Clouding Around - Still, There Are Pitfalls For Cloud Computing

As more folks get used to the mobile computing life, we need to be reminded that the data we access with our mobile devices and smartphones don't always sit quietly in storage waiting to be accessed when the time came.

And recently, Pre owners were given a pretty harsh lesson of that when the Pre profile server crashed, leaving Pre owners without access to their data.  But don't think this is an isolated incident.  Remember when Apple debut push mail for the iPhone?  Yeah, Apple had to apologize multiple times and provide MobileMe users two extra months of free service.

Is that Google fans laughing I'm hearing?  What?  Don't remember the Gmail outages?  A couple of times if memory serves.

This reminded me of an argument with a friend who worked at Yahoo.  I told him it's important to me that I always have a copy of my data and e-mail on my laptop when I don't have access to the Internet.  No Internet access, no webmail or files stored in the cloud.  Right?

So, I'm telling my fellow mobile warriors this:  pitfalls and trials by fire are to be expected as we move boldly forward in shaping the mobile market.  There will be servers that crash.  Services taken down for maintenance that turn into outages.  Denial of services.  Natural disasters.  I'm sure you can name a few other types of incidents that will leave you without your precious mail, contacts, schedules, and wireless Internet.

For mobile users, it's always good to find a way to back up your information.  MobileMe allows you to storage in your information with the Mac or Outlook while Google offers off-line access to data including Gmail.

For folks who rely on cloud storage, it's good to use services like MobileMe and Dropbox that synchs a copy of files to a local folder.

Anyway, Pre owners got their data back and things are fine again.  But it is a sobering experience for everyone.  Cloud services will continue to grow and mature.  Perhaps, we'll one day have enough redundancy with our wireless services that we'll never truly have to worry about losing access to our data.  But until then, it's always good to practice some old school computing.  Keeping a copy of your data locally if you can.

Concept: Mobile Thin Clients - But It's Already Happening

The clouds are forming and I'm talking about the good kind (here in CA, even dark clouds are welcome as Sacromento contemplates water rationing). Cloud computing.

Let's not fool ourselves. That is the future but it's not exclusive. Remember when Larry and Oracle was trying to unseat Microsoft in the Internet booms of late 90s and all he could talk about was thin-clients. Well, I think we're largely here right now but except there's a bit of more than even Larry expected.

We're dealing with cloud and mobile computing. In fact, what escapes most people is that they're already doing it and don't realize it. I'm sure we'll soon be graced with a jazzy name for just such a thing.

Here are some things that are happening that will make cloud/mobile computing even more powerful and ubiquitous than it is today:

• green tech - energy, better design, costs
• processor, display, and battery advancements - focus on efficiency, speed, multi-core, and touch/gesture.
• LTE, WiMax, and beyond.
• social change - touch is in. Perhaps gestures as well. But that's use the UI. I'm talking about a society that is no longer bound to the desk, office, or home. Plus, with advanced battery technologies, we can pretty much forget about the outlets as well.
• mobile devices - as advanced as the iPhone is today, what we'll see in the coming years will blow these antiquated devices away.

One of the fastest growing segment of the ad industry is the mobile ad market. And what is generating this growth? Just your average mobile warrior surfing the Web, conducting business, and moving away from traditional means of computing. It's in no small part that these gains made by the smartphone submarket. iPhone to be sure. And in the last six months, we've also seen much growth from Blackberry, WM, and Nokia users embracing this new paradigm in mobile computing. And without the cloud infrastructure and new thought dynamics to support it, no matter how advance the devices or smartphones are, people won't use it.

But one part of the cloud/mobile computing that no one seems to be thinking much about are those mobile devices that have no phone functions. One such device is the iPod Touch. Feel free to lump netbooks into this for now. More mobile tablets will soon join the iPod Touch with similar strengths and shortcomings that will likely be addressed by clouding computing. Storage space comes to mind but with Wi-Fi access points popping up everywhere, people can leave files in the cloud to access from anywhere, leaving the limited precious gigabytes for the OS and apps.

