A7 - Internet

The topic of this week's access science article was the Internet.  This reading was an encyclopedia article that had a lot of information about the Internet.  The article described how and when the Internet or was created and how is has expanded to the scale that it is at now.  This article also talks about the features and systems of the Internet.  It also goes into the number of ways that the Internet is used to communicate, including e-mail and instant chats.  The Internet is generally a massive network where almost all computers can connect with and share data. The sharing of information is why the internet is so relevant to intelligent buildings.  With it people working on the same project will be able to communicate with each other so the work would be able to be done with less error and more quickly.

For the additional article this week I read "WorldDesk and Dropbox introduce cloud collaboration".  This article talks about a new revolutionary idea that will allow you to uses your desktop from any computer with access to the Internet.  WorldDesk is currently working with DropBox to create a service that will allow a user to access a personal virtual desktop anywhere.  WorldDesk is a company that works with desktop visualization and DropBox uses cloud storage.  Combining these two technologies will allow a virtual desktop to be reached via a cloud based delivery platform.  A beta version of this technology was just released a few days ago for 32-bit Windows 7 machines.  This is a large step in utilizing cloud technology.  This service would almost eliminate the need for owning a personal computer, especially if these virtual desktops could be accessed from public computers.  Not only will a user be able to access their information or data that is saved but also the user’s settings and applications from the desktop
. 

A7- Internet and Its Future

            I think that everyone is aware of what the internet actually is. This article is interesting though, because it takes you on a timeline of the internet from 1969 to today. The department of defense essentially invented the internet over 40 years ago, and since then it has developed into a global phenomenon that I’m pretty sure no one under the age of 50 could live without. The growth of the internet certainly followed a parabolic curve, where it hadn’t grown much the first 20 years and then suddenly took off over the past 25 years to where it is today. Part of this definitely had to do with the availability of computers and the level of technology available to the developers. I think part of this also has to do with the internet craze that stemmed from companies like AOL in the early 90’s.

            The data involved in the internet is incredible. Just sending an email involves an array of networks passing data around until the correct line of communication is reached. It’s hard to fathom how this was actually designed. The next topic in the article addresses internet speeds. I can’t help remembering the horrors of the dial-up internet connection. Not just the painfully slow speed, but the shrill noises coming out of the computer as the connection was made. Thank God for newer technology. Cable and DSL have similar speeds in my experience, contrary to the commercials downplaying the other’s speeds.

            Domain Name Systems, or DNS, are basically web addresses, i.e. Drexel.edu. The article then defines email addresses. The ICANN is the organization in charge of making sure no one web or email address is copied or stolen. Email attachments are defined, as well as forums, chats, internet phone calls, and intranets and telnet.

            The World Wide Web is basically how the internet links addresses and documents to others globally. This is only done because all data is set up so that it can be transferred through any server globally. This global data protocol system is our “http”. We use a web browser to search and locate these documents. This section was particularly interesting to me because I didn’t realize “http” was actually an important prefix to any web address because it helps exchange data.

            The article finishes with a small passage on commerce via the internet, and how businesses can be created on the internet or be introduced to the internet to help do business.

            Since this article is essentially common knowledge to most of society, I decided to read an article on “The future of the Internet” http://www.economist.com/node/16941635 , to see where this phenomenon is going. This article starts by reflecting the “anarchy” of the internet as it started. It was a beautiful place where anyone could post or create or share anything with anyone, worldwide. It then discusses how this freedom has been somewhat taken from us through privacy laws, antitrust acts, etc. It says that the government, IT companies, and network owners are toying with the internet to fit their specific wants and needs, which is effecting our use in a sometimes negative way. It says that the internet may become segregated by government entities across the world, where different countries will experience different “internets”. Nevertheless, the article then documents the great success of the internet. It mentions how people can communicate worldwide with similar minds to create fantastic things where they ever could have had to ability before. It references Amazon, Facebook, and Google as some of these successful internet-based inventions.

            Next, the article approaches the uneasy future the internet is headed in. It discusses bans by national governments like China on searches for specific content, where it acts like a company’s firewall which restricts employees’ online content available to them. This would be a real step in the wrong direction from the original concept of a freedom concept via the world wide web. The article also mentions trends that are potentially turning the internet into a competition once again between big companies to control the market. Again, this is taking the ideas behind the internet in the wrong direction. Lastly, the article talks about how companies controlling online data flow are charging private companies to allow their websites to be traveled to via the “fast-lane” data lines, and therefore the smaller companies are being slotted to the “slow-lane”. This is also taking the hopes of the internet’s freedom to the direction of “internets.”

