Lately I have really been enjoying RSS feeds via Google Reader. The ability to share favorite articles and view your friend’s recommendations has finally made RSS a worthwhile application on my taskbar.  Still, as I look at my Google Reader, I am reminded of PointCast from circa 1996.  PointCast was WAY ahead of it’s time. PointCast used push technology to send stories direct to your computer. I remember thinking at the time that PointCast was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Remeber, we’re talking about the equivalent of RSS back in the Windows 95 days!  In 1996 you honestly could surf the entire Internet. And I did. At work, all day long, thanks to PointCast.

Looking foward, I can’t remember a technology I’m more excited about than Google Wave. I signed up for the beta and will hopefully receive my login in September. If you haven’t signed up, head over here and reserve yourself a spot!

Here’s to looking back at RSS in a few years with fond memories.

Many of the people I follow on FAVRD have a Tumblr and their Tumblr’s are hysterical. I felt like I was missing out on some jokes and, since I have an overpowering need to be accepted by the cool kids to stem my insecurities have accounts on most social sites, I figured I’d give it a try.

I love WordPress (which runs this site) but I see the potential of Tumblr for someone who just wants to post random funny stuff as easily as possible.

So yeah, I’m lonely bored right now.

-web based SMS
-voicemail transcribed to txt. (very slick!)
-advanced call routing/handling, including time based clauses
-easy to use Gmail like interface
-integration with Google Contacts

Google Voice centralizes all of my SMS and voice communications with the added benefit of using my Google Contacts.  I can offer a single phone number to callers, change where those calls ring on the fly, block callers and give priority to friends/family.

At first I was not impressed with Google Voice, now that the dust has settled, I am definitely a fan.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist or concerned about privacy. I use Twitter to tell silly jokes in an attempt to get stars on FAVRD and stay in touch with a small group of personal friends. My name is not relevant for that type of use. I’m not building a brand around me, I’m mostly telling jokes. Poorly at times.

Twitter is a distraction. Once described in a conversation as a “useful waste of time”. I think the “useful” part of the description is debatable.

It’s time to create a bit of separation between blog, Twitter and Facebook. I’m not posting the new Twitter name here, although I think the average person could figure it out!

Removing Hulu integration with Boxee is a lose/lose idea for Hulu, Boxee, Content Providers and Users.  Let’s break it down.

Content Providers:
The content providers want eyeballs because eyeballs mean revenue. To gain those eyeballs content providers want NEED to expand across multiple delivery services. Discontinuing a popular cutting edge LEGAL content delivery frontend like Boxee is shortsighted and hurts the content providers’ revenues.

Hulu:
Hulu is an early leader in delivering almost real-time media content via the Web. Boxee took the Hulu idea and enhanced it with direct integration into their (very slick) Media Center application. Viewing Hulu on Boxee is still a Hulu experience and it retains the revenue stream for the content providers.  Discontinuing Hulu on Boxee upsets a lot of loyal Hulu users who access Hulu content solely via Boxee. No more Boxee integration means less Hulu viewers. This hurts Hulu which hurts the content providers and Users.

Boxee (aka the users!):
Boxee has a loyal following in the Home Media Center space. Boxee is producing a socially integrated media center experience. Think Facebook for your Movies/Music and TV. The potential of services like Boxee are huge for Hulu and their content providers. The market Hulu is destorying by nixing Boxee consists of consumers that are Hulu’s IDEAL customer. Your average Boxee user will consume more Hulu content with a larger audience on their HDTV’s than the typical Hulu user chained to their monitor in front of their keyboard. Plus, Hulu/Boxee users can go viral with media via Boxee’s built in “recommendations” feature. Taking Hulu off of Boxee discourages a large subset of Hulu’s power users and encourages media torrents. This hurts the consumer which hurts Hulu which hurts the Content Providers.

How did we get here?
The problem is that the Content Providers agreed to sign up for Hulu but are poorly equipped to understand how Hulu, and their content, integrates with other “new media” products. When an application like Boxee writes their code to support Hulu the networks feel like their control on content distribution is slipping. The predictable result: the networks freak out and demand that Hulu discontinue Boxee support. This is short sighted. Content Providers want NEED Boxee as a legal frontend to the content which generates revenue for them on Hulu. However, Content Providers don’t understand the entire situation, feel threatened and would rather take their ball and go home. Dumb!

The media companies who want consumers to view their content so they can monetize the activity via advertising have just removed one of the most creative and legal ways for them to accomplish their prime directive with the added beneift of advancing the stereotype of clueless “old media” and alienating loyal fanbases.

What else can you say to that? While you’ll be discussing this article I’ll be resuming my commercial free torrents.

I feel the mini9, except for a few keyboard oddities and a slightly dim screen, was a great purchase. If I’m not on the Internet, computers have little value to me. Everything I do requires that I am connected. I may not match the needs of every user so YMMV.

Which brings me back to the cloud. I was at the ConnectWise conference last week where several panels discussed the threat the cloud poses to traditional IT consultants (the cloud supplants internal IT services, thereby lessening the need for IT service providers). I’ve been thinking about the cloud threat and how to move forward in a way that benefits my clients and my business.

I believe a lot of consultants will fail as their bread and butter is moved offsite to cloud services provided by Google, Microsoft and others. To remain viable, consultants will have to focus on providing their own cloud services or focus less on managing technology and more on integrating existing cloud services into business processes.

We are still a few years away from mass cloud adoption, but as I type this out on my 2lb notebook on free WIFI, I am reminded the future always gets here…eventually.

Just like Email became Gmail, it appears Google intends to replace the PC with the GC (Google Computer).  The Google Computer will run Chrome as an OS and a suite of Apps Google will provide in the cloud.  Once Google picks up a decent finance package (Intuit has already moved a lot of their apps to the Web) and some sort of CRM (Salesforce – web based) Google would have a compelling package for businesses.

I think Google is the most disruptive technology company in the world.  Google has stated they want to be integrated into people’s brains.  Laugh if you will, but it shows the level of their ambition.

Other web based services have gone up and down (ahem, Twitter), but the fallout from Gmail being offline, especially since it affected business clients, will be interesting.

Cloud Computing just took it’s first black eye. Welcome to the fight.