Google Rolls Out Cloud Printer Service

Google (News - Alert) has expanded its Cloud Print service by launching both a driver and a service, both of which are available for download from Google Tools.

Taking its Cloud Print service one step further, Google has released the Cloud Print app in Google Play to allow users to print documents and files from an Android (News - Alert) smartphone or tablet.

In case you are not yet familiar, Google Cloud Print is a technology that connects printers to the web, allowing users’ home and work printers to be available from their phone, tablet, Chromebook, PC, and any other web-connected device they want to print from. Google Cloud Print supports a myriad of apps, including Chrome, Easy Print, Print Central Pro, Kodak (News - Alert) Email Print and Paperless Printer.

In addition, Google Print now allows users that work out of different offices or other public spaces like a school to share a printer with anyone nearby, by simply publishing a link.

Once the Google Cloud Print app is installed, users can run the app to print something out for themselves simply by touching the Google Cloud Print icon and then clicking “print,” or they can  choose to upload a document or an image to be sent to someone else. If that is the case, the end user just needs to click on either the “share” or “Send” button. This will allow the recipient to retrieve the material at his or her own printer location.

Google’s Cloud Printer service makes it possible to print to any of your cloud printers from Windows applications such as Adobe (News - Alert) Reader. Google Cloud Print Service runs as a Windows service so administrators can connect existing printers to Google Cloud Print in their businesses and schools, according to Andrew Warren, product manager and printing prophet at Google.

“We’ll continue evolving Google Cloud Print to make printing simple and easy from as many devices as possible,” Warren wrote in a blog post. “For now, the future looks good on paper.”