A recent study from IDG Enterprise conducted a study among 1,600 IT and business leaders. It revealed that majority of these companies have spent more than a third of their IT budget to Cloud Computing. Further, almost two thirds of the respondents said they will continue to increase their spending in Cloud Computing in the next couple of years.

 – See also – ‘Together in the Cloud’ being released

They believe their investments now will eventually pay off either by providing the company a more efficient work system or by replacing other hardware and software recurring costs.

There is an onslaught of literature on the potential of Cloud Computing. It is also this very rich literature that makes it confusing for people to determine which is reliable and which is a baseless claim.

Robert J. Chandler, president of San Diego-based Cloud9 Real Time and author of the newly released ‘Together in the Cloud’ observes:

“I see the disconnect that business owners and accounting professionals experience trying to understand how the cloud will work for them. The advancements that this industry has made in recent years are astounding, and I truly believe that education is the first step to success in the cloud.”

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Actually, all matter has been noted to possess sentient intelligence – first noted scientifically by the great early 20th century scientist Chandra Bose, whose work the 1973 best-seller Secret Life of Plants was based upon.

After he proved that plants had a richer inner intelligence and even emotional life Dr. Bose went on to use much of the same instrumentation and testing protocol to demonstrate similar characteristics of seemingly innate matter, like slabs of concrete and beams of steel.

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In his TED talk above, Stefano Mancuso, professor of horticulture at the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Florence, Italy, discusses the basis of a prove-able fact: plants are intelligent entities. To christen his research lab in 2004,  the only lab in the world dedicated solely to showing that plants are, in fact, intelligent entities, Mancuso decided to use the controversial term ‘plant neurobiology’ to reinforce the idea that plants have biochemistry, cell biology and electrophysiology similar to the human nervous system.

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Just in case you haven’t heard: Facebook is paying $1 billion to acquire photo sharing app darling, Instagram.  Huh?  How could Zuckerberg possibly think it’s worth anywhere near that much?  All Things Digital reported that assorted VCs assessed Instagram at $500 million before funding it with $50 million in venture capital.

“If you find it odd that in one room Instagram was negotiating a billion dollar sale, while in another closing a funding deal, you’re not alone,” writes Ron Miller at Fierce Content.

But it’s not half as odd as Facebook paying twice as much for Instagram as the companies providing that funding think it’s worth.  Was somebody else bidding against Facebook?

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In early March of 1930, in order to help free India from British control, Mahatma Gandhi proposed a non-violent protest march denouncing the British Salt Tax, continuing Gandhi’s national calls for civil disobedience.

Before embarking on the 240-mile journey from Sabarmati to Dandi, Gandhi sent a letter to the the British Viceroy Lord Irwin, forewarning him of their plans of civil disobedience:

“If my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the eleventh day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of the Salt Laws. I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man’s standpoint. As the Independence movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil.”

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Do you remember “Star Trek” and all the great gadgets the crew members used in each episode? Or the fancy gizmos from “The Jetsons” or “Minority Report?” Ever wonder when, or if, we’ll invent technology like what we’ve seen in the fictional universe? Satisfy your craving for fictional tech with The Fiction to Reality Timeline.