http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,63264,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6
Short article offering the horrific prospect that RSS feeds, if they proliferate into a mainstream phenomenon, have the potential to bring the InterNet to its knees [perhaps the most ironic thing about this is that to the left of the article is a link for RSS feeds from the site hosting it]. In part this may be the result of badly designed aggregators, but the prospect of hundreds of millions of aggregators requesting feed updates even on an hoursly basis gives some indication of the problem of scale implicit here.
http://www.csoonline.com/read/040104/networks.html
We tend to think of the network as a collection of computers, perhaps extending the term to certain specialized devices like printers and plotters. But as this article points out, we increasingly are supplying IP addresses to devices which are not even remotely characterizable as computers, and the significant security problems which result are addressed at length. Not least of the problem is the explosion in numbers of linked devices, which could reach into the trillions by the end of this decade.
Which suggests, as indicated in this blog before, that we will need IPv6 after all!
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/security/33344.html
Problems relating to InterNet security have become bromidic commonplaces, and have been mentioned earlier in this blog. This article addresses the threats inherent in the Net being built on foundations which were never designed with security in mind, and what must be done to remedy this situation.
Another article, looking at at a current TCP flaw which could lead to connection shutdowns, councludes that the vulnerability is there, but can be easily countered, and is in fact in the process of being patched:
http://internetweek.com/security02/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18902471
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-710-4205/science_technology/computers/
The history of IT is sometimes swept into the corner as being boring and irrelevant -- and some of the finer details of museum-class technologies no doubt deserve relegation to the Big Bit Archive. But as Georges Santayana said: "He who does not know his history is condemned to repeat it", and this certainly can apply to the IT world. Conaider something as big and penetratingly powerful as the InterNet. It can be the source of myths [and, in fact is]. A good background history allows us to see how far we have come, and also provides insight to the unintended consequences of specific innovations. The indexed URL provides such a history. One only wonders what is ongoing currently that will have the same impact 30 years down the road.
http://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=6163
As indicated previously in this blog, mainframe 'big iron' still has a major role to play in many enterprises, which is why educators should keep mainframes on their pedagogical radar screen [the fact that mainframe-related jobs are somewhat less offshorable can't hurt either].
The indexed URL describes initiatives being taken by major service vendors to allow mainframes to form part of a Web solution, which certainly sounds like a recipie for long continued life.
http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/howto.htm
There are times you don't want to leave traces on the InterNet, and there may be nothing particularly sinister about this. While pressures for authentication may reduce the impact of anonymous Net use, right now it still is a powerful technique, but it is by no means self-evident. This online guide goes into considerable detail on how to do this, along with discussing proxies, and providing a list of links to proxy concepts. This information can also serve as a starter to what may prove quite vigorous discussions.
A downloadable, for-pay privacy tool which may be worth evaluating is available here:
http://www.iprivacytools.com/index.php
http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3319021
Client/server networks have ruled the roost in terms of the ace and duce of network pipering, with peer-to-peer networks relegated to the humble workgroup. Now, technological developments have raised peering to higher importance, both within and outside the organization, as this article discusses. The original thrust for improved peering resulted from music file-sharing initiatives, but the technology scales well to the needs for internal information exchange within and among organizations, and a major lineup of heavy hitters including Intel and Microsoft are engaged in peer-to-peer research and implementation.
http://www.crime-research.org/news/29.02.2004/95
Brief description of the InterNet scam called 'phishing', where a fake site location is sent to the victim through e-mail, in order to gather information that the victim would expect to enter at the valid site. This is a growing problem, and some experiences of involved institutions are discussed here.
As if this was not enough, the risk of cyberterrorism has been raised in this article:
http://www.crime-research.org/news/28.02.2004/92
This article details some analysis showing that January, 2004 established new records for Net-borne malware:
http://www.crime-research.org/news/26.02.2004/83
The costs of Net fraud are in the same ballpark as global e-commerce incomes, according to this article:
http://www.crime-research.org/news/24.02.2004/internet_fraud_1
Problems of dysfunctional behaviour on the Net have been addressed previously in this blog.
http://networking.ittoolbox.com/news/dispnews.asp?i=110273&p=1
'Extranet' was once a concept with which to conjure, bringing the power of the InterNet into an organization for its private use. Like many other visions of a bold IT future, extranets have lost a bit of their bloom. The indexed article discusses why this has been the case, what has been learned, and argues that the extranet is still an idea with great organizational potential, providing a number of rules are followed [the one which will have most resonance with network administrators is the need for constant maintenance].
