Storms in the cloud leave users up creek without a paddle The appeal of these services is obvious—they should be a reliable, scalable, cost-effective resource you can access from anywhere. But the recent disruptions show some of the risks of online services. What do you do when they go down? Cloud computing and the Web [...]

I don’t know if envisioning the future is always the best plan. Despite our good intentions, we are the worst predictors, and the ones who are willing to risk it, usually are the most incorrect. The wizened individuals who know the future best keep the secret to themselves, so that they can create the next [...]

It seems like everyday a new website is born in the spirit of Web 2.0, hoping to fill our needs.  At what point will we see an end to the next shot in the dark?  Cuil.com is the new search engine to compete with Google and Yahoo.  12seconds.tv allows you to post up to 12 [...]

Neil Postman writes in 1992 in his Technopoly, From millions of sources all over the globe, through every possible channel and medium–light waves, airwaves, ticker tapes, computer banks, telephone wires, television cables, satellites, printing presses–information pours in. Behind it, in every imaginable form of storage–on paper, on video and audio tape, on discs, films, and [...]

I recently picked up and read Dreaming in Code, a book released in 2007, which details the development of a personal information manager called Chandler. It’s a pretty good read, but mostly for people who have an interest in software development or programming. The problem with technology-focused books is technology changes so much so fast, [...]