I, Cloud (From High Scalability) I agree that cloud computing probably will result in more job-shifting than job-cutting, but I wouldn’t be so sure that software can’t use context to make human-like judgment calls. (see, e.g., IBM’s Watson supercomputer).

Verizon Medical Data Cloud on Track to Serve 350,000 Doctors (From SearchCloudComputing.com) It looks like the “Field of Dreams” logic works for data clouds, too: If you build it, they will come. Even one of three doctors uploading records there could mean a big improvement in health care efficiency.

However, checking in this morning on the social media accompanying the series? Disappointing. NBC is accompanying the show with some video extra features as well as some social media — but the efforts range from mildly entertaining to flat-out disjointed.

Starting with the good: Going through the Twitter messages from characters after the fact is kinda fun, especially given whomever is responsible for the social media campaign went to the trouble of making an account for relatively random characters (who may hold bigger secrets).

They’ve also done a decent job of modeling the fictional President’s Twitter account after the real Barack Obama account. And the touch of syndicating the real Twitter accounts of the cast on the NBC site is nice.

But beyond that, all that’s on the horizon for web content is some yet-to-come video “deconstructing” the show as well as two different sites: The Event is Coming and TruthSeeker. Here’s where things get annoying.

TruthSeeker is a so-far unutilized blog and Twitter account promising to reveal secrets from within the Martinez administration; creator Nick Wauters told TV Squad that the character behind TruthSeeker is a character who appeared in the pilot, and whose identity will be revealed at a later date. That’s fine — but on the night of the premiere, there’s only one blog entry and three pretty weak Twitter updates. Anyone hoping for real substantive content will find themselves disappointed.

Meanwhile, The Event is Coming is an incoherent hodgepodge of blog entries from the show’s producers and “in-game” news articles about President Martinez and his campaign. The News section is particularly disastrous. While there are one or two interesting clues to be found here — if you dig a little, for example, you’ll find out that the Alaskan detention facility was originally built in 1944 — there’s no narrative logic to the site, no justification for why this data is available alongside musings from the show’s producer.

Overall, looking at what’s in place so far is disappointing when compared to the eight different social media components that ABC’s FlashForward launched with last year, some of which represented truly inspired and engaging interactivity. In fact, with so many good examples of transmedia campaigns built to support mainstream properties, there’s almost something offensive about how artless this is.

Then again, FlashForward got canceled, and it’s a bit early to give up on the show (if only because — spoilers! — I do want to know what happened to that airplane). So we’ll just have to see how things evolve.

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Remember also that the iPhone 4 is only available for sale in five countries so far, including Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the U.S. Even with the limited initial launch, Apple had trouble keeping the iPhone in stock and shortages caused crowds to become disgruntled at multiple locations.

Steve Jobs apologized for the delays, while also patting himself on the back for a job well done. “This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” he said. “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

The iPhone 4 reached record heights despite numerous reports of signal problems when the phone is held in a certain way, with fingers touching two contact points in the steel band surrounding the case, which doubles as an antenna. While some news outlets are billing the flaw as a major design problem, not all units appear to be affected, and Steve Jobs has advised users who are affected to either hold it a different way or put a case on the iPhone to prevent issues.

The new iPhone also has yet to be offered in significant quantities at secondary retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, so when stock levels are sufficient enough to allow for more presence there, we’ll most likely see more big gains. AT&T is also having trouble keeping the device in stock, and I wouldn’t hold my breath for Apple sticking to the July date promised if you don’t live in one of the initial launch countries.

For context, remember that the iPhone 3GS sold almost half this number during its launch weekend, with one million units moved, and Canada, Italy, Spain and Switzerland were among the first countries to get the device that time around. When the iPhone 4 launches in 15 more countries next month, expect sales to break even more numbers, despite any negative press Apple happens to be getting regarding reception issues and the breakability of the iPhone’s case when dropped from relatively small distances.

If you haven’t yet purchased an iPhone 4, but were planning to, are the reported problems with the device influencing your decision at all? I’m in Canada, but I still plan on picking one up next month when it comes out, even if there is no sure fix for the receptions issues. Am I just a glutton for punishment, or do the benefits outweigh the downsides?

