Cloud Computing useful for mobility workers

Did you know that one of the F1 teams actually make of use cloud computing services to support the team's operational needs? Although only cloud services such as web security tools, secure e-mail gateway and SSL VPN were used, this brings about an important point that cloud services are actually useful for people who move around often.

However if you note the services used, you can also see that core services that are data sensitive are not being used widely. What the F1 team did was to subscribe to a direct line that links to their factory in U.K.

I believe for public cloud services, HR systems (e.g. leave systems) will be quite popular and maybe e-mail or even video conferencing services together with IP telephony. I firmly believe that cloud services should be built with that intended audience (mobile workers) in mind. Only when you know the target audience would you then be able to build useful services.

Do not build services based on what the technology can offer but instead, build it based on the actual need.

After all this time, I still think that hybrid cloud services are the way to go to go around the security constrain. I believe the industry is moving along this track though. Hope to see more interesting services in the cloud.

M1 is going to sell iPhones!!

Yes!! 1 day after my post, M1 has announced that they have reached an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhones in. This is called competition! Go M1 go...

Hope you don't take too long to firm up the dates and plans. Knowing M1, they would come up with some innovative plans.

iPhone for M1 / Starhub soon?

Seems like the papers have been hinting that M1 / Starhub are under pressure to sell the iPhone under their respective brands.

This is rightly so because many of the people who are sitting on the fence are tired of waiting for the telcos and have jumped to Singtel. Evidence? Just look around you and you'll realised a lot of people are using iPhones, especially so when iPhone OS 3.0 was released.

Unless M1 and Starhub are targeting consumers that own a secondary handphone, they better do something about it. To me, there are 3 main reasons why people would rather switch to Singtel because of the iPhone:

1. I believe you can only have warranty for the iPhone by presenting your Singtel number to the Hello shops. I heard of cases where people complained that they are not being able to service their iPhones but I know for the fact that Singtel shops do provide warranty directly for the iPhones. I believe this group of people had this problem because they did not subscribe to Singtel but instead bought those iPhones that were re-sold.
   
   
2. Judging from the current trend, it seems that there's a new iPhone every year. If this trend continues, most people will definitely just keep trading in their old iPhone for the new ones every year. So M1 and Starhub should stop hoping for people who will ditch Singtel after they got their iPhones.
   
   
3. Singtel is not AT&T. I didn't hear of Singtel's network dying under the load of the 3G subscribers. So M1 and Starhub shouldn't put too much hope that people will jump because of a deterioration of network qualilty.

M1 and Starhub... Get the hint??

Am I considered engaged or married?

The funny part about being a Chinese will come when you decide to get married. It's customary for Chinese to hold a wedding banquet and invite relatives and friends to announce your marriage. Therefore, we're usually considered not married until we hold the banquet.

However, this goes into conflict with the law because the law states that you cannot hold your customary wedding until you've registered your marriage. Therefore, you're not considered married until you've registered with the Registry of Marriages, popularly known here as ROM.

So what is the status of people like me who decided to register my marriage first before holding the wedding banquet?

Somehow, the trend here for Chinese is that ROM is only considered an engagement and you're not considered married until you hold the banquet. However by looking at the definition of engagement, this is not the case because the definition is a promise to marry or an agreement to be married.

By definition and by law, I'm considered married. But by Chinese custom, I'm not. So am I married or not?

Here's the other funny part. The reason why I'm thinking about this is because I do not know what to put for my Facebook status. :)

What Resolution = What R

I believe those having digital cameras may wonder what photo size (e.g. 4R) does the 1600 x 1200 resolution indicated in the camera translate to. The answer might surprise you. Technically, the answer is none. Apparently, 1600 x 1200 can be used for 4R but it's not the exact resolution.

The following apparently is the mapping between the size of the photo and the resolution (got it from the Internet):

• 3R - 1500x1050
• 4R - 1800x1200 (3:2)
• 5R - 2100x1500
• 6R - 2400x1800 (4:3)
• 8R - 3000x2400 (5:4)
• s8R - 3600x2400 (3:2)

* Numbers in bracket are the aspect ratios

Looking at the resolutions listed above, I do not think the conventional camera has a setting that equate to the above. At least the Canon 870IS that I'm holding does not have any of these settings.

