Columnist for CNET.com, Matt Asay, recently wrote the following opinion of the growing deluge of data being accumulated on the internet by the incessant creations from users of all types over even the most mundane aspects in their lives. He argues, but does not prove, that perhaps there is a downside to all of this accumulated electronic information, even equating it to a potential shortage of fuel or timber towards the end of his article.
While it is unlikely that this is true in my opinion, for an author that is so concerned with the prevalence of useless mutterings over the internet, this article seems only to add to it. Without making a point he introduces a subject only to refute and then re-suggest it in a matter of two or three lines.
To be sure there are facts of interest and significance strewn throughout this piece. One such example is the observation of declining costs associated with hard-drive space and physical database hardware that are occurring while simultaneously the increasing cost of “indexing and searching” the internet are increasing. The problem with these statements are that everyone already knows them, a contributor of his status might better serve his readers therefore by offering some suggestions as to how these onslaughts of data might be avoided or improved upon. Instead we have simply one more article to add to “the digital debris” of our time.
Recently, the Federal Communications Commission let it be known that they want to increase the availability of high-speed internet access throughout the United States. In addition they have made plans to increase the speed of this internet access by over 1000% on average. They argue that the United States lags far behind other developed countries in its availability of broadband access and that improving on it would not only help ensure America’s competitive technological edge, but also in the meantime provide a much-needed source of economic stimulus in the short run.
In the spring of 2006 in Kyoto, Japan, a first look of the Wii console was given to reporters from all around the world. The TIME’s Lev Grossman was one of these journalists and one of his first reactions to the console was that no one would ever buy it. Now Nintendo has sold as many Wiis as Microsoft and Sony have sold Xbox 360s and Playstation 3s put together.
Recently, Google announced the acquisition of DocVerse allowing for online collaboration on Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. A tremendous step because Google Apps and Office, “don’t play well together.”
