The Cloud

2011 is the year of the cloud.

What is the cloud?  Basically its a term describing the notion that all of your digital stuff is no longer stored on a local device like your computer.  Instead it is stored on the internet, in the "cloud", able to be streamed to any one of your devices, like your iphone or ipad.  The advantage of this is that there is no longer the need to synch or transfer any files, once they are uploaded once, you are done.

A lot of us are already using cloud services, like google docs, dropbox,  i disk from mobile me and others.  But these are mostly for documents, and not optimized for music and video streaming.

Amazon got to the market first with what they are branding their "cloud drive" and today they went right at Apples throat in undercutting them significantly by pricing the new Lady GAGA album for 99 Cents.  As you can see in the graphic they are giving a free upgrade of 20 GB (enough for many peoples entire music library) to anyone who buys the album.  Why are they doing this?  Well because Apple is rumored to come out with their own cloud service in the coming 60 days or so.  Amazon is thinking that they can get a good headstart and pull enough people away from Apple by getting them used to their service and making it worthwhile to pretty much give away the hottest album in the last year and a half.  Amazons regular music "mp3 store" is also being priced about 2 dollars cheaper per album then the equivalent on Itunes.  And once you buy from them, it is backed up forever in their "cloud drive" I am buying all my music now through Amazon until Apple meets their price.

Apple and Amazon are two amazing companies both run by genius visionaries (Jobs and Bezos)  and I love both of them, use both of them all the time and I love the competition!!

May the best Cloud win!!

The Rapture!!

Whether you are a post millennial dispensationalist, or a mid tribber....doesn't it feel good to know that as of now 6:01 PDT on May 21st 2011..We are all still here!

Whooo hooo!

Goodbye to the local Blockbuster

Yes I know that I have posted variations of this post many times over the past few years on the blog but almost not a day goes by where I do not think about this revolution in media happening before our eyes.  Thanks to boneheaded decisions and failure to adapt to the marketplace, Blockbuster is in bankruptcy and the majority of its several thousand stores are shut down.  Including the one on Lyons Ave and Orchard Village Road.  It was once a thriving location filled with people hoping that the latest new release wasn't all checked out, or trying to talk their way out of late fees.  Here is what the store looks like tonight



There are many reasons why this store is gone but let me tell you my personal reason why it makes no sense to ever rent a physical disc anywhere.  

I have Apple TV---one of the apps is Itunes, and one of the apps is Netflix instant.

Netflix:  For $8/month I can stream 15 thousand movies directly to my tv, my iphone, ipad etc..(yes it picks up where i left off)

Itunes:  I can browse all the new releases and basically 95% of the movies that are out there and rent anything that I want in HD.  Not sure if the movie is good or not..well I can check Rotten Tomatoes which is next to all the movies..I can read a synopsis...and I can view the trailer....  Just a tad bit better then asking someone at Blockbuster "Is this a good movie?"   Of course movies are never checked out..and there are no late fees....no lines to wait in..etc.

Blockbuster never adapted....they got killed by Apple, Netflix, and redbox...and I don't feel the least bit sorry for them...

Good Riddance!  Now please can we get a good tenant in there so it's not such an eyesore!!

Chicago

Matt, my Dad and I went to Chicago for 2 days for Matt's 35th birthday..

Here is my take on the city.....Amazing City!  Great food and culture..midwestern hospitality and all of that.  

The Highlight of the trip was Wrigley Field which is probably in an exact tie now with Fenway park for coolest baseball stadium outside of the Ravine.  We sat through a 1:15 min rain delay in 30 degree wind chill and then the entire game as well but it was worth it!

Cross this off the "bucket list"

Waveland Avenue

We took a 2 hour bus tour of Al Capones Chicago which was good..then we got to walk around and do some sightseeing and look at the river, the lake, millenium park, the outside of the Sears (too long of a line to go in) and we got to do this on a sunny day with about 65 degree weather on Saturday.  

In Front of the River on Michigan Avenue

Other than the amazingly bad weather that Chicago gets...it gets my vote as one of the best cities in America