It’s hard to imagine the Internet being full. Somehow the concept doesn’t seem to compute. But AT&T has predicted that the amount of video and Web2.0 content could mean just that by 2010 without significant investment in new infrastructure for the Net. The Westminster eForum on Web 2.0, held last week in London, was considering issues regarding Web 2.0, but AT&T vice president forlegislative affairs, Jim Cicconi, dropped a bomb by warning that systems could become full in the next three years if nothing is done. He said, "The surge in online content is at thecentre of the most dramatic changes affecting the internet today. In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire internet today." Those are direwords and a powerful warning. He claimed that his company is investing $19 billion in order to maintain its network, according to ZDNet, but that just the USwill require $55 billion in infrastructure investment, with $130 billion needed worldwide. The problems will increase greatly as more content becomes high definition, he predicted. "Eight hours of video is loaded onto YouTube every minute. Everything will become HD very soon and HD is seven to 10 times more bandwidth-hungry than typical video today. Video will be 80percent of all traffic by 2010, up from 30 percent today."
Tag Archive: Westminster
Internet Full By 2010?
My Passport Elite Drives Shoot for Style
“A luxurious soft touch” may not be a selling point for most hard drives out there, but Western Digital is mixing up expectations with the launch of its My Passport Elite line of portable hard drives. The company’s latest lightweight drives are designed as much to be fashion symbols as vaults for data.
If it weren’t for an array of LEDs and a mini-USB jack on the bottom half of the My Passport Elite, it might easily be mixed up for a book or day planner thanks to a rounded edge that looks like a spine, and two other book-like tapered corners. It also comes finished in bronze, titanium, Westminster blue or cherry red, with a soft-touch finish that WD promises makes the drive “easy to grip, comfortable to hold, and fashionable to carry.”
SatNav? No, SatLav!
If you’re caught short in the London Borough of Westminster – which includes some of the English capital’s most popular shopping and tourist venues – help is, quite literally, at hand. Now all you have to do is use your mobile phone to text “toilet” to 80097 and you’ll receive a message back giving the location of the nearest public facility. It’s all come about through a Westminster City Council innovation competition, and is the brainchild of student Gail Knight – who, incidentally, doesn’t live in Westminster, but in the suburb of Clapham. However, you’ll pay to find the loo. Each text costs 50 cents, with the council adding another 18 cents in subsidies. Westminster cabinet member for street environment councillor Alan Bradley told The Guardian, "From today onwards nobody should ever get caught short again, and we understand how important that is, be it for a young mum with children in tow, older people or friends on a shopping trip or night out."
The Da Vinci Code – Video Game Style
Take-Two Interactive Software’s 2K video game publishing label today announced their latest title, The Da Vinci Code, is now available at retail. Timed to coincide with the release of the movie of the same name, this game can be played on the PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 platforms.
The Da Vinci Code video game, said 2K, was developed by The Collective, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment. Expanding beyond the movie and best-selling book, the game features mysteries and puzzles unique to it alone. A blend of stealth, adventure, combat and puzzle-solving, The Da Vinci Code video game has players guiding characters Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu through detailed environments searching for hidden clues in locations like The Louvre and Westminster Abbey.
