The Dominant Trend of CES 2008 - Web 3.0 Demystified
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Now finally the time has come for us to define and ponder the concept of Web 3.0. Skeptics claim that numbering the Web with version numbers is nothing but a marketing gimmick to falsely "innovate." This is supported by the fact that the Web is always in motion -- it's transitioning, advancing, and you can't delineate its major changes into particular stages and name them per se.
Paul Otellini, Intel Corp. CEO is convinced that the new wave of the Web should "reach out" to the user by delivering required information, obeying all of his/her needs and wants in anticipation. This is the key of the Semantic Web. By its very definition, it should enable machines and people to find, share, and integrate information in an easier fashion. This would then enable the vision of computers fulfilling our needs earlier than we even ask. It definitely sounds scary... electronic devices reading our minds, right?
Before becoming a confirmed skeptic, think about Last.fm, for example. Its engine analyzes and gathers information from the end-user. Ultimately after storing the collected "data" into a database, it can come up with predictions regarding the musical taste of the user, advise listening to some "unknown" bands and performers, and so forth.
It's mind-blowing how much data is already stored and spread "out there" on the world of the web about all of us. This is where Bill Gates' equipment that identifies people and public areas comes into the game. You see, that works on the principle of pattern recognition and then automatically "searching" for the gathered signals. Even if the system were buggy at the beginning, it surely has potential to become an amazing performer over time. Especially if the project would be freely open to contributors.
The next thing we need, according to Paul Otellini, is more context on the Internet. He believes that the way we "search" right now is "hit or miss." This must be improved because accuracy is especially important in a model where the "information finds you." Currently when you search, you know what you are actually looking for and "handpick" the hits you need. An automated machine on the Semantic Web also needs the best hits!
We already discussed the infrastructure of wireless broadband. Personally I think that this is one of the most critical factors if we ever want to "enjoy" a time where the information finds us, where we identify street names and recognize strangers walking down the road. The whole planet needs complete and omnipresent coverage of wireless broadband in its infrastructure.
Without wireless broadband there's no Kindle, there's no MID, and there's nothing that's related to the Internet. And we have concluded that we as humans of this generation become addicted to the Internet as we do to electricity. In this era it is highly improbable that you can live without access to the web. Intel hopes that WiMAX is going to take over the world and set up a sort of blanket-like coverage.
However, we are at the very beginning of all of this. Visionaries are brainstorming and trying to innovate like there's no tomorrow. They're aiming very high but we need a very strong and stable foundation first, and soon. More than a few years ago we couldn't believe that GPS would become so ubiquitous and available at almost any place on the world, but fortunately this minor miracle was accomplished. Let's hope the Web is next.
In addition, when and if Web 3.0 becomes fully functional, then really "bulletproof" and powerful measures should be taken concerning privacy and censorship. As long as a programmed computer analyzes the "data" there's always a possibility to bypass some security functions and thereafter fool the system. The Semantic Web must be so complete and so "artificially intelligent" that the possibility of being tricked is almost nada - totally diminished.
All of the above was one approach toward the Web 3.0, assuming that Web 3.0 equals the Semantic Web. Others think Web 3.0 has nothing to do with the Semantic Web. Some people think it's all about revolutionizing the model according to which Web 2.0 currently works, such as creating totally open platforms where everybody can contribute and absolute multi-platform applications that can run on both PCs and cells.
Others think that it's all about speed. Either way, one thing is clear: regardless the way we call it Web 3.0 or Web x.0, the Internet has a life of its own and it evolves just like anything else. It just grows and grows each millisecond right as you read this. I personally think that connecting the parts of the puzzle would stand for a new era of the Internet - perhaps 3.0, perhaps not. That's not what matters.
"Web 1.0 was dial-up, 50K average bandwidth, Web 2.0 is an average 1 megabit of bandwidth and Web 3.0 will be 10 megabits of bandwidth all the time, which will be the full video Web, and that will feel like Web 3.0." ~ Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix.
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