Elephant in the Room: Ubiquity and Outages

Introducing:

Everything, everywhere. Mozilla's Ubiquity - because Mashups are so tedious.

Cloud infrastructure provider Amazon isn't done at all, launches EBS. Woohoo. Naysayers follow.

Fact of IT: Everything crashes at one point or another so why single out the cloud for that. Tsk, tsk..

Nothing like malware to spoil the fun at Facebook.

PR for your startup doesn't have to involve a PR company, write Mr. Calacanis. And if it is a software that you're launching, read here.

XML Superstars, Web 2.0 Heroes and Email Villains

Long read but there's a lot of interesting posts! Making up for the slack the past few days...

Social Media Hero. Let's start off with Brian Solis. He has always been generous with sharing his insights and now, his visuals.



Search for XML Superstar. I know it sounds geeky but it is also so Web 2.0. Morph Labs joins IBM on this and it is global. Check the site.

Email - always easy to be portrayed as the villain whether it's Gmail or Yahoo! Mail. I've learned to live with both though.

Iphone Superfriends: Still for iPhone developers following last week's announcement of the Morph AppSpace for third party web apps. Now, help comes in the form of plain old funding.

This is how exercise has become so difficult that even articles like this get to see light. Getting Fit Online! I'm surprised nobody uses the UPS to build those shoulder muscles fast.

Invisible no more: How to spot your invisible Yahoo friends so you can finally get to chat.

Cloud Computing: Risks and rewards. Love the comment that the only true cloud computing is done in an aircraft.

Heroes? Who else but teachers! Mostly unappreciated and underpaid. Even worse, you can now add 'censorship' (for lack of better term that I can think of) to the list of hurdles. Still, they're a persevering lot and bless them for that. Thanks to Prof. McAfee for the tip on the David Campbell 'Evolution' story.

Comic book heroes going online from print. Fine with me but will always like the mint ones.

Promising Platforms and Emerging Trends CIO should care about.

Screencast Rock Heroes. Wish I can do some of that because their screencasts are really amazing.

In Case Technology Tides You Over The Weekend

Technology is no match for Inflation! Chris Anderson writes and worth reading.

You hate cords and wires and Intel's got a gift for you. Hope it will work for hybrid cars, too.

Overwhelmed by Feeds? Google Reader pries into your read patterns. Dang!

Control? Not in this context. Subversive Social Media.

Why are some people afraid of cloud computing taking over everything? Fairly understandable if you've got no email!

You have been forewarned. Death Stats via illustration. Click illustration

With iPhone and G Phone pushing it, where art thou going to Palm?

Events:
The Event to be In. You may still catch it. Gnomedex
You're in Portland! Legion of Tech

BarCamp Manila is Seminal

May have just been another meet up of Manila's Tech folks from the looks of it. But surprisingly, as if by some strange force of camaraderie and unique informal grassroots feel, the first BarCamp Manila is nothing short of magical.

First, there was the mix. Within the first few minutes of the introductions , dev guys, web people and as well as company heads who at first were cooped up with their familiar posse began to acknowledge the whole group of people present as their comfort zones. As the pizza and soda/beer cans slowly began to empty, gone too was the urge to remain within each personal space. The G2VC lounge area has indeed become a real chat room - and this time the people and names have actual faces and bodies, not just avatars.

Second is the timing. This has been a nagging question for quite some time and nobody seemed to know why it has dragged on without somebody pitching it to happen. The dev communities for Ruby and Java and perhaps for other programming languages have been actively meeting regularly. There's also blogger meetups and even software industry shirt and tie meetings. Yet all of them were focused on their niches. Like the much of what makes the web successful at present, you need all these disparate specialties together to increase the chances of success in the tech world. Credit Winston D, Jerome as well as Sacha and a bunch of background movers for recognizing this and making it all happen at such a short notice. Having Jay Aguilar of Google surprise the group with his presence also souped the event a notch higher.

Third - it is fun and educational! Well, one can only guess that all personal interests set aside for something even bigger, the leading personalities in the RP tech world stripped themselves off much of their egos and put passion in their respective works as the homing device to network with like minds in the room. This made up for a high activity chatter well up to midnight. The food and venue were just perfect as most of the people eventually had to turn of their laptops or risk missing the opportunity to get up to people they've known only in the virtual world. At the core, people are all fans I guess. So looking forward to the next BarCamp Manila. Just wondering if a 7-minute live band performance is allowed next time. Check the Flickr pages for pics and Ustream video record of the event in case you missed it.

