The Past, the Present, and the Internet

Today's entry starts with an address from the 'Father of Internet', Sir Tim Berners-Lee, at the 4th Ministerial eGovernance Conference, in which he discusses the future of the internet.

Part 1


Part 2


Let us now discuss another 3 aspects the internet will change in the future.

Bandwidth
I recall my first modem in the early 1990s. It was slow, noisy, and provided me with 14.4 kbits/s of bandwidth. In the mid 1990's, i doubled my bandwidth with a 28.8kbits/s connection, and towards the end of that decade i again doubled my bandwidth with 56.6kbits/s. Fast forward to 2010, i now run a 10Mbits/s connection. However, this is still a far cry from the 100Gbits/s bandwidth currently available. At this rate, one can only wonder what kind of bandwidth awaits us in the future.

Integration
As the internet becomes more pervasive and an integral part of our lives, they will start to integrate with other technologies. Mobile phones, televisions, home appliances, portable digital assistants, and a range of other small hardware devices are just some examples. In fact, some of these integration can already be seen in examples like the iPhone and Internet Refrigerator.

Virtual Reality
As bandwidth increases at an exponential rate, a day will come where we will be able to replicate virtual reality over the internet. Gone are the days where online personae will be represented by an image. When that day arrives, James Cameron will be the new Nostradamus, and Avatars will live, through virtual reality.

Now that you have glimpse into the future of the internet, would you still be looking forward to it?