'The Grid' Could Soon Make the Internet Obsolete

[BuffyMars]

The Internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds.

At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.

The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day - the switching-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the same time to capture the data it generates.

Cern, based near Geneva, started the grid computing project seven years ago when researchers realised the LHC would generate annual data equivalent to 56m CDs - enough to make a stack 40 miles high.

This meant that scientists at Cern - where Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 - would no longer be able to use his creation for fear of causing a global collapse.

This is because the Internet has evolved by linking together a hotchpotch of cables and routing equipment, much of which was originally designed for telephone calls and therefore lacks the capacity for high-speed data transmission.

By contrast, the grid has been built with dedicated fibre optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no outdated components to slow the deluge of data. The 55,000 servers already installed are expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.

Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the grid project, said: “We need so much processing power, there would even be an issue about getting enough electricity to run the computers if they were all at Cern. The only answer was a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research centres in other countries.”

That network, in effect a parallel Internet, is now built, using fibre optic cables that run from Cern to 11 centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East, Europe and around the world.

One terminates at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory at Harwell in Oxfordshire.

From each centre, further connections radiate out to a host of other research institutions using existing high-speed academic networks.

It means Britain alone has 8,000 servers on the grid system – so that any student or academic will theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the internet from this autumn.

Ian Bird, project leader for Cern’s high-speed computing project, said grid technology could make the internet so fast that people would stop using desktop computers to store information and entrust it all to the internet.

“It will lead to what’s known as cloud computing, where people keep all their information online and access it from anywhere,” he said.

Computers on the grid can also transmit data at lightning speed. This will allow researchers facing heavy processing tasks to call on the assistance of thousands of other computers around the world. The aim is to eliminate the dreaded “frozen screen” experienced by internet users who ask their machine to handle too much information.

The real goal of the grid is, however, to work with the LHC in tracking down nature’s most elusive particle, the Higgs boson. Predicted in theory but never yet found, the Higgs is supposed to be what gives matter mass.

The LHC has been designed to hunt out this particle - but even at optimum performance it will generate only a few thousand of the particles a year. Analysing the mountain of data will be such a large task that it will keep even the grid’s huge capacity busy for years to come.

Although the grid itself is unlikely to be directly available to domestic internet users, many telecoms providers and businesses are already introducing its pioneering technologies. One of the most potent is so-called dynamic switching, which creates a dedicated channel for internet users trying to download large volumes of data such as films. In theory this would give a standard desktop computer the ability to download a movie in five seconds rather than the current three hours or so.

Additionally, the grid is being made available to dozens of other academic researchers including astronomers and molecular biologists.

It has already been used to help design new drugs against malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills 1m people worldwide each year. Researchers used the grid to analyse 140m compounds - a task that would have taken a standard internet-linked PC 420 years.

“Projects like the grid will bring huge changes in business and society as well as science,” Doyle said.

“Holographic video conferencing is not that far away. Online gaming could evolve to include many thousands of people, and social networking could become the main way we communicate.

“The history of the internet shows you cannot predict its real impacts but we know they will be huge.”

[Bulligator]

I thought Al Gore said he invented the Internet. Is he also going to claim "the grid" as his gift to humanity? Just think what this will do to global warming!

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by Bulligator
I thought Al Gore said he invented the Internet. Is he also going to claim "the grid" as his gift to humanity? Just think what this will do to global warming! ]


Obviously you are ignorant to what he actually said and the context in which it was presented. Nice try though. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[ToroChingon]

Well, then. Why don't you enlighten him instead of just lipping-off, SmartGuy!

[rockdale80]

In 1980, Gore was one of a handful of leaders who foresaw the tremendous potential of Arpanet, an emergeny military computer network. As both a congressman and senator, he fought tirelessly for the funding that would turn Arpanet into what is now the internet.

With this in mind, Gore told Wolf Blitzer in a 1999 interview, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet."

What do you suppose he meant? That, late at night in his office, after the other senators had gone home, he had written the PASCAL code that allowed packet switching? Probably not. What he seemed to be doing is what members of Congress do: He was taking credit for a program he championed and funded. In this case it was one that revolutionized the information infrastructure of the world.

