Megatrends, Ledakan Konten dan Cloud

Sabtu, 03/07/2010 12:05 WIB
Catatan dari Hong Kong
Megatrends, Ledakan Konten dan Cloud
Nurul Hidayati - detikinet

Ilustrasi (nrl/inet)

Jakarta - Masih ada 'oleh-oleh' menarik dari gelaran Hewlett-Packard (HP) di Hong Kong penghujung Juni lalu yang sayang dilewatkan. Salah satunya adalah soal Megatrends. Istilah ini dipopulerkan oleh futurolog John Naisbitt pada dekade 1980-an. Kala itu Naisbitt meramalkan 'information economy.'

Executive Vice President Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) Hewlett-Packard (HP) Vyomesh Joshi (VJ) mengadopsi istilah Megatrends dalam paparannya di depan seratusan wartawan teknologi se-Asia Pasifik bertempat di Shaw Studio milik rakasasa film Shaw Brothers.

VJ memaparkan bahwa salah satu 'Megatrends' adalah ledakan konten. "700 miliar gigabyte dihasilkan konsumen. Dalam 3 tahun ke depan, akan ada 7.000 miliar gigabyte atau 10 kali lipat konten," ujarnya.

Menurut pria keturunan India ini, jaringan sosial adalah tren kunci yang pertama, contohnya seperti Facebook, Viralspace, Orkut, QQ, lebih banyak waktu yang dihabiskan di sini dibandingkan dari gabungan Yahoo dan Google sekalipun.

Tren kunci kedua adalah mobilitas di dunia. Dia menyebut, penetrasi internet di AS mencapai 76 persen, China 20 persen dan India 7 persen.

"45 persen dari pengguna Internet berada di Asia dan itu sedang tumbuh. Mobile web akan menjadi fenomena di Asia. Bagaimana konsumen memakai pirantinya untuk produktivitas dan berbagi konten?" ujarnya.

Tren ketiga adalah semuanya berubah menjadi digital. "10 Tahun lalu, semua kamera analog. Namun sekarang, tak seorang pun memiliki kamera analog, semuanya digital," kata mantan eksekutif Yahoo ini.

Tiga tren kunci inilah yang akan mendorong ledakan konten dan melahirkan ide bagaimana konsumen mengkreasi konten, berbagai konten dan mencetak konten itu. Dan mulailah VJ 'menjual' revolusi teknologi printernya yang berbasis web.

"Dunia lama (mencetak) membutuhkan PC, printer dan driver. Dunia baru adalah tentang smartphone, tentang tablet, tentang iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTunes dan tentang cloud," ujarnya.

HP telah menjajal printer yang juga berisi aplikasi konten pihak ketiga ini seperti American Idol, Nickelodeon, BBC, dsb itu tahun lalu. Dari situ ditarik kesimpulan bahwa 70% konsumen mendownload aplikasi itu.

"Nickelodeon secara mengejutkan menjadi aplikasi nomor satu kami. Mengapa? Karena dia selalu memiliki konten segar. Konsumen harus selalu mendapatkan konten baru," ujarnya. Selain itu, navigasi yang memudahkan konten dikonsumsi juga penting. "Konten sangat penting seperti halnya navigasi," tukas VJ.

Aplikasi pihak ketiga itu, menurut dia, seperti 'ditarik' dari situs aslinya untuk dibenamkan di printer tersebut. Untuk itu, HP perlu memiliki infrastruktur tempatnya bisa 'tekan' dan 'tarik'. "Kami butuh infrastruktur cloud untuk mengelola semua ini secara efektif," ungkapnya.

VJ menekankan web adalah fenomena besar di Asia. "Bagian penting dari arsitektur ini adalahcloud, cloud adalah pusat untuk membuat semuanya sangat mudah," ujarnya.

Printer berbasis web memberikan pengalaman ngeprint yang berbeda dan penuh gaya. Selain memberikan perintah lewat email, konsumen bisa 'bermain-main' dengan puluhan aplikasi konten di layar printer bagaikan memencet-mencet smartphone-nya yang penuh aplikasi konten informatif dan menghibur.

