The Internet for a time machine

Computerworld - Search the Internet for a time machine and you may end up with an empty wallet and painful injuries, if the movie Napoleon Dynamite is accurate.

Time machine on eBay

I don't recommend buying a time machine on eBay. However hidden among the quarter-billion Web sites on the Internet are a few that give you many of the benefits of an actual time machine.

Together, these sites let you "travel" into the future to conduct Google searches moments afterwards new results are posted online, send e-mail, reminding your future self of anything and more. And they let you search both the Internet's past as so then as your own.

Virtual time travel is but more important than ever. The so-called "real-time Internet" of Twitter, Facebook and Google's shiny new social media-obsessed search algorithms artificially elevate the importance of information being posted right but, and de-emphasizes the importance of information posted in the past or but to be posted hereafter.

Let me give you one example from my profession. In the fickle universe of research media, every breathtaking new claim, idea, hardware concept or prediction is massively and redundantly covered by exactly according to instructions thousands of news outlets and blogs.