The Future of Internet...

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Indeed, the future of internet is limitless, is never ending. Once upon a time, when there were no aeroplanes, the Wright brothers dreamt of a future where people can fly. Great inventions by Einstein would not have surfaced without dreams. Dreams can be beautiful, but it takes effort for dreams to become reality. The internet has became a reality of past dreams. From Web 1.0 to 3.0 of today. From telephone, mobile phones and postal mail to internet conferencing, skype and instant emails. 

Let's take a look at the evolution of the internet from the past till today:

 

In regards to the future of the internet, there have been lots of predictions. According to an article by Six Revisions,authored by professional web developer and designer Jacob Gube, he predicts 4 outcomes of the future of the Internet:

1) Audio Web Surfing

Imagine people on the train with headphones attached to their mobile device, say attached to a watch, while Text-to-Speech reads them the latest articles from their favorite sites. It would be the use of HTML5. Rather than reading and clicking, the audience can tell the browser where they want to go with spoken commands. Speech recognition has not been possible in the last decade. But we can see it in mobile phones today, computers that recognizes voice commands, gate security that recognizes only the owner's voice frequency...etc.

2) Web Surf on any Device

In the past, web surf on the mobile seemed impossible. The mobile phone was used only to make phone calls, if not simple text messages or even more advanced, organizing the calendar. The future of internet may predict a touch screen on our refrigerators, chopping boards, or even holograms projected from watches. These items can deliver niche and relevant content. For e.g. the chopping board on the left, it could display instructions as to slice the onions into how small, showing a live-demonstration of a renowned chef chopping onions...etc. 

3) Input Revisited 

Imagine the movie Minority Report happening in our daily lives.Simple gesture implementation on the trackpad in OSX is do good that using gestureless laptops becomes unthinkable. Many hardware manufacturers would hence try to invent their own GUIs. 

4) Mobile Networking

Imagine Harry Potter's newspaper. The pictures in the newspapers are alive, and the videos in the newspapers reinforce the text in the news. Imagine too hands-free systems in cars. When we enter the car, just speak the command and the system will track the location via GPS and auto-pilot us to any location, speak about automated parking!

With advancing technology and unwavering dreams, the future of internet will be charming. One wonders if Internet would dominate human beings, like the robots in I-Robot. Will intelligence in the internet overtake human intelligence? What would happen? We could only imagine and pray this day would not come.