The Future of the Internet

Given that our world is also being dominated by machines and the Internet, what would it be like 10 years down the road? Would it become more advance or would people begin to withdraw from it? My personal view is that it will just keep getting better but at a huge cost.

Pileus, the Internet Umbrella

Pileus has a large screen on the top surface, a built-in camera, a motion sensor, GPS, and a digital compass. This is such a brilliant invention of bringing the Internet out on the road! This gadget allows people to use Google Earth when they are lost, and take pictures and upload them onto Flickr to share them with friends immediately. To view the photographs they have taken, all they have to do it to snap their wrist.

However, despite all its functions, Pileus is an umbrella, thus people would not use it if the weather is fine. Besides, since most people already own phones that have GPS function, why would anyone carry an umbrella that has Internet access? Some individuals refuse to carry an umbrella out with them because they find it bulky and inconvenient, why would they carry it out with them just for Internet access? Also, it is also very dangerous because individuals using this umbrella would be risking their lives on the roads while taking pictures and finding their way as they have to keep looking up. The invention is good, but it has neglected its practicality and the safety of the users.

The Sixth Sense

This is another terrific but intimidating invention. This video will show you how it works, how it can invade our privacy, and how it can cause the fall of many businesses. For instance, by drawing a watch on your hand, you can see the time, why would anyone want a watch anymore? If you can call a friend using your hand, why would anyone buy a phone? When you see someone on the road and stop to talk to him or her, all your information, as well as his or hers will be revealed on his or her and your shirt. Is this really what we want, to be that transparent?


The Facebook

This social networking website is very popular across the globe now, but would it survive 10 years down the road. I personally believe the answer is no because of the changing needs of human beings and the continuous improvement on the different kinds of gadgets. Moreover, most people use Facebook to either find long-lost friends or to play games, but with so many friends on the list, how many of them can you really maintain a close relationship with? At the end of the day, they are just a number you can show off to the world how popular you are. Also, the games are addictive because there is competition among friends. After a long period of time, some people will drop out off the game realizing that they can never beat those who are always “protecting their crops” and “going around stealing others’ crops”. Without all these challenges, even the player with the highest score would withdraw from the games.

The Internet trend is moving from Web 2.0, a read-write web, toward Web 3.0, which is also known as a semantic web. This advance in the Internet will provide you with more convenience than you ever need, because it can understand you and it acts like a personal assistant. Is this not scary when the person who should know you the best should be your loved ones instead of a machine? The Internet may be a great gift, a great convenience. However, would you sacrifice your relationships with your loved ones for this convenience? Your answer will determine the future of the Internet.

Social networking and Bebo versus Facebook

A social network is a social structure made of individuals or organizations called "nodes," which are connected by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige

The main social networking sites include Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Orkut, and Hi5. The main similarity among these sites is to bring people from all over the world together, to enhance the relationships between people. Ironically, they have also brought people apart as they reduce the amount of face-to-face interaction between individuals. They are very popular because they fulfil Maslow’s third level of hierarchy of needs that is social, the need to feel loved and a sense of belonging. To me, these social networking sites are certainly beneficial for individuals living away from their friends and family and they want to feel connected to them. However, for people who have their close ones around them, these social networking sites might do more harm than good as they bring these people further apart.

Social networking sites can also be dangerous because you are exposing your most private life to people all around the world. Some people might argue that as long as I limit my content to only my friends and people I know, I will be safe. The question is how sure are you that you would not be sold out? If friends decide to share your photos, or worse, edit and share them with strangers, what can you do? And what if the person who claimed to be your friend and even had a picture of your friend as his or her profile picture turns out to be someone else?

Commercial companies can benefit from social networking services via advertisements. However, how beneficial is this idea? People go on Facebook because it is FREE! Who would continue if they have to pay for it? Thus, why would people respond to advertisements on Facebook when they are there to find friends or play games?

Therefore, social networking sites are definitely not useful for business unless you are pushing your goods to individuals whom you know and you have the time to explain the products and services to them.





The social networking website, Bebo, founded in 2005, is an acronym for "Blog early, blog often". Its founders are husband and wife Michael and Xochi Birch. It is available in several languages, such as English, Polish, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian. Like Facebook, Bebo also has profiles that contain a comment section where other users can leave a message, and a list of the user's friends. Basically, the applications in Bebo are somewhat similar to that of Facebook, however, when it comes to games, which I believe is what makes Facebook so popular, Bebo is far away from being successful. Games such as Gangster War and Knight of Honor are not user-friendly, at least to me. Compared to Facebook, Bebo is too BORING!!! And what you can do here is just too limited. Most importantly, I have no friends, using this social networking site.

Bebo does have this application which I kind of like, that is the Bebo’s social inbox. It is a way for us to organize all your messages in one easy-to-use inbox. The Social Inbox features updates from Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and AOL Mail, and media recommendations that deliver us the most relevant online entertainment. However, what is it that Bebo can do that Facebook cannot? Nothing that I can think of.

Also, Facebook allows one to find friends who are not in their email address book, an application that Bebo does not feature, as it only allows one to add friends whom they are ALREADY connected to via mail.