Now, Wi-Fi may be all most of these non-phone devices have access to in order to be connected to the cloud but we will likely see more devices equiped with 3G or WiMax chips to access the Internet anywhere the mobile users want. Onxo has noted and posted about deals wireless providers and netbook makers put together for users to buy subsidized netbooks with 3G subscription. We'll probably see more of this. How much will largely depend on the economy.

To be sure, this is where the direction cloud/mobile computing is headed. The road ahead is clear and there are a few fleeting obstructions that may affect the rate of adopting for this new computing life in the short term. Perhaps when we get there, people will coin this Web 3.0.

Note: mobile cloud computing. MCC. Has a nice ring to it. What do you think?

Cloud Options For Economic Woes

The economic turbulence we're experiencing has gotten me thinking about what parts of my life I can sacrifice until things are more stable and calm.  For some of my fellow mobile warriors who are small business owners, you're likely feeling the pinch somewhat.  Maybe you've started thinking about cuts here and there but also realize this is a delicate balancing act.  Cut too little, it won't be effective.  Cut too much, it may hurt your services and productivity.

Cutting services you pay for.  If you can get it for free on the Internet, then stop paying for it.  A lot of times, we pay for it because it's user friendly and it just lets us get things done.  For instance.  Don't get mad at me, Mac users.  But MobileMe is certainly something that can be cut if you're a Mac user. It doesn't come out to much but at $129 and along with other cuts, it quickly adds up.  This is just one example.  Another example is Webex - $35 a month last I checked.  A lot of folks now have laptops that have webcams integrated.  Why pay for Webex when you can just talk to whoever you need directly via Skype, iChat, Yahoo, or MSN?

Bottomline is cloud computing has advanced immensely in the last year and will get better over time.  Here are some alternatives that I've used and others that come highly recommended.  Mostly free and works well.

E-mail/IM: Google , MSN/Live , Yahoo , AIM

Online Storage:  Dropbox.net, Mesh , Yahoo Briefcase

Blogging:  Blogger , Twitter , Friendfeed

Socialvertisement:  Facebook

Online Office Suite:  Google Docs, Thinkfree , Zoho

Photo Storage:  Shutterfly , Picasa , Flickr, Live

I do recommend that should you take up cloud computing whole-heartedly, pick just one platform that is best for you.  Mixing is fine but make sure it works the way you want it to.

Sun Will Rise Tomorrow Still.  Keep your chin up.  Tomorrow will be another day.  These economic problems we're going won't last forever.  I, like you guys, are adaptable and we'll weather this.  But we have to be mindful that we don't sacrifice so much that when we finally turn the corner, we are not able to take advantage of the opportunities that are sure to be available.

We're in this together.  Any tip that is working for you would be greatly appreciated.  We'll pass it along to everyone.  Thanks ahead of time.

Note:  I have MobileMe myself. And while I like the integration with OS X and the iPhone, I will wait until the terms of my contract is close to ending before I decide if I want to renew it.  It has not exactly worked out the way I had hoped.  Apple asked for patience and until the end of 2008 to fix things.  So, I'll be patient.

Another Note:  While not directly related to mobile computing, I have cut a lot of things in my household (well, it's just me).  Sat TV (half the channels only want to sell me stuff) and Netflix are just to start.

VMWare's Cloud vServices

Is this going to truly take could services to the level now that VM Ware is getting involved?

 

I'm not sure how this will change small businesses' computing habits in the short-term but if service providers do take advantage of such services, it can go a long way in allow mobile warriors to gain access to certain data and the only thing they would need is wireless access.  

I can already see a lot of advantage in just such a system.  I know that this is a business oriented service but I can also see companies offer more consumer services as well.  If consumer cloud services doesn't come from VMWare's partners, I do see traditional companies offer them in the next year.  

It's been a while since we've talked about cloud services as most are still geared towards big businesses.  But watch out.  2009 could be a cloudy year. 

