Google is a broken server

This post is for the web designers, developers, SEOers out there. But if you understand how the web works then you might get a kick out of this rather rudimentary post.

Well to me, Google is one giant broken server.

Now a regular web server that hosts websites works as expected. You develop a file on your local machine, and then you upload the file to the server. When you go to check the page that you've been working on online, you see the file or the updates that you just made. Pretty straightforward.

Now the reason I say that Google is broken is because, MOST web designers, developers and SEOers build websites and webpages that are optimized for Google. Not everyone does, but a lot of people do. And the goal of the person is to have their website show up in the Google listings or on the 'Google Server'. This is a huge industry by the way called SEO. And yes I know that Google is actually crawling the entire net and compiling a directory, but in essence it's one giant website (virtual for you tech fiends).

So when a designer, developer or SEOer creates a page on their local machine and then uploads it to the server, in this case Google, well unlike a normal server, it may or may not show up. Whether it does is as predictable as the weather. So to me, essentially you're working with a server that has glitches. One day it works and then the next day it doesn't. It's not even immediate in that you have to wait a few days or weeks or months to see your page live. And then finally when you see your page live, a week later it dissapears. That my friend is a piece of machinery that has a few screws loose.

Of course this is a facetious stance I'm taking on Google, but to me it's kind of humerous. And web development and design has become almost counter intuitive. A weird reverse cycle has been created where the developers of Google create these astonishgly complex algorithms that try to predict the way websites are built and written naturally. But then there are people, like me, who try to decipher these algorithms by creating pages that are designed for the Google algorithms. It's just one vicious, humerous, cycle.

So next time you're on Google, realize this, it's broken:)

The Internet is Dead

So here is my attempt at being Orwellian, while the technological signs are definitely pointed in the same direction as the hypothesis I came up with in the tiny little brain I call mine.

The Internet is Dead. Or at least in the future it will not exist. But here's the kicker, it's not that the world wide web won't be around, it's that it will become seamless. Meaning all of our computers will be connected to each other on the same network by default. So you will always be online. There won't be an offline state for your computer. You won't be saving files to a local hard drive. Instead you will be saving them, on what the pundits are coining currently, as the cloud. Well the cloud is about to become reality.

In fact, I don't even believe we'll have any PC hardware at home. The most we will have is a monitor and perhaps a mouse. You won't need a keyboard if your display is touch screen. Your monitor will be connected to one port in your wall that will connect you to the 'Network'. Or perhaps the monitor will be wireless? In that case, you just plug it in to get electricity.

This technology isn't even that far fetched. Google is in the talks of creating G-Drives which are hard drives that you find online. Which means you can store your files on a Google hard drive and access it from anywhere in the world.

Think Google's stock can't grow even more? Think again. There's a reason why the brains behind Google, Eric, Sergey and Larry, are investing heavily in infrastructure and computer hardware. It's because they have a long term vision of essentially being the single storage device for...well...for everybody.

Of course the major concerns with the setup are security and privacy. That will be an ongoing problem but I think it will be one everyone will settle to battle.

As for Apple, Dell, and Microsoft? They'll play big roles in technology but they will have to commit to buying some serious hardware to compete with Google. And do you think Google would allow MS Windows to run on Google hard drives? Doubt it. And yes I do mean that even your entire Operating System will be running off of these remote hard drives.

The next big player in my theory will be the Cable companies. Yup, good ol Rogers Communications here in Canada, and the big wig cable companies in the US are all going to play a major factor in ensuring, that all of our information will travel through this entire network quickly and securely. The speeds that they have to match are the ones our current local PCs are maintaining through their computer's 'buses'. Which isn't some unrealistic vision. With the advent of Fibre Obtic cable, this technology isn't that far away either.

So enjoy your Internet and admire your giant PC workstations cuz they won't be around for that much longer.

I think Orwell would be proud.

Punk in Drublic

I'm going to start a punk series on my blog. Because I can. I got into punk music in high school and it went hand in hand with my skater/snowboarder days. That's when me and my buddies were all bad asses. That's when bands like The Offspring, Green Day and Nirvana were all getting their start. I fell in love with the California punk scene in particular. Bands like Bad Religion, Nofx and one band in particular called Lag Wagon.

Lag Wagon was pretty hardcore skater punk. Songs with fast riffs featuring lyrics of road trips and beer goggles. Their debut album was called Duh. Joey Cape is the front man of LagWagon and he has contributed to the punk movement significantly. He's had many side projects, including one of my favourite bands of all time, Bad Astronaut; and he's even released solo albums. Joey Cape is this short brown haired Italian guy who you wouldn't think would tear up the punk scene.

Lag Wagon continued to make records including albums such as Hoss, Blaze, Double Pladinum and Trashed. Their latest album is called I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen To Lag Wagon and it's a shot at themselves for being so old. But when you think about it, it's really making fun of all the fans for being old and still listening to them. So really it's making fun of me. So be it.

On a serious note, one of the band's original drummers Derrick Plourde took his own life for reasons only he and his close family will ever know. This was obviously devastating to the band and Joey. Their next album called Resolve was written entirely about Derrick and expressed the anger, despair and sadness felt by all in the band. Derrick was an amazing drummer.

I had the opportunity to go and see Lag Wagon live in Toronto and it was one of my favourite concerts. They absolutely rocked the house. At first as I headed toward the venue I had a sense of trepidation that I would be surrounded by teenagers who maybe got into the band late. But to my surprise it was mostly all of us original fans. And we all bonded and celebrated our oldness together and enjoyed a wicked band.

So, check out Lag Wagon