I signed up for a soundcloud account today. The basic idea is again cloud storage, but it is a valid way to embed audio clips into a variety of websites, blog, and other applications. Cloud computing is a tricky thing, boon or pitfall? The great thing about cloud computing and cloud storage is in the ease of access from any location away from home computer or terrestrial storage device, also adding the advantage of ease of share and multiple contributors and input across geographic boundaries. The idea of digital convergence becoming more integrated and less a sales tool- its actually becoming a necessity. The evolution of the Internet has definitely begun to move in avalanche towards the cloud, of course the experts predicted this along time ago. Apple’s move toward cloud commerce was signaled with the advent of itunes but has been sealed with the app store. It is simultaneously exciting to see Apple endeavor to kill the CD/DVD rom drive with quickness, but also unsettling to consider the rise of the gatekeepers of online independence. I’m not really here to say that Apple is a dark overlord. My thoughts simply center on the idea of goods and services that are bought and sold- bought out or sold by larger corporation as assimilated into the parent company. Many times these companies are acquired with the aim of augmenting their own stable of offerings and others being simply a way of killing off competition. This has always been the case, however the question nowadays has been a matter of cultural, personal and intellectual property. If Walgreen’s comes in and buys out or forces out the local pharmacy then for the customer the choice is simply how to proceed with getting their hair dye, band aids and maybe transferring over their prescriptions. This outside of the local vs. big box corporate retail battles, nothing tangible of the customer is at risk (I generalizing here). In the digital realm there is a trickier landscape being tread. Take for example the various online social networking sites that at their core trade in personal information. Does it seem odd that you must pay to find out what kind of personal info can be accumulated about you on the Internet? And those operations such as Facebook claim your personal information as their property? Claim you photos? Claim your contact list? Claim your accounts? There is a site called http://www.seppukoo.com/ Seppukoo.com where by signing up it can access you FB profile and kill it. It effectively renders your profile useless, as it seems. Useless to you, useless to your friends, and most importantly for this discussion; useless to FB. Useless in the sense that it is in fact antithetical to FB’s status and business model which is to acquire more and more information. Seppukoo invites everyone to jump ship and take their friends as well. Facebook has since of course issued a cease and desist order along the legal lines that access to Facebook accounts are in fact Facebook property. Never mind that the Facebook user initiates the act of seppuku. In normal terms this would be thought of as a rival company or service coming into a market and scooping up the customer base. In the world of Walmart- this is just how you do business.
So why am I even blathering on about this other than it fascinates me and I draw my own conclusions about the state of the world as it evolves? It also speaks to me in my thoughts about the idea of home. We as a digital culture are constantly trying to make digital nests, homes if you will. Seeking to stake some stake and claim to a sense of stability weather it be a personal homepage (sorry tripod) or a social network website that everyone isn’t going to abandon (sorry friendster) or maybe just wanting to make sure that your files are always easily accessible and on hand- just in case and when needed. Sorry Delicious, I was just finding a need for you.) Our digital river runs fast and the eddies change drastically on any given day. How does the idea of a digital sense of home function on the Internet when the foundations of some of the very platforms we support and stake claim to are as static as the boundaries regions on tectonic plates.
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