Category: News

Air travel is often hailed as the safest form of travel, and there is something to be said for getting where you need to go in a hurry. Of course, to cruise six miles or more above the Earth going hundreds of miles per hour requires high octane jet fuel. Lots and lots of it. A Boeing 747-8 can carry up to 64,000 gallons of jet fuel and, depending on how fast it flies, can burn through over three-thousand gallons of fuel per hour.

No matter what you say about efficiency-per-passenger, that is a whole lotta jet fuel. Everybody knows it, including NASA, which enlisted six research teams to design a more efficient aircraft. A team led by researchers at MIT came up with a plane they call the “double bubble” that is supposed to reduce fuel consumption by 70%.

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Creative Loafing’s food editor and restaurant critic Besha Rodell has a thoughtful story about the role of anonymity in restaurant criticism in this week’s issue. This has been an active topic in the food world since the New York Times appointed its former food editor, the easily recognizable Sam Sifton, as reviewer. Be sure to check it out. And if you’re a restaurateur eager to find out what Besha looks like, here’s your opportunity. She speaks with vocal timbre of Lurch from the “Addams Family” and dresses like the Black Smoke from “Lost.” If you see this coming into restaurant, sear those scallops to perfection!

by Randy Rieland

These are tough times for buddies of Big Oil on Capitol
Hill. How do you stand by your men amid photos
of thick pools of oil lapping into the marshes of southern Louisiana and more video of BP pipes
gushing oil?

But love, as always, finds a way. 

In the Senate, fossil-fuel fans James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have managed
to grab hold of an issue that shows oil execs that they’ve still got their
backs: liability.

Senate Democrats Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New
Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida are pushing a proposal to raise the liability
cap on oil spills from its current paltry level of $75 million to a more
realistic $10 billion. Last week, Murkowski
blocked it. Yesterday, Inhofe did.

And he trotted out the same contorted logic Murkowski’s been
using: If you set the cap too high, you
risk putting smaller independent oil companies out of business.  Then only BP, ExxonMobil, and other oil
giants will be left, he argued.  In
short, he and Murkowski say they’re looking out for the little guys, all things
being relative.

Then things really got strange.  While testifying before the Senate’s Energy
and Natural Resources Committee, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar started
channeling Inhofe and Murkowski, saying that Congress should avoid setting
an “arbitrary” cap, and that, yes, we don’t want to hurt smaller oil companies.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), another Big Oil booster,
commended Salazar for “taking your time” on setting a cap.

All that, of course, didn’t play very well with a lot of
Democrats, starting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who
earlier in the day had said
the cap should be eliminated altogether so companies responsible for spills
would face unlimited liability.  And then
there was Nelson, who had already blasted away at a Republican idea that the
cap should somehow be tied to a company’s profits.  Here’s what he said:

For the life of me, I can’t understand someone objecting, as they are going to do, in raising an artificial limit of $75 million, up to at least $10 billion, and it’s probably going to exceed $10 billion. But the argument you’re going to hear is they are going to say, “Oh, it shouldn’t be this, it ought to be tied to profit.” Now, is it really responsible public policy to say that because of a company makes less money that it should be responsible for less damage? No.

By late in the day, the White House was trying to run damage control and
back away from Salazar’s ambiguous comments. 
It issued
a statement from Obama that condemned Republicans for playing “special
interest politics” and blocking efforts to raise the liability cap.

The world, or at least the Capitol Hill slice of it, was back in balance.

See more play-by-play from yesterday’s hearings in The
New York Times’ Green blog.

Why didn’t we think of that?

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has his own special take on the oil spill.  It never would have happened, he says, if we
had only gone ahead and drilled,
baby, drilled in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. 

Timing is everything

This week, the BP Sea Otter Habitat exhibit opens at the Aquarium of the
Pacific in Long Beach, Calif.  Although
the oil company donated $1 million for the facility, no BP officials are
expected to attend.  The
Los Angeles Times has the story.

Related Links:

Obama admin overhauls MMS, the agency in charge of offshore drilling

Rand Paul’s Copenhagen rant and other election notes

Robert Redford and green groups tell Obama to step up on Gulf oil leak

The consequences of our almost hopeless relationship with oil are clearly on everybody’s minds these days — and for good reason. The disaster on the Deepwater Horizon and its incomprehensible effects on both the ocean ecosystem and people’s livelihoods, for likely decades to come, has hit the message home that our oil addiction holds us all at its mercy.

