Spend too much time watching Google and you might assume that Silicon Valley's next big grab-the-cash-and-skedaddle bubble is the same as the last one - ie Web 2.0. But the New York Times is probably closer to the burning money and has even coined a great new name for the accelerating bandwagon of hopeful new startups: watt-coms. “Out of the ashes of the Internet bust, many technology veterans have regrouped and found a new mission in alternative energy: developing wind power, solar panels, ethanol plants and hydrogen-powered cars,” the paper says.

And it’s not just crazy startups promising perpetual motion machines - the energy equivalent of first-mover advantage. According to the Times, “lawyers, accountants, recruiters and publicists” are all springing enthusiastically aboard the bandwagon and proclaiming their expertise in the emerging sector.

It’s all a bit of a blow to Sneak. It’s easier to dismiss the moronic wisdom of crowds than it is to work out whether a new focused-solar-energy-powered steam-generating turbine is the real deal - or just smoke and mirrors.

19 Mar 2007