Saw Eric Schmidt walking with his Android Phone, made me think who would have thought a Phone made Apple more valuable than Microsoft

May 26, 2010 Dave Ohara

I was sitting down at lunch today and Eric Schmidt walked by typing on his Android Phone. I wonder if I had got my iPhone out quick enough to take a picture if he would react the way Steve Ballmer does.

Steve Ballmer Will Smash Your iPhone, Mock You

Don't upset Steve Ballmer. You wouldn't like him angry. One Microsoft employee discovered that the hard way at a recent event for the company. As the CEO was making his rounds amongst the employees, the worker pulled out an iPhone to snap a shot of Ballmer. Ballmer grabbed the phone, put it on the ground, and pretended to stomp it. All in good fun, apparently.

What is hilarious is watching Ballmer discussing Google Android in Nov 2007 welcoming the competition.

Which reminded me of Apple's welcoming IBM.

And Steve's comment about the iPhone.

But Apple gets the laugh today as they achieved a higher market cap than Microsoft.

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., the computer maker turned mobile gadgeteer, overtook Microsoft Corp. to become the most valuable technology company on optimism it can keep adding customers for its iPhone, Macintosh computer and iPad.

By 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, Apple’s market value was at $222.1 billion, higher than Microsoft’s $219.2 billion. That made Apple the most valuable technology firm in the world. It’s also the second-largest U.S. stock by market value, behind oil company Exxon Mobil Corp., valued at $278.6 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.

And IBM has a market cap of $152 billion. How times change.

Google's Vic Gundotra labels Apple's Steve Jobs as "Big Brother" A Draconian future, a future where one man...

May 21, 2010 Dave Ohara

Google's Vic Gundotra goes on the offensive vs. Apple with a declaration of Steve Jobs as a Draconian Big Brother 1984 theme. eWeek and many others spread the news.

Gundotra met with Google's Android mobile operating system creator Andy Rubin, who told him that it was critical to create a free, open operating system that would enable innovation of the stack. Rubin also told him that if "Google did not act we faced a Draconian future, a future where one man, one company, one device, one carrier would be our only choice."

One of the rumors I heard was Google was tempted to spoof the infamous Mac 1984 commercial, but decided that was going too far.

Here are screen shots from Vic's declaration of a Draconian Future.

The video with the above reference is here.

Now, I find this all quite ironic, having worked for Apple during the Macintosh era, and working in Vic Gundotra's Microsoft organization as well. Vic is a marketing machine, practicing his speeches to the level of Steve Jobs.

How good is Vic getting? Vic gets mentioned in the a Newsweek article with Steve Jobs as part of the reason why the Newsweek author has got in line to drop his AT&T iPhone for a Verizon Droid phone.

Steve Jobs has created his own precious little walled garden. He's looking more and more like Howard Hughes, holed up in his penthouse, making sure he doesn't come in contact with any germs.

Now Google is saying, hey, nice garden, have fun sitting in it. By yourself.

As Google exec Vic Gundotra said when explaining why Google entered this market: "If we did not act, we faced a draconian future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our future."

...

As sick as I am of my iPhone's dropped calls, I'm even more sick of Apple treating us all like a bunch of idiots, stonewalling and bullying and feeding us ridiculous explanations for the shortcomings of its products—expecting us to believe, basically, that its flaws are not flaws, but strengths.

...

Just this morning, fed up with constant dropped calls on my iPhone, I called Verizon to ask about the HTC Incredible. They told me that phone is back-ordered, and I can expect to wait about 30 days to get one.

And the author even speaks of the wait being worth it. Which is part of Apple has done extremely well in building anticipation and expectation.

I'm not surprised. And frankly, I think it will be worth the wait.

Is this one of the tipping points for the media to switch from the iPhone to Android? If I know Vic I am sure he is taking the credit, telling the story inside and outside Google.

How long before Google as the Big Brother becomes a media theme?

Would 1984's Big Brother been less Draconian if they had made their tag line "Do no Evil?"

Free yourself by not being stuck on brands and advertising.

Advertising is a non-personal form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually paid for or identified through sponsors and viewed via various media. Advertising can also serve to communicate an idea to a mass amount of people in an attempt to convince them to take a certain action, such as encouraging 'environmentally friendly' behaviors, and even unhealthy behaviors through food consumption, video game and television viewing promotion, and a "lazy man" routine through a loss of exercise .

Keep in mind advertising is driving many things, here is video to help you give perspective "The Making of 1984."

A more entertaining video is this behind the scenes of 1984 video.

