VOTW: A Cloud-Connected Car
Posted by Jesse Ward on Friday, September 2, 2011 · 
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And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW). Ford revealed its major redesign of the automobile this week with the Evos concept car. The design includes integration of IT and the cloud. Andrew Nusca over at SmartPlanet wrote up an excellent summary of 10 of the tech advances in the Evos, and how a cloud-connected car will benefit the end user.
Apple Releases iCloud Details
Posted by Steve Fravel on Thursday, August 4, 2011 · ·
Earlier this week, Apple posted important details concerning the upcoming iCloud feature that will allow consumers to access content through multiple connected devices.
Apple will likely begin allowing access to iCloud later this year. Consumers will have access to 5 GB of storage at no charge. Those who need additional storage space may purchase more at annual rates that range from $20 to $100.
UltraViolet Licensing
Posted by Steve Fravel on Friday, July 15, 2011 · ·
Digital media asset collecting can now take a giant step forward. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) launched UltaViolet licensing on Wednesday. The licensing of content, technology and service providers was seen as the final step in getting the digital entertainment asset platform moving. Read more
VOTW: Apple’s iCloud
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 13, 2011 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW). At the Apple Worldwide Development Conference on June 6, CEO Steve Jobs introduced iCloud, Apple’s widely anticipated digital media storage platform.
Tennessee Law Makes it Illegal to Share Your Streaming Media Account
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 6, 2011 · ·
Last week Tennessee became the first state to make it illegal to share the user name and password of any streaming media account. The bill, signed into law June 1 by state Governor Bill Haslam, makes it a crime for anyone other than account holders to access services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video or Rhapsody. The law also provides service providers with legal recourse against the violators.
Streaming media — and Internet video in particular — is gaining in popularity and overall share of Internet traffic. Consumers increasingly want to store their digital content in the cloud and access it from any device. Apple, Amazon and Google have each announced plans to launch cloud music services.
The recording industry championed this bill in an attempt to account for losses through illegal file sharing. Tennessee’s capital is home to many of the major record labels, including Sony Music Entertainment, BMI, Warner Music Group and EMI. This state law is clearly an attempt to catch up with technology and, IMHO, stop the train after it has already left the station.
However, the bill overlooks one very important point; most application providers already protect their content through their official terms and conditions.
CenturyLink to Acquire Savvis, Expand Cloud and Enterprise Services
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, May 2, 2011 · ·
CenturyLink, the nation’s third largest telecom company, announced last week that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire information technology company Savvis Inc. for about $2.5 billion. The acquisition will expand the telco’s hosting, cloud computing and enterprise services.
The offer values Savvis at $40 a share, an 11% premium over its April 26, 2011, closing price, and a premium of 54% compared to its stock price at the beginning of the year. Under the terms of the deal, which also includes about $700 million in debt, Savvis holders will receive $30 a share in cash, and $10 in shares of CenturyLink common stock.
Analysts note that CenturyLink is striving to become the third major enterprise carrier in the U.S. alongside AT&T and Verizon. The Savvis acquisition will put CenturyLink in a prime spot to market itself to enterprises as a company that can deliver the same level of service as the big telcos. Read more
VOTW: PlayStation Network Attack, Outage
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, May 2, 2011 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW).
Several weeks ago Sony was hit with a massive network attack on it’s PlayStation Network, which boasts 77 million international users and connects gamers to play against one another as well as chat with each other. The Sony Qriocity service, Sony’s new cloud-based digital entertainment venture which is used to stream audio and video to Sony devices, was also compromised in the attack.
Sony responded to the security breach by turning off its network services until it can further investigate and strengthen the service.
In the meantime, questions remain about data the hackers were able to obtain. Security researchers have seen discussions on online forums indicating that the hackers may have accessed a database that includes customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers.
Congress sent a letter to Sony last Friday asking for detailed information on the gaming system’s security and privacy, and what it knows about credit card data that might have been stolen.
On the heels of Amazon’s EC2 cloud outage, this high-profile attack further supports the public perception that cloud services are insecure.