And that’s just no way to live… being at the complete mercy of something else somehow seems un-American, no? Aren’t we the society that sculpts its own destiny? Don’t we ‘boldly go’? If the results from a new survey done by the Consumer Federation of America are accurate, it seems we haven’t lost that mentality.

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OTE: The translation of President Calderón’s remarks at the Arrival Ceremony were provided by the Embassy of Mexico.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 19, 2010

REMARKS BY
PRESIDENT CALDERÓN OF MEXICO AT ARRIVAL CEREMONY

South Lawn

His Excellency Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America
Mrs. Michelle Obama;
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I appreciate the kind invitation of President Barack Obama to carry out this State Visit. Mexico and the United States…. We are friend and partner nations; nations that work together and trade… And that complement each other economically; nations that dialogue and that are intertwined by geography and history.

As you pointed out Mr. President, while in Mexico, “what makes us good neighbors is a simple truth: our peoples share way beyond our common challenges and interests.” Indeed, we also share common values and principles such as freedom, justice, legality and democracy.

Today, Mexicans and Americans share a decisive moment for our respective countries. We face common challenges of great magnitude: organized crime, economic crisis, climate change, migration. These monumental challenges place us at a crossroads: either we return to mutual recrimination, which has been so useless and so damaging in previous times, or we face and overcome these challenges together, and from there, we begin a new chapter of shared prosperity.

This is the choice: look toward the future, and begin a new era in the strategic partnership between the United States and Mexico based upon shared responsibility.

I am sure that by working with shared responsibility, our governments will be able to open new paths for a more secure, more sustainable, more competitive and more prosperous North America.

We can do it if together we face and combat transnational organized crime. This is our common enemy and the greatest threat to our peoples.
We can do it if together we support a new model for economic development, in harmony with the environment.

We can do it if we know how to make the most of how our two economies complement each other. If we take advantage of our trade and integration to create more and better jobs in both countries. If we can work together to encourage the successful integration of the Mexican-American and Latino communities in this country. We will do it, if we know how to add up our strengths to make North America the most competitive and prosperous region in the world.

We can make it, if we continue building a safer border and if we transform it in a border that does not divide our peoples, in a land of opportunities and progress. We can make it, if we develop a comprehensive, fair and long term solution to the challenges that migration currently poses. I know that we share the interest in promoting dignified, legal and orderly living conditions to all migrant workers. Many of them, despite their significant contribution to the economy and to the society of the United States, still live in the shadows and, occasionally, as in Arizona, they even face discrimination.

Divided we cannot overcome these enormous challenges. A prosperous North America that benefits both Americans and Mexicans is only feasible if we work shoulder to shoulder, and if we confront these challenges decisively and courageously.

Mr. President,

I come today to seal the pact of friendship that a year ago you offered to Mexico and to the Mexican people. Mexicans and Americans, we are faced with major common problems and challenges, but at the same time, we have the possibility of shared success in the horizon.

Can we overcome these challenges? Can we build that future of prosperity we want for our people? Yes we can, if we work together.

Thank You Mr. President for your kind invitation.

END

Unlike Victoria’s Secret and GAP, eBay does not participate in the resale of used panties. Thank you very much!

On Wednesday, the world’s leading auction site pulled the plug on an auction promoting the sale of used underwear that allegedly once belonged to late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. Several articles of lacy lingerie — including “worn” garters, belts and panties — were put on sale this week by Jackie Hatten, the sister of Smith’s former boyfriend Mark Hatten.

The sale was later scrapped by eBay, who adheres to strict rules regarding hygiene and used clothing.

“eBay policy strictly prohibits listing used underwear,” a company spokesperson told TMZ Wednesday. “Used clothing may be listed on eBay as long as it has been cleaned and the listing clearly states that the clothing is used.”

Despite the rumors that circulated around about T-Mobile picking up the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, AT&T was the first GSM provider out of the gate (in the States, that is).  As a result, T-Mobile users are the only ones left without a webOS option.  Thanks to the nextgenserver SIM unlock method, users can purchase a GSM Pre Plus and have it unlocked for use on the nation’s fourth largest wireless carrier.

Keep in mind, it’s not cheap – the full retail price of the Pre Plus comes in at $399.99, and the unlocking service will cost another $37.  What’s more, due to the difference between AT&T and T-Mobile’s 3G frequencies, you’re looking at an EDGE-only device.  But hey – webOS goodness is webOS goodness.  Keeping that in mind, anyone considering the ol’ switcharoo?

