Smartphone Configuration for Social Media Marketing in Frederick MD (Photo credit: Frederick Md Publicity)

Smartphones Made to Last

With so many mobile users now using smartphones, manufacturers have started making them stronger and more durable so they can withstand all the normal wear and tear of normal, every day life. From new features as well as new designs, the newer smartphones are a step up from the past and can endure all the usage they go throughout the day.

More Battery Life

One of the biggest improvements made to smartphones is a longer battery life. Now users can expect their T-Mobile cell phone to last for days on end thanks to new improvements made to the battery. With previous smartphones, mobile users often had to stop what they were doing to make sure their phone got charged enough. Now mobile users can enjoy not having to worry about it as often which is more convenient for those who are always on the go.

More Durable Design

Smartphone creators have also given smartphones a more durable design and crafted them so they can last longer. While mobile users are careful, accidents do happen where smartphones may get dropped. In this case, users can rest easier knowing their smart phones are made stronger to withstand these incidents. Manufacturers are now making them out of strong materials that do not crack as easily as before. There are also special accessories mobile users can get to put on their T-Mobile cell phone such as screen protectors and special cases that help prevent cracking and breaking should their smartphones fall from taller heights.

Stronger Glass Case

Another way in which smartphones have been built to last is thanks to the new, stronger glass found in the phone. A common complaint for smartphones in the past was that the front would shatter. Now mobile users can see that the smartphones are being created with stronger glass in the front that is able to handle more wear and tear than before. This durable piece of glass has been crafted to fit snuggly just along the lines of the smartphone for a secure fit. Some smartphones also feature special Kevlar backing. This Kevlar backing works miracles against the common scratches and scuffs that most smartphones get. Some smartphones also have special coating that helps to protect the smartphone against some moisture from seeping in.

More Security Options

Smartphones have also become more secure than they were in the past. Users can now take advantage of special security features such as encryption for contact information, email and other information that would be considered classified. Users can select from several options depending upon what their own needs and wants are.

If you are a Web designer or a graphic artist who wants to enjoy the full capabilities of Droid for your work, you can use apps which can help you create the most sophisticated and Web-friendly site design to suit your tastes and needs.

An infographic about the Evolution of the Android Market by MyCricket proves that over the last three to five years, there has been an explosion in apps available for Web design. Among the most attractive and functional, there are those which allow you to play with colors, and those which make your Web design more user-friendly and efficient.

Here are some intuitive Web design apps that are available on Android phones:

1. Google Analytics

Image via Flickr

Once you have designed your website and launched it, you need some feedback on who is visiting your website, traffic volume, which pages are visited most often, and visitor demographic profiles such as age, sex, income and so on.

Google Analytics solves part of this puzzle with its sophisticated analytics software, which you can use on your Android device.

You can download this executable file on your laptop, and then plug it into your phone to make sure Google analytics is finally transferred to your mobile environment. Once everything is ready to go, you can watch all the traffic details for your website almost in real time.

2. HTML Cheat Sheet

When you are developing your website, it is always good to have an HTML cheat sheet, so you do not have to go through your entire HTML study manual and look for minute details on the code every now and then. HTML cheat sheet app is a great tool to make sure all HTML code-related details you need are at your fingertips when you need them most while working on your Android device.

3. WordPress

WordPress may be the most widely used and elegant blogging interface on the planet and is a must for all Web designers who do not want to bother themselves with codes, so they can focus most of their time on the content. For these designers and developers, Android for WordPress is the most effective and easy to use tool in the market.

Android WordPress will make your web designing life easy, and you will not have to spend hours and hours every day building your webpage.

With these simple, easy-to-plug Android apps, you can get maximum work done in the shortest period of time, monitor the traffic of your site, and make sure your website is content-rich and elegant even when you are on the go.

Image from Flickr

Regardless of the reason, you may need funds to cover additional expenses such as these. You can make changes to your current lifestyle to save money, seek help from reputable lenders to obtain an installment loan, or even sell some of your family’s personal belongings that are no longer used or needed.

Read on to learn about the many ways in which you can find funds to cover other expenses for yourself or for your family.

Save Money

• Prepare meals at home. By cooking dinner for your family and packing lunches for everyone in the household to take to work or to school, you may be able to save significant amounts of money, since eating out can sometimes be costly.
• Eliminate extra household expenses. Suspend or cancel your cable television, landline telephone, and other additional expenses you may not need. Apply the time you normally spend watching television to spending quality time with your family or children.

Sell Used Household Goods

• Work with your family to collect belongings and household goods that are no longer used. Your children may have clothing or toys they have outgrown, or you may have duplicate household appliances, such as coffee machines, that are not needed.
• Host a yard sale or post classified ads on websites or in your local newspaper to have these items sold for extra cash.
• Sell specialty items such as collectibles or antiques on auction websites to expand your audience of buyers and to earn money from people whose interests lie in a specific niche.

Seek Financial Assistance for Emergency Situations

• Apply for loans on the Internet. Some websites can provide you with payday loans to cover emergency expenses that arise when income is scarce. For instance, installment loans from Great Plains Lending can approve you for instant cash and deposit money into your bank account the next day, ensuring you have the money you need to cover that medical bill or other urgent need.

Take on Extra Work

• Speak with your boss in regards to a promotion or working extra hours, then apply the extra earnings you make toward your possible medical expenses, your loan, or to save up for emergency expenses.
• Encourage your family to perform neighborhood chores or secure part-time work. Your children can perform work in the neighborhood such as mowing lawns, pet-sitting, babysitting and helping the elderly with household chores. Meanwhile, your partner can also take on additional hours at work or secure a part-time position with his or her favorite local store or business.

Whether you obtain an installment loan from a lender, sell your family’s used belongings, or seek additional work, there are numerous ways you can do to obtain the needed funds for unexpected expenses.

The same rationale applies — and same effect achieved — when it comes to blogs. Cool graphic is part and parcel of successful blogging experiences, both for bloggers engaging readers, and readers engaging a blog’s content.

Image by UggBoy♥UggGirl, courtesy of Flickr

Today, blogging as means of communicating content is extraordinarily, increasingly popular; for all content genres and conceivable purposes, individuals publish blogs not only as personal expressive outlets, but also for career networking, market exposure, and revenue. Businesses feature blogs not only as company news updates, but also as industry-pertinent article databases to improve visibility and marketability, and the public is daily turning to blogs not only for recreational use, but also for specialized information and advice to make educated life decisions.

In short, blogs and blog readers are proliferating and diversifying at exponential levels. Mastering blogging’s art is now beyond a matter merely of thought-sharing, no matter how witty your wordsmithing or valuable said thoughts may be. If your blog is to matter, you must warranty its worth on the web by design.

How Graphics Get Readers’ Attention

Imagine, for a moment, your blog’s potential visitors as children, your blog as children’s book. Web surfers are in like positions, aren’t they? They are in stimuli-ridden surroundings, where they’re incited to click here, link there, watch this. And what’s the most powerful sense-capturing stimulus here? It’s graphics. When a given graphic is worth its pixels, it not only grabs initial attention, but also holds it . . . there on its home’s page, to the content, and in memory.

Of course, a graphic’s efficacy depends on its context: the blog’s genre, intended purpose and audience. For optimal impact, your blog’s reason for being must comprehensively guide its graphic design’s conception.

Image by Joe Crawford, courtesy of Flickr

The Case of Travel-Genre Blogs: Graphics to Give Bloggers and Readers Digital Age Agency

For bloggers in the exceedingly far-reaching, influential “travel” genre, graphics are key not only to compelling a blog’s page hits, but also, for many, to its content’s formative expression and ultimate worth. Here’s why:

In today’s economy, a veritable replenishing travel-resource digital buffet is fast rendering traditional “travel agent” services obsolete; travel bloggers are both cause and benefactor of this “cutting out the middleman” by functioning, ideally, as cost-efficient, time-efficient, digital-substitute travel agents. But to effectively fill this role, they must also conjure up the convincing appearance of authority, trustworthiness, reliability, enthusiasm and personalization that folks continue to prioritize in travel decision-making.

Graphics actualize this objective, most notably as innovatively conceived “infographics.” By transforming data into visual information — clearly, confidently, engagingly, and excitingly presented — the best travel bloggers give readers the reasons they seek to stay (and to revisit and publicly commend) the course on which they’ve hit.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Because of improvements in digital photography over the last decade, award-winning photography isn’t just for the professional photographer; now anyone can aspire to take professional-looking pictures. Relatively inexpensive cameras can take almost identical shots to $4,000 cameras.  If you’re looking to make the most out of your equipment, we have tips on how you can improve your camera gear and take dazzling photos.

Have you ever left a photography store empty-handed simply because there were too many products to wrap your mind around? With 50 cameras to choose from and a variety of lenses with different apertures, the process of buying a new camera can be a bit overwhelming. Here’s a hint: One of the best things you can do for your camera is to get two lenses that will allow your little camera to do the best job it can do.

A great way to get started is to find camera lenses on eBay. Don’t get roped into the idea that you must have a brand new lens to do the job right. A similar, slightly used lens will do all the work for you, and because it’s used, you know it works.

What lenses should you have?

• The General Purpose Zoom: If you have a 35 mm camera, the lens you are looking for is a 24-70mm. If you have an APS-C camera, you may want to consider an 18-50mm. This is kind of your all-purpose lens — the one you might use the most. These types of lenses allow you to take fairly wide shots while still being able to zoom into stuff that is in the distance. When you’re not exactly sure what you’ll be shooting, but you’ve dared to strap your camera around your neck, the general purpose zoom is the way to go.

