Google cloud storage gets ready to compete with DropBox

WSJ reports on Google getting to launch a cloud storage business.

Google Near Launch of Cloud Storage Service

By AMIR EFRATI

Google Inc. is close to launching a cloud-storage service that would rival one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups, cloud-storage provider Dropbox Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

Like Dropbox, Google's storage service, called Drive, is a response to the growth of Internet-connected mobile devices like smartphones and tablets and the rise of "cloud computing," or storing files online so that they can be retrieved from multiple devices, these people said.

Drive allows people to store photos, documents and videos on Google's servers so that they could be accessible from any Web-connected device and allows them to easily share the files with others, these people said. If a person wants to email a video shot from a smartphone, for instance, he can upload it to the Web through the Drive mobile app and email people a link to the video rather than a bulky file.

Google does sound like the old Microsoft that is getting into everything and competing with everyone.

Google's Drive service also would rival Apple's iCloud, which lets people store data online and is designed to synch with Apple mobile devices.

Google's service is expected to be added to its suite of online software that it sells to businesses, called Google Apps. That would also make Drive competitive with Box.net, which sells cloud storage to businesses.

Another reason use for Google's expanding data center capacity, Home Entertainment Device

WSJ reports on Google's new home entertainment device.

Google Developing Home Entertainment System

By AMIR EFRATI And ETHAN SMITH

Google Inc. is developing a home-entertainment system that streams music wirelessly throughout the home and would be marketed under the company's own brand, according to people briefed on the company's plans.

The effort marks a sharp shift in strategy for Google, which for the first would time would design and market consumer electronic devices under the Google brand. The company has up to now mainly focused on developing the operating system that powers devices such as smartphones, tablets and televisions and allowing other companies to build and brand the hardware that uses it.

Google's Android unit has led a multi-year effort to develop the new entertainment device, which is expected to be unveiled later this year, people familiar with the matter said.

Seems like Google and Apple are more on a collision course.

Partnerships between Google and device makers have made Android the No.1 operating system in smartphones in the U.S. and helped Google to extend its Web-search engine and other applications into devices beyond PCs. Google doesn't generate any revenue from sales of the devices.

Amazon Web Services Tech Open House, Werner Vogels and Mardi Gras

Feb 8 was an Amazon Web Services event with a Mardi Gras theme.  Werner Vogels opened the short presentations.

Werner Werner Vogels

@

Cool, @mrgunn from @mendeley_com brought his "coding for libraries" buddies to the amazon tech open house tonight #aws

13 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Werner Werner Vogels

#aws customer David from @climatecorp presenting at the Amazon Technology Open House - moby.to/3vlxdo

18 hours ago

Werner Werner Vogels

Madri Gras at Amazon Technology Open House getting ready (including Jazz Band) - moby.to/zj7ug4

19 hours ago

Werner Werner Vogels

Mardi Gras at Amazon Technology Open House is this afternoon!wv.ly/zTmuXA

21 hours ago

Werner Werner Vogels

Seattleites, join us for Mardi Gras at Amazon Technology Open House and presentation by David Friedberg of @climatecorpwv.ly/zTmuXA

There was probably close to 200 people there.

There was a half dozen Amazon recruiters there.  Running a search on Amazon's career website for "Amazon Web Services" it looks like there are 1,200 jobs open (63 pages with 20 jobs per page).

Job Search > “amazon web services”

Previous | Page 1 of 63 | Next

Product Manager - Amazon Web Services (ID 160987)	US, WA, Seattle
Product Manager: Amazon Web Services   Amazon Web Services ("AWS") is blazing new trails as a pioneer in the extremely high potential Web Services arena. AWS is looking for a Product Manager to help define and drive the product strategy and roadmap that will help a new AWS offering. This is a highly visible position that will interact at all levels of the AWS and Amazon.com… Read more and Apply
Principle Business Intelligence Engineer, AWS Data Services (ID 166121)	US, WA, Seattle
Amazon Web Services is looking for a talented Business Intelligence Engineer who has a passion for Big Data systems.  Come join the team that is building a disruptive new service for processing Big Data streams.  Our globally distributed service must be able to process over 2 million records per second at launch, and eventually scale to handle over 100x that traffic.  It is… Read more and Apply
Sr. Professional Services Consultant - Amazon Web Services (ID 164839)	US, VA, Herndon
Would you like a career that gives you opportunities to help customers and partners use cloud computing web services to do big new things faster, at lower cost?  Do you like to work on-site in a variety of business environments, leading teams through high impact projects using the newest technology?   Would you like to gain the deepest customer and partner insights on maximizing… Read more and Apply

Here is a slide of Amazon's data centers and CDNs.

Got a chance to sit down with a Microsoft guy and an Amazon guy while watching the presentations and chatted briefly with James Hamilton.  The event was well worth the time, and I keep on hearing of other friends who are joining Amazon.

One person asked when I was going to join Amazon.  After 26 years at HP, Apple, and Microsoft, I really enjoy being on my own. :-)  But, who knows maybe it would be fun to work for Amazon for a year or two.

Is Facebook worth $100 Billion? Economist reader survey 82% say No

It will be interesting on how Facebook's IPO goes.  One piece of data is an Economist reader survey with over 11,000 submittals.

The Economist Asks

Is Facebook worth $100 billion?

You voted: NoCurrent total votes: 11217

After Facebook's much-awaited initial public offering, many observers expect the firm's market capitalisation to quickly exceed $100 billion. Some think that this is ludicrous: Facebook may be the world's biggest social network, but its revenues (an estimated $4 billion in 2011) and profits are nowhere near enough to justify such a price tag. Others bet that the firm will live up to the hype: it collects huge amounts of data about its 800m plus users, can serve up creepily well-targeted ads and, perhaps most important, could become a quasi-monopolist in the mould of Microsoft. What do you think? Is Facebook really worth $100 billion?

Voting opened on Feb 1st 2012

Telling White Lies is common practice for many Doctors, who else is lying to you on a regular basis

Most people don't think other people lie.  The media doesn't lie.  Commercial don't lie.  They just tell stories in a way that fulfills their own needs.

MSNBC posts on how Doctors tell white lies.

Many docs tell white lies, study finds

By MyHealthNewsDaily staff
MyHealthNewsDaily

Everybody lies — even doctors.

A new study finds 11 percent of doctors say that they have told a patient or a child's guardian something that was not true in the past year, and about 20 percent say they have not fully disclosed a mistake to a patient because they were afraid of being sued.

The results also show 34 percent of doctors surveyed did not "completely agree" that physicians should disclose all significant medical errors to affected patients. Instead, these doctors said they only somewhat agreed, or disagreed.

The researchers admit they have more work to do.

To be fair, the researchers acknowledged not knowing the circumstances under which physicians lied, and communication regarding health issues can be complex. Physicians must often wade through conflicting and confusing information as a case goes on. Telling a patient something that turns out to be wrong might not be helpful, the researchers said.

More research is needed to better understand when and why physicians feel justified in a lapse of honesty.

And guess what the minorities and women were more honest than the white men.

Women and minority physicians were more likely than white, male doctors to say they agreed with the principles of honesty and openness, according to the study. This may be because, as underrepresented groups in medicine, women and minorities feel more compelled to comply with such professional codes, the researchers wrote.

If some doctors lie on a regular basis it is hard to believe that in your data center operations, there are not people who accept telling white lies.

Do you think about this when designing monitoring systems?