Google IO 2011
I am so bummed that I could not get tickets to the Google IO 2011. I wanted to be there this year but tickets were sold out in 59 minutes and I could never get to the site.
As expected, a lot has been going on at the IO this year with big announcements coming from Google including its Cloud Music Service. My previous post was about Amazon’s cloud storage and music player and now we have another tech giant jumping into the same arena. I think Google has an advantage since it can immediately have an Android app and accessibility from Android phones will be high. However, I am not quite sure if I would use it from a mobile device especially if I have to use my 3G data plan. With telecom companies limiting the data plans, it is difficult to take advantage of such cloud based players.
One thing I would like to see is Google coming up with something totally radical and not just follow some other company’s game plan. Google is better than that and somehow, It trying to imitate others especially in the social network playground and now the cloud, leaves me a bit disappointed.
There were bunch of other announcements too including Movie rentals for Android, Icecream sandwich etc. You can find more of the google announcements here.
To watch it live, go here.
A lot of twitter activity is going on too and you can track it with tag #io2011. Google IO site has a cool around the globe tracking that you can see at http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/io2011.html .
I hope 2012 will be the year I can make it to this annual event.
Amazon Cloud Storage
Amazon launched Cloud Drive and Cloud Player last week to enable users to upload their music to a virtual drive and play it from anywhere via PC or Android phones. I think that is a great idea because I for one find it painful to sync my music between all the devices I own. However, a lot is being said about legality and controversy has been stirred up by the record labels.
But why is there a legal problem? People can upload music to any virtual drive and use it from anywhere. Amazon has just added another layer through its player to enable them to listen to the songs directly. People would have bought that music and own it. It doesn’t matter how they store it or listen to it or from where they access it. Granted, there might be users who may upload pirated stuff, but I think the days of purely pirated music are gone. People do buy and own the music and it should be their right to use it anyway they want for personal use.
Currently, one can still play music stored on home PC using other mechanisms to access your PC. So the idea is not really new, but simply been made easier by Amazon. The recording industry already has deals for the music Amazon legally sells and that should suffice. In fact, the promotions Amazon generally has might encourage users to purchase more music directly from Amazon and use it through the drive. This scenario can be easily compared with the e-reader market and how Kindle has actually increased the book sales. People tend to read and buy more e-books when using Kindle because the buying action is so simple.
Old-fashioned industries need to understand that simplicity and accessibility are really important for this fast-changing generation of users who are addicted to their mobile devices.
The Incredible iPad 2
iPad 2 has launched and it has delivered on not just what people wanted but much much more.
Here are iPad 2 features:
Samsung A5 Dual-Core processor
33% thinner
1.3 pounds
Black and White models
AT&T and Verizon
10 hour battery life
Front and Rear Cameras
Mute, Rotation lock switch
HDMI video out cable – $39
Integrated snap-on covers – $39/69
Basic Wi-fi 16GB model starts at $499
Available on March 1th. Yipeeee!
I will be there standing in the line to get my hands on this beauty.
The Apple Obsession
Image via CrunchBase
Since the past couple of months, there have been several rumors around IPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Everyone has been eagerly awaiting the launch of iPad 2 and I am one of them. Finally, today – March 2, 2011 is the day we will get to hear some announcement.
Apple has been one of the most innovative companies and become a mainstream brand. Apple’s success can be attributed primarily to the visionary Steve Jobs. His mind works leaps and bounds ahead of most people. He is even a celebrity now with paparazzi like following. I do sincerely hope he recovers and gives us many more wonderful and cool gadgets.
I recently read that Apple should get into the Cloud since it is so good at doing many innovative things and can easily become a cloud success. But I don’t think Apple should spread itself thin. Apple is best at creating cutting edge and cool products along with reliable software to back them up. Their main forte is physical products that look great and appeal to a wide demographic, even non-techies. Cloud Computing is more about running businesses efficiently, storage and IT infrastructure. There are already too many players getting into the cloud and it has become really crowded in there. I am sure if Apple ever decided to get into the cloud business they would do good, but why. Do what you do best.
New Players in Cloud
More and more companies are jumping into cloud computing after realizing the huge potential it has to offer. Just last week Verizon made the leap by acquiring Terremark Worldwide. It seems a surprising move, but looking closely, it makes total sense. Verizon is correct that IPads and IPhones mean mobility, and cloud plays a huge part in mobile applications. Cloud and mobile do go hand in hand, considering that a lot of apps may be storing data in the cloud since cellphones are not as powerful as desktops.
HP has stepped up their cloud computing lineup while Intel is investing heavily into research in cloud computing. A lot of new trends are emerging this year surround cloud and its application. Surveys are revealing increased spending towards cloud infrastructure. Businesses, big and small have started using cloud services to support their operations.
One question that still comes up for me is – how will cloud affect an individual user? How does one single person use cloud services to his or her advantage? As someone who backed up all 2010 videos and pictures to physical DVDs in spite of owning two external hard drives – how will cloud give me the assurance that my data will remain safe? How will it seamlessly integrate with all my computers, so I don’t know the difference? If I want to pursue, software development using cloud platform, is it affordable?
Books for Android newbies
This post is different from the usual cloud discussions I have had so far. Since I am all about learning new technology, mobile development is something I am excited to know more about. It is free for developers to start developing on Android system and therefore really easy to step into. I started out by getting book suggestions on the Android LinkedIn group. Thanks to so many wonderful suggestions from great people. I would like to share these book suggestions and hope it helps you.
Books
Hello, Android: Introducing Google’s Mobile Development Platform
Professional Android Development, Reto Meier
The first two books require some Java knowledge/experience. I have gotten the most suggestions for the Reto Meier book.
Unlocking Android, W. Frank Ableson, Charlie Collins, and Robi Sen
Android Wireless Application Development, Darcey & Condor
Professional Android Programming with MonoDroid and .NET/C#
Online Resources
There were also few online websites/courses that were recommended. Some are free and some not, but if these seem more interesting to you, then definitely try them out.
http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2010/10/android-full-application-tutorial.html
http://www.manning.com/ableson2/
Cloud Computing News This Week
Cloud computing has been gaining a lot of popularity, disapproval as well as media coverage lately. As a new technology comes along and starts to become mainstream, there is a section of adopters and a section of naysayers. We have already seen security as a major hurdle to the adoption of cloud computing. But there is good news for cloud as well. This has been a mixed week for cloud technology.
Wikileaks
With Amazon ousting Wikileaks due to an apparent policy violation, there was huge uproar about free speech and so on. But I do not want to get into the politics of Wikileaks here. The question that arose for me was about cloud reliability. One of the main advantages for any enterprise for moving data to the cloud is reliability – the assurance that their data will be stored safely, will be available anytime they need and no fear of losing that data. But what about the cloud service provider? Since the data is stored with a third-party who do have complete access to it, do they have the discretion to cutoff your data or website? We all know service agreements are huge and convoluted and they do keep changing. In such a case, how do you ensure with your provider, the reliability of your data? Do you need to establish a relationship with your service provider?
Software Piracy
As cloud computing gains more popularity, software piracy may start to die. This is great news for software companies who struggle with this problem everyday. In fact, as companies move towards cloud applications (“no software”), the threat of piracy goes away automatically. As enterprises get rid of their IT resources and employ cloud services, they will pay for the service including any software hosted on it. They won’t find the need to buy low-cost pirated software as the clouding pricing will remain competitive. This will ensure more security for their data and applications.
Green Cloud
Cloud computing got another positive news this week from Pike Research. It seems cloud computing is also gaining popularity amongst environmentalists who believe that it is a greener choice, As data centers host multiple enterprise, the energy consumption will be more efficient and they will be reduced emissions.
According to a new report from Pike Research, the energy efficiency benefits of cloud computing are substantial, and growth in the market will have important implications for both energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that the adoption of cloud computing will lead to a 38% reduction in worldwide data center energy expenditures by 2020, compared to a business as usual (BAU) scenario for data center capacity growth.
While conflicting reports also exist, it does seem to make sense sharing resources means less usage per person making cloud technology more energy-efficient.
Cloud Security
The adoption of cloud has been rapid in the past couple of years, but cloud security is still a major concern for most IT managers. According to Cisco’s three-part Connected World study, IT managers ranked security as their top data center concern, along with performance, reliability, and budget for maintenance and management. It is difficult for many to give up control to sensitive data to a cloud somewhere. The Cisco study has revealed the following trends –
Cloud use today: Across the study’s 13 countries, only an average of 18 percent of respondents are using cloud computing today, while an additional 34 percent plan to use the cloud.
Top cloud users today: Brazil (27%), Germany (27%), India (26%), US (23%) and Mexico (22%) top the list of countries that are already taking advantage of cloud computing, exceeding the average (18%) across all countries.
Future cloud use: A large majority (88%) of IT respondents predict that they will be storing some percentage of their company’s data and applications in private or public clouds within the next three years.
Private clouds: One in three IT professionals said more than half of their company’s data and applications will be in private clouds within the next three years. Private cloud adoption was predicted to be higher in Mexico (71%), Brazil (53%) and the US (46%)
Timing for public clouds: Of those respondents that will use public clouds, one of every three (34%) plan to deploy within one year, and 44% predicted their companies would use public clouds within the next two years; 21% are expected to do so within two to three years.
So while adoption of cloud computing technology will continue, it will be imperative to secure the cloud. Cloud security has to comply with laws across different countries especially since business is global and mainly because a data center can be located anywhere around the world and not necessarily in the country when the organization is situated. But as the federal government moves to cloud computing, cloud providers will have to offer DOD level type of security. And since cloud data centers will host multiple organizations, even smaller entities can make use of such high level of security.
Another important way to remain secure in cloud is to integrate security into the applications that will run in cloud. This will add another level of security and IT enterprises may be able to breathe easier. As data and “software” moves online, application security will be needed and so adding that for cloud hosting will not be extra work.
More Google vs. Microsoft
Just a few days after the Chrome OS announcement, we see Microsoft being selected as USDA‘s choice to move to cloud computing. Google is crying foul over this development.
You can read about it at:
The federal government agencies are adopting cloud platforms and even have a “cloud-first” plan. Even the Obama administration has said that cloud computing will allow more people to share a common infrastructure, cutting technology and support costs.
Last week GSA collaborated with Google as their email provider. What will be interesting is to see whether different agencies will choose different cloud providers and whether they should be choosing a single one?
Google Chrome OS
Google announced its Chrome OS some time last year – trying to create a lightweight operating system targeted mainly towards notebooks. Chrome OS is designed to mainly work through the web and can have web applications. Even the Chrome OS startup page looks like a web browser. All files for the applications have to be stored online or in the cloud. This is the first cloud based operating system that we will be seeing. Just this week, Google finally announced their pilot program to provide test notebooks to qualified users so they can get feedback from those users. The notebooks will have no hard drives since one of the primary goals of the Chrome OS is to be fast. Some web applications designed for Chrome OS will run without being connected to the Internet. It remains to be seen, how seamless the integration of web-based OS with web applications can be considering bandwidth speeds. Also, how successful can a lightweight OS be for bigger corporations or data intensive workload that can be done with traditional operating systems. Will Windows be wiped out or still hold a niche market for enterprises?
Google also demonstrated printing in the cloud from within the Chrome OS. There is still a long way to go, but it can be a great idea. Security is the first concern in cloud-based printing. Will Google snoop around in the documents to target advertising? And of course, how does this all connect to having a physical device to print? HP already has web printers that can be used to print from anywhere. The physical printer does exist in your home/office but can be used from anyplace.
Cloud Notions 