Screaming Penguin

The most significant developments of the first half of our decade will of course be the explosion of the net itself, and IMHO, of "self-publishing". Specifically, without getting lost in philosophical detail, I mean publishing your own books, videos, radio shows, software, so on - AND making it available to the world. Ever wanted to be an author, go for it - Bob Young's lulu.com. There you can literally publish your own book, and or buy a book completely on demand. As a publisher you control everything, copyright, terms, artwork, etc. As a buyer you get a publishing industry quality book, even hard cover, on demand when you click buy. (Lulu also publishes software DVDs, (And note Lulu has a lot of good *looking* tech books, with authors names you will recognize, for a lot less than those O'Reilly titles - dont get me wrong, I love O'Reilly books, they just arent really cost justified for what you get.) Ever wanted to voice your own ranting opinion on any subject? Start your own radio show - let people subscribe - aka a podcast (or yes, a blog ;)). Podcasts again enable both publisher and consumer complete freedom in information. The freedom available to those wanting to contribute content is unparalleled in history. Hopefully these things will eventually change the overall picture of where and how people in general get their information.