you know what rules...the internet

Besides email, playing games on-line, and some other small things, I always felt the internets were kind of over-rated. This thing was supposed to revolutionize everything, but really, is reading the newspaper on-line better than reading it on the paper (well, except for the newsprint rubbing off onto your fingers). The World Wide Web was kind of boring.

But in the last few years, the internets has finally become what I always expected it to become. I guess it took some time for people to figure things out.

Here are some of the things that have made the internets better, in my opinion:

1) Google Earth: you can fly around the world and zoom in to amazing levels, with amazing resolution: if you zoom in on my old address in Cambridge, you can individually pick out all the cars of all the roommates. Thats both awesome and scary. Also, check out Mt St Helens in Washington some time; you can fly into the crater virtually.

1b) Portland Maps on Google Earth: Portland has maybe the best on-line municipal GIS system ever. Someone over there created an overlay for Google Earth, and now I can basically do my entire jb without leaving my desk

2) Blogs: ours is kind of boring, but there are some pretty awesome ones out there, for everything from weird-sports stuff to how to write a thesis to hollywood paparazzi glorification. I've recently found a few that make work more tolerable. But I think my boss is getting suspicious.

3) On-Line Streaming Video/Radio: While a site like YouTube is fun for posting your home recorded version of "Dust in the Wind" or searching for old episodes of the Electric Company, and iTunes let you download new music, I'm particularly impressed with the streaming media. Barely a day goes by that I'm not streaming radio at work. And today, on the holiest of sports days, I'm streaming the NCAA Basketball Tournament. With like a million other people. And it's pretty seamless. Productivity is trending downwards.

4) The Apple AirPort: this sleek litle device lets you play music over your home stereo wirelessly from your computer. I don't own one, but I wish I did. It would solve a lot of radio issues. Apple is doing the same thing, but with video; I'm pretty sure that will be fun too.

I guess what it comes down to it that the internets is finally becoming interactive, with all sorts of mixed media in the same place. I guess this is what i thought it would become back in college when I was first introduced to the web.