Wireless, Web-connected, Cloud Print.

The new way to print to your office printer?

"If you can email it, you can print it."  According to HP, regarding their new ePrint feature.

We've been hearing a lot about wireless, web-connected or "cloud" printing.  But what is it?  And what's in it for you?
 

What is it?:

1. Wireless printing happens locally, over your wi-fi or wireless network.  This means you could share a regular printer from a computer, if it is connected to your wireless network.  We did that at my home so my wife could print from her wireless laptop computer to the printer connected to our family pc in the kitchen.
2. Cloud printing, aka web-connected printing, also enables you to print wirelessly, but involves sending the print command over the internet to the printer.  Most notably, HP has introduced this feature, they call ePrint.  To use ePrint, you set up your printer to be accessible on the web (it's secure, no worries).  Then you send your print job to the printer via email.  Google and others are also working on cloud printing.  Google has the feature in beta right now.  I'll let you know how it works out.

What's in it for me?
My answer is, "not much yet."  It's cool.  And it will lead to nice benefits in the future, but cloud printing needs more development.  When it is ready for main stream use, it could eliminate the need for print drivers or network connections for printers.  With the printer's web address and password, for example, you could print from any computer or mobile device, like an iPad or Android phone.