            This article is very interesting because even though it is a year and a half old, it is still very accurate in terms of where the internet seems to be going. I just hope that we can figure out a way to stop it before the internet becomes the “Apple-Amazon-Facebook-Google”, where the government controls what websites you can view.

The internet

The assigned article about the internet on Access science was informative and comical. It was informative because it explains all the basics of the internet and how it got started. It was also very funny to read about dial-up connections and chat rooms. It brought me back to my elementary school days when one person couldn’t be on the internet when another was on the phone. But besides bringing me back down memory lane the purpose of this article was clear. Break down the internet into clear categories and explain them in detail. It was an easy but dry read. It’s amazing to see how far technology has come since the start of the internet.

The second Article I read this week was called “US government to set up internet Ministry of Truth as communist-style government-run media”. This article talks about a proposed branch of the government to help censor the internet and news throughout the United States. The author, J.D. Heyes, goes on to say that former President Bill Clinton proposed this idea. Clinton said the “ministry” would be like a news station that would not deliver opinions but instead identify “relevant factual errors”. Article continues to relate President Clintons proposal to Cass Sunstien’s idea that all website with opposing viewpoints have pop ups filled with government propaganda. The article continues to say that a call to limit internet opinion is also a call to limit free speech. Then Heyes quotes Thomas Jefferson “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” He then warns readers to be aware of the governments attempt to oppress American freedom.

There is a large time gap between the assigned article and my second article. About 15 years of internet advancement. The assigned article it talks about all the possibilities the internet can bring and now the second article talks about limiting the use of the internet. Its interesting to see how times have changed and now what can be done with the internet.

Link to Second Article here

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.

A Series of Tubes

The Access Science article about The Internet provided a lot of information about the networking architecture both in a hardware and software sense.  Just as the previous article on databases brings to light, people use the internet multiple times every day yet few people know how this phenomenal system of transporting data actually functions beyond clicking on the internet explorer icon on the desktop. The internet is so vast that with the current interne t protocols in place we are actually beginning to run out of unique urls to assign to new websites.  Despite having all of this information and knowledge available nearly instantaneously, the internet weighs only about 2 ounces. The video below goes through the math of how this is possible.  When you realize this, the magnitude of just how immense an accomplishment the internet is made self-evident.

How Much Does the Internet Weigh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaUzu-iksi8

The second article I read was about the history of fiber optic networking, link.  This method of transferring data, whether the internet or telecommunications, is performed by sending pulses of light through individual optical fibers. This light then gets forms into an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated so that information may be transferred and carried. While first developed in the 1970’s the fiber optic cable can carry roughly sixty five thousand times the amount of data than the copper cables that it would eventually come to replace. This advent of technology allowed the internet to become a more realistic invention with the need for giant copper cables to be run all across the world by internet service providers.  The security that may be accomplished over fiber optic networks is better due to the difficulty of splicing into the network cables.  An issue known as “last mile” has plagued fiber optic networks where the distribution lines for teledata are run through fiber optic lines but from the distribution to the premise of the end user is still using older technologies which still cause a bottleneck of network speeds.  More companies, such as Verizon, are now offering consumer level fiber optic networking capabilities and in the future this will most likely become the norm.

Deep Web

Access Science’s article on the internet, while perhaps a little outdated (i.e. needing a dial-up account for email) it provided a decent overview of the basics of the internet and how it is available the public to use. Some of the interesting points that the articled provided was in the discussion of the protocols involved in computer to computer communication. I also had no idea what routers do: keeping track of data fragmentation to provide compatibility between the two computers in communication. Finally, the explanation of the workings of the web was interesting. The web is only a part of the internet, yet the majority of the internet we utilize is via the web.

The second article, "Going beyond the Web's surface," I read examined what most surfers hardly ever get a glimpse of: the internet beyond the web; sometimes referred to the deep web. The deep web, by some estimates is twice as large as the world wide web. This additional data is unavailable because search engines are unable to search the files and there is no domain name associated with the location. Most of the data resides on databases that can only be accessed if a web site provides indexing and search of the database or if the user knows the directory information of the data or files desired. Interestingly, a large part of the deep web data is on U.S. government databases as the U.S. government is the world’s largest publisher.

The accessibility of the deep web is not static, however. PDF files, for example, were once a part of the deep web, but search engines have been able to index the files and now can be searched. I believe with time, eventually all of the data available via the internet will be part of the surface web as search engines improve.

