50 Amazing Facts About the Internet

Did you know that internet took only 4 years to reach 50 million users? It took 38 years for radio, while TV made it in 13 years. Here are some interesting facts and information about the World Wide Web:

1. Worldwide Web was developed in Objective C programming language.

2. The "www" part of a web site is optional and is not required by any web policy or standard.

3. Twenty per cent of the world's population, 1.17 to 1.33 billion people, now use the Internet. North America (72%) has the highest penetration, Africa (5%) the lowest.

4. The term Internet and World Wide Web are often used in every-day speech without much distinction. However, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same. The Internet is a global data communications system. It is a hardware and software infrastructure that provides connectivity between computers. In contrast, the Web is one of the services communicated via the Internet. It is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.

5. The Internet was called the 'Galactic Network' in memos written by MIT's JCR Licklider in 1962.

6. Researchers consider that the first search engine was Archie, created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

7. It was once considered a letter in the English language. The Chinese call it a little mouse, Danes and Swedes call it 'elephant's trunk', Germans a spider monkey, and Italians a snail. Israelis pronounce it 'strudels' and the Czechs say 'rollmops's... What is it? The @ sign.

8. Did you know that the original URL of Yahoo! was akebono.stanford.edu

9. Google got its name from the mathematical figure googol, which denotes the number 'one followed by a hundred zeros'.

10. Yahoo! derived its name from the word Yahoo coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. A Yahoo is a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human!

11. The prime reason the Google home page is so bare, is due to the fact that the founders didn't know the HTML and just wanted a quick interface. In fact, the submit button was a later addition and initially, hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life.

12. The word 'e-mail' has been banned by the French Ministry of culture. They are required to use the word 'Courriel' instead, which is the French equivalent of Internet. This move became the subject of ridicule from the cyber community in general.

13. The first ever ISP was CompuServe which still exists under AOL, Timer Warner.

14. Did you know that symbolics.com was the first ever domain name registered online?

15. According to a University of Minnesota report, researchers estimate the volume of Internet traffic is growing at an annual rate of 50 to 60 per cent.

16. If you want to sell your book on amazon.com you can set the price, but then they will take 55 per cent cut and leave you with only 45 per cent.

17. Almost half of people online have at least three e-mail accounts. In addition the average consumer has maintained the same e-mail address for four to six years.

18. Spam accounts for over 60 per cent of all email, according to Message Labs. Google says at least one third of all Gmail servers are filled with spam.

19. Anthony Greco, aged 18, became the first person arrested for spam (unsolicited instant messages) on February 21, 2005.

20. The first web site was built at CERN. CERN is the French acronym for European Council for Nuclear Research and is located at Geneva, Switzerland.

21. The World Wide Web is the most extensive implementation of the hypertext but it is not the only one. A computer help file is actually a hypertext document.

22. The concept of style sheets was already in place when the first browser was released.

23. The address of the world's first web server is info.cern.ch/ The URL of the first web page was nxoc01.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. Although this page is not hosted anymore at CERN, a later version of the page is posted at w3.org/History/199921103hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.

24. The first browser that made the web available to PC and Mac users was Mosaic. It was developed by National Center for Supercomputing (NCSA) led by Marc Andreessen in February, 1993. Mosaic was one of the first graphical web browsers and led to an explosion in web use.

25. April 30, 1993 is an important date for the Web because on that day, CERN announced that anyone may use WWW technology freely.

26. Microsoft released Internet Explorer on 1995. This event initiated the browser wars. By bundling internet explorer with the Windows operating system, by 2002, Internet Explorer became the most dominant web browser with a market share over 95 per cent.

27. The development of standards for the World Wide Web is managed by the W3C or the World Wide Web consortium. The W3C was founded in October, 1994 and headed by Tim Berners-Lee.

28. Only 4 per cent of Arab women use the Internet. Moroccan women represent almost a third of that figure.

29. YouTube's bandwidth requirements to upload and view all those videos cost as much as 1 million dollars a day and drawing. The revenues generated by YouTube cannot pay for its upkeep.

