by Rainier Wong

Created on: August 26, 2010

The Internet has indeed brought many changes in terms of communication and the process of information gathering to the world. We no longer always have to go the post office to mail messages or go to the library to conduct our research. As time goes by, more and more features are added to the Internet. Businesses can now advertise their products and services on the Internet. Some people have also found their partners on the Internet as well. However, things do not just stop there. Innovators will continue to find ways to improve the Internet. Here are some of my thoughts on the future of the Internet.

Getting information on the Internet will be easier than it is now. You have been clicking on a text or images mainly to get to another web page with the information. However, till now, you can only click on underlined text or certain images known as hyperlinks. I believe in the future, you can click on any text or image on a web page and you will brought to a search engine that list  all the websites that contain the word you have clicked on or something related to it. If the web designer has linked the text to another web page, you will be led to the web page instead. Every text is a hyperlink but you will not see any underlined text at all. In this way, we can have a true interlinking of web pages and other forms of media on the Internet. I believe, if such idea is to be implemented, it will be done by the major players in the Information Technology industry. It is actually possible to have every word as a hyperlink without it appeared underline with Cascading style sheet. Unfortunately, a separate link has to be created for each word making it a time consuming task to design the web page especially if there are more than fifty words to deal with. However, in the future, I believe, programming will be an easier task or someone may invent  something that will detect every text and automatically links it to a search engine if it has not been set to link to a web page.

Another thought that came to my mind for the Internet is that a person can click on a object found in an image to get the web page that is linked to it or to the search engine that list websites and other materials that contain information on the object. By default, the object will be linked to the search engine. For example, if you clicked on the window of a house in the image, you will be led to a search engine with a listing of web pages about windows or have the word window in their contents.

There is already one innovation in the search engine industry where a person can play a tune or sing it through his or her microphone to find out the name of it. An example of such innovation is found on www.musipedia.org. However, such technology is not a hundred percent perfect yet. I know this because I have tried it myself. However, in future, this technology will be greatly improved with more accurate results. 

You might have heard of Microsoft's latest computing system, the Microsoft Surface where the user can move windows, objects, photos, etc with his or her hands on a flat display on a table. I believe such invention will one day be a common thing in a home and thus changes the way we browse the Internet.

The Internet, therefore, will continue to progress with new ideas and innovation making the current technology of the masses obsolete.

Learn more about this author, Rainier Wong.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.