Prior to the commercialization and privatization of the Internet in the early 1990s, the subject of technology, not unlike its use, was something that engaged and concerned a very small number of individuals and a relatively small number of businesses. Today, we are inundated with technology, and technology-based businesses can be found across the globe. Computers are in our homes, businesses, schools, libraries, and corner coffee shops, and many of us carry these devices with us wherever we go or rely on smaller networked devices, like cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), to keep us connected and reachable at all times. The businesses that manufacture these devices or provide related services and support range in size from startups that employ a couple of people to multi-national corporations that employ tens of thousands of people. The proliferation of these businesses and the proliferation of the high-tech devices that we use and see around us every day are a sign of the times. We are living in the midst of a technology revolution, and for better or worse it has only just begun.

The Technology Revolution examines the impact, perils, and promise of the Internet and its technology. This book - the third and final book in The Internet Revololution Series - explains why the Internet is the revolution of our times. It describes the synergies created by computers, networking, and the Internet and explains how these synergies are leading to a newfound empowerment of the individual through a dramatic and unprecedented broadening in our access to information resources and our access to other individuals, groups, and communities. This book also explains the Internet's impact on the the privacy and security of our information, the role that Java has played in the evolution of the Internet, the creation and composition of the Digital Divide, how the Internet is responsible for building new types of community structures, and what caused the dot com boom and bust. It also includes a description of the author's personal experience as the Director of Software Engineering and Development at a New York City dot com called Linkshare.