Internet Takes a Big Step to Its Future Tomorrow

We're relying more on search engines now

(NEWSER) - Why remember something if you can Google it? Researchers exploring that question have concluded that computers and search engines are changing the way human memory works, reports the San Jose Mercury News . Essentially, people in the experiments were less likely to remember a piece of trivia if they knew they could look it up later. "Human memory is adapting to new communications technology," Columbia University's Betsy Sparrow tells the New York Times . She calls it the Google Effect. More»

IP address shortage could be Y2K 2.0

(NEWSER) - Don’t panic or anything, but a massive crisis is looming with the potential to shut down the Internet. The world is on the verge of using up all 4.3 billion possible IP addresses, explains Thomas Weber of the Daily Beast —which means that effectively the Internet is running out of room to connect new devices. “We expect that sometime in the first half of next year, the central pool will run out,” says the CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers. More»

Esquire : Sites that were before their time

(NEWSER) - Everything old is new again, especially on the Web. Some of today's tech darlings owe a lot to websites of years past. Here are some of Esquire's 15 favorite, and mostly kaput, Web 1.0 pioneers:

1. Dodgeball (2000) "A location-based social network for mobile devices, and the Internet's gift to stalkers," says Esquire. Today's Foursquare was co-created by one of its founders.

(NEWSER) - The Internet has a big problem, argues one of the big names in online security—anonymity. With that weapon, cybercriminals will always have the advantage. And the best solution is to introduce "Internet passports," Russia's Eugene Kaspersky tells ZDNet in an interview. All countries would have to play along and buy into international standards. "And if some countries don't agree with or don't pay attention to the agreement, just cut them off." More»

Can "9.9.09 — A Day Without Cats on the Internet" possibly fly?

(NEWSER) - Let’s face it: Cats own the Internet. But it’s getting a little much, and that’s why the Urlesque blog is organizing “9.9.09—A Day Without Cats on the Internet.” The master plan calls for cats not to be mentioned, emailed, viewed, nor blogged about. Urlesque is even polling readers about their other furry friend fetishes so it can run exclusive coverage of another animal. “Why only one day? Well let's be honest, that's probably only as long as we'll last...” More»