Long and informative article from Wired's Webmonkey about what's coming up and what's just the same old BS.

A selection:

Internet Hype

Hype has very few positive uses and tends to cloud arguments and fool people. Avoid internet hype if you can. If it helps you get investment for your startup, all the power to you.

What it is
Because the internet still has the potential to revolutionize industries, and because winners tend to grow exponentially big, every stage of the internet since the Mosaic browser launch has been filled with hyperbole and hype. Plus, Silicon Valley venture capitalists make a living by burning other people's money, and this creates hot air. We have seen several waves of internet hype before (do VRML or "The Long Boom" ring a bell?) Web 2.0 just is the latest example.

Hype does have some positive uses. For example, many "Web 2.0" ideas are not new at all, but it will take the hype of a "new paradigm" with a cute name to convince stakeholders in non-cutting-edge fields (like government, for example) to embrace more efficient and useful ways of aggregating and publishing information.

The real cost of hype is that it raises the ratio of noise in discussions about planning, designing, and implementing the technology of the future.

http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/06/12/index4a.html