“The Cloud” has become a major buzzword over the last year or two, and cloud computing promises to play an important role on the Internet and in business over the next few years. If you’re still a little confused by all the buzz, here are some helpful resources to take you from Cloud-confused to Cloud-conscious.

• If you’re completely new to the concept of cloud computing, this video from Common Craft is the best place to start. With a simple style, Common Craft does a great job explaining things in plain English. Check out their site for videos on a host of other topics.
• No quest for knowledge would be complete without a trip to Wikipedia. Start here for a basic overview of cloud computing.
• This article from InfoWorld is also a great overview of cloud computing technologies. It explains SaaS, PaaS, and lots of other pesky acronyms.
• Computing in the Clouds – The Cloud concept in a nutshell. This is yet another friendly introduction to cloud computing.
• “7 Things You Should Know About Cloud”, a two-page PDF resource from EDUCAUSE.
• This Cloud Computing blog is a great source of current information in the Cloud world, offering informative articles such as “Cloud Security 101 – What are the risks? Benefits?” and “Cloud Computing as a Necessity”.
• IBM offers a small library of Cloud resources on their site. Included in this library is recent news, multimedia, white papers, case studies and product demos.
• Lastly, here is the section of Amazon’s site dedicated to their Cloud services. You will notice Amazon’s name pop up repeatedly in the any discussions regarding the Cloud. Amazon is a major player in the Cloud world, and this link will take you to a wealth of information on their services.