McKinsey's recent "discussion document" on Cloud Computing has triggered an activity stream of Google Alerts, Tweets and Re-Tweets from all over the Interwebs.

Similar to the Twitter phenomenon, the conversations regarding an evolution to a Cloud Computing infrastructure are disruptive to our traditional ways of thinking about IT. To make things worse, the noise level that is generated from these types of reports doesn't help us better understand or make the right choices.

The McKinsey document provides too many assumptions and generalizations regarding IT infrastructure costs, and not enough focus on the business cases that could benefit from a Cloud Computing model. The Cloud model disrupts the traditional IT infrastructure by introducing a virtually infinite pool of computing resources that are available on-demand and payable by the hour. Businesses need to figure out which one of their applications currently running inside the firewall can take advantage of this type of virtual IT infrastructure.

A future in Cloud Computing is not only about saving IT infrastructure costs -- it is also about progressively outsourcing pieces of a company's IT operations onto a Cloud platform, and letting someone else worry about managing the underlying hardware, network and operating system.

There seems to be too much noise on the negative implications of Cloud Computing and not enough positive discussions on how it can be used for things such as prototyping ideas, building virtual test labs and synchronizing user's laptops and mobiles devices in the cloud.

Whether we like it or not, Cloud Computing will “cross the chasm” very soon, and when it does, it will touch every aspect of our business and personal lives. It is not a question of IF, but WHEN.

Time or Money spent? Which do consumers value most?

Alice LaPlante asks that question following a study conducted by researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

So what about time saved? Is it as satisfactory? Do consumers value being able to do something fast so they can then quickly do something else? Or even do more of the same thing?

This is what Rich Internet Applications are all about: making the user experience as best as it can be, whether you are searching, learning or shopping. Good examples are RIAs built for eCommerce, to help consumers easily and quickly get what they want. The return is more conversions and loyalty, and less drop-off. Read this previously released white paper for more info.

To keep up with the convergence of media devices occurring at rapid-fire speed, Adobe has secured a deal to embed its Flash software within televisions, Blu-ray players and set top boxes to allow for developers and content providers to create and deploy web content such as news, weather and stock charts. The applications are set to deploy on televisions early in 2010 and will allow users to engage in the all of activities they are used to performing on the web.

There are a few televisions on the market that are using Yahoo’s widgets to provide a rich media experience for viewers but this deal will allow for the creation of a single standard for a media application that can be re-used for numerous other devices.

"Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home will dramatically change the way we view content on televisions," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. "Consumers are looking to access their favorite Flash technology-based videos, applications, services and other rich Web content across screens. We are looking forward to working with partners to create these new experiences and deliver content consistently across devices whether consumers view it on their desktop, mobile phone or television."

With this announcement, Adobe has lined up partnerships with content providers such as Comcast, Netflix, the New York Times and Disney to deliver the “Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home”.

BBC News reports that "Adobe is aiming to become the global standard for all rich media in the "three screen" world - PC, TV, and mobile. Up to 40% of all mobile devices shipped in 2008 are expected to carry Flash Lite. However, the big omission remains Apple's iPhone."

As a side effect from this announcement, INM expects for Flash on TV sets to dramatically enhance the usability of devices that have now become too complex to use for most consumers. We're looking forward to seeing how Flash will help to personalize, simplify and enhance multi-device navigation and programming systems. In essence, Adobe’s move is helping consumers to move closer towards the full convergence of their televisions, DVD players, gaming systems, photo album viewers, internet browsers and multi-media devices.