R7 - Internet

The assigned reading from Access Science about Internet covers the topics I am more or less comfortable with and that's why was easier to understand for me. It talks about the terms we come across and use all time when we are on the internet. Average user either has somewhat or no idea about some of them or knows what he/she is doing. For example TCP/IP protocols, a set of protocols that allows cooperating computers share data across the networks. Another topic is the internet speeds starting with dial-up connections -the old, familiar dialing sound-, cable, DSL, and ADSL. The article explains Domain Name System (DNS) which converts an IP address to a mnemonic equivalent and also ensures every site on the internet has a unique address. It also talks about the ways to communicate on the internet such as Usenet, chat, internet calls,  and intranet, then intranet, telnet, WWW, and http. I knew most of the terms before reading the assignment but it helped me clear the vague ideas I had on some of them.

The first article I read is "6 Web Pioneers on What the Internet of the Future Will Look Like". The author summarizes her interviews with some top figures from well-known companies like  AOL, Open Source Matters, Yelp, and MapQuest on the question of "What do you think the future Internet will look like?". Their common belief is that the internet will become more ubiquitous then it is. Today people are increasingly relying on the internet with habitual ways especially in social life. Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, says the internet will become like water or electricity and it's focus will be more important things like education or health care. People won't even think about it since it will be inter-woven to our lives, as Jeremy Stoppleman, CEO of Yelp states. Another important thing stated by Ryan Ozimek, president of Open Source Matters, is that the internet will be more mobile with more cloud capabilities. Also, Bary Glick, founder of MapQuest, says the internet will be like an invisible power supply that will take over many of the devices we use today like television. There will be the internet and the devices, connected to the internet, we use for our specific needs.

The second article I read is "6 Predictions for the Future of the Internet". The author makes 6 predictions at the end of 2009 for the future of the internet: audio web surfing, web surf on any device, input revisited, mobile networking, the end of .com domination, and IE stops being used. After 2 years some of those are already in our life and others are approaching. Today audio web surfing and much more is available with Siri coming with iPhone 4S,  much better than any previous attempts. Web surf on any device is still on the progress I guess since we don't have serious daily use yet. Better input methods are also increasingly used, at multi-touch phones, tablet PC's, and even computers. Mobile networking, multi-tasked use of contacts on mobile devices has been well introduces as well. A recent change is the end of .com domination, I read an article about this recently saying more extensions will be on the way  soon (though I don't remember the particular information). The last prediction the author does is the end of use of IE6. Today we are on IE9 and IE10 is on test drive but the author was right. Many questionnaires show that IE is used by a great majority of people to only download Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

Internet Reading

The required AccessScience reading dealt with the internet and gave a brief overview and summary of the   internet.  Since our generation was the first to grow up with the internet, I felt that the article was more a less a reminder of things I knew through experience of previous technology classes.  The article was also dated in some ways, talking about chat rooms, older connection speeds, and the new fangled electronic mail.  The part of the article I found most interesting was about ICANN and the domain name system.

The article I found dealt with ICANN and it's decision to alter or update the current domain naming system. The article, published on the Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), discusses the recent board approval of a revamped domain name naming system.  For the majority of the internet's short history, there have been 22 primary domain names within the system - ranging from .com to .org to .edu.  However, this summer (2011) the ICANN board decided to expanded the naming system beyond the generic top-level domains.  The expansion of the domain name system will alter the way people search and use the internet, as well as the way business and markets structure their online presence.  Under the new rules, any pretty much any word or combination of letters can be used to end a web address.  The board will begin to accept new naming systems from Jan. to April of 2012.  While a shorter article, I found it helpful to see what exactly the recent decision entailed.  I remember hearing about the possibility of the system changing and allowing any ending.  While I don't necessarily agree with the change, as I think it will create a good deal of confusion, I can see how the 22 domain names could be a limitation as our society becomes more and more web based.

Week 7: "Internet" Readings

The assigned article from AccessScience provides more than just a basic overview of the internet and how it operates. The article covers the background and history of the development of the internet quite effectively. It presents the internet as an evolution or progressive development of other media technologies and electronic sources, such as newspapers and magazines and identifies that the internet is proven to be so “versatile,” and in turn, this makes it powerful. Current users that have grown up in the age of the internet can testify these facts. The internet is used constantly and for a variety of uses/practices. Its continuous growth, even in the past decade, has demonstrated the effect that the enhancement of technological features, protocols, connection speed, and communication of the internet has had on user capabilities in many facets. The following two sources focus on the prospective capabilities of the internet in the future.

