 Welcome to news desk on Silicon Angle TV for Tuesday, October 30th, 2012. I'm Kristen Folletti. Superstorm Sandy has made landfall on the east coast, the unwanted offspring of a tropical cyclone, and colder winter weather has left many people stranded with transport to, from, and within New York at a standstill, and stock trading on Wall Street suspended as well. Joining us with his breaking analysis on the impact of Sandy in the tech world is Silicon Angle founder John Furrier. Welcome John. John, the damage that continues to unfold as a result of Sandy has impacted the tech world in several ways as well, including the addition of crisis information available on a mobile device. In anticipation of Hurricane Sandy, Google set up what it calls a crisis map, a mobile feature where users can find power outage maps and information on shelters, storm tracking, and public alerts. How do you respond to Google's quick thinking? I think, I think it's really a great example of how technology is helping, helping, helping disasters. If you look back at history, you look back to Katrina and other storms, and this storm in particular is being dubbed the perfect storm, which really matches the no-name storm of 1991. And, you know, back then there was no cell phones in that, that day and age, but this is a great example how real-time communication is being impacted. So, from a disaster standpoint, you're seeing companies like Google, like Nervonex, offering services to people to help them avoid disasters. So, with Google's case, they're giving them real-time information, and with Twitter it's the same way, and with Nervonex, they're offering the ability to move data center information for free. That's really the key, is that the technology is there, and companies are looking at it as a service, not for money, but to develop value with the users and help people. Just like the last three presidential elections have been transformed by a new social media service, YouTube, Facebook, and now Twitter, natural disasters and tragedies are emerging as a way for social media services to gain respect and legitimacy as world-changing agents. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom delivered the message that there are now 10 pictures per second being posted with the hashtag Sandy. Could this be Instagram's big citizen journalism moment? Absolutely. I think it's everyone's moment. See, the thing about this is that the media business has changed, and we talked about this during the elections. Social media now is part of everyone's life. So, to me, the big striking analysis out of all this is that the information coming in from the market, or as we say in the tech business, the edge of the network, that's the users, with mobile phones is staggering. So, with Instagram, they're seeing 10 photos per second, or something like that. Crazy numbers are just a lot of information. So, that talks about a flood, a tsunami of data coming in. But also, you're seeing the humanization. And we talked about this in New York City last week around big data. Big data, and Kit Dodson of SiliconANGLE wrote a great post about how big data is helping the forecasters. What we're seeing is a humanization of technology, where people are helping each other in ways that just are natural. So, for disasters, you're seeing real-time communication and social media become the citizen journalism moment. Yes, check that box. Two, more importantly, information is being disseminated. No more public broadcast announcements on TV. You get press conferences and other vehicles. But Twitter and real-time internet is truly the medium of choice now for real-time market information. So, that's not just that messages. That's pictures, images, commentary, safety, food, shelter, etc. So, this is really about the humanization of our culture. As social media continues to play an active role in news gathering, how can big data play a part in that? As we talked about on SiliconANGLE all last week, which is Big Data Week, ironically in New York City, is that big data allows for technology and machines and computers and humans figure out what is happening relative to the storm, for example. So, in this case, think about the predictive analytics involved in big data and the amount of data involved to compute all the different scenarios of, say, a hurricane. So, literally, knowing what's going on relative to the storm path is a great example. And look at what New York City had done in preparing. And they still could have done a better job, but they really had this thing predicted to the actual beach that this thing was going to land on, Sandy, and the path of destruction and its way. So, that allows people an early warning detection system to plan and plan accordingly. Big Data is absolutely critical. If we knew this information with Katrina, things could have been avoided there. But Big Data allows us to get a first look at these things. And this is really the highlight of how Big Data is changing the world for the betterment of it. And again, there's a human element here. It's not just technology. The humans are the ones creating the insights and synthesizing the data. Twitter has provided a roundup of accounts suggested by local and state government officials that users can follow to get real-time emergency information, plus tips for using Twitter during a crisis. With massive power outages, plaguing victims of the storm, cell phones and mobile apps are really the only means of worldwide internet communication for many individuals. How is social media changing the way the general public can seek assistance in times of crisis? Well, I think it's just another one of those avenues where you have a mobile phone, assuming you have electricity and battery power, and the cell towers are operational. And I heard a talk from Qualcomm after Katrina at Telecosm event, George Gilder's event at