Print 2.0 Blog : Cloudprint

Response to Cloudprint Question

Patrick Scaglia — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:38:00 GMT

Here's a response to Robin's comment -- from Scott Golder of the HP Labs Cloudprint team:

A common concern expressed about the rise of cloud computing is that, when a third party is hosting or transmitting your data, by definition they have access to that data. Email is the biggest way this problem is manifested now; the major free, commercial webmail services routinely scan and index email, whether to do spam filtering or to serve ads. Interestingly, from a computer science perspective, these activities are similarly invasive, but spam filtering is seen by users as innocuous or even desirable, whereas serving ads is somewhat suspect. Similarly, activity history -- e.g. search queries and clicking patterns -- as well as user profile and other uploaded data, can be examined, in order to provide suggestions (of movies, books, new contacts, and so on), but in some cases, such "suggestions" are framed as "targeted advertising." So it's clear that users see some uses of personal data as desirable, and others as less so. Logging data has become the path of least resistance, however, and the databases and server logs and IT infrastructure that make desirable services (from email to social networking to cloud computing) possible also create opportunities for misuse/abuse (e.g. advertising and identity theft). A commenter on this blog (http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/scaglia/archive/2008/06/23/opportunity-knocks.aspx#83627) recently expressed concern about Google Desktop. I think the commenter is expressing a feeling that is shared by most people, that the data on their desktop is a safe place, and the data is as private as can be. But services are migrating to the cloud and the barrier between the desktop and the internet is getting fuzzier. There is a little bit of discomfort generally, since users generally know (even if it's slightly exaggerated) that once things go onto the net, they're there forever. Users, then, are rightly cautious.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I can think of two possible resolutions, cryptography and trust. I know of many people who encrypt their email using public key encryption, but cryptography is generally hard to understand and, in practice, very hard to use if one isn't a computer scientist or other kind of expert. If cryptography tools were easy to use and perhaps invisible to the user (maybe "encrypt everything I send with this key") then maybe people would use them. If every file -- or print job or email or what have you -- were encrypted when I posted it to the cloud and decrypted when I retrieved it, without ever having to enter a key or think about it, that could provide some sense of privacy.

The second, and maybe more mundane, answer is trust in organizations and credentials. There's some interesting social theory that suggests that when societies grow too large, there are too many individuals to have good information about the reputation of each person, so instead you trust institutions. For example, you don't have to have detailed reputation information about any particular doctor, but rather by trusting the AMA as an institution (and perhaps the fact that the doctor has a degree from a recognized school "brand") you have pretty good assurance about a baseline level of competence. The same kind of thing is true for IT companies. Undoubtedly one of the reasons people/enterprises buy HP products is trust. Perhaps they know others who had good experiences with our products in the past and trust our track record. They also know that support will be available if necessary, because HP's size means that it won't disappear tomorrow. These things are true for more established companies like HP, and are less so for smaller companies or startups; While this kind of institutional credibility is always important in business, it will likely be a significant asset for HP specifically in the cloud computing space.

That doesn't mean people won't continue to be healthily skeptical of cloud services. However, the combination of encryption and brand trust will hopefully allow consumers to be reasonably assured that their data is only accessible to entities who are most likely trustworthy.

I also think there are going to be tremendous lifestyle benefits from cloud computing, and users will be willing to take managed risks in order to share in those benefits. The simple existence of the mass internet as a source of information and means of communication really changed things in the past 10-15 years, but it has only been in the past year or two that really good, nearly-ubiquitous mobile net access in the form of the smartphone has been around, and I think that has changed things as much or even more. Instant mobile access to the net and to my own data has really changed by life. Even though I'm clearly in the early-adopter category, I think this will soon be commonplace for everyone who has a mobile phone. The instrumental value and pure enjoyment of this kind of access will render moot the question of whether to have cloud data; it'll be a given. The question is not just who will build the infrastructure first; it's also who will users trust enough.

Opportunity Knocks

psipgcto — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:09:00 GMT

As previously done in my blog, I've invited Antonio Rodriguez, Chief Technologist for HP's IPG Inkjet and Web Solutions Group, to share his thoughts in this blog.

Here it is:

I am really excited about the recent organizational move inside HP's Imaging and Printing Group, and my new role in it, for two reasons, both of which have to do with the tech environment we find ourselves living in today:

Coming of the cloud

1. Clouds, clouds as far as the eye can see— but the good kind, of course. The shift to cloud architectures is now officially inevitable, and over the next 5-7 years this redistribution of compute cycles and storage is going to ripple through everything; from today's current web services to desktop printers. We need to get ahead of it by understanding exactly what it means to each of our key customer segments.

