Post by ۞Quaalude™۞ on Apr 12, 2008 5:15:14 GMT -5
Internet Full of 'Black Holes'
Clara Moskowitz
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Fri Apr 11, 12:15 PM ET
You're pounding the keyboard, double-clicking away, sighing and grumbling, but to no avail: That devilish little hourglass icon refuses to give way to the Web site you're trying to reach. Most Internet users have encountered trouble reaching online destinations, but they often attribute the problem to their wireless network cutting out or a server momentarily going down.
Sometimes, though, the problem is more mysterious. At any given moment, messages throughout the world are lost to cyber black holes, according to new computer science research.
Ethan Katz-Bassett, a graduate student in computer science at the University of Washington, and his advisor, Arvind Krishnamurthy, designed a program to continuously search for these strange internet gaps, when a request to visit a Web site or an outgoing e-mail gets lost along a pathway that was known to be working before. To make sure the black holes they detect are not simply due to a problem with the end user or the host server, they look for computers that can be reached from some, but not all, of the Internet, meaning the issue must be occurring en route.
"We were astounded when we did an initial four-month study and we saw how many problems there were," Katz-Bassett told LiveScience. "It seemed infeasible that this could be happening so often. They're definitely more common than we thought."
Now the team constantly monitors the Web for black holes and posts a map of where the problems are around the world at any given moment. They hope their data will help Internet service providers track down the route of problems experienced on their networks.
"Network administers are definitely interested in it," Katz-Bassett said. "I think we need to do more analysis of the data and see where exactly these problems are occurring. It would be interesting to come up with predictions about where problems were most likely to occur."
The scientists named their monitoring system Hubble after the Hubble Space Telescope, which can also detect black holes, albeit the astrophysical kind. They hope their data will help improve the consistency of the Internet, where we increasingly entrust vital information.
"I think we would like it to be more reliable," Katz-Bassett said. "It's orders of magnitude less reliable than the telephone network right now. I think it should be pretty possible to get it closer."
The researchers will present their findings at the Usenix Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation being held next week in San Francisco. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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* Original Story: Internet Full of 'Black Holes'
Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Science, Animal and Dinosaur Pictures, Science Videos, Hot Topics, Trivia, Top 10s, Voting, Amazing Images, Reader Favorites, and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!
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news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080411/sc_livescience/internetfullofblackholes
Clara Moskowitz
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Fri Apr 11, 12:15 PM ET
You're pounding the keyboard, double-clicking away, sighing and grumbling, but to no avail: That devilish little hourglass icon refuses to give way to the Web site you're trying to reach. Most Internet users have encountered trouble reaching online destinations, but they often attribute the problem to their wireless network cutting out or a server momentarily going down.
Sometimes, though, the problem is more mysterious. At any given moment, messages throughout the world are lost to cyber black holes, according to new computer science research.
Ethan Katz-Bassett, a graduate student in computer science at the University of Washington, and his advisor, Arvind Krishnamurthy, designed a program to continuously search for these strange internet gaps, when a request to visit a Web site or an outgoing e-mail gets lost along a pathway that was known to be working before. To make sure the black holes they detect are not simply due to a problem with the end user or the host server, they look for computers that can be reached from some, but not all, of the Internet, meaning the issue must be occurring en route.
"We were astounded when we did an initial four-month study and we saw how many problems there were," Katz-Bassett told LiveScience. "It seemed infeasible that this could be happening so often. They're definitely more common than we thought."
Now the team constantly monitors the Web for black holes and posts a map of where the problems are around the world at any given moment. They hope their data will help Internet service providers track down the route of problems experienced on their networks.
"Network administers are definitely interested in it," Katz-Bassett said. "I think we need to do more analysis of the data and see where exactly these problems are occurring. It would be interesting to come up with predictions about where problems were most likely to occur."
The scientists named their monitoring system Hubble after the Hubble Space Telescope, which can also detect black holes, albeit the astrophysical kind. They hope their data will help improve the consistency of the Internet, where we increasingly entrust vital information.
"I think we would like it to be more reliable," Katz-Bassett said. "It's orders of magnitude less reliable than the telephone network right now. I think it should be pretty possible to get it closer."
The researchers will present their findings at the Usenix Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation being held next week in San Francisco. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.
* How to Tell If You Are Addicted to Technology
* Video: Wacky New USBs
* Top 10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life
* Original Story: Internet Full of 'Black Holes'
Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Science, Animal and Dinosaur Pictures, Science Videos, Hot Topics, Trivia, Top 10s, Voting, Amazing Images, Reader Favorites, and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!
* Email Story
RECOMMEND THIS STORY
Recommend It: Not at All Somewhat Moderately Highly Very Highly
Average (311 votes)
4.2 stars
» Recommended Stories
Full Coverage: Internet and WWW
Off the Wires
* People uneasy with Web sites using personal details: poll Reuters, Fri Apr 11, 1:07 PM ET
* 'Suicide' Internet search turns up 'how to' advice: study AFP, Fri Apr 11, 12:41 PM ET
Feature Articles
* Are Bloggers an At-Risk Population? NewsFactor via Yahoo! News, Apr 07
* The War on Spam: A Battlefield Report PC World via Yahoo! News, Mar 31
News Stories
* Internet Full of 'Black Holes' LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News, Apr 11
* Cloud computing, Web 2.0 trends emphasized The Quaalude Board via Yahoo! News, Apr 07
Opinion & Editorials
* Yahoo! cuddles Google's bastard grid-child at The Quaalude Board, Mar 28
* Don't fold on Internet gambling ban The Quaalude Board via Yahoo! News, Mar 25
Science News
* Homeowners feel heat in West coal boom AP
* Swarm of earthquakes detected off Oregon AP
* Accidents at disease lab acknowledged AP
* Powerful 7.1 quake in Southern Ocean AP
* Spain arrests 20 for treasure plunder AP
Most Viewed - Science The Quaalude Board
* Swarm of earthquakes detected off Oregon AP
* Melting causes lake in Chile to empty AP
* Swedish spruce may be world's oldest living tree Reuters
* Major storm heads to the East weather.com
* Shock: First Animal on Earth Was Surprisingly Complex LiveScience.com
Science Video
* The 2008 Eco-Marathon CNN - Fri Apr 11, 9:48 PM ET
* How Does He Do It? 60 Minutes - Wed Apr 9, 4:00 PM ET
* Seahorses return to Thames river AP - Fri Apr 11, 10:34 AM ET
* Midsize cars earn better crash ratings AP - Thu Apr 10, 3:15 AM ET
Sponsored Links The Quaalude Board
( What's this? ) quaalude.proboards105.com
Serious inquiries only QC
news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080411/sc_livescience/internetfullofblackholes