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First, peer-to-peer networks. And subsequently swarm based downloads such as BitTorrent (and if you don't know what that is, what century do you live in again?). A further refinement of the concept, we now have SwarmStreaming from OnionNetworks.

Promising good stuff like swarm based media streaming, BitTorrent-like downloads straight from your browser (and without additional software) and self-healing downloads, there is some clever stuff at work here.

The OnionNetworks SDK is Java-based (features) but behaves as a remote HTTP proxy (so most software platforms will be able to use it). I'm sure we will see other implementations sprout up though - maybe even direct integration into an operating system's network stack?

I'm just waiting for the algorithms to be released into the wild and an open source derivative to evolve from it! ;) A Linux kernel module, perhaps, offering transparent use of a swarming network layer to servers/desktops? Ah, and what about the possibilities of a SwarmStream network layer for mobile devices with low/spotty bandwidth?

Justin Chapweske of OnionNetworks mentions this in his blog.

Following the hype around lightweight containers such as Spring and Pico, I've been reading up on Inversion of Control as a design pattern, and how such containers provide IoC. Particularly interesting is how following IoC principles can aid in automated testing, using JUnit and MockObjects, particularly when dependencies on complex backends and integration to third party systems exist.

There are some very useful examples on Pico's website - very nice 1-minute, 2-minute and 5-minute summaries for those with short attention spans! Hugely recommended.

While I do like the ideas behind IoC and agree with the principles, I'm still looking for a real world example using Pico or Spring to achieve this, particularly within a J2EE container like JBoss or BEA's WebLogic.

Oh, and one other thing I learned was that the venerable Singleton is, in fact, an antipattern!! (Whats an antipattern?)

A very interesting interview with the man who's brought crystal clear VOIP communications to the world for free. He talks about Skype, the future of telephony, and VIOP on wireless devices via WiFi. My favourite quote from the article:

  The telephone is a 100-year-old technology. It’s time for a change. Charging for phone calls is something you did last century.

Niklas is also notorious for Kazaa, the P2P filesharing network, which has been a constant headache for the music and recording industry.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/2635319328796286/