To some degree, Nokia’s move towards MeeGo for high-end smartphones is actually old news. This past December, Nokia outlined a strategy that included delivery of the first Maemo 6 device in the second half of 2010. Maemo morphed into MeeGo two months later, so while the planned platform did shift, it was clear late last year that a change was underfoot. But Symbian was still in the mix at that time, with Nokia saying it would “re-engineer our Symbian user interface” in 2010. From what I’ve seen of  Symbian^3 so far, Nokia is making progress, but now that progress will be applied to lower-end smartphones — even after it designed a potentially high-margin, flagship Symbian^3 device. As far as I’m concerned, that means Nokia still hasn’t quite figured out what it takes to compete well in today’s high-end, smartphone market.

Rafe Blandford from All About Maemo provides an interesting editorial take on Nokia’s strategic plans for MeeGo and the N-series devices, suggesting the web is making much ado about nothing:

One of the consequences of the narrowed scope of Nseries devices and fierce competition at the high end is that Symbian-powered Nseries devices make up only a small proportion (12% in Q1 2010, less now) of Nokia’s total Symbian device sales. The perception that the majority of Nokia’s Symbian devices are Nseries is simply inaccurate. As such, the end of Symbian-powered Nseries devices will have a relatively small impact on Nokia’s overall Symbian sales.

The figures Rafe quotes actually indicate to me that the problem is bigger than some perceive. If Nokia’s high-end smartphone series — where profit margins and opportunities for value-add services are greater — is small and shrinking, how is that a good thing? Yes, Nokia rules the worldwide roost when it comes to feature phones and the company has stemmed somewhat its smartphone market share losses. But Nokia would face a bleak future by relying on low-cost, low-margin feature phones over the long term as trends indicate a gradual shift away from feature phones to smartphones.

Perhaps I’m reading into Nokia’s reliance on feature phones too much. If that’s the case, how does the company plan to compete against Apple, Google, and Research In Motion? A history lesson might answer that question — how has Nokia competed over the last few years?

• 2007 – This year brought the first Apple iPhone as well as the highly touted Nokia N95. Running Symbian S60 3rd edition, the slider had no touchscreen and just a QVGA display. Even with an excellent 5-megapixel camera paired with Carl Zeiss optics and front-facing camera, Nokia’s worldwide smartphone share began to decline. According to figures from Canalys, Nokia’s share in the fourth quarter of 2007 fell to to 52.9 percent from 53.8 percent in the same quarter of 2006.
• 2008 — Apple introduced both the App Store and iPhone 3G, while very late in the year, Google launched its first Android device. Nokia’s revised the N95 with the N96, still running Symbian S60 3rd edition, but with feature pack 2. Others in the line included candy bar handsets such as the N78, N79 and the N85 slider, none of which helped Nokia add market share. In the second quarter of 2008, Canalys data measured a 45.5 percent share for Nokia smartphones worldwide.
• 2009 — Google Android devices really begin to proliferate, especially in the last quarter of the year due to Android 2.0 and the Motorola Droid , while Apple launched the iPhone 3GS. Nokia introduced the Symbian-powered N86 and N97 but also took experience from Internet Tablet products — the N770, N800 and N810 — and created the N900 handset running Maemo. Om felt that Nokia was on the right track, but “on a very slippery slope and unless it fields a competitive device, it will continue to see its share of the smartphone market erode.” For the third quarter of the year, Canalys reported Nokia’s share to be 39.7 percent of worldwide smartphone sales.

If the history lesson were to end here, one would expect that the N900 would be Nokia’s gateway to the future in this world of iPhones and Android handsets. But along came Symbian^3 in February of 2010 and with it, many expectations that this platform would be used for high-end Nokia phones. In April, I said that Nokia needed to step on the Symbian^3 gas pedal and a week later, the Nokia N8 was announced, which brings us full circle as both the first and last N-series device to use Symbian^3. Making matters slightly worse: Nokia hasn’t announced future upgrade support for the N900. In effect then, both the 9-month old N900 and the unreleased N8 already have an end-of-life tag on them. Meanwhile, Apple sold an estimated 1-1.5 million iPhone 4 devices on launch day and Google is enjoying 160,000 Android activations daily — an annual rate of 58.4 million units, assuming no additional growth.