• Macro Lens: If you’ve ever been to or seen a sporting event on television, the photographers using lenses that are four feet long are essentially using macro lenses on steroids. They cost thousands of dollars, weigh a ton and are totally impractical for the everyday user. The length of the macro camera lenses you find on eBay isn’t what’s important — it’s the ability to create a 1:1 magnification of the subjects you are shooting. A 50mm is a great place to start! A 50mm f/2.8 macro is small and light and is even a decent portrait lens. One great thing about macro lenses is that a whole new world of tiny objects will open up to you.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

 Being an amateur photographer sounds fun, right? If you use eBay to upgrade your camera lenses, your bank account won’t be busted, and your friends will think you’re a genius behind the lens.

Image by arneheijenga via Flickr

Spam is everywhere on the Internet. It’s on the websites you visit, it ends up in your email, you see it on forums, and it appears on your Facebook walls. It’s so predominant on the Internet that it’s virtually impossible for an internet user to not encounter some type of spam.

Even though it’s so popular, it wasn’t always the case. There once was an Internet that didn’t have spam emails, forum postings and Facebook messages. So how did this spam craze start? Here’s a look at the brief history of how spam messages came to the Internet.

The History of Spam

The first documented encounter with spam messages dates back to 1994 when a team of computer users used a forum to post bulk messages advertising an illegal immigration scam. This scam is known as the Green Card spam, where the team of posters posted advertisements for this service in forums regardless of if it was on topic or not.

The reaction to the spam message was not very receptive. Internet users called out the posters and tried to get the messages to stop. The posters of the messages condemned those that didn’t like the messages and claimed they were just trying to sell services like anyone else.

What Spam has Become Today

Spam messaging has come a long way since those early messages in 1994. A recent survey showed that an average computer user receives at least 20 spam messages a week in their email. Spam has gone on to invade emails, forums, Facebook, text messaging and gaming services.

Image via Wikipedia

In the computer world, the battle rages on between the Mac and the PC. Computer users on both sides of the spectrum defend their choice to the end and believe that their decision is the right one.

Just as with any debate, it can often be hard to see both sides of the spectrum. If you are an average PC user you may not understand why so many people choose to use a Mac. To clear up the debate, here’s a look at some of the top reasons people choose a Mac over a PC.

A Simple to Use Operating System

Many computer users choose a Mac over a PC because the simple operating system that offers. The Mac operating system is easy to use and understand, and not as complex as other operating systems like Windows or Linux.

Less Prone to Viruses

Many computer users believe that a Mac computer can never get a virus but that isn’t true. Macs can get viruses just like a PC. Even though they can get viruses Mac computers are less likely to get viruses because they aren’t as vulnerable to virus attacks. The possibility of not having to deal with multiple viruses attacks is why some people choose a Mac computer.

Modern Design

Mac computers offer some of the most high tech designs on the computer market. If you are looking to have a cool, up-to-date computer than the Mac is the way to go. This sleek, modern design is why many people are switching to a Mac.

The easy to use operating system, design and higher resistance to viruses is why many people choose to use a Mac.

The media and bloggers might not like to agree but there are many advantages of having a PC computer. Sure, you won’t get the sleek looking computer that Mac offers but you will get one that meets your needs.

If you are wondering what type of advantages come with a PC, here’s a look at just a few of them.

Bundled Business Software

PC computers often come with bundled software programs that businesses and students need. It is not uncommon to purchase a PC and get Excel, Word and Power Point with it. This bundled ability helps save you money because you don’t have to purchase these business software programs and download them later on.

Cost Effectiveness

PCs are cheaper than Mac computers. Due to the mass production of parts and systems, PC’s are almost half the cost of a Mac computer. If cost was a concern this might be the deciding factor of why you choose a PC.

Ability to Customize

PCs are easier to customize than a Mac. Computer users can choose what type of RAM, hard drive space and monitor they want with a PC. Although Macs offer customization there is very little to choose from and it can be hard to find exactly what you want.

The bundled software, cost and customization is why many people continue to choose a PC over a Mac.

Image via Wikipedia

Computer viruses are the plague that every computer user fears. To inoculate ourselves from data oblivion, we purchase increasingly more sophisticated anti-viral software.  We owe it all to Richard Skrenta, who, in 1982 at the age of 15, created the first wild computer virus to infect home computers. Why would he do such a thing? It was a prank.  For a young high school student, it was the ultimate prank he could play on his friends.

In 1982 there were almost no computers with hard drives.  Operating systems and programs had to be loaded for each use from 5-1/4” floppy disks.  Skrenta and his friends often traded or pirated software from each other.  Each time his friends got software from Skrenta they also got personal messages from him on their computer screens.  It was fun while it lasted, but eventually his friends stopped getting floppies from him.

That’s when the self-taught programmer invented Elk Cloner, a completely harmless but extremely annoying self-replicating program.  The virus would load into memory and monitor every instance that the disk was accessed.  If it a found a floppy disk that wasn’t it infected it automatically inserted itself into the boot sector. Since then, viruses are born every minute and security software works hard to keep up.

Where is Richard Skrenta today?  Skrenta graduated from Northwestern University and has worked with the Unix Systems Labs and Sun Microsystems.  Recently he’s launched a brand new internet browser called Blekko.  His goal is to out search Google.

You are Releasing a new Product or Service

If your company wants to put a lot of muscle behind the release of a new product or service, the website needs to be revised so it’s tailored to the product launch. This is a very effective online marketing tactic that helps promote the new product/service while also exposing the company to new customers. For example, the Internet faxing service metrofax revamped its website in connection to the recent launch of its newest version of its app. Redoing your website in conjunction with new offerings is especially useful if it reflects growth into unique directions for the company.

You are Undergoing Complete Company Rebranding

The website a very important image of any business, so when your entire organization undergoes rebranding, retooling the site is a high priority. Under the rebranding process, your website must have the latest company logos, colors and fonts. In addition, it should represent the company’s new-found image with changes to the content, whether it is greater interactivity to reach a younger crowd or traditional text-only for older, conventional customers. From the landing page to the site map, all elements of the rebranding should be exhibited throughout the site, which possibly means a major redo.

You are Failing to Meet Customer-Friendly Needs

The purpose of your company website is for customers to become familiar with and/or purchase your wares and services. Thus, it should work for them, and them only. If customers have trouble navigating the site or find it difficult to access the things they want from your company, the site needs to be redone immediately. And if that is the case, there is a good chance that you’ll have heard as much from your customers. Companies that sell their goods and services online have to take exceptional consideration of the needs of their customers when it comes to the function of the website. It is those companies that need to redo their site most often to keep up with customer demand.

You Need to Keep Pace with Technology

Image via Wikipedia

Web browsers—we all have our favorites whether it be Internet Explore, Opera,  Firefox, or Bing.  Yet few of us know who started it all.  Who were the people who gave us the capability to have information literally at our fingertips twenty-four hours a day?

The web browser was first conceived in the fall in 1991 by four students at Helsinki University of Technology in Finland.  There project, named Erwise, was born and launched in April 1992. Though primitive by today’s standards, Erwise is widely credited as the original pioneer of the web browsing frontier.

Next on the scene was Tim Berners-Lee, who gave us the name: World Wide Web, and who developed the first graphical user interface which in turn revolutionized how we search for and retrieve information.

In 1993 Marc Andressen’s new web browser NCSA Mosaic took the industry by storm.  Within one year, Mosaic had 90 percent of all the internet users.  Mosaic evolved into Netscape Navigator in 1994, then it further evolved into Mozilla in 1998.  Unique, at the time, was Mozilla’s use of open source software.  In 2004 Mozilla reinvented itself once again under the new name of FireFox.

Microsoft introduced its web browser Internet Explorer in 1995.  Due in part to Microsoft’s bundling Internet Explore with other software, it soon became the dominant web browser for computer users.

Web browsers are still evolving and new ones are born each year.  Google introduced its web browser, Chrome in 2008, and Microsoft launched its new browser, Bing, in 2009.  With the increasing popularity of smart phones, programmers are constantly at work bringing new browsing programs to  smaller and smaller screens.

Image via Wikipedia

Mice—if we have a computer we probably have at least one.  Unlike their mammalian cousins, computer mice are helpful mechanisms that control the coordinates of our cursor on the computer screen.

What you may not know is that the computer mouse is nearly 60 years old.  The first, top-secret computer mouse was invented by Tom Cranston, Kenyon Taylor and Fred Longstaff in 1952 for the Royal Canadian Navy.  Their mouse was never patented because it was a military secret at the time.

At the Stanford Research Institute, computer scientists, Douglas Engelbart and Bill English invented the first (as far as they knew) computer mouse prototype.  Together they coined the term “mouse” because of the similarity of body types. Bill English first used the term in his 1965 paper, “Computer-Aided Display Control.”  By 1970, Douglas Engelbart had obtained his first patent for a computer mouse with opposing track wheels.  Following in close succession to Engelbart’s patent, was a mouse developed and patented by Ronald E. Rider in 1974.  Rider’s mouse featured both a ball and a wheel.  In October of 1976, Willard J. Opocensky, of the Xerox Corporation, developed and patented a computer mouse that featured a ball and two rollers.  Opocensky’s mouse and its subsequent modifications became the inspiration for Apple Computer’s Lisa Mouse.

Today’s computer mice come in a variety of shapes, sizes and capabilities. Some are wireless and others remain connected to our computers.  Trackballs and touch pads replace mice for some laptops and net books.

