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What comes after computers? Neil Gershenfeld indicates that MIT and institutions around the world are working on projects that will change the world. But how much more complex can things become? I would argue that the future of technology will not be more complex but more simplistic. Along with the technologies that are being developed today that will be groundbreaking tomorrow are the theories and methodologies that serve as the genesis and ultimately the backbone of future technology.
We have seen this before with the advent of technological breakthroughs such as the iPhone. The iPhone initially seemed like someone unleashed rocket science to the the public. A fantastically designed touchscreen phone that had some bells and whistles blew everyone’s mind. Then life with all phones took a turn in a new direction. The iPhone and then the Blackberry began to make applications for their communications platforms that simplified lives and put the answers to any question in the palm of your hand. And to think that this has only occurred within the last two years is astonishing.
But back to the methodologies behind this growing trend. It used to be that you had to be an astounding programmer in order to make these applications for hand held communication devices. That is no longer the case. If you decided today that you have a tremendous idea for an iPhone application, you could easily afford, leverage, and develop this application. Even if you are a relative neophite. See, the reason for this is because along with the introduction of the newest tools that are available comes the newly simplistic versions of their technology DNA. The methodologies that are being used used to develop the newest tools that you and I use are become simplified.
This opens up an entire world of possibilities due to the creativity that exists in each and every one of us. I would go as far as to predict that emerging technologies will introduce this type of cyclical change once every 2-3 years from here on out into the future. Why? Infinite ideas abound, the current tip of the iceberg on technology capabilities, and the decreasing costs of every ingredient needed to forge forward seem to pose a credible case for rapid and consistent change.
“Everything that can be invented – has already been invented”
Attributed Charles Duell, Commissioner of the United States Patent Office, 1899. Cf.Henry Ellsworth, a patent commissioner in 1843 who said something similar in a report to Congress: “The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.”
Imagine if we had just stopped implementing ideas, researching new ways of living, and never came up with any other device on earth in 1899? Looking back on this seems ludicrous, however many people felt this way. I however take the stance that we will never be done inventing new ideas, theories, products, technologies, etc. How could we? The future of technology is ever changing. Plasma TVs will soon be obsolete due to newer and safer technologies. The blooming of a greener earth is already manifesting greater technological architectures of systems and devices. There are just simply too many factors in today’s world for improved technology to ever hault.
And as all things change, improve, become more efficient, and become cheaper, so do their methodologies used to derive the changing futures. Someday, anyone that wants to improve a product, invent some sort of technological advance to mankind, or even introduce an iPhone Application that tracks your pizza delivery like dominos’ website does will be able to. Technology is not only getting better, but at the same time, the infrastructure is becoming smarter and simpler. This makes for an interesting future to look forward to.
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In the future, people will experience a whole different culture of productivity. Whether it be working in a 100% virtual workplace or in a workplace that is eco-friendly, technologically advanced, or self perpetuating within a complete paradigm shift.
Although this is a four year old article, it holds true even today. It merits a discussion or even some publicity as Forbes.com is often reliable in it’s research.
The number of cell phones in the world today is 1.5 billion and growing. Airlines will soon be allowing cell phones on planes. Cities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco have plans to blanket themselves with seamless Wi-Fi networks. Telecoms such as Verizon Communications and SBC Communications are doing trial runs of fiber to the home (FTTH), technology that promises broadband speeds of more than 100 times that of current digital subscriber lines (DSL) or cable.
It all adds up to a future flooded with great, big wired and wireless pipelines of data coming at you from all directions in all locations at all times. To some, this will be a wonderland of entertainment and telecommunications possibilities. To others, this will be a nightmare of in-your-face digital annoyances.
Communication Devices Of The Future
Regardless of your views on the matter, this always-on, always-connected future will mean at least an evolution, and at most, a radical rethinking of the devices we use to communicate. Many strategists foresee a convergence of devices, creating one supercapable, portable widget that handles computing, communications, scheduling and finances. Another possibility is that cheap computing power will simply add intelligence to everything from our appliances to our clothing, and every object will join into an organically linked network. Other people see a need for electronics that can help us communicate in different and unorthodox ways–moving beyond mere voice and the written word.
In the near term, the devices we use will have to become more efficient, affordable to more people, easier to use and more self-aware. Our increasing societal and personal dependence on these objects means that we can’t have them running out of batteries at the wrong time, getting lost or crapping out on us in any way. These gadgets must also be affordable, too, and usable by all. There is no shortage of thought being put to all of these challenges, and here we take a look at communications advances that are both far out and coming soon.
