Wed. 12/18 - Did Google Almost Ghost the Cloud?

December 18, 2019·20 min·1 clip

Google considered walking away from cloud computing after years of poor performance.

This episode of the Techmeme Ride Home, hosted by Brian McCullough, covers major tech news from December 18, 2019, including a new smart home alliance and a report on Google's cloud business. The host summarizes and provides commentary on several key stories from that day. The episode delves into announcements from Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance regarding a new smart home standard called Project Connected Home over IP. This partnership aims to create a unified, secure networking standard so Internet of Things devices can work together seamlessly. The initiative will first focus on physical safety devices like smoke alarms, smart locks, and security systems before expanding further. Companies like Samsung SmartThings, IKEA, and Signify are involved through the Zigbee Alliance, with a draft specification expected late the following year. The episode then details a Motherboard report revealing Ring devices lacked basic security safeguards against credential stuffing or brute force attacks. Specific missing features included checks for logins from unknown IP addresses, alerts for compromised passwords, and monitoring for concurrent user sessions. The host notes that while users share blame for poor password hygiene, Ring itself underestimated the security needs of a home camera. A report from The Information claims Google set a goal for its cloud business to be top two in the market by 2023. This goal was set only after senior leaders at Google and Alphabet intensely debated abandoning the cloud market entirely due to poor performance. The episode also mentions cartoonist Gary Larson launching TheFarSide.com to officially share his work and combat online copyright infringement. Larson's *The Far Side* was once in nearly 2,000 newspapers and sold 40 million books and 70 million calendars. Finally, the host explains the geometry behind a viral video demonstrating a diagonal method for gift-wrapping presents with limited paper. The diagonal orientation uses the hypotenuse of right triangles to cover more surface area efficiently. The tone is conversational and explanatory, blending straightforward news summary with the host's personal commentary and reactions. Listeners interested in corporate tech strategy, smart home developments, and internet culture would find this episode engaging. Those seeking deep, single-topic analysis might find the rapid-fire news format less satisfying.

As heard by us

A brisk tech roundup that ties a smart-home standard, cloud skepticism, and a holiday wrapping trick together.

The episode keeps a busy tech day readable without flattening it. Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance move the smart-home standard story forward, while the rest of the lineup shifts from the last broadcast holdout moving to video streaming to Gary Larson coming to the…

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When you want tech news with a side of quiet corporate skepticism.

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