Task 2 - What is the future for online technology?

1. Who is Chris De Wolfe and what does he say is the future for social networking? What impact will portable hardware have on this area of technology?

Chris De Wolfe is the CEO, co-founder of MySpace. He believes social networks have become a staple in the internet landscape as the social networking phenomenon allowed people to "put their lives online". We expect aspects of all socially-based sites to become increasingly portable. In terms of mobile, we expect to have relationships with every carrier and device-maker in the world and we expect that half of our future traffic will come from non-PC users.
Social activity is happening everywhere and we expect applications and features to be more fluid, based on the online population that want content where they want it, when they want it, and how they want it. Social activity should be portable and we expect the industry will continue to move in that direction.

2. Who is Chad Hurley and what does he say is his company's goal? Is he a positive or negative technological determinist?

Chad Hurley is the CEO, co-founder of YouTube. His companies goal is to allow every person on the planet to participate with YouTube by making the upload process as simple as placing a phone call. In the next five years, users will be at the centre of their video experience, you will have more access to more information, and the world will be a smaller place. Chad Hurley is very positive about the technological future. He believes in five years, video broadcasting will be the most ubiquitous and accessible form of communication and users will be at the centre of their video experience, you will have more access to more information, and the world will be a smaller place. The tools for video recording will continue to become smaller and more affordable. Personal media devices will be universal and interconnected. People will have the opportunity to record and share video with a small group of friends or everyone around the world.

3. What does Maurice Levy say is the challenge for advertisers and what is 'liquid media' compared to 'linear media'?

Maurice Levy believes the challenge for advertisers will be online advertising. Advertising will depend more than ever on the one element which has always been at the heart of impact advertising, both analogue and digital: creativity. The explosion of media channels means this is a glorious time to think and act creatively. People are no longer willing to put up with interruptions for a commercial break during their entertainment experience, and so we have to find incredibly creative solutions to interact with them and engage them in genuine and honest ways.
Linear media is fast giving way to liquid media, where you can move seamlessly in and out of different settings.

4. What parallels does Norvig draw between Edison inventing electricity and the development of online technology in terms of searching for information?

Peter Norvig, director of research for Google, said today, nobody says "I need to connect to a megawatt power station" - instead we assume that electricity will be available on demand in almost every room of every building we visit. Edison could see that this would be useful, but could not foresee the range of appliances, from food processors to mp3 players, that this availability would enable. So too will information flow freely to us in the future, and be transformed by as-yet-unforeseen information appliances.

5. What are the issues for the developing world? How is this evidence of a 'digital divide'? (Socio-economic divides due to access to technology)

Consumer broadband services via DSL are becoming available in an increasing number of countries; however, service costs depend greatly on the pervasiveness and reliability of local infrastructure. Wireless solutions will continue to evolve as the dominant service for "last kilometer" access due to the lack of local infrastructure.