Clouds and computers

I've been buying books like crazy lately.  These aren't like little paperbacks you consume in an hour.  These are professional text books.  Some are updates to books I already have older editions of like Lezak's Neuropsychological Assessment and Strauss' A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests.  Others are more fun like The Mind and the Brain.

I've also been updating forms.  That's where computers and clouds come in.  I have a Mac.  I have the basic idea of cloud computing from my iTouch and my Kindle.  Somewhere out in the universe are servers that hold information.  I can link up to those servers and get things from them like applications, files, books and music.  I can send things to them and pick them up somewhere else.

So my main office is in Los Angeles.  My home in California is in Santa Clarita.  I'm currently at my home in Las Vegas.  The office manager is in Reno.  A former student of mine is in West Los Angeles.  So I want to share a file with all of them.  It's a basic questionnaire I created.  It's created on my laptop.  I upload it to a file sharing program.  I then send an email to everyone and tell them how they can link into the file.  They can then all pick up an original file.  If I go to the Los Angeles office without my laptop, I can log into the program and pull up the file.  If I wanted to I could put it on an iPad or my Kindle since it's a pdf file.  Ultimately, it will be on some portable computing device given to someone to complete and save rather than fill out with paper and pen and filed or scanned.

There are some medical groups that are already doing this with history and intake forms and routine office procedures.  A tablet PC links to a desktop which links to a server.  It's all wireless.  The information is all stored in "clouds."  If anything needs to be printed at all it's printed only when it's needed.  No more bulky storage.  Since it's all digital, it's easier to move text and use in reports.

Cloud computing has been used by the government for years.  http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/  Now business and industry as well as individuals are starting to use cloud computing.  With Apple computers and the iPhone, cloud computing went to the home computer several years ago and mushroomed out within the past couple of years.  You can sync your phone, computer, laptop, and netbook, depending on technology.