After several leaks of upcoming SkyDrive features made the rounds on the internet in the past few days, Microsoft confirmed a bunch of fantastic updates to SkyDrive on their Building Windows 8 blog today.

Let’s look at what was announced in the post by Omar Shahine and Mike Torres, Group Program Managers for SkyDrive:

• Metro-style SkyDrive app for Windows 8
• Windows Explorer integration of SkyDrive
• SkyDrive.com browsing of remote computer files

In addition, several other items were confirmed:

• The SkyDrive desktop app is not limited to Windows 8. It will be supported on Windows 7 and Windows Vista as well. Curiously (and perhaps, deliberately?) no mention of a Mac desktop app, even though the screenshot leaks showed there may be a Mac app coming as well.
• The post also confirmed that SkyDrive, which offers 25GB free as of today, will have the ability to get upgraded. Obviously, no details were mentioned about the pricing or the tiers, but finally we have official confirmation that we will be able to upgrade that storage, so we can use it meaningfully as a “personal cloud”.
• SkyDrive was recently updated to handle file sizes of up to 100MB, but in today’s day and age it could be a limiting factor, especially with videos. Today we have confirmation that we will be able to upload files with sizes up to 2GB!
• With the remote file browsing feature, we also have confirmation that there will be 2-factor authentication required, unless those PCs are trusted PCs.

Finally, because SkyDrive app will be available to any other app in Windows 8 via Charms and Contracts, every app developer now has access to the SkyDrive. Any app which opens and saves documents and photos, will automatically be able to use SkyDrive for the purpose. This will be a wonderful feature for app developers as well as customers, who will have instant access to their SkyDrive files in Windows 8.

Remember Bharat Berry? It was launched by a Jaipur based company to offer consumers with push e-mail services when there were talks about Govt.’s proposed permanent ban on Blackberry’s messaging and voice services in India. We have already told you about Bharat Berry when it was initially launched.

Now, MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.) has partnered with Bharat Berry to provide it’s customers in Delhi and Mumbai with various services such as Push Mail, Calendar and Contacts Sync. These services can be availed by any MTNL subscriber irrespective of the handsets they use. The basic requirements for Bharat Berry are that the handset should be java enabled and should have support for GPRS. Handsets supported include many from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry & HTC.

Packages & Pricing

Users can opt for either of e-mail or contact/calender sync services which are priced at Rs 50 each per month. However, a combo subscription for both the services is also available at Rs. 80 per month. Users can also opt for a free three month trial of Bharat Berry’s push mail services.