zettaphile.com - BIGGER IS BETTER » Martin http://www.zettaphile.com ...and the Latest is Greatest. TECHNOLOGY DISCUSSED. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:01:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 The Future of Cloud Computing http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/04/07/the-future-of-cloud-computing/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/04/07/the-future-of-cloud-computing/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:21:08 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=578 Up, Up, and, Which Way? Let Me Hop Online and See…


Last week, Marc Benioff wrote an article on TechCruch titled “Hello, iPad. Hello, Cloud 2.”

In it, Mr. Benioff (chairman and CEO of salesforce.com) writes:

Our industry has gone through many shifts, but ultimately, the big ones have always been about software, not hardware. Now, we are seeing a simultaneous software and hardware revolution. The key apps we use in productivity, collaboration, communication, entertainment, education, and even health, will all be rewritten to take advantage of the new capabilities. This will result in a new generation that looks more like Facebook on the iPad than Yahoo on the PC. Our industry is changing. We all need to step up to meet this change head-on or we will leave an incredible opportunity behind.

His article discusses how new (mobile) hardware, such as Apple’s iPad, lends itself to the evolution of computing habits and, points out that many large companies haven’t even reached the Cloud layer–still stuck on mainframes.

The article singled out what he considers to be Cloud 1.0 sites (Google, eBay, Amazon) and names social networking giants Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube to Cloud 2.0 sites… I find his distinction to be pretty right-on; as someone long fascinated with technology and its role in society, I appreciated his analysis.

Cloud 1.0 vs Cloud 2.0

To me, what really seems to stand out about the transition from Cloud 1 to Cloud 2 is more the shift toward the “personal” (than it is evolution in the hardware driving it…though I do admit the line can be blurry when it comes to such enabling factors…) The biggest commonality I see among YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook is that they rely heavily on individuals (rather than businesses/institutions) to contribute content.

Cloud 2.0 Sites Succeed because They Cater to the Ultimate Niche Market–You!

These Cloud 2.0 websites play into the trend of finding success in niche markets (through targeting unserved & underserved groups)–I mean, how much more niche could you get than an individual? (and how much more ‘catered to’ could you make someone feel than providing a customizable solution, updateable on a whim?)

Unfortunately, it’s a bit difficult to apply the efficiency of more-traditional successful business practices (like the assembly-line & one-size-fits-most models) when the niche is every single individual. A big part of the success of services like those of Cloud 2 is due to the ability of these sites to integrate new ways of thinking to get as close to these individual targets as possible.

The Weeds Grew In While I Was Busy Thinking About Me

I whole-heartedly believe that “Cloud 3″ will be a hybrid of Clouds 1 & 2–-a product of the return toward the void that will be created when everyone exists as his own niche market, rather than a community/collective.

Not Everybody is on the FaceBook-Bandwagon…

There’s a lot of disinterest in the Twitter/FaceBook/YouTube culture… For many of us, it has to do with the nature of such sites and the appeal that comes with their being ‘outlets’ to find/define one’s identity (read: Teen-Magnets.)

For some it’s more of a malaise, for others, however, there seems to be more of a stigma; either way, love it or not, there’s no denying that anyone who fails to see the value of trying to understand the powerful social (and potential economic) influence such sites have will miss the boat.

]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/04/07/the-future-of-cloud-computing/feed/ 0 And the Winner of Google’s Fiber Project Is… http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/29/and-the-winner-of-googles-fiber-project-is/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/29/and-the-winner-of-googles-fiber-project-is/#comments Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:46:54 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=570

The Winner of Google’s Fiber Project Is…

…going to be announced by the end of the year, apparently. *sigh*

Here’s the word straight from the horse’s mouth:


“Based on a rigorous review of the data, we will announce our target community or communities by the end of the year.”

According to Google’s blog, over 1,100 communities and 194,000 individuals submitted applications for the gigabit fiber experiment. (I only got to a fraction of that on my list of cities competing for Google’s gigabit project.) In typical Google-does-cool-stuff-with-data fashion, they’ve published a map showing where submissions came from:

Map of Submissions for Googles Fiber Project


I’m very curious as to what will take place next. I’ll be keeping an eye out for updates by Google–but if anybody has some (legitimate) inside information s/he wants to pass this way, it would be quite welcome!

P.S. Good Luck to All Those Who Applied!