Google Voip fits with Google TV

May 20, 2010 Dave Ohara

With today's Google TV announcement, Google acquisition GIPS for VOIP services makes sense. Google is becoming a utility for TV, Voice, and Electricity - in addition to the web.

Pete Cashmore Talks Google’s Venture into TV and VoIP on Bloomberg [VIDEO]

Google has been very busy in the last few days. First came rumors of Google’s venture into TV space with SmartTV. Then, Google offered to acquire Global IP Solutions (GIPS), followed by a slew of announcements at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco, the biggest being the release of an open source, royalty-free video format called WebM.

Google, Intel and Sony’s SmartTV project could reshape television as we know it, and Android-based set-top boxes could open a whole new world to developers of Android apps.

Google is taking the Microsoft playbook reaching out to developers with an expanded platform while Apple is shutting down developers that don't fit in Apple's licensing model.

Could you imagine the Apple Board meetings if Eric Schmidt hadn't resigned? :-)

Google TV connects the Home TV viewers to the Data Center

May 20, 2010 Dave Ohara

Google announced their Google TV platform.

Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform to Bring Web to TV

Google, Intel, Logitech and Sony Join Together to Deliver Google TV Platform
DISH Network, Best Buy, Adobe to Support Bringing Devices to Market

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 20, 2010) – Today at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, leading industry players announced the development of Google TV – an open platform that adds the power of the web to the television viewing experience, ushering in a new category of devices for the living room. Intel, Sony, and Logitech, together with Best Buy, DISH Network and Adobe, joined Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) on stage to announce their support for Google TV.

Over the past decade, the Internet has created unprecedented opportunity for innovation and development across the world, but so far the web has largely been absent from living rooms. With Google TV, consumers will now be able to search and watch an expanded universe of content available from a variety of sources including TV providers, the web, their personal content libraries, and mobile applications.

Eric Schmidt discusses the connectivity CEOs - Intel, Sony, Logitech, BestBuy, DishNetwork, and Adobe. Eric has his own version of upstaging Steve Jobs.

Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO said, “We are very proud to be working with this distinguished set of partners, all of whom have decades of experience in hardware, design and retail.”

Sony announced plans to introduce “Sony Internet TV,” the World’s first TV lineup incorporating the Google TV platform. The first models are planned to be introduced in the U.S. market in the Fall of 2010 with the lineup featuring both a standalone TV model and set top box-type unit incorporating a Blu-ray Disc drive.

Howard Stringer, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Corporation said, “I am delighted to announce the unique alignment of Google’s rapidly growing, open source Android platform with Sony’s unparalleled expertise in the field of TV design and technology. The addition of ‘Sony Internet TV’ will further bolster Sony’s comprehensive TV lineup and will fuse new levels of enjoyment and interactivity into the TV experience.”

Logitech will introduce a companion box that brings Google TV to existing HDTV home entertainment systems, easily integrating with any brand of HDTV and set-top box. The companion box will incorporate Logitech’s Harmony® remote control technology, and will include a controller that combines keyboard and remote control capabilities. The company also has plans to introduce an HDTV camera and video chat for Google TV, along with additional choices for navigation and control, including apps to turn a smart phone into an advanced controller for Google TV and home-entertainment systems.

Gerald Quindlen, President and CEO, Logitech said, “We committed to Google TV early on because it aligns with our strategy to support open platforms that enable new immersive experiences in the digital living room. While Google TV enables seamless discovery of all your content, Logitech enables seamless control over how you experience that content. We look forward to continued collaboration with Google and the developer community to create new Google TV experiences that have yet to be imagined.”

The Intel Atom CE4100 processor will power both the Logitech and Sony devices. Paul Otellini, Intel President and CEO praised the collaborative effort and said TV as we know it was being “reinvented.” "Today marks the next step in the evolution of TV to Smart TV. TV’s are becoming smarter as a result of the microprocessor and the Internet. Traditional TV programming will be merged seamlessly with the infinite amount of content on the Internet to enable every viewer to determine what they want to watch, when they want it. This is Moore’s Law transforming television, powered by the performance of Intel microprocessors."

DISH Network has been a key partner with Google on advanced integration development for Google TV. The two partners began a joint trial over a year ago with more than 400 DISH Network and Google beta users. Based on the continuous feedback from the trial, Google and DISH Network have built the optimized Google TV experience that seamlessly integrates traditional TV, DVR and web content.

Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of DISH Network, said, “Google TV marks the next evolution in television, and we are excited to be the first to partner with Google to bring this experience to our customers. Only DISH Network Google TV customers will be able to enjoy a unified search across TV, DVR and web; easily find related content; and manage their entire TV viewing experience. Additionally, the advanced integration will allow developers to create new and exciting applications to enrich the TV viewing experience.”

