We saw innovations in real-time search, streaming video, and an operating system for the cloud.

This year will be remembered for cloud computing, real-time search, and the appearance of Google’s Web-based operating system.

Real-Time Search

The Web’s dominant search company, Google, got some serious competition in 2009. Thanks to a long-awaited technology-sharing deal with Yahoo and a focus on product-related searches, Microsoft’s revamped search engine, Bing, began nipping at Google’s heels (“What’s Microsoft’s Bing Strategy?”).

The physicist Stephen Wolfram also shook up the search-engine scene by developing a “computational knowledge engine” designed to provide all sorts of useful information via a search-like interface (“Search Me,” “Alpha and Google Face Off,” and “Wolfram Alpha Braces for Overload“). The arrival of Wolfram Alpha also forced Google to explore a more sophisticated approach to presenting meaningful information from online databases (“Google Unveils Google Squared“).

In the battle to gain an edge, both Google and Microsoft turned their attention to the “real-time Web” and this year’s hottest Web company, Twitter. Keen to tap into the freshest online information, these search engines began delivering seconds-old snippets from Twitter, as well as other sites in their results (“Google Takes Search Real-Time“). Several startups also hope to tap into real-time online activity (“In Search of What Everyone’s Clicking“). But collecting real-time information and presenting it in meaningful ways remains a tricky challenge, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt explained during recent a visit to Cambridge, MA (“Searching for Real-Time Search“).

Faster search is just one sign of a general increase in the speed of information flow across the Web. This year Internet experts revealed new protocols for collecting bits of related information no matter where they appear online (“Who’s Talking About Me?“). Others focused on analyzing the huge quantities of data being produced at any given moment (“Startups Mine the Real-Time Web“).

In Search of Context

With so much interest in mining Twitter posts, the trustworthiness of online information was another hot issue. Several research projects and startups have revealed ways to automatically determine who can be trusted to provide accurate information on a particular topic (“A Smarter Way to Dig Up Experts” and “Computers Can’t Answer Everything“). Researchers have also developed ways to add context to information posted online. In this area, Wikipedia has come under particular scrutiny (“Who’s Messing With Wikipedia?” and “Adding Trust to Wikipedia, and Beyond“).

A Web OS

Even as Microsoft encroached on Google’s turf, the search giant took a bold step into Microsoft’s backyard. Google’s browser, Chrome, evolved into a complete operating system, as the search giant continued to press into ever-broader areas of computing technology (“An Operating System for the Cloud“). The Chrome OS isn’t yet available to the public, but there have been some early indications of the radical approach that Google has taken (“Hints of How Google’s OS Will Work” and “Google Gives a First Look at the Chrome OS“).

Google’s vision relies on the power of Web applications and sophisticated browser technology. New browser features will make it easier to work both online and off, to handle heavier processing tasks, and to incorporate multimedia into the browser without plug-ins (“An Upgrade for the Web“).

Cloud Computing

Businesses everywhere were still fascinated by the promised convenience and cost savings of cloud computing (“Technology Overview: Conjuring Clouds“). But as companies began adopting the technology this year, kinks that still need to be worked out revealed themselves (“Industry Challenges: The Standards Question“). Companies have found it difficult to move data between different cloud services, even though some startups are now offering solutions (“Virtual Apps Drift Into the Cloud” and “Moving Data around the Clouds“). Security has been another worry (“Vulnerability Seen in Amazon’s Cloud Computing“). And some companies turned to different kinds of cloud computing that offer greater security and control (“A More Secure, Trustworthy Cloud” and “Big Blue Sees Clouds on the Horizon“).

Content Transformed

Another of the year’s big trends was the growth of online streaming media. This is one reason that downloading copyrighted material over file-sharing networks seems to be on the way out (“Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Usurped by Streaming Video“). Much excitement was also generated over a streaming media project called OnLive, which promises to bring high-end video games to users whose devices don’t have the processing power to handle the advanced graphics (“Moving Video Games to the Clouds“).

