The Future of the Internet
i was talking to a few of my friends the other day after we had seen Eagle Eye, and i realized that i really need to address the future of the Internet, and the way i think it needs to change in the next few years.
for those of you who don’t follow the history of the Internet, it was invented as a platform to run on the World Wide Web. you can think of the Internet as kind of a window to view the vast amounts of information floating around out there.
since it’s inception, the Internet has gone through a series of phases, which you may or may not be familiar with. but that doesn’t really matter.
right now we’re in between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 which, technically, doesn’t exist yet. Web 2.0 was a period in which “the Wiki” was introduced. basically, this is the ability for any user of the Internet to create an account and edit the information that is available in the World Wide Web, via the Internet. This gave birth to things like Wikipedia (obviously), but especially Social Networking like Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube.
although the term “Web 3.0″ is very ubiquitous and, as of now, quite undefined, it is my strong opinion that these are a few things that must happen in order for the Internet to evolve correctly.
what has happened as a result of the Web 2.0 movement, is that the Internet has become littered with innumerable social networking sites and wiki’s. i’ve already mentioned a few, and in addition to those are sites like Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Vimeo, Qik, Wordpress, Tumblr, Blogspot, Last.fm, Pandora, and i’m sure there are tons more that i’m forgetting.
my point is, that the internet has become cluttered with these social networking sites, all trying to connect us to our friends, and all trying to generate traffic for themselves, which in turn, generate more ad dollars. the problem is that, they’re not using their own services.
we have all these social networking sites, asking for the same exact information, using the same exact methods, and yet, if we want to open a new account anywhere, we have to put all this same exact information in again!
we’re asked our name, our age, our favorite music, movies, activities, and most importantly, who our friends are. users are getting fatigued with this system, and quite honestly, deterred from using new and useful sites for this very reason.
like i said at the beginning. the World Wide Web is a massive collection of information, doubling itself every 2 years. the Internet is a window through which we all view the same information, and we are connected by it.
what needs to happen in the next few years, is that, no matter where you are in the world, no matter what computer, cell phone, television, or car you use, all devices are interconnected with access to your information.
each device knows a little bit about you.
if you have an iPhone, it knows who your friends are, it knows their phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses are. it knows what music you listen to. it knows what games you like to play.
your computer knows all these things as well as what websites you like to visit, what stocks you own, your social security number, your bank account number, and your mother’s maiden name.
these social networking sites need to tap into all these things, and use one set of information to automatically fill in all your information, no matter where you go. not only does this save the initial fatigue of registering all this information, it also makes continuous updating across multiple platforms automatic.
this way, i don’t have to enter my information more than once, and i don’t have to keep finding my friends over and over. everyone i know will already each piece of the social networking puzzle.
it’s a win for both the user and advertisers who want to know where you shop, what music you like, where you like to spend your time, and what all your friends like.
it’s called a demographic, and the more specific it is, the more efficient it is for advertisers to cater their message to you, which makes more money for their clients, and subsequently, easier for you to find what you want.
this concept may be a bit frightening to some people, but this is the future.
i want to be quoted as a visionary who knew these things before everyone else, and i want to make money because i did.
if you’ve made it this far, you have a much better attention span than i do. and i’m not sure this really belongs in this sort of outlet, but i wanted to put it out there.
Posted by: Josh Abe on October 3, 2008
Filed under: Miscellaneous | No Comments
Sarah Palin
despite the fact that these sorts of things have been passed around way too much, this one has some fresh humor, and it gets extra points for using all my favorite pop culture references. it’s worth a few hundred clicks.
Posted by: Josh Abe on October 2, 2008
Filed under: Miscellaneous, Web | No Comments
KOR Water
the KOR Water bottles just went on sale on their website, and i just ordered mine.
if you haven’t seen the KOR Water bottles, they’ve been in the design process for quite a while, and they’ve been pushing off their release date a few times, but as you can see, it was worth the wait. they’re extremely well designed, with attention to every minute detail.
i consider myself a design idealist, and the KOR Water bottle makes me drool. luckily i’ll have delicious water within easy reach.
Posted by: Josh Abe on October 2, 2008
Filed under: Design | No Comments
Tin Salamunic
tin salamunic is an illustrator from richmond, va and he’s good. what i like best about his website is that it’s just a blog with scans from his moleskine, and they’re all dynomite. they really make me want to whip out my own moleskine and fill up all those empty pages. i think i need some time off.
in your spare time, check out tin salamunic and his website. it’s worth your time.
Posted by: Josh Abe on October 1, 2008
Filed under: Design | No Comments