Mobility Tip: Trust Your HD and Flashdrive (Apple Shows Us Why Cloud Not Ready Yet)

About a year ago, I had a discussion with a friend who worked at a major Internet portal regarding the future of web services. We both agreed that future Internet activities involves the user storing more data in the cloud than locally on a storage media like hard drives.

However, I argued that while that is the trend, there are instances when the user would be wise to make sure he or she has local access to pertinent files. Why? One, Internet access in the United States is near ubiquitous but not entirely ubiquitous. Then there's also security. There will always be security issues. Plus, there is the continuing mindset of control over one's data.

Well, Apple's cloud transition (maybe you've heard), for the last couple of weeks, gave me something serious to think about. I did not imagine that it would be the cloud that would be the source of disconnect between the user and the data. For a mega-corp who wants users to trust them with our data, users would expect redundancy upon redundancy to protect users against server and connection failures.

The Internet is still loaded with posts and articles about the pains of users still with no access to their e-mails and sporadic services. I bet a lot of users now wished they had downloaded their files and e-mails locally.

Perhaps, we will one day do our all computing online. The march towards that utopian world is happening but very slowly. For the time being, I will be downloading my e-mails and backing up my online files on a regular basis for a long time to come.

What have I been doing to protect my interests? Ironically, Apple who is the source of the current crop of Internet pain is also the answer. With Time Machine (a backup solution built into their latest OS, Leopard), it has made my life easier. Since I only upgraded to Leopard on my workhorse Powerbook, timing could not have been better. Honestly, I won't know for days until I find out if I am among those affected by the MobileMe transition.

Time Machine makes regular backups of your files to an external hard drive. That's the gist of it. And it's painless. What other solutions do we have to protect our data?

Well, I don't want to wake up one day and find out I've lost access to Flickr and that they are agressively working on restoring service. DVD burners and DVD media are relatively cheap these days. It's a prudent investment. An added bonus to this solution is that it can also free up your hard drive space if you also back up movies, music, and podcasts that you don't often use. We're talking lots of GB here.

Lastly, flash drives. If you're talking about tax files, e-mails, or special projects you're working on (like a book), it's indispensable. Open up your Sunday newspaper and you are likely to see ads from a couple consumer electronics giants that offer great deals.

If you have any other solutions to protect your data, we would like to hear from you.

UPDATE: A-HA! Just what we're talking about here. Recommended reading on Technology Review: Lost in the Clouds. Expressed just about the same sentiment here at Onxo. And kudos to TR for using that title. I lacked such bravery.

Mobility Watch: Mesh From Microsoft

Before we all sign off for the weekend (a busy weekend for me), I want you to keep an eye on something.



Live Mesh from Microsoft.  Regardless of your feelings toward Redmond (personally, my issue started with Vista. XP, Office, Halo, and I were cool), Live.com has been a working model for years now and with the different services they're building with Live, it is not difficult to figure out why Live and MSN are two separate portals.



I'll do a more in depth look at Live Mesh over the weekend and in the coming weeks/months when more of the features they promised are online.  It's in very early beta in my opinion.  From all they seem to want to do with it (cloud computing and all), it's promising.  The following features are apparent once you sign in:

• Live Desktop - you can move windows around.


• Facilitate synchronization between desktop and other devices connected by Mesh user.


• Icon for the PC and Mac - good for OS X users I suppose.


• "Your Mobile" - possible a link to allow information to synch between your mobile device and your computers.


• Live Mesh Remote Desktop - ability to connect to your devices (computers, mobile units, etc).

So far, I can't even say it's rough around the edges because there are no edges to speak of yet.  But it smells a bit like Apple's Me.com.  It's alright, Micrsoft.  Take your time.  Me.com is still in beta as far as I'm concerned.



The important thing I want to know here is if "push"able and how much it's gonna cost.  Me.com is $99 a year.



If you've got nothing to do this weekend, give it a test-drive and love to hear what you think.



I think it's finally going to happen soon.  It's going to be cloudy from here on.   Have a great weekend!