Google = $100 per barrel oil?

George Gilder has this to say about the rise of the super-data centers. About two years or so ago, Intel made a sharp shift in direction--moving to energy efficiency. After reading this, you will get a clearer understanding of the reasoning. All of the computers of the five leading search companies consuming energy sufficient to power Las Vegas? Google as we have seen has increased their computing power by roughly 5,000x in the past 5 years-- And as it continues on the curve will it be change in oil prices = India + China + IT?

And where is this energy consuming hog of a web headed? People have been for years talking of the semantic web--a web whereby natural language is understood--one of these concepts (like artificial intelligence, which may be why they call it "artificial") which keeps coming back in different forms over the decades of computing science. For the latest iteration (Web 3.0) see this article by John Markoff, the respected technology journalist of the NY Times.

Lastly, the Perfect Thing--a book written about the development of the i-Pod. A short extract of the book is published in Wired. Interestingly funny to hear the author's depict how Bill Gates reacted when he saw his first I-pod. His description is pretty consistent about all that we have heard of the man. And there are some good Steve Jobs stories/insights too.