My other XO is in Rwanda

Give 1 Get 1 is back: once again you can donate an XO laptop to the One Laptop Per Child project for $199 or Give 1 and Get 1 for yourself for $399 at http://amazon.com/xo. The XO is a great tool for teaching and entertaining kids, but right now my brother Phillip is using it as a netbook to stay connected between university classes. A year after it's initial release the XO still stands out with a rugged design and swiveling screen which you can read in direct sunlight.

Steam Cloud

Steam is a content delivery system used by 480 Windows games. Steam games are tied to user accounts, not computers, so players can download their games on any computer that can run Steam. Steam is already cloud-oriented, with a transparently distributed file transfer system, and an RSS-style approach to purchasing games and downloading trailers and demos. The new Steam Cloud services round these features out by add the ability to store game data, such as a player's customized settings, in the cloud so the changes will be reflected on any machine the player uses.

(photo by chotda, by-nc-nd license)

The first Steam Cloud enabled game will be Left 4 Dead, a cooperative multiplayer survival horror game. As a big fan of cooperative gameplay, I'm looking forward to the Left 4 Dead demo coming out on November 11. Coop is like collaboratively editing a Google Document, but even more violent.

On the other hand there's much to hate about Steam: DRM, Windows, region restrictions, no offline useability for single player use, using the PC as an overpriced game console, and basically being spyware that sits in your System Tray sucking up resources.

Dell Mini 9

I have been planning to buy the first device to run Ubuntu or Android that I could edit Wiki's, Google Docs, and Pygame that was under $400. Not only does the new Dell Mini 9 qualify as such a device, but it comes with built in cell phone antenna, so that this will soon be the first laptop distributed heavily in the United States as a laptop you can get internet anywhere you can get cell phone reception. So far it has been rumored to be a top of the line UMPC/Netbook, and is at the low end of the price spectrum. In other words, they have taken the ultimate step in building user access.

Remember back when I railed against the Mac Mini for not getting it's price down to $200 and becoming THE home & office computer, leaving the Microsoft campus in smoldering ruins? Dell IS doing this to a greater degree than Mac has attempted, giving a $50 (out of $400) discount for the Ubuntu version. This has the potential to become THE computer of our time (as the Apple II was the computer of the 80's,) with Ubuntu as THE premier operating system. (Many reviewers have noted that beefy Netbook Ubuntu is vastly preferable at least for business purposes to watered-down Windows.) This could leave the Microsoft campus in smoldering ruins inside of 5 years IMHO. (A likely alternative is of course that Windows 8 be an Ubuntu variation.)

I am wondering what side of the prophesied patent/trademark/copyright Armageddon Dell stands on. They are the most significant laptop company to ship with Ubuntu preinstalled, but they haven't exactly turned their backs on Vista either. (Even with the Mini 9 they made the Windows version available first.)

Dell attempts to trademark Cloud Computing

DON'T BUY DELL, EVER

• Industry Standard article: Dell tries to trademark "cloud computing"
• Official US Patent Office Status of Application

Here at "Cloud Computing Advocacy" the writers and commenters have up to this moment never mentioned nor used a Dell computer while actively engaged in cloud computing. We have used or mentioned the OLPC, Asus, VIA, and Apple iMacs ( I am currently using a new Apple iMac to write this text which is then going to be stored in the Google cloud infrastructure ).

For me, the term has brought to mind first and foremost Google -more specifically their blogger, gmail, app engine, and Google docs. At U of Washington, Google has helped create the new cloud computing courses. While there are competitors that are truly providing cloud computing services ( Amazon S3 and EC2, GoGrid, and AppNexus ), I've had a hard time caring about these because there is an entrance fee for use. But since Amazon is the essential infrastructure of long tail economics, which is a revolution equal to cloud computing, it is worth noting they use HP Proliant Servers and not Dell.

The point I am making is plain and obvious, go out to where cloud computing has been taking place -to the companies associated with the obligatory server farms, and the home computer enthusiasts who usually use Linux or Apple because Windows does not abide by the standards cloud computing operates on ( Internet Explorer fails at a lot of javascript functions, and javascript is essential in cloud client side programming ). A plain old Dell running Windows, or a Dell server -not much to do with cloud computing.

Hey Dell, note this new slogan being passed around in cloud computing culture: DON'T BUY DELL, EVER.

English & Cloud Computing?

The main client to the cloud will be the cell phone. I have already seen Mexicans with cell phones who didn't know English or how to use a computer. Therefore I suspect there is a barrier to the "global average cellphone user" and fully utilizing the advantages of the internet: English. The good news is there's only one language that everyone needs to know: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhmp57dh_595mwwtkcv

gPC mini, the MySpace machine

Everex is advertising the gPC mini, a very compact $499 desktop computer (keyboard, mouse and monitor not included) customized for ... MySpace. MySpace? That's right, MySpace: "The limited edition gPC mini provides MySpace users with a customized platform to easily collaborate, modify and update webpages on the world's most popular social networking site." The gPC mini is a bit longer but thinner than a Mac Mini. While it doesn't have as much RAM or CPU power as Apple's machine, the gPC Mini does have a bigger hard drive, DVD writer, S-Video out and 2-in-1 media card reader.

Android: thin client to the Cloud

As you probably know, the Android SDK has been released. If you haven't already, make sure you watch all of the videos on: http://code.google.com/android/

I have been window shopping for PDA's lately. All but the very worst physical interfaces (mice, keyboards, screen size, etc.) are sufficient for my needs. The problem comes from the software end. Like Sugar, the software just fails to be able to handle tasks in a way that I find useful, the worst software being the most essential software for my needs: the web browsers. The closest thing out there to what I need is that ultimate failure known as the iPhone (compare $15 extra per month for unlimited web data from Sprint, to the $60 per month minimum from AT&T: all SKD postponement and objective C dependency aside, the iPhone is not an economically sustainable option, like most other Mac products.)

Laptops with their hinges, hard drives and wide flat builds have too fragile of a feel for me to feel safe in investing in. I also need web/cloud access that I can get as easily and dependably as I get cell phone voice service, so that I can quickly and regularly review and modify web content while commuting or while being paid to do something completely unrelated. I suspect my job-hopping, boot-strapping, trash-talking life style is not that different from the "average" cloud user of the future, and I believe Android is the gateway to that future.

-BFGalbraith