It's an interesting time for the Internet.

Yes, you've been hearing this all along--how the Net is changing the way we do business, get our news and interact with each other. You've heard of the instant billionaires and the skyrocketing Internet stocks. And chances are, you've heard hype about lots of things that never materialized. It's always been an interesting time for the Internet.

But the coming year will be a REALLY INTERESTING time for the Internet. I'm very excited about the following:

THE DEATH OF THE MEGA-PORTAL

Portals have been the "it" sites of the past few years. Sites like Lycos, Yahoo, Go and Microsoft's MSN.com were originally designed as gateways to the Web--a collection of useful information and pointers to more specialized online resources. They worked well for a while. These days, they're so packed full of features and crammed with links that their usefulness is compromised.

As Leslie Walker describes in the Washington Post, people no longer need this type of portal. We're no strangers to the Web anymore. Most of us just go directly to our favorite sites--sites that offer specialized information and quality news coverage. We know what we want, and we know where to find it. Other than an occassional search for an obscure topic, I never visit Yahoo anymore. I'm even less likely to browse through their news section or check out their movie listings. If I want that information, I'll visit CNN Interactive or MovieFone.

The Web's dinosaurs are dying, and evolution will favor sites with vision, creativity and focus.

CONTENT IS KING

Ha! They said it wasn't possible! They said content was dead--that lack of advertising revenue would drive content-based websites to the history books. They told us e-commerce was the ONLY profitable business model for the web. Ha-ha!

Our online-publishing comrades at Feed Magazine are proving them wrong. Founded in 1995, the magazine was conceived as a highbrow forum that would combine state-of-the-art web design with top quality coverage of the arts, media and technology. Toiling for years, the staff held to their commitment that free content can generate dollars. Feed's traffic has now grown to 1.3 million page views per month, and the site's founders are projecting profit from advertising sales in the year 2000.

What does this mean? It brings us closer to seeing the web emerge as a true entertainment medium. It's not just about buying books or checking your stocks. It's about art, writing, emotion, criticism, community, creativity. And there's actually money in content-based sites. Once the investors realize this, we'll start to see some really cool new uses of the web.

THE NEXT BIG THINGS

A couple of technological innovations are going to strike soon. The first is XML, a new coding language that will supplement and surpass HTML, the current standard for creating web pages. It won't affect the visual aspect of your browsing experience, but the behind-the-scenes operations of your favorite web sites will be much more dynamic and efficient. Expect to see major growth and new possibilities as XML is adopted.

Also, look for lots of hype on "The Wireless Web". If manufacturers have their way, handheld devices (Palm Pilots) will proliferate next year, offering wireless access to the Internet and email. You'll soon be pulling out your PDA at an intersection to check movie showtimes or current weather conditions. Not that exciting--but the possibilities go much further as more and more web sites begin to package their information for the wireless user.

There's so much unpredictability. The coming year will probably find something even bigger and better than the stuff I mentioned above. But for those of us on the web, it will be interesting. No diggety. No doubt.