It was also no surprise when Standard ceased publication. Just two years old, company had quickly swelled as it succeeded in becoming major business publication tracking Internet business. But a $40 million revenue projection for 2001 just wasn't enough to cover bills. I suppose $40 million in sales is a crushingly small when you've budgeted for $100 million.

Yet it still hot me as a quiet blow when I read that Standard Website had gone dark.

I know it's a tiny blip of a news item. Like rest of country, I'm still struggling to absorb staggering magnitude of last month's attack. I'm still trying to understand new world we entered on September 11. Plus, economy, already a confusing bird, has suddenly entered very mysterious waters. So who cares about last whimper of passing Internet economy?

Call me a sentimentalist, but I'm nostalgic for those heady new-economy days that came to an abrupt end just 10 months ago, It seems like ten years. The Standard was flagship of a burgeoning business publishing boom, leader among a flowering of magazines and Websites that got it. Remember when you could divide world into those who got it and those who were hopelessly brick?

My new favorite analogy comes from auto industry. At one point early last century experts predicted there would be more than 500 automakers. When consolidation began to hit in nineteen teens and 1920s, with automakers failing and getting gobbled up right and left, many feared auto revolution would come to an abrupt end. So much for expert opinions.

So let's look at some recent research to see what is actually occuring on Internet.

E-consumers become "power shoppers"

Online "power shoppers" spent an average of $1,200 online during 12 months prior to a spring survey by iCustomer Observer. This compares to all other e-shoppers who spent an average of $480 online during same year. These power shoppers constitute top 33 percent of Internet consumers. The average age of this high-dollar consumer is 38, with an average annual income of $67,000. Regular e-shoppers are an average age of 55 with yearly salaries of $34,000.

Net usage dropped slightly when school let out

Internet traffic dropped by 1 percent worldwide between May and June 2001 according to a usage report from comScore and Diameter, DoubleClick's research group. The study reported there were 128.4 million unique Internet visitors in U.S. and 296.5 million worldwide in June 2001. The study attributed slight decline in U.S. traffic to summer vacation. The report did note that travel sectors experienced a lift of 2.2 percent between May and June, with 84.5 million visitors worldwide checking travel websites.

High-speed connectivity grows