Introduction to Networks

1.1 Uses of Networks

1. Communication - Email was the 1st killer app of the Internet (1970s-80s)
   1. email
   2. chat, messaging, social networking
   3. VoIP, videophone, Skype
   4. WhatsApp shows all texts migrating to Internet.
   5. Will all audio/video calls migrate to Internet?

2. Access to info and services - Web was the 2nd killer app (1990s)
   1. text, news, research
   2. images, flickr.com
   3. audio, video, music, streaming radio and TV, youtube.com, IPTV
   4. programs, software archives, Windows Update

3. Work
   1. Communication - email, messaging, videoconferencing, email mailing lists
   2. Collaboration - write docs in team, Google Docs
   3. Sharing info - stock database, customer database, Intranet (may be international internal network)
   4. Resource sharing - printers, scanners
   5. Universities - tele-learning
   6. Hospitals - tele-medicine
   7. Mobile workers - taxis, fleets, trucks, ships, aircraft, military
   8. B2B - parts from suppliers - Extranet
   9. Job search
   10. Virtual reality - 3D representation of a real city where you can see the real shops, restaurants, etc.

4. Home
   1. Communication - email, chat, discussion groups, home pages, blogs
   2. Social networking - Facebook, Twitter
   3. Games
   4. The Internet has transformed many industries and human activities:
      1. Music - piracy, pay-to-view, iTunes.
      2. TV and Movies - piracy, pay-to-view, Netflix.
         YouTube gives entirely new environment for TV and Movies - trailers always available, old clips, compilations, parodies (none of these things could exist before).
      3. Dating - New ways to flirt / filter search / chat before meeting.
      4. Gambling - Used to have to go to bookies to gamble. Now you can gamble from home, 24/7/365. (Not all change is good!)
      5. Porn - Used to be inaccessible. Like it or not, technology forced this change on the world. See the failed Communications Decency Act (1996).
      6. Healthy hobbies. e.g. Genealogy - transformed by access to remote databases.
   5. Access to services - bank, tax
   6. B2C - selling online
      1. buying information - subscriptions, music
      2. buying objects by post - amazon
      3. buying tickets - travel, events
      4. research before buy - cars, houses
      5. online auctions
      6. customer support
   7. C2C - ebay
   8. Resource sharing - home network - share broadband Internet access
   9. Home LAN with all devices. e.g. Belkin WeMo.
   10. Family and friends Intranet

5. How to navigate:
   1. follow links in pages
   2. type in URLs found offline
   3. search - Google, Bing
   4. Top 100 most popular websites in Ireland
   5. Top 500 most popular websites

• 50 things that are being killed by the internet (and other new technology), 4 Sep 2009

• Top 50 tasks that have been wiped out by technology includes:
  • Going into the travel agents to research a holiday
  • Dial directory enquiries
  • Use public telephones
  • Print photos
  • Write handwritten letters
  • Check a map before or during car journey
  • Own an encyclopaedia
  • Read a hard copy of the Yellow Pages
  • Look up something in dictionary
  • Remember phone numbers/ Have a phone book
  • Make photo albums
  • Send love letters