Companies in a variety of media industries have also looked for ways to use piracy to make money off content (“Embracing Piracy“). And the music industry sought entirely new ways to sell music online (“Can Video Games Be the New MTV?” and “What Will Happen to Lala’s Music Plans?”).

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Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Usurped by Streaming Video

Peer-to-peer traffic is shrinking at a dramatic rate, according to a report on Internet traffic trends released this week. At the same time, streaming video and direct downloads are exploding in popularity. The figures suggest that the entertainment industry’s battle against illegal file trading has taken a toll, but some experts say that users may simply be turning to more user-friendly methods of obtaining media content.

Credit: Technology Review

The report was jointly released by the University of Michigan, the nonprofit research corporation Merit Network, and the Internet-traffic-monitoring company Arbor Networks. Researchers at the three organizations had collaborated on measuring traffic across about one-third of the Internet over a two-year period. Arbor collected much of the anonymized data from more than 100 Internet service providers in 17 countries.

“Over the last two years, peer-to-peer has collapsed,” says Craig Labovitz, chief scientist for Arbor Networks. The report’s findings show that peer-to-peer has gone from 4 percent of all Internet traffic to about half a percent. At the same time, streaming video has been exploding–the report estimates that 10 percent of all Web traffic is streaming video, making this the fastest-growing class of Internet applications identified by the researchers.

Labovitz says it’s difficult to know for sure what caused peer-to-peer traffic to decline so dramatically. However, as legitimate video sites such as Hulu have proliferated, he believes that many consumers have found it easier to obtain movies and TV shows via these sites, instead of using peer-to-peer file-sharing tools. “It’s far more convenient and faster,” he says. “It used to be the case that to watch a movie, you had to wait eight hours for your peer-to-peer to seed. And now you can go to one of these sites and watch a movie in real time in [high definition] via streaming.”

Doug Knopper, cofounder and co-CEO of video-advertising company FreeWheel, says that the report’s results are in line with trends observed by his company. He says, “If you’re reasonably certain that the official, authorized, online streaming version in its pristine form, coming from its content creator or an authorized distributor, is easy to download, then why wouldn’t you do that as opposed to going to some shady site where you’re not really sure what you’re getting?”

But other experts point out that peer-to-peer file sharing is unlikely to disappear. Hendrik Schulze, chief technology officer of ipoque, a German-based provider of Internet traffic management and analysis, says that his company has also observed a decline in the percentage of peer-to-peer traffic. However, he notes that this doesn’t mean there’s less peer-to-peer traffic–it simply isn’t growing as fast as other Internet applications. According to his company’s figures, peer-to-peer protocols still account for the majority of traffic in the regions ipoque monitors. The company measures traffic in South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, but has no data on North America.

Peer pressure: A report released this week found a sharp decline in peer-to-peer Internet traffic over the last two years. This graph shows that decline. Credit: Arbor Networks

Schulze thinks that peer-to-peer’s slower growth is partly the result of crackdowns on copyright infringement, particularly in Europe. However, he says peer-to-peer has also taken a hit in regions where there is no significant effort to stop illegal downloads. In those cases, he says, peer-to-peer may be growing more slowly because other platforms are easier to use. For example, Schulze says, some platforms stream full, high-definition video over ordinary Internet protocols.

Schulze doesn’t think the change in traffic patterns necessarily means that people are switching to legal methods of obtaining media content. “It’s hard to say, with no numbers to prove it,” he says. But he notes that many of the streaming and direct-download sites he has encountered also host copyrighted material.

However users are getting their video, most experts agree that the trend is for more and more of it to be flowing through the Internet. Atul Bhatnagar, CEO of Ixia, a company that tests Internet infrastructure, says, “In the future, the Internet is going increasingly real time and multimedia.” He notes that consumers are getting more video online not only because of an increase in bandwidth and streaming sites, but because consumer hardware is now making it easier to access content on the Internet.

Devices such as Internet-connected DVD players “could have a tremendous effect on traffic,” Bhatnagar says.

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