]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/29/and-the-winner-of-googles-fiber-project-is/feed/ 0 List of Cities Vying for Google’s Gigabit Project http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/02/list-of-cities-vying-for-googles-gigabit-project/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/02/list-of-cities-vying-for-googles-gigabit-project/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:24:29 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=249 As reported in our earlier article “Google Aims to Go Big with A Gig“, Google is planning a Fiber-to-Home Gigabit network and is taking applications!

With Topeka changing it’s name to Google for the month, and Duluth’s response taking it to another level, things are getting interesting!


Know of any other communities officially applying that aren’t on this list for Google’s Fiber to Home Gigabit Internet Experiment? Let us know!


Who’s Your Pick to Win? Don’t know? Well, you can check out how the candidates are faring in the digital space by checking out the PDF “Google Fiber Share of Voice Report”–awesome maps and graphs! *drool*

List of communities updated: 11 April 2010

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]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/02/list-of-cities-vying-for-googles-gigabit-project/feed/ 58 WTF is bit.ly? http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/02/wtf-is-bit-ly/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/02/wtf-is-bit-ly/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:35:25 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=200 .ru Real.ly A Virus?



I’ll be honest. I haven’t exactly been a huge tweeter… Occasionally, I’ll check out what my buddies have been tweeting. Rarely, though, will l post anything…


During my infrequent twisits, I noticed the occasional tweet baring a suspiciously-short URL (such as “http://bit.ly/d0X6oK“). I assumed the URL’s presence was due to the fact Twitter was seeing so much traffic and figured they just hadn’t found a way to effectively weed out such “crazy” (read: computer-killing) web links. [To give an idea of how much traffic Twitter gets, just last week, TechCrunch.com reported that Twitter has hit the 50 Million Tweets per Day mark!)


Being one to avoid such virus-spreading traps as opening “dancing bear” emails or clicking on mysterious hypertext, I generally steer clear of following unsolicited links with foreign suffixes [like “.ru” (Russia) and “.cn” (China)] …better safe than sorry, right? And, as I wasn’t familiar with the funny-looking bit.ly domain, opting to visit tweeted URLs like “bit.ly/ANyTH1Ng” was pretty much out of the question. (btw, “.ly” is for Libya.)


So, when I stumbled across an article this afternoon telling of investors infusing “another $1.5 million” into bit.ly, I figured I may be under a false impression and decided I’d investigate. Come to find out, bit.ly is hardly the cyber-cesspit I’d unconsciously mis-categorized it as…






What the F is bit.ly?



So, if bit.ly isn’t a link to a bit torrent site that will auto-install spyware, what is it? Bit.ly describes itself as “a utility that allows users to shorten a long URL, share it, and then track the resulting usage.” A bit.ly link is a link generated by the site’s URL shortening service found at www.bit.ly“.



Why would you need to shorten a URL?



Good question. You’ll often see URL shortening services (like bit.ly) associated with social networking sites. Sites like Twitter limit the number of characters you can send in a message so using “http://bit.ly/9zeUYd” rather than “http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/22/ipad-or-ifad-whats-next-after-the-ipads-ho-hum-reception/” can save you about 75 characters (aka about half a tweet.)


There are a number of other popular URL shortening services out there, such as tinyURL and is.gd…and the list seems to be growing. In fact, in September of last year, bit.ly launched another domain which does the same thing, but saves you 2 characters: j.mp (interesting.ly–sorry, couldn’t resist–if you try the same URL above with j.mp instead [so, j.mp/9zeUYd], you’ll be directed to the same page.)

Btw, you may be interested to know that bit.ly is Twitter’s default URL shortener.



Do I Need to Know HTML to Use bit.ly?



No, in fact, it’s so easy anyone who can navigate to a web address can do it! To create a shortened URL, you enter the full URL you’d like to shorten, hit the button labeled “Shorten”…and, voila! It assigns your URL a new link. For example, the shortened URL for this web page is “http://bit.ly/cm3yFQ” (to prevent confusion, if you click this link, it will take you back to this page…)

What’re the Basic Pros & Cons of URL Shortners?



Well, according to an article on the pros and cons of URL shortners posted on the official WatchMouse Blog, the pros include being able to track & analyze clicks and being able to have a physically shorter URL.


Among the cons listed were that URL shortners add an additional potential point of failure (by incorporating another link into the chain) and the additional load time for pages linked to to fully load. Interestingly, from their testing only two shorteners showed 100% uptime–goo.gl and twt.tl. (Fairing the worst in terms of performance, surprisingly, was Facebook’s fb.me.)