With such a rich history as a leader in the handset market, the sentimental side of me wants to see Nokia succeed in the smartphone space. But a product strategy that appears to be in constant transition isn’t one that attracts either developers or customers, which makes it difficult to combat Apple and Google. So far the only thing such an approach has attracted is declining market share and reduced revenue forecasts. My hope is that the trend reverses with MeeGo — or will it turn around with the next platform after that?

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Babelgum today announced that it’s acquired the complete Chad Vader back catalog, and is also distributing exclusive new episodes of the Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan-produced web series on a monthly basis. The first installment, in which Chad gets a Death Star, is, on a comedy level, on par with previous installments.

Next New Networks, meanwhile, launched its next new network, which is devoted to health and exercise. (I think that should be the last time I use the “next new” pun when writing about NNN. Alas. I’ll miss you, “next new” pun.) The Click Fitness network incorporates shows brought to NNN through its Next New Creators program, including yoga pro Tara Stiles’s Tara Stiles Yoga and online fitness and health personality Sarah Dussault’s Sarah’s Fit Show (who talks about the announcement in the video below).

Also today, Revision3 released a free iPhone app, allowing users to watch all of Rev3′s current and in-production series via the device.

According to the Guardian, Ben Stiller is making a web series, starring his parents Jerry Stiller and Ana Meara, to run exclusively on Yahoo before the end of the year. Personally, I believe that Stiller’s parents are just as funny, perhaps even funnier, than their son (below, please find a little video evidence of that fact), so this is one I’m looking forward to.

And finally: YouTube favorite Michael Buckley got Lasik surgery, as documented in the latest episode of What the Buck. Fans of his bespectacled look, though, need not worry — via email, he promises that he’ll continue wearing “blank” glasses in his videos “for fashion/character/branding! HA! But it is SO NICE to see!”

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In Durham, North Carolina, record-breaking temperatures near 100 degrees could not keep the faithful from lining up outside the local Apple Store. The line for the iPhone 4 began yesterday evening, reaching around the block by early this morning and remaining more or less constant with new arrivals. By noon, Apple Store employees were passing out umbrellas. There were no white umbrellas available either, and very few black iPhones for those without reservations.

Durham was not an anomaly.

As the earth turned, so did iPhone 4 sales, starting with Japan, followed by Germany, France, the UK, and then east to west in the U.S. In every country, in every city, the story was the same: demand outstripped supply. The dearth of white iPhones appears to have no measurable effect on sales.

Calls to stores, assuming you can get someone to pick up, also tell a similar story. Supplies of the iPhone 4 are dwindling, many stores expect to be sold out by the end of the day. While more iPhones are expected, no one knows when they will arrive. Expect an iPhone 4 availability page to appear on Apple’s website soon.

As for the iPhone 4 itself, satisfaction will likely be high, but there are reports of some issues. MacRumors was one of the first to report of “yellow blotching” on some iPhone 4 displays. There are conflicting reports as to whether this is a “residue from manufacturing” that will clear up in a few days, or a flaw that requires replacement. There are also scattered reports of reception degradation when holding the bottom left of the iPhone 4, though the supposed issue cannot be reliably duplicated.

These flaws, if they exist, will likely only matter to those who have successfully ordered an iPhone 4 or have one on reserve. For everyone else by far the biggest problem with the iPhone 4 is availability. It will be days, if not weeks, before Apple establishes equilibrium between supply and demand.

The updated operating system, previously known as the iPhone OS, features more than 100 new features. However, in order to download the 378MB update, you will need the latest version of iTunes (version 9.2), so be sure you are all up to speed before trying to upgrade.

iOS 4 can be installed for free on the older iPhone 3G and the current iPhone 3GS, in addition to the second- and third-generation iPod touch. An iPad-friendly version of the OS is expected later in the year.

