3D Internet: The new wave comes ashore

Taipei

October 17th, 2007

From chatting with friends online to walking through the virtual world we
have seen most of what cyberspace has to offer. The concept of the virtual world
and our existence therein is changing by the minute and is slowly giving rise to
what is called 3D Internet.

Internet as we understand it today is mostly 2 dimensional. However increased
use of Second life, MySpace, Google Earth and whole lot of gaming advancements
is getting us closer to the 3D Internet.

Speaking about this concept at the ongoing IDF at Taipei, Kevin Kahn, Intel
Senior Fellow, Corporate Technology Group, Director Communications Technology
Lab said, “Immersive 3D online environments are available for people to
interact now and virtual environments today are increasingly being adopted by
users and are slowly moving away from being just entertainment. As we move from
a 2D to a 3D interface, such environments are increasing the demand for
providing users with experiences that are closest to real life situations.”

With 3D environments getting more socially accepted, behavioral expectations
of these environments by users in terms of how close it can get to reality is
also increasing. In order to meet these needs Intel is trying to evolve better
standards for browsers, servers as well as tools that enable a better user
experience. Most tools available today are proprietary and the need for
standardization has finally risen.

In order to give users better visual effects in a 3D environment, Intel is
working with what is called ray-tracing technology which helps create better
effects which are very real-life like in a 3D situation. Intel, according to
Kahn, would work to develop such technologies in order to further enhance user
experience as they increase adoption to the 3D world in the days to come.

While the transition from 2D to 3D occurs, what is most significant is how
these 3D interfaces are helping revolutionize people's lives by enabling many
other applications besides entertainment or gaming. A case in point here is
medicine. Loads of doctors — surgeons especially - are able to benefit from
the fact that they are able to visualize and simulate most complicated surgeries
in real time and then perform the same so as to assure the best results. Such
and other applications, according to Kahn will revolutionize the way Internet
would operate and get us closer to its 3D environment.

While the technology itself seems like a great tool, Kahn wondered if a 3D
environment and virtual world therefore would adversely affect social lives of
human beings. That according to him was still debatable. If a child that ought
to play with his friends was surfing the net and walking in the virtual world
24/7, it was a negative impact. However if a doctor used the technology to
correct a cleft palate it was the best possible thing to happen. The choice
therefore is for us to make, he said.