30. According to AT&T vice president Jim Cicconi, 8 hours of video is uploaded into YouTube every minute. This was on April 2008. On May 21, 2009, YouTube received 20 hours of video content per minute.

31. Around 75 per cent of the music that is available for download has never been purchased and it is costing money just to be on the server.

32. Domain registration was free until the National Science foundation decided to change this on September 14th, 1995.

33. It is estimated that one of every eight married couples started by meeting online.

34. Iceland has the highest percentage of the Internet users at 68 per cent. The United States stands at 56%. 34% of all Malaysians us the Internet while only eight per cent of Jordanians are connected, 4% of Palestinians; 0.6% of Nigerians and 0.1% of Tajikistanis.

35. Employees at Google are encouraged to use 20 per cent of their time working on their own projects. Google News, Orkut are both examples of projects that grew from this working model.

36. The technology behind the Internet began back in the 1960's at MIT. The first message ever to be transmitted was LOG.. why? The user had attempted to type LOGIN, but the network crashed after the enormous load of data of the letter G. It was to be a while before Facebook would be developed

37. According to University of Minnesota report, researchers estimate the volume of Internet traffic is growing at an annual rate of 50 to 60 percent.

38. Ever since the birth of the Internet, file sharing was a problem for the authorities that managed it. In 1989, McGill University shut down their FTP indexing site after finding out that it was responsible for half of the Internet traffic from America into Canada. Fortunately, a number of similar file indexing sites had already been made.

39. Google estimates that the Internet today contains about 5 million terabytes of data (1TB = 1,000GB), and claims it has only indexed a paltry 0.04% of it all! You could fit the whole Internet on just 200 million Blu-Ray disks.

40. Speaking of search - One THIRD of all Internet searches are specifically for pornography. It is estimated that 80% of all images on the Internet are of naked women.

41. According to legend, Amazon became the number one shopping site because in the days before the invention of the search giant Google, Yahoo would list the sites in their directory alphabetically!

42. The first ever banner ad invaded the Internet in 1994, and it was just as bad as today. The ad was part of AT&Ts "you will" campaign, and was placed on the HotWired homepage.

43. Of the 247 BILLION email messages sent every day, 81% are pure spam.

44. 35.6% of internet users are Asia. With average of 389 million of internet surfers each month, Asia is the largest internet crowd among other world regions. In Asia, 10 out of 100 surf the Internet.

45. Only 16.6% of world population surf the internet. Amount of internet surfers in Asia (389,392,28 mil) is 11 times the population of Australia (34,468,443 mil). 19% of internet users are from United States (210,080,067 mil). Around 18 countries still doesn't have Internet connection. North Korea's internet penetration statistics is not publicized.

46. The first Internet worm was created by Robert T.Morris, Jr, and attacked more than 6000 Internet hosts.

47. According to The Economist magazine, the first truly electronic bank on the Internet, called First Virtual Holdings, was opened by Lee Stein in 1994.

48. The 'Dilbert Zone' Web site was the first syndicated comic strip site available on the Internet.

49. Did you know that domain names could be sold at high prices? The most expensive domain till date, 'sex.com' was purchased by Escom LLC at $14 million, in January 2006. Another was 'business.com', which was sold to eCompanies for $7.5 million in 1999.

50. The Internet is the third-most used advertising medium in the world, closely catching up with traditional local newspapers and Yellow Pages.

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All About Ubuntu One

With the recent development of cloud computing, many big companies have already launched their cloud sync services. The most conspicuous examples are Dropbox, Sugarsync and Google Drive. And Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution currently, also offers its own cloud sync tool. this is Ubuntu One. With 5GB of free storage, Ubuntu is better than Dropbox and equal to Sugarsync and Google Drive. If you want more storage, then you will have to pay for the additional storage space. The good thing about Ubuntu is that their paid storage is split into small 20GB pieces and the cost is more affordable than other service. Also the storage space of Ubuntu One is unlimited so you can just keep adding more and more 20GB bundles to your account in order to have as much storage as you need.