This second article addresses the question of whether the current research being conducted is enough to progressively influence in the internet industry needs for the future. The article discusses the concept of an incremental or progressive model and identifies the economic and social factors that influence the needs and expectations for future communications systems, which was the theme for a joint workshop held by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in January of 2007. The article presents observations made by the author, which include the relationships between the internet and economic and social theory, a discussion of the argument for anonymity of use of the internet, and observations of the social implications of a future internet. Several of these uses are discussed in the AccessScience reading, as well. This article presents a series of relevant questions that aid the reader in understanding the reflections made during the NSF and OECD joint workshop in 2007. These questions are quite thoughtful and their responses are detailed. The article addresses several important aspects regarding the future of the internet, such as lessons to be learned and improvements that can be made to improve the efficiency of inter-networking, and the challenges presented by each reflection.

This video provides a brief, yet detailed, overview of how the internet works. It is much simpler than the AccessScience reading. This source demonstrates the application of internet connections in a straightforward manner, using line diagrams and graphics for representation. It is even able to explicitly describe how “packets” of information are transferred across the internet (i.e. picture e-mails or Facebook photo albums). The source claims that by watching this video, one becomes part of the ten percent of people that understand the internet. The video uses analogies familiar to the viewer (i.e. candy wrapped in layers to describe the workings and relationships of various routers). It is short and therefore, a quick watch, and provides enough information for the average internet user to understand the workings of internet.

SOPA, PIPA and ACTA. OH MY!

"It’s a medium in which corporations and the general public are on equal footing in terms of reach, in that anyone who has an internet connection can view both a commercial website or a person’s personal web page without having to pay anything extra to do it.  There’s no barrier to entry, anyone can post anything, as long as it doesn’t violate our country’s law."

- "Why SOPA Will Turn The Internet Into A Television", Andrew Dat

I had been wondering if we would talk about the current events in Congress/the Internet in this class, and given the weekly reading topic, this seems like the best time to bring them up. I am talking about PIPA and SOPA, two acts which are being backed by the Senate and the House, respectively. My goal on this subject is not to present any bias towards these acts; however, given their nature, it is difficult to remain neutral when discussing their intended outcomes. Rather, my hope is that I will be able to tie them two what we read in the Access Science encyclopedia article on the Internet, by discussing the technical nature of the two acts as much as possible.

Before we get into the current events, I would like to give a little primer on the Access Science article. It found it interesting, while reading the article, how my response changed several times throughout. At one point I would be somewhat shamed, given that it was the first time I saw some of the acronyms that I know so well, fleshed out: http, DNS, TCP, to name a few. Admittedly, before reading this article I hadn't put much thought into looking in to what they stood for or what exactly their purpose was. At other times, I found myself scoffing at the article, thinking that it was quite out-of-date. If I had been asked to guess when the article was written, without having seen the citation, I definitely would not have guessed 2008. I'd be curious to know how many other people were caught off-guard by this. Really what this shows though is how much I take the Internet for granted, and I suspect this applies to quite a few others in my generation, though I don't wish to generalize. I finally have some perspective of how lucky I have been to grow up in an age where Internet speeds and general connectivity are taken for granted. I could have read the article on my phone is I had so desired; less than 25 years ago, I couldn't have even made a call from said phone further than 10-15 feet away from some wall in my house. Wow! (Not that I was even alive 25 years ago, but you get the picture.) 

The other things that the second point brings to mind is exactly how much the Internet has changed in even the last 4 years. In 2008, when the AS article was written, cable and DSL were state-of-the-art in terms of Internet connectivity options; fi-os was just creeping on the stage. Fast-forward 4 years, I'm not sure I know a single person that is still using DSL. As we speak I am sitting in my apartment, forced to physically connect to the Internet modem by Ethernet cable, since the walls are not conducive to transferring wireless signal. On any other night I would be upset by this, though given my current perspective as a result of the readings I have just finished, I'll settle for being able to upload this in the next couple of minutes, for potentially hundreds of millions of people to see, should they happen to stumble upon it.

