People are talking about the Internet morphing into a Cloud based technological organism, but it has always been a Cloud of sorts. It is just lately that we are all becoming part of the Cloud. Micro-blogging has erupted into an mainstream industry (and an engine of change), smart-phones have become full fledged Internet devices with phones, not just the cell phones with some pseudo-PDA functionality. In fact, I can leave my laptop at home for short trips and simply rely upon my iPhone for email and any other online communications such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
The Cloud used to be reserved for large corporations storing their data in far removed locations, buying computer time from IBM or Sun, or simply using off-site printers to avoid shipping costs when moving printed materials around the country.
But now, the difference is this: the Cloud has expanded into the suburbs. The Cloud has become soccer-moms on Blackberrys or iPhones, the Cloud is 6th grade kids using cell phones to text classmates during a basketball game, it is photo sharing sites, wikis about every topic in the universe, and more.
So now that the Cloud is coming to your house. For instance, I don’t really keep many of my photos on my laptop. Why would I when I can hit Google’s Picasa photo sharing service from my phone, my laptop, or any other computer on the Internet? Why waste the storage on my laptop when they are a click away. If they are on the Internet, doesn’t that mean that they are on my computer too? Sure seems like it.
So how is the Crowd also the Cloud? Simple, as companies and online applications push computing into the Cloud, they are also pushing it into the Crowd, so that humans are doing the work that applications either fail at, or aren’t good enought at yet.
For instance, Amazon has a tool called the Mechanical Turk that is a perfect example of this. Amazon’s tag line for this service is ‘Artificial Artificial Intelligence’ – that makes me smile. The basic idea is this: companies or individuals solicit for individuals to complete Human Intelligence Tasks, called HITs.
I signed up complete a HIT that asks for me to make a list of cookbooks on a site. I complete the list of ten cookbooks that I use and recommend, and they I get paid $0.07 USD. Not much, but what if it takes me 15 minutes to complete this task and then I move on to another, wash, rinse and repeat.
What I take away from this isn’t that Amazon is helping people make a little money by doing tasks that computers aren’t good at, but rather that Amazon has the ability to learn from all of these tasks. If Amazon is paying attention to the results, then Amazon can learn to complete the tasks one day on its own.
So imagine this: your teenager signs up on the Mechanical Turk to make some extra money on weekends. She takes her laptop to the coffee shop, grabs a venti chai, and logs in to get some HITS. In a few hours she has complete 20 and made ten bucks. Before the end of the days she has made enough to buy the shirt she wanted. But, more than that, she has added to the cloud of human intelligence, she has increased the knowledge on the Internet.
We are the Cloud.
Product Review
I take my MacBook Pro every where I go. I work out of a shared office when not at home, and I am not found of the flat-laptop-on-the-desk feel, so I got an Incline Pro for when I travel. It is small enough to fit in my laptop bag, super light weight, and yet, very sturdy. Somehow it manages to hold the MBP at the right angle for my typing and viewing. (Before I found this my neck was killing me on a daily basis.)
The Incline Pro looks like it was designed exclusively for the MacBook, and it was. It has a sleek silver anodized metal with a very open frame. One of the things I like most about the little laptop stand is that it keeps my computer much, much cooler. I usually have a lot of apps open at any given time. iTunes, Quicktime, Safari, Firefox and Entoruage are always open, with Adium and my development environment running too… makes for a warm laptop.
I work with a large group of Mac users and so far every one of them has wanted to steal this thing from me. Instead of letting them take my precious, I make them all go to the online store and order one. Problem solved.
Matt Williamson
@mattwilliamson
