Printing Documents from the Cloud
John Markoff of the New York Times recently reported that it is now possible to print documents on almost any printer through a free service from Hewlett-Packard. Let's say you are a traveling salesman and you have created different versions of the contract you hope to get signed, based on different deal structures. You can "print" your document to HP's servers on the Internet where each document will be assigned a document code. The code is sent as an SMS to your cellphone, and when you are in the client's office and have closed the deal, you will want to print the contract for signature. Just enter your phone number and the number of the document you want on the Cloudprint website using a computer at the client's location and it will be retrieved as a PDF, ready to print. A directory of public printers is planned for Google Maps.