IBM has announced a new chipset which will allow the wireless transmission of full-length hi-def videos in seconds.

When I read things like this, I often think about all those who, just a year or two ago, insisted The Only Way Toward Progress was through government-funded broadband initiatives. Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would be heard when one or the other of these ideas ran up against the everyday reality of business interests and local politics. Such complaining! I often wondered if any of them still had their "c:\spot run" t-shirts on, what with all the ripping and tearing and shrieking against bloodthirsty corporations and Luddite politicians!

And yet. And yet. If they'd had their way, yes, we'd all be sitting pretty with our medium-sized pipes shooting medium-sized dollops of information around. Well, those of us who could afford computers and had the knowledge to use them at least. But what would've happened after stage one? Now that we have these pipes, when do we get new ones? Who pays for those? Who would've even bothered researching if they knew they'd have to go through what everyone knows is the absolutely head-splitting exercise known as "local government?"

All too often charismatic politicians stump for things like "building bridges to the future." I only wish more of you would just stop for a second before nodding your head and grabbing your sign and ask, "why do we need a bridge?"

The answer may surprise you.