Tech Blog 29/12/2011 – The Future of The Internet

I think that in the next decade or so, the Internet and smartphones will change a lot. Of course, it seems like Motorola introduce a new smartphone every month or two. In fact, the Motorola Droid Bionic was released on 8th September 2011 and the Droid RAZR was released on 11th November that year, according to Wikipedia. And HTC seem to be worse. The Desire S was released on 8th March 2011 and the Sensation was released on 19th May. The gap between when these phones were released is longer, but the Sensation came with HTC Sense 3.0, a significant step up from Sense 2.1. While the Desire S is getting the update, I can’t get it on my phone yet. However, I don’t think manufacturers will slow down with releasing new smartphones.

I think a lot of our information will start going on our smartphones or on the Internet. In fact, with Google Docs, this is already starting to happen. Some people say desktop computers will die out eventually but I don’t see that happening. They are simply a lot more powerful than laptop computers. That is because there is more room for bigger CPUs and graphics cards. There is also more room for fans and cooling, which is very important to stop larger components with higher clocking speeds from overheating. Unless someone makes an extremely efficient Linux distribution which makes computers run a lot faster on lower specs, I think desktop computers will stay with us and even if computer software does get faster, laptops have smaller screens and when you have a laptop on a desk, you have to look down on it. While a laptop can be connected to an external monitor, that would defeat the purpose of the portability of laptops. In fact, I think there is a possibility of laptops going if tablets.

I think that in the next few years, most of our data will be stored either on our smartphones, on the Internet or a combination of both. I think that eventually, developers will figure out how to launch applications such as Google Chrome and even Microsoft Office over the Internet, without having to have anything installed on the computer. Documents made in Microsoft Office would be saved on the Internet. Movies will also be on the Internet. In fact, some of us already stream movies from the Internet using services such as Netflix and LoveFilm (British Netflix). However, our music will be stored on our smartphones as none of use have Internet access all of the time. As for pictures, they will probably be stored both on our phones and on the Internet. Basically, the only things that would be stored on actual computers are the operating systems and applications that we use frequently, just in case the Internet stops working for a while. That will also mean we will be able to make the transition from traditional hard drives to SSDs which are much faster and are less prone to damage. The problems with SSDs at the moment are that they are expensive and have very limited amounts of storage space. When we start moving our files to the Internet, the SSDs in our computers will not need that much space and because of that, will be cheaper. And because our files wouldn’t be stored on the system drives in our computers any longer, they wouldn’t get sluggish with age like they do today.

I think we will see a change in cellular phone networks too. At the moment, we have technologies like HSPA and in America, WiMAX and LTE for using the Internet on our phones. While LTE can be as fast as our home Internet, there are a few problems with it too. Firstly, it clearly costs a lot as I hear that phone networks in the USA are ditching their unlimited Internet plans. The other main problem with LTE, according to what I’ve heard, is that LTE takes up a lot of power and because of that, battery life on the latest LTE smartphones isn’t that great. As for WiMAX and HSPA, the Internet on those types of phone networks isn’t that fast. However, there is a solution to that problem. I download the biography of Steve Jobs and I started to read it. I only got round to reading the beginning of it but I heard of Jobs thinking of making a Wi-Fi based cellular network. I think that is an excellent idea. There are already wireless hotspots everywhere so if someone can pay Starbucks and McDonald’s to make a second SSID for all their wireless hotspots, that idea is already becoming a reality. Apple are a stinking rich company and if they set up that phone network, all they really have to do to get rid of the other networks is to allow other smartphones besides the iPhone to use it. The greatest thing about that idea is that everything these days already has the hardware requirements and the technology built in. Everyone just needs to release a software update and eventually, they can start bringing unlimited Internet plans back. I would like to see Google have a go at setting up a cellular network with that technology.

To sum it up, I think home Internet and mobile Internet will become the same thing. I also think all our files will start moving to the Internet and our smartphones to allow us to make the switch to SSDs more smoothly. And some people might not choose to move their files to the Internet – They might buy a server with an SSD and some HDD storage. Some people might even save their files on their computers and the Internet. And when home Internet becomes mobile Internet, hopefully, the Internet will not stop working as much because there will probably always be another router near by for our computers to connect to. Internet will probably get a lot cheaper too until eventually, through some sort of promotion or advertising system, it becomes free. After all, the United Nations have decided that Internet access is a human right.

Posted on Thursday 29th December 2011 - Leave a comment