Broadband for Not Yet Techies

Broadband technically refers to telecommunications in which a wide band of frequencies is available to transmit data. In common terminology, broadband now refers to how much data can be transmitted through media.

Broadband is expressed as data speed in bits per second - bps. Kbps refers to kilobytes per second. Mbps refers to Megabytes per second and Gbps refers to Gigabytes to per second.

In our information glutted but still feeling starved age, there is a constant and growing demand for more broadband. In 1995 accessing the Internet with a 28.8 Kbps modem dialup connection to read static web pages seemed a miracle. Now we want DSL or cable connections so we can download huge audio and even movie files. We visit web sites with Flash technology that grabs huge amounts of our processing speed.

We want more - more speed, more information, more music files, more movies, more streaming, more of every kind of multimedia experience possible.

Personally, I believe that sooner than we could expect, we'll play virtual reality games in shared environments. That is, we'll sit at home and wear VR suits and be connected to the Internet or perhaps special game-connected networks through connections so powerful, of so much broadband, that it will transmit a total sensory connection to us.

And when we make a move in the game such as firing our laser at someone, everybody else connected will immediately see and hear what we've done. And if our aim was accurate, perhaps be taken out of the game.

And if you think such broadband may allow TRUE virtual sex between people over the Internet, I have no doubt this will be the killer ap.

Thanks to such extreme amounts of broadband connections, you'll be able to have sex with anyone else connected to the Internet. Again, you'll be at home in your special VR suit (with special genital connections, no doubt) and they'll feel what you do and vice versa. Of course, it won't even matter what they look like, because your software will transform their image into one that you like.

Other uses and abuses of broadband are obvious. Get ready.

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