 

Image via Wikipedia

Most of the computer errors in the files with extension such as .exe, .dll, and even driver files often occur due to some error or wrong entries in the registry. These files make entry in the registry to function in the PC and if the registry files are damaged, the computer may show different types of errors. The registry errors can be fixed by performing regular registry scan and this helps to detect all the unwanted data and removes it to improve the performance of the computer.

The registry scan can be easily done using registry tool and one can find many free and reliable tool online. There are many advanced tool that not only scan and remove malicious virus from the files, but also perform regular registry maintenance.

Errors in the computer also happen due to the virus, Trojans, and other malicious things. Virus adds malicious codes and files to the computer and corrupts the entire system. This greatly deteriorates computer performance and even allows hackers to steal the personal information. These problems can be solved using anti-virus and anti-spyware tools. These tools should be regularly updated with the latest patches to ensure that the PC is free from virus and other malicious things.

 

Image via Wikipedia

The windows registry is always under possible error attacks because of so many key entries and this happen because of bad installation of programs or software. These corrupted entries harm registry and eventually slows down the functionality of the computer.

Why Registry should be maintained Error-free?

One should understand that this registry requires proper maintenance because it is the source of every installation in the system and it includes system policies, user settings, software, system settings, hardware drivers, and so on. Registry with errors can crash the entire system and this may lead to loss of data. Therefore, one should properly clean and maintain the windows registry.

How to fix Registry Errors?

Errors in the registry can be fixed manually, but this is a high risk job and this method is not recommended. This can be done by opening the registry editor by typing RegEdit in the command prompt. Another method is using registry cleaner tools. This is the easiest method and can be used without any professional help.

 

Image via CrunchBase

In Mac, if the CD or DVD got stuck, the user has to simply restart the computer and hold the primary button on the mouse or else if the user is using macbook, then they can simply hold Mac track pad. When the computer starts, the disc is ejected automatically. In Mac, if the user wishes to take screenshot of a page, then they have to simply press shift+command+4 and select the screen. If the user wishes to hide the window they are working, but do not want to close it, then they can simply press command + H.

If the user wishes to uninstall any application, then they can simply open finder window, click the application they want to delete and can simply move it the trash can. The Mac’s finder window is similar to Window’s explorer and it is represented in the form of smiley at the bottom left side of the dock. The user can add many applications on the dock by simply selecting the application icon and dragging it to the dock.

The keyboard shortcuts in Mac are different than that of Windows. Shortcut for copy is CMD-C, paste is CMD-V, quit application is CMD-Q, and close current window is CMD-W. Here, CMD is the key with Apple logo. The users can search file, application, or anything on the computer using spotlight and shortcut key is CMD-spacebar.

In some countries such as China there are heavy controls over both the internet and freedom of speech. Because the internet is difficult to control, it seems that many people seek freedom there. It is important that the internet be a place of expression where everyone is given equal opportunity to all to do business. The internet has been the great equalizer in that way. Large or small, rich or poor, everyone is given the ability of expressing their mind.

There is tremendous need to police the internet just as there is need to police the streets. The governments of the world are needed to make sure that every place is safe, especially for the children of the world. The internet has made it easier for everyone to get their word out including criminals. It is best that we don’t rely on a government agency if we want to protect our children from some of the content on the internet. The best advice, the internet doesn’t have to be a place that a child goes alone just like you don’t let your child walk down the street alone.

Amidst all of the advertisements and people using websites to get your attention for their own cause there is a great deal of useful information on the internet. But one must be cautious. Although the internet was created with the intent of people being able to share information from computer to computer, there is no limit on what is shared. Of course we all know about the dangers of malware such as viruses, spyware, or other often nasty code that is transmitted. But should we really believe anything we read or see on the internet.

Wikipedia is become a more and more trusted website, even being accepted by some teachers as a resource these days. That doesn’t change the fact that many people when they read information there, they find some misleading information. In the case of Wikipedia that is the beauty though. The user need not just leave it, they can change the information to reflect more closely to the truth. This is something you could never do with the encyclopedia in the library. So, yes, when reading the internet it is healthy to be a bit sceptical. Question what you read and see, shouldn’t we always be doing that anyway?

Technology allows students to connect to digital classrooms and instructors, the latter easily done via email. Allowing students to have other obligations, such as work and family priorities, it seems as though education is following in the footsteps of business. earnmydegree.com is an example of a strong option for those wishing to take advantage of online education.

Arguably, for many years, technology has had a more direct impact on businesses. The changes in technology in business have been staggering, fulfilling a number of elements. For instance, similar to online education, workers are able to work with just an Internet connection, as well as connecting to others with email and collaborative software on the website.

The importance of technology in business has come a long way, as a result. In a much larger perspective, technology has allowed the technology world to evolve. Today, businesses can handle requests from millions of customers around the world and communicate with each and every one of them.

For online education and the business world, as in other areas, technology will continue to initiate change. Harnessing its advantages will be significant moving forward, as technology continues to offer potential for these and other industries. Overall, it is easy to see how online education and the business world have utilized its powers well.

In America, it seems there are as many people avoiding Facebook as there are people using it. Plenty of people go back and forth, wondering if they should delete their account. It is true that the use of social networking sites can lead to using up an hour or two and realizing you just spent an hour and don’t know anything new worth your time and you wonder where your time went. But the opposite is also true. Connecting with long ago friends and family, bringing you closer together also occurs.

Now another communication system, Twitter, seems to be talked about all over. Some of the older generation might not understand. The younger generation is known to say that the speed of email is just to slow for real communication these days. Whether you choose to engage in social networking or not is your choice. The impact of social networking seems to be enjoyable and helpful to people if you look at user numbers and the worth of companies like Facebook. Whether you use social networking or not, you should base it on whether it is a good tool for your life, not whether the company makes money.

Take a moment right now to see how much actual work space you have available. Now ask your self the question of all the toolbars on my screen how many of them do I actually use and do I need them all. For a large monitor this may not be an issue but for those with a small monitor you may consider reducing the number of visible toolbars.

If you check the view menu of most browsers including Firefox, Explorer or Chrome, you will find a number of options. the status bar may have a check mark beside it on this menu and you can deselect it and that bar will disappear. Next in the same menu look through the toolbars. Just because you select not to see them does not mean that they are gone. At any point if you want to view or use these toolbars again all you need to do is to reselect them and make them visible. Any tool bar you can see can be taken of the monitor screen. If you get rid of the menu bar and want to get to any of the other menus all you need to do is push the Alt key when you are in your browser. This will bring the menu back for one function.

Word processing initially began in the early 1900’s, when Thomas Edison patented his first word processor. However, later in the 1920’s, the M. Schultz created their own word processor, and its flexible usage made it easy for businesses to record and store written data. Furthermore, the introductions of the multiple typed copies in one go, making it easy for the people to write one document and make several copies.

Then, in 1964, IBM released their Electric typewriter, which combined type writing features with a magnetic tape disk drive, making it much easier for people to record data. A significant step was taken when computers came into being, which allowed people to use software and applications to assist them. Microsoft Office was introduced in to the market, and it allowed people to easily use word processors in a swifter and a highly automated manner. Furthermore, with a few clicks, files could easily be saved. Now, Open Office packs all of these options for free in its suite.

First amazingly enough it might not be to choose what the URL should be. First you should look for a provider. Look at prices although the lowest price going might not be the best for you. Look at the services that are included in the purchase. If you are looking for the hosting of the website to also be provided by the company, which you probably are, then their service is important. Make sure they have security and that there is no limit to how often you can update the website unless it will be a stagnant page that is never updated. By the way, a stagnant page that never gets updated will probably get less traffic than one that is regularly updated that brings people back for something new to see.

Now, the URL of the website. This should not be confused with the title or the name of the website. The URL is only the address that has to be entered into the navigation tool bar in order to visit the page. The URL should be simple but also easy to remember when they are thinking of you or your company. Once established with new people they will probably bookmark your site and will see the title when they visit but until then you may need to be passing out the URL and be honest these are easily forgotten. So do your best to find a URL that is simple, connected to your website and still available.

Then the internet came alone and became more and more accessible to people. At first, if you wanted to communicate it was best to start your own website and publish whatever you want. This offered a huge audience, even in the earlier days of the internet, but for some the difficulty in setting it up and understanding the process was too much. Not everyone could do it.

Today, the interactive nature of the internet has changed all of that. Now, with little more than a connection to the internet and a computer, which can be accessed for free at most public libraries, anyone can broadcast their news and communicate with anyone else with a connection to the internet. Some people do this through social networking sites but others maintain their own blogs.

Blogs are often hosted for free at a number of different sites, some of them specializing in specific types of blogs. Of course this is not true everywhere and some of them such as WordPress offer fairly free opportunity to write what you like. Signing up is as simple as visiting a blog site and entering your email and password and then you are off and started. Within the first day you could have your first entry up and available for anyone to see. It is best to advertise a little to your friends and family, or whoever you want to visit because there are so many blogs out there these days that you might not be seen otherwise.

Furthermore, the popularity of the software can be gauged from the fact that it is available in a variety of different languages, making it accessible for almost anyone who wishes to use it. Especially for educational institutions and businesses, it is very difficult to expend large amounts of money and buy registered versions of Microsoft Office, but with the introduction of Open office, now they don’t have to worry about software licenses. Open Office is available to everyone for free, and by making a few clicks, you can easily begin downloading this software for personal or official use. The software is extremely easy to use as well, making it highly adaptable by people of all ages.

