Thursday 29 July 2010
The city of Los Angeles is considering moving away from traditional applications from Microsoft and other providers and switching to Google for its email and other features - all of which would be in the cloud. InformationWeek reports that the city will likely spend more than $8 million on the contract with Google over the next five years, but will see a saving of more than $6 million in licensing fees from Microsoft and Novell over that same time along with an additional $7.5 million in “soft savings.” The contract must be approved with some questioning the security of using cloud computing, but Google says its product would be an improvement over what the city has been using.
Security is at the core of how we design Google Apps, and as the City of Los Angeles’ evaluation report notes, the proposed cloud computing system is an improvement over the level of security currently in place,” Google said in a statement according to CNET. “It also provides other benefits of cloud computing - such as increased innovation at reduced cost - which are driving the city’s request for a cloud solution to suit its IT needs.
Pirate Bay was seen as the bastion of fight against copyrights and free media, and no one saw the sale coming, even after they lost a controversial court battle in Sweden. Global Gaming Factory hired a guy named Wayne Russo to be in charge of changing the Pirate Bay into something that would both keep the userbase of The Pirate Bay, and the likes of the RIAA, MPAA and other groups all happy at the same time. Mr. Russo has had the previous learning experience of the P2P world with Grokster and Mashboxx — of which both have not been terribly successful. Talking to CNET, the first word of the plan for The Pirate Bay has now been unveiled. In short, the plans entail turning The Pirate Bay into a subscription service. There are some interesting changes to the standard subscription model, however.
The combined resources of all the Pirate Bay users when then be sold by the Global Gaming Factory to organizations that need tremendous computing power. This money would in turn be given to various copyright managing organizations. In turn, some funds would then go to the artists who made the entire thing possible. This inventive P2P model seems to have more of a chance for success than prior, straight subscription fee P2P services. But the biggest challenge rests on the userbase of the Pirate Bay itself. When it comes to torrent sites, brand loyality isn’t much of a factor. Will the users quickly jump ship to some other illegal torrent site, of which there are many? Or will a significant portion of existing pirates give this intriguing model a chance? Just the backlash against the sale alone might be enough to sink the boat before it has a chance to set sail.
The effect of cloud computing on our legislative and regulatory world has long been a sub-interest of sorts for me. I have long been fascinated by the ways in which a truly dynamic, multiparty compute environment will challenge laws that assume that electronic assets behave the same as their paper or celluloid brethren–static, not easily duplicated and stored on the owner’s premises. The gap between the cloud and the current state of legislation is serious. Now an increasing number of lawyers are sharing their opinions about cyber crime, privacy rights, and what the law allows and disallows in the cloud. Each and every post or article I’ve read so far has been enlightening–and not always in a good way.
For example, take CNET’s recent coverage of a panel on the effects of cloud computing on cyber crime at Symantec’s Norton Cyber Crime Day. Matthew Parrella, chief of the computer hacking and intellectual property unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, noted that “hacking” PCs by inserting software into the system by various means is being replaced by a new threat. From an employment law perspective, I have not seen much, if anything on the subject. For example, Connecticut’s wage and hour laws require employers to keep track of various records of the employee including hours worked, etc.
Sony has spoken with some of the major recording companies about providing music for the PlayStation Portable, music industry sources told CNET News.
The sources said the talks are only preliminary and no deals have been struck. But apparently, Sony is considering offering music on the PlayStation Network, the company’s nascent multiplayer gaming and digital download service. Such a move could place the PSP in direct competition with other multiuse music players, most notably the iPhone. he idea of being able to listen to practically everything you’d ever want to whenever you want to isn’t new. But American consumers haven’t fully embraced such services, even with Rhapsody, Napster, etc. offering some version of subscription-based access.
CLOUD COMPUTING DATA CENTER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE; COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE FOR CONNECTING INTERNET RADIO; COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE FOR CONNECTING INTERNET RADIO FOR HAND-HELD GAMES WITH LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAYS; DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC FILES VIA THE INTERNET. AUTOMATIC TRANSFER OF DIGITAL DATA BY TELECOMMUNICATIONS; BROADCASTING SERVICES AND PROVISION OF TELECOMMUNICATION ACCESS TO AUDIO CONTENT PROVIDED VIA AN ON-DEMAND SERVICE VIA THE INTERNET; BROADCASTING SERVICES AND PROVISION OF TELECOMMUNICATION ACCESS TO AUDIO CONTENT PROVIDED VIA THE INTERNET. STREAMING OF AUDIO SIGNALS FEATURING MUSIC VIA THE INTERNET; PRODUCTION OF INTERNET RADIO PROGRAMS; PRODUCTION OF RADIO PROGRAMS.
