9781422277386

Tech 2.0

Wide Web made it easier for people not familiar with computers to ac- cess the internet. Then internet providers began to increase the band- width of their systems—the amount of data that can be sent at any one time and how fast it travels. Data sent over the internet is measured in electrical signals called bits, and the speed at which the information travels is measured in millions of bits per second (mbps). Before the rise of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, most people accessed the in- ternet over a telephone line. The speed of the data was then measured in thousands of bits per second. The use of cable TV systems to trans- mit data enabled the greater speeds common today—and opened the door to on-demand streaming video.

Who needs a record player when you’ve got your phone (and your phones)?

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