All Entries Tagged With: "cloud computing"

Should Enterprises Be Wary of Cloud Computing?

Ovum, a tech analyst consulting firm, is recommending that enterprises take a cautious approach to Cloud Computing, citing outages from Amazon and Google, as well as management challenges, as examples.

“Enterprises are right to be cautious about relying on such consumer/SME-oriented suppliers for anything resembling a mission critical application or service,” said research firm Ovum in a report.

“A spate of service outages on the Amazon and Google platforms has increased enterprise caution about the reliability of consumer-market-oriented cloud providers.”

Personally, I see Cloud Computing taking a few hits on the chin next year as firms take a wait-and-see on what Web 2.0 firms will make it. Trusting data to a company that might not see the end of 1st quarter 2009, is enough reason to hold on to that precious data and keeping it local.

Google Adds Tasks to GMail

Google continues to tinker with GMail (and of late, I continue to have sporadic issues with GMail) and now they’ve added a module to allow you to create and manage Tasks.

Basically you click and type and add a Task and you’re all set. You can add the feature through Settings/Labs (as you do with just about all of the new features that Google keeps rolling out.) Once you do, it will appear in the upper left most pane. Click on the word Tasks and you’re off and running.

You can also add a Task from within an email by choosing More Actions and this associated the email with the Task.

Weekend Discussion: Biggest Tech News Story of the Year

It has been a very interesting year in terms of technology news: threats of buyouts, mergers, rumors of new devices, layoffs, phones, marketing campaigns, founders leaving, new mobile pcs, economy, netbooks, social media, cloud computing, CTO office in the White House, windows 7, multi-touch, app stores, and much more.

In your opinion, what has been the biggest tech story so far this year, and what will we still be talking about next year?

Tableteer’s Lament: No Ink in the Cloud for Emails

I don’t ink emails very often. But when I need to, it is a blessing to have that option. Whip out the pen, scribble a quick response and send it off. But the more and more that I transition away from my traditional methods of email correspondence to using GMail as my standard, the further I get away from Outlook. Of course if I’m not using Outlook, (I use Outlook 2007) that means I can’t Ink an email. Of course any other online or cloud email solution yields the same. Windows Live Hotmail certainly doesn’t seem to be planning to offer Inking as an option in the near term either.

So, what’s an Inker to do if he/she wants to use cloud applications for email and still be able to Ink up a response now and then? These are the types of compromises that I hate having to make, and I certainly wish I didn’t have to.

Bug in EverNote Update for iPhone/iPod Touch Fixed

For those Inkers out there who also use an iPhone or an iPod Touch and the EverNote app for those devices there was great rejoicing earlier this week when it was announced that EverNote released an update that allowed for client-side storage of notes on those two Apple MIDs. Then a bug was discovered and first reported here by reader Gordan Cahill. The problem? Ink Notes could no longer be viewed. The thumbnails still showed Ink Notes but you got nothing if you called them up. I updated our post and sent out a tweet to the EverNote team on Twitter and they responded pretty quickly, letting me know that it was bug and that they’d work quickly to get it fixed. 

Well tonight it is fixed. You can now, once again, view Ink Notes on your iPhone or iPod Touch. But pay attention here. The bug was on the server side, so there is no new App Store update for this, it was fixed on the back end. But, you may (or may not) discover that Ink Notes that were cached will not show up. If this is the case, you’ll need to uninstall the apps from you device and then reinstall it. In my case, everything came up fine on the iPod Touch but I had to do the uninstall/reinstall routine for the iPhone. After that all notes appeared as they were supposed to. 

Two sides note here. First, thanks to Gordon Cahill for speaking up. Second, what a welcome change in the old customer service routine when you can post a message on Twitter and get a response. If you’re an EverNote user and a Twitter user, you might want to follow them on Twitter. Pay attention here. Obviously we Inkers are not a majority of EverNote users. So, it couldn’t hurt to let the EverNote team hear from you on other Tablet PC related issues.

