Handheld PCs The new generation of handheld PCs is targeted at busy executives – those harried warriors who stride through ads with their overcoats billowing like a superhero's cape – yet only someone who is unemployed and friendless could possibly have the time required to use these devices. Browsing the Web with a Nokia 9000 Communicator, for example, is the '90s equivalent of inscribing the Bible onto a matchbox. It's technically impressive, sure, but it's the huge amount of effort exerted for such a trivial accomplishment that makes us shake our heads.
MEMS As computer sales continue to slow and the semiconductor industry totters on the brink of what looks to be a major lull, every high tech analyst is looking for a white knight to ride into town and restore the sector's luster. DVD players and Web TV devices both failed. Now experts are pinning their hopes on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), hybrid chips that combine tiny motors and sensors with smart circuitry. How likely is this technology to succeed? Well, the same starry-eyed people who used to believe in nanotechnology are now promoting MEMS.
This Month's Overhyped Memes Hype Level Position Last Month Expected Lifetime
Handheld PCs | Mass-media meme | Embryonic meme | 5 months
MEMS | About to die from overexposure | Mass-media meme | 6 months
Linux | Meme on the rise | Meme on the rise | 8 months
Certificate Authorities | Mass-media meme | Meme on the rise | 12 months
Discovering Techno | About to die from overexposure | Mass-media meme | 2 months
Linux The success of Windows poses a quandary for computer geeks: how can you show off your computer machismo when even the marketing assistant can install new hardware flawlessly? There is something oddly emasculating about the way Microsoft's automated help wizards treat even expert users as if they were still in swaddling clothes. It's no surprise, then, that Linux is gaining ground. Whether it offers any functional advantages over Windows is debatable, but at least it gives your office guru a chance to shine.
Certificate Authorities No matter how convincing the argument for eliminating middlemen, it can't compete with the dream of getting a slice of every Internet transaction. To see this battle between slightly daft ideology and old fashioned economics up close, just look at certificate authorities. As companies like Entrust and VeriSign position themselves as the trusted third-party necessary for all secure transactions, cypherpunks are trying to re-engineer the standards so third parties are less important. One thing's clear: "friction-free" capitalism isn't here yet.
Discovering Techno When grunge was suddenly turned into a marketing vehicle, the American pop culture industry leapt into action. Yet it was hard not to also feel a twinge of nationalistic pride: American marketers were surely the best in the world. No longer. The latest urban trend – techno – is practically a state religion in Germany and has been the background music of choice for Japanese department stores for the last five years. What happened to American competitiveness?
| STREET CRED
| War for the Operating System of the Future
Hype-List