The phrase "invented the internet" first appeared in a Republican Party press release and would be repeated thousands of times during the campaign. What should have been an enormous credit to the man's vision became a symobl of him as dishonest and insidious. Ironically, he has been critisized several thousand times on the same internet he took initiative in championing and creating.

So that my friend is the real story of Al Gore "creating the internet.":)

[bwdlionfan]

I thought the internet was actually around during the cold war, used by the military to link major american cities.

[scrub c]

I know this is a little off the subject, but what ever happened with the testing of broadband internet connections thru electrical transmission lines?

Have any of you heard of this technology? Basically it transmits signals thru electrical lines with the use of a special modem. So anyone, anywhere, that has a computer that plugs into the wall can have a high speed internet connection.

I remember seeing on the news a good while back someone was testing it in and around the houston area.

[BleedOrange]

I think someone used Al Gore and foresight in the the same sentence. This must be comedy hour.

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by BleedOrange
I think someone used Al Gore and foresight in the the same sentence. This must be comedy hour.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by bwdlionfan
I thought the internet was actually around during the cold war, used by the military to link major american cities.

Possibly. I was only referring to how it related to Al Gore.

[PPHSfan]

Geez,

Next thing you know Al Gore will win a Pulitzer Peace Prize for championing an effort to stop global warming.:eek:

[BleedOrange]

Here is the Al Gore quote on the internet:

“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet,”

Not sure where the revisionist history comes from. Maybe some DNC spin?

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by BleedOrange
Here is the Al Gore quote on the internet:

“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet,”

Not sure where the revisionist history comes from. Maybe some DNC spin?


If you say so. Or it could be the truth....

[Blastoderm55]

Originally posted by scrub c
I know this is a little off the subject, but what ever happened with the testing of broadband internet connections thru electrical transmission lines?

Have any of you heard of this technology? Basically it transmits signals thru electrical lines with the use of a special modem. So anyone, anywhere, that has a computer that plugs into the wall can have a high speed internet connection.

I remember seeing on the news a good while back someone was testing it in and around the houston area.

Its called hardline networking and utilizes special filters so that networks can plug in directly to electrical outlets and send signals through electrical wiring within walls. I read an article about it in Popular Mechanics while getting my oil changed. Its definitely an interesting technology.

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Originally posted by BleedOrange
Here is the Al Gore quote on the internet:

“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet,”

Not sure where the revisionist history comes from. Maybe some DNC spin?

Well, where did your spin come from then? It seems pretty valid to me, all of the facts line out. Did the GOP tell you that too? There are a lot of things that the GOP have said that I can go in depth about, but of course, it wouldn't matter anyways because you can take it to the bank that what they say is true. :hand:

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet."

Let's look at the difference between "create" and "invent".

in·vent /ɪnˈvɛnt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-vent] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object)
1. to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.
2. to produce or create with the imagination: to invent a story.
3. to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false): to invent excuses.
4. Archaic. to come upon; find.

cre·ate /kriˈeɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kree-eyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -at·ed, -at·ing, adjective
–verb (used with object)
1. to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.
2. to evolve from one's own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention.
3. Theater. to perform (a role) for the first time or in the first production of a play.
4. to make by investing with new rank or by designating; constitute; appoint: to create a peer.

So what's the difference? Either way it sounds like he's taking credit for creation of the internet. Did he have a hand in helping fund it? Yes. Did he help in "creating" or "inventing" it? No.

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Let's look at the difference between "create" and "invent".

in·vent /ɪnˈvɛnt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-vent] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object)
1. to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.
2. to produce or create with the imagination: to invent a story.
3. to make up or fabricate (something fictitious or false): to invent excuses.
4. Archaic. to come upon; find.

cre·ate /kriˈeɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kree-eyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -at·ed, -at·ing, adjective
–verb (used with object)
1. to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.
2. to evolve from one's own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention.
3. Theater. to perform (a role) for the first time or in the first production of a play.
4. to make by investing with new rank or by designating; constitute; appoint: to create a peer.