Start at the beginning is the best advice you could get. Begin the lesson by turning on the computer. Explain everything from what the pieces of the computer are to what is going on in very basic terms when you turn on the computer. Don’t expect that they know anything you are doing or even that the monitor is separate from the computer. Be slow and don’t expect to go to far to fast. learning to turn on the computer and use the mouse a bit in the first lesson may be all that you are able to do. Don’t expect that in one lesson you will get all the way to sending and receiving emails.

In addition to this, let them sit in the chair and do all the work. Part of what the individual needs to know is that they can do it. So let them. Just point and explain. This gives them more memory cause they can do each step at their own pace, probably slower than you. Most importantly, just be patient.

Today, although overlapping in markets it seems that the two main companies, Apple and Microsoft, appeal to different devices and uses. When people think of mp3 players and smartphones one of the first thoughts that come to mind is iPod and the iPhone, both products of apple. When one thinks of a personal computer, the majority of people think about Windows, a Microsoft product.

Of course competition continues between these two companies in the computer industry and it seems to be driving the market more toward what people want and offer a great variety of devices and computer options. The debate of course continues with some people disinterested in learning where all the buttons and controls are for a Mac, because they are used to the Windows format. Today, we may find that people have devices that run software or are produced by both companies in their collection of devices. One person may use only a Windows based PC, but also has an iPhone. Another may relax in the evening using his or her iPad, but does all his or her business in the day on a Windows based PC. The debate may continue but the lines seem to be blurred as we find ourselves using products from both companies.

The roll call of games available in a virtual version is nearly the same as the games one encounters in a real casino. Slot machines include traditional style slots that appear on the screen just like the real-life equivalent. More novel variants on slots can be found also, with their own captivating features. Games traditionally played in person at tables differ online by being considerably faster.

Paying for online casino transactions is usually done by using a credit card. Just as popular is the digital wallet, a type of secure online account that is separate from the client’s conventional bank account. Moneybookers, an e-commerce business that does money transfers and payments, is a well-known service that is considered safe and provides identity verification checks.

Players have instant access, via a mouse-click, to any particular game rules. They can easily see what the payouts are, and detailed guidance on increasing your chances of winning is often available too. Games of chance, such as roulette, become far more enjoyable if one has learned how the odds work.

To maximize the chances of winning, learn to gauge the probability of particular numbers that occur by using the play-for-free option that most casinos offer (usually as a separate download), where players get a chance to try out the games risk-free.

It’s true that many people have found most of their entertainment and leisure activities from the computer. It can seem like the kids are glued to the computer and not getting their chores done. This is a different conversation. Limiting computer use time because of excessive use may be something for your family to consider, but think of all the ways a computer has saved you time.

1. Mail: It used to cost you a stamp plus about a week at least to get a response to a letter. These days, mail is delivered in an instant in most cases and if the receiver gets email to their smartphone, you may get a response to your letter in a matter of a few minutes. Time savings: could be five days or more.
2. Writing an essay for school: Historically when a student finished an essay if they found a misspelled word it meant another re-write. Today this is a couple of clicks on a word. First drafts, second drafts and final drafts are not completely re-written by hand or typewriter, they are simply edited. Compete paragraphs can be moved in an instant. The first draft may take the same amount of time but editing has saved time. Time savings: hours of work possibly.
3. Researching: It used to be if you had a question about something, say a recipe or the color of civil war uniforms, you may be able to find the info in a cookbook or a encyclopedia. If the information wasn’t there in the house, you were going to have to make a trip to the library or bookstore. This wasn’t going to happen tonight. Use the internet for an immediate answer. Time savings: maybe a day.

Save time with computers.

2010: The Amazon Kindle allowed people to read while waiting for a bus, on a bus, or at your next stop.  The Kindle gave reading access never seen before. Approximately 8 million Kindles were sold in 2010.

2009: Windows 7 is said to be smarter and faster with less bugs. There have been about 150 million licenses sold.

2008: Video-Capable SLRs captured still images and high definition video. It saved some money, too, since you don’t have to buy all of the professional equipment you used to.

2007. Apple TV Box let people stream movies and music from itunes.

2006. Blu-ray began to get hot. HD-DVD media formats gained attention.

2005. Multi-core CPUs assisted with licensing and software development which increased performance for user.

2004. The Cassini Probe sent us pictures of Saturn’s rings.

2003. The use and transfer of digital content was restricted through DRM, or Digital Rights Management. Opposing forces called the acronym Digital Restrictions Management.

2002. Google grew by leaps and bounds. The search engine was also censored in China.

2001. Clarion CII Bionic Ear system was approved by the FDA to help children and adults with profound hearing loss.

2000. While some folks thought the world would end on January 1, AOL and Time Warner shook hands and merged their businesses.

Advances in technology may make your eyebrows rise, but they come every year and faster and more furiously than ever before. Take a moment to think about the future. You may be surprised at what you see.

Taking the time to look back through technology can really provide some interesting information about how people felt about the things that were created during their lifetimes. TV was a big deal when it first came out – and when it came out again in color. The radio was important to people who saw it come out in their day. Cell phones used to be huge and blocky, and now some of them are so tiny you’re left wondering how people talk on them without accidentally swallowing them. Because of the advances that have been seen in technology, new jobs have been created and more people have done more things to help others, all of which is good.

The history of technology can also help to show what kinds of things might be explored in the future. With the technology that society has now, it can work toward finding new and creative ways to create more (and better) technology. If you focus on what’s been done and how it was created, there are plenty of opportunities to come up with new ideas. That way, technology can continue to advance and more people can be helped by it. The joy that technology brings to people is important, along with the value that it brings to their lives.

One of the greatest advantages of using openoffice is that it is free software. This means that you can download it without any price and can install it anywhere you like. For businesses and organizations that have to buy a legally licensed product, this can be a way of reducing the costs as they wouldn’t have to buy the whole Office Suite. They can easily download the Open Office software and make do with it.

Secondly, Open Office is available in a variety of different languages, which makes it accessible to users from different countries. Its popularity and reliability can also be gauged in this way, because the availability of the program shows that a lot of people use it.

However, as it is open source software, it means that the software is prone to bugs and problems, which is why it is important that you stay cautious while using the software. Secondly, the number of features in Open office might not be as extensive as those that you get in paid software.

It’s always nice when you can take something that was old (and obsolete) and make it new again. With technology, you may have that option. Of course, there are no guarantees that a particular device or object will do well. Some of the best laid plans in the technological field have gone astray in the past, and it will probably happen again. History can’t completely stop repeating itself, sometimes. The focus, though, should be on avoiding past mistakes and spending time working on technology that can really revolutionize the future.

To do that, you have to have your finger on the pulse of society. What do people really want and need? What were inventors trying to give people years ago, and how has what people need changed since then? These are the kinds of questions you need to be considering so you can be one of the people who helps push technology on into the future. There are always a need for people with big visions, goals, and dreams. You can be one of them, and work with technology so that the problems of the past don’t get repeated by people today and in the future.

This contrasts starkly with the fact that today, one can have an account at a particular bank, never having actually gone to a building they would call a bank and never talking to any human being, even on the telephone. Every transaction either takes place online, via payment by card or through withdrawal at an ATM.  All of this convenience has lead to a fee for everything at many banks, although not necessary true for all banks or credit unions. The fees can get overwhelming and you may start to wonder where the convenience is that you are paying for. All in all the constant access to your account is convenient and most people don’t want to go back to having a lack of access to their accounts, on Sundays, or any other time.

It is important with the changes that you remember to be secure about how you access your accounts online. Banks and credit unions have secured networks for you to access your account. So if you are vulnerable it is almost always from your end of the connection. Be sure to contact your bank from a safe connection. Be sure to access your bank account from a secure network in your home. It is best to never access your account from public computer networks or terminals if possible because there could be vulnerabilities. Just like someone looking over your shoulder at the ATM you never know who may be paying attention to what you are doing.

It’s not an entirely accurate one, however.

Smartphones — despite the assumption of the modern user — have not always existed. They did not simply appear when the first calls were made, enabling individuals of 1876 to share networking abilities. Instead they took more than a century to arrive and are even now considered new.

The first smartphone did not appear until 1992, when International Business Machines (more commonly known as IBM) developed the Simon. It was a startling concept for the time. Mobile technology was still tentative and few understood its potential. IBM, however, offered more than simple calling capabilities. Its product could serve as a PDA, a pager and a fax port. It offered basic access to the Internet, as well as maintaining schedules through a personal calendar and notepad. It required no buttons, but instead offered a stylus and touch-screen combination. And it even provided users with a small selection of virtual games.

When the Simon was released, it was met with much confusion from the public. Sales were not as strong as IBM had intended. This was due, possibly, to the price, however, which was a staggering $900. This did not dissuade other companies, though, from trying to mimic what they saw. The smartphone potential had been offered; and all were trying to refine it.

They, of course, succeeded; and, as of 2011, such items are now common. The Simon’s arrival ensured ease for the future.

Despite the massive popularity of this idea, however, it was not always common. Even in the early 21st century such capabilities were deemed impossible, with all music players offering weak sounds and weaker designs. They were too large, too heavy and too incompatible with everyday life.

In 2001, however, this changed.

Recognizing the flaws of then modern players, Steve Jobs, CEO of the Apple organization, demanded that his team create an alternative,  one that could be used by any individual for any occasion. The hardware was to be impressive and the design was to be outstanding. Efficiency was the intention and Jobs was unrelenting with his demands for it.

