Your tax dollars at work, launching rich people into space.

Cell phones and bar codes are turning the physical world into an Internet. Recipe: 1) Put a high-density bar code on any object to encode information about it, including audio or video. 2) Put software in a cell phone so it can scan bar codes and get the information. Buzzword: "physical hyperlink." This is happening in Asia and just beginning in the U.S. Examples: 1) Point your phone at a food item and get nutritional information. 2) Point it at a billboard to download a movie trailer. 3) Scan a printed newspaper article and watch a bar-code-linked video on your phone. 4) Point your phone at a house for-sale sign and get the realtor's details. Happy spin: The speed and convenience of cyberspace will be everywhere. Gloomy spin: The invasiveness and din of cyberspace will be everywhere. (For Human Nature's take on physical sex vs. cybersex, click here.)

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