Word: stuffs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Omidyar had a typical programmer's view of the Net. He saw it as a freewheeling, authority-defying medium, and he was proud of his fledgling site's noncorporate orientation. "The first commercial efforts were from larger companies that were saying, 'Gee, we can use the Internet to sell stuff to people,'" he says. "Clearly, if you're coming from a democratic, libertarian point of view, having corporations just cram more products down people's throats doesn't seem like a lot of fun. I really wanted to give the individual the power to be a producer as well." eBay...
...their travels over the years, she and her husband had acquired acres of stuff. She started posting lots of it for auction. When she was well enough, she began attending public auctions and buying up lots. Today she tests her strength, challenging herself with eBay, working as much as her illness allows. "For me," she says, "it wasn't the sale. It was being part of something again. It was the contact with people. I guess I used it to make me feel better...
Moreover, eBay has exposed America as a nation of collectors. Matchbook covers, cast-iron witches' cauldrons, Pez dispensers, pneumatic grease pumps from the 1920s, Three Stooges memorabilia--you name it, some American somewhere collects it. "We define ourselves by our stuff," says Robert Thompson, president of the Popular Culture Association and a Syracuse University professor who specializes in the study of collectibles. In a democracy, with everyone theoretically equal, people want to be different. We don't have a caste system; we've never had a blood-line aristocracy. We've distinguished ourselves by our cars, by the clothes...
...kind of goods you want and when you want them. At the basic end of the scale, Netgrocer.com wants to send you nonperishables like cereal or juice in a FedEx box sometime in the next four days. At the other, San Francisco-based Webvan will bring you hideously perishable stuff like ice cream and iceberg lettuce within a 30-min. window...
...promised, will automatically sense when your milk carton feels light or your cheese smells like unlaundered socks and will order more. In the wake of the smart fridge, food-industry experts are dreaming of a smart garbage can--we kid you not--that will read bar codes on stuff you throw away and notify the store--which would also be a major incentive for bachelors to keep their pads tidy...