The rowboat and the cloud

Late last month a young man named Oliver (Olly) Hicks climbed into his boat, the Flying Carrot, and set out from Recherche Bay in Tasmania, Australia on the Virgin Global Row, his attempt to become the first person to row solo around the entire globe. We jumped at the chance to offer our products to help Olly, both because we think this inspiring quest is eminently worth supporting and because we can't imagine how anyone else could more aptly illustrate the power of the web.

You see, although he'll be alone throughout his two-year adventure, Olly's water-resistant laptop and satellite uplink will keep him perpetually connected to the "cloud." So the Carrot, though just 24 feet long, will fit countless millions of books, videos, photographs, songs and websites -- not to mention many of the world's web users. You and I, from the comfort of our own computers, will be able to map Olly's progress, read the blog items he writes, enjoy the pictures and videos he uploads, ask him questions and vote on which ones he should answer, and follow along in the newest version of Google Earth, where his trip is part of an expedition layer focused on the world's oceans.

And Olly, in turn, can rest assured that everything he does on the web will be safely stored there forever, even if his laptop happens to take a swim. The cloud will be there for him, as it is for everybody who lives, works and plays online.

So, bon voyage, Olly. We're rooting for you, and we hope the rest of the world does, too.



Posted by Andy Berndt, Managing Director, Google Creative Lab