This post was originally written for www.lorraineball.com.  When I first started blogging, I felt I needed to separate my personal and business blogs.  Over the last fews months I have come to realize that is not the case.   If it is worth saying, it is worht saying here, so I have been going through my archieves and reviewing posts I thoguht didn’t fit.  This waas written in September, and I think it is as relevant now.

As I listened to the  news from Wall Street this week, I am reminded of the Dot Com crash in late ’99 early 2000. And although this most recent downturn is fueled by more than internet companies I wonder about the fate of many of these intriguing, and some not so intriguing start-ups.

In presentations over the last few months Web 2.0 Evangelist Tim O’Rielly has begun challenging his audiences with a tough question: “Are you working on the right things?” he asks as he displays slides Facebook application SuperPoke, which invites you to, among other things, “throw sheep” at your friends or a popular iPhone app “iBeer,” which simulates chugging a pint.

The technology is capable of so much, and our best and brightest are focused on games and dreams of a quick sale. The better path? Tim O’Rielly suggests we need to dream big and look to solve big challenges with the technology.