Christian – My parents… hands down!

Adam – Chick-Fil-A lunches on Friday.

Scott – That my family is healthy.

Elise – My family and friends.

Melissa – My family, friends, and this break from the humidity

Michele – My pets, especially my dog Buddy!

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday?

The cloud movement gained serious traction this week as Netflix announced it will move most of its online resources to Amazon’s Simple Storage Service, or S3.

In Netflix’s case, user queues and a massive movie library will be moved over to Amazon’s servers for storage.  When you download a movie from Netflix, you will actually be receiving the information from an Amazon S3 server.

With such a high profile web-based business turning to a cloud for storage, what does this mean for the future of cloud computing?

Up in the Air

For any business, big or small, cloud computing services represents a significant cost saving tool that outsources storage and maintenance to a third party.  While cloud networks are still expensive to construct, companies with global server networks are now focused on selling the right to use their infrastructure at an attractive price.

For most organizations, this is significantly cheaper than constructing their own cloud from the ground up, and the computing world is beginning to take notice.  If a business relies on a cloud service, all it takes is an internet connection to upload and access data while taking advantage of the same technical and security benefits a company like Amazon enjoys.

Netflix may be the biggest convert so far, but that doesn’t mean Amazon isn’t already a major player in cloud computing.  The number of individual items stored on Amazon S3 skyrocketed from half a billion in 2006 to more than more than 40 billion by the end of 2008.

Building to Scale

Cloud computing is eminently scalable.  If you run an online tax service, for example, your data load and bandwidth demands on January 1 will be a fraction of what you’ll experience on April 15 as legions of late filers scramble to beat the deadline.

You could build your own network with enough computing power and redundancy to cover your busiest week of the year.  If your network can’t handle that workload, your service may be slow or even unresponsive.  Or you could use a service like Amazon S3, which is already built to accommodate spikes in traffic without any interruption of service.

With proven advantages and cost savings, it seems like all cloud computing needed to become the storage method of choice was a big client willing to phase out their own infrastructure and climb on board.  Like it or not, Netflix may just be the impetus for a cloud revolution.

Banking on the Cloud

When we started building the First Bank and Trust Tuition Lending site, it soon became clear that cloud computing was the way to go.  With over 100 schools and over 20,000 families signed up for the online tuition application and payment service, demand on the system skyrockets every year as thousands of parents apply for loans shortly before the deadline.

Instead of building out for the largest possible number of parents that could be using the system at the same time, we transferred hosting duties to EngineYard, which leverages S3, allowing us to scale the amount of processing power for the system up and down as demand fluctuates.

After seeing one of our major clients benefit from cloud computing, we began looking for ways to utilize Amazon S3 for ourselves.  Mudbug Media has developed over 750 websites for orthopedic surgeons affiliated with medical technology provider Stryker Corporation, each of which features an assortment of videos.  With so many videos to store, we are in the process of moving our entire catalogue onto Amazon S3, putting valuable content at our fingertips without having to buy more disk space or tie up server resources.

One thing that is a safe assumption for the foreseeable future is a steady increase in online data as websites continue to evolve, and relying on cloud computing for data storage may play a big part in that evolution.

While the new device’s launch has been peppered with connectivity problems, it’s definitely a game changer in the technology world.  Aside from making a nice salsa, the iPad represents the latest and greatest user-friendly tablet technology, making media more accessible than ever before.

And yes, it blends.

But the iPad also represents a sea change in the web and application development world.  Websites and apps that have been optimized for the iPhone’s 3.5 inch screen seem to be gobbled up by the iPad’s 9.7 inch screen.

Programmers and developers are changing the way they optimize sites and develop apps for mobility, which can be easier said than done.

Booking it

The iPad’s Facebook app has a lot of catching up to do.  The difference in screen size from the iPhone screen the app was originally designed for means a lot of unused real estate right now.  Instead of the Facebook app taking up the entire iPad screen, it is limited to an area the size of the iPhone’s smaller screen, leaving a dead zone around the edges.

Like all iPhone apps running on the iPad, if you choose to use the app in doubled-up full screen mode, when you look at status updates or really any text on Facebook the words looks distorted and messy.  Now, you can always just log onto the internet directly and view Facebook that way, but the whole point behind iPhones and iPads has always been convenience and a tailored interface and it’s much easier to just tap an icon on the main screen.