For instance, what does it mean for me as a user if my image collection can exist in a "bottomless" hard drive on my PC, where the entire repository can be synchronized, replicated, and backed up quietly behind the scenes? Does this change the notion of upload?

Sharing? What I might want in terms of output?

Another example: what does a driver born of the cloud mean for me as a printer customer? Smaller install footprint? An Internet-addressable printer? All of these questions, and many more, are key to what we are going to have to start answering for the consumer use cases inside of HP's Inkjet and Web Solutions Group. And we won't be able to do it without starting from the pooled engineering talent we've got in this new group.

2. The blinking VCR clock syndrome hits the Internet big time

If Apple has taught us anything with the iPod/iPhone ecosystem, it is that customers will reward solutions as opposed to point products. I don't want a music player any more than I want a set of engine pistons — I want a way to consume music whenever, wherever. Ditto for the smart phone: what I want is a set of experiences around the my media, web, email, and my contacts. Users are no longer willing to play the role of plumber, hand-assembling solutions out of disparate pieces. For our part, this means we're going to have to start to retool our printers, web services, retail touchpoints— in short all of the elements of the ecosystem that IPG has worked so hard to put together over the last two decades. We're going to need to rip all of assumptions apart (and some of our offerings) and begin from a set of consumer experiences we are looking to make delightful (and I don't choose this word lightly). This one will not come without pain, but the alternative— becoming irrelevant— is far, far worse.

The science fiction writer William Gibson wrote "the future is here; it's just not widely distributed." As I've sat inside IPG over the last year, I've seen bits and pieces of it all over the place. Now it's time to take it to market, in a big way.

On iPhone

BlogArchive — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:16:00 GMT

I have been called an optimist. I guess it’s true. In mid-July, Jim Lyons wrote about iPhone printing and argued that hoping it would drive new prints was an optimistic view. A few hours later Jim posted a comment titled “Finally the optimists are going on record” referencing the New York Times article on HP’s Cloudprint service (I was quoted in this article).

Cloudprint was indeed motivated by a belief that if we were to make mobile print so simple, some more prints would happen. There is also another belief in Cloudprint: how innovation works in a web world. We could have debated endlessly about the value of mobile print. Instead we created a first (may be primitive) service in six weeks and put it out there for all to use. Try in the real world, learn, update quickly and often, sometimes three times a week. This is the new innovation model.

There is a new Cloudprint version this week. You can now print directly to your home printer from your iPhone, anywhere you might be away from home (we support North America, Europe and Asia right now; we won’t forget the other regions). Or you can designate any other printer you might like, could be the home or office printer of a friend or colleague. It also works with Windows Mobile phone.

Or you can try this other path: uploading your Pictures to Flickr and printing from there. Soon we’ll be helping you create photo books and posters from your Flickr account. You can already do this on Snapfish.

You have the choice. This is print 2.0 in action.

If you are motivated by innovation, read Phil McKinney’s Innovation blog. Phil is passionate about innovation and loves to share his insight and the lessons he learned. Phil is also a friend and colleague as CTO of HP’s Personal Systems Group.

Cloudprint

BlogArchive — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:44:00 GMT

Printing from the Cloud?

If you are like me, the computer you carry around is a laptop. Increasingly I find that all I carry is my phone. Maybe you have an iPhone. The phone is often where I receive my mail, most of the time with some document attached. Or maybe you just found an interesting blog that you wish to read or a nice satellite photo. If only you could print it now. Wouldn’t it be easier to see? and carry? Paper is light. But you might be anywhere. Where is the printer . . . ?

There are many quality print services on the web, but they were not designed with the mobile user in mind. As a result they aren’t universal in the sense I would like them to be: anywhere on the planet, at any time, for the benefit of individual users. The web is universal and most basic services such as search, mail, photo/video sharing is free to the user. Free isn’t just a nice gift, free is what reduces friction for users to access the service. It is part of the simplicity of the interface that makes the service compelling.

Bernardo Huberman at HPL Labs and his colleague Scott Golder came up with a service that allows you to share, store and print documents easily using your mobile phone. I have been using it for a month now, it’s compelling. I have found countless use for it. Each has removed a bit of friction in my work and life. Try Cloudprint. You can retrieve and print a document with your iPhone or any other mobile device. It’s free and there is no limit to the number of documents you can print. It works across networks, firewalls and VPN. In its beta version you can use it in the USA, Canada and Europe.

Share with the readers of this blog what you do with Cloudprint. We are updating the service constantly based on your feedback. But let’s keep it simple!