Technologies

Best Cloud Storage Software Options for 2023

Need to store files, photos or videos in the cloud? We’ve compared features and prices on the top options to help you find the plan that’s right for you.

Between work documents, family photos and (of course) memes, it’s important to keep all your files safely stored and organized. Backing them up on an external storage drive is a great place to start, but you’ll want to keep your most precious files somewhere that can never be lost, damaged or stolen. And that means you’ll want to use the best cloud storage service available, which allows you to access your files whenever, wherever, while also saving space on your phone, tablet or computer.

Cloud storage is also important for people working from home who have to share files with colleagues. There are plenty of free cloud storage services available, with many offering upgraded paid plans, which means it’s easy to find a plan that can meet your needs to keep your data stored safely. The best cloud storage options usually feature individual and business plans, but for this article’s purposes, we’ll be focusing on plans for the average user.

We’ve compiled a guide to the most popular cloud storage services: how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, and some lesser-known services if you want to get away from the mainstream. (To be clear, we have not tested these — rather, we are just providing an overview and some analysis of some of the top options in the market.)

What is cloud storage?

Cloud storage is a type of computer data storage that allows your files to be immediately available on almost any internet-connected device anywhere. Files are stored on servers in a data center, instead of directly on your device.

Best cloud storage service options

Other Cloud Storage Options

Of course, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box and Amazon aren’t your only cloud storage options.

SugarSync is a Dropbox-like alternative with apps for every mobile platform. The service offers personal and business plans with a 30-day free trial to start. With a personal SugarSync account, you get 100GB for $7.49 a month, $250GB for $10 a month or 500GB for $18.95 a month. The service offers secure file-sharing (even if they don’t have an account), collaboration, file syncing, as well as remote data wipe in the event of loss, theft or damage.

Another option for cloud storage is pCloud. The service offers annual and lifetime plans for individuals, families and businesses. PCloud doesn’t limit file sizes and doesn’t throttle your upload or download speeds. While your pCloud files are securely stored on the company’s servers, you can add an extra layer of protection by purchasing pCloud Crypto. PCloud Crypto provides client-side encryption where the encrypted version of your files are stored on pCloud servers, but the plain-text files stay on your computer. With your Crypto Pass code, you can encrypt or decrypt your files.

You can subscribe to Premium 500GB ($50 a year) or Premium Plus 2TB ($100 a year). Both of these plans, as well as the Custom 10TB Plan also offer a lifetime subscription for a flat fee. Customers can start with annual plans and upgrade to lifetime plans later if they choose.

Cloud storage: Terms to know

Cloud: This refers to software and services that are stored on the internet, instead of locally on your computer or phone. The cloud allows you to access your files anywhere with an internet connection.

Data center: Even though your files are stored in the cloud, there is still physical hardware involved. The company that you’ve purchased cloud storage from — like Google or Apple — will have actual servers where customer information lives.

Terabyte: A terabyte is a unit of measurement for digital data. One terabyte equals about 1,000 GB.

Frequently asked questions

How do I clear my cloud storage?

The process for clearing your cloud storage may vary depending on which service you use. In the Google One app, for example, there’s a Free Up Account Storage button.

Why use cloud storage?

Instead of having to remember a thumb drive, or emailing items to yourself, cloud storage lets you access your files, documents and photos on demand. If your computer or phone crashes, you don’t have to worry about losing your content, because those files are stored on a separate server. Cloud storage can be a convenient option because options like Google One, iCloud and OneDrive are built into services many use on a daily basis. Cloud storage also lets you keep your device’s local storage freed up.

Is cloud storage safe?

According to Norton, cloud storage is a safe option for users because the on-site servers are usually located in warehouses that few employees have access to. In addition, the files stored on the servers are encrypted, adding another layer of security.

No type of digital storage is risk-free, but cloud storage services also offer more immediate security features like two-factor authentication and security checkups. Privacy and security features may vary between services.

How much cloud storage do I need?

How much storage you’ll need will depend on what you’re storing. A student will likely need a smaller storage plan than a professional photographer. If your needs change, most plans let you easily upgrade or downgrade.

For more information, check out how to clear up space in your Google Drive and the best iPhones of 2023.