Those demands were finally actualized in October 2001. Less than a year after the challenge was made, Apple revealed its first iPod. It was compatible with the then-rising Macintosh platform and could contain more than 1,000 songs, which was a staggering number at the time. It provided a simple user interface, with basic button press functions and click wheel. This enabled all to quickly and easily access their songs, finding what they wanted rather than being forced to listen to every single selection. And its five gigabyte hard drive awed all.

Success was immediate and hasn’t stopped. The iPod remains one of the most popular items for all computer users. It provides style, stability and songs.

The Beginnings of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology was first publicly discussed in 1959 when Richard Feynman addressed the American Physical Society at its annual meeting. Feynman spoke of printing the encyclopedia on the head of a pin. Throughout his speech he talks of going smaller and smaller, using dots and dashes to represent letters, electron microscopes and even new opportunities for design at the atomic level.

To Coin a Phrase

Nanotechnology is used loosely to describe many ideas from manipulating molecules and atoms like Feyman described in his 1959 speech, to synthesizing novel life forms. However, the term nanotechnology was first used in a 1974 paper by Norio Taniguchi to describe ion-sputter machining.

Nanotechnology Picks up Speed

Advancements in nanotechnology increased with the invention of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) in 1981. With STM, scientists can visualize and manipulate individual atoms. The discovery of fullerenes followed in 1985. These “buckyballs” as they are called are any molecule composed solely from carbon in the form of a hollow sphere. The discovery of carbon nanotubes, fullerenes in the form of a hollow tube, were not discovered until 1991.

From there, nanotechnology became the subject of congressional hearings, think tank reports, conferences and eventually enough of an advancement to base entire companies around. It was not until 1998 when the first DNA-based nanomechanical device was invented that biotechnology, an off-shoot of nanotechnology, became a reality.

In 1969 came Arpanet, which was the first actual network to ever run using packet switching technology, which was new at the time. This occurred on October 29 of 1969 when computers at UCLA and Stanford connected for the very first time. In essence, these were the first ever hosts on what would eventually evolve into the modern day Internet. The first message that was ever sent across this network was meant to be the word “Login,” but unfortunately the link between the two campuses crashed on “g.”

Another major milestone that occurred in 1969 was the inception of the Unix operating system. Unix is the operating system that has heavily influenced the design of numerous other operating systems including FreeBSD and Linux, and these are two of the most popular operating systems of today that are used to host web servers as well as web hosting services.

In 1970, Harvard, BBN and MIT established an Arpanet network. BBN is responsible for creating an interface message processor that computers were using in order to connect to the Internet.

In 1971, E-mail messaging was first developed by Ray Tomlinson, who was also responsible for using the “@” symbol as a way to separate the computer name and the user name from one another. Today the “@” symbol separates the username from the domain name in e-mail addresses.

1971 also brought about Project Gutenberg, a global effort to make public domain documents and books available for free electronically in eBook formats. The founder of the program typed out the Declaration of Independence by hand and released it in electronic format, which brought about the birth of the eBook.

This seemingly simplistic item set the stage for civilization and with it, made the advancement of the human race possible. Without wheeled transport, widespread trading would have never occurred. Without widespread trading between tribes and proto-cities, established city states could have never sprung up. One single tribe, even if it were settled and farming, would never have been able to grow and raise everything its people would need. Trading enabled people to grow surplus grains and vegetables and trade for other needed items. Many anthropologists believe hunting and meat eating, particularly in regards to very large game, helped set the stage for co-operation between tribal groups. Wheeled transport made sharing the wealth between the groups an option.

Interestingly enough, it seems that the wheel developed almost simultaneously among the peoples of the ancient world. It was developed in sub-Sahara, Asia and Central America at virtually the same time. Looking at this discovery, it seems difficult to deny that humanity was practically destined to leave behind the nomadic life and begin to develop urban centers. In light of this, the wheel seems practically revolutionary, even compared to technologies like the radio, television, light bulb, computer, and iPod. They may be shinier and more fun to play with, but did they help bring man out of the caves and into towns? The wheel may seem simple and not very extraordinary, but it is truly one of the most important pieces of technology man has ever discovered.

One time he wants to see if she’ll get jealous, so he made it look as if he’d received a love letter, but it was actually something he‘d written. He pulls it on the screen and minimizes it, and then he goes into the bathroom for a few minutes. He hears her gasping in shock, and it makes him smile because he knows she’s reading it.

Innovative Technology for Fighting

Returning to his desk, she meets him in the middle asking him who the girl is. There’s a teenager and a younger boy on the couch watching TV, so with a knowing look to each other, they both go to their desks, where her keyboard begins to sing as she types furiously and hits send. Crossing her arms, she turns to watch him.

Receiving it on his Facebook Messenger, he smiles and types back and hits send. She gasps at reading his message and looks at him with a look of pure evil, and she loudly types a response. He smiles again, calmly reading her response and then types back. Again she loudly taps out a reply, only this time he isn‘t smiling.

He stops, looks up at her, and then furiously types a return. Now, she smiles and calmly types an answer, and he is so appalled at her response that he stands up to type hard, as if pounding the keys is making the letters look louder. The kids, the whole time, are engrossed in a TV show and have no idea their parents are fighting.

Today’s technology is making our lives so much easier, in so many ways.

Of course in many instances one is still given the option of completing business with a human being but you may find that you are charged an extra fee if you want such face time. It seems only a matter of time before not only will we no longer need librarians but we won’t even ever need to go to the library. Libraries have become a place where those that don’t have internet service in the home, go to get online. Even those of us that go to the library no long look through a card catalog, and often we have put our book on hold before we ever even get to the library.

As we move further and further into the age of computers we find that everything takes place on them and we never even realized it would. Will there be a day in the future where we no longer print currency because of a lack of usefulness? Will the day come when all printed material is available only electronically and printed books are no more than collectors items. Computers are quickly changing the world in many ways and if history is any relationship to what happens next, there will be no choice concerning computer use. It will be part of everything.

The Internet has certainly changed the way we do business. From e-commerce to customer service, the Internet is rapidly changing the business world for the better. If you own a business and you want to stay ahead of your competition, then you absolutely must get involved with the Internet. Below are some ideas to help you use the Internet to grow your business.

1. Get Involved in Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are not only a lot of fun and a great way to keep in touch with friends, but they are also excellent business tools. Companies that have a social media presence are able to reach multiple groups of people all at the same time. Plus, any advertising you do on your Facebook page or via tweets is absolutely free. In today’s economic age, you can’t beat free!
2. Optimize Your Website. You simply must stay ahead of your competition. One way to do this is to optimize your website for the best search engine results. This is called SEO and basically means adding keywords to your website that people are searching for. The goal here is to be number 1 (or at least in the top 10) on Google.
3. Utilize Customer Service Tools. These tools can be anything from customer satisfaction surveys, using a survey software, or a CRM tool. There are many aspects of the Internet that will help you keep customers happy and satisfied. A happy customer is a returning customer.

Nowadays, most business is done online. If you don’t have an online presence, you are missing out on thousands of customers. It’s simple to set up a website, get some good keywords on there, and then start selling to a whole new demographic. The Internet makes finding customers, keeping customers, and doing business much easier than it used to be.

First and foremost realize that buying a new computer is no different than buying any other tool. One must fit the proper tool to the intended purpose. It would be wrong to suggest the need of an expensive computer for someone who just wants to be able to use a word processor and play solitaire. It just isn’t the right tool. There is no need for a high performance racing car that the user will never actually use all it’s capability.

So, if you use your computer for business and you are a graphic designer you need a high end computer and you probably don’t need this article to tell you that. If you are a gamer and you want all the latest games you are going to need a fast processor, a reasonable sized hard drive and good video and audio card. This is also a little higher end if you want to play all the latest games on your computer.

For the average user, that wants mostly to browse the web, type emails, play some simple games, use a word processor and deal with their digital images you probably don’t need to spend even $1000. Look for systems that are less than that even if you want a laptop. If you aren’t too intense about your digital images you may even choose a net-book that will cost less than $500. Choose the tool that fits your job.

The history of packet switching includes an interesting twist: Two different people invented it independently and nearly simultaneously. In the early 1960s, a worker for the RAND Corporation named Paul Baran sought to discover a way to send sensitive information through a network that could not be destroyed by a nuclear attack. He came up with four main ideas to accomplish this goal:

1. Create a network that included more than one path to other points
2. Section off the communications into “message blocks”
3. Use an intermediate station before forwarding the communications on
4. Re-send the message if it does not reach its destination

Baran’s second idea is what became to be known as packet switching. Basically, a message is packet switched when it is split up, sent through a network, and then reassembled after it is sent. However, Baran’s project, created for the U.S. Air Force, was never completed. This is the point where the other inventor, Donald Watts Davies, comes into the picture. Davies’ idea was essentially the same as Baran’s “message blocks,”but Davies called it packet switching. The two were not in contention over the invention, however. Teams from each side met and collaborated to further the idea.

Packet switching in the present involves the same concepts, but the scale is larger and the elements are more complicated. Today, devices other than computers use packet switching as well. Cell phones, for instance, implement a similar mode of information transportation as devised by Baran and Davies.

