Michael Gowan with Andrew Brt, Sean Captain

When Apple sneezes, the world takes interest in ear-nose-throat medicine. So upon learning that their iPhones have been building a bloated file of location data, consumers started wondering if mobile service also means mobile surveillance.

Add the unrelated but scary hacking of Sony's PlayStation and Online Entertainment networks, and suddenly people are thinking about the data they are shedding and who's picking it up.

When Wired hyperbolically declared that "The Web is Dead," it didn't challenge my worldview but rather surfaced what I knew subconsciously. The browser is not always (and increasingly less so) the best window to the Internet - especially on mobile gadgets. For years on my iPhone - and now on my Droid - I've foregone digging around in a tiny browser in favor of burrowing straight to what I want through an app - the New York Times, Facebook, The Weather Channel...

At this week's Web 2.0 conference in New York, John Gruber of blog Daring Fireball tried to illustrate app supremacy by showing the absurdity of an iPad screen with only the Safari Web browser icon.

We're hearing a lot about 3D television these days- from TV manufacturers, directors, journalists and pundits. But do consumers like it? And will they pay for it?

To find out, I convened a mini focus group of adults in their 30s, 40s, and 50s,; a teenager; and a pair of kids under 10. We met at the Samsung Experience store in New York City a few weeks ago. After watching a wild assortment of clips-from The Daily Show to a Dunkin Donuts commercial to Monsters vs. Aliens-they had a mildly favorable impression. But no one was jumping up to buy a new TV and a pile of expensive active-shutter LCD glasses.