The good news is that Sony is on your side. If you get software update 4.25 on your PlayStation 3, Sony is going to offer you an upgraded 1GB of online game save storage. What this means is that, if you are a PlayStation Plus member, you can have your game saves backed up to the cloud. Should anything happen to your PS3 or should you move to another PS3 console, all of your game saves are there for you.

What you have to do is to go the PlayStation Store on your PS3, install software update 4.25, and then go to Game column in the XMB. Under that, you’ll find the Saved Data Utility as usual, but it will also give you access to your online storage folder. You can fiddle with the settings, but it’s recommended that you get all of your game saves (as long as they’re compatible) to upload automatically. One gigabyte isn’t as good as the 48GB you get when you buy a SGS3, but game save files are so small anyway.

Just as an aside, all you Xbox 360 people have a similar function on your consoles. Microsoft has cloud storage for saved games too.

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The Google Chromebox itself is built by Samsung and it has much of the same specs that you’ve already seen with the current generation of Chromebooks. It’s not the most powerful machine in the world with its 1.9GHz Intel Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM, but considering that all you’re really running is a glorified Chrome browser, that should suffice. Other specs include the 16GB SSD, Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, six USB ports, Bluetooth 3.0, DVI-out, and 2 DisplayPorts. The Chromebox should be able to support up to two high-resolution 30-inch monitors at the same time.

And yes, the design looks pretty much like the Mac Mini. And like the Mac Mini, the onus is on you to provide your own keyboard and mouse, though there is an optional package that includes those too. Bootup time is less than 10 seconds, but this box is virtually useless without an Internet connection. That said, since it’s a desktop, you’re likely going to place it in your home or office where you’ll always have Wi-Fi, unlike the mobile nature of the Chromebook offerings.

The base price, without the keyboard and mouse, is $329. You can only find it online for now, but it should start selling through regular stores soon.

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“Join us as we introduce the truly incredible next transformations.” Given that the only context where Asus has use the “transform” moniker is with an Eee Pad, we’re pretty confident this week’s event has something to do with a new tablet.

They got rid of the “Eee” part of the name for the Transformer Pad Infinity, so the assumption is that the next iteration will likely do the same. The provided teaser points us toward May 31, which would indicate that Asus is going to make its “transformational” announcement at Computex Taipei. It was also there that Asus revealed the Eee PC and the PadFone, among many other products.

Aside from the conjecture about it having something to do with tablets, there is essentially no other information about what Asus is bringing to the biggest trade show in their own Taiwanese backyard. It could be a new tablet, or it could just be some sort of update for existing Pads. The teaser mentions that the “shape of the cloud is ever-changing,” so perhaps it something to do with Eee Storage? A Windows 8 tablet with keyboard dock? We’ll find out in the next couple of days.

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In the “Googlighting” video below (which is ironically hosted on YouTube, a Google product), the unnamed company executive accuses the “Googlighting stranger” of turning her employees into “lab rats” for Google Apps. She is visibly concerned that Google will “change your software while we’re using it.” The faux Google rep says that they’re “pioneers” and the the software could “improve” or just disappear altogether.

The crux of the argument is that Google Apps is a “side project” for the search engine and ad sales giant, whereas Microsoft Office is more of a core product for Microsoft. I’m not sure I really buy into this marketing campaign, but it does show that the folks in Redmond, Washington are ready to bear their teeth.

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As a quick refresher, iCloud gives you a suite of web apps for checking email, managing contacts and calendars, viewing documents, and finding your iPhone. The cool thing is, because it’s in the cloud, everything you do is automatically synced across other iOS devices that you have attached to the same account.

You’ll need either iOS 5 or Mac OS X Lion in order to get set up with iCloud at the moment, so if you’ve got an older version of OS X, you’ll have to sit tight until you get iOS 5 (which should be very soon, if not already). If you have Lion though, go ahead and have at ‘er. We’re hearing that it might only be allowing MobileMe migrations right now and not brand new accounts, so your experience may vary. Let us know what you think of iCloud through the comments below.

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“We are excited to take this leap forward in our ‘Buy Once, Read Everywhere’ mission and help customers access their library instantly from anywhere,” wrote the director of Amazon’s Kindle division, Dorothy Nicholls, in a release.

“We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5, so that customers can also access their content offline directly from their browser.”

Users will find their library, complete with their highlights, bookmarks and notes, when they log in on the browser, the company says. And the store — boasting almost 1 million titles already — has been touch-optimized, meaning Safari on the iPad is good to go.

Other web browsers, such as IE and Firefox, will be compatible with the Cloud Reader soon, they say — likely just about as soon as the Amazon Tablet is released this October.

Along with their slew of apps for mobile and desktop systems, it seems Amazon wants Kindle to be the most available reader on the market.

“The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you’re using – from Chrome to iOS,” reads the statement. “To make it easy and seamless to discover new books, we’ve added an integrated, touch optimized store directly into Cloud Reader, allowing customers one click access to a vast selection of books.”

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, how long do you think it will be before other apps and readers make the move from app stores to URLs? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.

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Ford

Big Brother is obviously a concern, the concept seems entirely incredible, and incredibly vulnerable. Using cloud-based storage and computing, the system is able to collect and process information about how you drive your car. By using this information, it is also better able to predict what you’ll do the next time you take your car on the road.

Perhaps the best example of this is in a hybrid; One who travels the same route – to work and back – can be told the best time for running off the gas engine versus the electric motor. This gives you optimal efficiency with no real direct input on your part. Essentially adapting to your driving style.

Ford say it’s an opt-in service and the data would only be collected if you agree. Whether or not it will be sold to third parties, like another TomTom wasn’t disclosed. But your location data (which is then stored in a cloud) would be encrypted accordingly.  So tell me why can’t Ford put an 8GB flash memory drive on the thing and keep it local?

Photo: Fabrizio Pilato

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What are the first products that come to mind when you think about Microsoft? Undoubtedly, it’s got to be Windows and Office. This is very clearly illustrated by the company’s revenue figures, but the bulging vein in Ballmer’s neck is looking to expand their business in, well, business apps.

The business software market is as big as ever, but Microsoft is still some distance away from the big boys in the enterprise arena. So, they’re looking to break in with more “enterprise applications” like ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) solutions.

The kicker? It looks like Microsoft is really ready to embrace the cloud. This goes beyond the “to the cloud” commercials for consumer media streaming and into the business world, allowing executives on the road to check in without having to deal with locally installed software.

“If we don’t dramatically outgrow Oracle and SAP I’d be disappointed,” Ballmer said. “The move to the cloud is big for this category and we’re driving ahead.”

Let’s just hope this doesn’t become another Zune or Kin fiasco. It is just software, after all, which is really the Redmond, Washington company’s bread and butter.

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