Tomasz Kozlowski

There is a TEDxKrakow on Oct 15th. I’ve just registered yesterday, hoping or acceptation :) If you enjoy TEDtalks, if you’re open for innovative solutions, inspiring presentations and out-of-the-box thinking – you should register too.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

Okay.. it’s been a while now and Cloud Computing is not that new. SaaS model is quite popular, but I’m still being asked what IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is about. I came up with an analogy to water which seems to be easy to understand. So how is IT similar to water? Let’s take a look at 3 different “levels” of IT infrastructure:

1. Shared Hosting – you have access to a big water container. So do other people. Actually – you share it with tens or even hundreds of other people. Because of that there are some very strict limitations. Obviously there are limits of how much water you can use. Sometimes there are also some limits on HOW you use it. You have no way of changing water’s clearance level, mineral composition, etc. You just get what they give you. But it’s cheap.

2. Dedicated Server – you’ve built your own well. It took you a while to get everything agreed with your providers but it’s finally here. Now only you use its resources. Actually – I bet there are way more resources then you need or will need. You’ll probably be using 15-20% of what you have, but you’ve paid the full price anyway! Or you’re paying it every month if you’ve rented your well from 3rd party. All resources are yours and you can use it the way you like. Unfortunately you also need to maintain your well, monitor it, make sure it works fine, etc. You’re also responsible for the “hardware” of your well. You can of course outsource that, but it’ll cost you extra and you still won’t have access to water when something goes wrong. If you run out of resources you’ll need to make your well deeper or build another one. Both ways it will be expensive, it’ll take you a while and you won’t be able to roll back if your water requirement decrease.

3. Cloud Computing – you’ve replaced your well with.. water tap. You still have 100% control on what you do with the water and how you do it – but access to the water is way simpler now. All you need to do is open the tap and it’s there for you immediately. When you need more – just open it wider. You can also close the tap when you don’t need water any more. Your usage is being monitored and you only pay for what you’ve used. Maintenance? Of course there’s a HUGE infrastructure behind your tap – network of waterworks getting water from various sources, filters, etc, but you really DON’T need to worry about that. All you care about is the tap which delivers what you need and when you need.

Very interesting “chart” showing who owns the most servers. Facebook is impressive. It’s a pity that Amazon, Apple, ebay and Yahoo were not mentioned.. Still a good one!

Source: Gizmodo.com

I’ve been keeping most of my data in the cloud for a long while now. However few days ago I’ve finally managed to move ALL data to the cloud. So there it is now:

• I use MobileMe to store my contacts, phone numbers, addresses, calendar and photos and also to auto-sync them between my Mac and iPhone.
• I use gmail to handle all my email accounts.
• I use Google Docs for text documents and spreadsheets.
• I still use desktop Keynote for presentations but I use dropbox to auto-send them to the server, so they’re backed up and I can access them from everywhere.
• I also use SaaS applications for project management, CRM, etc.

Why?

Well.. there are few reasons:

1. Backup – keeping all your data in just one place is not smart. Especially if it’s laptop which can easily drop, get stolen, etc. Keeping your data in the cloud significantly decreases data-loss risk.
2. Availability – I usually have my laptop with me when travelling. Sometimes I don’t but I can still access all my critical files if necessary.
3. Ease of using – before the cloud-era I’ve been always running out of space. No matter how big the HD was – it was always too small. I don’t need to worry about it any more. In most cloud services extending your storage is as simple as dragging a slider.

You might think it’s not secure to keep all critical data somewhere else then your laptop or your office, but in fairness.. What’s more likely:

• Google Docs going down or my harddrive going down?
• Gmail going down or my on-site email server having issues? (note: gmail has been down only once during last few years)
• MobileMe going down or someone stealing my mobile phone (or me breaking it accidentally)?

So what is local storage for?

My guess is, in 2-3 years from now (or even sooner) local storage will be gone. For last few years harddrives were getting bigger and bigger every quarter. This trend is continuing but not everywhere. Look at iPad.. You’d expect a portable media device to store Terabytes of data for all your photos and movies, right? Instead of that you get pretty small local storage and two ways (wifi and 3G) to get your data from the internet.

The only “blocker” right now is connectivity, but it’s speed and range is improving very quickly. As soon as broadband connection will be widely available for a reasonable price – the local storage will be gone. Or at least won’t be THAT important any more.

As you all know, all air-traffic in Europe has been suspended for the last few days because of volcano eruption in Iceland. However.. did you know that according to recent speculations Iceland was supposed to become the new Digital Hub? It makes sense (to a point) – geo thermal power (cheap power), cold climate (low cooling costs), good connectivity.. Wondering how recent facts will impact those plans.

See five.sentenc.es. Very interesting. Sounds reasonable to me. Expect emails from me to be no longer then 5 sentences.

Ages ago I’ve read Getting Real – an eye-opening book by 37signals about building web apps. It was really great so when they published their newest book – Rework – I was the first one to get it.

It’s definitely a must-read for anyone doing anything. Doesn’t really matter if you’re a CEO in a multi-milion company or a small company owner or solo-working freelancer. Basically it’s a collection of thoughts, advices and remarks on how we do things. It’s amazing how “obvious” some things are for us. Very often to obvious and to normal to even consider they might be wrong!

Be careful with blind-implementing everything you read there, but every single chapter is worth thinking about. You can get a free PDF excerpt here or you can buy a full version in your favorite bookstore. Enjoy!

So here we are again.. Finally getting back to bloging.. Actually – the plan is for this site to be a collection of thoughts, links and media of any kind about Cloud Computing and Internet in general. So don’t expect long essays.. I’ll rather post shorter notes, but more frequently. Enjoy!