Sarah Mitroff contributed to this article.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for May 24, #713

Hints and answers for Connections for May 24, #713.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle has a fun variety of categories. The purple one appeals to my English major heart. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Goo-goo.

Green group hint: Not shirts.

Blue group hint: City that never sleeps.

Purple group hint: Acclaimed writers.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Baby gear.

Green group: Kinds of pants minus «s.»

Blue group: New York sports team members.

Purple group: Black women authors.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is baby gear. The four answers are bib, bottle, monitor and stroller.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of pants minus «s.» The four answers are capri, jean, jogger and slack.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is New York sports team members. The four answers are Jet, Met, Net and Ranger.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is black women authors. The four answers are Butler, Gay, Hooks and Walker.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, May 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 20.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword is a fun one, and now I’m singing the song from 1-Across in my head. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: «Pink ___ Club» (Chappell Roan hit)
Answer: PONY

5A clue: Instrument that might be made with a comb and wax paper
Answer: KAZOO

6A clue: How bedtime stories are often read
Answer: ALOUD

7A clue: On edge
Answer: TENSE

8A clue: Short Instagram video
Answer: REEL

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Less colorful
Answer: PALER

2D clue: Layer of the upper atmosphere
Answer: OZONE

3D clue: Totally pointless
Answer: NOUSE

4D clue: Hit a high note in a high place, perhaps
Answer: YODEL

5D clue: Kit ___ bar
Answer: KAT

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Want to Speak to Dolphins? Researchers Won $100,000 AI Prize Studying Their Whistling

The scientists studied a bottlenose dolphin community in Sarasota, Florida, uncovering evidence of language-like communications.

If any dolphins are reading this: hello!

A team of scientists studying a community of Florida dolphins has been awarded the first $100,000 Coller Dolittle Challenge prize, set up to award research in interspecies communication algorithms.

The US-based team, led by Laela Sayigh of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, found that a type of whistle that dolphins employ is used as an alarm. Another whistle they studied is used by dolphins to respond to unexpected or unfamiliar situations. The team used non-invasive hydrophones to perform the research, which provides evidence that dolphins may be using whistles like words, shared with multiple members of their communities.

Capturing the sounds is just the beginning. Researchers will use AI to continue deciphering the whistles to try to find more patterns.

«The main thing stopping us cracking the code of animal communication is a lack of data. Think of the 1 trillion words needed to train a large language model like ChatGPT. We don’t have anything like this for other animals,» said Jonathan Birch, a professor at the London School of Economics and Politics and one of the judges for the prize.

«That’s why we need programs like the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, which has built up an extraordinary library of dolphin whistles over 40 years. The cumulative result of all that work is that Laela Sayigh and her team can now use deep learning to analyse the whistles and perhaps, one day, crack the code,» he said.

The award was part of a ceremony honoring the work of four teams from across the world. In addition to the dolphin project, researchers studied ways in which nightingales, marmoset monkeys and cuttlefish communicate.

The challenge is a collaboration between the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. Submissions for next year open up in August.

Dolphins are just the beginning

Researching animals and trying to learn the secrets of their communication is nothing new; but AI is speeding up the creation of larger and lager datasets.

«Breakthroughs are inevitable,» says Kate Zacarian, CEO and co-founder of Earth Species Project, a California-based nonprofit that also works in breaking down language barriers with the animal world.

«Just as AI has revolutionized the fields of medicine and material science, we see a similar opportunity to bring those advances to the study of animal communication and empower researchers in this space with entirely new capabilities,» Zacarian said.

Zacarian applauded Sayigh’s team and their win and said it will help bring broader recognition to the study of non-human animal communication. It could also bring more attention to ways that AI can change the nature of this type of research.
«The AI systems aren’t just faster — they allow for entirely new types of inquiry,» she said. «We’re moving from decoding isolated signals to exploring communication as a rich, dynamic, and structure phenomenon — whish is a task that’s simply too big for our human brains, but possible for large-scale AI models.»

Earth Species recently released an open-source large audio language model for analyzing animal sounds called NatureLM-audio. The organization is currently working with biologists and ethologists to study species including carrion crows, orcas, jumping spiders and others and plans to release some of their findings later this year, Zacarian said.