wiredfool

in progress…

Hailstorm has focused a lot pf people on the interplay between the cloud of the internet users and the role of centralized services. Radio Userland pushes the intelligence to the edge of the cloud, Hailstorm pushes it to the center.

I like centralized services. But I don’t like just any centralized services. I like MY centralized services. (and no, that’s not just calling something myFoo, it has to be mine).

I live on email. I’ve written all of my email in a web browser for the last year and a half. When I’m traveling, all my email is there, and I can use the least common denominator connection to get to it. My server is out in the cloud. I don’t care where it is, as long as I’m wired.

I write on the web, and most of what I’ve written was done in the web browser. I have radio userland, but when you use 5 computers regularly, it’s easier to just write in the browser. My web server is out in the cloud, don’t really care where it is. As long as it’s wired.

I listen to music over the net. Sometimes it would be more fault tolerant to burn a couple copies of everything, but for the most part, I’ve got music access anywhere there’s a net connection and a computer wired for sound. Headphones on the imac at work, the stereo on the linux box at home (Ella tonight), the $199 Cambridge Soundworks system & cable modem at my friends house. I need 200 Kbps and I’m happy. Gimme a 200k wireless connection in the car and I’d be using that instead of the ancient 10 disk changer in the trunk. (I have to use a remote to change tracks. In a Miata.)

Most of what I do on the net can be centralized on one server hanging off a fast net connection. As a developer, it’s my centralized server, and I control the content going in or out. And I get a kick out of writing centralized services for my own use.

But just as easily, most of what I do on the net could be done by companies more interested in the user experience than eyeballs. Make music playing as easy as clicking on an icon. Right now, the UI is either select + menu item, or choosing a playlist in the file system.

Don’t try to sell me a music ‘service’ where I can’t choose the next song. Don’t limit my choices to what the media buyer thinks I want to listen to. But if I am listening to more than a couple of songs from a band, tell me if there’s a concert in the area. Or even better, play a few songs from every band that’s going to be at the Tractor for the next few weekends. (Cool band tip from last night’s show: The Slip, http://www.theslip.com I guess they’re jazz, but sometimes it’s hard to categorize. Good rhythm, killer bass.)