"Ini adalah alat yang sangat berbeda, ini bukan printer tapi piranti konten," ujar Joshi. Bicara soal aplikasi ini, tiap negara akan memiliki fasilitas berbeda disesuaikan dengan kebutuhan setempat (dilokalisasi). Di negeri asalnya, HP telah menginjeksi 50-an aplikasi konten yang bisa diprint oleh konsumennya setelah melewati proses kustomisasi.

Misalnya saja tokoh-tokoh animasi dari Dreamworks yang bisa diprint hitam putih lalu diwarnai oleh anak-anak balita kita (kertas bergambar), berita-berita terkini dari BBC atau pun kupon diskon belanja dari OK Cashbag.

Lalu bagaimana penerapan aplikasi dari partner pada printer mutakhir ini di Indonesia? Dalam gelaran di Hong Kong, HP tidak membicarannya secara rinci per negara. Namun mengimajinasikannya sah-sah saja bukan? Bayangkan di layar Touchsmart
printer tersebut telah terpasang aplikasi detikfood.com yang penuh dengan resep masakan.

Dan dengan sedikit sentuhan, resep yang Anda inginkan bisa Anda pilah lalu voila... dalam hitungan detik resep pilihan itu telah tercetak di depan mata. Tak ayal, syahdan ada juga pengguna rumahan yang menempatkan piranti ini di dapur, khusus
untuk memanfaatkan aplikasi "icip-icip"-nya!

( nrl / ash )

http://www.detikinet.com/read/2010/07/03/111358/1392150/317/megatrends-ledakan-konten-dan-cloud/?i991102105?topnews

5 Common Habits That Cost You Dearly

Kerry K. Taylor, On Thursday July 1, 2010, 10:19 am EDT

Most of us are guilty of a few bad habits during our lifetimes. There's eating too much of the fun stuff, not exercising enough to burn it off, and spending tomorrow's paycheck today. Sure, getting fit and keeping a budget can be tough habits to keep, but avoiding these five common bad habits can add some easy money to your bottom line.

[Slideshow: 10 Things to Splurge on This Summer.]

1. Paying only the minimum balance. Paying just the minimum on your credit card balance every month may keep your creditors happy, but it's not helping you pay off the growing interest charges.

Credit card companies love to highlight the Minimum Payment Due on your monthly bills -- it's a trick they use to stretch out your payments for years, costing you hundreds and even thousands of dollars in interest. For example, a $5,000 balance with a monthly minimum payment of 4 percent and an APR of 18 percent will take you just over 11 years to pay off, costing you around $2,875 in total interest paid.

Don't believe me? Check out this Credit Card Calculator to get a head start today and see the real cost of paying only the minimum. Results are shocking, and you may just rethink your minimum payment habit since it can cost you thousands.

2. Buying a brand new car. If you love that new car smell then take a whiff of how much you've lost in depreciation just by driving it off the lot. According to popular car site Edmunds, "New cars depreciate very quickly when they are first sold. Drive a new car off the lot and it can lose 20 percent of its value."

The Edmunds True Cost To Own calculator shows the math behind this common depreciation. For example, a brand new 2010 Subaru Outback with a sticker price of $25,221 depreciates a startling $4,138 in the first year of ownership, $2,690 in the second year, and another $2,367 in the third. That's over a third of the car's initial value depreciating in three years.

Why pay such a steep price when there's a smarter driving habit to consider? Buying a used car can save you big! Opting for a used car over a new one will not only cost you thousands less on the initial price, but the depreciation is less drastic too. That same Subaru Outback only depreciates around $1,800 in year five, so skipping the new wheels and driving a gently used car will save you thousands of dollars a year.

If you're in the market for a newly used car, learn the gotchas in How To Buy a Used Car (without sipping lemonade). This guide on How to Sell Your Used Car Online is helpful if you're looking to sell your clunker for something with fewer miles.

3. Smoking. We all know that smoking is terrible for your health, but have you considered what this deadly habit does to your wealth? By smoking one pack of cigarettes a day at an average cost of $5.33 per pack, this common habit can cost $1,945 in just one year. After five years, you've burned through over $9,700 dollars just to light up. Not to mention the potential for steep health care costs down the road.

