The Toronto Star has a lengthy feature today looking at how the Internet has progressed since Tim Berners-Lee introduced his Web protocols in 1990/1991. In general, the story is fairly  down on the Web and its ability to create or inspire change or solutions to major issues such as AIDS or cancer. (Notwithstanding the impact of e-commerce, social networking, e-mail, blogging, etc.) The story features several quotes from Berners-Lee, which appear to have come from interviews he gave a few years ago, including one with MIT's Technology Review magazine in Oct., 2004. The story also takes a subtle run at the blogsophere - describing bloggers as "online diarists", and offers up a quote from the Globe & Mail's media writer Rick Salutin, who says the "main qualification for blogging is you failed to get a mainstream media job."
Update: For some other views on the where the Web is headed, check out this story on the BBC , Wired and Read/Write Web. The BBC also has a story on how the Web emerged

Here's a Sunday morning ethical issue to chew on based on a true story. A women comes into a busy drugstore in downtown Toronto to ask the pharmacist a question. After she leaves without buying anything (no customer information is collected through a credit card transaction), the pharmacist discovers the woman has left behind her 60GB video iPod with music and family photos on it. Several weeks have past and the iPod remains unclaimed - perhaps because the women is unable to remember where she left it. So, what do you do? Do you take over "ownership" of the iPod given it's unlikely it will ever be reclaimed? And, if so, what do you do with the 12GB of music and photos on the iPod that belonged to the woman who lost it? Do you just use the other 48GB just in case the iPod owners shows up one day?
   I'm not sure but the ownership issue could be resolved if the iPod owner registered it with Apple/iTunes. If I remember the process correctly, you need to provide a serial number located on the back of iPod during the registration process. Perhaps the pharmacist could send an e-mail to Apple, which could then track down the owner and re-unite her with the iPod. If anyone has any suggestions, pass them along.