In our fast-moving world of technology, common words sometimes take on new meanings.

Apples and blackberries used to be fruits. Now they are also a type of computer and mobile phone. To back up used to mean to go backward. Now it means to make a copy of your data.

Gingerbread used to be a tasty treat. Now it is also an Android operating system. A cloud used to be a fluffy white mass that floats in the sky. Now everyone is talking about a different type of cloud.

You may have heard the terms "cloud computing," "cloud storage" and/or "cloud services." In all of these, the cloud simply means the Internet, but the new terminology is indicative of a big change that is already taking place.

Cloud applications are replacing desktop programs. That means that instead of having a program running on your computer, you use a program or service that is on the Internet. Your computer or your mobile device is simply the conduit that connects with your data and with a program that accesses your data.

Many people are already taking advantage of these new cloud applications. Right now, the most widely used cloud applications are e-mail programs. Using cloud-based services like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and AOL Mail is a popular thing to do.

When you use a Web-based e-mail program, your mail is stored on Internet-connected servers that are run by the company that provides the service. So your Gmail account is hosted by Google. A Yahoo Mail account is hosted by Yahoo!, and a Hotmail account is kept on servers owned by Microsoft.

With any of these services, you can very easily access all of your e-mail - including old e-mail that you have saved - from many different Internet-connected devices such as computers, cell phones and tablets. You can easily access your e-mail at work, see the same e-mail on your mobile phone on the way home and then see exactly the same e-mail on your home computer.

If you are now thinking that perhaps you don't trust Google or Microsoft or AOL with your e-mail, just remember that even if you use a program such as Outlook or Windows mail that resides on your own computer, your e-mail is still going through the servers of your Internet service provider. So, in effect, with e-mail, you have to trust some company or service.

E-mail alone has already propelled us into cloud computing. The e-mail services mentioned above are all free, and they are all feature-laden, so millions of people have already taken advantage of these services.

In fact, the move to e-mail in the cloud is more of a tsunami than a wave. Google's Gmail service started in 2004. Wikipedia reports that as of November 2010, Gmail already had 193.3 million users monthly.

Other cloud applications are also becoming popular. Google offers a whole set of free Web-based applications that rival Microsoft Office. With Google Docs, you can create and edit word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. These are like online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

In some ways, they are even better because, as with other cloud services, your documents are available from any Internet-connected computer. If you create a document at work, you can go home and see and change the same document. When you get to work in the morning, your document has all the changes that you made at home.

You can also give another person or group of people access to your documents. This allows several people to make changes to the same document - great for collaborating on anything from a church schedule to a complicated business proposal.

Millions of people also upload their photos to Picasa, Flickr, Shutterfly, Snapfish, the Kodak Gallery and other online photo services. This is a great example of cloud storage. It allows you to have a copy of your photos online, to share them easily with family and friends, and to show them off almost anywhere.

This week, the move to cloud computing took an even bigger leap as Amazon unveiled a new service called Cloud Drive. This service gives you 5GB of free online (think cloud) storage for your music. This can be music you purchase from Amazon or music you upload from your computer or your CDs.

Amazon then provides a small app called a CloudPlayer that you can use to easily play your music on your computer and/or any Android cell phone or tablet. This effectively means that you can play your own music just about anywhere.

You don't need a memory card. You don't need to move your music around. You don't have to sync your portable device to your computer. Whenever you add new music, it is available everywhere. This is cloud computing at its best.

Amazon is currently giving the first 5GB of storage for free and charging $20 a year for 20GB. It currently also has some special deals for additional storage.

You can also use this storage for files other than music, as well. You can store documents, pictures and videos. You can access your files anytime from any Internet-connected computer, and you can download them to your computer. Google and Apple are also said to be working on similar services.

A few years ago, people questioned whether they would be willing to make the move to online computing, online services and online storage of their data. That question seems to be answered. We are moving quickly to a ubiquitous Internet.

Working in the cloud offers conveniences that are very enticing. Almost all of the services we talked about here are free. Pretty soon we will all be flying high - in the cloud!

Send your computer-related questions fo publication in this column to Sandy Berger at Computer Living Corp., P.O. Box 5895, Pinehurst N.C. 28374; or by e-mail at sandy@compukiss.com.