It’s hard to pin down the precise date of email’s birth because it grew in tandem with the proliferation of the internet itself. In fact, most agree that electronic mail was invented prior to the internet’s debut. The history of email is winding and extensive with multiple people and companies playing roles in its evolution, often coming up with the same or similar ideas concurrently. The following bullets portray a brief narrative of the early history of email:
-Email began as real-time communication between time-sharing computers in the 1960s.
- Ray Tomlinson helped developed the programs SNDMSG and READMAIL, which he later updated for ARPANET in 1971.
- In order to address an email to a particular person in a network, Tomlinson decided the”@” symbol would be used in the format between the user’s name and the email host.
- Lawrence Roberts added email options such as sorting capabilities, deleting and saving.
- Within the next few years, programmers continued to add more features.
- John Vittal created what many consider the first email program, MSG, which included the”Answer”option.
-The rise in production of personal computers as well as the number of companies using LAN-based systems skyrocketed. Email was still between two people who subscribed to the same system, but the systems swelled in size by the 1980s.

In many ways, the internet grew out of the widespread use of email. As more and more people began owning computers, the need to connect to larger networks increased. It became possible to send a message to someone who didn’t have the same program as you, and quickly email became the standard. And email has been evolving continuously since it commenced, so the history continues.

Before expounding on the specifics that constitute TCP/IP, it’s worth understanding some of the history of this particular communications protocol. TCP/IP is really a combination of two different protocols – hence the slash. The first, Transmission Control Protocol, as well as the second, Internet Protocol, came about in the early 1970s after research done by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Department of Defense declared TCP/IP the standard for military computers in 1982. It was crucial that, during war especially, information could be sent safely and continue on even if damaged.

What allow communications protocols like TCP/IP to operate are the aforementioned layers. The layers near the top (closer to the user) manage abstract data, while the layers near the bottom translate that abstract data into something that can be sent through a network. The layers of TCP/IP are the following:

1. Link Layer:
2. Internet Layer
3. Transport Layer
4. Application Layer

The implementation of TCP and IP by the Department of Defense was one of the key steps in the generation of the internet. TCP/IP is what enables the internet to be the internet, which is a network of networks. And although it is not the only protocol that could be used, it is the current industry standard. Without the standard, the internet would not be as large of a network as it is. Because everyone uses TCP/IP, we are able to connect to any other computer.

How the DNS Came About

The Domain Name System was initially developed for the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), which was the predecessor of the Internet. It was created in order to allow for growth of the blossoming email application. Before the DNS, in order to send an email to someone, you had to know the exact route to get to that person. ARPANET had already thought of replacing numbers with names before the DNS was in place. Such a procedure for doing so existed in what was called the Hosts.txt file, but as the network grew, the file became unmanageable. In 1983, the DNS as an official system was implemented.

How the DNS is Set Up

The Domain Name System is built hierarchically. This allows for decentralization, which is what the old Hosts.txt file lacked. The parts of the hierarchy, in order, are the roots, the top-level domains, the second-level domains and a sub-domain. Dots are positioned between each level of the hierarchy. Once the domain name is entered, it is split between these dots and sent down the tree structure of the DNS. Usually you will only see the top-level domains in the domain name itself – the .com, .net, .org, etc.

With all these hierarchies, it’s no wonder why most people don’t have a clue about how any of the processes of the Internet function. And the Domain Name System may be one of the most complicated.

But just a few decades ago, the level of access to the information highway offered today was something that most normal people couldn’t even dream of. So, it may surprise them to learn that the seeds of the Internet were planted way back at the height of the Cold War, with U.S. Military technologists developing systems to gain the edge on their communist counterparts. While the Internet as we know it today did not truly emerge until the 1990′s, it was the systems developed by these public servants that allowed advances that led to the inception of the Internet to occur.

Indeed, the technology that makes the modern day Internet possible has now been in existence, in one form or another, since the 1970′s when the U.S. government began to work with civilian scholars to open up online access to other institutions including educational and business organizations. The term “Internet” itself came into existence in 1974 when it was used in a paper by Stanford University Scientists.

Public access to the Internet was first offered in 1989 and, in 1991, a project under the name of the “World Wide Web” brought knowledge of the technology to the masses.

Early dial up use was slow going, but the public soon found various applications for the technology, from the forebears of today’s social networking sites in clunky 90s chatrooms, to niche websites where enthusiasts on anything and everything were able to share specific knowledge with each other.

And as technologies advanced, broadband connections became readily available, and prices of computing equipment dropped, the World Wide Web spread quickly to cover homes across the globe to become the indispensable tool we know today.

There are four main categories of top-level domains. The categories are the following:

1. Country code: These domains are set up for countries territories and all are two letters long. Examples include .uk and .ca.
2. Internationalized country code: These domains are much like country codes, but the code is transformed into the script of that country’s language.
3. Generic: These domains include the customary letters most people are used to seeing: .com .mil, .org, .net, .edu and .gov.
4. Infrastructure: There is only one domain in this category: ARPA. It is not often used, but it exists.

Within the generic category of domain names, how does one qualify for a .net or a .org? Are there parameters to be met? Since we’re talking about the Internet here, there are always parameters to be me. It wouldn’t be the hierarchical Domain Name System if anyone could have any top-level domain designation they pleased.

-COM: Any commercial business can apply for a .com domain. The most characters allowed is 63, but 12 is recommended. COM is the top-level domain that is applied for the most.
-GOV: This is only for federal government agencies.
-EDU: This domain is reserved for four-year colleges or universities. Initially, all educational institutions were allowed, but the size of the Internet today has led to stricter standards.
-MIL: This domain is for military departments.
-NET: Internet Service Providers and organizations that support the Internet.
-ORG: Only non-profits can apply for this domain. ORG used to be where all the leftover domains were located.

Origins of the Digital Camera

Scanners, which involved taking a concrete image and digitalizing it, helped developers conceptualize the idea of a digital camera for mass use. However, an Eastman Kodak engineer (Stephen Sasson) is responsible for building the first recorded digital camera attempt in 1975. The camera was nothing like the lightweight pocket-sized versions we see today; it weighed a whopping eight pounds and its black-and-white images were recorded on a cassette tape. It took 23 seconds to take its first photograph.
1988′s Fuji DS-1P is considered the first “real” digital camera, since it was the first to record images as digital files. While the camera never sold in the United States (and potentially never sold in Japan), the camera did have a 16 megabyte memory card.

First Consumer Digital Camera

The Dycam Model 1 of 1990 was the first digital camera to be sold to consumers. The camera also recorded computerized images and could connect to a computer to download pictures. One year later, the Kodak DCS-100 hit the market at an incredible $13,000. The digital SLR camera launched a series of Kodak digital cameras. The first commercially successful digital SLR was the Nikon D1 in 1999.
None of these cameras would be possible without the 1988 creation of JPEG and MPEG files, which allowed for high-quality digital images to be easily stored without taking up unreasonable amounts of memory.

Network neutrality: Access to the Internet and content therein should be the same for every user and should not be limited depending on one’s service provider. The data on the Internet is neutral and should move around it as such, without regard to specific content or the data’s destination or original source.

Proponents: Internet companies such as Ebay, Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo!, as well as individuals including Barack Obama and Steve Wozniak, believe in the notion of net neutrality. Some supporters claim that cable and telecommunications companies want to “own” the Internet, in a sense, and be able to decide the speed at which websites load. Another argument is that if cable companies are allowed to be Internet gatekeepers, then they would have a monopoly-like hold over the business. They could block their competition while providing poor service.

Opponents: Most opponents are institutes such as the Cato Institute and telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T. They argue that net neutrality hinder the ability of the Internet to grow and stay fresh. Another position reasons that the Internet is already discriminatory with net neutrality because bigger companies can buy higher bandwidth. The last main argument is that with the websites today like YouTube, the Internet is being flooded with data that it cannot sustain. Without net neutrality, Internet service providers could charge YouTube for the amount of bandwidth it uses, allowing more room for other sites.

There were very few commercial enterprises operating online in the 1980s, and none were for functions that users are accustomed to now like online shopping. But in 1982, after the Department of Defense ordered TCP/IP as the standard communications protocol, the opportunity for commercialization began to dawn. In 1985, the NSF founded a network called NSFNET. By 1988, after the connection between the east and west were complete, the NSF stimulation commercialization at the local level.

Five years after it began, the NSFNET slumped and the local level mandate for commercialization ceased to exist. This paved the way for Internet Service Providers such as AOL and Prodigy to provide individual Internet access. Once the World Wide Web was created in 1991, an interface was designed to be user-friendly, making the Internet effortless to navigate. More and more users appeared online, and the number of websites soared.

In 1997, $9 billion dollars was spent on online shopping. Just five years prior to this, the web browser that allowed for this type of spending, Mosaic, had launched. Once commercialization became possible, the public reacted with an astounding “finally!” Commercialization had been in the mind of many since computers began connecting to each other, but no one could have predicted the speed at which the operation would unfold.

In those early days, with computers being so expensive (up to a million dollars) and large (the size of a master bedroom suite), it was hard to see how a printer, then referred to as electro-photography, would ever be marketable. But the Haloid Corporation bought in to Chester Carlson’s ideas and developed the printer. It was able to recreate 78,000 characters per minute. Later the Haloid Corporation would change its name to the Xerox Corporation.

It’s hard to imagine that individuals knew the versatility of printers in those days and that today there would be a wide range of applications, from printing text, to high-resolution photos on specialized paper. In the 1980s as the personal computer became a more reasonable home consumer purchase, the market grew. The laser printer was created in the early 1970s and ink jet printers were designed almost as long ago; however, the production of an ink jet printer that was affordable took until the late 1980s before it was on the market.

