I've recently applied to TechStars (pronounced tech “stahs” by Brad and I during school in Boston), and I thought this post was very similar to Master of 500 hat's new post, here: http://500hats.typepad.com/. I've left a similar comment there, but I'll add my two cents to the above analysis of semantic web, web 3.0, or implicit web.

I've heard this subject talked about in two ways by people that I consider most knowledgeable:

1) A “genius” older mathematician and geek from Russia, who's small internet security company was bought by Microsoft, and who confided in me during lunch after speaking at the HBS “Cyberposium” last year: “something I should not be saying”, about Microsoft's Web 3.0 vision and plan: He gave me a very technical explanation, but I believe the gist is that his company is at the forefront of this plan, the very reason it was acquired at such a high price, after an intense auction-battle with another he wouldn't name (Google?), and he simply called it, “ghost”.

Sound weird? I thought so too.

He explained that information, programs, and all your “files” will not exist on any of our own devices anymore, but merely be ghost reflections of files, processes, applications, etc, that are running inside Microsoft. This is not like logging into GMAIL and using Google's online tools he explains, but more like what you described early above when you said:

“… it quickly became apparent to us that the computing tools we used every day would need to evolve to help us cope with the familiar (yet ever increasing) problem of information overload.”

As he put it: “What you're looking at is only a reflection created by our servers, but your reflection, in terms of both data (like pictures) and tools (like GMAIL), will be completely unique from anyone else's, based on you. Your applications will be hybrids of thousands of other programs to meet your needs the best.” Kinda creepy, and as you can see, I don't fully grasp the explanation either.

2) The second explanation is “AI” and what I always felt the next natural progression from web 2.0 “cloud” effects would be, and Google founder, Sergey Brin, confirmed my hypothesis the first time I heard him say it (I'm certain he thought of it long before me, but it is logical for anyone to come to this conclusion themselves. He's been preaching about AI for a long time.)

This explanation differs from yours, because not only is your “stuff”, as we can call it”, evolving to your needs, it's offering preemptive solutions to problems you are not aware of yet. So, if you're always buying the same crap at the same rates and times, going to the same places, seeing the same people, and having rational preferences, why wouldn't a commerce platform start correctly guessing my next purchases exactly at the right time, and being so good that I authorize the company to make decisions for me? That's really what I want out of a financial services firm anyways.

In this model, TurboTax doesn't ask you questions and you never even have to think “I have to do my taxes”. Taxes are already done and your return is automatically optimized real-time with your daily action.

I'm not saying any of what I just wrote is the exact definition of what web 3.0 is , or is not. I'm saying that I don't think anybody knows exactly, and I think Sergey knows best of all.

A lot of people are discussing these topics lately. Look at Adonomics.com' blog and Shop.com founder, Lee Lorenzen's argument for a $100B Facebook Valuation… (No comment.) Very similar themes to my old business model, and these of my blog entries:
http://imagdg.com/?p=1669
http://imagdg.com/?p=1677
http://imagdg.com/?p=6
and a friend's blog: http://jeremystein.net/post/30002859

The End