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Reality
Check
Weekend
August 4/5, 2001
In
the beginning, computers were nothing more than
a scary sci-fi fantasy. But now it's 2001 and
our computer odyssey has come down to earth.
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Josh
Quittner, editor of the consumer tech monthly magazine
On, says today's Internet started in the sixties. "The
idea was to link computers in major cities around the
United States and figure out a way to keep them linked
even if there were a nuclear war."
Things exploded in the seventies with "supercomputers,” and soon predictions for these new machines included everything from computerized home companions to a monitor in every household. But it wasn't until the nineties that "the net" as we know it today was born.
And sooner than you can say "you've got mail," America was on line and surfing the world wide web! Regina Lewis, “It took the telephone 70 years to reach 50 million homes, it took radio 38 years, TV took 13 years. The Internet reached 50 million homes in just four years."
Lewis is on-line advisor to America Online, the largest Internet service provider in the world. AOL first linked to the net in 1994. Today it has 30 million members cruising the information superhighway. And this is not your parent's road trip anymore!
Bob Friedman, president of AOLTV, has been on the cutting edge before he was part of the team that gave us MTV. Friedman says what people want now is interactivity - like being able to watch these "Friends" and e-mail your friends, all at the same time.
He says, "When it's available on one set, on one appliance, it's a lot more convenient and I think it will radically change the level of participation"
And tech experts agree the next big thing will be completely
wireless, hand-held computers giving you online access
to everything wherever you go! Wired up or wireless, this
space odyssey is just beginning! |
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