Students are often puzzled by extranets [or, as they are sometimes called, 'intranets'], and this article can dispel some of this. Another point worth hoisting inboard is the cost in initial and continuing terms of an extranet -- to adapt a phrase, nothing is quite so expensive as a mediocre extranet. It also re-emphasizes an issue which IT education must always keep front and centre -- the importance of the human element in systems application.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1523357,00.asp
With spyware [and related browser hijacking] becoming increasingly severe as a problem, the variety of tools to combat it have proliferated. This article discusses a comparative test among 14 anti-spyware programs. Treated as well are the characteristics of spyware, how to avoid it, and how to tell if you have been infected by it. This is a good one-stop-shop for determining resources and strategies for dealing with these pests.
The article should be valuable as a discussion starter for those studying basic InterNet security, as well as giving directions on how to find the best tool to actually use in a given case.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1514323,00.asp
The research effort on grid computing is beginning to pay off, with a variety of resouces available for grid implementation. This article suggests that grids are now ready for enterprise organization deployment; the barrier is now one of professional perceptions of grid suitability. Those objecting, while having some valid concerns, may not have a good grip on the most recent developments and their potential.
The article also includes a number of sidebar links to other discussions of grid computing and related topics.
http://www.eweek.com/category2/0,4148,1523738,00.asp
Page that indexes articles from a conference on the future of the InterNet. By far the most prominent direction of recent research is in the areas of creating more structured communities through collaboration -- the concept of the 'social net'. The Net is already a tool with great integrative abilities [as well as disintegrative ones], so the political, as well as social implications of these trends is well worth observing and discussing.
http://www.netaction.org/futures/networks-all.html
The theme of InterNet control and issues relating to this has been discussed at length in this blog. Here is an extensive, footnoted, and heavily-linked discussion of the alternative before us, presenting a contrasting scenario pair. On the one hand, we have the Microsoft-controlled network viewpoint; on the other, the vision of an open network.
The major issues involved are enumerated in terms of:
* Manageability
Microsoft has been notorious for offering a poor computing experience which, because the code is proprietary, is difficult for users to enhance. The open character of the InterNet, by contrast, has repeatedly shown it can take a licking and keep on bitting.
* Information coherence
To what degree can users protect information about themselves? In a proprietary network, the software provider decides; in an open source network, the user can decide [though the details of this decision can be difficult].
* Extensibility
Microsoft has been famous for "embrace, extend, exterminate", with ultimately limited extensibility as a result of closed-source limitations. By contrast, a major focus of open source software is easy extensibility, with no inherent barriers to doing this.
* Fault Tolerance
How can and will Microsoft ensure against failure? The open net is a vast skein of different components using a multiplicity of interconnections, meaning that if one part fails, there usually is some alternative capacity which can be used.
* Security
Despite "trustworthy computing", Microsoft's track record in this area has been less than reassuring. Giving people choice in security at least makes it clear where the locus of effort should lie.
* Resistance to political/legal intervention
Just how controllable is Microsoft, once its initiatives are implemented? We have seen, when mobilized, how the network can be controlled; we also see how it can resist such control when the issue involved is being approached inappropriately.
* Scalability
If .NET depends on a centralized Microsoft server farm, what happens when [as would appear nearly inevitable] the server is down or access to it is disrupted? An open network, namely the InterNet itself, has already demonstrated scalability at a global level.
Each one of these is a major issue worth investigation and discussion, and highly suitable for classroom or essay work. The answers to these questions will determine what sort of connected experience we will ultimately have.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D2-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21
The classes of objects the Web can handle is highly restricted [yet even this restricted feature set brings an information deluge with the click of a button], and many researchers consider it capable of useful extension. The result, as explained in this article, is the "semantic Web", which can react helpfully to the meaning of selected words and phrases [as opposed to reacting to the structure of a URL]. The result is a Web which is more precise and responsive to human intention.