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Reference:
- http://www.forbes.com/2005/10/20/future-communications-gadgets-cx_gd_1024feat_comm05_ls.html
10. Intelligent Software Assistant
09. $100 Genome
08. Racetrack Memory
05. Liquid Battery
02. HashCache
01. Software-Defined Networking
How do they know what you like? What’s with the “customers that bought this product also found these products interesting” suggestions? How do I now receive emails for products that I am always interested in? Its called “Target Market Segmentation.” Most of the major companies do it. The question is however, is it ethical and legal to collect information from someone’s computer strokes or from historical searches and intelligent computer agents and web bots. The answer… Legally, it depends. Ethically, maybe not? Consider that a common website that you often visits collect the the following information about the users of your computer for target market segmentation purposes:
Typically, this information may be found to be collected legally and ethically because this information should be available to you through your local town hall, library, or Chamber of Commerce.
Next, when identifying useful information about users is to segment the market as much as possible using ‘psychographics’ as your guide. Typically, users will offer the following information when asked so segmentation is made simple:
This information, legally and ethically is subjective to the user and often offered to the website by a user within a slew of different collection methods. Notice that none of the information above asks for any unethical or privacy related information that isn’t legally attainable. By doing so, the target market segmentation list above hones in on user specific likes and dislikes. No ethics nor laws seem to be breached.
Many people may disagree that it is unethical to collect that much information on a person. I take a firm stance that this is not unethical because the activities and online patterns of all people are open for misunderstanding. Little do people understand that the answers to those questions above are usually ascertained by the search patterns in which you use on everyday websites. Once the data is collected, it is hard to divorce oneself from the patterns that they have exhibited in previous segmentation exercises.
One of the major pitfalls of so many start-ups, websites, and products these days is the lack of risk abatement planning surrounding the fidelity of products and services on a legal level. Having a firm understanding of legal and ethical aspects of any product or service is critical. Regarding my planned project, the planning legal risks of the technology AND the idea itself should be understood in full prior to implementation. As a matter of fact, the framework of the project should use each of the below legal aspects to remain in lockstep with compliance to prevent future problems:
Privacy and Civil Liberties The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was formed in 1990 to, among other things, bring issues dealing with civil liberties related to computing and telecommunications technology to the attention of the public at large, legislators, and court and law enforcement officials. As a nonprofit public interest organization, EFF maintains collections of files and documents. You may want to visit the home page of the EFF or view the EFF’s FTP archives . An excellent collection of Web documents and resources related to privacy is maintained by Lorrie Cranor. Some good articles on privacy are
- Privacy in Cyberspace: Is Your E-mail Safe From the Boss, the SysOp, the Hackers, and the Cops? by Ann Beeson, ACLU
- Privacy in Cyberspace: Rules of the Road for the Information Superhighway — by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
- Privacy in the Digital Age: Work in Progress — Jerry Berman & Deirdre Mulligan. Nova Law Review, Volume 23, Number 2, Winter 1999. The Internet and Law
A complete and excellent resource for information about electronic privacy is
EPIC Online Guide to Privacy Resources ,maintained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
Two other places you may want to look are
E-Mail Privacy When you send a message by e-mail, the message is broken into packets and the packets are sent out over the Internet. The number of packets depends on the size of the message. Each message has the Internet address of the sender (your address) and the address of the recipient. Packets from a single message may take different routes to the destination, or may take different routes at different times. This works well for the Internet and for you since packets are generally sent through the best path depending on the traffic load on the Internet, the path doesn’t depend on certain systems being in operation, and all you have to give is the address of the destination. The packets making up an e-mail message may pass through several different systems before reaching their destination. This means there may be some places between you and the destination where the packets could be intercepted and examined.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act One example of a law to ensure the privacy of e-mail is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) passed in 1986 by Congress.
- ECPA Full Text
- ECPA , A Layman’s View by Michael Riddle
Encryption With public key encryption there are two keys, one public and the other private. The public key needs to be known. To send a message to a friend, you use her or his public key to encrypt the message. Your friend then uses her or his private key to decode the message after receiving it. You can obtain a version of public key encryption software called PGP, Pretty Good Privacy.
To read more about PGP, look at
Sexually-Explicit Material and Pornography There are a number of programs that can be installed on a computer to restrict the material that can be accessed on the World Wide Web. The programs work with lists of Web and ways of describing the content of Web pages to filter material. One source of information about these programs and related topics is PEDINFO Parental Control of Internet Access. The culture of the Internet has fostered personal rights and liberties, so some argue it’s content ought not be restricted or censored. There are laws banning or restricting pornography; some countries have more stringent laws than others and some laws restrict the distribution of the material.
