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A Day in the Internet

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As ever more sophisticated search, subscription, recommendation, and social graphing tools personalize our online experiences with individually-tailored content at the risk of tunnel vision, as the speculative fiction of the Daily Me comes closer and closer to our day-to-day realities, we sometimes lose sight of just how big the Internet really is. Encircling the globe like the World Serpent of ancient Norse mythology, this enormous and untamed beast of fiber and code enables us to create more knowledge in a single year than generations of our ancestors did throughout the last six millenia of recorded history.

Just look at a typical day on the Internet, as illustrated in the following infographic.

A Day in the Internet
A Day in the Internet

Funny that this infographic should compare blogs to the New York Times. After all, the Old Grey Lady of news herself now looks like a hip Web 2.0 hybrid, combining a very large group blog with a very classy social network.

(Via Adam Pash.)

Originally posted on December 10, 2009 @ 9:15 am

Happy 40th Birthday, Internet!

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They say life begins at forty. As we stand at the cusp of the semantic Web, that adage certainly holds true for the ‘Net. To mark the fortieth anniversary of the Internet, the Computer History Museum brings us an eyewitness account of how it all began. [Read more…]

Originally posted on October 31, 2009 @ 12:55 pm

What If Net Neutrality Loses?

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Forget paying per gigabyte, trying paying per site. This awesome infographic shows us in no uncertain terms what your Internet access pricing will look like, should the enemies of net neutrality have their way.

If you still know any idiots buying into the telcos’ propaganda about “network management”, show them this chart. The way it’s worded in perfect marketingese, it may as well be a leaked document from an actual telco.

What if net neutrality loses?

(Via Mr. Baby Man.)

Originally posted on October 30, 2009 @ 8:27 am

Broadband Makes Farms Productive

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Farm Connectivity and Productivity

Anyone who thinks newfangled city-slicker high-speed Internet is of no use to Farmer Joe has got another thing coming. A new report from the US Department of Agriculture shows that farms with broadband Internet connections are far more productive than their dialup and offline counterparts. From learning new farming techniques to discovering new produce markets, it’s easy to see why.

Encouraging rural broadband deployment is part of the reason the Obama administration is offering a $4.7 billion broadband stimulus package. Unfortunately, telcos care more about fighting net neutrality than helping Farmer Joe.

Originally posted on August 21, 2009 @ 4:26 am

NASA Establishes 800Mbps Connection to the Moon

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Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterIf you thought Verizon FiOS was fast, wait ’til you hear this. The new high-power microwave signal amplifier on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter transmits data at 100 megabytes per second.

Let that sink in for a second. NASA has established a wireless connection of 100 megabytes per second — 800 megabits per second — to the Moon. Meanwhile, most wired DSL subscribers can barely get 3 megabits per second on Earth.

Sure, like many technologies developed in space, this so-called Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier will eventually filter to commercial applications on Earth. Given telcos’ hypocrisy over network expansion, however, don’t expect 800Mbps porn anytime soon.

Originally posted on August 21, 2009 @ 3:40 am