Via PreCentral

Robert Ring was the first of a bunch of you to send in this gem. You may recall the reports that the producers of the Oscar-winning movie Hurt Locker were supposedly gearing up to sue tens of thousands of fans for unauthorized file trading of the movie. Even if you’re against infringing on copyrights, it’s not hard to see why this is a strategy doomed to backfire massively. A Boing Boing reader found the email for Hurt Locker producer, Nicolas Chartier, who already has something of a reputation for… well… aggressive emailing, and received quite a response.

First, the polite and email the reader sent to Chartier, expressing why he thinks the legal strategy is a mistake:

Dear Mr. Chartier,

I have recently become aware of Voltage Pictures’ intention to sue thousands of people who are suspected of having used BitTorrent to download films produced by your company.

I wish to register my disagreement with these tactics, and would like you to know that as a result of these actions I am boycotting your films. The majority of the people you are suing were not seeking to make money from their downloads, and will be financially devastated by a lawsuit or settlement. While it is completely understandable that Voltage Pictures wishes to defend its intellectual property, this is an inhumane way of doing so.

Until Voltage Pictures publicly states that it will not pursue lawsuits for downloading its films, I will not view, rent or buy any films produced wholly or in part by your company. I will urge my friends and family to take the same actions. I do not wish for the money I spend on entertainment to be used against otherwise good people.

Thank you for your time.

And now for Chartier’s response:

Hi Nicholas, please feel free to leave your house open every time you go out and please tell your family to do so, please invite people in the streets to come in and take things from you, not to make money out of it by reselling it but just to use it for themselves and help themselves. If you think it’s normal they take my work for free, I’m sure you will give away all your furniture and possessions and your family will do the same. I can also send you my bank account information since apparently you work for free and your family too so since you have so much money you should give it away… I actually like to pay my employees, my family, my bank for their work and like to get paid for my work. I’m glad you’re a moron who believes stealing is right. I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing so maybe they can be taught the difference. Until then, keep being stupid, you’re doing that very well. And please do not download, rent, or pay for my movies, I actually like smart and more important HONEST people to watch my films.

best regards,

Nicolas Chartier
Voltage Pictures, LLC

Wow. Note that the original letter to Chartier did not, in any way, defend the practice of downloading the film. It just noted that suing everyone did not seem like a proportional response. And, for that, Chartier calls him a moron and a thief and wishes his whole family ends up in jail. I guess when you have someone like that in charge, it’s no wonder that they think filing tens of thousands of lawsuits against fans is a sensible position. Perhaps somewhere along the line someone will sit Chartier down and explain to him the difference between disagreeing with a strategy and promoting infringement. At that time, perhaps they can also explain to him the difference between theft and infringement. Now I can understand why even folks at the MPAA have been rapidly distancing themselves from Chartier and this particular campaign, making it clear to pretty much everyone that they do not support his strategy for dealing with unauthorized sharing of his movie.

Update: In the meantime, I had almost forgotten that the producers of the movie, including Voltage Pictures, are being sued by a soldier, who claims that the movie was actually “his” story. Now, as we wrote when that story came out, the claim seems ridiculous, but if you run his claim through the same argument that Chartier makes above, it makes you wonder if by Chartier’s own bizarre logic, he really should pay that soldier. After all, he took that soldier’s “story” for free, and that soldier likes to get paid for his work too, I’m sure.

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56 year old actor John Travolta confirmed that he and his wife Kelly Preston are expecting a new baby to their family. John said it is impossible to keep this secret, and he is very happy, he said he wanted to be the first to share this wonderful news with his fans. When he announced this news, he looked very proud and very energetic as well.

47 year old Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston is pregnant with her 3^rd child and she is in 3^rd month already. This is a great news for Travolta family 17 months after the death of their elder son Jett. 16 year old Jett died in 2009 January. Another tragedy with Travolta was the death of their two dogs which were run over by a service vehicle.

John and his family stayed out of public eyes after the tragedy for almost a year, and John just appeared in front of media and public for his new upcoming movie. The couple has a 10 year old daughter Ella Bleu who also shared this joyous moment with mom and dad. We are really happy for John and Kelly!!