one time. And the engineers were actually working on safety ways to actually in a disaster, have cell towers, have this peer-to-peer mesh network. So there is technology where mobile phones will be resilient in a way to provide that first responder usage for safety. So mobile phones and anything that touches the consumer will be a first responder capability as an avenue. Two, more importantly, getting information. So for example, with relative weather conditions in the storm, people can get information, talk to their peers, get really an insight of how bad it is. So in New York City, for example, battery was completely flooded at a record high flood. You know, I see people taking pictures, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out, don't go there or don't drive there. So, you know, information travels very, very rapidly or frictionlessly, as we say. And that's a good thing for helping people understand what's going on and they can protect themselves. Data center providers in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. area said they are testing and fueling up their emergency backup generators, preparing to maintain services during any utility power outages caused by the hurricane. That includes having key staff on site for the duration of the storm. What's the key focus for these data centers at this time? And this is a great example. And, you know, we highlighted on Silicon Angle that startup Nervonix was offering a service for free to move all the data center and data out of these areas. And really what this is about is this is something that's not really talked about in the mainstream press, but certainly in the world that we live in around IT enterprises is that data center backup and recovery and disaster recovery is critical. So, this is a great example of what a company needs to do to avoid essentially being down. So, a lot of companies architect their data centers in a multi-homed way, multiple geographies. So, really what it's about is using those predictive analytics we mentioned and essentially preparing for essentially an outage. So, you have to assume the worst, hope for the best. And in this case, the technology is now available for data centers to actually be prepared and move the workload or computation or data center activities to another geography. So, you can literally shift the data, as pointed out by Nervonix, to other geographies completely free from the disaster. So, if something does happen, a flood or natural disaster or generator or power outage, they'll be prepared for it. Again, that's the worst case. Most data centers have backup and recovery capabilities, full-on power generators as just in case, as they don't have to switch that workload. But now, you're talking about full redundancy. And this is the direction of cloud that we talk about, a fully operational data center. Data center providers issued statements saying that all of their backup generators had been extensively tested. Hospitals in NYC made the same claims, however, we found out that some backup generators failed, forcing hospital staff and residents to move out. What would data centers do in the event of a backup generator failure? They would be basically similar to the hospitals if they're going to rely on those operations. Essentially, those operations will be shut down. So, if you have a backup generator that fails, assuming there's no power in the area, they have no choice. They can't run their equipment. So, essentially, they're effectively out of service, which is detrimental to the business if you're talking about providing public safety and or critical infrastructure services. It's a fail. If it's just a corporation, you know, if they're working or if it's a disaster in the area, then it might not be that impactful, but ultimately, there'll be no service. So, therefore, they'll be out of commission. That's why the data centers create fault-tolerant ways to do that. And I think ultimately, you'll see hospitals and other services create that kind of grid capabilities where they can move power around. So, that's something that's being talked about as a future direction. Not surprisingly, the storm has also affected several tech events. Yesterday, Sandy forced Google to cancel its event in New York. Why is Facebook also a loser in this scenario? Well, I think, you know, the everyone's events that was going on is a complete failure, because if you look at this, this is one of those things where everyone's hyping up a lot of things. I mean, you had the Kimmel show was also going on. You had the Facebook event for engineering. You also had the Google launch. I think it was an All Things D conference as well. You know, they lose money and they lose the opportunity to promote their products. But in the wake of what this kind of storm is, this super storm or hurricane, the perfect storm, as I called it, it's pretty disastrous. So, they really can't do business, and that's just a loss financially. And I think they just have to take one, take a loss, a big loss there. ABC's Joanna Stern has compiled a list of useful apps to keep people in the loop during the storm's duration. Can you tell us how app developers can stay ahead of the game and developing apps that people actually need during emergency situations? Yeah. I mean, first of all, the couple things with respect to the applications you pointed out earlier around the question around, you know, using social media and mobile devices as a way to stay in touch. Absolutely, that's the case. And I think what you're seeing now is really the first generation of social media applications being mobile to be available. App developers can stay ahead a couple of ways. One is having a framework that can be for rapid agile development. And two, with the tsunami of data, as you talked about the tsunami of pictures and journalism coming from the field, there's a