So what's the difference? Either way it sounds like he's taking credit for creation of the internet. Did he have a hand in helping fund it? Yes. Did he help in "creating" or "inventing" it? No.


cre·ate /kriˈeɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kree-eyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -at·ed, -at·ing, adjective
–verb (used with object)
1. to cause to come into being


Silly....and yes he did fight for funding to help create the internet. Sure they are synonymous, but so is "friendly" and "intimate". That is something to think about. And he did help create it and he deserves credit for it.

[gatordaze]

Originally posted by scrub c
I know this is a little off the subject, but what ever happened with the testing of broadband internet connections thru electrical transmission lines?

Have any of you heard of this technology? Basically it transmits signals thru electrical lines with the use of a special modem. So anyone, anywhere, that has a computer that plugs into the wall can have a high speed internet connection.

I remember seeing on the news a good while back someone was testing it in and around the houston area.

I have been using my house wiring for network cabling for 3 years. Check out "SlingBox".

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
Silly....and yes he did fight for funding to help create the internet. Sure they are synonymous, but so is "friendly" and "intimate". That is something to think about. And he did help create it and he deserves credit for it. So, by using this logic we can say that any politician can say they "created" something by simply voting to fund it. So the next time a politician says that they will vote to fund the border fence, what they should really say is that they "created" the fence. Right?

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
So, by using this logic we can say that any politician can say they "created" something by simply voting to fund it. So the next time a politician says that they will vote to fund the border fence, what they should really say is that they "created" the fence. Right?

And you are intimate with the guys you hang out with?

And he did more than vote for the funding. He proposed the bill and fought tirelessly for it to be passed. Say what you want. I offered facts, and your retort is opinion. He never said he "invented the internet," the right wing spun what he said and tried to make him look like a liar, then repeated it enough times that ignorant people took off and ran with it. The bottom line is you have been doing nothing but repeating propaganda for the past 9 years and passing it off as truth.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
And you are intimate with the guys you hang out with?

And he did more than vote for the funding. He proposed the bill and fought tirelessly for it to be passed. Say what you want. I offered facts, and your retort is opinion. He never said he "invented the internet," the right wing spun what he said and tried to make him look like a liar, then repeated it enough times that ignorant people took off and ran with it. The bottom line is you have been doing nothing but repeating propaganda for the past 9 years and passing it off as truth. Nope. I'm using his own words (create) and using Webster to define it for me. To tireless work to fund something is one thing. To "create" something is entirely different.

Bottom line is Gore said that he "created" something that he did not create.

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Nope. I'm using his own words (create) and using Webster to define it for me. To tireless work to fund something is one thing. To "create" something is entirely different.

Bottom line is Gore said that he "created" something that he did not create.


1. to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.

con·trive Audio Help /kənˈtraɪv/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhn-trahyv] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -trived, -triv·ing.
–verb (used with object) 1. to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent: The author contrived a clever plot.
2. to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage: He contrived to gain their votes.


How is this any different than championing a bill?

It is no different, unless you want it to mean something else.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
1. to originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance: to invent the telegraph.

con·trive Audio Help /kənˈtraɪv/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhn-trahyv] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -trived, -triv·ing.
–verb (used with object) 1. to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent: The author contrived a clever plot.
2. to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage: He contrived to gain their votes.


How is this any different than championing a bill?

It is no different, unless you want it to mean something else. I said nothing about the word contrive.

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
I said nothing about the word contrive.

I did to make a point. He used the word create and not invent. The meaning of create has several meanings and contrive is one of them. I guess it just boils down to what you want it to mean. You want it to mean invent, and he meant it to mean contrive, plan, scheme, plot, strategize, fund, etc. But he didnt say he invented the internet. The republicans made that up and ran with it.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
I did to make a point. He used the word create and not invent. The meaning of create has several meanings and contrive is one of them. I guess it just boils down to what you want it to mean. You want it to mean invent, and he meant it to mean contrive, plan, scheme, plot, strategize, fund, etc. But he didnt say he invented the internet. The republicans made that up and ran with it.


