Internet

Before I get into my 10 reasons we aren’t ready for cloud computing, almost everyone has a different opinion on what it is.

Some companies, have told me that cloud computing is accessing your files from any network regardless if it is an internal network or not. Others have said it has to be an external network, and then there are those who talk gibberish when talking about clouds.

What the cloud is to me? It’s the network we access websites, applications, email and files from. This website/blog is hosted in the cloud, that email you read or are about to read was sent through the cloud. The cloud has always been there, but we called it a network. But because “NETWORK” doesn’t sound cool some marketing folks came up with “The Cloud”.

But “The Cloud” in the past year has become more generalized and it means, an off site networked location you can store your files and access applications from.

So what are the 10 reasons why we aren’t ready for the cloud?

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I was speaking to a friend in the UK today who is stuck on dial-up because her broadband service hasn’t worked in a week. She’s going crazy because of it and I have teased her. I know very unfriendly of me.

Well after I made fun of her, I went back to browsing the web when the unimaginable happened. I LOST MY CONNECTION. I rebooted my router to no avail, I checked my cables and made sure my wi-fi signal was strong which it was.I then ran over to the modem and to my dismay, the “Online” button was blinking, which means no connection.

I was lost, I had no idea what to do. I had mobile broadband but screw 4G I wanted my 30 Mbps cable connection.

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Today ICANN voted to change the way we visit websites, they have pretty much allowed for any word to be a generic top-level domain (gTLD) starting in 2012. What is a g? You may know them as .com, .net, .org and .edu. There are currently 22 top level g’s. 

So what does this really mean? Well when you visit us for example. If we chose to we could have a g of .geeks. So you could type “http://hardware.geeks” and navigate to us as if you visited http://hardwaregeeks.com.

While that sounds cool I don’t really think its practical, it’s going to cause a lot of confusion even if people are made aware of the change. I personally think the current g’s will rule for a long long time and “.com” won’t be going anywhere. However I do believe companies will snag up a personalized g and we here at HardwareGeeks.com may even snag one up as well, but I don’t expect companies to tell you to visit “http://hp.hp” (Hewlett Packard) or “http://amd.amd” (Advanced Micro Devices).

I think the perfect use for these personalized top-level domains would be for reassuring a customer that they are on your site. For example banks could use the personalized TLD to let users know that they are logged in and browsing securely. For example: “Bank.com” when you are not logged in, and “Bank.Bank” when you are logged in and viewing your accounts. Or it can also be used to confirm a link belongs to a particular government agency or corporate entity, might help limit fraud and phishing attacks.

I believe .com, .net, .org, .edu and the other g’s will rule for many many more years to come, and while I see a use for open domains, I just don’t see people visiting company.trademark or company.company.  Now if we didn’t need to enter a g and could visit a corporate website by simply typing in “companyname” into our browser then I’d consider this huge news, but in my opinion this is more of a money grab by ICANN than a actual benefit to end users. 

Symantec is working on a new product called Norton Online Family, a web based tool that will allow parents to keep track of what their children do online.

With Symantec’s Norton Online Family, users will be able to essentially log their kids activities, know what websites they visit, whom they chat with and what they talked about. It can also restrict their online activities and easily block them from sites they shouldn’t visit.

The tool is currently in Beta so it is not yet available for purchase, but if you wish to participate in the beta visit http://www.norton.com/onlinefamily

Delta and AirCell announced an agreement to bring Wi-Fi service to all Delta Flights by the summer of 2009, the service is not free and will run you $9.95 to $12.95 depending on how long your flight is. Kind of expensive if you as me, I wonder if the price goes down after a certain time in the air.

According to CNN, the service will be available on 133 MD 88 and MD 90 plans (some of the most uncomfortable in the Delta Fleet) and will be expanded to the 200 or so Boeing plans the company has.

American Airlines will offer the same service later this year, but only on 15 of their aircraft, I guess this is another reason to switch from AA to Delta as I have this year.

Well it would seem that Geoff Atkinson the VP for Overstock.com is a big scardy cat, he is so scared of NY and the new internet tax law, he has ordered that all New York Based Affiliates be terminated.

Instead of waiting to see how far the Amazon.com suit against the state of NY goes or even filing one of their own and requesting a delay in collecting tax, this coward puts his tail between his legs and tells NY’ers to F*#@ off, well you know what Mr. Atkinson F*#@ you!

While I am all for no tax on web sales, and while I am against what the state of NY is doing, what Overstock.com has done is an even bigger injustice. Hundreds maybe even thousands of New Yorkers run affiliate marketing businesses and Overstock.com just basically fired them all. Some of these people make their living this way and to punish them is as unfair as NY wanting to charge tax on these sales.

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If you like to download MP3 from various sharing services watch out, McAfee claims that over 360,000 of it’s users that report back to them have downloaded mp3 files in the past 48 hours that contain some form of malware.

In a Blog Posting Yesterday, McAfees Craig Schmugar said, “Detection of a trojan named Downloader-UA.h was added to the McAfee DAT files several days ago.  Since that time more than 360,000 McAfee VirusScan Online users have reported detections, a whopping 32% of those reporting in the past 24 hours alone.”

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I was in the need for an internet connection, and Michael told me about Verizon FIOS, I wanted something reliable and fast and he swore up and down that it was the best internet service available.

So on his recommendation I ordered Verizon FIOS two weeks ago, and they finally came to install it today! YAY

Even though I ordered my service two weeks ago, Verizon scheduled my appointment for today between the hours of 8AM and 12PM. according to the customer service rep I talked to the service is in high demand and they could not get anyone here any sooner.

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