Mr Lyons,

Might suggest a brief return to an old (by computing standards) book--Nicolas Negroponte's 1996 "Being Digital"?  I still assign it to my master's students as a framing thought piece, for though dated it remains very prescient.  Like all 'technology futures' attempts it misses the mark, social systems are after all terribly adaptive and do not slavishly follow technological deterministic trend lines, but on many key conceptual points it is still dead on the mark.  These points deal with issues of HCI (human computer interaction) and the types of uses these technologies will possible spawn or support. In any event the thought 'framing' exercise may serve you well too as you explore the future of computing and or journalism, and wax on about a product Apple first introduced (remember the Newton (?) in response to Alan Kay's ideas about computing book/tablets).

I think you are dead on in drawing parallels with the way we morph into new technological domains, holding onto the familiar, taking those models and metaphors into the new....and then finally seeing  how the new and virtual  informs the old (physical).  For a neat comparison look at the physical domain of e-commerce (typically the B-2-C side ) in versions 1, 2 and now 3 and how retailing first informed virtual design and how now the virtual drives substantial portions of the physical business models.

I love your column and frankly your unabashed enthusiasm.  Thanks  much for your efforts and the parallels you draw.

Duane Truex ( CIS dept, Georgia State University - Atlanta)

Mr. Lyons,

You want to know how much trust and confidence I put in the Internet? I give it my 8-year-old Dell, which I have put to DVD a Norton Ghost image. I don't run parasitic anti-virus software, either. I then have a KVM for my "good computer." My good computer is no one's business. It never sees the world beyond my office and it never will. This is how it will always be, and if anyone is smart, this is how they will operate as well.

Did I mention I'm on DVI? I still can't find a worker at Best Buy who knows what DVI is. My monitors are all on their "native" resolution, too. Try to explain that to someone at Best Buy. "Native what?"

You may indeed see a device that's hooked-up to the Internet 24/7, such as a tablet. It's nothing new, in the respect that mobile devices--such as laptops--are already everywhere, and if someone on DSL or coaxial never shuts off their computer, aren't they already on the Internet 24/7? Or do you mean that when I type a letter in Word, for example, it's really taking place on a server in a closet next to Bill Gates' office? Is that where 50MB per second is going?

Mr. Lyons, you know what a writer such as yourself could be discussing? How about conceptual desgins such as a new mouse that can hook to both my computers--staying out of my KVM switch block--which could have a thumb button on its side that would allow me to copy a photo or block of text or any file--ready for this? Are you? --copy it to a flash drive or mini hard drive--inside itself--the mouse.That way when I "flip" back and forth between my "good computer" and my throw-away Internet one, I would be able to copy and paste between the two computers. An idea such as this is true innovation.

Knowing what I know about computers, to read an article telling people how great it will be to be hooked-up 24/7--and embrace the Internet like nothing else in their lives--makes me realize you truly don't want what's best for the individual. There's nothing safe and secure when hooked-up to the Internet--and you know it.

Do you have about $900 to spend on a computer experiment? Okay, if you do, do this. Go to Best Buy and buy the big honkin' Gateway with 8GB RAM. It has a TV tuner and built-in G networking. Okay, take it home and hook it up--but don't plug in the broadband landline, and if you have a wireless G router, unplug that so the Gateway can't go online.

Now, try to type an article and navigate between Excel and Word, for example. You know, do useful things that should take place in a real office--things that don't involve the Internet. You know what you'll find? You'll have a computer about as fast as an IBM Aptiva from 1998. Why? Care to guess? It's because the computer is trying to get out of its box. Seriously. It will literally take 30 or more seconds to open Word, and about the same for other aps. Try something "innocent," such as an ap like Corel, like Corel 9. You open it--no problem. Now click to open a new document. It will lock up tight and may let you type within 5 minutes.

Here's two things you can do that will make this $900 computer useable: 1.) plug in the broadband land line, and within a minute you'll have the fastest computer in your town. 2.) Go in and disable every single update protocol that the computer is trying to carry out through the the Internet. After about 15 minutes of finding every single box to "untick," you will have a smokin' hot machine. Now, after the feeling of disgust washes over you, take it back to Best Buy and get your money back or trade it to your buddy at his computer shop and get the parts to build a real computer.

Internet 24/7 and devices such as tablets? Why?