Related posts:

1. John Travolta and Kelly Preston expecting a new child
2. Travolta Couple is having their Newborn for the Third Time!
3. John Travolta’s dogs were killed

More and more new car shoppers are opting for four-bangers when buying a new vehicle, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ Power Information Network. J.D. Power says that in April alone, 4-cylinder engines accounted for 49 percent of new car and light-duty truck sales. During the first quarter of 2010, 4-cylinder engines accounted for 46.5 percent of new vehicle sales, up from 41.9 percent during the same period a year earlier.

Click here to get prices on the 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

As USAToday points out, in some cases buyers have no choice. Popular new models like the 2011 Hyundai Sonata are only available with 4-cylinder engines, as is the new Suzuki Kizashi sedan. The 2011 Buick Regal, which is also only available with 4-cylinder engines, saw its first sale over the weekend in Illinois.

Automakers are doing all they can to meet strict fuel-economy standards set by the government. However, many new car shoppers are now more concerned with how many miles per gallon they are averaging over how much horsepower they have under the hood.

As for the performance-hungry American drivers, automakers are betting that technologies like direct-injection and turbochargers crank out enough torque to satisfy their needs.

2011 Hyundai Sonata:

– By: Omar Rana

Source: USAToday (via KickingTires)

Is “bioch” a bad word? New Jersey thinks so. They’re trying to take away one resident’s fabulous bioch vanity plates because they are “objectionable.” She’s upset because people like the plates and think they are funny.

“They say, we knew you were here, we saw your car,” said the plate owner. “People know me by the plates.”

It’s not offensive,” she said. “It’s not even a real word.”

From NJ.com:

“The commission, in processing your request, erred and assigned a combination which is considered objectionable,” wrote Dodie Burrell, a supervisor in the Special Plate Unit, in a May 5 letter to Romano. “The commission has no alternative but to immediately recall the license plate ‘bioch.’”

Now she has no choice but to turn in the plates or New Jersey will not renew her registration.

Manville woman must forfeit her ‘Bioch’ license plates after complaint of profanity [NJ]

Bill Natbony heads two natural resource investment strategy funds for Tom Kaplan, AKA the guy who Paulson and Soros followed into NovaGold.

One of those, the Electrum Group, focuses almost entirely on a unique strategy for investing in gold that is much more interesting than buying gold itself.

“In 2001, Dr. Kaplan reached the conclusion that gold was at the very very early stages of a major bull market,” Natbony explains. “And at that time, he started putting together the first building blocks of the Electrum Group.”

One of the strategies pursued by the Electrum Group is to send geologists out on exploration missions to find properties that they think will yield gold (and other metals).

“We look for surface anomalies that suggest there is gold.” he says. For example, “it would be nice if you found gold popping out of the ground, or you found a silver or copper vein that was sheared off in an earthquake or one  on the side of a cliff, but those are rare.  Surface indications are most often more subtle.”

A second strategy Electrum pursues is to invest in companies that do the exploring themselves, like Novagold. Once they’ve found it, actually extracting the gold can cost billions of dollars. But just holding the property costs relatively little.

“We view these (for example NovaGold, and another company Electrum invests in, Gabriel) as comparable to long-term calls on gold,” says Natbony, “There’s no necessary upkeep, no significant overhead cost to maintain the positions – They give us the opportunity to capitalize on what is going to be unfolding in gold, which is an enormous appreciation in the value of gold as gold’s currency value is realized.”

Electrum’s strategy is betting that the values of the exploration companies will increase as the price of gold drives higher. “We believe we’re in the early stages of a gold bubble,” says Natbony. “Gold is going to see very significant appreciation over the next number of years.”

And in fact, investors in these companies can make a good deal of money before any gold is ever excavated and sold on the market.

Tons of investors were interested in Novagold as soon as news broke that Paulson and Soros bought stake in the company (which they still hold today) and many called up NovaGold looking to get a piece. The company is public, so it’s easy enough to invest.

But here’s the catch. “Close to 99% of the time these properties don’t yield any minable gold,” Natbony told us. “It’s very risky finding precious metals. No matter what you see on the surface, you don’t know what’s underneath until you drill the exploration holes.”

That’s why you drill – to determine if there is gold. Drilling thousands of holes ultimately determines the “proven” and “probable” reserve figures of the property.

“In NovaGold, the necessary exploration holes were drilled proving that there is a great deal of gold in the ground,” says Natbony.

He explains how they prove it:

“Just imagine that there is gold ore in the ground. It can run for kilometers or it can be very small, and it can start and stop and twist and turn. So in order to prove it out, you have to establish what the limits are. Second, you have to determine what the grade of the metal is throughout the ore body.  Holes are drilled, cores are examined and the assay results tell the story.”

