Well it is not CICS that can get nice gifts from Sun. Jonathan Schwartz seemes to have to do a little extra convincing to get people to believe that. I already know what what I could do with one. (I wonder if they chose this name because it rhymes with viagra). I would really like on of these, but that is not necessarily the reason.
Security has been getting a lot of press lately. I remember our final lectures in 642 about various hackers of yesteryear. Maybe some day there will be lectures on fellows like this. Perhaps you know or own one of the computers he controls. Even Google becomes a penetration tool when used resourcefully
Podcasting has gone further faster in the past few months. Berkeley is now clearly in the act, and there is an interesting debate over Apple's promotion of Ipod only podcasting.
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I mentionned before (somewhere) that my clever colleague at work has said that Google is getting too good. It is amazing how they master just about everything they undertake: maps, blogging (bought that admittedly, but have cultivated), video, alerts, and, of course, search. Google's poyvalent genius and cash have given rise to interesting projections about the future, increasingly the future of the Internet. These guesses and the current speculation about the telecom companies "taking back" the internet (from the public). For those interested in brownie points in 641, you might consider tuning in to the hearings today on reform of the 1996 telecom law.
So why is Google buying up dark fiber? Most guesses are that it is planning offer "its own alternative Internet". I think that is not right, because the original value proposition of Google was to index all the stuff on the Web and even with Adwords, Google has no fundamental interest in owning what it indexes. I think Google has seen the strategic play of the telecoms coming and is really interested in maintaining the best possible access to all the content that can lay claim to being part of the Internet. Increasingly this is behind a wall that people have to pay to cross.
By buying enough fiber to interconnect a network with all the peering points on the Internet, I believe Google may be hoping to maintain its ability to see into all the corners of the Web and maintain its ability to index the world. Given the value it has provided by indexing the (perhaps temporarily) visible world of today's Web, I hope it is able to keep up with events.
There are increasing rumblings about a sea change in the Internet fabric. The logic of this is that despite the bursting of the Internet bubble telephone and cable carriers have been outpaced by certain "new economy" companies using their bandwidth. I think I remember Dr. Groom saying that telecoms were set up to make solid money with long-distance at 10 cents per minute. Well that is not the price I pay now. But I do use a big telecom's line to make my calls. Well that free ride may soon end, and it may take out a lot of Internet value with it.
Small wonder that this event almost passed unnoticed.