The Australian Newspaper, The Age, predicts that the next stage of the Internet – when the physical world gets hooked in – will be much bigger than the first:

What we are seeing with the Supranet, or extended internet, or the connected world, or whatever we call it, will change the world much more in the next 20 years than previous technologies have in the past 20.

Many companies are working with barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification tags, which were originally developed by espionage agencies, but which can now track products and presumably how we use them. There’s a good list of companies operating in these spaces at The Pondering Primate which tracks these developments with great dedication.

Exbiblio’s vision is also one where the physical world can plug into the Internet via its scanning oPen which one day might be incorporated into a mobile phone (naturally any tracking will have to be done with the consent of the user). It’s good sometimes to remind yourself that you are not treading a lonely path – even though it might feel that way sometimes. You are in the company of others. Some might be head-on competitors, but there is also such a thing as coopertition, where together a group of pioneers form a trend, and create critical mass behind an idea. You can’t, of course, own the whole landscape of your dreams or vision for the future – that would be hubris.