Now we’re back to why investing in exploration companies is so risky.

It’s not that difficult to find some gold in a variety of places, but it is hard to find gold that is commercially viable.

“It depends on the concentration, what other minerals are with it (because those minerals might make it more difficult to extract the gold and the other minerals might not be any value). It depends on where it is, too. If it’s at the source of the Amazon river, it’s going to be difficult to get it out at anything less than a prohibited price.”

Nationalization and chaotic local conditions also are significant risks. For example, in Venezuela, Chavez believes that everything should belong to the Venezuelan government.  Darfur is not a safe country in which to look for and find ore. Similarly, Afghanistan does not provide a stable environment in which to find or extract gold.

But the spoils could be incredible. Natbony gives the example of Leor Energy, a natural gas exploration company.

“That was the largest discovery of onshore natural gas in North America in the past 30 years. In that circumstance, the return was 100 to 1. 25 million was put in, and it paid off $2.5 billion.”

Read more about NovaGold –>

Read more about Tom Kaplan –>

And now check out which big hedge funds are invested in gold right now –>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Gold Just Nosedived Below $1200
• The 60-Second Guide To What Big Hedge Funds Are Investing In Right Now
• Here’s Who Really Made The Best Gold Trade

AC Schnitzer tuning specialist is currently working on a performance upgrade which, in combination with delimiting the Vmax and a sports exhaust, will bring a further perceptible increase in the power of the BMW X6 M. And if that’s not enough, you can also opt for the carbon fibre AC Schnitzer engine styling. Even without a performance upgrade, the acoustic and visual attraction will be enhanced by the AC Schnitzer sports rear silencer with two chromed “Sports Trim” tailpipe trims in right/left combination.

AC Schnitzer not only gives the BMW X6 M more power, but also a tailored race outfit of carbon. Front spoiler, rear roof spoiler, rear wing, rear diffuser and design elements for the front skirt and chromed front grille give the X6 M an impressive and muscular appearance. As an option, the carbon Bonnet Vents with chromed centre web complete the sporting look.

A real highlight is the new AC Schnitzer Bonnet Top of carbon with plexiglas panoramic window through which the engine is permanently visible.

For the X6 M – 1.98 metres wide as standard – AC Schnitzer has adapted the FALCON wheel arch extensions so that the BMW body gains an extra 40 mm width each side.

The already sporting interior ambience of the BMW X6 M has been refined further in the Aachen works. The instrument panel conversion – speedo and rev counter with AC Schnitzer logo, white dials, red pointers and red lighting – gives the X6 M a speedometer display up to 360 km/h. The carbon interior trim and the AC Schnitzer steering wheel spokes in new “black Exclusiv” design and the AC Schnitzer aluminium cover for the i-Drive system controller, aluminium footrest and pedal set, and velour foot mats, round off the interior package.

The wheelarches of the X6 M by AC Schnitzer can be filled with 20″, 22″ or imposing 23″ AC Schnitzer wheels in Type IV BiColor, Type VII silver, black or BiColor, or the AC Schnitzer forged alloys Type V or forged racing rims Type VIII BiColor. In combination with the 275, 315, 295 or 335 tyres, it’s easy for the driver in the cockpit to transfer the engine power to the track, and at the same time provide external evidence of the “motorsport gene” of the X6 M by AC Schnitzer even when stationary.Overview for Press Release No. 05/2010

Source: Lincah.Com – New Car and Used Car Pictures

Google’s developer conference today in San Francisco is offering a range of announcements across the company’s products. Here’s your quick guide to the news, which we’ll be updating Wednesday and Thursday. The freshest news is at the top:

Two more API additions: The Google Feed API now includes push updates, as well as a bunch of new open source web fonts and a font API.

Google Buzz Fills Out APIs: Google Buzz launched an API that will allow developers to access user feeds, search updates, post updates and more. It’s already been integrated by Seesmic, Socialwok and other partners.

Google Latitude Gets an API: Google is allowing developers to build on its mobile location service — with the very explicit permission of users. The team has some cool app and service ideas here.

PayPal for Android: PayPal is offering developers the option to use its Mobile Payments Library to enable purchases in their Android apps. It already does this for the iPhone.

Google App Engine For Business and VMware Love: App Engine gets enterprise level support, and later this year will have a SQL database so Google can entice corporate customers to build their in-house applications on App Engine for Business as opposed to on Microsoft Azure or other platforms as a service. It also has optimized App Engine to work with VMware’s Spring Source Java framework. Apps built in the Spring framework will now run on App Engine, VMforce, Amazon’s Web Services and other clouds that support Java.

