16 BEST cloud apps you should be using right now
Why install software when you can do it all in the cloud? We show you the best cloud apps you need to start using right now
Describing itself as a cross between a presentation tool and a digital whiteboard, Prezi lets you create slides and collaborate with online team members. It’s gaining around a million new users a month right now, who between them have viewed a massive 500 million presentations.
A free public account gives you 100MB of storage and lets you edit and share presentations, but there are advanced paid-for options that let you add your own logo, keep your presentations private and download a client for offline editing.
It produces a series of zooming decks that are more dynamic than a static PowerPoint presentation, and the result is a more tactile, engaging experience that helps you to understand the links between related concepts within a subject. It’s one of the freshest takes we’ve seen for quite a while on the whole idea of group presentations.
Waze
Satnav is great… until it directs you to the back of a huge queue just after you’ve passed your last chance to turn off the motorway. Waze aims to put an end to that by tracking tailbacks so you can effectively route around them to save both time and fuel.
You can view a live map with current disruptions in place at waze.com but to get the most out of it you should install the free iOS, Android or Windows Phone app on your smartphone and leave it running as you drive around. This monitors your progress and passively sends back reports to the Waze cloud servers so they can identify traffic blackspots and use them to warn other local users.
It’s the easiest way yet to give back to the online community, while personally benefitting from everyone else’s delays.
Rdio
One of Rdio’s high points is the look and feel of it desktop player, which is slicker and more attractive than rival Spotify. Charges apply after your free first month of streaming, and start at £4.99 a month for unlimited web-based use without adverts, £9.99 a month if you also want to be able to stream to a mobile device, Sonos or Roku, and £17.99 a month for a family account, which gives you two full subscriptions, including mobile use, and discounts for further family members when they join up.
Rdio has a library of over 20 million tracks, which you can either play in your preferred order or have the service mix up as a personalised radio station based on your tastes. We’ve found these stations to pretty effectively reflect our own choices whenever we’ve used them. You can follow other users, too – many of them famous names – to see what they’re listening to, and stream the same tracks yourself, which is a great way to discover new acts.