WEBVTT - How the Google-Apple Cloud Computer Will Work

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? Which

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<v Speaker 1>tech stuff from how Stuff Works dot com. Ei there,

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<v Speaker 1>welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Poulett and

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<v Speaker 1>I'm one of the editors here at How Stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>And with me is writer Jonathan Strickland Aldie. And UM,

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<v Speaker 1>today we're going to be talking about an article that

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<v Speaker 1>I wrote, UM sometime ago called how the Google Apple

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<v Speaker 1>Cloud Computer will work? UM. And UM, just to give

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<v Speaker 1>you a little background about it, UH, this is a

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<v Speaker 1>completely hypothetical product. UM. That's something that writer Nicholas Carr

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<v Speaker 1>was talking about in his blog and a post in

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<v Speaker 1>October two thousand seven. UM. And basically what he said

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<v Speaker 1>was that because the future of computing is cloud computing, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>and because Apple is such a great technology provider and

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<v Speaker 1>Google would be such a good back end, UM, it

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<v Speaker 1>would be really neat if they came up with a

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<v Speaker 1>portable device that Apple made that Google would supply the

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<v Speaker 1>the back end for the computing power for And the

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<v Speaker 1>thing is it may sound completely fictional, but UM, I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know. You've been writing a lot about cloud computer

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<v Speaker 1>and for those of you who don't know. Cloud computing

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<v Speaker 1>is is when you've got a network of computers or

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<v Speaker 1>even supercomputers that does all the processing power for you.

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<v Speaker 1>You use your computer to to log in and access

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<v Speaker 1>these resources, so your computer is not doing the work,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a network doing it. UM and Google is very

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<v Speaker 1>much interested in this. UH. They've been pouring millions of

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<v Speaker 1>dollars of research into cloud computing over the last couple

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<v Speaker 1>of years, so half of that equation seems to already

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<v Speaker 1>be well on its way. The question is whether or

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<v Speaker 1>not some hardware producer will come up with the the

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<v Speaker 1>hardware end of at the front end, if you will. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>That's that's where the largest amount of speculation is because

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<v Speaker 1>we know that are a company's doing the back end.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Google is just one of them. There's also IBM

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<v Speaker 1>and Microsoft is also interested as well as others. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's coming. We just don't know who's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>giving you the the hardware you'll be using to access

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<v Speaker 1>it if if you're not just using a regular computer

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<v Speaker 1>that is yeah, it's UM you know. Of course, Apple

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<v Speaker 1>has gotten a lot of positive feedback for design, especially

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<v Speaker 1>with it's more recent UM things like the iPod and

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<v Speaker 1>the iPhone, And really, I guess in a way, the

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<v Speaker 1>iPhone is already cloud computer of source. I mean you

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<v Speaker 1>could use Google Docs or some of the other cloud

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<v Speaker 1>computing programs right now on an iPhone or some of

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<v Speaker 1>the other phones too for that matter, right right, right,

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<v Speaker 1>But with the Google Apple program, of course, you're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about a very streamlined piece of hardware that would that

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't cost very much money. Um. I think two dollars

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<v Speaker 1>was the figure Car was throwing around. So that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>very appealing you think about that, a personal computer for

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<v Speaker 1>two d dollars. For people who aren't really expert users,

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<v Speaker 1>they might not understand that that doesn't that that that

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<v Speaker 1>computer doesn't actually have any real native capabilities. It's really

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<v Speaker 1>just a terminal to access other capabilities. Which I think

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<v Speaker 1>is probably the biggest concern is just a user awareness. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>if they don't know that this, they might be used

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<v Speaker 1>to a computer where they save all their programs onto

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<v Speaker 1>a hard drive or onto a disk. Uh. People who

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<v Speaker 1>aren't really savvy about that might have some issues buying

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<v Speaker 1>a computer that you know you can't do that it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't have that doesn't have a hard drive, or it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't have an optical drive or things like that. So

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<v Speaker 1>it's kind of funny. It reminds me of my college

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<v Speaker 1>computing days. And I'm dating myself here, but back when

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<v Speaker 1>I had to use a vax terminal basement of the

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<v Speaker 1>library where I was in college. Um, you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>basically just a monitor and a keyboard and all the

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<v Speaker 1>processing power was handled by a centralized supercomputer, right. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's going back to that timeshare model where you had

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<v Speaker 1>a central computer and and several terminals and people could

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<v Speaker 1>access the central computers resources, but the terminals themselves didn't

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<v Speaker 1>really have anything to them, I mean other than it

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<v Speaker 1>was it was just an interface. It's it's interesting because

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<v Speaker 1>it is going on a full cycle. You're going back

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<v Speaker 1>to the early days of computing with this model. It's

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<v Speaker 1>just it's on a much more complex scale. Yeah, it's

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<v Speaker 1>funny though. You have other items like the like the

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<v Speaker 1>MacBook Air, which doesn't have an optical drive built in,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, and it doesn't even have an Ethernet port,

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<v Speaker 1>so you know, all you're computing would be done wirelessly. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but it is an actual computer. It's got you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a flash um storage drive on it instead of a

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<v Speaker 1>magnetic hard drive. So that's you know, I guess in

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<v Speaker 1>a way, in some ways, we're already getting there. It's

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<v Speaker 1>just not exactly what Car had in mind. Right and

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<v Speaker 1>Apple has a reputation and of being very uh newbie friendly,

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<v Speaker 1>but right now we're just not seeing that the MacBook

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<v Speaker 1>Air I don't think is really a newbie computer. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't. I would I would think that most people

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't be purchasing an Air for their for their primary computer.

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<v Speaker 1>That's that's almost a secondary or tertiary computer for those

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<v Speaker 1>who have the resources for it, because it's a it's

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<v Speaker 1>also fairly expensive computer. But but the Apple certainly has

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<v Speaker 1>the capability of producing something very streamlined. Uh so we

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<v Speaker 1>may we may in fact see cars vision play out.

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<v Speaker 1>It might take a few more years though, Yeah. Well

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<v Speaker 1>until then, you can definitely check out how the Google

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<v Speaker 1>Apple Cloud computer will work on how stuff works dot

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<v Speaker 1>Com and we'll talk to you again soon for more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics. Because it how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot Com. Let us know what you think.

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<v Speaker 1>Send an email to podcast that how stuff Works dot

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