To the Clouds, and Beyond

I'm fascinated with the direction our industry is going with Cloud Computing. The concept seems simple enough - use your computer, tablet, smartphone, iPhone, iPad or whatever device you prefer to connect to a server somewhere in the cloud and do whatever it is you want to do.Communicate, access and process information, upload information, post news stories, photos, videos, view streamed movies and live broadcasts, have a meeting with others anywhere and collaborate real-time on  common projects. The technology behind all this is formidable and requires vast resources to implement and maanage so that we, the consumers in the information age, have access to anything, anywhere, at any time, whenever we want it. And it is increasingly unacceptable for the systems to fall short of this expectation.

Until yesterday I'd not had the opportunity to enjoy "Facetime" on my iPhone with anyone. While enjoying a phone conversation with my out-of-town daughter, she invited me to try "Facetime". Not knowing exactly what that meant, but curiously replying "sure", she instructed me through the process and before I could say "Hey! would you look at that", I was looking at her beautiful smiling face and, in sequence, the beaming faces of my four giggling 4-year-old grandchildren. Keep in mind that at the time I was busily preparing dinner in the kitchen of another daughter's house, my hands inside a chicken carcass, the iPhone propped precariously face-high on the cupboard in front of me. She was riding in the family van, heading home after a pumpkin-gathering excursion. And when my wife observed what was taking place she quickly managed the phone away from me and had her own "Facetime" with the kids for at least another 30 minutes or so.

Once everyone had their fill of Facetiming we ended the conection and got on with the remainder of our evening, sharing our delight with this new-found treat. The phone call - is that an accurate term for Facetiming? - witnessed to me the power of the cellular network and the hand-held devices we have come to take for granted in our daily lives. This particular application enriched my day by bringing my distant family closer. Though Facetiming for me remains somewhat a curiousity, I can easily see how it could become the normal mode of communicating for the younger generations now growing up with it.

While by definition Apple's Facetime is not truly considered a "Cloud" application, it reminds me nevertheless of the life-changing capabilities that come with the power of the new networks and the visionary geniuses behind their design. Cloud computing will be another tool along the evolution line of technology that will empower us to enrich our lives.