It was the foresight of a few, that realized where computers would possibly fit in the market and the necessary peripheral devices that were also needed. Today, you would be hard pressed to find carbon paper, and the typewriter has all but disappeared as well. One day soon, we may move beyond the need for printers. Text and images will always be observed on each individual’s hand-held device that can access any information needed.

The most important aspect to understand about this idea, which Fanning turned into a service called Napster in 1999, is that it was free. Users would download a program and share MP3 files with others who also had downloaded the program. This type of system is called peer-to-peer. Napster, however, was not completely peer-to-peer in that I maintained a central server with an inventory of the connections and goings-on, but it was the first service to popularize the peer-to-peer system.

After being sued by the band Metallica in 2000, followed by several other musicians and a couple recording companies, Napster and Fanning were found guilty in District Court of copyright infringement. Napster was forced to shut down its services shortly after. Interestingly, in the ensuing months after the charges were brought, the amount of users escalated. Ten months after the RIAA filed suit, there were 32 million Napster users. At its height, the membership was nearly 70 million.

Napster filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Today Napster operates as a for-pay music service. Best Buy has since purchased it. The rise and fall of Napster took only two years, but it has likely changed the music industry forever.

First Connection

In 1969, ARPANET was online for the first time. The network started off with only four connected computers from around the Southwestern United States ‘ the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of Utah and the Stanford Research Institute. A student at UCLA named Charley Kline was the first person to send a message on this historic connection. Somewhat comically, his attempt to type “login” crashed the system before he could even get to the G. The connection was restored about an hour later.

The Growth that Followed

Once a connection had been achieved, the growth of ARPANET was swift. No longer were there four computers hooked up; ARPANET hit the East Coast and soon Harvard, MIT, the University of Illinois and many others joined. ARPANET was the breeding ground for further Internet innovation, as it was the first to adopt email in 1972. As computers advanced, so did ARPANET. By 1985 there were connections to ARPANET in Europe and Australia.

The End of ARPANET

ARPANET did not so much perish as it did retire. It was 1990, and the Internet as users are now familiar with it was in its genesis. Without the dedication of those who toiled over ARPANET and the initial programming, there would be no World Wide Web at all.

The history of technology stretches almost as far back as human history. The first technological acknowledgments involved making hunting tools, creating fire, and building homes. As far as calculable technology, the abacus wins the prize for being first. Society has come a long way since then. Now, the majority of people can connect to anyone in the world at any given time of the day by using multiple resources. The theory of six degrees of separation is completely reasonable due to today’s technological advancements.

The age of computation gained intense momentum during WWII, with machines such as the Colossus, ENIAC, and the Nazi’s Enigma code machine. These were the first true computers and, for the time, were considered extraordinary accomplishments for the progress of intelligent advancements. These devices hosted nearly 5,000 computations per minute. Later, NASA began to use computers and make them work for assigned functions, such as creating a wireless feed for viewing and communicating during shuttle launches. Some say that was the birth of the web.

It was not until the early 1980s that an innovation was made that would change computers forever. The PC was born in a garage. It was based on the idea of creating a computer that was small enough for personal use. The personal computer, or PC, was born. It changed the face of technology forever, and today, millions of people are helpless without their computers.  Many ideas have spring-boarded from the original PC idea, including cell phones, PDAs, and even the antiquated pager.

Today, people enjoy conveniences like wireless Internet, 3G and 4G phones, fax machines, and even tablet computers. To name every milestone that technology has achieved in the last 20 years would be nearly impossible, since the advancements occur so fast. Some say that the technological advancements double in improvements about every six months. It took nearly 40 years from the time the first computer was created until the first PC was imagined.

Origin

The idea of hypertext, which allowed users to click on text on a computer screen and be sent somewhere else to learn more about the clicked text, was the main building block Tim Berners-Lee used in developing the World Wide Web. The problem with hypertext, though, was that the data couldn’t easily be shared. After proposing his project to CERN, Berners-Lee decided to proceed in building what he finally settled on calling the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web requires three basics: a server, a browser and web pages. In 1991, he posted the project to an online newsgroup where it took off.

Early Use

As most early adopters of computer technology are, the first people to use the World Wide Web were university scientists and other computer programmers. There wasn’t a universal web browser yet, but the Mosaic browser of 1993 would change that and the Web forever. Even more important was the announcement by CERN that same year that the Web technology would be provided free.

Rapid Growth

Once the World Wide Web became commercialized in the mid-1990s, the effect was snowball-like in its growth. Purposes for going online broadened from the initial encyclopedia-type curiosity into online shopping and entertainment, widening the base of users tremendously. These days it’s hard to escape the World Wide Web, but who would want to anyway?

- PLATO: Originally, PLATO was devised at the University of Illinois for educational purposes. When features were updated, students were able to create games and then play those games simultaneously.
- MUD: Developed in 1978, the Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) genre became the first type of game program to use a network. Gamers could share their designs within the MUD world and interact with other players.
- MAD: The year 1984 brought a MUD called MAD to the worldwide network called BITNET.
- Maze War: As MUDs were developing, Maze War was establishing the prominence of gaming with a server and host. NASA set up a peer-to-peer-like way of sharing information with Maze War, and soon others such as MIT and Xerox were experimenting with the technology.
- MMORPG: Neverwinter Nights was the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).
- Doom: In 1993, Doom was a huge step forward for single-player games where you could sync up with others online.
-Quake: Although not much different than Doom in its technology, Quake worked out a few lag problems associated with multiplayer games.
-MMO: The online game Ultima was the “ultimate” multiplayer experience and helped lay the foundation for most popular online games today.

Netscape forged ahead into the commercial web browser market and was met with great approval and success. This was 1994-1995 and no other web browser was poised to threaten Netscape’s market share. There are reports that say Netscape held more than 80 percent of the market at that time, but it wouldn’t last long. In late 1995, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer hit the scene as a free web browser packaged with Microsoft’s operating system. The competition between the two led to continual improvements in the technology, but Internet Explorer slowly took the lead.

Navigator persisted and stayed alive by creating new versions packed with more stuff than it ever had offered. But this now-bulky browser started having problems. It crashed and lagged its way out of the competition. On Windows especially, Internet Explorer was the norm. Even other platforms were favoring open-source options.

Netscape tried its hand at open sourcing in 1998, making the browser free and elating many users. Called Mozilla, which Netscape insiders had actually been calling the Navigator from the start, the browser received a fresh interface and a gecko logo. Mozilla 1.0 hit the public in 2002. It took some time to catch on, but Mozilla eventually attained success with its Firefox release. Netscape Navigator did not prevail, but its descendants have more than made up for the bumpy ride. Firefox currently sits at a little less than 30 percent market share.

Before detailing its origins, it’s beneficial to explain what exactly YouTube is. The website functions as a video-sharing environment wherein users can view and upload videos up to 10 minutes long. The website was created by three young men who, at the time, were working for PayPal. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim had the idea for a video-sharing website following the difficulty they found when attempting to share a party video with someone who had not been present at the party.

YouTube debuted in November 2005 and by the following summer was considered the most rapidly expanding website on the Internet. It was extremely popular, especially for those aged 12-17, and investors and companies began to see the potential the website held. By July 2006, surveys reckoned 100 million videos were being viewed daily. Three months late, in October, Google bought out the company for a whopping $1.65 billion.

YouTube was still pretty green, but once Google acquired the company, it shot to new heights. In 2008, YouTube signed an agreement with a number of television and film companies to put full shows on the site. As of 2010, YouTube is the third most visited online site, next to Google itself and Facebook.

The site has seen criticism for its problems with posted copyrighted material, privacy and the questionable content within some videos, but it continues to thrive and attract visitors. The future of YouTube is unknown, but if it’s as any bit as storied as it’s brief chronicle thus far, it’ll be intriguing.

Omidyar started the website AuctionWeb in 1995 and was amazed at how someone somewhere would buy just about anything. The name was changed to eBay in 1997, and by then the site had already organized more than two million auctions. Pierre and his fellow founder Jeffrey Skoll hired former Hasbro employee and businesswoman Meg Whitman as the CEO of eBay in 1998 and sent the company public. It was expected to do well, but it surpassed everyone’s calculations. It traded at more than $50 on its first day. Whitman is credited with creating a “vision” for eBay ‘ one of linking people rather than peddling products.

Once only a collectibles auction site, Whitman helped eBay expand to all items of sale. This boosted business even further, as it opened the market to essentially all products (banned products include alcohol, drugs, bootleg reproductions, guns, human parts, copyrighted works and Nazi items, among others). They also opened up to companies to sell on the site, giving the site name-brand appeal and authenticity. Not that they needed the appeal; by 2008, the company had earnings nearing $8 billion.

Whitman stepped down as CEO in 2008, replaced by John Donahoe. The website continues to thrive today despite a 2010 lawsuit and other controversies of fraud and copyright infringement.

Today we can see people being dependent on computers for most of the things like listening to music using VLC in their computers rather than being dependent on DVD and CD players. Also people seem to prefer watching videos and web streaming videos in their computers by installing video codecs like Xvid. We can also see computers playing their role in offices and businesses. A large number of office applications are being used by employees in offices for example, for word processing tasks we can see people using Open Office, GNU Cash and other applications rather than using conventional and lengthy methods for office tasks. Computers have not only played their role in making tasks easier for people rather they have made the world a global village by enabling people to connect with each other using social networks and have enabled them to share resources with each other using peer to peer programs like Ares. Today, we can see computer technicians and webmasters earning a lot by managing web files and providing services related to computer using remote control tools and file transfer tools like filezilla.

