The convenience of Google's Cloud Print service is exactly what its name implies: The ability to print to any printer that any of your Google Account-connected systems are linked to. In other words, you can print to your home printer from your laptop (wherever it may be), to your friend's printer from your Android phone, to your work printer from your home desktop, et cetera.
And now, as announced by Google on Wednesday, you'll also be able to shoot your documents over to any FedEx office location. The new partnership between Google's Cloud Print service and FedEx gives users the option to select "Print to FedEx Office" when pulling up a list of potential printing locations during a normal Cloud Print job. Doing so displays a special retrieval code that aspiring printers can then input at one of FedEx's "Print & Go" self-service stations. Voila – the documents spit out.
But that's not all. Google's Wednesday announcement also came with the news that Canon is joining the fleet of printer manufacturers making Cloud Print-ready devices.
What's that?
Google Cloud Print doesn't just magically shoot a print job over to a printer if it's not a Cloud Print-ready device. For classic printers – the printers in a typical office environment, for example – Google Cloud Print requires that the computer connected to said printer to also be power up in order for the print job to transfer over. You aren't going to accomplish much of anything if your desktop computer is off and you're trying to shoot a document over to its connected printer: How is the printer going to receive the job?
Cloud Print-ready printers, made by Epson, Kodak, HP, and now Canon, don't require an intermediary in order to work. Set them up with your home network and your Google Account, turn them on, and you'll be able to print directly to your printer from any Cloud Print-supported desktop, laptop, or smartphone.
Speaking of, Google also announced that it has officially brought support for Cloud Print to any smartphone or tablet device running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). That's not to say that you're going to want to hook a printer up to your Galaxy Nexus, rather, you can now print to Ice Cream Sandwich devices via the list of destinations found during a typical Cloud Print. Instead of shooting pages of paper out of your tablet, Cloud Print will take whatever it is you were trying to print, PDF it up, and send it over to your device for you to read later.
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