However, the forums did indicate that you can map the photo size to the closest resolution. Using Canon as an example, that would be:

• 3R to 4R - M3 (1600 x 1200)
• 5R - M2 (2048 x 1536)
• 6R - M1 (2592 x 1944)
• 8R - L (3072 x 2304)

I do wonder why the camera makers did not equate the resolution to the photo size. They think that consumers no longer print out their digital photos?

Learn new things at any time in your life

I quote from Barbara Sher:

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.


True, but it neglected to mention that this actually puts a tremendous amount of stress on yourself. I've never been so stressed in my life ever since I've made the jump to something new. I've to learn to apply the knowledge that I've gained over the years in a different manner and take on more responsibility while learning the ropes.

So if you really want to keep learning new things at any time of your life, be prepared to receive a lot of stress and learn how to handle it. Frankly, I will think more than twice if I want to make another jump to something new. I've never been so stressed even during my exams.

Look for your missing mouse pointer

Have you ever encountered situations where your mouse pointer just disappears into thin air? Not able to find the pointer on the screen no matter how vigorously you are moving the mouse? Well, it seems that Windows has an option to allow you to pin-point the location of the mouse pointer.

Just do the following:

1. Goto Start > Control Panel > Mouse
2. Click on the Pointer Options tab
3. Ensure that the checkbox for Show location of pointer where I press the CTRL key is checked
4. Click on the Apply button

That's it. Now whenever you press the CTRL key, you will be able to find the exact location of your mouse. Hope this is useful.

Why not blame EPL??

Recently the news of Singtel securing the EPL rights have triggered a lot of reactions. Singtel, Starhub and even MDA have been blamed on the high cost for securing the EPL rights. However one thing that I've noticed is that no one has blamed EPL.

I find it extremely weird that not one has actually put the blame on EPL for making the broadcast of EPL exclusive. Instead, they blame it on the providers who make it possible for us to view EPL live here.

Maybe I'm on the wrong wavelength because I do not watch football but looking at it from a third-party perspective, the only way to resolve this high cost is to send a message to the providers NOT to bid for any exclusive rights. In this way, the consumers are sending the message that we're not condoning this practice. Easier said than done though. I know how fans are feeling. I felt the same way about the iPhone in Singapore.

Anyway, if anyone remembers the history of Mediaworks and Mediacorp, sooner or later one of them will drop out of the race. However, this is up to the providers to fight it out. Even MDA can't stop them from bidding for it (free market, remember?).

If you don't want to condone the practice, stop blaming everyone and show it with your actions. Do not subscribe to the EPL channels. Send this message to EPL and the providers that this is going way out of hand.

To me, that's the only way of resolving this issue. If you still want to watch EPL live, then stop blaming and start subscribing. They are not running a charity service.

Hardware more reliable than software?

I read an interesting post today saying that hardware is more reliable than software. I was actually laughing out loud when I read it.

My question is very simple. Will a laptop be of any use without an operating system running on top of it? What's the use of the iPhone hardware without the iPhone OS? I think you should get the idea of what am I driving at.

It's quite easy to shift all the blame to the software but one thing of note is that to make a terrific product, it's always a collaboration between the hardware and software vendors. Without cooperation from both sides, there will always be some kind of integration problem.

That is why Apple up to now is still keeping the hardware close to their chests (in my opinion). With control over the hardware, it will be much easier for software integration and the software team could also bounce new ideas off the hardware team.

So stop blaming the software people. They are the guys who'll never get the thanks when everything is working perfectly fine.

Thought of a useful service for cloud computing

Previously I mentioned that I find it a little difficult to think of a useful service that could be put in the cloud, enjoy the full capabilities of cloud computing and yet can be justified from the business perspective. Just recently read an article about travel websites and it hit me that a ticketing system would be a very useful cloud computing service because:

1. Demand can scale up easily during peak seasons (e.g. F1)
2. With a hybrid cloud model, it will not be difficult to remotely provide data to the "ticketing cloud" on the newest information
3. Service providers can concentrate on what they are selling and let the cloud computing providers worry about the ticketing infrastructure and application

If you look at the process for buying tickets in Sistic or cinemas, there is fundamentally no difference in functionality between these providers. I wonder if any cloud computing vendor is providing such a service. It does require some tie ups with the merchant banks to handle all the transactions though. Hmm...