Monday, March 14, 2011

How to Set Up Google Cloud Print

There is still room for printed materials in today's highly digitized society. No matter how fast we are able to transfer and share information through electronic emails, RSS feeds, social networking and the like, we can't really discard the value of having physical reading materials. But this does not mean that the use of ink and paper has to be low-tech. In fact, printing technologies have never been stagnant. We have seen how wireless printing, network printing and the others have drastically changed how we once looked at ordinary ink and paper printing. Now, with Google Cloud Print (GCP), more of these changes are about to happen.

This free service offered by no less that the biggest internet-based company in the world is not the first of its kind but it promises to provide more than what its predecessors can ever give. If you don't have a clear idea yet of what cloud Print can do, find time to read my Google Cloud Print Overview post. If

You Will Need:

1. Computer, should has Mac or Windows (7, Vista or Xp) OS
2. A printer (does not have to be GCP-ready, a classic printer will do)
3. Active Gmail or Google Account
4. Google Chrome, installed in your computer

Simple Steps:

1. Install Google Chrome

Call it self-serving but Google designed GCP to work only with Google Chrome. The service routes all the printing requests through the browser that is installed in your Mac or Windows computer. You can run Google chrome in your Mac by installing Windows in Oracle's VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion or any virtual machine that you are comfortable of using. If you don't have Google Chrome yet, just search for it through Google.com and you will reach a page that looks like this:




Hit the download button (that big blue button in the top-right portion of the page, if you don't find it obvious) to start the installation process.

2. Set-up GCP Connector

The latest Google Chrome installers automatically installs GCP connector as part of the complete installation process of Chrome. But, the connector has to be configured first before it will work. Refer to the image below:



Hit the wrech icon on the top-right portion of the browser (directly below the x-button). select "Under the Hood" from the tabs in the dialog box that will appear. Click on the "Sign in to Google Cloud Print" button as boxed in the image above. This action will open another window that looks like this one:



Sign in to Google Cloud Print using your Google account. If you do not have a Google account or if you want to create a new account for GCP, hit the "Create a Google account" link in the dialog box then sign in as you would with other accounts. Once you are signed in, GCP connector will automatically configure itself and you will receive a prompt like the one depicted in the image below to let you know that you can now use Google Cloud Print.



3. Getting Your Printing Jobs Done

GCP is designed to suit a variety of applications involving all Google applications (from Gmail, Google Docs to Google Maps). So, you can print from any of your mobile devices that can access these files. The procedure is really easy to follow so I'm pretty sure that you will be able to proceed with whatever it is that you want to do without any problems. See the photos below:





Sunday, February 27, 2011

Google Cloud Print Review

Watch this short video made by DetroitBORG to know more about Google Cloud Print. :)


Saturday, February 26, 2011

Getting Started with Google Cloud Print



Cloud Print is Google technology. It makes printing easier and more accessible by allowing users to access internet-connected printers using any computer or mobile devices. So far, only HP's ePrint line printers are cloud-ready, but other printers can be used for cloud-printing via the Google Cloud Print connector available in Google Chrome. Any Windows-based or Mac-based computer can then access the "cloud" through the internet. HP's ePrinters do not need any further configurations to work with Google Cloud Print; users are only required to submit their email address to the company for activation. For classic printers to work, users just need to install the Google Cloud Print connector in Google Chrome. Read my article on How to Set-up Google Cloud Print to know more about this.

Printing has never been his easy. With Google Cloud Print, users can print using all different devices on the Android and iOS platforms. Direct wireless printing using Chrome OS, mobile Gmail and Google Docs application are also made easier. Chromebook users are even more fortunate.

Another unique feature of Cloud Print is cloud-queuing. Users can put the files which they want to print in the Google Cloud and access those files anytime they want. This is extremely useful when the printer is offline or when the internet connection is down. The user can also choose to have the printer ready whenever the internet connection is back. When set as such, the printer will automatically download the files and get the print job done.

Cloud Print is also designed to "remember" print requests, thus even after your user account is logged out, all the printing requests that you have made will be saved and Google Cloud Print will automatically pick up where you stopped once you log back in.

The best thing about Google Cloud Print is its sharing option. Different users can share the same printer with virtually anybody who has a Google Account. Sharing Options are also easy to change anytime the user wants. Click here to learn more about Cloud Print Sharing Options. You can also add as many printers as you like and share all or selected printers to anyone you like.

You don't have to worry about restoring a deleted printer too. All the settings that you have for that printer, including the sharing options that you have set will be restored by simply re-connecting the printer to your Google Cloud Print Account.

You will also be pleased to know that despite how accessible and easy it is for Google Cloud Print to share printers, only you can see the printing jobs that you are doing. Your privacy is protected because Google Cloud Print retrieves files over https. But of course, Google will not be able to guard your files once the printer starts doing its job; it is still your responsibility to secure your printed files.

Like everything Google does, Chrome’s Google Cloud Print connector is also an open-source. Google provides an avenue for developers to make more and more printers cloud-ready. If you are interested, check out Google's Code Site for some information.