Such a development in and of itself is a prospect worth pursuit, but consider this: the more the Web becomes semantic, the more it becomes a form of embedded prosthetic. It is a bromide that tools work on the user even as the user uses the tools to effect some task -- making the Web semantic could carry that reciprocal shaping deep into our secret selves. Like many other maind-stunning prospects, I don't think we can really grip all of the implications of this before deciding whether to do it or not -- we will shoot down Alice's rabbit hole while praying we find an umbrella handly in case of strain.
The components of the semantic Web are discussed in this article:
http://logicerror.com/semanticWeb-long
An introduction to the concepts behind the semantic Web, and the the state of play as of a couple of years ago, with links to further reading, is found here:
http://infomesh.net/2001/swintro/
A primer on the semantic Web [which once again emphasizes that this strirring in the reeds has been ongoing for nearly 3 years, which is a century in InterNet time] is available here:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/11/01/semanticweb/
A more recent account, which discusses the XML programming side of the semantic Web is here; it includes a whole page-load of additional references:
http://www.disobey.com/detergent/2002/sw123/
Anything which involves ontology as part of its description should cause one's skeptical antennae to quiver mightily, but here is the site which not only flaunts the concept, but also provides you with the current news about this whole development:
To paraphrase Mr. Fudd: "This is wery, wery important!"
http://www.nothingbutsoftware.com/prms/kt/2289.asp?ai=1467
I have staged the sackcloth-and-ashes routine in relation to the InterNet's troubles at great length in previous blog posts. I am concerned about this personally, because I value the Net highly as an intellectual companion, but it is also the case that we cannot contemplate a resource of the reach, power, mutability, and potential of the Net being simply trashed by the electronic equivalent of Alaric and his Hunnish horde.
A number of the 'solutions' offered beg the question of the relative pain of cure and disease, because they strike at the open connectivity which is the heart of the Net. The indexed article suggests a different approach, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, using the resources and attributes that the Net possesses in abundance.
Selecting the most serious of these, and evaluating their potential and how they might be applied, could form the basis of an interesting student exercise.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1063304538_685&type=RES&src=KA_RES
No question that Virtual Private Networks are and will continue to be important. Although the standard methodology for VPNs is concerned with implementation in routers and switches, there is another way of doing it. This white paper: "A Primer on SSL-based VPNs" shows how VPNs can be implemented in Layer 4 of the OSI stack, extending applications through the use of SSL and a browser.
This is a useful alternative which may have several design and problem-solving implications.
http://www.worldofends.com/#FN1
From those percipient folk who brought us "The Cluetrain Manifesto", some remarks on what the InterNet is, and how it can and should be used. Many of the latecomers to the Net commerce party have been busily constructing buggy whips to be used in flogging airplanes to fly faster. Because the Net is new, and also relatively transparent, its operations are sometimes counterintuitive.
This is a message of significant hope -- that the walking moneybags who would tie up the value of the world cannot, in the end, succeed. It were best they then get educated in what to do, before they harm everyone in trying to control the uncontrollable.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5153627.html
Guy Gilpatrick characterized the effect of the extraordinary on one's imagination by saying "it not only staggered, but also reeled, tripped, and fell face-down into the gutter". That's somewhat the appropriate reaction to IBM's WebFountain initiative, a supercomputing project which intends to push current Web searching into data-mining services delivering meaning and content.
A number of competitors are also pursuing the same goal, which in some sense is the inverse of the 'semantic Web' concepts discussed previously in this blog. This article describes the roots of this project, along with the hardware, software, and personnel resources required to support it, and gives a glimpse of potential applications.
I have tin-drummed the concept that those companies which can make effective use of the plethora (if not surfiet) of information on the InterNet can get an immense leg-up on their competitors. IBM seeks to make this a service operation which could, prehaps, actually level this playing field even as it was being sodded and marked.
