Amazon has done it again by releasing an incredibly cool web services platorm – Amazon SimpleDB allows you to store multiple datasets, query them and return the results – it’s a very simple database. Probably the coolest thing about SimpleDB is that individuals or very small companies – hec, even large companies – can use it as a database without having all the overhead of data servers and especially the geeky quarky admins that go along with it :) I haven’t had time to really dig into it, when I do I may write more about it.
I haven’t used Qik yet because they don’t support my phone. But Scoble is going berzerk about it and it seems REALLY cool! Qik allows you to live stream video to the web from your cell phone – not something particularly useful to all of us (Pirillo and Scoble have live “shows” that they stream live) But there are times when I think it would be really cool for us slightly less geeky people to live stream something for our spouse, kids or friends to watch. When they get it working on the Treo 700w I’m all over it!
“Live Office”
Google Docs, Zoho, and whatever else – there’s been a lot of talk in the blogosphere lately about “MS Office is dead” and that online office implementations are going to take over the world. Whatever. Not only did a study (I really hate studies) recently find that 73% of Americans have never heard of the concept, only 0.5% have actually moved to an online office. Saying that “everyone” is moving to online office is like saying that “everyone” has an iPhone or that “everyone” has a Facebook page. It’s just naive, arrogant and proves you are stuck in the echo chamber. I like the idea of online collaboration of documents and of storing them online, but in practice I’ve found Google Docs to be more of a PITA. I won’t be moving to them anytime soon – besides, it’s just ONE MORE thing that you’re letting Google own about you – and your business! I am blown away when people tell me about critical corporate docs that are stored in Google Docs – I know a VC that keeps all their deal docs in there.
iPhones
Anyone that’s read much of my blog knows I don’t much like iPhones – well I’ve owned two of them for the last month! While they’re pretty and touchy-feely, I STILL don’t like them. The keyboard absolutely sucks, maybe it’s my big meaty mitts, but I can’t type on them at all. I’m sure some people have, but I just don’t see myself leaving the Treo 700w for the iPhone – it’s like switching to a Mac - a HUGE step backwards!
Facebook is quite boring to me anymore. Facebook applications have proven to be a 95% stupid waste of time. The ONLY thing I’m interested in from Facebook anymore is the feed from my network – and they wont’ let me have it via RSS so I have to go to their site every day to check up on it. They’ve killed most of the virillity featuers of the API, several interesting apps I’ve seen have failed to go viral and it’s mostly because to fight spam they killed everything. They need to fix their presentation model instead. This Wallstrip video says it really well!