App Store for the Web: Google is putting together a directory of web apps called Chrome Web Store, though no launch date was specified. The apps will be mostly HTML 5 but will include Flash as well. App makers like TweetDeck have made HTML 5 versions that access APIs for notifications and geo-tagging in the browser, acting much like native clients. Google is working with Unity Technologies on Native Client to help transfer rich immersive 3D games in the browser.

Open Video: Google released WebM, an open media format for the web-based on VP8, the codec it acquired along with On2. NewTeeVee had scooped this news more than a month ago, and has the full story today. Mozilla and Opera are on board to support the new format, and YouTube is converting its entire catalog. Adobe’s Kevin Lynch said VP8 will be included in Flash. Also on the video front, Clicker demoed a living room-ready version of its online TV guide, built with HTML 5.

Wave for Everybody: The collaboration tool Google Wave, which was introduced at last year’s I/O, is now part of Google Labs and doesn’t require an invite. “If you tried Google Wave out a while ago, and found it not quite ready for real use: now is a good time to come back for a second try,” product manager Stephanie Hannon wrote in a blog post. Wave is also being added to Google Apps.

Google Contextual Gadgets: Third parties can now build dynamic widgets into Gmail for businesses using Google Apps. Launch partners include Gist (see our WebWorkerDaily writeup), Kwaga (imports your correspondents’ social network profiles) and AwayFind (sends push notifications/alerts for important messages). Plus, Xobni announced developer tools to help any contextual gadget developed for Gmail work in Outlook.

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Google has tweaked its App Engine platform as a service to make it palatable for business customers, the search giant said today at its developer conference in San Francisco. Its goal is to get corporations to build their in-house software on App Engine for Business as opposed to hosting it in their own data centers or on another cloud. But while App Engine for Business is a logical next step for Google, it still has a ways to go when it comes to providing a truly competitive PaaS that developers will use to build enterprise applications.

App Engine for Business corrects certain issues that bother developers about App Engine, namely by providing “enterprise-level support” (in other words, trouble tickets and subsequent responses) and SQL database capability (due by the third quarter).
Google’s Use of Big Table had also frustrated them as it locked them into the App Engine platform. Google’s response was that it knew how to build a scalable infrastructure, and so if you wanted to scale your app, then App Engine and the Big Table limits were the way to go.

To be fair, App Engine was designed to attract developers trying to build consumer web services, and Google last May integrated App Engine with Salesforce.com so business application developers could test it out. However, App Engine competes with services like Microsoft’s Azure, Heroku and the recently announced VMforce platform (GigaOM Pro, sub req’d) from VMware and Salesforce.com. And so far Google does well at providing web-based apps to folks interested in breaking out of an Office-dominated world (and the office), but less so when it comes to providing flexibility and the higher levels of services that those building their own enterprise apps in the cloud require.

Perhaps because of its previous weakness at providing the service and an enterprise-friendly platform, Google has worked with VMware’s Spring Source division to develop a way to move apps from one cloud to another based on Spring’s Java framework. Oftentimes, it’s the weaker companies that work hardest to force interoperability and choice for customers, seeking an advantage.

The ability to move applications from one cloud to another helps advance the cloud computing agenda because customers won’t get locked into one platform or infrastructure — a worry for anyone spending time and money building applications in the cloud. Google and VMware are hoping that their partnership and use of Spring makes enterprise customers that use Java to build in-house apps more comfortable building them and hosting them in the cloud. Apps built using Spring will run on App Engine, Amazon’s Web Services and any other platform that can support Java.

The Google and VMware partnership is less about them working together than Google saying it will make sure apps built using the Spring framework will run seamlessly on App Engine. Google is also releasing tools that will allow any developer to add some code on top of the platform, which makes it possible to run any app on any device that supports a browser. That’s a nice feature. For more on platforms as a service and supporting enterprise cloud apps, attend our Structure 2010 conference on June 23 and 24 in San Francisco.

Google’s cloud efforts so far aren’t that compelling for businesses, but perhaps that’s a good thing, as it’s forcing Google to open up and support cloud interoperability in ways it hasn’t in the past with its insistence on Big Table. Its infrastructure may be top-notch when it comes to supporting the search engine, but Google still has a lot to learn about supporting businesses in the cloud.

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