While modern day Internet users may have a tacit understanding that the net of the past is very different from how we know it today, they probably don’t realize how different. Enter Olduse.net, a website that re-creates that good ol’ Usenet feel. With Olduse, you can browse the hottest tech news of 1981 and see what’s buzzing in the IBM newsletter. What you can’t do is use your mouse, and just forget about multitouch all together.

For the uninitiated (or simply, the under 50), Usenet was an early precursor to email and web forums. Once logged in, users could select from newsgroups and read posts from other users. Amazingly, the proprietor of Olduse updates the site daily with the latest news from 30 years ago. Today, you can see all the posts up to September 13, 1981. Tomorrow, all the posts from September 14 will be available for viewing.

While the site really doesn’t have much of a function, it’s another fascinating look at the archaeology of the early Internet. In this digital age, we don’t bury the past to preserve it, we dredge it up and re-package it.

(Olduse.net via BoingBoing, Olduse.net mirror available here)

You know how you have browser-based games or listicles about your favorite celebrity breakups open in your browser window right now, but have mastered the art of alt+tabbing back to your spreadsheet when your supervisor walks by? Well, according to a new study, you may just want to leave that session of Civ World up and running next time your supervisor hovers around your desk, because wasting time on the Internet may actually increase your productivity.

Google is testing out the ol’ Infinite Scroll with their web search results. Instead of scrolling to the bottom of the page when searching for nefarious, embarrassing terms and hitting the “Next” link below the customary “Goooooooooogle,” the infinite scrolling feature will display a “show more results” button, similar to the Google Images infinite scrolling feature. Search Engine Land reports that a Google spokesperson has confirmed the testing of the infinite scroll feature. Head on past the jump to see a video of the infinite scroll in action, and in another language.

The Internet is a mysterious thing. We all use it, but what makes a website, really? Obviously, some of us know more about this than others. Still, this is the question asked and answered by the company Broadband Choices, in this infographic. The graphic provides statistics like how much data is on the Internet, from less than half a trillion gigabytes in 2005, to more than one trillion gigabytes in 2010, and a projected leap to nearly eight trillion gigabytes by 2015. So, if you’ve ever wondered what exactly is that Internet thing anyway, here is your answer.

It’s so cute seeing major outlets describe the Internet over a decade ago.

(via The High Definite)

With all the variation that has sprung up around internet memes, there was bound to come a time when someone would finally organize them into one, easy-to-use chart. Now, the creation of deviantArt user OohLaLa423 doesn’t cover every possible permutation, nor every trend, but it is big. Really big. It’s also conveniently organized, showing the progression on the vertical axis, and when possible, grouping them by type.

At least, I think that’s what’s going on.

Cisco has produced this impressive, and surprising, infographic that they believe will give us a glimpse how we’ll be interacting with computers in the future. Or rather, and this is the interesting part, how we won’t. Cisco points out that as of 2008, there are more things connected to the Internet than people on the planet. As we progress, it’s possible that these devices will spend more time interacting with each other than we interact with them.

Beyond all that prognostication, this handsome infographic also has some staggering numbers about the how much information is being pushed around the Internet. Read on, and be amazed.

Next month, two of Australia’s largest Internet service providers, Telstra and Optus, will begin blocking over 500 websites that they have voluntarily agreed to censor. The sites in question have the common theme of child abuse, and a list of the sites will be given to the ISPs by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, as well as other sites compiled by unnamed international organizations.

As anyone who regularly uses the Internet can probably assume, blocking 500 sites won’t exactly prevent any greenhorn eyes from potentially laying upon the blackened depths of the Internet, but more casual users may see the move as a positive step toward cleaning up the web, or at least a savvy public relations move by the two ISPs.

The Oxford Dictionaries Online have debuted a list of new words that now merit official definition. Following the recent trend in additions to the dictionary many of the words on the new list have their roots in technology or social media. Among the newly included is ZOMG: meaning “oh my God, especially on electronic message boards as a sarcastic comment on an inexperienced or overenthusiastic poster.”

Other additions to the dictionary that are well known to internet users include: infographic, cyber monday, lifehack, network neutrality, overshare, paperless, social graph, twittersphere, permalink, and unfollow. But for those who are newbs to these words, grab your lappy and head over to the Oxford Dictionaries Online where you can read the full list.

(Oxford Dictionaries via Mashable)

The graph to the left, as The Next Web has pointed out was generated by Google’s Transparency Report tool, shows that Syrian Internet traffic has flatlined over the past few hours, and Al Jazeera’s liveblog has confirmed that the Syrian government has completely cut off the Internet due to protests — a common move recently in the Middle East.

The Internet has been disconnected — 3G, dial-up and DSL — due to anti-government uprisings that have been happening as early as January of this year.