking at a screen. It's good for your eyes, and it reduces the chance of burnout. It also reminds you of how powerful personal computers of all shapes and sizes have become—and that thought alone might make everyone a little more tolerant and patient when problems arise.

Google to expand free WiFi network

Earlier this year, Google (GOOG) partnered with Boingo Wireless (WIFI) to bring a number of free Wi-Fi hotspots to New York City. The program, which was sponsored by Google Offers, quickly expanded to eight different malls across the country.
Boingo on Tuesday announced that it will bring an additional 4,000 Google-sponsored hotspots to dozens of cities nationwide. Unlike the previous program however, it is only available to users of Android devices and Windows and Mac OS X laptops.

“Google Play is the first to take part in our newly expanded Wi-Fi sponsorship network, which reaches millions of consumers each month with place-based brand engagements,” said Dawn Callahan, VP of consumer marketing for Boingo. “Sponsorships like this give users the free Wi-Fi they crave, advertisers the consumer interaction they need, and venues the revenue to offset the costs associated with providing a high-bandwidth Wi-Fi experience.”

Microsoft reveals Office 15

Yup - you heard it correctly..Office 15.
Years ago I still recall Office 95 with the bland gray borders, the basic Excel formulas, the introduction of "Clippy" in Word. Now Microsoft is taking the Office suite to bold territory...The Cloud

It's the most complete overhaul of the Office products revealing a new web-like look, the ability to start video chats from your email program, add YouTube videos to essays, and share any documents online with Facebook friends.

We live in the cloud era, and Microsoft says that the new Office has been designed accordingly. "We're transitioning Office as a cloud service" said CEO Steve Ballmer, introducing Monday's launch.

"Rather than store documents on your computer, Microsoft's newest edition of Word will store letters, essays and more in the cloud," corporate vice-president Kirk Koenigsbauer said.

Microsoft stated in it's Office Blog that it will make it easy to sign in to upload your documents so you can use the same Microsoft account that you're already using with other Microsoft services, including SkyDrive, Hotmail, XBox, Office.com and soon, Windows 8.  If your business or school is a customer of Office365, you can also use that account to connect to your work world while away from your desk.

This brings to mind of the battlefield between Microsoft and Google. Google as you know already has Google Docs where you can upload documents, presentations, spreadsheets and share & collaborate these with coworkers.

Office 15 users will also let users share documents to Facebook or as a blog post from a pop-up menu, and other programs including Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel will feature low-profile menus that only expand when selected, making the programs look more like web pages.

The verdict is still out though. Even as Ballmer claims that Office 15 "is the biggest and most ambitious release in our history", the true test is how well the Office platform ties in with Microsoft's cloud servers.

It's a brand new redesigned look from the ground up and configured with the Metro Windows 8 touch interface in mind. It will take time though as using any office products from a tablet is still awkward for me, but using the platform on a PC, I'd say Microsoft has a powerful suite.

Google reveals it's first tablet - a competitor for Kindle Fire

Google released it's first tablet today and it looks promising for the Android giant.
Called the "Nexus 7" the tablet seems as a direct competitor for the Kindle Fire.

The tablet has a 7" 1280 x 800 HD screen, powered by Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor, and will run the next version of Android 4.1 dubbed "Jelly Bean". The device comes with either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage and 1GB of RAM. The tablet is powered by a 4,325mAh battery offering up to 8 hours of active use. The tablet is jointly developed by Asus.

Pricing has also been confirmed: $199 for the 8GB model and $249 for the 16GB.

Google had previously sold an Android smartphone called the "Nexus One back in 2010, but discontinued sales as it had not lived up to expectations.

Google adds 'Google Drive' for cloud computing

In the "it's about time dept", Google has added Google Drive to their plethora of online applications towards the cloud highway.

Google Drive

Google Drive is a simple but nifty syncing program which adds a folder to your desktop, phone or tablet and plops all your online files within Google Docs and make them available offline. Syncing takes place when online. 
It's available for Windows and Android platforms currently. iOS users will have to wait until Google releases that version.


If you have a Gmail account, then you have Google Docs. Google Drive comes with free 5GBs of storage but for $30 a year ($2.50 a month), users get 25GB to use for Google Drive and Picasa, plus 25GB of Gmail storage. This is strong competition with Dropbox, Box and SkyDrive. 


Check out Mashables original story here

For the application go here