Is it the end of the internet as we know it?

The Internet has only existed since the 1970's -- and now it's starting to see its limits. A lot of people think "the Internet has a limit?" Oh yes. It might be just a free-for-all source of media, but there are only so many IP addresses one can think of before it gets to be too much.

Those researching the matter say that within 18 months, the number of avaliable IP addresses will decrease significantly, to the point where the Internet may not be able to expand anymore. That doesn't mean it will cease to work completely -- good God, the world would come to an end if that were the case -- it just means that it would make it very difficult for new content to appear and limit new devices. There is a solution though! Right now, most of the world runs on the IPv4, Internet Protocol Addressing Scheme version 4. This is what provides avaliable addresses for new sites, approximately 4 billion of them. The proposed cure is to move over to IPv6, which has trillions of address ready for use. However, adaptation to this protocol has proven to be a little difficult, which may cause a technology crunch.

It's an idea -- a good one -- but it all depends if people want to act now while there's still a chance -- or face an excruciationg Internet crunch in the future. It's one of those situations where it has a simple solution, but people may not have the patience for it. But it is a simple solution: basically update the internet; that much I like. However, if the switch to IPv6 is slow and causes problems for the world society, I fear people will reject the idea and end up bringing the Internet to a stalemate.

Link to the original article:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/27/internet.crunch.2012/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

30 Years of Pac-man

Everyone from the 1980's and later can recognize the ever-reminiscent "wakka wakka wakka", colorful ghosts and fruits, and the simple, pellet-eating yellow circle known as PAC-MAN.

Today is the 30 year anniversary of the loveable arcade character that is not only the single most sold coin-operated game, but also the most memorable. Parents, and maybe even grandparents can remember playing this game when it came out. "Pac-Man was licensed for distribution in the U.S. by Midway, a division of Bally, and it reached American shores in October 1980, at a time when shooter games such as Space Invaders ruled the arcades.
Its light-hearted originality and simplicity -- players needed only to move a joystick -- made it an immediate hit. Some speculated that Pac-Man became popular in bars in part because gamers needed only one hand to play and could hold a drink in the other. In the first 15 months after its release in the U.S., Namco sold more than 100,000 arcade units, while fans spent more than $1 billion in quarters to fuel what would become known as "Pac-Man fever."

Truly, this is a milestone of rememberance for the popular arcade character. Without him as the face of arcade gaming, it was doubtful the industry would've been as popular as it was. Asteroids is a close second, but everyone who's anyone knows Pac-man by face, color, sound, and name. And it was a nice touch, for anyone that noticed, that Google changed their logo to a fully-functioning Pac-man replica. Let's just say that I not only wasted more time in class than I ever have before -- but I also got a personal highscore. (I was only sad that it could not be saved for later play.)

Link to the original article:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/21/pac-man.game.anniversary/index.html

Advertising is cheap!

If there's a story a person should follow, it's the story of Alec Brownstein. He was just another guy looking to find a better job. So what's the best way to find a new job? Why, Google of course!

It was simply really: Alec was fond of Googling his favorite creative directors, and found that they had no sponsers linked to their names. So, he purchased Google AdWords attached to their names for mere pennies to have this message display at the top of the page whenever someone searched one of the creative directors' names:

"Hey, [creative director's name]: Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too" (which linked to his site, alecbrownstein.com)

After a few months, he recieved multiple calls from almost every single director and was offered two jobs. ...How much did this endeavor cost? 6 dollars.

I must say that this guy definitely knows his audience. Most people wouldn't think to do something so strange as to buy ads on Google for the people they idolized. But, as Alec states, "Don't be afraid to put yourself out there in an interesting way," he said. "The people who you want to work for can't hire you any less than they already are. So shoot for the moon." Maybe next summer, it wouldn't hurt to buy some ads for Disney and Dreamworks and hope for a job!

Link to the original article:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/14/google.job/index.html