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This is a product idea that I think will come out in the next few years that  will create better PDAs that will be way better than any before. My idea is creating a PDA that instad of running applications that are on the local device, they access cloud services like Google Dcs, Gmail and many others. This way a PDA doesn’t need to be directly syncronized, via tethering, and syncing but, instead everything will be done over 3G internet connection. I know there are devices that lets you access services on PDAs, but this device will be all cloud and let people get work done anyuwhere. Cloud computing on a PDA makes everything easier and data won’t lost and if you have a computer or device malfunction.

Cloud Computing lets users access their information on any internet connected computer and eliminates the need to install software or transport your data. This also lets you use any interent-enabled computer no matter operating system and no matter how much power  your machine has. You can realize you don’t need Windows or Mac OS if you just use cloud services and a free and open source operating system called Linux is all you need! Many people say Linux is not as powerful as MacOS and Windows while others say quite the contrary. Either way if all you need to do is run a browser to access cloud computing services, then Linux is all you need because it is lightweight and stable.

This has also lead to netbooks which are mini laptops with law sytem specs that are built to access Cloud computing services and many run Linux operating systems. Really, netbooks only need to have basic functions and why run a large operating system that requires a lot of power if you need low system specs.  Even on regular computers, many people may realize they don’t need Windows and Linux will do everything they need. As more people adopt Cloud computing and use becomes more of a standard practice, more people will realize that they don’t need Windows and Linux is not only for computer geniuses but, for regular people as well!

Although I said WYSIWYG design is pointless Squarespace, has proven to be the best implementation of WYSIWYG and what I hope future blogging platforms will evolve to in the future. Squarespace is a subscription service that lets you run a full-fledged blog without having to run a server and manage the CMS. However, you do not loose control of the site and have a lot of power over the design of the site and is easy to use,

Squarespace has a back-end that is really just the same page as the front page but, with loggin in, you gain access to all the administrative controls. Like many blogging platforms, there is a dashboard to manage all your siute functions and everything you expect it to. The big winner is templates and design, you can use templates but, from there you can just drag collums to be wider or narrower and change colors with a few clicks. It also has a library of other additional tools that allow you to add integration to social networks, add photo gallerys, web forms and much more! These additional tools let your site be more flexible than your average blog and lets you do exactly what you want with it. Squarespace also can keep sites stable even if there is a spike in traffic, assuring your site won’t go down if you are dugg or slashdotted! Squarespace makes running your website easy but, maintains all the power for the advanced users.

Plans start at: $8/month and go as high as $50/month depending on features. I would definitly consider to migrate to Squarespace if the price goes a bit lower because and if they allow multiple sites on one plan but, I do like how you can import existing blogs and exporting if you no longer wish to use Squarespace. I have used the trial and am very impressed and think if they add those requests i mentioned I would seriously consider switching!

Although Google Docs is great, and can take your office suite from your local machine to the internet however, it is still a bit short on features however there is another, more powerful websuite that has more features. Zoho has a word processor, spreadsheet and slide show program just like Google Docs but, it also has more advanced features that Google Docs has left out. In addition to the basic applications, Zoho has other applications as well like Zoho Notbook for note taking, Wiki for running a wiki page, Planner to plan events and many others. There is also a line of business applications such as CRm to manage sales, Project Management tools, and many others. However these business applications have limited free use and then users need to pay for full access for the services they want, unlike Google Apps which charges one flat fee for full access to all their services. There is one major downside to Zoho, beside the price the user interfact looks as though the application UI has not been updated since the late 1990s. The other problem is there is not easy way to navigate between applications which I really need and is why I use Google Docs because they make it very easy to navigate between applications and has a modern UI. I think Zoho has a lot of potential and if they had a one price for full access business model and up date their UI they may be a worthy opponent to Google but for now they are still in need for further development.

It used to be that most companies would have to run and manage  their own servers in order to allow employees to send email. This is, however, is very expensive and very time consuming, however, as usual, Google has come up with a solutiuon called Google Apps which lets companies pay Google and use Gmail for their company email along with other Google services. Google Apps costs $50/user/year and if you compare that to the costs of buying, setting up and maintaing a server it is much less expensive. It also allows employess to utilize Google Contacts, Calendar, Chat, Docs and many other services. Another benefit of this is Google backs up their servers so users do not have to worry about backing up their data. This utilizes the best web application suite on the internet and makes web communication and collaboration easy. I reccommend that anyone who is starting a business or anyone overhauling their current email system to give Google Apps serious consideration.

Cloud computing is a great new method of accessing your applications and data from anywhere with an internet connection and of course on of the most important parts of Cloud Computing is storing files and making them accessible anywhere you may roam. The best cloud service currentl;y availible as far as i’m concerned is Amazon S3, S3 charges a very minor fee for a lot of storage space and makes it very affordable to make your data accessible anywhere over the web. S3 charges 15 cents per gigabyte every month which gives you a terrabyte of data only $153.60 per month and unlike hard drives and other storage methods cloud storage allows you to acess your data anywhere over the internet and eliminates the need to backup your data.  Cloud storage makes storing data both affordable and simple.

