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Scientists and amateur astronomers alike celebrated the arrival of the Transit of Venus on Tuesday, peering up to the skies to watch a dark black dot slide over the surface of the sun.

Those taking part were seeing what has only been seen eight times since the invention of the telescope -- the image of Venus, a slithering period, blocking just a smidgen of the light from our solar system's star. Astronomers were watching the celestial event from all corners of Earth -- from California to Hawaii to Australia to India.

At Griffith Observatory, crowds of onlookers peered through telescopes to catch one of the rarest of planetary alignments, which won't be seen again until 2117.

FULL COVERAGE: TRANSIT OF VENUS

"To hear it and see it are two different experiences... It's that little dot you won't ever see in our lifetimes again," said Lee Flicker, 56, of Hancock Park.

Lenore Perry, 42, of Santa Monica, was less enthralled with the sight of a dot on the sun. "It doesn't look overwhelmingly wild. But when you think about what it is, it's rare and extraordinary."

One of the best parts of Transit of Venus was coming up at 6:27 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, when the planet was set to be at the midpoint of the sun. The show will continue until sunset in the continental U.S., but will go on in Asia, western Africa and most of Europe until about 9:47 p.m. PDT.

At Mt. Wilson above the San Gabriel Valley, astronomers gathered beneath a blue sky with only occasional wisps of clouds breezing by to celebrate the historic transit.

The last time the Transit of Venus was viewable anywhere on Earth was 2004, but it wasn't viewable on the U.S. West Coast. Before Tuesday, the last time Los Angeles could have seen the Transit of Venus was in 1882.

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Venus transit dazzles viewers around the world

WASHINGTON & GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

To ensure the Internet can continue to grow and connect billions more people and devices around the world, thousands of companies and millions of websites have now permanently enabled the next generation of Internet Protocol (IPv6) for their products and services. Participants in World IPv6 Launch include the four most visited websites in the world Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Yahoo! as well as home router manufacturers and Internet Service Providers in more than 100 countries. By making IPv6 the new normal, these companies are enabling millions of end users to enjoy its benefits without having to do anything themselves.

World IPv6 Launch is organized by the Internet Society as part of its mission to ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible for everyone including the other five billion people not yet connected to the Internet. "The support of IPv6 from these thousands of organizations delivers a critical message to the world: IPv6 is not just a 'nice to have'; it is ready for business today and will very soon be a 'must have,'" said Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer, Internet Society. "We believe that the commitment of these companies to deploy IPv6 will ensure that they remain industry leaders. Any company wishing to be effective in the new Internet should do the same."

The World IPv6 Day in 2011 was a 24-hour test that focused on websites. This year, World IPv6 Launch is a permanent commitment across the Internet industry, including ISPs and home networking equipment manufacturers around the world, laying the foundation to accelerate the deployment of IPv6 across the global Internet. Major websites are permanently enabling IPv6 starting 6 June 2012 at 0000 UTC on their main websites. ISPs will permanently enable IPv6 across a significant portion of their current and all new residential wireline subscribers. Home networking equipment manufacturers will enable IPv6 by default through their range of home router products, and recent commitments to IPv6 by companies beyond websites demonstrates a broader support of the new Internet Protocol.

This is imperative as the last blocks of the 4.3 billion IP addresses enabled by the current Internet Protocol (IPv4) were assigned to the Regional Internet Registries in February 2011. Already there is no remaining IPv4 address space to be distributed in the Asia Pacific region, and very soon the rest of the globe will follow. IPv4 address space is expected to run out in Europe this year, in the U.S. next year, and in Latin America and Africa in 2014. IPv6 provides more than 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses (an essentially unlimited number), which will help connect the billions of people that are not connected today, allow a wide range of devices to connect directly with one another, and help ensure the Internet can continue its current growth rate indefinitely.

For more information about World IPv6 Launch and the participating companies, as well as links to useful information for users and how other companies can participate in the continued deployment of IPv6, visit: http://www.worldipv6launch.org

About the need for IPv6

IPv4 has approximately four billion IP addresses (the sequence of numbers assigned to each Internet-connected device). The explosion in the number of people, devices, and web services on the Internet means that IPv4 is running out of space. IPv6, the next-generation Internet protocol which provides more than 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses, will connect the billions of people not connected today and will help ensure the Internet can continue its current growth rate indefinitely.

About the Internet Society

The Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership from around the world. With its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations. Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone. For more information, visit http://www.internetsociety.org.

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World IPv6 Launch Unites Industry Leaders to Redefine the Global Internet

The IPv6 launch has expanded the number of Internet addresses to 340 undecillion.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- One of the crucial mechanisms powering the Internet got a giant, years-in-the-making overhaul on Wednesday.

