ISRO Out Does Google Earth

ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, is rolling-out a rival to Google Earth, the online satellite imagery service, by the end of this year.

The project, named Bhuvan (Sanskrit for Earth), will allow users to zoom into areas as small as 10 meters wide, compared to the 200 meters wide zoom maximum on Google Earth.

For more information: Times Online - ISRO vs. Google

Facebook Funny

I always enjoy the cartoonist’s perspective of the Internet Revolution.

Not sure how everyone’s photo is verified are you?

Million Dollar Domain Names

Chris Clark of Maryland bought pizza.com back in 1994 in preparation of landing a client in the pizza business for his internet consulting services. Fortunately for him that prospect never did become a client so he held onto the name.

The other day an anonymous bidder paid $2.6 million for the domain. For more information: pizza.com

While we’re talking about million dollar domain names I noticed that the owners of moms.com were asking something around $4 million for it. I own momz.com and would accept less…. I also own momz.net, momz.tv, dadz.com, dadz.tv. I sometimes wonder what they’re worth. If moms.com is worth over $4 million then I suppose momz.com is worth at least 1/10th that. ; ) And what about izit.com? What izit worth?

I can’t help but think back to my days online in 1994 when I was surfing the net, trading stocks on eTrade, and sending emails back and forth to people back east from my perch on the side of Haleakala on Maui. Will I kick myself this hard again in 14 years for not doing what I just know I should be doing TODAY?

What do you think the next 14 years will bring us and the internet?

The Grid Will Render the Internet Obsolete

A super fast internet is being built by some big-brained scientists at Cern in Geneva.

The internet has evolved by linking together a hodgepodge of cables and routing equipment, much of which was originally designed for telephone calls and therefore lacks the capacity for high-speed data transmission.

The grid, on the other hand has been built with dedicated fibre optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no old fashioned components to slow the tremendous volume of data. Their are 55,000 servers installed today and that number is expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.

By routing all data through the new technology it is estimated that the speed would be up to 10,000 faster.

What that would mean is:

• Cloud computing - No more data stored on desktops. All data would be stored at an offsite location and retrieved realtime via instant data transfer
• Full length movies will be downloadable in 5 minutes instead of several hours.
• Holographic video conferencing will become reality.
• Online gaming could include thousands of players.

The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day - the switching-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the same time to capture the data it generates.

For more information:

Cern - The European Organization for Nuclear Research

“David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.”

For the full article visit: Super Fast Internet

For information on: Cloud Computing

Restraining Orders Extend to Contact via MySpace

In a precedent setting ruling a Staten Island NY judge ruled that attempts to contact someone who has a restraining order against you is a violation of that restraining order. For more info click here: MySpace and restraining orders.

Makes sense to me. If you go through the trouble to keep someone away from you that should include cyber contact of any kind as well.

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I Say It’s About Time

As the father of four and a long time netizen I applaud the move by Australia’s Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy to require all internet service providers to provide clean feeds, or ISP filtering, to houses and schools that are free of pornography and inappropriate material. It’s high time government stepped in and eliminate some of the crud that is ruining the internet for so many families.

The argument that it’s an invasion of privacy or that it violates free speech just doesn’t make sense. It’s no different then having zoning laws to prevent strip clubs (not even close to the horrors found online) from opening up in just any neighborhood. As for the fear of giving them an inch and forfeiting a mile I just don’t share that fear.

The internet has brought with it a lot of foul content that any parent would fight hard to keep away from their children, and rightfully so. In fact, a lot of parents don’t have connectivity at their homes to eliminate the problem altogether when it comes to their homestead. The culprits in this battle are the disgusting, twisted, soulless, people who make it their mission to inflict emotional pain on others through their content and not those in government who want to bring the best the net has to offer and attempt to leave out the worst.

For more: Conroy announces mandatory internet filters to protect children

Internet People Video

This video is the perfect tribute for us “internet people”. It’s only a few minutes long, PG-13, and pretty funny, so give it a watch when you have a few minutes to spare.

Penryn Chips and ITV

Intel’s new Penryn chips  being introduced today (Nov 12, 2007) will bring us high definition, full-screen, internet TV (ITV).

Intel’s chief sales and marketing officer, Sean Maloney, says that the Penryn chips’ increased computing power would begin the transformation of today’s choppy and blurry videos into high-resolution, full-screen quality that will begin to compete with the living room HDTV.

“It’s biggest impact is high-definition video,” he said. “It will be highly addictive.”

The new chips will begin doing their thing for us in the first quarter of 2008 within notebook PCs, marketed as the Intel Core 2 Extreme and Intel Core 2 Duo.

Quarterlife - The Internet TV Show

The first made-for-internet TV (ITV) show, “Quarterlife”, is debuting tomorrow the 12th.

For more information on the show visit the Quarterlife Show page and if you’d like to read more about this risky project that the creators of “Thirtysomething”, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, put together with an investment of nearly $2 million, you can find an article on Freep.com and another on FastCompany.com’s Technology Blog.

I just watched the preview and I predict it’ll be a smashing success. The fact that the series was snubbed by the major networks and only available online coupled with the fantastic timing of the writers strike will drive loads of viewers and if the successful Thirtysomething series is any indication of the quality of the content I think it’ll work and help create yet another wave of the internet revolution.

YouTube is cool, but people still want to sit back and be entertained. The networks better be paying close attention.