lot of signal noise ratio. So, there's two things that people have to really be aware of. One is the curation of what is a critical service of what's relevant to the user. And two, filtering. Because there's a lot of noise, ultimately it's about the signal from the noise and that no matter what the situation is, a user needs to find an application that's going to work for them. So, again, this is one of those situations where the benefit of the technology also is an Achilles heel and what will happen for app developers, they have to have a really elegant app with really good navigation and ultimately has to be discoverable. Users have to know where the app is. So, again, this is the full innovation cycle. It needs a search capability and with social media pushing those apps to the edge is where it's at. So, I think it's an opportunity for developers to develop really quick apps, curation and signal from the noise and also make the apps discoverable. Wall Street has closed for the duration of the storm. What does that mean for the stock market and do you see that having a larger implications on the economy? I don't see it as an implication in the economy. I think it was a good call to shut it down. I think it was the first time that it was shut down since 9-11 and ultimately if you looked at the footage yesterday, the pictures, it was massively flooded. So, I don't think it's going to have a major impact on the market. I think it's a good thing I think we need to take a break from the market. I think given it's an election year, there's a lot of volatility in the economy and I think you're seeing that obviously with the international. Some are saying we're going to go over off a cliff financially and I hope not with the election here that the economy can continue to run but I don't see it having any impact to the economy at all. If anything, it might be good to get a breather and get a perspective that, hey, this is kind of a disaster and people are losing their lives, give the financial system some well-needed break but I think it was a good call to shut down the stock market and keep everyone safe. Do you think the stall of the stock market and the destruction caused by Sandy will have an impact on the election? You know, there's been speculation that obviously the previous disasters, Katrina in particular really hurt Bush and Obama was clearly out front yesterday, politicking around this, coming across as a soundbite, stay home and it's pretty obvious you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how bad the storm was. This was well forecasted, you know, as Kit Dotson at Silicon Angle pointed out, the big data was already in play, the analytics on this thing so we kind of all knew this was the perfect storm. This wasn't like in 1991 where it was just kind of popped up on everyone and I remember I was actually on the edge of the ocean in Massachusetts during that storm and we had to evacuate that town I was in and no one knew this was coming so Obama saw this coming so I think he's taking a preemptive strike to essentially make sure this doesn't hurt him politically but yes this could hurt Obama if it was not well played. I thought he played it pretty well here and there was no no flag in my mind on Obama. The preparedness and the first responders and all the communities on the path of the hurricane were well prepared, the technology was there, the social media was there. I think ultimately again big data is the hero of this one and how it affected the human society in this case the humanization of the big data really played out well and this is a great case study of what big data can do to help people get insights in this case insights equals preparedness and readiness and also preventative from damage. This is the last time that we've spoke with you since the end of Big Data Week and I wanted to ask you a question about that. Yesterday in our Big Data Week wrap up we spoke with Mark Risen-Hopkins about real-time analytics emerging as one of the new themes at the O'Reilly Stratoconference. What are your thoughts on real-time analytics and what other themes did you notice at the IBM IOD event during Big Data Week? I think Mark pointed out really good we saw real-time analytics as a core theme and ultimately that is the killer application for big data right now there's a lot of technology going on innovation in Silicon Valley and beyond around building new tech to actually fill in the blanks if you will for what we're seeing as emerging areas around cloud mobile and social so platforms and tools that are coming available and applications are still yet to come however the Big Data Killer app today is analytics and what that means is that means insights so real-time information in this case we're talking about the disaster really highlight what we saw at Big Data Week okay and that is is that insights equals action actions equals value and and so analytics and insights is in the top theme the second theme that came out of Big Data Week was business value in this case business value is people value with the disaster so if you look at what we're just talking about if you substitute business value with you know society value big data also works for that value proposition so you know analytics and insight is at the top trend and the second big trend is in value business value society value human value and I think that is exactly what big data is all about and again this week if you look at the disaster the shining light of all this was big data is the hero big data created those insights those insights create value that value of saving lives this is a great example and applies to business and our human life well John thank you so much for your time today we appreciate you joining us thanks for in-depth coverage on tech news of the day and the latest breaking analysis tune in daily to news desk on silicon angle tv