4. Keeping a drafty attic. If your house has an attic, then chances are it's leaking dozens of dollars a year in energy costs. Adding insulation and making the attic hatch airtight with weather stripping can reduce your year-round energy use between 20 to 60 percent, saving you hundreds a year. Try these easy 3 Attic Insulation Methods to Seal in Savings to cut these drafty leaks from your wallet. While you're looking for energy savings, consider buying a few inexpensive foam insulation gaskets and outlet plugs to Child Proof Your Electrical Outlets to Cut Energy Costs -- this is a fun and easy DIY project.

[See 6 Ways to Cut Costs on Your Next Move.]

5. Ignoring your student debt. You graduated how many years ago? Stop procrastinating and pay down that student loan already. Keeping that debt around for years isn't the best way to relive your college years, especially since it's costing you dearly in interest charges to carry the balance. If you don't have a plan to conquer the debt, grab a simple calculator and look at ways to increase your payments. I wrote about my own student loan experience in How I Paid Off My Student Debt in Six Months, and managed to break free from a $17,000 loan fast. You can do it too.

Kerry K. Taylor writes at Squawkfox.com, a blog where personal finance and frugal living are sexy, delicious, and fun. Kerry is the author of 397 Ways To Save Money: Spend Smarter & Live Well on Less.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-Common-Habits-That-Cost-You-usnews-2188228706.html?x=0

Farmers defend way of life with Facebook, Twitter

AP – In this photo taken Tuesday, June 29, 2010, dairyman Ray Prock tweets with his cell phone phone at Ray-Lin …

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By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jul 2, 3:22 pm ET

DENAIR, Calif. – When a video of dairy cows being punched and prodded with pitchforks was recently released by an animal rightsgroup, it made the rounds on YouTube and generated the expected angry responses.

But it also raised a flurry of outrage from another corner of the Internet: Farmers fought back, blogging, tweeting, uploading their own videos and chatting on Facebook to defend their industry and explain the abuse did not represent their practices.

Growers aren't usually thought of as a wired, social-networking bunch. But frustration at being the targets of tech-wise environmental or animal rights groups has inspired them to get involved with social media and answer in kind.

Armed with smart phones that allow them to post status updates from a tractor seat and increasingly comfortable issuing pithy one-liners on the short-messaging site Twitter, they're going online to tell their own stories, connect to a public they feel doesn't understand them, exchange information and break the isolation they feel on the farm.

"There is so much negative publicity out there, and no one was getting our message out," said Ray Prock Jr., a second-generation Central California dairy farmer whose blog posts and tweets relay information on everything from emergency drills for handling manure spills to lactose intolerance.

Prock was among those who responded to the video, taking time out from his family vacation to vent his frustration.

"Every other farmer I know who cares for animals has at one time or another put those animals' well being ahead of their own or their families' time or needs," he wrote on his blog.

Prock's wife and two children live on the 240-acre farm, and his 9-year-old son has started helping his father, uncles and grandfather care for the family's 450 cows.

"This is where my family lives — I care for the air, and the water, the environment, the cows," Prock said, walking through the open, airy barns. "This is what I wish I could show people."

The dairy industry in particular has been the focus of undercover videotaping by animals rights groups. In one video released on YouTube, a cow too weak to walk to slaughter is run over by a forklift operator. In another video posted in October, workers at a Vermont slaughterhouse kicked day-old calves.

Animal rights advocates turned to social media because they didn't have the money to counter advertisements paid for by farm marketing groups, said Nathan Runkle, director of Mercy For Animals, the organization responsible for the video showing the cows being prodded with pitchforks. He said farmers would do better to focus their efforts on reform because without bad practices, there'd be no bad publicity to counter.

Farmers say the videos are shocking but don't represent how most of them treat their animals. They worry Americans won't realize this because they're several generations removed from life on the farm, don't know any farmers and have little idea how their food is produced. The only information about food and farming that most people get comes from the Internet, and exchanges were taking place on sites like YouTube or Twitter without any input from farmers.

"We weren't part of the conversation," Prock said. "And if we aren't telling our story, other people will, and they'll tell it the way they want to."

He now has nearly 11,000 followers on Twitter — many of them farmers empathizing about things like working in 100-plus degree heat. But he also answers questions from followers trying to make sense of the buzzwords they hear: What makes a cow "free range," or what exactly constitutes a "family farm"?