This is a good place to tie in the SOPA/PIPA legislation - as I muse about just how extensive and powerful the Internet is... Lets just say that if SOPA is passed, the Internet will be a shade of what it is today. The first article that I read gives a pretty spot on analogy for this circumstance, comparing the watered-down, post-SOPA Internet to "little more than an interactive TV." While the most outright aim of SOPA - Stop Online Piracy Act - is to prevent access to overseas sights that traffic copy-right material, the ultimate affect that it could have could spell the end for websites that many of us use everyday without a second thought. Under the act, any copy-right material that is posted without consent would be considered a criminal offense. Bye-bye Youtube, Reddit, Facebook, etc... The bill would accomplish this by requiring ISP's, search-engines and administrators to restrict access to blacklisted sites. Initially, they hoped to achieve this by allowing these providers to change the Domain Name System (DNS) communication, which switches recognizable URLS, to unique IP address for execution. Thankfully, this provision was removed because it required a significant change in the internet's infrastructure, and could also potentially lead to security issues. Still. however, access to these sites would be restricted. Additionally, VPN's used nowadays to provide advanced security measures against spying and filtering - used legitimately by some businesses and government websites - would be prohibited, as they could potentially be used to prevent access to websites trafficking copy-right material from being restricted. Imagine the increased security risks.

Ultimately, the Internet would become a web of domains and websites completely controlled by corporations that have the necessary authority, or own significant amounts of the copy-right material. The playing field, as one can derive from the quote at the beginning of the post, would no longer be level. Currently, these big corporations already have the resources to battle infringement. With the aid of SOPA and PIPA, there would be little standing in the way of them potentially 'corpritizing' the Internet. One of the best things about the Internet is the freedom you have explore, and the potential communication lines that you wouldn't otherwise have. There are limits, certainly, to what you can and should legally do. Still, legislation such as SOPA and PIPA would have much more disasterous ramifications than they might be intended for, and they would certainly leave the Internet a much less exiciting place.

Reading One: Why SOPA Will Turn The Internet Into A Television

A SOPA/PIPA Blackout Explainer

Truly Wireless?

Having been born in the 1990’s, I grew up using the computer and the internet. I remember first using AOL and having slow dial-up internet. This usually took a few minutes to get internet access. Now there is wireless internet which is streamed through an antenna and recognized by the computer. It takes mere seconds to connect to the internet with wireless. Major cities like Philadelphia and college campuses have wireless internet with a strong signal so people can connect anywhere. Today anything and everything can be found on the World Wide Web. Websites like Google and Bing make it easy to navigate the internet and are helpful in finding information you are searching for. The required reading for this week discussed how connected we are today to the internet. It also went into detail about how information travels across many networks until it reaches its destination.

                The first additional article I looked at was, Introducing a Thermostat Steve JobsWould Love: Nest. Professor Mitchell mentioned this thermostat a few times in class and I wanted to know a little bit more about it. I thought this article also went well with the idea of wireless internet. The Nest is a thermostat that ideally after a week or so you won’t have to touch at all. The first week of its life the device takes in a lot of data about how you like your home cooled and heated. After this period, the device recommends settings that are more efficient. Nest continues to learn throughout its life span via five sensors. These five sensors include temperature, humidity, light and two activity sensors. The activity sensors are used to identify when no one is in the home and adjust the temperature accordingly. One problem with normal thermostats is that people set them either way above or way below the desired temperature, thinking that it will cool or heat their home faster. The Nest has a feature called “time to temperature” that lets the user know exactly how long it will take to cool or heat their home to their desired temperature to avoid this waste in energy. To tie in with the idea of being wireless, you can remotely adjust Nest from anywhere in your home. To do so you just need to log onto the Nest website or download the app to your mobile phone. The Nest website also tracks a number of things such as the times you’ve adjusted the thermostat and even how much money you are saving.

                The second article I looked at was, Wireless Internet for All without the Towers. Since we live in a large city we assume, at least I did, that everyone has wireless internet connection. However, this is not the case for the rest of the world. At least 27% of the United States’ population do not have internet connection and another 30% with internet connection do not have a wireless connection and are still using slow dial-up. In an effort to solve this problem, municipal Wi-Fi networks are being installed. There are a few drawbacks with this though. For one, installing municipal Wi-Fi is costly and can run up to $125,000 a square mile to install. The Wi-Fi is being installed on street lamps and has a strong signal if you are sitting outside at the corner café but is barely recognizable inside homes. Wi-Fi signals use unlicensed bands of the radio spectrum and must use low-power transmitters. This means that the Wi-Fi signals aren’t strong enough to penetrate through walls, which is why the majority of people in the United States use a router from inside their home to transmit the wireless signal. A small company, Meraki Networks, may have come up with a solution to this problem. They are calling it a Meraki box. The boxes run around $50 and can be easily installed by anyone that “knows how to plug in a toaster”. The box is located inside a home and sends a signal out to surrounding neighbors. Some neighbors will have a similar box called a repeater that will relay the signal even farther. Each box comes with special software that meshes all of the boxes networks together. This means that if one box becomes dysfunctional or is unplugged, the network will be re-routed. Meraki Networks was started by two M.I.T. students who have gotten the attention of Google. Their product will hopefully go into production and help solve the wireless internet connection in the United States and around the globe.