Optimizing an app for the iPad’s larger screen means ensuring every inch of the screen is utilized to the best of the device’s ability, but the app itself can also be laid out differently.  The Marvel Comics app is absolutely beautiful.  There is an iPhone version, but the iPad version is much more impressive and the features have been tweaked for the iPad.

The new app is tailored for the physical attributes of the iPad, allowing for more robust swipes and taps across the larger screen. Viewing your library of comics, as well as browsing the Marvel store is not only easier on the iPad, but much more visually impressive.

NPR rocks the pad

The NPR app on the iPad is one of the most exciting examples of iPad optimization that I have seen so far.  The iPad app behaves nothing like any other version of NPR that you have seen before and it’s literally hands-on.  It allows you to scan multiple articles, videos and podcasts while reading an article or listening to your local station. You can even build a custom playlist of NPR content like Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and Car Talk to listen to in the background.

NPR’s website looks static by comparison.  The iPad app takes full advantage of the larger screen, separating everything into three rolling feeds that you can easily scroll through.  The designers have incorporated all of the iPad’s functionality, allowing for quick fingertip browsing.  With this interface, only possible on the iPad, the act of consuming news, media, or entertainment is done with your hands and fingertips; you can literally just grab what you want.

Every app designed for the iPad or optimized from its iPhone version should look at what NPR and Marvel have done right out of the box.  Having a fully functioning app ready to go on day one can mean the difference between thousands of sales and dozens while you play catch up.

Game Changer

Making a website look good on a mobile device mostly involves scaling down an existing site and choosing what features or services a visitor will most likely need to access on the go. It’s about choosing what’s only essential both in terms of content and design. An iPhone app operates along much the same lines, relying heavily on the features most suited for the devices particular uses.

Creating apps for the iPad presents a new challenge for designers.  iPad apps are different from the web or desktop apps in that you perform gestures with your fingers. But the iPad is also different from the iPhone since you can display more, lay things differently and use gestures in a way that didn’t really make sense on the small screen but are perfect for a larger screen.

To go back to the NPR app, it’s a design that’s too big and complex for the iPhone, but also wouldn’t feel as natural to use or make as much sense with a keyboard and mouse. The challenge for designers and developers now is they’ll need to step up their game and be creative and innovative in new ways. The advantage is that, even if sales slow down and usage diminishes, which doesn’t seem even remotely likely, touch screen tablets are the wave of the future.

With nearly every other software company either already selling or developing an “iPad killer” tablet, it seems clear that touch screens are here to stay.  All websites will soon have to offer innovate touch screen experiences for tablet users in order to stay viable.

The question is how can your business cash in on this emerging trend? Investing in large touchscreen apps and sites is an investment in the future of how consumers will interact with media-with their hands.

We teamed up with our friends at Bayou Rebirth to help plant palmetto and cypress trees in the Bonnet Carré Spillway on March 6^th in a park that the Wetland Warriors are building to help save the wetlands.

We took to the latest volunteer activity like a fish to water, or in our case like mudbugs to mud.

Saturday morning’s weather was perfect – bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. Emily and I piled into my car, and set out on a journey to the spillway, just past the New Orleans airport. After missing a couple of highway exits, asking for directions, and passing a refinery, we turned onto a dirt road that would lead us to the coastline we would be restoring.

I couldn’t help but think while I was guiding my ancient Volvo down what was little more than a footpath that the ride was surprisingly smoother than any drive down St. Charles Avenue. Could filling potholes be our next community service activity please?

Four miles down the road, and 20 minutes later, the road opened up to a magnificent view of Lake Pontchartrain. As one of our volunteers remarked later in the day, “It’s the best view from a port o’ potty I’ve ever seen!”

The wetland park is sort of the brainchild of Wetland Warrior Milton Cambre, who in the 1950’s had the foresight to begin conservation work on the coastline. Milton explained the merit of preserving the wetlands, not just for aesthetics but because they act as a natural barrier against storms and hurricanes.

After our orientation, we rolled up our sleeves and put on what I lovingly and incorrectly referred to as “shrimpin boots.” We spent much of the morning and afternoon planting cypress and palmetto trees. Some of us were even lucky enough to be assigned the task of moving mud, which, believe it or not, was awesome!

Check out some more pictures of Mudbugs hard at work.

A good time was had by all, and when we finally collapsed into the car, sunburned and sore, we felt as if we really did do something to help save the wetlands.  Every tree counts, and we must have planted dozens of them.

To learn more about how you can volunteer, click here.