The variety of useful softwares and programs are accountable towards making people dependant on computers. Computers and tech gadgets like smart phones have become a vital necessity of people and they are increasingly buying them. The prices of computers and tech gadgets have also come down, which means that it’s much easier to buy them and more people can enjoy them. They’re affordable for the masses, instead of only being something that the elite had access to. If you’re looking into buying a computer or some other type of electronics – whether you’re upgrading them or you’re a first-time buyer, make sure that you do your research and learn about what you’re getting. You want to buy things that will be relevant to your life, not just things that you ‘have to have’ because everyone else does.

There’s a lot of that going on in society today, but it would be easier on people if they would stop and think about what they’re buying. If they took the time to get what they needed and what would work for them, they’d probably be happier with their purchases in the long run. It’s not always possible to be sure that you’re getting everything you need when you buy an electronic device, but a little research can go a long way toward helping you make a good, informed choice you can be happy with for a long time.

Within the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, there’s an entry, added in 2006, for the verb google. To google is to use the search engine Google.com to look something up on the Internet. This is pretty big for a company started fewer than two decades ago. For as short as the time frame of the history of Google is, the narrative is packed with acquisitions, products, partnerships and a whole lot of growth. Details of Google’s more recent achievements are worthwhile to explore, but the beginning of the search engine is fodder enough for illumination at the moment.

In 1996, two graduate students studying computer science at Stanford – Larry Page and Sergey Brin -’ were working on a project dealing with a comprehensive digital library. The project they came up with, “BackRub,” aimed at finding and categorizing what websites link to other websites. Page supposed these backlinks would impart useful knowledge about the web page. Page and Brin then developed an algorithm that would calculate the weight of a web page based on its backlinks. The two soon realized the power of this algorithm, PageRank, and they continued with their search engine project.

After some success on the Stanford website (they eventually began using up too much of the university’s bandwidth), they decided BackRub needed a new name. So, in 1997, after a misspelling of the word “googol,” Google was born. They incorporate in 1998 and just a month later are listed in PC Magazine’s top 100 websites list. By the end of that year, the site has a directory of more than 60 million pages, and the growth is exponential.

The history of Google from this point becomes much more difficult to chronicle. Most importantly, it begins to sell advertisements. That decision ensured that Google would be one of the most profitable companies in the country. As of 2009, Google is the 19th most profitable company according to Fortune and the 102nd largest.

He didn’t invent anything for the Internet. J. C. R. Licklider, nicknamed Lick, was an ideas man, but he didn’t construct a better network or the first personal computer or anything. Without Licklider, though, it’s doubtful the Internet would have materialized. His ideas regarding a global network were very close to the Internet as it operates today. The man’s biography is filled with academia and important scholarly pursuits, but for now, the history of Licklider and his ideas will start with his paper “Man-Computer Symbiosis.”

The paper, published in 1960, explained man’s relationship to computers. More specifically, Licklider was interested in how computers could be made to interact with man and speed up human processes. The idea itself was quite revolutionary at the time, and even compelling was the fact that Licklider wasn’t even a computer scientist then – he was a psychologist.

Licklider went to work for BBN, a design firm, in 1957. Within two years after publishing his paper, he had arrived at the idea for a global network. That same year, 1962, Licklider was contacted by DARPA to direct two bureaus of the department and head the Information Processing Techniques Office. During his time at the department, he developed the idea for Project MAC, which was an early model of a connected network. His ideas at DARPA (later ARPA) of a universal network later led to the creation of ARPANET.

Even after all these accomplished idea, Licklider continued to conceive of computer uses. In 1965 he envisioned an idea of what he called the “Libraries of the Future,” which ended up bearing quite a resemblance to the eventual World Wide Web. Licklider’s visions of what computers can do changed the way people thought about computers. Because he was never the one to implement his ideas, he never garnered much attention or acclaim. Regardless of his fame, his ideas were priceless and beneficial to the world.

The Internet changed this, however. Its origins marked the beginning of a new age and a new possibility — instant conversations.

In 1963 computers had been offered as revelations, with individuals seeking to use their abilities, to take advantage of the calculations they could provide (machines excelled beyond the slow synapses and human thoughts). Technology had surpassed the telegrams and underwater cables. It had expanded.

But this was not enough for Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider.

Licklider — head of the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) — understood that computers possessed far more potential than was being utilized. And so he drafted the notion of a connected network, one that could be accessed by all machines, with information shared between servers. The idea was deemed impossible by many — until it was sent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

There a dedicated team of engineers (supervised by Licklider) strove to change the way computers interacted with each other. Evolving the concept of circuit switching — which had been used to control all phones — the group slowly began to send data across digital nodules. Cables were used to generate the necessary power. And, by 1968, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) had been created.

This was the first incarnation of the Internet — and it managed to crash before any log-ins could be completed. But the idea was still desired and the team persevered, tailoring their network until it could finally be accessed by all.

The name was changed. The intentions were broadened. And the World Wide Web was formed.

AOL got its start as Quantum Computer Services in 1985. It was an online service tailored to the Commodore 64. The service broadened to Apple products in 1989 and the company officially changed its name to America Online Inc. and went public in 1991. By 1993, through the steady releasing of disks, AOL was providing service to about 500,000 people. It only took another year to double that number, and soon advertisements began pouring in. Only four years after the company went public, the service was reaching nearly 5 million members.

In response to competitors such as MSN, AOL presented a $19.95 a month plan. This is the point where growth skyrocketed even further than it already had. By mid-1996, before the unlimited monthly plan was announced, they had 6 million members. By the next year they had 9 million. AOL stocks rose like crazy, and the company began buying out companies. In 1998, the company bought out ICQ and CompuServe, followed by Netscape Communications, Moviefone, Spinner.com and Digital Marketing Services, among many others, in 1999. In addition to its 20 million members at this time, the company moved into international servicing.

AOL and Time Warner merged in 2001, marking a movement for both companies into other realms of the market. The following years included controversies over fraudulent advertising, insider trading, and, to top it off, millions of dollars of debt. AOL split from Time Warner and now exists successfully as AOL Inc.

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. It’s free-of-charge and very often the content is user-created. With the technology of the wiki at its disposal, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger developed the site today known as Wikipedia. The wiki concept was created by Ward Cunningham as a way to easily create and edit content on website.

What was initially part of a project for the website Nupedia, Wikipedia became its own domain after Nupedia disapproved of the wiki format. Wikipedia.com went live in January 2001 and quickly grew. As more people visited the site, more articles were written, leading search engines like Google to send even more people to Wikipedia through its design. Within its first year the site had 20,000 entries.

The website expanded to other countries fairly early in its history, opening it up to an even larger base. By 2004, just three years after its launch, the site had more than a million articles and had entries in more than 100 languages. As the years progressed, the quality of articles increased due to a new standard and clear identification of protected articles.

Although the site is criticized for how easy it is to edit an article, Wikipedia editors are on the ball. If an article is edited to be incorrect, it doesn’t take long for someone, whether it’s a Wikipedia employee or volunteer editor, to catch it. As of 2010, there are more than 3.5 million articles in the English version of Wikipedia.

It was 1992 when two men at the National Center for Supercomputer Appliances showed a group of students the server of World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. A couple of the students, one of whom was Andreessen, took inspiration from Berners-Lee and worked to create Mosaic. The browser worked on Berners-Lee’s Internet server and provided the ability to direct the web in ways that users today would recognize – it allowed for sound, graphics, bookmarks and more.

The most progressive facet of Mosaic was its capability to present both text and images on the same page. Without this technology, a website is just block text. As can be expected, Mosaic rapidly became popular. At first the browser was only accessible for Unix users, but within a year of its release, Mosaic was available on Windows and Macintosh computers. The moment it opened to nearly every computer user with a simple download was the moment Mosaic began to thrive.

Normal, everyday people – people who enjoyed reading magazines – flocked to the World Wide Web. The Web became a commercial success after users realized it could be an enjoyable experience. Andreessen and partner Jim Clark founded Mosaic Communications, renaming the company to Netscape Communications a year later.

Mosaic wasn’t technically the first web browser, browsers such as ViolaWWW came before it, but it was the browser that popularized the web. As more web browsers appeared throughout the years, Mosaic diminished in both market share and innovation, eventually collapsing.

The Gopher protocol had four dominant objectives:
1. Include a standard file setup that worked in a hierarchy
2. Extend the system to be able to search
3. Involve uncomplicated computer syntax
4. Be easy to install

As for these objectives, Gopher met them. Gopher aimed to make document-sharing a painless task even if the person sending and the person receiving were hundreds of miles apart. It also sorted those documents in a manner that would be easy and logical to search. For as helpful and simple to use as it sounded, Gopher didn’t proliferate. One of the reasons the protocol may not have become popular was that unlike the ability to download filezilla and other open source software for free, the University of Minnesota’s idea to charge for its use. Another reason is that other interfaces quickly emerged that were better than Gopher, although they had many of the same objectives.

The World Wide Web proved more versatile than Gopher when it arrived in 1992. The Web was also able to sustain browses such as the eventual graphics-supportive Mosaic. Gopher wasn’t a bad protocol, but it came a little too late and was far too limited in comparison to the eventual champion, the Web. Although many began using Gopher when it launched and continued even after the World Wide Web materialized, Gopher just became too expensive to continue using.

A small number of people continue to use Gopher today, but the Web toppled any of Gopher’s chances of being the predominant protocol.