Running out of Internet?

While the space and content of the Internet is virtually unlimited, the amount of users based on our current I.P. system IS running out. So for those non 'techy' people, you ask "What is an I.P.?" An IP is the series of numbers separated by a period; for example: 192.168.1.1 (Standard for connecting to an in house router). The way we get an IP address is from an internet service provider, such as comcast, wow, at&t, etc. Through these providers, you are given access to a single IP address, or sometimes a pool that everyone shares. They are how website URLs work, and how others can communicate with each other from across the world. It's an integral part of how technology communicates with other technology. Phones also are given IP addresses.

So if that's the case, how on earth are we running out of addresses for devices? Well, if you do the math on the quantity of addresses, which range from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255, you end up with approximated 4 billion addresses. The problem is that there are almost that many devices in the world today, and the market for said devices is only expanding. As more and more people get computers and smart phones, and more people enter that market, the demand for these addresses will continue to increase. These numbers are controlled by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA,) so blame them. (just kidding)



What are we going to do? Well, in 1998 the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) devised a new number scheme called IPv6 under RFC2460 (Click the RFC to read the official document if you want to be very confused.) IPv6 uses a number scheme called hexadecimal, which uses the numbers 0-9, and letters A-F to create new combinations of addresses. An IPv6 example IP address would look something like: 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:1:1. Very different huh? Well with this convention, a ton more addresses are possible. To give you an idea of how many more... There would be enough addresses for everyone on the planet to have 4 billion unique IPs for their PERSONAL devices. That's a LOT of addresses. If I had to guess, we'll be transferring gradually as the addresses run out over the next several years.

Those who already have IP addresses don't really have to worry, seeing as how you already have it. What we'll be seeing is a hybrid network that accommodates both IPv4 and IPv6 for a while, as there's no really need or rush to get everyone off of IPv4. While IPv6 has other benefits (that are far too nerdy to post here), IPv4 is good enough for now. Expect to see IPv4 run out of addresses before 2012.

Your second life in Second Life

What is Second Life?
If you've never heard of second life, it is defined by Wikipedia as follows: Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab launched on June 23, 2003, and is accessible on the Internet. A free client program called the Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world (which residents refer to as "the grid").

This is the literal definition someone would give when trying to explain to someone what in the world Second Life is. While the former definition is very true, it is so much more than just that. But first let's talk about this so called "avatar" that people use to interact within the the grid.

A what?

My avatar in Second Life

An avatar is the medium by which players (members, or residents) interact with each other. An avatar is a fully customizable entity that allows your full creativity and allows you to express yourself in ways your actual body may be unable to. Piercings, Tattoos, gothic styling, and almost limitless other fashion statements are possible to make your avatar reflect the you that you want people to see. This is what i mean by being able to express yourself. No one see anything, except what you show them. It is literally an extension of your personality if you choose it to be. There are of course people who join SL for the sole purpose of ruining the "immersion" Second Life offers its members. But more on that later.

But why?
So you might ask, what about SL makes it so addicting for people? The answer is fairly simple. It allows you to live the life you want to live without constraints. You can be an architect and construct buildings and art where the only limit is your creativity. You can be a clothing designer, graphic designer, model, driver, sex icon, or literally anything else that you can think of. It's all at the tips of your fingers. All it takes is for you to want it bad enough to go get it. You can have a family via role playing within SL, have a house where you sit down with your significant other and watch movies, or even do the naughty after dark (Virtually, of course.) When i say you can do everything and more real life has to offer in Second Life, I'm not joking. You can even attend school and learn about stuff, just as you could in real life also.

How do you...?
Everyone plays Second Life a different way. Some are out seeking love and relationships, some seek to meet new people with similar interests from around the world, some go to show off their impressive DJing skills via live streaming, and others seek to start a business they don't have the funds to start in real life. There isn't a way i could explain to you every way or reason people are on SL, all I can tell you is that they simply are. Me? I'm on it to have fun, and meet interesting people, and listen to music. Unfortunately, as a gamer, it doesn't really hold my attention very well. I get bored easily, but that's just me! There is so much out there I don't do, that if i did, I'm sure I'd enjoy it more.