A number of related stories are covered in links within the indexed article, and another balanced evaluation of this system and its implications can be found here:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/jan04/0104comp1.html
Absorbing article about the evolution of 'hidden tech' -- the fact that internetworking has improved to the point that the (sometimes vacuous) dream of de-urbanization for knowledge workers can be realized. While the result is a more humane way of life [with the not inconsiderable side effect of spreading the economic benefits of IT more widely], it has even more significance: because this development may be key to sustained economic recovery in the USA, and also because it is small, unincorporated, and therefore under the radar of standard business statistics.
There is a model worth considering in this regard: how the Falun Gong movement in China seemed, from the government's point of view, to emerge from nothing overnight. Something of the same impact, though far more benign, may be happening here. If so, the phenomenon is well worth keeping in mind.
http://www.opte.org/maps/tests/
We tell our students that the InterNet is the biggest network of networks -- but why not show them? The indexed URL leads to a site which is dedicated to mapping the Net, creating rather etherial pictures which have a distinct neurological quality. Because the colour coding used distinguishes by region, for example, these pictures can be a good starting point for discussing the degree to which the Net has an uneven inpact on the world.
http://www.groxis.com/service/grok/
This is one of those tools that excites great extremes of veneration and vituperation, quite similar to the novel from which the tool's name came. For myself, hewing to the extreme middle, as is my wont, I consider this an interesting way to get a grip on massive amounts of information which would otherwise be impossible to assimilate.
It certainly represents a different way of looking at the InterNet, that is for sure, and deserves evaluation on those grounds alone.
A review of this product with a whole whack of links to other methods of data visualization and control can be found here:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2003/12/17/desktop_visual_search_engine_extends.htm
http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/
If you need a good tutorial explaining the basics to someone who is familiar with XML and allied Web technologies, then point your browser here. In addition to the content, there are also links to further information should you wish to investigate further.
The educational importance of RSS demands so little emphasis, it is not surprising that it is not more widely used.
http://www.opticalkeyhole.com/keyhole/html/ipv6.asp?bhcd2=1074710939
IPv6 has been referenced a number of times previously in this blog. This article discusses the current state of play in this protocol's development. Business is behind this developments, as we increasingly disperse connectivity among objects -- as the article notes, all major router manufacturers support IPv6, as do the latest major operating systems [though from this article, the status of OS X is unclear].
The impact on vendors, current connectivity initiatives (the Asian perimeter is aggressively pursuing IPv6 implementation), and speculation on InterNet connectivity resulting to replace other current connectivity measures are discussed. If as estimated, homes contain some 250 devices which could benefit from Net connections, then the need for IPv6 is as plain as the fact that the address space can easily accommodate this need.
http://utilitycomputing.itworld.com/4829/040106moreqthana/index.html
Some of the excitement about grid computing has been conveyed in other entries in this blog, but the URL above links to a 2-page PDF report telling a different story. According to Nucleus Research, few companies have any interest in this immature technlogy, the benefits of which will take some time to realize.
The page also indexes a number of other articles on grid computing.
http://www.networkmagazine.com/shared/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=16600116&classroom=
A major effort, led by a MIT researcher, aims to add 'intelligence' to the InterNet, with the result that some of the benefits touted by autonomic computing [self-diagnoses and repair of problems] will be enjoyed by the Net itself. The difficulties in this are not understated by this article; given that the anticipated completion date is 2010, we have some time to get used to this.
Well, yes, and doesn't this sound all to familiar to those of us who read SF and have in mind any number of stories where the global network 'wakes up'? Of course, there really is nothing to worry about....
http://technologyreview.com/articles/wo_garfinkel010704.asp
A vigorous discussion explaining how IPv6 is not the solution to all our problems, and may in fact be a problem itelf. The success of NAT at staving off addressing shortages brings problems of its own. The degree to which IPv6 represents a major challenge to network architecture is not ignored, nor is the degree of progress being made in its implementation.
The page also contains links to related articles.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3292043.stm
Report on Vint Cerf's take on the past and the future of the InterNet. The fact that initiatives are underway for making telephone numbers a Net Address and creating a Naming Authority Pointer system which will allow an extensive expansion of the Net's address space beyond the DNS [for example, book ISDNs could become part of the address space] promises to increase the Net's ubiquity -- it really could reach the SF vision of an omnipresent environment in which we live, move, and have our being.
