Author Archives: Ian C. Anderson

Office in the Cloud: Google vs. Microsoft, June 2010

Lifehacker published an informative article comparing and contrasting the feature sets of Google Docs and Microsoft’s Office Web Apps. I’ve been a dedicated Google Docs user for years now, and the fact that Microsoft’s Office Web Apps doesn’t offer any sort of collaboration features (which is Google Docs’ strongest feature!) means that I won’t be switching [...]
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Apple to shut down Lala

Lala, a cloud-based music service that I previously blogged about, was acquired by Apple last December.  Today I received an email stating that Lala will be shut down as of May 31st. Previous to the Apple acquisition, Google was extensively using Lala for their new music search feature.  The folks at Apple saw the potential for [...]
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Get creative in the cloud with the Aviary web suite

As it currently stands, Adobe is the king of software aiding the creative professional.  Photoshop is the most famous Adobe offering, followed by such titles as Premiere and AfterEffects (video editing and effects), Illustrator (vector graphics), Flash and Dreamweaver (web design and animation), and Soundbooth and Audition (audio editing). Ten years ago, it would’ve seemed silly [...]
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Keep passwords in the cloud with LastPass

Ever since the dawn of the internet, users have had to remember a slew of usernames and passwords. At first users on had to remember 1 or 2 passwords, but these days, the list of accounts that a frequent web user has can be upwards of dozens. The first solution? Use the same password [...]
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Ditch that planner for RTM and GCal

There are some applications that I think fit perfectly in the context of cloud computing, and I think two of those are calendars and task management (i.e. a to-do list).  We’ve all been in this situation: What are you doing the weekend after next? Uhmmmmm I think I’m free?  I’ll have to check my calendar and get [...]
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MOG : All Access review

On Monday, I reviewed the Lala.com streaming music service in the cloud.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of its main competitors, MOG.com.  MOG takes the problem of global music access and attacks it in a different way than Lala, using a $5/month all access pass to their entire music library.  There’s still a concept [...]
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How Lala.com Could Conquer the Music Industry

Lala.com is an on-demand online music streaming service that was recently acquired by Apple.  I’m a musician, as well as an avid music listener.  I’m also not a fan of Apple products.  However, I don’t see myself ditching it anytime soon. I started using Lala before Apple bought it, and it’s solved a difficult problem of [...]
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Google Apps Marketplace – the App Store of the Cloud

It’s hard to deny that Google borrowed the idea for their Android Marketplace directly from Apple’s successful App Store for iPod, iPhone, and (soon) iPad.  The idea of a centralized store for (almost) all available products is very appealing to the consumer.  From one interface, you can browse products within categories, compare them with competing products, [...]
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5 Annoyances Cloud Computing Will Remedy

I often see people ripping their hair out while using their computer no differently from 10 years ago, and I just want to say “There’s a better way!!!”  Here are five annoyances that could be remedied by moving your data into the cloud: 1. Installing software You read that right.  A pure cloud-computing platform will require no [...]
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