But it's just a game
It's not. I've been scolded by members who have been in SL far longer than I have for saying this. To casual users and people unfamiliar with it, it is indeed just a game. But for some people, it literally is a second life. The bonds they form with people are real, whether we admit it or not. Hearts are broken, love and relationships are formed not based on our appearance, but strictly by our personalities. They fall in love their real selves, not their fleshy posterior. You can reason with residents all day about the fallacy of their beliefs, but you'll never convince them, with good reason. If it feels real, acts real, and you love everything about it, why should you listen to a naysayer? Accept it for what it is, not what it is to you.

I hear horror stories all the time because of SL
I'm sure you do, as do I. I also hear of kids shooting up schools, airplane accidents, and stories where kids killed themselves because of these high stress situations in real life. The point is, these horror stories are outliers, they're not mainstream. Not every, or even a huge percent of people in Second Life leave their families to peruse a life on SL, just as not every kid in high school commits suicide. D&D is not the leading cause of depression and cultish behavior in the youth, and SL really isn't the leading cause of... well; anything. Take it with a grain of salt. Every time you step out of your front door you have a chance of not returning, but that doesn't mean you live in a bubble your whole life. You get out, you do things, and you have fun along the way (hopefully.)

This is probably the finest form of what I would consider to be a "proxy life." Don't be afraid of it, I have a feeling this will become a very real and normal thing in our future.

What it takes to be a Diamond level player in Starcraft 2

[Very nerdy post incoming]

I bet, all the while you're playing Starcraft 2 (herein will be called SC2) quick match games, you're wondering "How on earth do i become a Diamond level player?" It's a fairly good question, seeing as how when you watch commentaries, they're typically focused on high level diamond players like HuK, TLO, IdrA, Marrow, etc, and these players are way beyond what we consider 'good at SC2'. So the question still stands: how do i get one of these:



It's quite simple really. All you have to do is one of the following:

• Build a massive amount of a unit that can hit air AND ground units and upgrade them.
• Proxy or cheese, whether it be unit producing structures or cannons.
• Tech to tier 3 units while your teammates protect you (3v3 and 4v4 ONLY.)
• M&M&M Ball (in all leagues.)
• 4gate (in all leagues.)

I know, the nerd in some of you will rage, saying "well you can defend this kind of stuff!" Of course you can, but realistically lower tier players do not have the macro/micro capabilities to stave off a well executed reaper harass, or 6 cannons eating their resource line. As a test, I decided for several platinum 4v4 games that i was going to do NOTHING except produce marines off of 6 - 10 reactors, and upgrade them. Unsurprisingly, I won 99% of the games, as well as did so well score wise that the system promoted me to Diamond rank 40s.

Maybe this is a 'strategy' that requires nerfing, or maybe more balancing is required; but all I know is that it works, and works almost too well. If you're looking, however, to play a more 'legit' way, that shows off your Micro/Macro, i suggest watching pro level commentaries, or game analysis to brush up on your Sc2 experience. You'll never learn too much in the world of Starcraft, that I can guarantee. I'm all about early aggression/harass, however.

If you haven't been introduced to Starcraft 2, or are one of the several people I've heard say "I just play single player," I urge you to take a look at the multi-player, or the game as a whole. There is a ton of fun to be had, and a lot of great experiences and memories to share with friends you make through the game. There's nothing quite like sitting down with 3 other friends and stomping people in 4 vs. 4 matches for hours and hours. Go on, give it a try.

Oh, how technology ruins grammar...

I'm sure you, like myself, are inundated with text messages or chat messages on your computer with language like "omg hru?", which of course means "Oh my god, how are you?" Like a plague, such acronyms and abbreviations have cannibalized the way we communicate to such an extent, that it has penetrated our everyday life and how we interact. Proper etiquette in letters and formal written documents have also fallen prey to the laziness we face when trying to type to our friends and family. I can't begin to tell you the times I've heard COLLEGE professors talk about how they found a 'LOL' in a paper a student submitted for a grade. By god, I hope that person failed.

