Portal:Internet

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The Internet Portal

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. A computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast number of servers and other computers. An Internet connection also allows the computer to send information onto the network; that information may be saved and ultimately accessed by a variety of servers and other computers. Much of the widely accessible information on the Internet consists of the interlinked hypertext documents and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW). Web users typically send and receive information using a web browser; other software for interacting with computer networks includes specialized programs for electronic mail, online chat, file transfer and file sharing. Information is moved around the Internet by packet switching using the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, and other technologies.

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Wikipedia is a multilingual, open content, free encyclopedia project operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative website) and encyclopedia. Launched in 2001, it is the largest, fastest growing and most popular general reference work currently available on the Internet. As of December 2007, Wikipedia had approximately 9 ¼ million articles in 253 languages, comprising a combined total of over 1.41 billion words for all Wikipedias. The English Wikipedia edition passed the 2,000,000 article mark on September 9, 2007. Wikipedia's articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world and the vast majority of them can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Critics have questioned Wikipedia's reliability and accuracy, citing its open nature. The criticism is centered on its susceptibility to vandalism, such as the insertion of profanities or random letters into articles, and the addition of spurious or unverified information; uneven quality, systemic bias and inconsistencies; and for favoring consensus over credentials in its editorial process. Scholarly work suggests that vandalism is generally short-lived. When Time Magazine recognized "You" as their Person of the Year 2006, Wikipedia was the first particular "Web 2.0" service mentioned, followed by YouTube and MySpace.

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Lolcat or Cat Macro with white cat on laptop computer

Credit: Original: Jerry7171 Modified image: AmosWolfe

Lolcats are images combining photographs of animals, most frequently cats, with a subjectively humorous and idiosyncratic caption in broken English referred to as Kitty Pidgin, Kitteh, or lolspeak. The meme originated in the internet phenomenon. The name "lolcat" is a compound word of "lol" and "cat". The phenomenon is also referred to as cat macros. Lolcats are created for photo sharing imageboards and other internet forums.

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Wikinews Internet portal

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William Ford Gibson, born March 17, 1948 (age 62), in Conway, South Carolina is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. Gibson coined the term cyberspace in 1982, and popularized the concept in his debut novel, Neuromancer (1984). In depicting a visualised worldwide communications network before the ubiquity of the Internet, Gibson is credited with anticipating important aspects, and establishing the conceptual foundations, of the Internet and the Web in particular. Although much of Gibson's reputation has remained rooted in Neuromancer, his work has continued to evolve conceptually and stylistically. After expanding on Neuromancer with two more novels to complete the dystopic Sprawl trilogy, Gibson became central to an entirely new science fiction sub-genre – steampunk – with the publication in 1990 of the alternate history novel The Difference Engine, written in collaboration with Bruce Sterling. In the 1990s he composed the Bridge trilogy of novels, which focused on sociological observations of near future urban environments and late stage capitalism. His most recent novels — Pattern Recognition (2003), and Spook Country (2007) — are both set in a contemporary universe and have put Gibson's work onto mainstream bestseller lists for the first time.

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Did you know...

...that the village of Denshaw in Greater Manchester (pictured) achieved international notoriety when spoof information added to its Wikipedia entry was reported in national and international media?
...that "I Am Your Gummy Bear", a silly novelty song whose video features a "jolly and jiggly" lime green cartoon gummi bear and a 30-second video clip in eight languages, is an internet meme?
...that children's TV show Supernormal was developed by the creators of the controversial internet cartoon Happy Tree Friends?

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