The Internet made small starts in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of computers. It started with communication between mainframe computers and terminals and then expanded to connections between computers and then early research into packet switching.

 

For most people, use of the Internet was not possible until the invention of the World Wide Web. That was the Big Bang of the Internet. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland. He made the first successful hypertext communication on December 25, 1990, an auspicious Christmas Day.

 

Some days I feel as though I live in the internet. My day starts when I stagger from the bedroom to the computer in the study to pick up my email. At that time of the day I am mainly interested in any new work that may have floated in during the night. Work may consist of small engineering tasks such as a short spec, or requests for business letters which often end “…or else” or regular articles I write. After a shower and breakfast I attend to those tasks. I also check the status of my bank account, read the news headlines from a couple of different papers, take a look at how the stock exchange is behaving and then I reply to emails. By then it’s lunch-time.     

An important part of the internet has become the VoIP "phone calls". I work from home and large part of every day is spent with “Skype” open to my remote office and long discussions take place on various business topics. In the evenings we often talk to children overseas at no charge at all.

 

I spend time browsing for goods on the internet. I don’t often buy there but I look at the goods and then go shopping in a store, knowing in advance what I want to buy. I do buy books and I have bought (and sold) odd items on eBay.

 

As far as information is concerned there is nothing that one cannot find on the internet, whether it is information about an object or a person. My company spends time checking prospective employees on social networking sites before any hire is finalized.

 

The internet is today the major source of all information about a company or a business and an allowance for the website maintenance has become a major part of company budgets.  

 

My address book and my personal phone book are on the web. I have a reminder service the let’s me know a day prior to a grandchild’s and other important birthdays. My appointments are stored on my computer diary and reminders come over the net. The last thing I do on my way to bed every night is to look at tomorrow’s appointments.

 

Much of the Internet focus is now moving to smart phones. I have friends who run their entire business from their phone. Of course backing everything up is critical.

 

The internet is the new world; well, not so new. Happy 21^st www!

Since the Internet crosses borders and allows people to create fake identities for themselves, money scams keep cropping up. However, people still fall for them. Here are 5 financial scams that you should be on the lookout for. If you get an offer or Email like these, delete it. Replying to them confirms that you exist and use your computer.

 

These letters still arrive and lately there have been some from countries other than Nigeria. There are many variations of it, and they are usually recognizable as scams by poor spelling and bad grammar. The only bank account referred to in these letters is yours, meaning hit the delete button when you see the letter

 

When it comes to Internet financial scams, this one has become quite fashionable. I’ve received emergency emails from friends. All of them have been on holiday in Barcelona, Rome or London where they were mugged, though miraculously, their passports were spared. And they want me to please wire them some money. This is another obvious financial scam, in spite of the fact that it seems to come from someone you know. What has actually happened is that your friend or relative’s Email password was hacked and the hacker is sending out these Emails to their entire Email address book.

 

The trouble with this financial scam is that it can really happen. You could get a real Email from any of these companies telling you that there was a problem and they’ve temporarily frozen your accounts. Fortunately, there are two foolproof ways to find out if it’s for real or not: First, if they ask you to Email back a password, that’s a sure sign that it’s a fraudster. No financial institution would ever ask you to send a password, account number or other information via Email since it’s not secure. Mouse over any links in the Email. Then, look down at the bottom left hand corner of your screen. It should show where the link goes to. If it’s not ebay.com, paypal.com, etc. it’s a financial scammer and you should stay far away.

 

This one ought to be obvious by now, but people fall for it every day. There is one way to get Viagra: you go to a doctor and get a prescription which you then fill at a pharmacy. If you get an Email for low cost Viagra or other drugs or other products which should be expensive, delete it. At best, you’ll get a worthless knockoff. At worst, your credit card number will be stolen or you’ll be sent fake Viagra which contains dangerous chemicals which can kill you.

 

No matter what it is, don’t download things from the Internet unless you know the website is reliable. If you do download stuff, be sure to scan it first with a virus scanner. Many of these so called “free” products are fakes. They are financial scams where they install a key logger along with your free game or music. Then, they can harvest your bank password and other information, stealing every last penny you own.

I remember quite clearly how it was before the Internet arrived. Actually I can remember how it was before… Never mind!  

 

8am: Millions of workers arrive at their desks across the US and discover that there is no internet access. At first it is believed it’s only a few companies, but unbeknown to Americans the problem is worldwide.

9am: The porn industry collapses.

10am: Realizing that they cannot bitch about internetlessness on Twitter, millions of calls are made from cellphones to internet service providers who can offer no answers. Technicians are on the problem.

 

1pm: News outlets start calling the lack of internet in America a “very, very serious problem”. It is also reported that the internet has not been working in Europe and Asia for at least a week before the problem is reported in America, proving once again that Americans have no idea what is going on outside their country. 

3pm: Reports emerge that work has stopped across America in the absence of e-mail. Many companies implement emergency measures whereby employees are forced to communicate in person. Technicians say they’re still trying to restore the internet.

7pm: President Barack Obama addresses the American people and calls for calm.

Networks air Baywatch and Seinfeld re-runs to distract the public. Oprah offers to do a live broadcast.

Midnight: A gathering is staged at Silicon Valley where software developers, IT geeks and Star Wars fans commit suicide en masse.

 

Millions wake up hoping that the internet crisis was just a bad dream, but remain in bed and refuse to go to work when they realize it wasn’t. Wall Street doesn’t open. Everything tumbles, but fast food industry shares soar as Americans turn to their second favorite pastime in their time of difficulty. The makers of Valium and Prozac also report record gains. In some parts of the US, police report having to deal with cases of vandalism perpetrated by Facebook junkies and Twitterholics who begin scribbling their rambling on subway trains, bridges and walls of public buildings. Hospitals across the world are overwhelmed with cases of neck injuries caused by people staring at their phones waiting for internet services to be restored. Technicians still cannot find the source of the problem.

 

Obama says that it is unclear “if” or “when” the internet will work again, but urges Americans to remain calm. Riots break out across the globe and the homes of telecommunication CEOs are broken into. Martial law is declared in most major cities across the globe. Religious nuts start coming out of the woodwork.

 

Riots come to a halt as most are too depressed to leave their homes, leaving the streets of cities deserted. Those who do leave, do so only to restock on Prozac. A new unexplained behavior starts to emerge in some places whereby heavily drugged individuals start digging up and chewing fiber-optic cables at night. Others have resorted to eating hard drives and other computer components. Electricity grids start collapsing everywhere as a result of missing fiber-optic cabling. Governments recognize the seriousness of the cable problem and give orders to shoot “cable gobblers”. But the problem is uncontrollable, especially as Prozac and Valium supplies run out worldwide.

 

Emergency sessions are called at the UN to plan the restoration of the internet and to strategize ways to govern during the crisis.