Web 2.0 - what does it mean? It's clearly a point of lively debate in the past few months. To me, the real story of the Web's evolution - whether you want to call it Web 2.0 or not - is the proliferation of online services from dating and games to blogging and corporate applications. These services are flourising on top of two key pillars: the explosive growth of the advertising market (pay-per-click, etc.) and the popularity of broadband access. If you've got some Sunday time for reading, check out a feature on the services market and the strategic jockey by the big players that I wrote in the National Post.

With AOL buying Weblogs Inc., Verisign picking up Weblogs.com, and NewsGator buying NetNewsWire, Chris Pirillo has looked into his crystal ball for a few more deals. Among the ones that catch your attention are Verizon buying Vonage, and Cingular acquiring Palm. I think the Verizon-Vonage deal is intriguing as it depends on whether Verizon believes VoiceWing isn't living up to expectations. Of course, competition for Vonage (such as Sprint) could bring the table bidders that are not expected (eBay-Skype as a prime example). Cingular pursuing Palm makes less sense because other carriers could be less likely to encourage Treo sales if the devices are being sold by a rival. If Palm's on the block, Microsoft or perhaps an Asian device makers seems like a better fit.