Internet Technology

The World Wide Web is known for its nearly unprecedented "free content." But can it stay that way? Learn how the penny-per-page revenue model might work.

By Marshall Brain

There are too many variables to make a generalization about whether Ethernet or USB is the better way to connect your home computer. Read this article to learn how to pick the right one for your system.

If you've been holding your breath for the next best thing in Internet connections, get ready to exhale. VDSL has five times the speed of regular broadband.

By Jeff Tyson

Wireless networks, or WiFi hot spots, are one of the most popular methods of internet connection on Earth. They're found in homes, coffee shops, airports and even vehicles. Let's look at the technology that makes WiFi such a reliable choice.

By Marshall Brain & Talon Homer

Imagine using a high-speed wireless Internet connection originating from an aircraft flying over your city. Learn about the airborne Internet and how you might use this technology in the near future.

By Kevin Bonsor

Social networking and e-commerce may be all the rage, but many internet pioneers originally used the Internet for sharing ideas among large groups of people. Newsgroups were fundamental to early internet communication, and they're still good sources of information today.

By Jeff Tyson

How do web pages, email and music move to and from your computer? It's thanks to the amazing global network we call the internet. Find out more about its infrastructure.

By Jeff Tyson & Chris Pollette

How do you access the Internet other than dial-up if you live too far from a phone company office for DSL and there is no cable TV on your street? Satellite Internet access may be worth considering.

Every day, billions of e-mail messages are sent. But sometimes even e-mail isn't fast enough. Learn about instant messaging and check out what you can do with real-time computer communication.

By Jeff Tyson & Alison Cooper

One minute you're zipping along, the next, you can't get a page to load. What's the deal? Cable modems are part of a loop that begins at the cable company's central office, goes through a certain geographic area and returns to the central office.

It can be truly frustrating -- one minute you're zipping along just fine, the next, you can't get one page to load. What's causing the backup? Cable modems are part of a loop that begins at the cable company's central office, goes through a certain neighborhood or area, and comes back to the central office.

Fiber-optic lines have revolutionized phone calls, cable TV and the internet. It's a really cool technology that enables the long-distance transmission of data in light signals, and is used in many more ways than you think.

By Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. & Chris Pollette

Your IP address is one of 4.3 billion unique numbers that identifies your computer on the internet. Learn the different IP classes and discover how your computer gets its own address.

By Chris Pollette & Stephanie Crawford

Odor-producing peripherals will bring smell to the Internet, and are just around the corner. Find out how they will work!

How far will the Internet go? The next phase of the Internet will take us to far reaches of our solar system and lay the groundwork for a communications system for manned missions to Mars and planets beyond.

By Kevin Bonsor

These days, you can find animated figures all across the Internet! Ready to give life to your own creations? Learn about dynamic HTML, animated GIFs, Java, Shockwave and Flash animation techniques.

By Tom Harris

Do you get the shakes when you're offline for more than 10 minutes? The wireless Internet lets you browse Web pages from a cell phone or PDA. Learn about the Wireless Application Protocol that makes it possible to surf on the go.

By Jeff Tyson

The funny little "a" with its tail circling back around it is probably one of the most commonly used symbols today. So it is truly amazing to learn that there is no official, universal name for it.

To make it easier to pick out a particular link from your list of favorites, Internet Explorer versions 5.0 and higher include custom bookmark icons for some sites. Learn how they do it and how these icons make your web surfing easier.

Internet search engines are special sites on the Web that help people find information stored on other sites. There are differences in the ways various search engines work, but they all perform three basic tasks.

By Curt Franklin

Learn how a cable modem works and see how dozens of television channels plus any Web site out there can flow over a single coaxial cable into your home.

By Curt Franklin

You can put anything you want on a Web page, from family pictures to business information, to your random thoughts and musings. Learn how to create, upload and promote your pages so they're available all over the world.

By Marshall Brain

Banner ads generate a big part of the revenue for many Web sites. Learn how banner ads work, how much they cost and how much you might earn if you put them on your Web page.

By Tom Harris

When you connect to the Internet, you might connect through a regular modem, a local-area network connection, a cable modem or a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection. DSL is a very high-speed connection that uses the same wires as a regular telephone line.

By Curt Franklin

One of the greatest things about the Internet is that nobody really owns it. It is a global collection of networks, both big and small, that connect together in many different ways to form the single entity that we know as "the Internet." How is this possible?