Best Buy will bring their retail experience and consumer expertise to the project, with Google TV devices being sold at Best Buy locations nationwide later this year. “Every day, our 180,000 Blue Shirt store employees and Geek Squad Agents work with our customers to get them the best home theater experience possible”, said Brian Dunn, CEO Best Buy, “We are thrilled about the new and exciting experiences smart TVs, like Google TV, provide to our customers – and we are looking forward to showcasing those experiences in our store and ensuring customers get connected to all the products and services that bring those experiences to life.”

Finally, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 will be integrated directly into the Google Chrome browser on Google TV, enabling viewers to experience tens of millions of web pages with rich Flash content including games, animations, applications, videos, audio and more. Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO, Adobe said, “An open web ecosystem offers endless opportunities for creativity and innovation. Flash Player 10.1 extends the advantages of full web browsing and consistent, rich experiences to smartphones, tablets, netbooks and Internet-connected TVs. We’re thrilled to be part of the Google TV initiative with other industry leaders who share a common vision of enabling access to the best web experiences possible.”

This is potentially a huge use for Google Data Center build out. Watching the video, reminds me of Microsoft's mishandling of the WebTV acquisition. Microsoft owned the early mover on much of these ideas, but Google was the one who connected the whole system to the data center assets, and inserted Android where people have used Windows MediaCenter PC.

Sony's participation would also signal future directions for Playstation 4.

Google has launched a new platform that should worry Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and any others who want to leverage video. The YouTube acquisition allows Google to analyze what video is popular.

Breaking the rules for Data Center Site Selection, HP discusses Farm Waste as energy supply

May 19, 2010 Dave Ohara

One of the smart people I get to have regular conversations with is Pat Kennedy, Founder and CEO of OSIsoft. Pat is the one who got me thinking about green data centers when he asked a simple question three years ago, "how do you measure the power consumption of an application in a data center?" This got me started down a whole path of monitoring and modeling.

One of the latest topics Pat and I have discussed is MicroGrids. Google thinks about this too. See this Google video, I can see some of the Google data center team in the audience.

HP is making news today with their paper on a microgrid for data centers powered by cow manure.

ABSTRACT
In this paper, we design a supply-side infrastructure for data centers that runs primarily on energy from digested farm waste. Although the information technology and livestock industries may seem completely disjoint, they have complementary characteristics that we exploit for mutual benefit. In particular, the farm waste fuels a combined heat and power system. The data center consumes the power, and its waste heat feeds back into the combined system. We propose a resource management system to manage the resource flows and effluents, and evaluate the direct and indirect economic benefits. As an example, we explain how a hypothetical farm of 10,000 dairy cows could fulfill the power requirements of a 1MW data center.

Pat Kennedy long ago was making the point that data centers could be a lot efficient if sites were chosen to be next to power generation, biomass, and/or other large consumer of power. But, this idea is controversial in that a standard practice for data center risk reduction to place data centers far away from hazardous materials. I think a large methane store would typically get classified as a risk to a data center. So, if you are totally risk averse and don't pay for the power bill, why not skip over the site with methane. Most would.

Plus there are risks that HP doesn't mention in their brief statement on financial and associated risks.

Financial cost and associated risks are perhaps the most
important consideration. Existing farms that have invested in
supply-side infrastructure often do so only if a power-purchase
agreement can be signed. Otherwise, the return could be too
speculative to justify the capital investment. A data center has substantial, continuous, and long-term power needs. Thus the data center owner could sign the power purchase agreement and provide the assured return desired by the farmer.

You are now dependent on a Farm. What is the #1 risk to your manure production? Water!!! When there is a drought there is an impact to agriculture production and cattle need a lot of water. This article says it takes 2,000 gallons of water to make a gallon of milk.

It can take up to 2,000 gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk. The cow needs water to perform basic biological functions from day to day, and only a fraction of the water the cow consumes is actually converted into milk. The fact that it takes so much water to produce cow's milk means that anytime you or any consumer chooses to drink milk, the burden you place on the natural environment is a thousand times greater than if you were to consume water itself. Drinking one gallon of milk is like pouring 1,999 gallons of fresh water down the drain.

Actually putting a data center in operation using a Farm has these risks like water and methane gas. There are a bunch of other issues that can be addressed like water.

Mike Manos and I regularly discuss that water is the next scarce resource for data centers. Be careful not thinking about the secondary and tertiary affects of a change in the water supply.

I congratulate the guys at HP for creating more awareness that a microgrid data center strategy has merit.