But realistically, is typing "hey, wht r u up 2??" so much faster that you, 9 times out of 10, elect to use that instead of sounding literate and going with "Hey, what are you up to?" It may just be a pet peeve of mine that people at least attempt to sound educated when talking on a public forum to hundreds or thousands of people. Facebook is notorious for this kind of grammatical nightmare, and as such, a website has been created just to make fun of the people who'd rather hit send before briefly checking what they typed. And that website is!




Seriously, even though you're not getting graded to use a spell checker, you still look dumb for not doing it. But aside from raging about it, it's honestly a little upsetting. I grew up in the world of technology, and will rarely use the whole "Lol" or will use emoticons to express emotion on an otherwise emotionless medium, but as I've gotten older and grown accustomed to computers being an integral part of my live, I've begun to become increasingly paranoid about how I portray myself online via text. If i were to make a serious post on Facebook about how angry I was, but fail to use any sort of punctuation, would anyone take that seriously?

I'm not saying invoke the grammar police for everything little detail of your posts; I'm saying at LEAST use a spell checker, and for the love of God USE PUNCTUATION.

The illusion of seclusion

The way we as online addicts view being 'social' is very different than the people we probably live with. To our families, they see us in a basement or at a desk for several hours a day and think we're doing it to be antisocial, and to seclude ourselves from others. Honestly, this is probably false. One of the greatest things about the internet is its ability to connect us to people whom we'd never be able to meet otherwise. Games between players from all over the world (in my circle, New Zealand, UK, and many states in the US!) are shared, and we meet on a common ground. We're there to have fun; we're there to make friends. These friends, although you may never meet them in the flesh, become the best of friends; ones you feel you've known your entire life. You don't have to see them in the person to cherish the time you spend with them, and you end up learning more about them than most of your "real life" friends.

I use the term "real life" loosely. This is the phrase your parents say when you say you have friends, and that you aren't social, but people who never experience this first hand will never be able to understand... but that's okay. I know that I don't feel any less fulfilled whether i'm sitting on a couch watching tv with a friend, or shooting zombies with them via Left 4 Dead 2. Where we are makes no difference.

So while we may be the ones hiding as hermits, we are instead the ones who are able to fly through the world, and meet people across the globe. We're capable of making real life connections to people who we only see and hear, never touch.

I've tried before to explain this position to people who are unfamiliar with it, and the response is always the same: "But they aren't real friends, they're internet friends." As annoying as this response is, I can't really blame them for it. It's a phenomenon that our parents were too early to experience. Internet dating and relationships are in full force, and whether you want to admit they're real or not; to the people, they are very, very real. We fall in love, we get broken hearts; we laugh, we cry. Why is this so vastly different than real life that you refuse to learn about it?

What is a proxy life?

By definition, a proxy is described as a substitute or agent to something, for someone. When I speak of a proxy life, i think of a life i have grown accustomed to; a life online. Gamers, social butterflies, and even the casual user has seen how greatly the internet has impacted our lives. Games like Second Life (and i use the term 'game' loosely for it) is a prime example of a shift in what we as a society view as a shift in social interaction. Giants like Facebook allow people to keep in touch with friends from years ago, or even make new ones with similar interests.

Why am i talking about this? It is probably the easiest way to show you where i come from, and what i do on a daily basis without getting into the details that frankly no one cares about. I guess from what i've told you, you don't really know what this blog is about or even for. The internet is such a vast wealth of knowledge, and i feel that without dedicating yourself to it, you fall behind on some topics that actually impact you in the technological world. I aim to try to talk about a lot of it, even if i use this as a journal.

So what topics will be on here? Probably everything from gaming, networking, security, online social networking, digital art; virtually anything pertaining to the online experience... your own proxy life.

 I am a gamer, graphic designer, programmer, and student of network security. My spare time is almost entirely dedicated to gaming and photoshop, which is indicative of my pale complexion.

Welcome to the proxy life.