Google App Engine Prices
Saw this article on Infoworld about pricing beyond the basic free account for App Engine users:

• 10 cents per CPU core hour
• 10 - 12 cents per GB of data transferred in our out of an application
• 15 cents per GB / month of storage (including files and structured data)
• 2,000 e-mails a day free + 10,000 e-mails per day for $1

WOW!

Artists Twitter
Just came across this article on Mashable with 10 tips on how artists can use Twitter. I am still trying to understand how best to use twitter. I know there is a use for it without generating a ton of useless posts.

Enterprise 2.0
We are planning to re-launch our Intranet with a lot more collaboration features. We currently only offer a Wiki platform for collaboration across the enterprise.

Tim O'Reilly defined web 2.0 in his famous article in 2005. The success of Web 2.0 features on the consumer side has encouraged widespread implementation of the features within the enterprise, however, with mixed results. These efforts have most popularly been termed Enterprise 2.0. Here is how it is defined on Wikipedia.

In my mind, Enterprise 2.0 goes against the grain of our current IT organizations. So, the rollout of such technologies needs a change in the IT mindset. We recognize how difficult it is to implement change within an organization. Now, the question is, are we capable of embracing change?

I plan to spend the next couple of months developing a strategy and a roadmap for the implementation and rollout of these features on our Intranet. Any suggestions will be welcome. Please post your comments on this page.

Twitter drives Traffic and real Revenue!
Interesting article on the O'Reilly Radar. Marketing has become so cool over the past several years. New channels continue to proliferate. I used to be in awe of Sales folks (I know, I know - no love lost between techies and sales guys). Now, I tip my turban to the Marketing types - how do you get your message through over all the noise a customer is subjected to. Maybe, using Twitter!

Desktop Virtualization + Netbooks
I have been tracking the evolution of desktop virtualization for over a year new. I notice that leading-edge customers are moving pilot projects to the next stage. We will look to pilot something in the next 12 months. The companies that seem to be getting a lot of attention are:

• Citrix
• VMWare
• Quest and
  
• Symantec
  

I am not confident that virtualization will really save money. However, looking at the effort we spend recovering from hardware failures on our desktops, this might make sense. Further, I need to look at what role Netbooks might play in this equation.

Customer or User?
At a networking dinner yesterday, my friend Doug Neal pointed out:

Q. Who, besides IT, calls customers users?
A. Drug dealers!

Funny but true. Obviously, we do not wish to be in that company!

Potomac Tech Wire - Internet Outlook 2009
Interesting event. I thought the panel was great. This is just what stayed with me after the event.

What is Hot?

• mobile (ESPN mobile was highlighted as an example)
• location-aware services on mobile
• shift of focus from consumer technology to business or enterprise technology
• all media will be social (Facebook, Google connect)
• video
• privacy is dead
• advertising message will become the focus
• micro-payments (iTunes, Virtual goods)

Over-hyped!

• social networking in the short term (under-hyped in the long term)
• virtual worlds
• green (a label that everyone is running after)

Other Notes

• video cpms seem to be pretty high
• internet is destroying peace making mechanism and opinion leaders are being crowded out
• advertising will become an application allowing for message customization
• data as a business will become a reality (I will be able to cut a deal for sharing my data) ... I do not buy this!

John Seely Brown interview on CIO.com
I fully agree with John (he ran Xerox PARC). The downturn presents an opportunity to innovate. My key takeaway is the following question and answer:

What do you mean by "edge" innovation? Edges are where the action is. There's the generational edge, where kids come up with all kinds of new ideas. They have very different work practices. How can your company leverage those practices rather than just assume they should accept your work practices? Then, at the industry level, you have edge players, often the start-ups. What are they doing that you haven't thought of? Which ones are growing shockingly fast? So, there are generational edges, the company edge, the industry edge, the market edge. And we have geographic edges, like India, and also intellectual or discipline edges. Many breakthroughs today come between disciplines, where multiple disciplines work together.

These edges are all sources of uncertainty. They are risky because they don't have road maps, and yet that's where most of the action is. You can get early detectors of new ideas by paying attention to the edges.

I am starting to pay more attention to what is going on the Edge. My current focus is on Cloud Computing and Open Source, but, I need to broaden that.

SAAS LMS
I am currently looking for a "light" Learning Management Solution to deliver 4 courses once in 2 years. Obviously, I am taking an approach very similar to the one we used to support WhoRunsGov.com (link to my post). Obviously, implementation and ongoing cost is a big factor.

Besides several proprietary vendors, I have come across a couple of Open Source LMS solutions (Moodle and Sakai) that may fit the bill. I am looking for SAAS vendors who support these platforms.

Suggestions? Ideas? - Comment on this blog posting.

Twitter
Yes, I have succumbed and started Twittering. Have added a widget with my Twitter feed on the sidebar. One of the main reasons I blog is to keep notes on interesting technology I come across that I can go back and search. However, I loose that ability with Twitter. I am not sure how much I will use it.

Charging for Online News Content
Everyone in the print publishing world is thinking about how to get consumers to pay for really good content. Interesting article on paidcontent.org: NYT’s Keller: We’re Looking For Ways To Charge For Online Content Again.

I really like the idea of "Cable Channels for Content" proposed Carolyn Kay. Tim O'Reilly supports that concept and points to the Safari model for books. You buy a monthly subscription and get access to 100s of books. He claims that this accounts for 20% of O'Reilly books revenue (second after Amazon).

The question is how will the currently free content be taken to a paid model. It was easier for books as books were never given away free on the internet. However, it is very hard to charge for something that the customer has received for (practically) free for over 100 years. Maybe, the magazines need to start on this model?

LinkedIn - finally of some value
Over the past years, I have continued to build my network on LinkedIn. I rarely visit the site and, on the back of my mind, wonder if it is just a waste of time. However, last week, I urgently needed to connect with someone. I searched on LinkedIn and found that we had a common connection. I requested for an intro and made a new connection. Finally, I see why it is worth maintaining a network on the site.