Internet and its application

 

Internet and its application

Internet and its application

Internet is a network of computers linking many different types of computers all over the world. It is a network of networks sharing a common mechanism for addressing (identifying) computers, and a common set of communication protocols for communications between two computers on the network.

Applications of Internet

1. Communication

Computer users around the world extensively use the email service on internet to communicate with each other. Pictures, documents and other files are sent as email attachments. Emails can be cc-ed to multiple email addresses

Internet telephony is another common communications service made possible by the creation of the Internet. VoIP stands for Voice-over-Internet Protocol, referring to the protocol that underlies all Internet communication.

2. Job search

Nowadays, many people search for their jobs online as it is quicker and there is a larger variety of job vacancies present. People can publish resume online for prospective job. Some of the web sites providing this service are naukri.com, monster.com, summerjob.com, recuritmentindia.com etc.

3. Online Shopping

The internet has also facilitated the introduction of a new market concept consisting of virtual shops. They provide information about products or services for sale through www servers. Using the internet services customers can submit specific product queries and request specific sales quotes. For example amazon.com is a www based bookshop on the internet where information on all types of international books can be found and books can be ordered online.

4. Stock market updates

You can sell or buy shares while sitting on computer through internet. Several websites like ndtvprofit.com, moneypore.com, provide information regarding investment

5. Travel

One can use internet to gather information about various tourist place. It can be used for booking Holiday tours , hotels, train, bus, flights and cabs. Some of the web sites providing this service are goibibo.com, makemytrip.com, olacabs.com.

6. Research

Research papers are present online which helps in the researcher doing a literature review

7. Video Conferencing:

It enables direct face-to-face communication across networks via web cameras, microphones, and other communication tools. Video conferencing can enable individuals in distant locations to participate in meetings on short notice, with time and money savings.  The technology is also used for telecommuting, in which employees work from home. When video Conferencing is used in education, it is easier to have interactive communications between teacher to teacher, teacher to classroom, or classroom to classroom with students in different places.

8. E-Commerce

E–commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the Internet. These business transactions occur business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. Largest e-commerce companies in India are Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon India, Paytm.

9. On-line payments

The rising boom of online payments in India has given way to many new entrants in the industry such as Paytm, Mobikwik, oxigen etc who are majorly wallet driven payment companies. this growth has been driven by rapid adoption led by the increasing use of smartphones, tablets and speedy access to internet through broadband, 3G etc

10. Social networking

Social networking is the use of internet-based social media programs to make connections with friends, family, classmates, customers and clients. Social networking can be done for social purposes, business purposes or both. The programs show the associations between individuals and facilitate the acquisition of new contacts. Examples of social networking have included Facebook, LinkedIn, Classmates.com and Yelp.

A Brief History of the Internet

Sharing Resources

The Internet started in the 1960s as a way for government researchers to share information. Computers in the '60s were large and immobile and in order to make use of information stored in any one computer, one had to either travel to the site of the computer or have magnetic computer tapes sent through the conventional postal system.

Another catalyst in the formation of the Internet was the heating up of the Cold War. The Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite spurred the U.S. Defense Department to consider ways information could still be disseminated even after a nuclear attack. This eventually led to the formation of the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the network that ultimately evolved into what we now know as the Internet. ARPANET was a great success but membership was limited to certain academic and research organizations who had contracts with the Defense Department. In response to this, other networks were created to provide information sharing.

January 1, 1983 is considered the official birthday of the Internet. Prior to this, the various computer networks did not have a standard way to communicate with each other. A new communications protocol was established called Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP). This allowed different kinds of computers on different networks to "talk" to each other. ARPANET and the Defense Data Network officially changed to the TCP/IP standard on January 1, 1983, hence the birth of the Internet. All networks could now be connected by a universal language.

The image above is a scale model of the UNIVAC I (the name stood for Universal Automatic Computer) which was delivered to the Census Bureau in 1951. It weighed some 16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000 calculations per second. It was the first American commercial computer, as well as the first computer designed for business use. (Business computers like the UNIVAC processed data more slowly than the IAS-type machines, but were designed for fast input and output.) The first few sales were to government agencies, the A.C. Nielsen Company, and the Prudential Insurance Company. The first UNIVAC for business applications was installed at the General Electric Appliance Division, to do payroll, in 1954. By 1957 Remington-Rand (which had purchased the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1950) had sold forty-six machines.

 

Basic Services

Email

This method of Internet communication has become the standard. A main computer acts as a "post office" by sending and receiving mail for those who have accounts. This mail can be retrieved through any number of email software applications (MS Outlook, Eudora, etc.) or from Web based email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail). Email is an example of asynchronous Internet communication.

Email also provides the ability to access email lists. You can subscribe to an email list covering any number of topics or interests and will receive messages posted by other subscribers. Email communities evolve from interaction between subscribers who have similar interests or obsessions.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
This was one of the first Internet services developed and it allows users to move files from one computer to another. Using the FTP program, a user can logon to a remote computer, browse through its files, and either download or upload files (if the remote computer allows). These can be any type of file, but the user is only allowed to see the file name; no description of the file content is included. You might encounter the FTP protocol if you try to download any software applications from the World Wide Web. Many sites that offer downloadable applications use the FTP protocol.

An example of a FTP Protocol Window:

Browsers

A browser is an application you use to view files on the World Wide Web. There are text or terminal-based browsers (such as Linux) that allow you to view only the text of a file on the Web. Most browsers now are graphical browsers that can be used to view text, graphics, and other multimedia information.

There are many types of Web browsers available, but the most widely used are MS Internet Explorer and Netscape. Both claim to be better and faster than the other, but the choice of which one to use usually becomes a personal one. Because some Web pages are created for specific browsers, it can be important which browser you use. Web pages may look different when accessed by different browsers.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer holds the lion's share of the browser usage today, but it came into the game later than its main competitor.

Microsoft has met with a good deal of criticism in recent years concerning Internet Explorer because of its alleged intent to make IE an integral and necessary element of the Windows operating system. Competitors complained that Microsoft tries to lock them out of the market by making IE the only Web browser effectively usable by the Windows system.

Netscape

Netscape was one of the first commercial browsers on the scene and dominated the browser market until Microsoft got serious about Internet Explorer. There are some Internet users who are fiercely loyal to Netscape and there are sites on the Web that are best viewed using Netscape.

In either of these browsers, if you want to save a Web site that you find useful and want to return to, try using the Favourite’s (MS Internet Explorer) or Bookmarks (Netscape) function found on the menu bars at the top of the browser screen.