How Often Do You Use Ethernet These Days?

How Often Do You Use Ethernet These Days?

I recently helped a friend pick out a USB-ethernet dongle for her MacBook Air. The Wi-Fi at her office goes in and out and she wanted to make sure she had a consistent connection when she brought her laptop in. That got me thinking that I haven’t used ethernet on my laptop in a long time. But for certain tasks and devices there are still benefits. I have my smartTV plugged into ethernet (above) even though it’s Wi-Fi ready, because I didn’t want to deal with network glitches and password changes on a TV. How often have you busted out an ethernet cable lately? Connect to the World Wide Web below.

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Researchers propose à la carte internet services, overhaul for web infrastructure

Researchers propose à la carte internet services, overhaul for web infrastructure

A quintet of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation have envisioned a new internet architecture, one where features could be purchased à la carte. The proposed framework would allow users to fine tune their experience by choosing from a variety of connection services. Let’s say, for example, that a customer’s connection is fine for browsing the web, but it doesn’t pass muster for streaming content — a service dedicated to video delivery could be added to close the gap. “Ultimately, this should make the internet more flexible and efficient, and will drive innovation among service providers to cater to user needs,” report co-author Rudra Dutta told The Abstract. A piecemeal next-gen web is no easy feat, however, as it would require revamping the web’s infrastructure with new protocols for choosing particular features, completing payments and monitoring network performance. The group’s rough blueprint will be presented at a conference next week, but you can thumb through their short paper at the source.

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