A direct quote from Cerf is, I think, a valuable corrective to some fulminations about Net content:
If you have the ivory tower view that the internet is good only if everything on it is good you are mistaken. ... The internet is a reflection of our society and that mirror is going to be reflecting what we see. If we do not like what we see in that mirror the problem is not to fix the mirror, we have to fix society.
Taken to a not-improbable extreme, this has the potential to be another of those iceberg tips about which I natter continuously.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/04/15/fortune.ff.trends/index.html
While doomsayers consider the world lost in woe, there are reasons for optimism, as evidenced in technology trends to standardization (lowering costs), open source (lowering costs), wireless (breaking infrastructure barriers), 'living' data (more powerful software), and selling software as a service (cost effective applications). The position taken here that the InterNet, as implemented in these technologies, is a great leveller, has certainly been disputed by other postings in this blog -- but there is no reason why the optimistic view may not be right.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1390273,00.asp
The bloom may be off the Internet rose, according to this article, if something is not done to correct abuses. There may be something in this: initially the resistance to using the Net in its widest sense was the learning curve. While graphic interfaces and helper applications have reduced this, they have not eliminated it -- put another way, there are some inbuilt barriers to using the Net, even if it functions perfectly. But when people see it as a source of problems rather than solutions [even if it is just the experience which is being affected -- something I was powerfully reminded of last night when I closed my 4th pop-up ad, and thought "Man, this is getting a bit much; the enjoyment:effort ratio is starting to become unfavourable. If the sponsors doing the popups could only see how annoying they are, to the point I will voluntarily boycott a product/service which is not site-connected, they might cease and desist"] -- then they will stay away in droves.
While this has negative consequences, it might not be entirely bad -- a reduced-scale InterNet might be less commercial, might have less congestion, and would be less of a temptation to malware/scumware writers, scam artists, and advertisers who apparently need to be taught social responsibility through the application of creative disfigurement.
Of course it could all be corrected, but I don't see much hope of that. The evolution of parasitic activity on the Net parallels the equally tenacious hold of parasites (like politicians) in the rest of society, for a simple reason: the strategy works for the parasite, and if there is no easy counter, will continue to do so.
Another article which looks at this set of problems from a quite different perspective, in relation to connectivity threats, can be found here:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/11/21/46FEtrouble_1.html
Others, who think that we are best served by scrapping the existing InterNet structure and starting all over again are represented by the following articles:
http://eletters1.ziffdavis.com/cgi-bin10/DM/y/eUgd0CyMye0HX60v1d0AN
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=58-mr3xIdJfwQnk9tNirDIjtb0CM9RR
http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinterview.jsp;jsessionid=NEMPGLINCCMF?id=ns24191
The crisis in scientific publishing has been ongoing for so long it looks like normality. While this may seem out of topic for a blog on applied IT networking education, the issues involved here relate to intellectual property and the most effective distribution of ideas. The latter is something at which networks are particularly good -- the article interviews a major US government scientist who has implemented 'opn source' science publication, upstaging the epensive and slow-to-publish scientific journal system.
Since most scientists want to publish information and read that from others, the intellectual property issues here are much less pressing. Open source publishing may have just as much impact on scientific journal publishing as open source software development has on proprietary systems.
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6296-5035234.html
Discusses the implications of the Global Positioning System, expecially as it relates to the InterNet. The point here is that everything now can "know" where it is, and communicate this to other devices [actually the harder part of the equation]. Many great oaks spring up from this acorn, including automatic most-efficient physical routing between two places.
Yet again another "iceberg technology" in the ongoing development of making the world smart.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/digital-imprimatur/
Certainly one of the most attractive aspects of the InterNet was its reputation as a technology providing liberated freedom of speech, since it turned the old saw about a free press ["a press is only free to whomever has the gold to own one"] on its head. Increasingly, however, a variety of developments have called this bright promise [which at its most anarcho-libertarian probably was fools gold] into question.
This on-line publication by an experienced and concerned observer: "The Digital Imprimatur" gives its plot away in its subtitle: "How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle". Increasingly, alas, it does look like this is going to happen, and there is SFA we can do about it.