R7 - The Internet and Ubiquitous Networks

The first article I read, the required reading, entitled "The Internet" from AccessScience gave a full background and breakdown of how the internet works. I found this article very interesting because I don't generally thing about how the internet actually works. Prior to reading this article I knew that the internet is run and supported through servers. This article explained that in fact when information is sent, it is sent in packets which are broken down and sent in pieces and then reassembled on delivery. This article also went over some very general terms such as TCP/IP that I have definitely seen before but never realized what they actually meant for how the internet works. It was also interesting learning about how domains are beginning to be governed and monitored. I had never heard of the term "cybersquatting" before but it is an interesting idea that this could be considered property infringement. I guess I would disagree with that statement because I don't think you automatically own a website that uses your name. I would still say that a website is a just a piece of property that can be bought. I guess it will be interesting to see how legal rules and regulations develop in this area in the future.

The second article I read titled, "Ubiquitous transportation network sensors", also from AccessScience. A ubiquitous network is a network that provides services anywhere to anyone or anything on any device. This transfer of data can be done through many different methods all of which are internet based. This particular article talks about ubiquitous networks that deal with transportation information, such as sensors measuring traffic flows and incidents and sending drivers this information in real time so that the driver can make decisions based off this information. I think these sort of integrations projects are a really amazing way of using the internet and its data transferring capabilities in order to make regular daily tasks a more intelligent based system. In terms of transportation a lot of these systems have already been put in place, especially in terms of public transportation such as seeing how long it will take for a train to arrive at a station. Using this sort of technology in terms of automotive transportation is a little more recent. Some of the ways that I have encountered this technology is with the large electronic signs along highways that tell you how long it will take to get from point to point ahead of you on that highway. I think these signs are already a very help technology because if it says it will take an extreme amount of extra time you can take this into consideration and try to find an alternative route. I have also encountered this technology in new gps systems that come with a traffic feature that is updated in real time, alerts you to heavy traffic on your intended route, and most times will automatically reroute you to the shortest route around the issue. The article goes on talk about how these sensors are going to become more refined. Becoming very small, easy to install, and battery powered. One of these issues still being looked into is the conservation of power for these sensors. There are also many different data transfer systems that these sensors can use in order to alert you. These systems have different benefits and drawbacks usually based on how far the data can be transferred and at what speeds the data can be transferred. This article was interesting and I believe this is an area that is the next step in data transfer technology and ubiquitous networks seem to be something that could be applicable to many different industries. On a side note, one interesting fact I found in this article when it talked about the systems that can be used for data transfer, it mentioned that mobile devices can receive a signal while you are traveling at speeds up to 155 mph. I had never though about how speed would affect your cell phone from finding data but apparently there is a limit on how fast you can go and still use your cell phone.

R7 - Internet

The assigned Access Science article is a very concise and a rather informative concerning the basic concept of the Internet. I, probably as many others, was rather uninformed about the mechanic of the internet – as long as it works and I am connected, all is well in the world. This article mentioned some things I already knew, clarified some other things, as well as introduces to some new concepts. For example, I had no idea that DSL connection was faster than Cable. Based on the media coverage and internet service provider advertisements, I was under a misconception that a cable internet is the ultimate fastest.
While it was interesting to read about the mechanics and a short history f the internet, I personally am very interested in slightly different topics, relating to internet and instantaneous information availability in general, which are described the two articles I selected:

• The Way 4WARD to the Creation of a Future Internet


• The millennial invasion: are you ready?

The first articles I chose talks about the future structure of the internet, because the current architecture cannot support (properly) today’s information transfer demands, and soon will be crippled in its entirety. The author’s state, that current internet structure was designed for minimal traffic, for small file and message transfers, and its demand was simply underestimated. This team of researchers introduces a few options for new framefork of the internet, and calls it the 4WARD project. The second article does not talk about the internet specifically, but it discusses current people generation – us (those born since the 1980’s) – and the authors call us the Millennial Generation. It is a rather interesting article, and in some cases author’s views about us are very sadly true. The reason I chose this article, is because in this day and age, primarily due to the internet and instantaneous information access (virtually unlimited information), young generations are overly informed and technologically advanced. I am very curious how this affect us and those who came before us, because we will be their co-workers soon. This article is interesting, because it expresses a multitude of conflicting emotions at the same time: pride, excitements, but also strong concern and fear. At the beginning of the article we are called the next “great generation” and by the end of it there is concern because of our need for instant gratification, continuous stimulus, and the fact that we question everything. It is a very interesting article describing one aspect of the social outcome of the internet.