The main features that the new OS offers includes multitasking, a unified inbox, folders for better application organization, the introduction of Game Center and more. Apple’s own site has an informative run-down of what iOS 4 brings to the table.

Check out the iOS update and let us know if you have any problems.

Unfortunately, it takes time for all of the pieces of a great smartphone to come together — time to test, design, integrate and build. A chip manufacturer, for example, can’t provide a new chipset from scratch in just a few months time. And developing or upgrading a platform to run atop such chips is no small task, either — it took Google more than three years from the time it purchased Android to deliver its first phone, the G1, in October of 2008.

Although I understand why these business cycles take time, the similarities mean I’m still not jazzed as much by the latest and greatest devices as I was six months ago. Sure there are differences between the Nexus One, Incredible, EVO, Droid X and Galaxy S, to name a few hot handsets. But most of those differences are fairly incremental — a few more megapixels for the camera, an extra third of an inch on a display and the addition of the kickstand, for example — not the kinds of changes that will take things to the next level. Even my own list of suggested iPhone 4 alternatives has more similarities than differences.

Perhaps the problem is that handset makers can’t decide what the “next level” will require. Certainly it’s new connectivity such as the WiMAX radio in Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G. The high-resolution Retina Display of the upcoming iPhone 4 is another qualifier, as is the recent addition of 720p recording on a handful of handsets. But after that, I come up a little dry when it comes to what the next course of the smartphone menu will bring. Am I being too cynical, not giving software enough weight in this situation, or do I just need to wake up on the other side of the bed?

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As Twitter struggles with repeated outages on the network (which, to its credit, the company has been very transparent about), some are asking whether it isn’t unwise to rely on a single company for a communications platform that has become such an integral part of so many people’s lives. So what would a more open version of Twitter — or a world that relied less on it as a single point of contact — look like?

It might look something like the idea proposed by Dave Winer, inventor of the RSS standard. He’s written often about the idea of “a decentralized Twitter” and how he’d like to see someone develop a Twitter app based on open-source standards, which he compared to the Apache open-source server software that lies behind a majority of the websites on the Internet. More recently, he’s talked about how developers of Twitter clients — whether they be apps, or services such as WordPress (see disclosure below) or Tumblr — could build an “emergency broadcast system” that would function even when Twitter is down.

Distributed Twitter Model Proposed by Dave Winer. Image courtesy Dave Winer

Here’s how such a system could work: Clients such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic and Brizzly would communicate through the Twitter API (application programming interface) just the same way they do now, but when the network goes down, they would store tweets — either on their own servers or at some neutral location — and each client would be able to get updates from the others. When Twitter comes back up, the tweets get sent to the network as usual, along with a record of what was tweeted while Twitter was offline, so they can push out an updated activity stream. All this takes is co-ordination among the various developers of Twitter clients and a standard to work around.

Part of that standard could involve Montreal-based developer Adrian Evan Promodrou’s Prodromou’s Status.net, which is similar to the blogging software company WordPress. It provides Twitter-style microblogging software that can be run on a server by any user or company, but also has a hosted version with additional features. Promodrou has also developed an open standard designed to enable communication between microblogging clients called OStatus, which the company says is based on other publishing standards such as PubSubHubbub, WebFinger and Salmon.

Howard Lindzon, CEO of the investing-related service StockTwits (see disclosure below), says he and his co-founder Soren Macbeth see a future in which there are multiple versions of Twitter. Stocktwits pulls information from Twitter and also pushes information into it, Lindzon said, adding that if Twitter were to go away tomorrow, “I would miss the musings of a few hundred people that I follow, but so many companies would step up fast and a new leader would quickly emerge.”

Whether Twitter likes it or not, the service’s continuing network issues — as well as its growing dominance in the marketplace for real-time communication — makes it likely that more StockTwits and Status.nets will emerge. And that is as it should be. If the company is smart, it will do what it can to become the engine that helps to power these different ventures, or at least plays nicely with them, rather than seeing them as competition and trying to shut them down or block them off.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user watchsmart

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Disclosure: Automattic (maker of WordPress.com) and StockTwits are both backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.