A more generalized view of this, which essentially concludes that we will sell our souls for a mess of pottage, can be found here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3606168&p1=0
http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/10/1010grovepinnacor.html
Article discussing the degree to which the InterNet, as we have come to know it, is at risk from the garbage and malware currently flooding it. The potential for Net balkanization is considered very real [and this would simply be another example of a "Tragedy of the Commons"]. The concept of 'end-to-end' communication is ultimately at risk here.
A related viewpoint avaliable as a downloadable .PDF file, coming essentially to the same conclusion, is "The Beginning of the End of the Internet? Discrimination, Closed Networks, and the Future of Cyberspace", available from:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-239800A1.pdf
My, for some reason, the most recent set of posts have been gloomy and doomy!
http://www.computerworld.com/databasetopics/data/story/0,10801,85671,00.html
Eliot lamented about the information lost in the data; this opinion piece, which runs somewhat against the grain of the previous entry about the OII, suggests that we are a decade away from being able to give an InterNet address to everything [which, it my calculator is correct, will require something even more extensive than IPv6]. In effect, the ways in which data become 'alive' in a complex mesh of sensors, links, and effectuators simply replicates the notion of 'making the world smart' as discussed in previous entries.
An "informated" economy will be an entirely different living and working environment, with changes in the educational system not the least among the issues involved in realizing this.
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=031008000791
Short article describing the Oxford Internet Institute of Oxford University, which is attempting to define and describe the long-term meaning of internetworking. Since its research focus is on social implications, this institute is obviously addressing deep and persisting complex concerns, exploding many myths along the way.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3083001
Brief report summarizing statistics about the growth of pornographic sites on the Web, with the number of pages reaching some 260 million and the number of serving sites amount to some 12% of the total.
Regardless of one's position on freedom of information and the desirability of limited interference with the activities of consulting adults, statistics such as these must give an observer pause. Connect to this the problems implicit in the educational impact of this amount of pornography, and one might be impelled to some form of action.
On a personal note, most of the porn sites I have seen are positively creepy, and I would no more give these people my credit card information than I would flush $100 bills down the toilet, so I do wonder how they can make a profit. The very proliferation of such sites suggests strongly that they do make a profit, and that fact in itself is a disturbing thought on a multiplicity of levels.
Interestingly enough, according to these statistics, over 40% of those accessing pornography at work are women.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6804154.htm
Short article providing a clear indication of what grid computing is supposed to do, and what real applications it can support. Of course, when you look at the history of the InterNet, then the idea that everyone will have a supercomputer at his beck and call simply means we will get more pornography faster.
Another article, suggesting that vendors and purchasers are not quite on the same hymnbook page yet, can be found here:
http://www.infoworld.com/infoworld/article/04/01/16/03FEgrids_1.html
This article describes how grid computing is moving from the science laboratory into the business workplace:
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0126grid.html
http://utilitycomputing.itworld.com/4604/030910differentiate/index.html
Links to a number of downloadable .PDF files on grid computing, plus some articles and webcasts relating to this technological development. Grid computing, if properly managed, has the potential to stand what we mean by "computer access" on its ear.
Here is another article covering the development of grid technology:
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,85884,00.html
A good summary of the technical and nontechnical issues is provided in this article:
http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2352183
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/3076961
The issues involved in the concept of the "semantic Web" have been touched on previously, and as this article reports, developments in standards are proceeding apace. The result will be a more powerful, effective, and user-friendly Web, which in turn ought to guarantee continued interest in the InterNet as an enabling technology.
As one commentator notes, bloggers are at the forefront of this development.
http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/6.html
Summary of an article which views with alarm from a left-wing perspective the degree of concentration in the telecommunications industry, which in turn has the potential to throttle access to broad-band InterNet services. The alarm may well be real -- these companies have never acted in the public interest and represent corporate crassness at its most base.