Windows Live Mesh Beta Updates and Adds Mac Client

Rob alluded to this the other day, and it looks like it is literally happening as I blog this. Windows Live Mesh is in the process of updating and in that process I’ve noticed that the Mac Client is now available. Supposedly this means that the Beta is now open, or is about to open up as well. There is also supposed to be support for a Windows Mobile client, but I don’t have one of those devices handy at the moment to check that out.

UPDATE: According to ReadWriteWeb Microsoft is only allowing a limited number of Mac Clients onto the Mesh at first, and the Windows Mobile Client for 6.0 and 6.1 is now available.

That said, I have the Mac Client up and running on my iMac and all seems to be operating well at the moment. I’ve also installed Mesh on the Lenovo ThinkPad X61 running Windows 7 and see no issues there either as everything is syncing across just fine.

GBM Podcast #63: Touching Tablets, NetBooks, and the Cloud

Truc Bui and I spend some fun time talking about Tablet PCs, NetBooks, Microsoft Azure, and Rob’s Dell XT digitizer woes (which may or may not be on their way to being resolved.) Truc also fills us in on some of his thoughts about the new Fujistu Tablets just hitting the market (and the different naming conventions.) And speaking of fans, wait until you hear the one on a Tablet PC in Truc’s possession! In our Nothing But Net feature we examine recent announcements from HP and Dell. (Is it a NetBook if it has a 12 inch screen?) One thing for sure, we’ve got some exciting things to talk about in the mobile computing space. We also give a shoutout to Chad Essley for his excellent and entertaining review of the TabletKiosk Sahara i440D slate Tablet PC. Give the show a listen.

Download GBM Podcast #63 here.

• Is there a user resolution on the horizon for those Dell Latitude XT digitizer issues?
• Fujitsu is joining the great Tablet PC refresh race.
• Nothing But Net
  • Dell unveils the Inspiron Mini 12: Can a Netbook have a 12 inch screen?
  • HP Unveils its second gen Netbook, the Mini 1000.
• Microsoft Azure: Heading to the cloud.
• Artist and Tablet PC aficionado, Chad Essley offers up an entertaining and informative review of the TabletKiosk Sahara i440D slate Tablet PC.
• Subscribe to our GBM Podcasts via
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  • or your favorite podcatcher.

All GottaBeMobile.com InkShows and Podcasts are sponsored by TechSmith.

EverNote Adds Local Storage to iPhone/iPod Touch

EverNote continues to evolve and change on some fronts and each step is a good one in my opinion. The fact that you can experience EverNote across multiple platforms and multiple devices makes it a race to keep up at times as we’ll see an update for the Windows Client, then the Mac Client, then the web interface…

This latest update adds something that I think ups the ante for iPhone and iPod Touch users: local storage of notes. Essentially once you have a note in the EverNote cloud, if you want off-line access to it, you make it a favorite on your iPhone/iPod Touch and you can have access to the note without having to have a connection.

I’m assuming (and hoping) the same thing will happen for Windows Mobile devices soon as well. Now, if the good folks at EverNote can just find some time to work on the Inking engine and also move to let us see Inked notes on the Mac client, life will get even better.

UPDATE: Thanks to a a commentor on this post, it looks like EverNote took one step forward and for us Inkers, two steps back. While I can see thumbnails of Ink Posts on my iPhone, I can no longer see the Ink Post itself when I go to call it up. I can’t swear that this occured with just this recent update, but I do believe it did. Not a good thing, EverNote.

UPDATE 2: Twitter to the rescue here. Just got a direct message on Twitter from EverNote saying that not seeing Ink Notes on the iPhone is a bug and they are working to fix it tonight.

Ray Ozzie Interviewed by Steve Gillmor on Azure and Office 14

The news out of PDC2008 has certainly been interesting regarding Vista 7, but I think in the long run the big takeaway will be Microsoft’s cloud approach with Windows Azure and also news about Office 14 having a web component. While we’ll all have to play wait and see on all of this, given the industry’s continuing momentum towards the cloud, it has me excited to learn, and eventually see more. The fact that I also love working cross platforms has me excited about this as well.

