Is it cloudy where you live?

Some last thoughts about cloud computing

This picture was compiled by NASA a few years ago and shows which parts of the world have sufficient money/infrastructure to keep the lights on at night and which ones are not there yet.

 

Compared with this one which shows global facebook connections.

 

I would submit that there is a high correlation between lack of lighting and people logging onto to facebook. More interesting are places that have lights but no facebook. Some have regulations which prevent access to the service, others just don't seem to be interested in it.

What I really want to know though is how people in the Philippines are powering their computers.

Aerotropolis, the Cities of Tomorrow? - WSJ

Wall Street Journal story of the rise of economic engines based on their proximity to major airports. Pictured below is the South Korean instant city of Songdo, built on what was previously part of a harbour near Seoul's new airport.


"Thanks to the jet engine, Dubai has been able to transform itself from a backwater into a perfectly positioned hub for half of the planet's population. It now has more in common with Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangalore than with Saudi Arabia next door. It is a textbook example of an aerotropolis, which can be narrowly defined as a city planned around its airport or, more broadly, as a city less connected to its land-bound neighbors than to its peers thousands of miles away. The ideal aerotropolis is an amalgam of made-to-order office parks, convention hotels, cargo complexes and even factories, which in some cases line the runways. It is a pure node in a global network whose fast-moving packets are people and goods instead of data. And it is the future of the global city."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164703521850100.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#

East Asia innovating? (or just inventing?)

WIPO has released its 2010 tally of patent applications.  Year-on-year change from 2009:
  • China: + 56.2% (now ranks #4))
  • Rep of Korea: + 20.5% 
  • Japan: + 7.9%
  • "Six out of the top 10 applicants are from East Asia. In addition to the Chinese two, three are from Japan and one is from South Korea."
  • India is not in the top 15, but has experienced a 15% increase (albeit from a low base) 
  • Most Western countries have continued their downward trend, including the US (which is nonetheless #1)

- sezflom

Larry on Cloud Insanity

"It is either going to be or already is, the most important computing architecture in the world. Because we have redefined cloud computing to include everything we already do. So it has already achieved dominance in the industry. I can't think of anything that isn't cloud computing  … the computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion driven than women's fashion … orange is the new pink … and cloud is the new SaaS … or cloud is the new virtualization … it is the most nonsensical … I mean may be I am an idiot … Google mail is cloud computing … what is it? …I am going to access data on a server on the internet … that's cloud computing? …  there is a definition, what is cloud computing? It's using a computer that's 'out there' …   these people who are writing this crap are 'out there' … they are insane … may be we will do an ad … I don't understand what we would do differently in the light of cloud computing … other than change the wording on some of our ads …"

Larry Ellison,  CEO of Oracle


The REAL danger democratising public policy

Exhibit 1: NASA asked the world what to name the new wing of the international space station.  The world respond: Colbert.
 
Exhibit 2:  The City of Austin, Texas, asked citizens to vote on a new name for their Solid Waste Services Department.  The overhwhelming response? The Fred Durst Society of the Humanities and the Arts, with almost 30,000 votes to date.  (Fred Durst is the frontman of the much-mocked 90s rock band Limp Bizkit).  (H/T Reuben's friend Hannah's friend Jon)
 
- sezflom