Link: CrashPlan

Like it or not, we're careening towards a future that is based on cloud computing. I believe Steve Jobs knows this and is doing everything he can to gear Apple up for these upcoming "cloudy" days. I also believe that other companies know this, but are having a difficult time adapting to the paradigm shift due to rigid business plans. And why not? Desktop computing has been the de facto standard for the better part of three decades. Why would it be in danger of collapse?

That's the problem. Smart companies anticipate changes and adapt their business model to compensate. For example, fuel companies have begun to invest capital in alternate fuel technologies (hydrogen, ethanol, solar, wind, etc.). Think about all of those BP commercials you see on television: "Beyond Petroleum." They know that fossil fuels are not endless, times will change, and they want to be ready for it. Companies such as Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have not adapted yet. Microsoft is the biggest purveyor of desktop operating systems in the world, while HP is one of the largest producers of desktop computers. They have become fat and happy on the gigantic revenues of the desktop era. Now they see that the desktop market has become saturated and there is a global push to go mobile. I'm guessing that this is probably why HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion. They need to play catch-up.

Do I think the desktop/notebook industry is going to collapse and we're all going to be walking around with iPads and iPhones in five years? No. Cloud computing is not for everybody and it will not be adopted immediately. Heck, even I prefer to keep my personal files on a local backup hard drive. But the promise of perpetual mobile computing certainly sounds fantastic and the allure of convenience has a funny way of reshaping our lives.

Anyway, I'm just paraphrasing much of the information that exists in the above linked article. Give it a read next time you have five or ten minutes of spare time. I think it's a great snapshot of the future of computing.

Yeah, I know. My posts haven't exactly been fast and/or furious lately, but things pick up rather randomly around here. Three posts here, five posts there. It adds up.

Granted, the only extra thing I needed was the display adapter, but I also chose to upgrade the hard drive. I replaced the factory 320gb drive with a 640gb Western Digital Scorpio drive, effectively doubling my storage space. Considering the amount of digital video content I'll be storing on the computer, it seemed like a wise decision. As with most Apple computers, they design them so that the average consumer cannot replace or upgrade parts themselves. To that I say, "Ha!" The inside of the Mac Mini was a bit tight and cracking the chassis open required some sweat (and a putty knife), but it ended up being a fairly straightforward endeavor. To give you an idea how long this project might take, I took a time-lapse video.

Why do I wear blue surgical gloves while I film this video? For one, I bite my fingernails (bad habit, I know) so I prefer to hide them. Secondly, I don't like getting hand oils all over sensitive electronic components.