Rummaging through the internet
Computing: New techniques to navigate and gather information online promise to revolutionise web browsing
|
22 May 2008
The Economist |
|
. . .Microsoft is also developing a 3-D browser, called Deepfish, for mobile devices. Many other 3-D browsers are in the pipeline. It is seductive technology that can look gorgeous. But Dave Farber, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon who is one of the internet’s founding fathers, says the enthusiasm for cool visuals will be replaced by a realisation that 3-D navigation is a much-needed tool. He points to Hyperwords, which he thinks will become widely used (and imitated). It allows people to make more connections of the kind that interest them. A user can add an option, say, to search for any clicked-on word or phrase in her favourite Bolivian and Peruvian newspapers. Hyperwords users can also effortlessly place clicked-on text into a blog, e-mail, instant message or Facebook profile. These new connections add “depth” to words and ideas, Mr Farber says, but create incredibly complex networks. Without 3-D maps, he says, we may lose our bearings. Read more
Here we go again?
A new boom in cable-laying—but this time it is rational
|
22 May 2008
The Economist |
|
. . . The structure of the industry is also much saner than it was a few years ago, says Andrew Odlyzko, director of the Digital Technology Centre at the University of Minnesota and an expert in infrastructure booms and busts. In contrast to the previous boom, for instance, it is not upstarts such as Global Crossing that are laying most of the cables, but established telecoms giants, for which the new cable-laying projects are only a small part of their overall business. Read more
Video Road Hogs Stir Fear of Internet Traffic Jam Caution
|
Caution: Heavy Internet traffic ahead. Delays Possible.
13 March 2008
The New York Times 
|
|
. . . Andrew M. Odlyzko, a professor at the University of Minnesota, estimates that digital traffic on the global network is growing about 50 percent a year, in line with a recent analysis by Cisco Systems, the big network equipment maker. That sounds like a daunting rate of growth. Yet the technology for handling Internet traffic is advancing at an impressive pace as well. The router computers for relaying data get faster, fibre optic transmission gets better and software for juggling data packets gets smarter. Read more