Setting the Bar: BarCamp Manila Plus

BarCamp Manila. If you've got something to share, you've got 7 minutes. Happening tonight.

Notables

Leading Cloud Computing Blogs. Nope, not the Weather Service.

PitchEngine. Turning PR on for a spin again. Zombie-fied but makes it more human. Sourgrape as I can't find an invite for test. Looks good.

Tools when you're pressed for time from Chris Brogan. Throw in Instapaper! Or these Top Ten Online Note-taking Apps.

Need help organizing your thoughts on paper. Try mind-mapping and use Wisdomap. They have an account for free.

Want to find out how to make money online? And, of course through the Morph Affiliate Program.

Innovation goes Retro. Try Yearbook Yourself. Sure looks fun.

An Open Letter to Michael Phelps

Just as I was eating my 3 day-old pandesal for breakfast today, a thought just came to me. Really. It has been at the back of my mind after watching the end of pool coverage and seeing lanky specimens out-swim competition, event after event in Beijing. That I may never be a able to witness my beloved country winning an Olympic gold medal will haunt me the rest of my spirit days.

Yet, here comes Michael Phelps who by sheer number of golds won may probably be the human equivalent of Fort Knox. Is there any man alive who is more apt to play the title role in a James Bond remake of Goldfinger? Michael Phelps truly is the man with a Midas touch. Touche.

So how many Olympic golds do you have now, Michael? Honestly, do you remember the significance of each of those yellow ornament now hanging in whatever part of your house as testament to your skill and discipline. Hell, you can even make a wind chime with all that if you feel creative. It may not sound pretty but definitely will remind you of the sound of bells clanging to signify the final lap, seconds just before touching the wall and then raising the fists in jubilation.

Compare that to us with no Olympic gold yet - where a medal standing is such a celebrated event that corrupt politicians stumble upon themselves offering all sorts of reward (pot of money or Knighthood of sorts) in the name of a nation's pride. Never mind if those really are public funds anyway. Can you fault us for sending a delegation where almost always, officials outnumber the athletes in every Olympics? I think it makes sense because scouting, you know, really is important.

So here is my plea. Michael. Would you, in the name of Olympic brotherhood be willing to donate one of your gold medals to the Filipino people? Aw, c'mon that wouldn't be so difficult. You can always get a replacement come 2012 if you keep away from girls and partying. Think hard about it. That would be better than all the media coverage you'd get from Baltimore. We'd even get you a place of your own to swim the hours away endlessly. We're not talking about square feet of gleaming tiles all around. We're talking about beaches, man and coral reefs that will bring out the merman in you.

We'll even throw in companions for you. Name it. Sea cow, dolphins even mermaids if you want as we have them on the daily telly every other year or so. Sharks? Better lay off that as we reserve them for our government offices to keep the crocodiles company.

And the perks - it will never end as it is far more than you and I could ever imagine. Just look it up. It's time you brush up on your geography and chill out for awhile. We're called Filipinos from that group of islands shaped like a maiden called the Philippines. Both a paradise and place of drudgery for several million cheery folks. Compared to other countries that are like big rooms in this Earth mansion, ours is the servants quarters. Lonely, lively and its got selfless service and hope written across its walls. Sad to say, there's little or no commercial value in it.

So, in case you grow a bit of conscience and true insight to sharing life's blessings, please consider this plea. We won't mind waiting another four years but you lay off throwing us a silver because that would be disrespectful to the Games and to the value of your hard work. And accepting that would remind us of a guy named Judas getting insignificant loot. You may want prefer to give to Africa instead or to some other cause but keep in mind, they will eventually get more golds than you. Ever heard of marathons?

Here's a salute to you Michael Phelps. May you ever be so gracious with what life has given you both in endorsements and Facebook friends' requests, of passing the haul of that wonderful mustache connected to face and a body, and quite possibly, successfully passing yourself off as a human and not being found out that you're actually a fish. A goldfish, of course.

