The Cloud

While justifying the educational value of our second group project, Rob said the best way to learn something it to teach it to someone else. I have to agree with him there. So if you were like me in class on Wednesday, and you mentally checked out during the discussion of the ambivalent "Cloud" and still want to know more, this post will hopefully clear things up.

A cool e-book was one of the first things to pop up when I began my search. I pulled this quote because I think it illustrates the power of the Cloud:

If you upload your photos, store critical files online and use a web-based email service like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, an 18-wheel truck could run over your laptop and all your data would still safely reside on the web, accessible from any Internet-connected computer, anywhere in the world.

I still didn't how it worked, so I kept hunting. I came across a technology blogger named Jay Lee who explained it like this, "In the most layman of terms, cloud computing simply refers to resources and applications that are available on the Internet from just about any Internet connected device." He used email as an example of information that is stored in the Cloud and accessible though any device connected to the Internet, and suddenly it all made sense.

Peter Diamandis and the X Prize

Even as early as 2005, Peter Diamandis possessed a rare thing: a optimistic outlook on our future. In a world where theories of our eminent destruction outnumber theories on how to overcome, Diamandis' ideas become spots of light in a sea of grey. He delivered a TED Talk in July 2005 discussing space exploration, our "next great leap," and how it is humanity's "moral imperative" to do so. How did he plan on accomplishing this? He made a competition out of it.

The X Prize Foundation was created by Diamandis in 1995. It's mission is to "bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity" in the field of technology with categories that include exploration, life sciences, energy and the environment, and education and global development. Today, the foundation is regarded as one of the leading innovators of scientific research. And this isn't some nerdy, global science fair. The developer of the winning prototype receives 10 million dollars.