T'internet... Of The Future??

Whats good people.
I know my specific area to write about was Social Networking and Online Gaming, however, i decided after seeing an article on a popular news site that i would broaden my horizons. I have copied and pasted this article about "The Grid" for you.

"The Internet as we know it, could become obsolete within a decade".

Forget dial-up; forget broadband: The future, it seems, is The Grid. It's the brainchild of CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research based in Geneva. It's there that Sir Tim Berners-Lee first invented the internet, so it's appropriate that the next stage in its evolution should emerge there. But what is the Grid? In fact, it is a spin-off from another major research project. For several years, the particle physicists at CERN have been building a device called the Large Hadron Collider. Knowing they would need massive processing capability to cope with the data from the new device, the scientists set about integrating thousands of computers all around the world. Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the project, says: "We need so much processing power, if all the computers were here at CERN there would be a problem getting enough electricity to run them. "We had to have a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research partners in other countries." That network of linked computers - connected by superfast fibre-optic cable and combining together to act as one giant super-computer - is the Grid and, one day, it won't just be for scientists. We'll all be connected to it. It's not actually a new principle. SETI@home is a programme for PCs which is helping to analyse the data of the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. It's been downloaded by half a million public-spirited people who allow the spare processing power of their personal computers to be used remotely by the astronomers to number-crunch their scientific data. But while SETI@home runs on private PCs and over existing telephone cables, CERN's Grid uses fibre-optic links to dedicated resources in major computer centres and can therefore handle much more complex calculations.

This is interesting as, recently i was on my Playstation3 and i decided i would sign up to an external programme called "mobilehome". when turned on, the extra computing power of my playstation3 is donated to universities around the U.K. to help their research into various aspects of science and technology. SO this principle hasnt just been established in Puerto Rico, but in the Homes of games console owners!

The long-term possibilities for home entertainment are immense. It's estimated that connection speeds could be 1,000 times faster than current broadband capabilities. Imagine being able to download feature films in the blink of an eye, or the entire Beatles back catalogue in less than a second. Grainy webcam images would be replaced by crystal clear pictures and sound, and video gaming would be transformed. According to Professor David Britton, a leading figure in the Grid project: "With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine." And there are also medical applications. It's already been used to help research anti-malarial drugs. Researchers used the Grid to analyse 140 million different compounds - a process which would have taken 420 years to complete on a conventional internet-linked computer. The Grid might soon be used to help unlock the secrets of the human genome.

Hows that for processing power?. Truth of this matter is that all of this power, within computing and other technological advancements starts with people like me, who are simply adding programmes, that dont hinder the performance of your Personal Computers or Games consoles but help to advance technology. So if its true what they say, about computing power this large being able to unlock the human genome and further medial research. I could be contributing to curing a major disease just by adding this application to my playstation3.
Thanks, Let me know how you feel about these posts, its nice to have feedback.
xxx