I have seen the future and its called……………….

Its called the Internet, but you all ready knew that so what’s so special now ?.

Well nothing really other that the realization that it is taking over more and more of our lives. When I lived in Brussels we never bothered much with the internet at home in fact we did not actually have a home Pc. Other than the Sinclair ZX80 and the commodore 64 (Google them) I had probably 20 odd years ago I never had a box at home. The 64 I used to play adventure games in text and once programmed it to flash in 256 colors, my first ever program (you see there is a value in Boolean Algebra). It wasn’t until we had been in the US for a couple of years that I caved in and bought one. Really because I began to feel guilty about all the home banking the pictures and the music I was keeping on my work machine and keeping it on a spare hard drive was becoming a pain.

So the internet whilst useful was not the be all and end all of our lives. Slowly things like Google Talk (and video if you have combed your hair and got dressed) and Facebook started to become the norm. Google Talk allows me to keep in touch with family without additional cost and the quality most of the time is better than the phone. Facebook keeps me up to date with friends I would otherwise have lost contact with although it is a little erratic at staying up to date. I remember the hype of “Friends Reunited” which reconnected you with people from school. Well to be honest I was happy to forget most of them so it never really pulled me in (the jibes about the red hair still aren’t forgotten).

It does allow me to watch the progress of people I care for and people who I have shared experiences something I did not do a for the many people I had the pleasure of working with over the last couple of dacades which is a shame.

There is instant messenger which is just another thing to interrupt people with although I was as guilty as any in pinging people at inappropriate times. Funny how we stopped using the phone and just jabber with people instead. Emoticons to the ready as you want people to understand when you are being funny and when you are being sarcastic. (well sometimes).

Recently I added Skype which has been around for a while but I never felt the need. Given where I am now and the erratic nature of telecommunications here. The lines are still analogue (would you believe you can hear the click, click, click as you dial) and rather expensive Skype is ideal to make those international calls and it is so easy and extremely cheap I can see the demise of home phone lines. You have a mobile (everyone has a mobile don’t they?) so why would you need a home phone. Many Pc‘s now come with built in gizmos to wirelessly connect to the internet and I found the wonders of wireless (with the help of someone from comp USA) a while back and now it is the norm and allows me to wander the house at will without interruption. I mean who amongst us would not want to be able to receive the same message on 2 Pc’s on a local wireless networked blackberry and have it printed off at the same time. Cool eh, pointless but cool but it also means the computer is on all the time and we now have 2 home pc’s although one was bought so Judi and I could stay connected when she first moved to Russia. So what’s new then you may be wondering ?.

So my new find ? well it is Internet TV. There was a new sound bite not so long ago saying Internet advertising had overtake TV advertising which is hardly a surprise but not that bad for something only in existence for around 20 years. I used to use internet Radio to get my English comedy shows and maybe listen to football (soccer) matches and finding out you could listen in to the pit crew radios on NASCAR race day was fun. Now of course what ever you want can be found on “t’internet” (its an English joke and some of you are laughing). Films were first but slowly TV shows if you searched hard enough then places like HULU and P2P4U and lots of others sprang up. Hooking the HD Tv up to my computer is within my technical capability so there you are all you favorites whenever you want them. Now it does take something away from the anticipation of the next episode when you can actually get them any time you want but that’s just how it is.

Network address maskers make it possible to see anything you want where ever you are so have we now entered an age where recorded items are so available we will get bored with them (well not until Judi has seen the last season of House, Grays anatomy and big Band Theory anyway).

Question for you all have you ever been asked a question and replied “I don’t know but I will Google it when I get home”. Its funny not so long ago there was so much we did not know about and now of course we can find anything we want when ever we want I wonder if that is making us smarter or dumber as we no longer have to learn, why would you when someone will give you the answer in an instant.