Let's go back in a time capsule ? back to 1993. Imagine if in 1993 if someone told you that world of communications was about to undergo a revolution so striking that it would change the nature of humanity forever. Imagine if they told you that within twenty years nearly every person on earth would have instant access to an ocean of human knowledge including audio, video and text that dwarf the size of any library. Imagine if they told you that people would be able to publish instantly to the entire world population, and that people would speak to each other with audio and video communications without concern of long distance charges. Imagine if they told you that you telephone companies would soon be optional, and that your cable company, satellite company and phone company would morph into competitors doing the same jobs with different technologies?
If we go back to 1993, the future seems quite unrealistic, and the primary reason is because of the inconceivable nature of the broadband revolution.
The Internet and the rise of the World Wide Web created a new means of communication with digital data that far surpassed any publishing medium the world had ever seen. And with the advance of that medium, a race has been underway to equip people all over the world with their lifeline to the rest of the human species: a broadband connection.
The convergence of audio and video and text data into a single medium over an IP connection radically transforms the nature of human communications. Huge amounts of data can transport from any person on the earth to any other relatively cheaply. While humans still have individuality, their connection to their species has been elevated to an entirely new potential. It is a potential that is too awe inspiring to fully appreciate.
While IP voice services to the home are still relatively new and in an early adopter phase, the benefits of VoIP are overwhelming. The old model of expensive long distance calls goes out the window. The problem of not having enough phone lines in a house is gone. And new capabilities are added, such as videoconferencing.
It may still be a while before TV signals are sent to the home compressed over a broadband connection. But it isn't unrealistic to expect killer new applications to emerge here ? applications such as interactive television where audience members can participate and for private discussions with one another. As killer applications of interactive television, and the gaming worlds collide, the demand for higher and higher speed broadband access will accelerate.
How fast broadband connections to the home will eventually be is debated, but to people who follow trends, it isn't inconceivable that homes will have gigabit connections in the near future. Consider how fast cable television took off, even in an era where other mediums existed for television access. Competing with existing television towers and satellites, cable television was able to lay an infrastructure of coax throughout America in a couple decades. Imagine how fast fiber could be run to households in an era of interactive television, with shopping and entertainment dollars demand higher speed access. Fasten your seatbelts, because standardization on TCP/IP and the coming broadband wars that are in their infancy is the most significant development in communications history.
Before inkjet cartridges became such a part of every home, school and small business office, many things were done differently and much, much more expensively! Let's take a minute to look at the many ways that low-cost inkjet cartridges and printers have changed every day life for millions around the globe.
There are young executives coming into business today that don't really know that once upon a time, a professional-looking resume was not something that a person printed at home on their own computer and printer that uses inkjet cartridges. Back in the old days, people went to a business that owned an expensive laser printer to have them print their resume, and farther back, resumes had to be typed on typewriters, every letter perfect the first time since no correction fluid was acceptable on a professional resume! It was a very costly and time-consuming process, to say the least.
Prior to the advent of inkjet cartridges, a small home business that wanted a brochure for their company had to go to a graphic artist and have a color layout developed which would then be sent to a professional printer. The resulting product was very attractive, but also out of the financial reach of most small businesses; especially those just starting out that truly needed the promotional materials. Today, a small home-based business simply purchases an inexpensive personal printer that uses inkjet cartridges and special brochure paper. The design is created, using templates available in many home office software applications, and the brochures are printed quickly and inexpensively, allowing the business to hand out many more brochures and become more successful thanks to the inkjet cartridge.
Once, long before inkjet cartridges, business cards were something that only the business executive or wealthy person had printed. The process required a long wait for the finished cards to be delivered and the expensive was great. Today, laser cut business card papers and inkjet cartridges and printers make it reasonable for anyone to have a personalized business card-style card to give to others when they wish to share their address, phone number or email address. The myriad designs allow each person to express their personality on their cards with little time, effort or expense involved.
Digital cameras combined with inexpensive inkjet cartridges have completely changed the face of home photography. No longer does a camera's film have to wait for development. No longer does a hobby photographer have to pay for photo prints they don't like or which are out of focus. No longer does that same photographer have to pay a huge price to get a perfectly printed glossy or satin ready-to-frame picture from the portraits or other photos taken. Instead, each picture is reviewed in advance on the home computer or camera and inkjet cartridges specially made for the finest photographic printing ensure the top quality output. For casual use, the same photos can be printed on any home printer that uses a color inkjet cartridge on plain or photograph-quality paper.
The list of ways inkjet cartridges have changed the world is vast. These few points only scratch the very surface of the changes we've seen thanks to low-cost, high-quality inkjet printing technology.
Both Rex Ryan & Andrew James are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rex Ryan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Broadband and Home Management. Rex Ryan is a telecommunications engineer and runs a website on .. Rex Ryan's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
Andrew James has sinced written about articles on various topics from About Web Hosting, The Internet and Personal Desktop. Mr James has owned (Melbourne) since 2004 selling. Andrew James's top article generates over 1500000 views. to your Favourites.