Am I the only one that finds myself thinking about the different paths that the signals from the computer take in order to deliver the packets from my computer to the host of another website or vice versa when I am browsing the web? I mean, maybe it’s because I am so used to checking things on our own server to make sure everything is working right that I keep thinking about these odd things. Statistically, I can’t be the only one mesmerized by these flows of ones and zeros, right? After watching Tron (both the first edition released in the ’80s, and the sequel released just a couple of years ago), I have been looking at data streams like motorcycles on a light track.
I don’t know if I should take this as an answer to my above question, but Ericsson’s User Experience Lab and BERG have been working on a concept router that actually displays the streams as you browse or transfer data in your network or over the web. It’s one of those epic and useful gadgets that can totally transform the way we visualize data. I am not talking about infographics and the like here, I am talking about the raw data that is transferred in our network cables and that we most likely don’t care about once it is connected.
Enabling a map on this gadget will, as you can see, make a whole lot of sense since you can then see how your data is transferred. And if there is a bottle neck somewhere, maybe in the future you can have a few choices for where you could route it through instead. It’s a new way of thinking about some things that for the most part are done automatically today, or at least are starting to be. I am a little skeptical though about whether or not this is actually a real gadget, or just a creation in some movie software. Why? Because if you look carefully, at one point when the guy doing the demo is supposed to click a button to change the way the data is displayed, the screen actually changes before he has even touched the button. However, this is an interesting idea that I will keep a lookout for. This could solve a lot of issues debunking why a connection is so frickin slow sometimes.
Via: [UFunk – French]
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