Born in the cloud

In 1958 President Eisenhower requested funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency. In 1965 two computers talked. In 1972 an email program was written. In 1980 Tim Berners-Lee developed 'Enquire Within', which was replaced in 1990 with the World Wide Web. In 1995 Windows 95 was released, shipping with Internet Explorer. I was born in 1996.

I'm writing my first blog post in 2011. Computers that fit in the palm of my hand allow real time video chat across oceans. I can save a document on one computer and open it on another without another click. The internet's come a long way since two computers first talked. Today we're surrounded by web apps, social networks and wiki sites on our dozens of browsers, as well as thousands of apps that utilise the internet behind the scenes.
I can't remember the last time I went to a music shop, wrote a letter or looked something up in an encyclopedia. Everything happens on line. I can barely tell if it's just habit or genuine muscle memory that makes me open my browser as soon as I'm logged in. I'm sure that's the same for a lot of people, but I sometimes feel that the internet is different for me than it is for someone older. Memory of when there was no web, or at least of when loading a standard page took half an hour and a cost a bomb, means that my parents see the internet as a gift. Although I try, I can't help but take it for granted. I guess you could say I was born in the cloud.
This blog is where I'm going to write down every cool new use for the web - websites, technologies, cloud-enabled apps, and browsers. The hope is that by doing this I will remind myself of how incredibly useful Eisenhower's agency turned out to be. Feel free to read it and stay updated on incredible new tools.