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'The Grid' Making the Internet Obsolete

Trendhunters may one day have the power to load their submissions in seconds and spend only HALF their lives online. “The Grid’  could soon make the Internet obsolete. The scientists who pioneered the Internet have now built a lightning-fast replacement that is capable of downloading entire feature films in seconds at speeds 10,000 times faster than a broadband connection. The latest from CERN, the particle physics centre which created the web, the grid could also provide the power to transmit holographic images, allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players as well as offer high-def video telephony for the price of a local call. David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said. The power of the grid will be unveiled this summer on CERN’s “red button” day when they switch on the Large Hadron Collider, the new particle accelerator that will probe the origin of the universe. The grid is to be activated at the same time to capture all the data it generates. If they don’t blow us to smithereens.