And in the remote possibility that Michael declines, Zaki - remember Daddy tried. Soon it will be your turn to get us one, legitimately.
Love.
Dad

G phone: It's my (Mobile) Turn

Forget cloud pc's for now....

Of, course, we plan to topple the iPhone. Using HTC with touch screen and sliding full five row keyboard powered by Google Android. But unlike the iPhone, Google has set it's sights not just on the mobile device but on running every item in your house via Internet. Uh, oh.

All phones being more or less equal in terms of capabilities, software will make or break the G phone gadget.

And Gartner dips it's hands again as if bestowing some kind of blessing - to the iPhone for business use. Sheesh.

Sooner or later, you just have to face it - your manga portrait. FaceyourManga.

And scratching the surface of delicious with del.izzy. Sign up.

Users and Tech: Who Needs Who More?

There's an interesting post by Marshall over at ReadWriteWeb entitled, 'Does Good Tech Need PR?'

I suppose this has to do with tech inherent need to be spread to a wider audience and gain some measure of adoption and funding enough to equate with success. That's where PR comes in. But we've also read stories about natural and organic growth of certain apps or services without going through the use of PR services. So a follow up might be needed on contributing factors that increases chances of gaining 'coverage', maybe PR versus other means like pure social media.

And incidentally, more than good tech, I'd love to hear stories of people doing good work - something that benefits people and other selfless acts without the urge for citation or acknowledgment. That is what makes it different from tech, I suppose.

Pipes: Something I'd get around to trying out one of these days. Promise.

Dapper and FeedMySearch: Seems I'd have some use for it. Really into RSS these past weeks. Simplifies getting personalized content and it sure saves time for more thorough reading. It's like going to school and signing up for courses that you'd sure like to take and if things aren't great, then you move on. Tech spoils you.

iPhone: At the start of the week, iPhone has pretty much been buzzed with some stories both good (Morph Labs' Morph AppSpace and that humongous number of downloads) and bad (kill switch and few bugs reagrding hardware).

And it is just the beginning. With web apps popularity, there will sure be some scaling issues and what better way than getting metrics first taken cared of by Pinch Media.

Enterprise 2.0. use is more about culture change than ease of use so I'm not surprised that in some companies, adoption is moving at a turtle's pace. I say you cannot wait till everyone's ready, it takes political will and substantial changes in what management thinks of it. The McKinsey article.

With Technology, Things Can Get Pretty Ugly in an Instant, too.

First things first. Phelps. Drowning in Gold. Greatest?

Ugly side of things. Cyberattacks: Tech at War

iphone is now a BestBuy. En Masse. Sale!!!

All Cloud:
Before everything else, cloud questions. Is it right for you?
It still means cloudy. Rackspace now gets it via the ugly route.

Down? Not Cloud PC, too? Cherry Pal may take longer... Arghh. And not to take this sitting down, Asus Eee goes for cloud storage. Way to gooooo.

Cloud to Mist, Pffft: Google Sh*ts by CogDog

SaaS Top 8. Now, this is how to play Wall Street ala Gordon Gecko...

IT Brain Food from Prof. MacAfee. On Research.
Twitter Freemium? This is not limiting me. Not at all and I'd go nuts having 500 followers.

Mozilla Snowl? I'd stay off for the meantime or defrag my brain to process all that. Aumm.

Iphone Complements (eg. Morph Appspace) and others that obviously don't

Jailbreak. Don't you just love the term when you can probably use the verb 'free' to get apps in the Itunes store.

Kill switch. Depends where you're allegiances are placed. Apple stocks or user choices.... Oh, big brother Jobs!

Speaking of murdered apps, this one sure is pricey. I am rich iPhone app.

Love and hate relationship. To think it began in the Garden of Good and Evil and now in the tech age it persist. Hate iTunes? .. or Apple in general?

Rant against the iPhone Apps platform. It all boils down to 'proprietary'.

Morph (not Nokia phone model), comes to the Apple Web Apps Developer's rescue. News and commentary.

Olympics of course. Can't help but include amazing Lezak

Why JK Rowling and Harry Potter books are also amazing. Why? Reading. Surprised that reading isn't as popular online. Here.

Don't show this to the boss unless you're work-obsessed. But for those who continue to deliver, this is nice. I did work.

