"2010 is going to be a great year," you think as you park your hybrid gas/electric car at the multimedia theater. The boss has promised you a promotion and a generous increase in your retention benefits package, as a reward for your excellent work on the Freeble account in 2009--and come to think of it, the genetically modified landscaping around the theater looks greener than ever.
Few companies can be completely virtual, in the sense that they conduct all of their business on the Net -- from marketing to sales to fulfillment. At some point, most transactions inevitably impinge upon the physical world.
New Year's Day, 2003: As I sit in my Web-enabled, ergonomically correct armchair, with its magnetically-levitating suspension system and trendy hemp upholstery, dictating my 269th column to the interactive armrest, I'm amazed at how far we've come since 1998.