Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Websites No More?

One of my professors the other day brought up an interesting topic. She said that eventually, and not really anytime soon, websites will become obsolete. Now when she first said this it baffled me. We hear all this talk and facts that paper news (magazines, newspapers, etc.) are going out of style which is understandable since you can find all of that information on the web. Now with the talk that websites will no longer be around makes one wonder, what will replace them? She went into talking about how "smart phones" are really beginning to take off with Apples iPhone, Googles G1 and My Touch, and Blackberries. All of these phones have the ability to run applications. Now I have a Blackberry and for instance, when I open up the ESPN app that I have on it, it then opens up my internet browser and brings me directly to ESPN's mobile page. So this belief didn't really sit with me well. But the more Ive thought about it the more It kind of makes sense.
Think about the most common uses for web pages. Facebook, twitter, weather updates, news, and shopping. With "smart phones" you can open up the facebook application and use facebook almost exactly the same way without being on the actual website. The same applies to twitter. They also make applications for weather. You can check everything from the current temperature to the five day forecast and in some cases even the Doppler radar. On some phones the main screen even has the weather for your area right on it. Makes you kind of wonder, whats the point of Weather.com. AS for news, well this, at least in my case, is very similar to the ESPN app that is on my phone. The CNN and Associative Press app brings you to their respective mobile sites. However, on some phones you can have a news feed right on your home screen, just like the weather, making those websites obsolete. And shopping, well I am only familiar with the Amazon application, but it works almost identically to Amazon.com, you just dont have to actually go to their website.
After thinking more about her statement, it seems to actually make sense. I would not be surprise if eventually websites were talked about in the same breath as newspapers and magazines. Maybe someday people will be writing their term papers on their phones and taking online classes through an application. Who really knows, but it sure is interesting.

5 comments:

Jackay said...

I thought it was funny what you said about typing up papers on your phone. I have a blackberry and I have typed a paper on my phone before. It wasn't exactly like a 5-paged paper, but it was a little assignment that I had to do for a class. It is a little insane to think that I can just go on the internet on my phone and do my work.

I have also posted on the discussion board, registered for a class, and paid a bill all on my phone.

This might just be me talking, since I have been so used to flip phones and just last year I got my blackberry, but I do feel like I have gone overboard on using my phone for things. But then again, it is called a smartphone for a reason.

shayna on diversity said...

am i the only one uncomfortable doing all these things on her phone? i mean i've checked my bank account and email, but usually i wait till i'm at a computer to actually respond. are you talking about van leuvens PR class? because i guess we're classmates irl too :)

and i dont really think websites will be obsolete. ever.

Dr. Bjorn Ingvoldstad said...

Of course, Nancy left out that soon she and I too will be obsolete--or rather, we'll program our avatars to lecture to you all while we sip mai tai's on the Cape....Hey wait, that actually sounds pretty good!

The Arbitrary Nerd said...

Consider websites like Twitter--that's not much of a site at all! It's a collection of snippets of text that you've decided you want to keep updated on. Sure it has an internet page, but as you said there are applications for it and also RSS feeds that stream important notices or updates about anything you're interested on that can be applied to other webpages or a different device entirely.

As it is, the term "webpage" will probably change to include things that involve the internet or whatever form of networking develops next, not actual sites like "blogger.com."

Aeolus said...

This is an interesting dilemma. I couldn't even begin to imagine how annoying typing a 500 word essay on a blackberry could be. How smart, should smartphones be?

I've also heard that phones are going to be used as a means of confirming one's identity, or in other words, an ID. I can't wait until kids start showing up to bars with fake "phone-y" id's... get it get it?





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