World Wide Web

The future of the Web will see an upgrade in pace.  Faster internet will be inevitable because of the amount of use that's happening every minute of every day.  Google fiber is already making it's way into homes in the rural south and hopefully to the rest of us very soon.

"The Cloud" is another tool that has popped up in the last few years.  It's a god-send for those of us who have tons of information that we need to keep protected on servers far, far away.  Although there are some folks who don't trust the cloud just yet.  Many of my friends still feel safer keeping their files on an external drive, in their home, right next to them.  The cloud is a great idea, but you never know who might be snooping around your stuff.  Especially if the files you have were acquired with less-than-legal methods.  

Ryan Nakashima's recent article, Microsoft CEO to Focus on Mobile, Cloud Technology, focuses on Microsofts big push for mobile/cloud integration.  I have a few friends that currently work for Nokia and the impact Microsoft is making is huge.  There have been many lost jobs and plenty of focus being placed on new mobile technology.  Cloud computing is the future and Microsoft has a chance to come back strong with the right choices.

Networks and Communication

There's no doubt that the technology we have at our fingertips is helping us communicate.  Fortunately, people are finding new ways to use these state of the art methods.

My parents recently sold their home and moved in with me (ugh, i know...).  Fortunately it's temporary and I'll have my "safe place" all to myself soon enough.  In these past few days i have learned that they use Skype an awful lot.  We have family over seas and Skype is a fantastic way to communicate for free over long distances.  Nikelle Snader's article on Skype and the classroom gives us a small glimpse at the unique ways this program can enlighten children.  3rd grade students in New York were able to have a Skype chat with a penguin researcher in Antarctica and ask her questions about her research and her lifestyle in such a harsh climate.

I recently read that it was possible to route a door buzzer to your cell phone.  Many condos have locked front doors and need a person to buzz you in through a land line located in the apartment.  Apparently now it's possible to have that signal transferred to your cell phone.

If you give people enough time, they'll find a different (and mostly useful) way to take advantage of a technology.