Pandora

Quick post for today. And it will probably be very old news to many of you but I just discovered Pandora Radio. It was recommended to me last year, but it was until yesterday that I finally decided to give it a try. And my first impressions are along the lines of why didn't I try it much sooner. Pandora is great!

Pandora is a music service supported through advertisement. It was described to me as the music equivalent of Tivo, but since I don't own a Tivo I don't know if the description fits. There is a subscription option, but most people stick with the free version. The interface is clean, clearly a web 2.0 service in the tradition of Facebook. Furthermore, in less than five minutes I had already figured out how to use it and it is evident this thing is something special.

There are a few things that still need to be fixed. There is no rewind button and you can't play specific songs. You can only skip six songs every hour if songs don't match your musical style. So in this respect it's more of a recommendation service. If you like a certain artist or a certain song, then next song to be played will have similar characteristics to the songs you have already approved by giving them a "thumbs up."

I can't remember being this excited about a new service like Pandora Radio in a long time. The most impressive thing is that it tries to learn what sounds are pleasant to the user. Every track comes with a description of why its being played. Who knew music had so much structure.

To look at the stars and wonder

This is perhaps the most interesting video I've seen about the challenges and opportunities in the current and future space programs.

A few surprising facts are that the average American contributes $.15/day for the space program. And that back in the Apollo program almost 4% of the country's national budget was spent in NASA. Now that figure is less that 1/16 of 1%.

Personally, I strongly disagree with Congressman Barney Frank views. While I understand there are a lot of important issues that need immediate attention, we must also not loose sight of the future. The future. And the future is indeed space. Hopefully a new generation will emerge that is fascinated with space, and than when looking at the night sky they will be captivated by the big question "If."

Google docs

What is the one thing that most computer users want to do with their computer? Well, there is surfing the internet, and e-mail. However, an essential component of the modern computing experience involves writing documents, making presentations, and at times dealing with spreadsheets. Until now these tasks have always been done through any of the office suites available, which include commercial offerings like Microsoft Office, or free ones such as Open Office, etc. More recently companies like Google have began offering key functionality through the so-called "cloud." That is, basic functionality like editing a text document, but with everything done through an internet browser, and as long as there is an internet connection present. Google has just announced that they will add the ability to work offline in Google docs. But even with this welcome addition, Google faces serious problems and challenges with their take on office products.

No one can deny that Google docs is an innovative approach to offer consumers this type of product. The user interface is clean and easy-to-use, the key functionality for an office suite is present, and the whole thing is free! For many people the thought of dropping a few hundred dollars for a product they will barely use is not an attractive proposition. And it is precisely here is where Google docs succeeds. Not to mention people on many countries simply cannot afford to buy Microsft Office. Google docs deals away with this problem.

However, as good as the word free sounds there are a few things that people should be aware when dealing with anything in the internet. Privacy and Security. When working on Google docs the documents are stored in Google's servers. And although the company is known for the quality of its products, one has to wonder what would happen if the wrong people got access to that data. For corporations, this is not even a point worth arguing - the risk is simply too great: corporate secrets, proprietary information, etc. For normal users this is just as important. What happens when I write a document that contains highly important personal information with Google docs? Social security numbers, tax data, etc. Do I trust Google enough to safeguard my information? And will Google use my own data to feed me advertisement? These are very important questions for anyone wanting to give Google docs a try.

Other office suits like Microsoft Office and Star Office come at a premium. But the benefit - or disadvantage for some people - is that the users are entrusted with the responsibility of protecting their own data. And by having an application installed locally the product can have a richer set of features, that could, otherwise, be seriously limited by an internet connection. It will be interesting to see how much of the consumer market that already owns a commercial office suite would give Google docs a try.

Google docs is a showcase of Web 2.0 technology. It innovates, and it answers one of the most essential needs of computer users. It is especially important for users that simply cannot afford, or those that don't want to pay for office software products. But the innovation and set of features can be a double-edged sword due to privacy and security concerns. And as Google starts offering more and more of the Google docs functionally offline one has to ask if the company ultimate goal is to take on Microsoft Office directly with a product that started online, but just begs to be made offline.