For more material on these topics see
Ethical Issues Some resources for guidelines for Ethics and Net Etiquette
- “Ethics and the Internet “, RFC 1087
- “User Guidelines and Net Etiquette”, by Arlene Rinaldi
- Internethics Training
These Web pages contain links to lots of resources about proper etiquette and ethical behavior on the web or Internet.
- Computer Ethics put together by students from North Carolina State University for Dr. Gehringer.
- “Ethical Resources”, by Wendy Robinson
- A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing, by Sara Baase. Instructor’s Manual
- “Life on the Internet: Netiquette”
Inappropriate Business Practices It is common to find advertising, marketing, and commercial activities readily available on the World Wide Web, and most of is done in a responsible manner. BUT One particularly offensive means of advertising is called spamming. When used in this way the term means sending a message to many unrelated newsgroups or interest groups. It’s not too hard to do, but it almost always is met with great opposition and feelings of hatred. One way to deal with it is to send a copy of the message and a complaint to postmaster@the.other.site.
Some information about Spamming
- Fight Spam on the Internet!, by Scott Hazen Mueller
- Spam: Out Of The Can And Into The Fire, by Brock N. Meeks
- Get that spammer!
- Junk Email Resource Page
Libel Some interesting resources about libel.
- Addressing Anonymous Messages in Cyberspace
- Reporter’s Committee on Freedom of the Press, First Amendment Handbook, Chapter I: Libel
Intellectual Property and Copyright The notion of ownership of something, whether it has a physical form, does still make sense as intellectual property. There are a number of laws and agreements throughout the world to protect intellectual property rights. The right to copy or duplicate materials can be granted only by the owners of the information. This is called the copyright. Many documents on the Internet contain a statement that asserts the document is copyrighted and gives permission for distributing the document in an electronic form, provided it isn’t sold or made part of some commercial venture. Even items that don’t contain these statements are protected by the copyright laws of the United States, the Universal Copyright Convention, or the Berne Union. Most of the copyright conventions or statutes include a provision so that individuals may make copies of portions of a document for short-term use. If information is obtainable on the Internet, and there is no charge to access the information, it often can be shared in an electronic form. That certainly doesn’t mean you can copy images or documents and make them available on the Internet, or make copies and share them in a printed form with others. Quite naturally, many of the folks who create or work at providing material available on the Internet, expect to get credit and be paid for their work.
Some links to information about Intellectual Property and Copyright
Getting Connected Getting connected to the Internet is an economic and technical issue. Many considerations go into the choice of a provider. Naturally, you’re interested in the cost of the service, but the type of service needs to be specified, as it usually determines the cost. This is where technical issues come into play. Items to consider are the speed at which you access the Internet, the types of services provided, the fee structure, and associated costs for access. If you’re going to use Netscape Navigator or some other graphical WWW browser, you’ll need a full Internet connection, called an IP connection, to be able to run Internet application programs on your computer system. You’ll probably want the connection to be at a higher speed, such as 14.4K, 28.8K, or 56K bits per second or greater. With an IP connection, the computer you use contains a network card with a cable connected to it, or your computer has SLIP or PPP access. (These are also discussed in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.) Fee structures vary, and you need to choose what best fits your needs. Some providers charge a flat monthly or yearly fee, regardless of how much the connection is used, and others charge a base rate for a certain amount of hours per month, and then you pay extra if you’re connected for a longer period of time. Some sites also allow a fixed amount of storage for files at the flat rate, and then charge extra if more is used. Finally, you need to consider any associated costs such as a start-up fee and communication charge-phone calls, modems, cable access fees, etc. What may turn out to be the most important item is support, someone to provide help and guidance when you or the users on your system need it.
Some resources in this area.
- Connecting to the Internet
- Getting Connected to the Internet and the World Wide Web
- Internet Access Providers
- A Beginner’s Guide to Computing at Duke; Appendix F: SLIP and PPP Connections. Includes information for PC and Macintosh systems.
- Personal Internet Access Using SLIP or PPP: How You Use It, How It Works, Frank Hecker
- http://sunsite.nus.sg/pub/slip/ SLIP/PPP Homepage
Access-One-Way or Two-Way? One thing that’s made the Internet so lively and engaging is that it is a two-way connection. Anyone can be an information receiver or consumer, and just as importantly, anyone can be an information provider or producer. At the present time there is no central control of the Internet, so the topics discussed and ideas expressed range through a variety of subjects. Some of the topics are politically popular and some are not, some support actions of local governments, and others are critical of those actions. But the primary point is that the discussions go on. A network such as the Internet allows the people who use it to organize for or against national or international issues. Issues can be discussed and calls for action disseminated. If the Internet were run or designed in the same way as radio or television-essentially a one-way communication medium-it wouldn’t be such a vigorous, interesting medium. There are, of course, down sides to this two-way access without central control. This type of access has been used to offend and abuse others, and for uncontrolled marketing. Remember, the Internet is a cooperative venture — people sharing resources, services, and ideas. There are appropriate places for discussions on all sorts of topics and for both commercial and non commercial activities.
