I apologize for making another tech/internet/mac related post, but that’s the kind of stuff I deal with most of the time these days. For this reason I am seriously considering starting a separate blog.

So what’s on my mind now? The same thing that’s on the mind of alot of web developers: Web 2.0. What’s web 2.0, you ask? Well, I’ll do my best to explain it, but I’m no expert either.

Before we talk about web 2.0, let’s talk about web 1.0. Web 1.0 was the first trend in regards to what the internet was used for—information. For the past 10 years or so, the web was used as a means to aquire information. Yahoo and Google helped us find the info we wanted and websites, for the most part were an electronic yellow pages and encyclopedia.

So then, what is web 2.0? Web 2.0 is the red-hot, emerging new trend in how the internet can be used—-service. Another element is community, which is the kind of stuff that fascinates me. What kind of services are we talking about? Well, how about journaling (Blogger, WordPress, MySpace)? How about photo storage and sharing (Flickr)?

These are easy to point out, but let me point out a few more interesting web 2.0 apps out there. How about worldwide phone service? See Skype. How about a place to not only read the news, but help decide which news stories are important or not important and where you can even have your own column? See Newsvine. What about a way to send files that are too large for your email? See DropSend. One of the more quirky/community oriented sites out there is Standpoint, a site where you basically share your worldview, faith, or beliefs. This sort of thing fascinates me.

Now let’s talk about the really interesting apps out there. What if you could take your MS Outlook and have it on the web, so you can keep up with it no matter what computer you’re working on? And what if you could share a calendar, tasks, and projects with everyone in your office so everybody stays on the same page? What if you could chat and discuss/edit projects or documents in real-time? You gotta check out Backpack and Basecamp. It will revolutionize your business and how it works—I promise. We use it at Providence to keep up with all of our ministry teams, staff, and volunteers. It’s amazing.

What about word proccessing without MS Word? Check out Writely. It was aquired by Google today, and you know what that means. This really has some potential. How nice would it be to be able to create and edit documents from any computer and never have to worry about saving it to a hard drive, disk, or flash drive? Better yet, you can collaborate with others on a document in real-time. Talk about a time-saver. So, look for “Google Office” or “Gword” or something in the near future.

As long as we’re talking about Google and ways they are trying to take over the world (move over, Microsoft), lets talk about an idea that is not that far from becoming a reality. I’m talking about the “GDrive“. If you use Gmail, you know that with Gmail you can have unlimited storage for your emails. You never have to delete an email again. Now, take that concept to the next level. What if you could store everything on Google’s rock-solid servers? Files, photos, documents, videos, music…..everything you have could be accessible from any computer or device with internet access. Combine that with the inevitable time where internet will be as available as radio/tv waves. You’re talking about access to your stuff anywhere you are. Complete and seamless mobility.

This, of course, means you would have to be comfortable with Google storing all of your personal files, but I don’t think I would have a problem with that. What about if their servers crash and you lose everything? Well, besides the fact that Google would predictably have an amazing backup system, the chances of your own pc crashing is far more likely than Google loosing your stuff.

So, let’s talk about the future possibilities and implications. If we could have GDrive storage, web 2.0 apps for all of our tasks, and widespread wi-fi availability (with amazing bandwidth), you could, concievably just need a mobile computer device that has nothing more than a 10 gig flash hard drive to run your operating system on and a web browser. I can also concieve of a future iPod that doesn’t even have any storage, but just wi-fi capability for you to stream your music and videos from your GDrive.

Of course, this would mean an amazing network of wi-fi service with unbelievable bandwidth, but just take a look at Shoreditch, East London, where they are testing an internet service that delivers bandwidth at 2 Gb/s, which is about 2,000 times faster than the cable modem I’m using right now. At that rate, you can download all 32,640 pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in less than seven seconds.

So, the point of all this, is the fact that the internet has all kinds of cool potential with the emergence of web 2.0, Google is going to take over the world, and eventually the internet will be fast enough to replace tv, radio, and maybe even our own computer’s proccessor. I think I just blew my own mind.