Originally posted by JasperDog94
So, by using this logic we can say that any politician can say they "created" something by simply voting to fund it. So the next time a politician says that they will vote to fund the border fence, what they should really say is that they "created" the fence. Right? Works for me. :nerd: :nerd: :nerd:

[LH Panther Mom]

beat Audio Help /bit/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[beet] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, beat, beat·en or beat, beat·ing, noun, adjective
–verb (used with object) 1. to strike violently or forcefully and repeatedly.
2. to dash against: rain beating the trees.
3. to flutter, flap, or rotate in or against: beating the air with its wings.
4. to sound, as on a drum: beating a steady rhythm; to beat a tattoo.
5. to stir vigorously: Beat the egg whites well.
6. to break, forge, or make by blows: to beat their swords into plowshares.
7. to produce (an attitude, idea, habit, etc.) by repeated efforts: I'll beat some sense into him.
8. to make (a path) by repeated treading.
9. to strike (a person or animal) repeatedly and injuriously: Some of the hoodlums beat their victims viciously before robbing them.


a1 Audio Help /ə; when stressed eɪ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[uh; when stressed ey] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–indefinite article 1. not any particular or certain one of a class or group: a man; a chemical; a house.
2. a certain; a particular: one at a time; two of a kind; A Miss Johnson called.
3. another; one typically resembling: a Cicero in eloquence; a Jonah.
4. one (used before plural nouns that are preceded by a quantifier singular in form): a hundred men (compare hundreds of men); a dozen times (compare dozens of times).


dead Audio Help /dɛd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ded] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation adjective, -er, -est, noun, adverb
–adjective 1. no longer living; deprived of life: dead people; dead flowers; dead animals.
2. brain-dead.
3. not endowed with life; inanimate: dead stones.
4. resembling death; deathlike: a dead sleep; a dead faint.
5. bereft of sensation; numb: He was half dead with fright. My leg feels dead.
6. lacking sensitivity of feeling; insensitive: dead to the needs of others.
7. incapable of being emotionally moved; unresponsive: dead to the nuances of the music.
8. (of an emotion) no longer felt; ended; extinguished: a dead passion; dead affections.
9. no longer current or prevalent, as in effect, significance, or practice; obsolete: a dead law; a dead controversy.


horse Audio Help /hɔrs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hawrs] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, plural hors·es, (especially collectively) horse, verb, horsed, hors·ing, adjective
–noun 1. a large, solid-hoofed, herbivorous quadruped, Equus caballus, domesticated since prehistoric times, bred in a number of varieties, and used for carrying or pulling loads, for riding, and for racing.
2. a fully mature male animal of this type; stallion.
3. any of several odd-toed ungulates belonging to the family Equidae, including the horse, zebra, donkey, and ass, having a thick, flat coat with a narrow mane along the back of the neck and bearing the weight on only one functioning digit, the third, which is widened into a round or spade-shaped hoof.


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/mikeinjc/deadhorse.jpg

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/mikeinjc/deadhorse.jpg Would I be correct in assuming that this is a picture from South Park? It looks like that kind of animation.:D

[rockdale80]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Works for me. :nerd: :nerd: :nerd:

This is a moot argument. You misqouted someone, called them a liar, and believed something that was not true. When proved wrong, you try to twist it into something else. Its okay. Just keep being friendly... I mean intimate with other men. ;) :D

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
This is a moot argument. You misqouted someone, called them a liar, and believed something that was not true. When proved wrong, you try to twist it into something else. Its okay. Just keep being friendly... I mean intimate with other men. ;) :D I never misquoted him....thanks though.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by rockdale80
Just keep being friendly... I mean intimate with other men. ;) :D in·ti·mate1 Audio Help /ˈɪntəmɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-tuh-mit] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective

13. an intimate friend or associate, esp. a confidant.

Will do.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Would I be correct in assuming that this is a picture from South Park? It looks like that kind of animation.:D
I have no clue. I snagged it from a post Panther One made about the never-ending UT/A&M stuff. :D