R7-Internet

The assigned reading gives information on various contents of Internet such as its technological features, connection speeds, TCP/IP, international domains etc. It is emphasized that the internet is the combination of several media technologies and an electronic version of newspapers, magazines, books, and more. Additionally, it is explained that a nongovernmental organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, performs a supervisory function in regard to standards, multilingual sites, and domain names. Thus, domains are managed and controlled all around the world.

The second article that I read is called “Internet Security” written by Sang Wong. In this article, it is emphasized that the Internet security has become a top priority issue for both corporate and government computers. The author indicates that viruses and other destructive actions taken by computer hackers will cost businesses an estimated $1.6 trillion by the end of the year alone. Moreover, it is explained that the browser displays the data sent by the server and serves as the Window on the internet. When the browser points to an internet address, it uses the modem to download files that are required to display various pages on the web site. The author believes that Internet Explorer is the worst way to browse the Internet due the fact that it is highly insecure in comparison to other browsers such as Mozilla.

The third article that I read is called “Internet Appliances". In this article, the author gives information on Internet appliances and explains how they work. It is emphasized that the appliance needs to meet two criteria: it connects directly to the Internet through an Internet service provider in order to connect with an application service provider to download necessary software; and its primary use is to connect to the Internet. It is also mentioned that the Internet appliances are less powerful than PCs due to the fact that they have minimal memory, smaller hard drive space, less local software and less processing power. Consumers should be aware that each Internet appliance is built specifically to execute a small number of tasks and the uses to which it can be put vary greatly.

Week 7 Reading

The first article I read was the assigned reading titled “Internet”. The additional reading I selected was called “Local Area Networks”.
The assigned reading was an interesting one that I personally enjoyed. It reminded me of when I was young and makes me think of how much more patience I must have had when using the computer. I do not miss dial-up modems. I remember fighting with my parents in order to go on AOL to chat with my school friends. It’s amazing to see how far we have come technologically. I remember when downloading a song took 45 minutes to an hour, whereas now it takes maybe 20 seconds. Overall this article was a necessary read in my opinion because it provided important information to me of how the internet works. The internet is something that I use every day and quite often, so I personally enjoyed trying to understand the basic components and functions that go into its use. I feel we often take things for granted, and this article made me appreciate “cable” modems so much more. I do not know what I would do if I had to go back to dial-up. The article does a nice job highlighting the different choices of internet services regarding dial-up, DSL, cable, and ASDL. I never heard of ASDL and reading this now makes me wonder if that was even an option when I was growing up. The domain name section of this article also does a nice job clearing up how the coding is transferred into common terms to help its user. The visual aid was a smart choice in helping describe the basic functions of domain names. The section on chats under the communication on the internet was another part that brought back many memories of when people used to use instant messenger. It’s amazing how I used one application so much when I was younger and how now I never do. Instant messenger to me was something that was replaced by Google chat, Facebook, chat, and Skype. The only time I have even used that particular program in the last decade was for work. I know large companies still use instant messenger to communicate faster than one would with email. Looking back and seeing how far society has come in the last decade or so only excites me to think about what’s to come in the future.

The second article I read was about local area networks. This article was not the easiest to understand however its use of graphics were a helpful aid. From my understanding local area networks are commonly used in large companies, offices, and educational facilities. Local area networks are essential when there is a large quantity of computers accessing the internet, servers, databases, and printer simultaneously. The Topology section of this article does a nice job explaining different setups in order to have a successful network. One of the biggest concerns with Local Area Networks is being able to handle the traffic through it. Having the appropriate topology is required in order to have successful operation and function. The article than starts to explain about circuit versus packet switching and to be honest this part of the article was difficult to understand. Clearer information would be a positive step in better understanding. From what I read I think packet switching is when data is wrapped up and launched into the network without reserving a specific path. Access protocols also come into the equation in order to have the information run through the network successfully. The information must abide by a set of rules set up by the access protocols. The access protocols are necessary so that the information gets from point A to point B. Overall this article was a useful supplement to the one provided. I personally at times find difficulty in understanding computer talk the first go around which is why I had to read this article more than once. If you have a better gift at understanding computer lingo than this article may be a better choice for you.