Is That All There Is To Know About bit.ly?



Heck no! But in the spirit of bit.ly, I’ll end this article on the basics of bit.ly here. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can benefit from using this URL shortener, including how to see how many times your link was clicked on, check out bit.ly’s FAQs page.

]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/03/02/wtf-is-bit-ly/feed/ 4 Apple iTunes Store’s Odometer Rolls 10 Billion Songs http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/26/apple-itunes-stores-odometer-rolls-10-billion-songs/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/26/apple-itunes-stores-odometer-rolls-10-billion-songs/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:16:58 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=150 Guess Things Happen That Way


With music downloads flying off the servers at the rate of 100 songs per second (which works out to about 500,000 hours [or 57 years] of playtime PER DAY), it’s no wonder so many IT geeks following Apple’s contest have been predicting for the past couple of weeks that the 10 Billionth Song download would come round any day now.

While the Black Eyed Peas have virtually dominated the most popular song position for weeks now, it was Johnny Cash’s “Guess Things Happen That Way” that filled the 10,000,000,000th song sold spot. (I’ll spare you the plethora of bad puns involving the song title I’ve come up with…)


Sex Sells, but Apparently So Does Music


It’s a shame so much of the buzz around Apple’s download sales has been focused on the company’s ban of adult themed soft(core)ware [sex sells, right?]; today’s overshadowing of the landmark sale by the iTunes Music Store fails to emphasize the importance of such a feat. TEN BILLION–with a “B”–that’s more than the number of people on Earth! For perspective, 10 billion seconds ago would have been April 7th, 1693…plainly put, that’s a lot of songs!

Framed in terms of business, that’s a LOT of transactions. Ten years ago, it would have been a hard sell trying to convince even the biggest geeks that people would be so comfortable owning their music in digital format that analysts would be predicting 2010 would be the year downloads surpass physical music sales.

…of course, the icing on the cake is that not only do you not have to wait for the record store to open, but you don’t even have to get dressed to get that one song out of your head and into your ear buds…




Today’s Music Milestone Turns Up the Volume on Online Business


Apple opened its iTunes Music store April 28th, 2003, and, within 5 years, Apple surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US (announced April 3, 2008.) With Apple doubling its all-time music sales in just over 18 months (5 billion was reached in June of 2008), it’s a clear indicator that people’s attitudes and purchasing habits have dramatically changed from a decade ago.


With this clear increase in level of comfort with technology-based business transactions, and the inevitable *knock on wood* upswing in our economy (not to mention the benefits of convenience), more and more companies will be looking toward web-based solutions such as GoToMeeting as more immediate, cost-effective alternatives to flying people across the country (or world) for 2 hour meetings.

]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/26/apple-itunes-stores-odometer-rolls-10-billion-songs/feed/ 1 The Motorola MOTOSPLIT Android Phone http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/24/motorola-motosplit-android/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/24/motorola-motosplit-android/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:54:16 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=107 Are Android Phones like the MOTOSPLIT Motorola’s Future?

It’s hard to imagine a new device surpassing the runaway success of the DROID, which after only a few months accounts for approximately 50% of the Android-powered smartphone market; however, Motorola’s recent confirmation of plans to spin off its Mobile Devices next year signals there are at least a few in Schaumburg who see a future in focusing on such technology.


With plans for more than 20 Motorola phone models to ship with Google’s Android OS in 2010 (including popular models such as the DROID and the CLIQ), and the company’s commitment to “launch a variety of Android-based mobile devices”, the MOTOSPLIT is destined to join a lineup of popular phones.

What We Know About the MOTOSPLIT

The launch of the MOTOSPLIT is rumored to be in Q3 of 2010 (…which we’d like to point out is a few short months before the “Motorola Split” in Q1 of 2011.) Featuring a split QWERTY keyboard, a fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and an ultra-thin futuristic design, Android enthusiasts are not wondering how long the wait will be for the buzz-worthy gadget, but how much they’ll have to shell out.


We’re including very blurry “leaked” image of the yet-to-be-announced MOTOSPLIT, as originally reported by engadget. Also fuzzy, as far as MOTOSPLIT’s details go, is whom Motorola will be partnering with to carry the device.

Android to Phone (New) Home?

Will AT&T’s ever-being-upgraded-to-support-iPhone-traffic 3G network make for a perfect home for this zippy internet browsing handheld? AT&T is yet to have an Android phone out on its network, but will be releasing Motorola’s Backflip next month (with plans for at least 4 more this year.)

