We're running out of Internet addresses
MP3 - iTunes
Every place and device on the Internet is identified by a string of numbers knows as an IP address. It would be a pain to remember 216.35.221.77 to visit the National Public Radio site, so the Internet's domain name system translates those numbers into human-friendly names like "NPR.org."
But there's a problem with those numeric IP addresses: They're running dry.
Experts say the available pool of almost four billion addresses from the system known as IPv4 will be gone in three years or four years.
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Podcasts
Which is why we have IPv6... yay
http://www.ipv6.org/
" IPv6 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 6". IPv6 is the "next generation" protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 ("IPv4").
Most of today's internet uses IPv4, which is now nearly twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age, but it is beginning to have problems. Most importantly, there is a growing shortage of IPv4 addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network autoconfiguration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period."
