world-wide web

Two decades ago today, the European particle accelerator called CERN gave birth to what's known as the open Web -- a technology that anyone can build without paying licensing or royalty fees.

But as the Web has grown ever more popular and sophisticated, proprietary technology poses a challenge to that philosophy of openness. The challenge is most clear in the area of video, where patents and copy protection are at odds with the Web's openness.

Tim Berners-Lee, a physicist at CERN, started developing what he called the World Wide Web in 1989. After CERN released the software for … Read more

He stopped well short of saying information wants to be free, but Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, said today the world would be better with some judicious liberation.

Speaking at the 2013 World Economic Forum today in Davos, Switzerland, Berners-Lee called on social-networking sites, academics, musicians, and governments to share more information online.

In earlier days of computing, people had full control over their own information because it was all stored on their own computer in front of them. Now, people store data with online services that deprive them of that control.

"They put their … Read more

The Do Not Track proposal seems to be causing confusion and frustration among some W3C members charged with approving it.

Once ratified, the DNT policy would require advertisers and other third parties to turn off tracking for Internet users whose browser settings specifically restrict it.

The push for DNT has already created a chasm between advertisers, who naturally want the policy to be as lean as possible, and privacy advocates, who want tough standards.

Browser makers have also been caught in the furor. Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer already include DNT settings. But Microsoft has caused waves by … Read more

The Web is a heinous construct.

It's patrolled by Western spies who crawl all over its pages, blocking information and quietly having people they don't like arrested. Yes, like Kim DotCom.

Iran has found a solution to this vexing problem, one that will allow Iranian citizens to freely communicate with each other about Iran's fine government and everything it is doing to assist its happy, hard-working citizens.

Yes, Iran is building its own Web, which some oddly describe as a "censored" Web.

I am utterly honored that the astutely named Fars News has quoted Iran'… Read more

I never knew that Tim Berners-Lee was a cross-dresser.

I don't mean to bring it up to expose him. I bring it up merely to celebrate the fact.

For in 8 days' time, the first photo ever uploaded to the Web will be 20 years old. And why would a picture of a wonderful all-girl singing group be the first ever out there on the WWW?

Well, partly, a report suggests, because of Berners-Lee's cross-dressing.

I lean heavily for this information on the wonderful tale told by Motherboard. (I've also emailed Berners-Lee, but haven't heard back.)… Read more

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke about the haves and the have-nots during a speech today at an annual Israeli conference sponsored by President Shimon Peres, according to the Associated Press.

His message focused on the fact that most people on earth aren't benefiting from technology's enormous advances over the past few years. According to the Associated Press, Schmidt referenced to data that shows less than one third of the world's population (2 billion people) has Internet access.

"The World Wide Web has yet to live up to its name," he said. "Technology … Read more

The man credited with inventing the World Wide Web has come out against the British government's contentious plans to monitor all Internet communication.

In an extensive interview with U.K. newspaper the Guardian, Tim Berners-Lee said the type of surveillance that the government was proposing was tantamount to the "destruction of human rights" and "the most important thing to do is to stop the bill as it is at the moment."

The plan being pushed by the government, which was announced this month, entails British intelligence agencies observing every U.K. resident's Internet use, … Read more

HTML5-compatible mobile phones will reach sales of 1 billion in 2013, up from just 336 million this year, says research firm Strategy Analytics.

That 1 billion number refers specifically to phones whose mobile browsers fully or at least partially support HTML5, such as the iPhone 4S and Android phones. And it includes some feature phones as well as smartphones.

"We expect almost all smartphones to support HTML5 by 2013 and this makes up the largest chunk of the 1 billion total," Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston told CNET yesterday. "Android, iOS, and other smartphone OSes already support … Read more

The sun is throwing out magnetic storms that could disrupt your GPS, your cell phone signals, and maybe even cause soda machines to kill you in extremely violent 1980s movie style. Just ... Google it. In other news, the World Wide Web turned 20 this weekend, the kids of today are learning to be hackers at DefCon, and if you buy virtual gold instead of earning it, the terrorists win. No, really, that's actually kind of true.