With iPhone G3 2-year contracts expiring this summer & fall, and growing “well, that was fun, but the market has so much to offer now” sentiment among many early iPhone G3 adapters, a Q3 2010 release of the MOTOSPLIT on the AT&T network could mark the beginning of a shift in the smartphone market.

]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/24/motorola-motosplit-android/feed/ 1 Google Aims to Go Big With A Gig http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/22/google-aims-to-go-big-with-a-gig/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/22/google-aims-to-go-big-with-a-gig/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:14:14 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=76

Google’s Fiber Aims to Get Things Moving

Almost nine months after submitting suggestions to the FCC to help develop their “National Broadband Plan” (NBP), Google announced it would be going out on its own to conduct an experiment to “deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.”

Google says it intends for the project to provide competitively priced, 1 gigabit/second connections via “fiber-to-the-home” (…looks like Dad was right, fiber really *can* get things moving along…) The blog states the purpose of the proposed plans is to “experiment and learn”, and, after last month’s delay of the NBP rollout by the FCC, many consider the announcement a welcomed nudge.

Google to Replace the FCC?

Not anytime soon… While the scope of the experiment won’t supersede the FCC’s plans of extending faster (100Mbps) broadband to reach 260 million people by 2020, Google’s fiber network could benefit up to 500,000 people, according to their site.

Will you be one of the lucky ones? Possibly. Through March 26th, 2010, Google will be collecting suggestions for their target communities. In an effort to identify interested communities, they’ve put out a request for information (RFI) and are encouraging local government, as well as members of the public to submit information.

Google_Icon_Houses_for_Fiber_Gigabit_Experiment


How Can Your Community Apply to Receive Google’s Gigabit Fiber Network as Part of the Experiment?

If you’re interested in learning how your community might be able to participate in this experiment, check out the video above or visit their Google Fiber for Communities: Project Overview page.

If you’re hungry for even more info, check out the article with the announcement “Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network” posted February 10th on Google’s Official Blog.

Curious to See A List of Cities Vying for Google’s Attention?

Here’s a list of communities competing for Google’s gigabit fiber ultra-fast internet project.

]]> http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/22/google-aims-to-go-big-with-a-gig/feed/ 1 iPad or iFad–What’s Next after the iPad’s Ho-Hum Reception? http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/22/ipad-or-ifad-whats-next-after-the-ipads-ho-hum-reception/ http://www.zettaphile.com/2010/02/22/ipad-or-ifad-whats-next-after-the-ipads-ho-hum-reception/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:13:51 +0000 Martin http://www.zettaphile.com/?p=26 iPad or iFad?


Touted by Apple as a “magical” and “revolutionary” product, the iPad, a.k.a. the “Kindle Killer”, received a mediocre reception when it made its debut in January.

To all those shoulder-shruggers, I urge you not to forget that the iPod was hardly a smash hit when it arrived on the market back in 2001; however, in less than 9 years, Apple has sold over 240,000,000 iPods — that’s almost 2.5 million a month! (Nothing to scoff at when their most popular models start at $149.)

iPad vs iPod Touch


But is the iPad much more than a large screen iPod Touch?


Technically speaking? Eh. Sure, it’s got access to the iBook Store *yawn*, but other than that it’s the (much) larger screen that’s its selling point. (There is the new A4 processor designed to make it zip around the web, but the fact that you can’t do things like run Adobe Flash files cancels that out for me…)

So, is it much more than an “iPod Touch Plus”? To most, it doesn’t seem that way; however, even if such is the case, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to add another flavor to Apple’s sleeper hit. According to Business Insider, Apple reported sales of the iPod Touch grew 55% in December 2009 over the previous year. Personally, I don’t think it’s any mistake that the iPad and the iPod are separated in spelling by only one letter.

So What’s Next? The Future of the iPad


As we move forward with the iPad, it will make its place in the market not from achievements of its remarkable hardware technology, but due to the strengths of Apple’s marketing machine. Much like many iPhone / Mac-lovers have come to learn, the seamless integration of desktop and portable hand-held devices is like angels’ singing. iPad 1.0 is Apple’s planting of a seed.

The strength of iPad 2.0 will be in being able to load, edit, and share vacation photos with friends and relatives by having them ‘magically’ appear on their handy devices when they turn them on. ‘Revolutionary’? Potentially…it’s clear that’s the next obvious step. The real questions is: What other tricks does Magician Jobs and his team have up their sleeves??

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