NEW DELHI – Fiction is the new reality in the world of telecom and information technology.
Coming soon is a refrigerator with internet connection that can identify the products inside it, and proactively collect recipes around the globe to greet its owner when they get home from office.
“I was not at all amazed, but asked the manufacturer, will the refrigerator open its door to the owner? Because the weighing machine kept in the washroom is also connected with internet and is collecting data about its owner,” said Vinton G Cerf, vice-president and chief internet evangelist at internet giant Google.
Cerf, who met communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday, highlighted the potential of Google’s ‘project loon to achieve the government’s target of making broadband available for the masses. ‘Project loon’ involves stationing hundreds of balloons at altitudes of 60,000 feet equipped with powerful wi-fi. “It can be used in parts where the government finds it difficult to roll out traditional modes of communication network,” Cerf said at an interactive session, ‘Innovation, Jobs and the Internet.’
The government and educators in India need to anticipate new opportunities that the internet and Google’s android mobile operating system can offer to achieve the target of Digital India, he said.
Cerf felt that the government should keep the definition of broadband speed flexible rather than pre-define it.