One of the most useful things you can do with Ubuntu One is to use it as an online backup tool. Just upload all the important stuffs on your computer into your Ubuntu One account and they will stay there forever until you decide to delete them. So if your laptop is stolen or something really bad happens to it, you still have your valuable data secured.

You can also use Ubuntu One as an integration tool. For example, I can easily sync a folder on my Windows machine to another one on my Ubuntu devices so I can access this folder from both machines. This just is not possible to do on many other cloud storage services.

Another cool thing you can do is to use it for music streaming. This is a very unique feature of Ubuntu One. With a small fee of less than $40 a year, you can sync all of the music within your Ubuntu One account to a mobile device or on the web interface. With this awesome feature, you can access and listen to your music library whenever you want, as long as you can connect to the internet. And if you purchase this music streaming feature of Ubuntu One, you will also have 20GB of storage space for free to store anything you want, not just music stuffs. For me, this is the biggest selling point as I use the web interface all the time to stream music when at work.

And as with most cloud syncing tools, there are mobile applications for you to use on your smart phones. As I have mentioned above, you can stream your music (if you purchase the music streaming service) but you can also access all of your other pictures, documents and files and edit them and Ubuntu One will automatically detect the changes and upload the changes. Another really awesome feature when you use your phone with Ubuntu One is that, when you take a photo with the phone, the photo will be automatically upload to your cloud account so you can have your pictures on all your devices.

Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution nowadays and it has many advantages over Windows. If you want to try Ubuntu, you should learn how to install Ubuntu from USB. Also, if you are interested in Linux, you can check my blog about Linux tips and tricks.

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What You Need to Know About Protecting Yourself From Hackers

What's a Hacker?

"Hacker" is one of those terms that has a different meaning depending on who uses it. Thanks to Hollywood, most people think a hacker is a person who gains illicit access to a computer and steals stuff or breaks into military networks and launches missiles for fun.

These days, a hacker doesn't have to be a geek from a top university who breaks into banks and government systems. A hacker can be anyone, even the kid next door.

With an ordinary laptop, anyone can download simple software off the Internet to see everything that goes into and out of a computer on the same network. And the people who do this don't always have the best of intentions.

A Brief History of Hackers

Nowadays, the word "hacker" has become synonymous with people who sit in dark rooms, anonymously terrorizing the Internet. But it was not always that way. The original hackers were benign creatures. In fact, they were students.

To anyone attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1950s and 60s, the term "hack" simply meant an elegant or inspired solution to any given problem. Many of the early MIT hacks tended to be practical jokes. One of the most extravagant saw a replica of a campus police car put on top of the Institute's Great Dome.

Over time, the word became associated with the burgeoning computer programming scene at MIT and beyond. For these early pioneers, a hack was a feat of programming prowess. Such activities were greatly admired as they combined expert knowledge with a creative instinct.

Why Does a Hacker Hack?

Hackers' motivations vary. For some, it's economic. They earn a living through cybercrime. Some have a political or social agenda - their aim is to vandalize high-profile computers to make a statement. This type of hacker is called a cracker as their main purpose is to crack the security of high profile systems.

Others do it for the sheer thrill. When asked by the website SafeMode.org why he defaces web servers, a cracker replied, "A high-profile deface gives me an adrenalin shot and then after a while I need another shot, that's why I can't stop." [1]

These days, we are faced with a new type of hacker - your next door neighbor. Every day, thousands of people download simple software tools that allow them to "sniff" wifi connections. Some do this just to eavesdrop on what others are doing online. Others do this to steal personal data in an attempt steal an identity.