Drop your files, Wahlahh. Use Drop.io

Resources for word lovers from Mashable. Cool,eh.

Twitter updates just now but it's because Failwhale hasn't been sighted for lately. Twitter devotees explained. They're called audience.

Cloud computing is changing the world. No kidding? Hope the cloud changes for the better, too.

Aside from it's obvious use as weapons of war, think Hollow Man. Woot. Invisibility

The 2008 Olympics: Whatever your Politics

Just wishing all the athletes to give their best shot (Not sure it sounded, right but I don't mean doping).

Best part for us mortals is being able to watch. Tips from Silicon Alley.

And national pride:

Our only hope?

Cloud O' Mania

Open Source and Cloud Computing

Join Tim O and the rest of the gang discuss this conundrum. I say we're still far from solving this one. Cloud providers, please stand up! Eventually, in 2018 - one cloud to rule them all. Nahh. Cloud's best kept secret.

Oh, but you sir, please take time to warm the seat. MSFT cozying up to Open Source.

Facebook Connect: This actually interests me. How is that? Really don't know.

Saas and Web 2.0: Mash Apps-enablement means play your own way. The PC is ours again.

But it's Web 3.0 and your PC is more than a PC. It's a datacenter.

Checking out the list of feed readers out there the past week and still on the lookout for interesting ones (Using Google Reader and Newsgator already). Question is what do you want to do with your feeds besides reading. It's all about integration but still stumped.

Feedly: Might have the best interface among the feedreaders.
AideRSS: PostRank and useful trackers are it's come-ons.
Snackr: Feeds ticker treat.

Cloud Computing, Blogging and SaaS: Change is Gonna Come

First off, just found this article on CTO's and the reasons for failure and frankly, it could just be anybody on any position but I believe our Guy isn't one of them.

SaaS, well not for SaaS, actually. 5 Myths of SaaS. Anybody care to respond for the SaaS side? Maybe, I will take a stab. Maybe...

Conversion and migrations: Keywords for SaaS adoption. Here's an example.

Presenting the Top Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 Bloggers. First Twenty. Watch that ego, go....

Cloud Compute:
Let Go and Let the Cloud: How Cloud Computing is Changing the World. Thanks to Experientia for the shoutout.

Comparing the Clouds: EC2, Mosso and GoGrid.

Events: Happening this September.
Gartner's Web Innovation Summit. It's about Web 2.0, SaaS and Cloud Computing.

Web 2.0 Expo in New York.

Know what the future of Blogging reputedly is going to be like. Here. Like 24-hour party people and not just with a camera because it's social.

Cloud: Bread Talk

Others can eat tasteless cloud bread, but more just can't.

Even with the continued hype at this point, cloud computing is still far from achieving that level of efficiency people and enterprises wish for it to be. But it goes without saying that, it doesn't stop enterprises to start early.

Yet, why wait for that ideal cloud that may not take shape within the next 24 months or so? (As they found out) There's PaaS or platform as a service and think of it as 'jam' to make the 'cloud' bread palatable and digestible. That's real food for thought. Shameless plug.

Thoughts on the ideal PaaS.
IBM's got clouds, too.

And SaaS

SaaS for ISV's: The final thoughts. Best if you read them all.

While others move to SaaS, there's a few moving away from it and for good cause. E-write Lite.

Grails and Flex: Contribute your thoughts and it might make it's way to a new book. Here.

I know you've got your fave software so check if it matches these Lifehacker's editors list.

See Google run... transport, that is.

My cup of tee. Motion comics, wee!

Gem

Mr Pausch would sure love this pic!

Nope, this isn't about cloud computing gems, nor gems for web programming applications such as Rails or Grails and not even Java.

It's much better.

This is about a certain fellow who honestly, I would not even heard of nor have any idea what his life is all about. Good thing , make that one of the best things, about the web is that good news spread as much as bad news so it kind of even things out (unlike print where you can't counter the negatives unless you're the publisher).

Anyway, meet (and bid farewell to) Mr. Randy Pausch.

Thanks to Tony Cangiano (here and here) for introducing me to the man. And better watch Randy's last lecture. The man really knew how to make an exit fun.

In the hearts of the persons he has inspired and continue to do so, he lives.