At pretty much the top of the Internet bubble I remember reading about applications such as a toaster or a microwave oven with a Web browser on it. I remember thinking at the time that there was something very wrong here, that technology had gotten too far away from what real people wanted to do with it.

I got the same feeling recently when I heard about Verizon’s vCast television service on cell phones. I’ve done video on cell phones. I know there are selected niche applications such as security where it makes sense, but I also know that it sucks down batteries very quickly and the quality can be bad. Even when it is at its best I can’t much imagine people staring at their cell phones for very long.

There is some evidence that at least some people agree with me, but in some respects that is not the interesting point here. The interesting part about the bubble was that technologists stretched their imaginations and tried to change the world. Yes, many of their ideas were stupid, and many of them died a well-deserved death later than they should have, but the point was that people weren’t afraid to try. Once the bubble popped I got the feeling that these dreamers stopped dreaming. Since then there has been an explosion of innovative devices, but no one seems to be trying to reinvent the world. When will that swagger start to return in earnest?

Larry Mittag