Internet Post

I actually thought the assigned Access Science article was quite interesting, probably because I have a better grasp on the topic this week as compared previous weeks. At first, I thought, “Am I really reading an article about the internet?”, but soon realized how much I don’t know about a thing that I use every day. Even defining simple terms such as URL and FTP that I use often showed me how little I actually understand. The complexity, structure, and speed of the internet astounds me – almost as much as the US postal system does. In effect, they are quite similar. Reading this article, especially the part about dial up modems, helped me to realize and appreciate how far we’ve come in the last 10-15 years. I still remember being scolded by my parents for hogging the phone line while I was on the internet, and practically nobody uses dial-up connections anymore because of their relatively slow speed. The thing that most impresses me about the internet is its global connectivity, and the protocol and standards set in every server in order to access the documents.

The second article I read was “Incidence and correlates of pathological Internet use among college students” by J. Morahan-Martin and P. Schumacher. Although we normally look at recent articles to ensure the accuracy of the information they contain, but I thought this article was particularly interesting because it was written over a decade ago, when the use of the internet was just becoming common to everyday people. This study surveyed 277 undergrads, and assessed the impact of the internet on their academic, work or interpersonal problems, distress, tolerance symptoms, and mood changes. They also hypothesized that pathological users would be more lonely and socially awkward. I think this is an interesting hypothesis, mostly because it has been proven true by Craigslist killers, Child molesters, and other predators that have caught media attention due to their internet activity. They found that a lot of people turn to the internet to change their moods when they feel depressed, isolated, or anxious. I think it is interesting to note how large of an impact the internet has had on not just our data exchange abilities, but how it has affected society and the way people behave. Although 277 undergraduate students probably represent a significant variety of personalities to study, I think it would be interesting to look at the affect the access and use of the internet has on people with varying levels of education and life experience. To a certain extent, undergraduate college students represent a small minority of the people who use the internet, especially today.

The Internet

            Reading about the internet, something I use on a day to day basis, showed me many interesting facts I was not previously aware of. It is clear that the internet is one of the most influential technologies of the past 30 years, especially when paired with the advances in computing power. I use the internet literally every day and frequent many different sites. This could include social media, such as Facebook, email with Gmail, fun and games with the various just for fun websites, and many more. The article mentioned that the internet is able to connect a seemingly limitless number of people who could be thousands of miles away. This could include email, usenets, chats, telephonic devices and intranets. The variability of the internet is really what makes it such a powerful force. With the various internet connections, including dial up, cable modem, DSM and ADSL really allow for different internet experiences. Growing up with a dial up connection made many tasks difficult and frustrating. However, Drexel’s superb connection allows large quantities of data to be transferred in a relatively short period of time. I was not aware that the World Wide Web was a specific subset of the internet and thought that it was simply a necessary prefix to go to a website.

            The next article I read dealt with internet in engineering schools and how it plays a vital role. The article notes how the vast majority of students, many of which are engineers, look first on the internet to find their information prior to consulting a physical text. It mentions how teachers also use the internet as a means of updating their information in a fast manner. Without the internet, they have trouble sharing any classroom updates with the students without it taking a very long time. I would agree with this, Drexel’s integration with the Blackboard Vista website makes updating information for students significantly easier than a hardcopy/paper system. The article provided many tables which quantified the information the survey gathered. The target audience of the survey was engineering schools in India in the year 2006, so some extrapolation of the data may be required. However, the data clearly showed that the majority of the students used internet on a daily or every other day basis, for both school and fun reasons and nearly 100% had some sort of internet mail use when on the internet. The conclusion from this was that internet for college aged engineering students was primarily for communication and research.

            The third article I read, How Does the Internet Work, gives a broad description of the framework of the internet. The internet as a whole can be compared to the galaxy or solar system, it is not one tangible thing, but is composed of many smaller parts. The internet is not owned by an individual or corporation and is simply the higher power of its networks. These networks compose the internet and are owned by various individuals/corporations. To access a network, one must first go through the internet service provider (ISP). To access specific places on the internet, one must type in the specific uniform resource locator (URL). I was not aware that the URL was developed from a binary system originally. These domains are an innovative solution to having to remember specific number combinations, which would be confusing and difficult. I found it interesting that the article mentioned how young the internet still is. While it was initially developed over 30 years ago, it was not as universally used a few years ago as it is now. I am looking forward to see what steps the development of the internet takes over the next few years.