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.