Internet

            The Access Science article on the internet was interesting.  The introduction paragraph raised a good point about how the success of the internet is hard to determine as a whole, but in different markets it is considered good or bad.  I had a brief knowledge of how the internet worked before reading this article but after reading I have a much better understanding of everything that is actually needed in order for information to be transmitted to a personal computer.   I found the information in the TCP/IP section particularly interesting, as it explained how a person can go on any computer anywhere and access their files on a server without any problems.  I wish the article contained more information on the options for different internet speeds, such as how different modems limit the speed of the connection.  I would have found this a very interesting area to read more about.  I found the article to be a very good summary of how many of the various components of the internet actually work together.  For a first time researcher this is a very good article to gain an understanding of the concept and the finer points.  The article was a bit generic in certain points and could have contained a bit more information, which would still not have made it to complex.  More information on domain names, such as hosting or website domain names, could have been given and would have been worthwhile learning about. 

            The first additional article that I read was titled “Integrated Information: Technology Is The New IT”.  This article talks about how the building industry is moving very rapidly to being integrated completely.  The beginning of the article hints almost at the fact that buildings may be considered full computers in the very near future, based on how much integration occurs between all of the systems.  One point the article uses to hint at this potential fact is how both the building industry and IT field use the same terminology for many similar concepts.  The article focuses on the concept of the intelligent hotel, which the main function of the intelligence would be to enhance the customer service.  Hotel Technology – Next Generation (HTNG) has been developing ways to personalize the experience at a hotel, such as: being called by name upon arrival, mini-bars stocked with preferred drinks and snacks, the room conditioned to the desired temperature, and even calling the front desk and being answered by name.  The use of RFID is being looked into as a possibility to increase the experience.  For example a guest could be mailed the RFID card and when they walk in the front door a message is relayed to the front desk and the bell stand, so they can be ready.  Many different technologies are discussed in the article along with example of how they could be applied to increase the customer’s experiences.  These technologies would also make the jobs of the hotel staff easier by not needing to remember as much personal information and being able to check preferences instantly on a network, anywhere in the building. 

            The second additional article I read was called “The Future of the Internet”.  The article points out the major trends that the internet has been following along with containing extrapolated predictions.  The first trend is globalism, which is mainly just about the benefit to the future generations to be able to access any information that they desire extremely easily.  The share of information will allow for the ability to become less country dependant, but more “earth” dependant, essentially having one country.            The next interesting trend mentioned by the article is that of virtual reality.  This trend is developing with the advancements in computing power, along with the desire for more realistic animations.  These virtual realities are very close to looking very really, as many current games use extremely high performance graphics, which are occasionally mistake for real.  One example of this was in the Battlefield 3 trailer, where game play footage was used with actual footage, and it is hard to determine which clips are real or animated.  The increase in bandwidth allows for the ability to upload download more information faster, which is of benefit to everyone as less time is required for large files to become public.  The movement to completely wireless networks is still one of the end goals of the internet advancement.  Significant advancements have been made in the past few years, specifically the N wireless networks.  These networks allow communication to the router at a speed up to 300 Mbps, which is extremely fast.  Very large files can be downloaded almost instantly on a network with this speed connection.  The efforts to define the next generation of the internet are ongoing and will hopefully allow for a more versatile internet.