Steve Gillmor on TechCrunchIT conducted an interview withthe man behind the plan, Ray Ozzie, about Microsoft’s strategies and while it is a more of a view from 30,000 feet, it is worth a read if you want to learn a little more about where this is all headed.

Next Version of Microsoft Office Coming to the Cloud

No real surprise here given the way things are moving, but Microsoft announced today at PDC2008 that the next version of Microsoft Office will indeed include browser based versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and yes, OneNote. They won’t be fulled featured, (Microsoft is calling them “lightweight”) and they should be comparable to Google’s web apps. It looks like they will also work not only in IE, but Firefox and Safari as well.

The Office Web applications will be available through Office Live, which is a service that will have both ad-supported and subscription models, so don’t look for these to be quite the “freebie” that other web office solutions now offer.

Via ReadWriteWeb

Is That an Internet in your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to Have a Keyboard?

PDC2008 is underway and the first thing unveiled was Microsoft’s Cloud OS, Azure, not Windows 7. So, unless you can’t take a hint, all bets are looking skyward. But how do we really want to work (and play) in the Cloud? Small handheld? MID? Notebook? Keyboard or Touch? Both?

In the run up to the rollout there have been a couple of articles that have caught my eye about the devices that we use to work in the Cloud. The Wall Street Journal’s Nick Wingfield headlined an article suggesting that it is Time To Leave the Laptop Behind, while Mike Elgan of ComputerWorld is In Search of the Smartphone Laptop. Both point to trends that continue to evolve as all eyes are on the Cloud and how we use it. Both also point up that we still cling to our keyboards and big screens like ropes from parachutes guiding us back to Earth.

The trends may indeed point to some consumers wanting to leave that laptop behind, but not without having familiar ways to utilize them. Check out this quote from Wingfield’s article:

“…roughly 52% of respondents to the In-Stat survey said they could envision using a smart phone in the future as their sole computing device, provided handset companies make improvements like better keyboards, expandable screens and applications that work as well as they do on PCs. And it’s clear that a sizable number of users already are starting to see their smart phone as a replacement for their laptop for at least some of their needs. In a survey of 460 iPhone users from March by Rubicon Consulting Inc., more than 28% of respondents strongly agreed and 29% mildly agreed when asked whether the iPhone was replacing their use of laptops.”

Certainly handhelds can have keyboards (unless you’re Apple), and it is interesting that HTC continues to lead some non-Apple trends with devices that offer both keyboards and touch options for input and interaction. (It is an interesting side note that a number of pundits who readily accepted the iPhone on-screen keyboard are now jumping for joy about the G1’s keyboard.) The pace is fast and almost dizzying in these interesting times and, if nothing else, the next step up from handhelds-Netbooks-have proven that the trend lines are completely bendable, and possibly easily broken. New turf is getting staked out constantly with new innovations, but there is still an eye and a tug towards the familiar. What are your thoughts? When you pull the Internet out of your pocket, what do you want that device to be?

PDC 2008: Cloud Computing

I’m watching Microsoft’s PDC 2008 live stream of Ray Ozzie’s Cloud Computing keynote and will notate important announcements here. Be sure to watch the live stream yourself. http://www.microsoftpdc.com.

• Primarily, Ray is laying out how computing has changed over the years, and the challenges facing developers and IT professionals in managing the infrastructure in Cloud Computing. Is it different than what has been done in the past? Yes, he says.
• Microsoft has faced similar challenges in rollouts of its own data centers and services it would need
• Windows Azure announced to host services in the cloud – the Windows Cloud platform. Dig in here.
  • deploy / host apps to the cloud

• going in to the details of Azure, tailored to the developer audience
• Showing how easy it is to develop a Hello Cloud app, test your app with a cloud on your desktop, then deploy
• Demoing Bluehoo, a cloud based Silverlight app that will run on a phone and a browser, running on Windows Azure platform and scales. Built using C#.  
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