Google VP tells KU audience that cloud computing, Internet by mobile is the future

Archive for Monday, November 16, 2009

Brian McClendon, vice president of engineering for Google and a Kansas University and LHS graduate, greets long-time friend Mark Henderson, Lawrence, left, after McClendon gave a lecture at KU’s Nichols Hall. McClendon was a co-creator of Google Earth.

November 16, 2009

Google VP talks tech at KU

A Google VP talked to students on the KU campus about technology of the future. The discussion focused on cloud computing and programming mobile applications. Enlarge video

Brian McClendon, Google vice president, predicted a movement toward Internet use on mobile phones Monday during a visit to Kansas University.

The KU and Lawrence High School graduate told his audience of mostly students and instructors about a movement toward storing data remotely, so that users can access it anywhere.

The trend, cloud computing, is evident in Web-based e-mail systems such as Gmail, and in other Google applications such Google Docs, which stores documents and spreadsheets in remote locations so they can be accessed in any location using the Web.

He said that there are nearly 3 billion cell phones in use today — nearly enough for 50 percent of the world’s population — and more than 500 million 3G data subscribers who can access the Internet on their phones, a number that is projected to grow steadily.

“The future of the Internet is the mobile phone,” he said, saying that, soon, people in developing countries like China and India will have only ever accessed the Internet through phones.

McClendon — who graduated in 1982 from LHS and earned an electrical engineering degree in 1986 from KU — encouraged audience members at Nichols Hall to familiarize themselves with programming languages such as Java and to work on developing Web-based applications for phones.

He also said that cable television and Internet technologies would likely continue to move toward more on-demand access.

“Not everybody’s going to watch ‘Mad Men’ at the same time anymore,” McClendon said. “What are we going to talk about?”

McClendon, who was the co-creator of Google Earth, also answered a few questions on the project, which requires an immense collection of satellite images, aerial photos and maps of terrain from across the globe.

Some of the greatest challenges on the project that seeks to present photographic depictions of the entire world at high resolutions come from aggregating the data together, and making sure things like the colors of the maps match up, he said.

“We care about settings,” on the project, he said. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but it’s one of our most important things.”

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…

Don't worry, Marion. No one wants any of your "stuff."
November 16, 2009 at 10:06 p.m.
parrothead8 (anonymous) says…

Google Docs is pretty easy and convenient to use. I'd never store personal info there, but if it's just reports or communications I may need in multiple locations I don't see it as a big deal.

Of course, I can always carry my flash drive. It's about half the size of a tube of Chapstick, weighs almost nothing, and holds an amount of data comparable to about 50 music CDs. That doesn't seem very inconvenient, and I don't have to worry about the remote server where my info is stored crashing and taking all my info down with it.

I'm not so sure about the future of the Internet being the mobile phone. I don't want to spend all my Internet time on a 2-inch screen.
November 16, 2009 at 11:37 p.m.
ruralocity (anonymous) says…

The last quote is inaccurate--he said Google cares about "aesthetics," not "settings."
November 17, 2009 at 6:14 a.m.
jayhawklawrence (anonymous) says…

New computer buzz words always have a way of making my skin crawl.

Here is Larry Ellison's take on cloud computing:

“Our industry is so bizarre. I mean, they just change a term and they think they’ve invented technology. You can’t just come up with, ‘Like, let’s call that cloud!’ and it sure beats innovation.”

That being said, I think it is very cool that Brian is from Lawrence and thinks well enough of us to come back here from time to time. We are very proud of him.

Google Earth? The killer app we were all ready for.
November 17, 2009 at 7:03 a.m.
RETICENT_IRREVERENT (anonymous) says…

What if it is a sunny day without a cloud in the sky?
November 17, 2009 at 7:46 a.m.
Keith (anonymous) says…

Larry Ellison is just miffed because nobody jumped on 'thin client' when Oracle proposed it 15 years ago.
November 17, 2009 at 8:21 a.m.
WereAllMonkeys (anonymous) says…

For those who don't know, and that is many of you....
If you search for something with Google where you were, where you went, the account you are using when you went there, what you clicked, was recorded.
If you use Gmail, all of your emails are kept, mined for data for whatever someone pays them to know, such as about items you may want to buy. Try it out, send your self an email about something like 52" plasma screen tvs. Open the email, and take a look at the ads on the right side, Look at that! Plasma screen tv's!
Fear the Google people, they want to know everything about you, whether you want them to or not.
November 17, 2009 at 8:38 a.m.
leeroy_johnson (anonymous) says…

I am waiting for home clouds where your data can automatically federate between the two. Google Gears is getting there, but they need something more.
November 17, 2009 at 8:54 a.m.
CaraB (anonymous) says…

Cloud computing isn't the future - it's the now. I write Web content, and working with clients and other copywriters using apps like Google Docs makes work so much more efficient. In my world, cloud computing isn't just a trend - it's a new way of conducting business.
November 17, 2009 at 10:04 a.m.
berehmer (Belinda Rehmer) says…

Look at where we have come in my lifetime alone. b/w tv - color -HD and beyond; party line phones - cell phones-internet phones; mimmeograph copies - photo copiers; telegraph - fax - email... and the list goes on! I don't doubt that Cloud Computing is just another "new beginning". I didn't think I would ever even want a cell phone, and now I'm picking up emails and texting through my phone everyday... It's people like Brian that keep us moving to new heights and I'm proud he's from Lawrence. I only wish I could "think outside the box" myself!
November 17, 2009 at 10:43 a.m.
natehaas (Nathaniel Haas) says…

The following are some quick notes I took, for anyone interested:

"google earth and cloud computing"

graduated ee at ku 1986

philippines, vietnam, pakistan doing autocartography with google maps

google data centers near hydroelectric dams for cooling and power

data is replicated 3 times (typically)

upon failure, software replicates again
gfs master: manages file metadata
gfs chunkserver: manages chunks of 64mb

google has 200+ gfs clusters

larger clusters: 5000+ machines, 5+ PB

big table
distributed, persistent, multi-level storage of large tables
supports basic db functions (like join)
built on gfs

mapreduce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapReduce

imagery
SPOT, GeoEye, aerial

terrain
srtm, lidar

vector
roads, borders, city names, photos, wikipedia

google earth imagery processing
(aesthetics, not science)
color correction
orthorectification, imagery alignment
blending between high/low resolution images
multi-resolution decimation
database generation

google earth launch in 2005
half of google's bandwidth at the time

google earth databases are replicated around the world

storage, compute, network bandwidth, parallel processing

go! handles threading much better

low coast acquisition device
brazil, cessnas

update frequency
ideally 2 yrs
realistically 5-10 yrs

push error fixes every 7 days
fix errors within 30 days

android voice recognition
upload, parallel processing
limited dictionary (viz. localized search based on user's current location)

webgl not built to handle something like google earth
needs 1-150 mil triangles a second
November 17, 2009 at 1:13 p.m.