S3 allows everyone to be able to backup and store their data in the cloud without and excessive cost! S3 can be mounted as a network drive or there are also third-party serivces that allow users to do more with their service. Jungle Disk for example, lets users backup as many computers as they want to their S3 drive from unlimited computers. Jungle disk’s application costs $20 in addition the the cost of S3. Over all, S3 is a very efffective method of storing data online and not only that but, as long as you are willing to pay, you can buy as much storage as you want!

Originally, I did not see why people would spend $25/year for Flickr Pro just to post pictures online. That was of course, before I began using Flickr originally as a Free user and discovered how powerful it was and how enjoyable and simple it was to share your pictures!

At first I decided I could try Flickr out at first and use a free account and see if it would be necessary for me to pay for the Pro account.  However, because I had a free account I was limited to only uploading 100 Megabytes each month and because of that I would have to stagger the pictures that I upload to get the best pictures online and hold off on the lower-quality images until the next month. I also could only make 3 sets, which group pictures from similar events or similar subject matter. This was not too much of a problem until I got my new Cannon Powershot 1100IS, which takes much higher resolution, pictures to significantly larger, file sizes. These two factors were huge in my decision to get Flickr Pro.  Sets were essential for me because I like to have everything organized and easy to find.  I thought about if for a long time but, then I realized it was totally worthwhile for me with as many pictures I take and would like to share with my friends and family.

For anyone who is considering getting Flickr Pro I recommend trying the Free account first and see if you want the extra features and if you do then go ahead and buy Flickr Pro.  For $25 /year you get unlimited picture storage which I think is an unbelievable value to you.  Flickr is great for casual photographers and if you are a more serious photographer, then you are probably better off with paying for Flickr Pro!

RSS feeds have made reading news so much easier and simple and now Google Reader can make it even better. Google Reader is basdically a web-based RSS feed reader that allows you to read any feed where ever you can get an internet connection or even offline access through google gears. Another great advantage is it gives you a “river of news” where it shows all the articles from your RSS feeds from oldest to newest. You can also read your article in the same river style by the category. Google Reader also tracks what kind of feeds you like to read and suggests new feeds that they think you would like to subscribe to, along with “Packs” or collections of a certain category of feeds. I love to read google reader feeds it has become a part of my daily life and hope you all consider utilizing another great Google service.

Every computer user has important data on their computer that they would be in trouble if they loose in the case of a hardware failure or software crash.  Every computer expert recommends that you should backup all your crucial data to an external device like a external hard drive, thumb drive or optical disk. However, what happens if there is a natural disaster or fire burning down your residence and making your backup totally useless. Plus, you would have to setup backing up even if you have a program, you would have to set it up yourself and pay for the media to put it on. This whole process is a total chore and still is not a perfect backup method.

However, if you sign up for a online backup service, you can set your computer to upload everything as files change and be sure that it is safe even if your residence is destroyed. The two services that I have used are Jungle Disk and Mozy.  Jungle Disk uses Amazon’s S3 service and charges a mere 15 cents per Gigabyte. However there are also some setup fees and uploading speeds also. Mozy on the other hand, has a free account that has 2 GB of free storage, and then an unlimited storage account for only $5/month per computer.  I decided that was the better service because as it backs up, it puts all the data online and secure from harm. The one disadvantage, is that with Jungle Disk you can upload from as many computers and mount the storage as a disk drive on your computer. However, Jungle Disk requires you to buy a backup application for an additional one time fee of $20, however there is a 30 day trial to start you off.

I have replaced localized backups with using Mozy’s unlimited service, and their included applications makes it so easy and I don’t even think about backing up my data but, I know it is safe!  I reccommend everyone using online backup because, the data is always safe and takes no thought or effort!

As I memtioned on my post on Moday, I mentioned that I will provide everyone with a list of services that allow you to get the services that Mobileme provides for $99/year for either free or much less. Another benifit of my list will be that these services do what  they are supposed to and syncronization is somewhat more reliable. So here is my list to save you money instead of getting Mobileme.

1. Web Storage- Adrive gives their users 50 GB of web storage for free! That is a big step-up from paying for 20 GB!
2. Email- Gmail, setup IMAP for all your devices, and you have mail that works just like Mobileme but is free and has more features and more storage space! (7 GB instead of 5 GB)
3. Contacts- Gmail contacts is a great contacts manager and covers the contacts  element of MobileMe
4. Calendar- Google Calendar is another great service provided by Google and if you set it up on your devices you can sync it to all your devices as well if not better than MobileMe.
5. Photo Gallery- Sharing pictures is really a no-brainer, Flickr is the defacto photo sharing site and because of that I am recommending that as a replacement of MobileMe’s photo sharing feature.
6. Website- There are a vast list of free services for making your own website for free, I reccommend Google Sites because it is great for the inexperienced web developers.

I have just listed servics that you can get for free instead of having to shell out $99 every year! I think this is a much better option for people to get Exchange-like services for everyday life.  I know that I went very pro-Google but, that is because I uses Google serivces everyday and use that for personal information and know how easy it is!