HP and Google Deliver First Printers with Driverless Cloud Print Support

Transferring data to your printer use to be the biggest hassle, in fact many people didn’t even know how to do it because of its complexity. No need to worry, the hassle is now officially over, as  HP and Google (News - Alert) have teamed up to deliver the first printers with driverless Cloud Print support, making the task of transferring data much easier.

Those of you out there who’ve owned an HP ePrint printer know how sophisticated these printers are. The ePrint printers were already capable of receiving instructions via email and now they're casting aside the need for a connected PC to talk to Google's Cloud Print service as well.

The way the cloud service works is simple, all you need is your machine's @hpeprint.com email address and then you're good to go. You’ll be zipping pictures and text from your smartphone, tablet or laptop to the HP paper decorator in no time.

This service is supposed to be seamless and wireless and reminds me of an app I have, called PrinterShare Premium (for Android (News - Alert)). PrinterShare Premium allows all mobile users the ability to print any document or picture directly from their smartphone to any printer that offers Bluetooth connectivity or remote access. HP will offer that type of service for free with Google Cloud Print.

In related news, there are reports from Bloomberg's (News - Alert) Businessweek that indicates some sort of shake up when it comes to Android development. According to their reports, Google is actively working to gain control and have the final say over customizations of its popular mobile OS (Android).

It seems natural at this point in time for Google to seek to stabilize the platform and ensure quality control. Many of you out there shouldn’t be surprised, because Android started an open source OS (with nothing but great attentions) that was also open to manufacturers and carriers to customize as they wished. 



Charles West is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Charles worked with many gadget oriented sites that included running his own blog (TheTrendaholic.com) and Smartphone column for examiner.com. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell