Berkeley's Cloud Computing Meat, not Myth [& the 2 kids in the dorm room having a ball)

I thought it would be more appropriate to let the initial brew-haha simmer a bit before I dive right in and again educate myself. It has been weeks since I touched the 'cloud' and get some sanity back but boy, Berkeley just got it totally RAD right now.

I thought it was 'a great effort but still not encompassing' considering the amount of resources the great 'Internet' has made available. Kudos still to the team! I'm not sure they were thinking of the word 'seminal' when they were doing this but anyone posting on cloud computing at this point deep inside must honestly, feel they are.

Let's just hope the 'populace' get's it right and move on to practical usage. And yes, "Let's leverage cloud computing not for it's own sake but because it makes sense to whatever needs we have now and most especially in the days to come".

Excuse me while I chew on this bone for bit more and if cloud computing is in your plate, I suggest you do read about this a couple of times, too.

I'm skipping dessert for now...

Related:
Podcasting the Berkeley View with Paul Miller
Cloud Ave Digs In to the B-Rad View
Mixed reviews on the report (CNET)
O'Reilly Radar' Artur Bergman
Non-chalantly, Nick Carr's Cloud Gazing

PS: Throwing this one in for enlightenment.

How Open Source is accelerating innovation in the field of SaaS and PaaS

View more presentations from Jerome Gotangco. (tags: fossmy saas)

Internet: An End to Solitude

Is it a good thing or bad? Privacy.

I'd sure want to have my own space or private time to be able to sort my life and priorities. I'd also want the freedom to be able to spend my time focused on things I'd definitely want to accomplish more than anything else. Yet, that is not to say that it would be at the risk of putting a ban on people I'd love exchanging ideas (and pleasantries) with at most times. After all, people are social and we depend on other people for our needs and vise-versa.

It's just that we want balance.

But it seems to be tipping. And we're not entirely without blame, I guess. [I'd surely want my medical files be made available over the internet in case I suffer a medical emergency and I'm far from my doctor friend - say over a 24 hour window!]

Maybe, the Internet just got us punk'd.

Or we're losing Control.

Related:
Link by Link, As Data Collecting Grows, Privacy Erodes [NYTimes]
Facebook and 'Your' Information
Internet Still faced with Problems
Government information sharing plan
Scoble: Big Deal, Not?

In Terra Firma: Off Cloud means Offline

The past few week and a half were some of the most busiest days I've had traveling out of home and into the city since I got back to work. Whereas before, I would be able to take my kid to school during the mornings, during the past days, she was on her own - meaning she missed a lot of school save for some thanks to granny and gramps taking over school bus duties. Me, I was out without breakfast and home midnight or even later! No wonder I always get the dreaded stare! Good thing lights were off always.


So here's the log and excuse.

E-services 2009
This spanned the last 3 weeks in terms of preparation and coordination. Yup, there's email and a lot of things that can be accomplished online among the people involved but face it, for corporate give-aways, you still need that tactile feel and that involves reconnaissance. It so happened that we needed printed shirts and boy, it was a real test in patience.

Add to it the fact that I was point person for ingress and egress for our booth at the event, which is really a test of energy and endurance. Good thing, we took home some citations. Check the G2iX Blog for updates from colleagues during the event and awarding ceremonies. (Pics to follow).

Creative Commons
Spent a day at the Common Crossroads conference and it was really interesting since there were a lot of delegates from participating APAC countries. Also glad to have met local tech personalities and musicians even.

All - Hands Meet
This is an annual event and a really excellent way to sync company goals and strategies. Along with Product Managers and Executives, this also meant spending hours tooling and re-tooling keynote presentations of this year's roadmap and discussing principles found in the book 'Good to Great'. Nosebleed!

What I learned from all this?
One. It just reinforced the fact that writing isn't really a walk in the park for me. Need to be calm and well rested to piece together all those thoughts and ideas and time spent alone. Unfortunately, both were absent so bye, posts!

Two. It's not exactly all work since we also get to spend time to meet together for some drinks after office hours. Problem is I live not within the vicinities of those fun 'singing' spots which means long travel hours to get home. Less sleep, too.

Third: Band-struck and how I want a guitar :) Till next.

Unrelated:
Gartner top business issues and technologies 2009
Ruby Kaigi 2009
Strategies for successfully deploying Open Source

Value to Crap Ratio

If you feel choked with all the scary stories online, you have an option. Somewhere there's a button you can push and it all goes away but so does the few valuable things is worth your time while within the Web.

Now that economy is going bonkers, think it's fitting to replace the signal-to-noise metaphor with value-to-crap? Then we start talking about business models and ROI ...

Google Kool-Aid just made me threw up... temporarily.

The Titanic Battle in the Cloud with Trend Micro's Eva Chen. Cloud security - not from human error.

Like a scary movie: IBM says companies expose users to threat without really trying to! Really?

There are books, there are e-book and yes, there are readers! Reading in the digital age. And for Book Gluttons - something described as social reading.

WebWorkerDaily turns new page. Welcome, Simon!

Top 5 Social Music Recommendation Sites ( and how do you define Hype Machine? Subtle)

Forbes' Barriers to Innovation . Somewhere, a VC ain't buying the idea.

Thanks to Lee and Sachi, education gets a boost online

Podcast: Cloud Computing and the Economic Climate from Nick Carr and Cloud Ave

Social Media and Marketing is same banana? Related: Forrester on companies being social

Cloud is music to my ears and vice versa...

If it sounds like I'm speaking of the web in general then it probably isn't obvious to you how the web has changed. And I mean pretty big changes even if it's too subtle to the regular user.

You see, open up your browser and you'd probably better off not doing it because for all intents and purposes, someone might just show you how wonderfully diverse and productive you can be by just being connected. There was a time that 'surfing' was it! But now, you hardly ever hear that word anymore. One is either Googling, facebooking or Twittering. If it isn't productive then no activity in the web is. No kidding.

But that is just for the bottom feeders of the web, you say. I say you missed the point, if web is information, those 3 are the tools you can leverage to refine your search techniques and take it to overdrive. Imagine getting your information about almost everything under the and beyond the sun from people you trust and almost at real time!

Yet, anybody care to know how is this possible? We're not just linking laptops and desktops here and it's not even just data servers or cable connections that make it all possible. Those were already working a few years ago but it is only now that developers and IT peeps were able to make something really work efficiently and enable you and me to enjoy all that the web can offer and not stay enslaved to his PC anymore. Heck, let's not get started with mobiles

It has been said that books take you places and the web does, too but now you can take your 'personalized web places' with you wherever you want to go as long as there's an internet connection.

And for the obsessive-compulsives out there, you may take comfort that the email you've been using for years now may most probably be the free and web-based. Sure, it's not suave as the ones that come along with a licensed software that you may have paid for but honestly, it gets the job done and you're more than satisfied with it not only because it doesn't cost anything but also because you have access to it whenever and wherever you feel like checking your inbox. And it doesn't stop there because right now, something closely related to that known as SaaS apps are creeping and spreading more quickly than you've ever imagined. It might just be coming to your business doorstep right this very minute. Pretty soon, you just can't escape it anymore.

So, how does cloud computing sound to you?

After which I then go offline and to live and really listen [taking comfort in the knowledge I could come back whenever I want to and almost everything will still be there ...]

Not Related but:
The Hype Machine
NPR Song of the Day
Shacknet + Forum

Conversion

The new year holds a lot of promise, (yes, but it goes beyond cloud computing, saas or paas and the rise of more web apps for that matter) none of which I felt has worked to my benefit yet. You see, I've been operating at less than 100% of my health that left me pill-popping whose body has become an unlikely bin for mucolytic and other cough remedies. And despite that, I never felt much better and in fact wasn't able to get that much needed rest that I feel holds the key to my recovery. The odds are now stacked against me since little kid has also developed 'drippy nose' and so has wifey, too.

It seems that pain is always a part of transitions, no doubt about it. Superstitiously, that is what being able to finally move this blog into the new domain involves. After all, the name comes from dear, old Brother Francis and he'll have it no other way to be able to attain Perfect Joy.

Peace.

A Welcome Difficulty

Towards the end of 2008, it is obvious that churning out post after post as much as I wanted to was going to be painfully difficult. No excuses about 'flesh not being able to keep up with the spirit' but the transition to work from home to weekly trek to the office which totals around 4 gruelling hours can really expose age. [Oh, Manila during the holidays!]

Still, for the rare few who still drop by, a very big and humble thanks.

I will strive to continue being an outpost for interesting finds in the web especially, but not limited to, cloud computing, Saas and Paas. SO bear with me for inserting musical & philosophical (but unfortunately, never fashion) tastes every now and then.

I can't help it.

Welcome to 2009,
Educe

In case you're interested in New Year ramblings, check this out. [Shameless plug]