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Opinion: iCloud, the other ‘’big Apple’’ and our techno-appetites

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Steve Jobs proved yet again this week why he deserves not only a billion-dollar payday, but the Nobel Peace Prize, a joint session of Congress, the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and being grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses parade.

The Man in the Black Crewneck Sweater brought the tech-loving world to a standstill once more, with the announcement of online services he calls ‘iCloud.’ Think of a cumulus cluster with a bazillion gigs [I was going to say ‘googolplex’ instead of ‘’bazillion,’’ but you know where that would take us…]

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Jobs is a technological genius. He is also almost as ingenious as Sarah Palin when it comes to getting ‘free media’’ coverage.

Listen to how well Jobs persuades people how much they need what he has to sell:

‘Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices. ‘Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy.’

Absolutely. That is the very first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning: my out-of-sync devices are driving me crazy. My coffee maker isn’t speaking to my BlackBerry, and my GPS won’t have anything to do with my Netbook.

It is a brilliant strategy: Create the demand and the supply will follow -– not too much supply, though. Got to keep those lines long to keep people thinking they absolutely, desperately have to have whatever the latest is, before the supply runs out -- or the next generation of gadgets comes along.

For what it’s worth, Chinese news media are reporting that a 17-year-old kid arranged -– over the Internet, of course -- to sell a kidney for $3,392 because he wanted to buy an iPad2. Because, after all, what’s more important: kidney function, or front-and-rear-facing video cameras and the power of an A5 chip?

The iCloud is not a cold-fusion breakthrough that means limitless free and environmentally safe energy. It’s not a loaves-and-fishes techno-miracle that can feed the world. It isn’t even a cure for the cancer that is ailing Steve Jobs.

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It’s simply another way to move and store data –- like the 20,000-songs-for-$24.99 deal. That’s some jukebox.

Maybe the next time Apple makes another huge play for our attention, we won’t be so quick to bite.

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When banking and technology collide: Nothing could go wrong, right?

-- Patt Morrison

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