Universal or Public Access As the Internet grows in both the number of users and the physical structures needed to support it, it reaches a size sufficient to be called an infrastructure. An infrastructure is a basic service or facility necessary to support a community or society. If it is so important to society, then it seems reasonable that everyone should have access to it. This is the case in some parts of the world where access to the Internet is part of a national public utility. Many more nations deal with access to a voice network, the telephone network, in much the same way. As more persons learn about and use the Internet and World Wide Web in schools and their work, it’s reasonable to provide Internet access to them when they leave those environments.
- Community Networking
- Readings and Surfings: Voices, Virtual Communities and Environments American Communication Association Free Speech Page
- The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold: Chapter Ten
Free-Net One successful means of providing community access to the Internet and the WWW is a Free-Net. A Free-Net allows anyone with a computer and modem to obtain a login account and have access to the Internet. Membership in a Free-Net is usually either free to members of the local community or within the means of members of the community. Several Free-Nets exist throughout the world. The first, the Cleveland Free-Net, was established in Cleveland, Ohio by T. M. Grundner and others as a means to deliver community health information. Community Network A Free-Net or Community Network is an example of a community providing its own solutions to some of the problems of Internet access for all its members. An organization to coordinate information about community networks is the Organization for Community Networks.
Internet Security When you use a computer system connected to the Internet, you’re able to reach a rich variety of sites and information. By the same token, any system connected to the Internet can be reached in some manner by any of the other computer systems connected to the Internet. Partaking of the material on the Internet also means that you have to be concerned about the security of your computer system and other systems. You don’t want unauthorized persons accessing your information or information belonging to others who share your system-you want to protect your system from malicious or unintentional actions that could destroy stored information or halt your system. You don’t want others masquerading as you. You need to be concerned about the security of other systems so you can have some faith in the information you retrieve from those systems, and so you can conduct business transactions.
A lack of security results in damage, theft, and what may be worse in some cases, a lack of confidence or trust.
Hyperlinks to sites that have information about computer and Internet security
- The CERT Coordination Center was formed in 1988 to serve as a focal point for the computer security concerns of Internet users.
- Computer Security Information , developed by Jessica Kelley as part of the offering of the Center for Information Technology at National Institutes of Health
- Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST)
- FIRST Security Papers
- There Be Dragons .. MLD’s Unix System Security Page by Matthew Deter
If you access the Internet by logging into a computer system, your primary defense against intrusion is your password. You need to choose a password that will be difficult to guess. This means choosing a password that’s at least six characters long. You’ll also want to use a password contain upper- and lowercase letters and some nonalphabetic characters. Additionally, the password shouldn’t represent a word, and it shouldn’t be something that’s easy to identify with you such as a phone number, room number, birthdate, or license number.
Some Web resources about choosing good passwords
Because connecting a network to the Internet allows access to that network, system administrators and other persons concerned with network security are very concerned about making that connection. One device or part of a network that can help enhance security is called a firewall. To find out more about firewalls read Internet Firewalls Frequently Asked Questions
One type of program that causes problems for Internet users is called a virus. This doesn’t necessarily copy your data or attempt to use your system. However, it can make it difficult or impossible to use your system. A virus is a piece of code or instructions that attaches itself to existing programs. Just like a biological virus, a computer virus can’t run or exist on its own, but must be part of an executing program. When these programs are run, the added instructions are also executed. For more information on viruses, check the hyperlinks at Other Sources of Virus Information.
Internet security is very important to many users, as well it should be. We need to make sure that messages are private and that monetary transactions and data sources are secure. A good document to read about security and privacy is Identity, Privacy, and Anonymity on the Internet by L. Detweiler.
The Trail You Leave When You Use the Web. A brief description of log files kept by Web servers, cookies, and the information about how you use the Web that’s saved in the browser’s cache and history list.
Electronic Commerce To see some papers and other resources dealing with electronic commerce, go the Web page ISWorld Net Electronic Commerce Course Page . Other information about commercial activities on the Internet is available through Commerce Net, and FinanceNet . Some resources for Electronic Banking and Electronic Payment Systems:
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