I watched a speech from the TED Conference given by Gary Flake, founder of Live Labs and a Technical Fellow at Microsoft. Flake introduced an innovative computer program entitled Pivot that will improve the way we utilize the internet. Instead of typing a subject in the search bar to navigate from one page to another, this system organizes the information from everywhere on the internet to be viewed at once. The data is arranged according to your category selections, fluctuating from broader to more defined, to effectively encapsulate and display the information you seek. Pivot also allows the user to zoom out and display the entire webpage in order to select and zoom in on the area upon which you wish to focus. Another characteristic of Pivot is that you may effortlessly view your browsing history and replay what you had previously viewed.
I attempted to test-run this free program, but the system requirements are not yet inclusive of Macintosh computers. Based on the video demonstration, I agree that this is a successful way of navigating the internet. It seems to be a bit difficult to initially learn to utilize Pivot to it's fullest potential, and people may not readily adjust to searching for information in this fresh, alternative way. Flake asserts that internet users tend to "drown in data", but by viewing the data in this format, you can successfully extract information, and in turn convert it to knowledge. As Flake explains, this program enables the experience of "navigating the web for the first time as if it's actually the web, not from page to page, but at a higher level of abstraction."
To test out Pivot, go here: http://www.getpivot.com/download/
Watch the TED conference here:
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