But the idea that the whole Net is thus imperilled neglects the fact that dial-up still exists, and can easily continue doing so indefinitely. It may be "low and slow", but it still allows one to get the message out.
http://24hour.startribune.com/24hour/technology/story/986150p-6925945c.html
Short article on plans to build a supercomputing grid which would do for computational power what the WWWeb did for communication. One direction from which "personal supercomputing" is coming is the increasing capability of desktop systems, particularly when clustered together [the "Cray 1 in the basement" effect], but even as such systems approach the power of supercomputers in the past, so does the leading edge bleed forward.
Should this come about, the diffusion of computational power represented ought to have the same range of unexpected effects, both good and bad, that the introduction of the InterNet itself has thus far had.
Website of the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, which does hype-free and refreshingly informative research concerning matters Netly, publishing this in on-site papers and presentations, along with tools and PowerPoint presentations.
Worth looking at, worth joining.
http://news.com.com/2100-1037_3-5059740.html?tag=cd_mh
The Iridium satellite system, which once was to be harbringer of truly global communications links [and with which Bill Gates intended to be in competition], and then was threatened with the shortsighted vandalism of being commanded to self-destruct, now is offering a new service: SMS text.
The fact that the original promise, while not realized, still has not been destroyed, and that the system is still rendering useful service, is certainly cheering.
Spam keeps getting worse; this article discusses fixes for the problem, based on replacing SMTP or fixing it. No consensus except, I opine, if we are going to solve spam and reliability, we will have to give up some of the open connectivity potential which has made the InterNet such a joyful place.
Another demonstration of the price of progress.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2003/07/24/rtr1037488.html
A common dystopian future vision displays the majority of the populace functioning as passive couch potatoes under the malign influence of TV. For a while, it did look like we were going down that particular slippery slope.
This article gives renewed hope that the InterNet represents not only a positive alternative to TV, but is also outgaining the latter in acceptance among young people, even though they have greater capacity for multimedia multitasking then their elders.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59650,00.html
Article describing "Friendster": a social-networking service which now has a million users. In effect, this networking service allows the local grapevine to bear fruit across the whole Net. This is another service having particular attributes which can be defined ab initio while having the potential to morph radically into something else.
Friendster is the technological equivalent, I think, of yeast working to make wine, and looks strongly analogous to blogging itself. This is something which is just starting, with implications taking some time and analysis to work out. We can nevertheless bet, with some confidence, that the full range of this service's effects will be major, impossible to predict, and productive of further rich "bottoms up" change.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071_3-1025304.html?tag=fd_nc_1
The monopolistic tendency of the USA telecommunications industry is a major factor explaining why broadband penetration in the USA is about 1/4 of that in Japan. Current regulatory decisions seem to be harming here, rather than helping.
http://www.evolt.org/article/Browser_Wars_II_The_Saga_Continues/25/60181/index.html
A somewhat astringent article on the current state of browsers, and what is likely in the future, along with copious feedback which itself is interesting. The main point being made, that the Microsoft IE platform has reached the end of its natural code life and cannot be further updated, makes a lot of sense.
The contention that users do not care about browsers, however, misses the key element which brought the InterNet information highway up to everyone's driveway. Without the [relatively] easily used GUI to the Net that browsing represents, the whole infosphere phenomenon would have been critically delayed. Moreover, the current state of browsers, of all types, is close to deplorable -- both bug-ridden and vulnerable to exploits, they are starting to become a liability rather than an effective tool.
If general user sense of this becomes widespread, it could signally defeat further penetration of networked technology into people's lives, and in the long run, it is hard to see this as otherwise but detrimental. Alas, it is also hard to see that there will be any good solution any time soon.
http://useit.com/alertbox/20030616.html
The Net has a number of scale effects, some of which are highly counerintuitive, as this article suggests: even a site which does not rank high in absolute page views may still be a major source in a particular niche. Creating and exploiting such niches is one of the major virtues of the Web environment -- the large do not [and cannot] crowd out the small.
Read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested, this paper has some provocative suggestions about the information ecology of the Net in general, and by implication, about blogs in particular.
http://whitepapers.comdex.com/data/detail?id=1054742400_409&type=RES&src=KA_RES
When two heavy hitters like AT&T and The Economist get together to ponder and pontificate about the future of networking, it probably behooves us to cast an eye over the result: in this case "Networking and Business Strategy", which is the first in a series of white papers on this topic.