XWEBS, le net 4 x + rapide en 56K ? non ! 4x+ rapide pour traiter, p-ê

là où je veux en venir, c'est qu'il ne faut pas jeter la pierre à un truc dont on a encore du mal à saisir le fonctionnement. je le répète, à mon avis, le premier article est l'oeuvre d'un blaireau sans bagage technique qui voulait faire du sensationnel qui a exagéré tout ce qu'il a entendu à ce sujet. mais l'attribution de ce prix qui est lui bien réel ne vient probablement d'illuminés se laissant avoir par des trucs genre le P4 accélère l'internet...

Internet browser that quadruples surf speed wins Irish science prize  
 
 
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
 
DUBLIN (AFP) - A computer browser that is said to least quadruple surfing speeds on the Internet has won the top prize at an Irish exhibition for young scientists, it was announced on Saturday.
Adnan Osmani, 16, a student at Saint Finian's College in Mullingar, central Ireland spent 18 months writing 780,000 lines of computer code to develop the browser. Known as "XWEBS", the system works with an ordinary Internet connection using a 56K modem on a normal telephone line.
 
The software was tested by scientists at University College, Dublin last week and they found it boosted surfing speeds by between 100 and 500 percent depending on the basic dial-up connection rate.
 
Adnan says a six-fold increase is about the maximum practical boost.  
 
"At seven times it actually crashes so I have limited it to six."
 
Other special aspects of his browser are the fact that access to 120 Internet search engines and other features such as music and video players are built in.
 
"It has got every single media player built in. It is the first Internet browser in the world to actually incorporate a DVD sidebar. So you can watch a DVD movie in whatever screen size you want and browse the Internet at the same time."
 
To make the software more user friendly, it features a talking animated figure called Phoebe.
 
"The character interacts the entire way through the software. It can also read out Web pages and e-mail and I thought it would be really useful for the blind and young children because they can't really experience the Internet.
 
"Someone like parents or guardians can load up some Web pages and it can read out the pages to them," the young programmer said.
 
A number of communications and computer companies have visited Adnan's stand at the Young Scientists exhibition in Dublin. He only patented his invention to protect it last Thursday.
 
"Five or six companies have approached me about it. I am keeping a lid on it for the time being. I am just waiting until after the exhibition and then I will try to get it all organised."
 
He said he was still in a state of shock as he had not expected to win and had only told three of his teachers last week about his competition entry.  
 
"I thought I might get a good place."
 
He wants to study computer engineering in Harvard University and eventually set up his own Internet or computer company.
 
"Winning is a nice boost to my university application," he said.  
 

The Irish browser story: Ok folks, here's the scoop. I am just back from talking to one of MIT Media Lab Europe's researchers, who both checked out the browser and talked to Adnan. He says the browser is 'absolutely extraordinary'. He says that what Adnan has done is re-engineer the efficiency of how a browser operates, which allows it to run up to six times faster (but usually not that much faster -- two to four times faster is more common). So it's not managing bandwidth but managing the way the browser itself handles and presents information.  The researcher (whom I know and will vouch for) says that instead of simply tinkering with existing code he went down to the socket layer and reworked it at the protocol level (now, many of you guys will know the significance of this better than me, I'm just reporting the conversation). He added that it is incredibly clever work and stunning that a 16 year old has done this (I am not scrimping on the superlatives because that is what was said). (NB: A conversation in a group ensued that this work perhaps suggests that because the browser market is a virtual monopoly, there's been little incentive to improve efficiency in this way -- indeed, it might be beneficial to product development to just eke out a leeeetle more efficiency now and then and advertise it as continuing innovation... but I leave that to further discussion among the well-informed).  
 
And Adnan has indeed worked in existing media players (or formats to a single player -- am not clear on this) AND a DVD player so you can watch a DVD while surfing. And incorporated in a voice agent that will speak web pages, for young children or for the sight-impaired. The improved efficiency angle got the notice of the few media reports done on this so far, but it's really not what Adnan himself was emphasising -- it's the whole package, said the MIT guy.  
 
Not surprisingly Adnan now has more than one university interested in him. And he has apparently told the numerous companies who saw the browser in action and who wanted to commercialise it that, at least for now, he has no interest in commercialising it.
 
I will note that the MIT researcher had a big grin on his face and it was clear he found the whole project a pleasure to talk about. He also said he'd heard about the browser before he arrived at the Young Scientist exhibition and made a beeline to see it. Adnan apparently didn't really think it would necessarily win an award --the researcher told me it was clear that it HAD to win. So there you go. I'm sure we'll hear a lot more about all this soon.
 
And yes, he has copyrighted it (whoops, should be patented, typing too fast and was too hungry to recheck this til now, after a very late and fast dinner).