Prock and a handful of other farmers also have started the AgChat Foundation, which aims get more farmers on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other sites to explain what they do on the farm and answer questions from the public.

They're holding their first social media training in August and hope to soon have grants for farmers who are interested in social media but don't have the tools — smart phones, laptops and broadband Internet connections — that would make social networking easier.

Kelly Rivard, a 20-year-old college student in Chicago, started posting on Twitter and blogging about agriculture on her site, Midwestern Gold, in part as a way to keep in touch with farming.

The interest from farmers she met online was such that next month she'll give her first crash course in Chicago on using social media for farm advocacy.

"The idea is to slowly introduce them, even if they don't use it right away," she said.

Others are finding the interactive media are just the simplest, most direct way of sharing information.

Matthew Fidelibus, a researcher and farm adviser for the University of California, Davis, started using Twitter as a way to get important information to grape growers quickly — if the risk of powdery mildew on grapevines was high for a particular region, farmers could react in time, for example.

A tool like Facebook, which allows participants to share photos or video, takes the interaction further. Farmers can post a picture of something problematic — say, a worm they can't identify — and get advice from experts like Fidelibus or each other immediately.

Social sites are ideal for this purpose — easy, fast and free, at a time when state support for university extension programs is dwindling, he said.

National marketing groups that represent farmers have also taken action. In California's Central Valley, there have been three panels over the last three months on farm uses for social media as part of various ag related conferences.

Dairy Management Inc., a group funded by dairy producers, hired a 20-something to help their members learn to navigate social Web sites.

After three webinars and two in-person trainings, Jolene Griffin has given 1,200 farmers and others involved in agriculture her basic pitch on what social media is about and how to best use it.

"We tell them you can do this from your phone in the milking parlor," she said. "There are so many applications, but we really encourage them to just pick one, dip their toes into it, get familiar with it."

___

Online:

AgChat Foundation: http://agchat.org/

Ray Prock Jr.: http://raylindairy.wordpress.com/

Midwestern Gold: http://illinois-corn.blogspot.com/

Mercy For Animals: http://www.mercyforanimals.org/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_food_and_farm_blogging_farmers

Elaborate, storybook-worthy castles come to modern-day real life

• by Emily Hsieh, Shine staff, on Thu Jul 1, 2010 1:53pm PDT

The Chateau de Guedelon, as seen on BBC News

If you’ve ever been to a medieval castle or church, you too have marveled at their grandeur and also wondered how the heck people were able to construct these things centuries ago, without the aid of the bulldozers, cranes, and power tools.

As BBC News reports, there’s a French guy who’s been mulling over this very issue, and as a result, decided to conduct a somewhat insane, over-the-top elaborate architectural experiment deep in the forests of central France. Local landowner Michel Guyot is in the process of erecting a real-deal castle, called Chateau de Guedelon, staying true to the building methodologies and materials of the 13th century.

The project began in 1998, and a dozen years later, it’s still far from finished (completion isn’t due until around 2023!). But considering that workmen are fashioning walls out of red Burgundy clay, blacksmiths are forging nails by hand, and even ropes, baskets, and roof tiles are all made on site, it’s not at all surprising.

The construction site has turned into a major tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year, who flock to the woodsy location to view the craftsmen—who, incidentally, dress the part in authentically old time-y-looking garb—in action. It’s kind of like the older French version of colonial Williamsburg.

As it turns out, it’s not the only modern-day castle out there. There are actually several extravagant examples right here on our home turf. Check out our slideshow below to view a round-up of some of our favorites. And should you be inspired to have your very own, check out Castle Magic, a company that allows you to select from a slew of pre-designated styles and customizes plans to get yours built—you can even opt to have your own drawbridge and moat!

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Wing’s Castle in Millbrook, New York

Wing’s Castle is a labor of love by artist Peter Wing for his wife Toni Ann. Wing designed and built the castle on his own (made almost entirely of recycled materials!)—a project that began in 1970 and was completed 22 years later. Now he’s back at work building a second castle behind it, to be used as a bed and breakfast upon completion.

Photo by: Tara Wing

Related: real life castles, michel guyot, chateau de guedelon, castles, castle magic, bbc news

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/haven/elaborate-storybook-worthy-castles-come-to-modern-day-real-life-1911594/#photoViewer=1