The Web is dead? And Flipboard?

Because of an NPR report, and then the Charlie Rose program, I checked out this piece at Wired--on how the web is dead.  A catchy and provocative title, yes.  The essay makes a distinction between the "www" and the "internet."

And, thankfully, I am able to follow this discussion! 

Decades ago, when I was transitioning into graduate school life, I took up a job with the computing services (UCS) at USC.  This was in addition to my graduate assistantship.  My first day at UCS, the supervisor took me around to the backrooms and pointed to a bunch of stuff and said something like, "this is our ARPAnet."  Having been trained in the Indian culture, I didn't ask him what that meant ... annoying people with questions is something I became good at much later, and I have to thank America for it :)

But, it did not take me long to understand that ARPANET was one awesome computer network.  I recall spending hours reading random and useless posts on various "soc." and "alt." groups.  Some were profound too--in fact, it was from one of those soc.culture.indian postings that I knew that the then dictator president of Pakistan, Zia ul Haq, died in a plane crash.  These were the days of the "internet" before the World Wide Web--the web now.

Which brings us to the death of the web as Wired argues:

Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen). The fact that it’s easier for companies to make money on these platforms only cements the trend. Producers and consumers agree: The Web is not the culmination of the digital revolution.

(and to think that higher education still wants to hang on to the old lecture/chalkboard mode of teaching/learning!!!)

So, where is the trigger coming from?

The rise of machine-to-machine communications — iPhone apps talking to Twitter APIs — is all about control. Every API comes with terms of service, and Twitter, Amazon.com, Google, or any other company can control the use as they will. 

Kind of creepy, come to think of it: machine-to-machine communications?  Hey, buddy, isn't communication supposed to be between and amongst humans? :)
Ok, I am exaggerating. But, not by that much.
The following video is an example of how much the machine-to-machine communications can present a completely different kind of experience for us humans ...

Cue that Twilight Zone music already :)