The Most Common Attacks

1. SideJacking / Sniffing

Sidejacking is a web attack method where a hacker uses packet sniffing to steal a session cookie from a website you just visited. These cookies are generally sent back to browsers unencrypted, even if the original website log-in was protected via HTTPS. Anyone listening can steal these cookies and then use them access your authenticated web session. This recently made news because a programmer released a Firefox plug-in called Firesheep that makes it easy for an intruder sitting near you on an open network (like a public wifi hotspot) to sidejack many popular website sessions. For example, a sidejacker using Firesheep could take over your Facebook session, thereby gaining access to all of your sensitive data, and even send viral messages and wall posts to all of your friends.

2. DNS Cache Poisoning

In DNS cache poisoning, data is introduced into a Domain Name System (DNS) name server's cache database that did not originate from authoritative DNS sources. It is an unintended result of a misconfiguration of a DNS cache or of a maliciously crafted attack on the name server. A DNS cache poisoning attack effectively changes entries in the victim's copy of the DNS name server, so when he or she types in a legitimate site name, he or she is sent instead to a fraudulent page.

3. Man-In-the-Middle Attacks

A man-in-the-middle attack, bucket brigade attack, or Janus attack, is a form of active eavesdropping in which the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them, making them believe that they are talking directly to each other over a private connection, when in fact the entire conversation is being controlled by the attacker. The attacker must be able to intercept all messages going between the two victims and inject new ones. For example, an attacker within reception range of an unencrypted wifi access point can insert himself as a man-in-the-middle. Or an attacker can pose as an online bank or merchant, letting victims sign in over a SSL connection, and then the attacker can log onto the real server using the victim's information and steal credit card numbers.

4. Smishing

Packet sniffers allow eavesdroppers to passively intercept data sent between your laptop or smartphone and other systems, such as web servers on the Internet. This is the easiest and most basic kind of wireless attack. Any email, web search or file you transfer between computers or open from network locations on an unsecured wireless network can be captured by a nearby hacker using a sniffer. Sniffing tools are readily available for free on the web and there are at least 184 videos on YouTube to show budding hackers how to use them. The only way to protect yourself against wifi sniffing in most public wifi hotspots is to use a VPN to encrypt everything sent over the air.

5. Mass Meshing

Also known as mass SQL injection, this is a method whereby hackers poison websites by illegally imbedding a redirection javascript from legitimate websites previously infected and controlled by the hackers. These javascripts redirect the visitor's computer to servers which contain additional malicious programs that can attack a user's computer.

The Most Common Targets

Hackers are interested in many types of computers on the Internet. The following list describes different types of targets and their appeal to hackers. [2]

1. Corporate Networks

Corporate computers are often heavily fortified so hacking into one has high cachet. Behind corporate firewalls are repositories of customer information, product information, and sometimes, in the case of a software publisher, the product itself.

2. Web Servers

Web servers are computers that contain websites. While some contain customer financial information, web servers are usually targets for vandals because they can be defaced to display information the hacker chooses to the public.

3. Personal Computers

With the ever growing use of wifi, laptops are becoming one of the most hacked devices. Everything a person visits online can be exposed to a person using software to "sniff" that connection. The website URL, passwords used to log into an online banking account, Facebook pictures, tweets, and an entire instant message conversation can be exposed. It is the easiest form of hacking as it requires little skill.

4. Tablets and Palm Top devices

Tablets, cell phones, and other mobile-ready devices are just as popular as laptops are in wifi hotspots. A hacker in a public hotspot can see a mobile device, as well as all data going into and out of it, just as easily as he can a laptop.

How You Can Protect Yourself

The simple truth is that anyone connecting to the Internet is vulnerable to being hacked. Thus, there is a need to be proactive when it comes to protecting yourself from such attacks.

Sniffing attacks are the most dangerous, as firewalls and antivirus software cannot help. Only a personal VPN can protect a person from a sniffer. The would-be victim, if connected to a personal VPN, has all their data routed through a secure server, making it impossible for the hacker to sniff. A user who has a secure VPN can surf as if he or she is invisible to hackers. PRIVATE WiFi provides such a VPN service.

Reference:

1. cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/afs-paper/node3.html

2. informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=425380

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