When we say "giant," we're not kidding. Silly-sounding huge number alert: The Internet's address book grew from "just" 4.3 billion unique addresses to 340 undecillion (that's 340 trillion trillion trillion). That's a growth factor of 79 octillion (billion billion billion).

If it all goes right, you won't notice a thing. And that's the point.

The Internet is running out of addresses, and if nothing were done, you certainly would notice. New devices simply wouldn't be able to connect.

To prevent that from happening, the Internet Society, a global standards-setting organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland; and Reston, Va., has been working for years to launch a new Internet Protocol (IP) standard called IPv6.

IP is a global communications standard used for linking connected devices together. Every networked device -- your PC, smartphone, laptop, tablet and other gizmos -- needs a unique IP address.

With IPv6, there are now enough IP combinations for everyone in the world to have a billion billion IP addresses for every second of their life.

That sounds unimaginably vast, but it's necessary, because the number of connected devices is exploding. By 2016, Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) predicts there will be three networked devices per person on earth. We're not just talking about your smartphone and tablet; your washing machine, wristwatch and car will be connected too. Each of those connected things needs an IP address.

Then there's all the items that won't necessarily connect to the Internet themselves, but will be communicating with other wired gadgets. Developers are putting chips into eyeglasses, clothes and pill bottles. Each one of those items needs an IP address as well.

See original here:
The Internet now has 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses

The IPv6 launch has expanded the number of Internet addresses to 340 undecillion.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- One of the crucial mechanisms powering the Internet got a giant, years-in-the-making overhaul on Wednesday.

When we say "giant," we're not kidding. Silly-sounding huge number alert: The Internet's address book grew from "just" 4.3 billion unique addresses to 340 undecillion (that's 340 trillion trillion trillion). That's a growth factor of 79 octillion (billion billion billion).

If it all goes right, you won't notice a thing. And that's the point.

The Internet is running out of addresses, and if nothing were done, you certainly would notice. New devices simply wouldn't be able to connect.

To prevent that from happening, the Internet Society, a global standards-setting organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland; and Reston, Va., has been working for years to launch a new Internet Protocol (IP) standard called IPv6.

IP is a global communications standard used for linking connected devices together. Every networked device -- your PC, smartphone, laptop, tablet and other gizmos -- needs a unique IP address.

With IPv6, there are now enough IP combinations for everyone in the world to have a billion billion IP addresses for every second of their life.

That sounds unimaginably vast, but it's necessary, because the number of connected devices is exploding. By 2016, Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) predicts there will be three networked devices per person on earth. We're not just talking about your smartphone and tablet; your washing machine, wristwatch and car will be connected too. Each of those connected things needs an IP address.

Then there's all the items that won't necessarily connect to the Internet themselves, but will be communicating with other wired gadgets. Developers are putting chips into eyeglasses, clothes and pill bottles. Each one of those items needs an IP address as well.

Excerpt from:
Internet has 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses

The IPv6 launch has expanded the number of Internet addresses to 340 undecillion.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- One of the crucial mechanisms powering the Internet got a giant, years-in-the-making overhaul on Wednesday.

When we say "giant," we're not kidding. Silly-sounding huge number alert: The Internet's address book grew from "just" 4.3 billion unique addresses to 340 undecillion (that's 340 trillion trillion trillion). That's a growth factor of 79 octillion (billion billion billion).

If it all goes right, you won't notice a thing. And that's the point.

The Internet is running out of addresses, and if nothing were done, you certainly would notice. New devices simply wouldn't be able to connect.

To prevent that from happening, the Internet Society, a global standards-setting organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland; and Reston, Va., has been working for years to launch a new Internet Protocol (IP) standard called IPv6.

IP is a global communications standard used for linking connected devices together. Every networked device -- your PC, smartphone, laptop, tablet and other gizmos -- needs a unique IP address.

With IPv6, there are now enough IP combinations for everyone in the world to have a billion billion IP addresses for every second of their life.

That sounds unimaginably vast, but it's necessary, because the number of connected devices is exploding. By 2016, Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) predicts there will be three networked devices per person on earth. We're not just talking about your smartphone and tablet; your washing machine, wristwatch and car will be connected too. Each of those connected things needs an IP address.

Then there's all the items that won't necessarily connect to the Internet themselves, but will be communicating with other wired gadgets. Developers are putting chips into eyeglasses, clothes and pill bottles. Each one of those items needs an IP address as well.

Read more:
Internet now has 340 undecillion addresses