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ASK A GEEK

MICHAEL MCGILL

Q: What is Internet2?

A: Although the media frequently mislabels it as a superspeed successor to the current Internet, one that will someday be flipped on for the masses, Internet2 is a little less sexy in practice. It's a nonprofit U.S.-based consortium of 206 universities and dozens of companies, including Sun Microsystems and Microsoft, that work together to build improvements to the Internet. For example, the group has created IPv6, a standard for using longer (and, therefore, more) IP addresses, the unique numeric IDs for devices connected to the Internet-not something you'd notice, but it's crucial for allowing cellphones, TVs and all the other gadgets coming online to do so.

A separate high-speed network exists, however. It's called Abilene, and it links the members of Internet2, allowing them to transfer as much as 10 gigabits of data per second, or around 10,000 times what a typical broadband connection can handle. Abilene's primary uses are testing new technologies and moving scientific data. For example, it connects the two eight-meter Gemini telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, allowing astronomers at one scope to review the massive amounts of data captured by the other in almost real time. So when do you get to tap into that pipe to download MP3s? Probably never. But take heart: SBC and Verizon are quietly in the midst of an enormous nationwide operation to replace the current copper telephone wiring with fiber-optic cable, a project that will take years to complete but that could increase your speed 10-fold.

MICHAEL McGILL has worked for the National Science Foundation and is currently manager of health sciences for Internet2.

YOUR GEAR

We told you about Zachary Vex's stunning little handmade guitar amps ["Half a Watt of Pure Rock," April]. Now Vex offers an equally small and beautiful creation for those of us who listen to music instead of making it. The 4.4-by-3-by-3-inch iMP amp (zvex.com) is designed to sit between your audio source-say, an iPod-and your speakers, delivering a single watt per channel of that classic rich tube sound that audiophiles love. At $525, you could buy a full-size tube amplifier instead, but it wouldn't be nearly as cool.

THE TIP SHEET

-ROLL YOUR OWN SEARCH ENGINE

Rollyo.com lets you create a custom search engine that looks through only the sites you tell it to. For instance, you might create one called "digital cameras" that would scan just your five favorite review sites, so you don't have to go to each one individually or wade through the miscellany that Google returns. You can also use others' "search rolls," such as the one on string theory compiled by physicist Brian Greene.

-TRADE UP YOUR OLD DVDS

How often do you really watch that copy of Pitch Black you bought three years ago? Now you can trade it for a newer movie you do want at peerflix.com. Sign up for an account, list the DVDs you'd like to get rid of, and if another user has requested one, the site will send you a pre-addressed mailer. Add a stamp, ship it off, and you'll get "peerbux," credits you can use to get the DVDs you want. Each trade is 99 cents.

THIS IS BROKEN

THAT MUST BE ONE DIRTY SONG

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By Mike Haney, editor of How 2.0; H2.0 staff