Not even five years ago, a majority of the applications and programs I was using on my computer were run from and stored on its internal hard drive. Programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Kodak Easyshare for picture management and even email clients like Microsoft Outlook were all staples of my computing experience. Each one of these programs was purchased and came with a key allowing it to only be operated on only one computer, in one location. Luckily, today things operate a bit differently. Now when I want to write a paper or create a spreadsheet I get on Google Docs to do it. When I want to manage or upload my photos I log on to Flickr and there they are. If I need to develop a presentation I pull up Sliderocket from anyplace I can find that has an Internet connection and I’m in business. This wonderfully efficient, new way of doing things free from the cumbersome restraints of the notion that location is relevant is made possible entirely by the power of cloud computing. Cloud computing is a technology that is changing the way the world works by using the Internet as a platform for the operation of applications, as well as a place for the storage of information. Rather than purchasing, installing and owning applications that live in your own personal space, companies now provide the services these programs perform but they live in the cloud, or the server instead. This allows you to not only access the services anywhere you want but also provides security for your content because it’s backed up on the server.  

When I ran into some trouble getting any feedback from my interviews, I revisited a site I have previously posted on to get the information I needed.  The site is IdeasProject.com and it brings together some of the most influential and creative minds in the world on communication technology through a host of different media such as video clips, links, podcasts, presentations and articles. The following two interviews are from the Ideas Project site with Ron Conway, Special Partner at Baseline Ventures and Carl Hewitt, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.  Here they are:

Ron Conway on cloud computing

Carl Hewitt on location independent computing

I think one of the most striking points made in either of the interviews was Conway’s statement that it doesn’t matter what kind of computer you have, you can have all the computing power in the world as long as you’ve got a browser.  By running everything from the cloud, it just creates so much more freedom with how you are able to interact with your applications.  Also, as he mentioned in one of his responses, you really have to look at the impact this technology will have internationally to truly and fully comprehend the totality of its affect.  By giving poverty stricken, developing countries the technology to connect themselves with the rest of the world, we can give them the ability to immensely and rapidly improve their infrastructure, healthcare, government and economies.  Though, the notion of cloud computing is by itself, extremely interesting, the fact that it could finally actually connect the entire world as we know it falls under the category of astounding.

One industry that is primed to explode in the near future due to the rapid expansion of mobile technology is that of mobile advertising.  The mobile advertising market is one that is still in its infancy and has yet to even begin to realize its true potential.  In fact, the pace at which advertisers are able to fully utilize the mobile platform will correlate directly with the increased development of the mobile industry itself.  Advertising brings in money and money spawns development.   But because it is largely still an untapped and immature market, marketers remain skeptical in how they want to approach it.  The past five years have shown the interest and potential the market for mobile technology and advertising wields.  The next five could see that potential be reached.

The fact that more and more people around the globe are using the mobile web every day only gives one a nominal or quantitative view of how rapidly and efficiently it is actually developing.  To find out more, one has to look at how people are browsing the mobile web.  Only several years ago, in fact, mobile browsing was basically akin to searching the web as a text document.  It simply did not have the capability it now does to provide the visual stimulation and interaction we so crave.  One can now basically do, see and experience everything they could on a laptop or desktop right from the palm of their hand (of course there is far less memory and space on mobile devices).

 Due to the efforts of .mobi and the development of these numerous mobile web browsers, many designers have taken upon the challenge to focus on mobile design and make this particular platform a more appealing and capable place for users.  In fact, mobile design is quickly becoming one of the hottest career choices in the field today.  Not only are there opportunities in mobile site design but especially in mobile application design.  Think about how much money Apple has made off just the Iphone Application Store alone.

A majority of top companies and brands already offer .mobi sites such as espn.mobi, live.mobi, NBA.mobi and Nokia.mobi.  Of course, google.mobi and yahoo.mobi are among the leaders along with Wikipedia’s wapedia.mobi and businessweek.mobi ranking highly, as well.  Though many people consider Yahoo’s mobile platform to be superior in functionality to that of Google’s Android, Google still dominates the market with a 62% reach on the mobile world (Yahoo is at 30%).

I just wanted to take the time to get a better idea of who is actually reading the blog and some things I can do to improve it.  If you all would be so kind as to take this quick survey in the link below, it would be an immense help. 

