How to Sync with Alice (Transcript of Discussion)

This talk is about How to Sync with Alice. It is joint work with Peter Ryan. Life used to be simple; you have only one desktop computer. Then you have laptop, which is more convenient, and is becoming inexpensive. In the past five years you've seen the rise of smartphones, and tablets. So the computer has been evolving. It used to be bulky, and fixed at a permanent location, but now it is mobile and can be anywhere. A person commonly owns more than one computer. Back to the theme of this workshop, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. First, who is Alice? Alice could be a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet, or anything with a chip. Her location is not important, because she can be anywhere. Identity is not important whether it is PC, laptop, or mobile phone. The device is only a platform for you to access Internet. With the cloud computing you no longer store data on the laptop; you store data in the cloud.