Advibe Readership Survey

I know this particular topic doesn’t necessarily fall under the category of social media or online advertising but it is something I’ve been mulling over fairly frequently for the past couple of weeks.  If I haven’t already stated this on the blog, I am an avid basketball fan of all levels and take basically every change I get to watch a game.  Several weeks ago, during the NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, Dwyane Wade began wearing a band-aid under his left eye to cover stitches he had previously received.  Since then he has worn one every game, even though the stitches are now gone, with a variety of different inscriptions on them, ranging from his own name to the American flag.  The NBA, as expected, banned Wade’s practice due to their unfailingly sour view of player self-promotion.  You know, the same way they banned full-length tights several years ago or Michael Jordan’s multi-color debut kicks over two decades ago.  The league has a strong history of deterring any advertising but their own on the product the produce.  

Now don’t get me wrong, NBA arenas are fantastically embroidered with advertising of all kinds inside and out.  But, essentially the only place to advertise on the actual players, the complete and utter focus of any game, is their shoes.  This leaves an extremely limited amount of space that only includes a select number of companies (i.e. Nike, Adidas, Converse and Reebok) that could ever even consider this an option.  This is an awful lot of money being missed out on by the sport, players, etc. that, quite frankly, they can’t afford to be missing out on.  The NBA is not immune to the effects of a global recession and due to decreasing attendance, team debt and the looming threat of losing players to more lucrative offers from european teams they are beginning to feel the consequences sooner than expected.

Why not advertise on the players themselves?  If you think about it, an overwhelming majority of NBA players already have their bodies covered with tattoos.  Even though, some may argue it unethical at first, for the right price I’m sure they wouldn’t have a problem with a little extra ink (the non-permanent kind, of course).  The NBA doesn’t allow self-promotion through accessories but they certainly don’t have any restrictions on body art.  If you’ve ever seen Allen Iverson or Chris Anderson you can attest to that.

Think about the impact this could have for top caliber players who get substantially more face time than most players.  How much could Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade or Chris Paul charge to put your logo on their body?  How much would you pay?  Think about NASCAR.  You’d be hard pressed to find one square-inch free of advertising on either the car, crew or driver.  Why couldn’t basketball imply this practice?

The launch of The Republic Project this morning delivers yet another blow to traditional music labels and their longstanding monopolization of the music industry.  Serving as an online platform for artists to directly communicate and share their music with fans, it essentially allows musicians to bypass these record labels and act as their own distributors.  News like this is always pleasing to me, primarily because I am in a band myself and the majority of our content is online but also because I love seeing bad things happen to the big guys.

One of the most interesting aspects of The Republic Project’s service is the emphasis they’ve decided to put on video.  They have joined forces with digital camcorder producer Flip and plan on providing every participating band or artist with MiniHD camcorders in order to capture behind the scenes footage.  It’s not enough to just hear your favorite band’s music anymore, we want to see them and interact with them through video.  We live in a society where visual appeal is of the utmost importance and their attention to this detail may prove to be what separates them from other future start-ups.

I don’t necessarily know if The Republic Project will be a success but I do think it’s a major step in the right direction.  The future of music undoubtedly lies in the use of online distribution and branding through socially interactive means.  This ReadWriteWeb article points out the only drawback I can see with the Republic Project so far which is their early reliance on pre-ordered content.  This really limits what bands without an already established substantial following can do so people like me may have a rougher time starting out than say Tim Myers.  Excellent stuff though, nonetheless.

Techcrunch starts off this beautiful Thursday morning with a rather dismal recap of the 2008 year in technology.  Indeed, things looked bright at the beginning but all numbers fell dramatically as the year went on, reaching lows in the month of December.   

Mobile advertising finally nearing breakthrough.

The economic recession is creating opportunities for highly personal mobile advertising to take off.

Facebook is now testing its own advertising network for application developers.

Yahoo is beginning to insert video and images into the usually strictly text-based search advertising.

Twitter to add search update for users.

The above link is to a Techcrunch story about a company named ZunaVision that allows advertisers and content owners to physically insert ads into their online video.  Believe me, I am all for finding a way to utilize advertising on the Internet and online video is undoubtedly an area that wields enormous potential for doing so.  But I don’t think forcing viewers to watch altered content with absurdly intrusive product placement (kind of like television is now) is the route we need to take.  We don’t want to have things shoved in our faces anymore and that is basically what’s being done here.  Intrusive advertising such as this simply will not be successful in the interactive, consumer involved environment the Internet has now become.